/
[Daaaamn— she’s not your average b—h!]
‘Hey. She’s still a kid, don’t call her a b—h.’
[Whaddya mean? She’s 10, so she’s lived over 10 times longer than me.]
Well, when you say it like that.
Synthia Batross. Daughter of Luwil Batross, companion back in the 14 Special Ops Squad. Unlike his father, who looks like a scammer from Macao, her white skin and defined facial features made it clear that she was going to be a heartbreaker when she grew up.
Special note, she has the tendency to steal. Confirmed her habit of collecting and hiding anything and everything, from food to small bolt scraps, under the bed. I heard Vex say that he was going to take care of this while I was gone…
“Heeheehee. Thank you Mister Gunyong!”
“It’s my pleasure! It’s thanks to you saving our spot last time that our family’s living so comfortably these days! So our little Miss, don’t hold back and tell us any time you need something, alright?”
“Okay! Say hello to your wife, too, sir!”
“I will! And make sure to keep that promise! To ask Mister Gyosu to name our baby!”
“Don’t take it back later if it’s weird!”
‘Just what did you take care of, Vex?’
In the past month, the cute little foxy girl appeared with a couple more tails attached to her.
Just look at her right now. She’s met about 20 people in just this area, and every one of them took out at least a handful to at most an armful of scraps from their bags or pockets and added it to the cart, and she isn’t even pushing the cart, some buff looking man is.
At first, I thought she was doing business. Though fried Radiation Scorpion shell was a delicacy, it wasn’t especially filling, and it was the oil that people didn’t have to fry it. The shell was possible to get with some effort. So I thought that the reason why everyone was paying different amounts was because Synthia didn’t properly know the concept of trading just yet.
But as I kept on watching as I followed her, I could see that it was a little different from that.
“Ah, Miss. Please take good care of us. This is this week’s share.”
“Miss Synthia, I’m sorry, but the farming has not been going that well recently, so this is all I…”
“That’s why I told you to settle down in a place that’s less organized. It might be more uncomfortable to live in, but there are more things to dig out there.”
“It’s been years since I’ve wandered around with my mother, so I wanted to settle down somewhere safer this time so I can treat her better…”
“Hahh. Alright. I won’t take it today, so come out sometime to the village when we need a helping hand.”
“Oh goodness! Of course, I will! Please deliver good news about me to Mister Gysou!”
Even though all the fried shell was gone, the people continued to hand over scraps.
And Synthia acted like she knew everyone living around the shelter.
Dumb survivors have been long dead, and those without ambition were all betrayed and killed.
Since the Wastelands people wouldn’t hand over anything that might be worth something without anything in return, the scraps piled on that cart were the ‘cost’ for something.
Based on Synthia’s behavior, the way she’s going around the outskirts of the ‘undeveloped zones’ around our shelter as if on patrol, and asking the people how they were doing, this is…
[A lord?]
‘Similar. Protection fees, taxes, tributes. I told them not to put it in front of the house, so this is what they’ve been doing?’
Not to offend Vex, but as someone who didn’t have the proper education when he was younger, Vex didn’t have the knowledge to arrange something like this. Vex didn’t teach her this.
And since there was no way Ian, who was away since the day I went in the pod to do some big trade at the Dome, would have been able to teach this to her either, this was purely thought out by Synthia.
I was just going to let her off with a scolding and a pinch to the cheeks because it was cute that she was trying to do something on her own, but this deserved a full swing, not a small pinch.
Creeak, creeak!
“Mmm… Can you really take this by yourself? If Mister Gyosu Park allows it, then I can take it up to the front of the shelt—”
“N-no, you don’t have to! Daddy’s a little sensitive, so he doesn’t like outsiders near the house!”
“I see. But to think he still set a border and accepted people to live past it. What a generous person. Then be safe, I’ll see you tomorrow!”
“See you!”
And so Synthia dragged the full cart toward the shelter. She continued to wave with a bright smile until the man that pushed the cart for her disappeared from sight, then switched faces instantly and put on her goggles.
As if she had done this already many times before, Synthia took out several wooden planks from the corner of a building and placed them on top of the bumpy alleyway, then started to push the cart over those plants.
Rollll, thunk! Roll, rollll!
“Hahhh. I can do it. I can… Doo! It!”
In order to have a better view of mutants or people that came near, our shelter was located on top of a slightly elevated area. Synthia would push the cart a little, place a rock under the wheel to rest, then push the cart again.
[Shouldn’t we go help her? She’s gonna get herself hurt.]
‘Let’s wait and see. I’ll have to see what she does at the end.’
Drrr-r-r-r-r—
“Hagh, hahh! Almost there. Almost- huuup- there!”
In the end, Synthia succeeded in pushing the cart all the way up to the shelter by herself. But the place she took the cart full of scraps was not the new shelter that was being used for storage, but my old storage shelter room in the one the four of us were living in.
‘I knew it.’
The storage room is full of junk that I’ve collected for the last 7 years. But anything valuable that was in it was either sold or traded, and the things left in here were ones questionable to use, quite literally being just ‘junk’ without any real value. Since I now had enough money, I didn’t really care about selling scraps, and though we lived together, I told Vex that the stuff here was mine, so all sorts of trash were scattered around the place.
Clatttttter!
In the middle of all thank junk, Synthia poured out all of the ‘taxes’ that she collected today, then took off her goggles and started to sort the scraps with her little hands.
[But why bother to do it here of all places? I thought you were using that new shelter as a storage room. There should be some leftover room there because the caravan didn’t start up yet.]
‘But both Vex and Koduro organize that place. You could say that this is a sort of… hideout for her. I told Koduro that I’ll sort this place myself, so even he doesn’t come in here.’
[She’s trying to avoid other people? Then don’t tell me that’s…?]
‘Yep. It’s allll- hers. She came here to hide it.’
Well. How do I put this? What she was doing was shrewd as hell, but looking at her now, it was as sloppy as you expect a 10-year-old to be. It’s just like when you play hide-n-seek with kids, and they hide behind the curtain, thinking you wouldn’t be able to find them. She passed through the main gate that a housing AI, Koduro, manages, and she thought she wouldn’t get caught.
[Let’s see. Then she was selling out our name to collect protection fees from nearby survivors, then stowing it away all into her back pocket… that’s a criminal if I ever saw one. I don’t think you should let her off with this, even if it’s your friend’s daughter. What are you gonna do?]
‘Do I even need to answer that?’
Professor rose up from behind the shadows of the junk pile, then silently approached Synthia from behind.
‘I’ll shake out every single penny until she cries about it.’
A massive arm’s shadow fell over the little girl’s head.
‘Screws are metal, so to the left. Half of a plastic dish… should I put it in meltables for now?’
The outdoor activity clothing that Uncle Vex gave her was sturdy and did an excellent job of keeping the dust out, but it was that much stuffier and made her drenched with sweat even after a little bit.
“Phew. Done!”
Wiping off the droplets of sweat on her forehead, Synthia switched her glance between the small scrap pile and watch with a satisfied expression. 5:48 AM. It was close, but if she got washed right now, then she should be able to get back in bed before Uncle Vex came back. Another morning well used—
Grab!
“It’s damp in there. The metal’s going to rust soon.”
“Kyaaaaa! W-who is—?!”
The moment she felt an immense pressure clasp around her collar and her two feet float into the air, Synthia took out the small dagger inside of her jacket and stabbed the hand holding her by the collar as she was taught.
Kk-k-k-gk!
‘Scratching? It’s not… human?’
She swung the dagger hard enough for her hand to hurt, but all she heard was the sound of a metallic clang. In her head, all of the stories that Vex told her about the monsters of the Wastelands raced through. Just when the scared girl was struggling to escape the grasp of whatever horror was clutching onto her…
Whirl—
“It’s me, kid. When’d you learn that?”
“Gyosu… Park?”
“I heard you call me Dad just fine a moment ago.”
“You told me not to call you that!”
“Well done. What a good girl you are for listening to your dad. Then, my kind little daughter, care to explain what all this is?”
A mocking, smirking voice.
As her dangling body spun around, she could see the person that raised her up.
Gyosu Park. The owner of the shelter she was currently staying in and the leader of BDSM. Savior of the Dome. Technical ruler of the ‘Area 47 Outskirts Village’ she created.
And after going through the three adoptions and dissolutions after her mother died, he recently became her fifth father.
When her startled heart calmed down, Synthia came to realize that her current situation was a very dangerous one.
A dangerous situation where ‘her stuff’ could be taken.
And that sense of danger blew in a burst of energy into her body that had been frozen by surprise.
“Let me go! Let me down!”
“Hey, stay still. Sigh, why’d you even take… Wait, why’d you sort glass together with plastic? And what’s this? Barley? Millet?”
“Don’t throw that away! Mister Milton said it was a rare seed and that he had a hard time finding it!”
“How’s fully polished rice supposed to be a seed? And just four of five whole grains at that. You got scammed, dummy.”
“Eerrgh! Anyway, it’s mine, so don’t touch it!”
She continued to flail her body around and hit the fingers that had a hold on her nape, but it felt like she was hitting a rock, which only made her hands hurt.
When Synthia finally tired out, Gyosu put her back down on the ground.
“Let’s see… This is yours?”
“Yes! Things that I worked hard to get… that are rightfully mine!”
The monstrously big hand was able to find the treasures she hid so well in an instant and swipe them all into a small sack. The sack holding the scraps was dangling right above her, just out of her reach.
“Kiddo. Wouldn’t you call this robbery or received free of charge, not earned? You just walked up to the people that gathered nearby and threatened them to pay up a protection fee if they wanted to live here. Do you not know what the word ‘rightful’ means?’
“It’s not free! I gave those people the ‘feeling of safety and security’ and bought that in return!”
Feeling like Gyosu was about to walk out any moment now with the sack, Synthia yelled out desperately.
“Gyosu doesn’t even need it anyway! Even when the people came here, you just said ‘Don’t come to our house’, then when they came to give you stuff as a greeting you go ‘Don’t do that’, and keep your distance! Do you know how scared the people were? Those people! They came all the way here through a lang crawling with murderers and monsters only looking for Gyosu Park, that one name!”
It was a day not long after she started training with Uncle Vex. While Uncle was gone for a moment to get water, she, being drenched in sweat, climbed up the shelter wall in hopes of feeling some cool air.
There was someone in front of the door. Maybe they were short, or had a hunched back. The person with a walking cane standing in front of the door was pacing around as if anxious.
“What are you doing here?”
Because she was only barely peeking over the wall, the outsider jumped in surprise at her voice, losing grip on the basket he was holding.
“A-a-a-are you part of the BDSM caravan?”
The voice of an elderly woman. When Synthia continued to stare without saying anything, the old woman took off the rags wrapped around her body and revealed her face.
“A-as you can see, I’m not armed. I’m j-just here to give this…”
“Dad said not to do that. He’s not taking it. He said it’s hard to clean if you put it there, so just don’t bother bringing it at all.”
When Synthia delivered the message that she overheard Gyosu say, the elderly woman responded with an expression looking as if she was going to cry.
“I-I know. That this junk means nothing to Mister Gyosu Park. But still… can you please take it? Me and my son really have nowhere else to go now. If there’s anything, anything that we could do… We will bring something more valuable next time…”
Synthia, who had just recited what Gyosu said without thought, then jumped down the wall in surprise when she saw tears water up in the old woman’s eyes.
“W-we’ll take it! Here, I just need to take it, right?”
“Yes. You can throw it away. It’s just that this old heart would feel just a little better if you would accept it…”
So the old woman placed an armful of junk that she brought with her into Synthia’s arms, then disappeared down the hill, looking back to bow at the dumfounded Synthia several times as she went down.
Clack.
Picking up a small glass marble from the basket that the woman gave her, Synthia thought deeply for a moment, then put the marble deep inside her pocket.
.
.
.
.
“So, you’re saying that that’s when you started to go around collecting fees from people, so they don’t need to debate about coming and don’t go through the trouble of visiting?”
“Nobody’s at a loss here! Gyosu isn’t interested in the people that gathered here anyway! And the people are nervous at Gyosu’s reaction to them! You abandoned those people! So I’m going to take them so that they’re not abandoned! Yesterday, I made people fight over a made up spot! And a few days ago, we all worked together to clean up the road over there on the cross path that was uncomfortable because of the mess!”
No wonder. I was wondering why a road that didn’t have anything worthwhile farming got so clean.
“People get nervous when they’re together! What if that person next to me hit me! What if they steal my things! So I helped them! The mean man and the complaining woman all got nice when I said, ‘Gyosu is my dad’! Gyosu isn’t going to use that name anyway! So I used it! Give it to me if you’re going to throw it away! I can use it a lot better than rich people like you!”
Huff, huff!
Gyosu stared at Synthia, who was tearing up, yet still putting up an effort to glare at him.
[Hey, this…]
‘Shh. Let me think.’
I thought this was just a little child’s play or game, but it looks like I was too careless.
‘Mine, you say…’
Thinking about it, the things that came out from underneath Synthia’s bed were all just little trinkets at most. A broken clock, half of a wooden comb that was collecting dust in the closet, colorful pieces of melted glass that can’t be used for anything… Small things that you couldn’t even notice were gone. Synthia found abandoned objects like those and claimed them as hers, treating them like they were treasures.
It was most likely that in the process of losing both of her biological parents and repeatedly being adopted into the Dome’s higher class for being a cute kid, then being abandoned for her mean personality and habit of stealing, she started to treat herself as a sort of object. And in the middle of that, she obtained a little warped sense of possessiveness.
Seeing Synthia obsessed over something being ‘mine’ made him think that way.
Grab!
Riiiiip!
Synthia had been desperately reaching for the sack I was holding and managed to grab it, holding onto it for dear life. As the worn-down sack tore apart, a pile of junk covered in dust and iron particles poured out. It must have hurt landing on the concrete floor on her butt, but Synthia just hugged together her objects in her arms and continued to talk with a watery voice.
“It’s mine, sniff! It’s mine… so don’t throw it away. Please? I won’t do it again. I won’t… sniff! So please don’t throw it away… I’ll use it well…”
On her face, covered in dust, were wet streaks of tears and snot, and as Synthia tried to cover up the junk that spilled up with her body, she used one hand to reach for the objects and the other tugging at my pants leg.
[Let’s let her off the hook this one time. I know how that feels too, and she probably had no ill intention. Like you said, she’s just a kid. Hm?]
‘Hahhh. I understand the situation, but I can’t just let her go like this. She took money from people, after all. Damn it. I don’t know how to teach a kid. It’s my first time.’
[I’m a little hurt you say that, Dad.]
‘Eat s**t, Hyde.’
“Schnff, hic, Don’t take it, Gyosu. I’m sorry, I was bad. But please don’t take it…”
I understood her situation, but I couldn’t just let this happen.
Gyosu pulled away Synthia’s hand that was on his pants, then pushed her aside from the pile she was trying to protect, then gathered the pile of junk together with his left hand again.
“Now. Synthia?”
“Eeehk, sniff! Mmrgk…”
“Hey, hey. Stop! I’m not taking it. I’m not going to take it away, so you can stop shaking and come here. Look closely. This is the ‘seed’ bag that you received, and these are the screws that you got as ‘comfort fees’, right?”
…Nod.
Telling her that I won’t take it must have calmed her down, as Synthia now only had big droplets of tears left in her eyes as she nodded. So I took out a few select items from her pile and showed them to her.
“I don’t know who gave it to you, but what that person gave to you, saying it’s an incredibly rare seed is just a single grain that can’t sprout and isn’t even worth a bite of food. This bolt and nut’s threads are all worn out, so they’re a lot less valuable than regular bolts.”
“I-I don’t know anything about how much they are. I’m just fine as long as people are happy after they give me…”
“Yeah, yeah. That’s on you. But these items show that’s not the case for some people.”
“Hic, hiccup?”
“They lied to you that these are expensive. That means they think you’re collecting something valuable for this ‘comfort fee’ but don’t want to give it. You never told them to give you a certain amount or give them a lot, but after you started to go around routinely to collect this ‘comfort fee’, the people got the idea that they won’t be protected if they didn’t pay the ‘comfort fee’.”
After trying to understand what I was trying to say and becoming even more frightened than before after she seemed to understand, Synthia sobbed out a response.
“I didn’t think that would, hic! I just didn’t want people to be scared, to live happily together…”
“If the world worked like people wanted it to, then Luwil would still have been your dad, and I would have been just a playful uncle. The world is a lot more complicated than you think.”
“Hic! Hieugh! Euck, mmph!”
‘Uh… I was trying to lighten up the mood.’
[Amazing job, lad. Talking about her dead dad in front of her. Are you actually stupid?]
‘No, but not that… she looks scared.’
[Hint. When we went to Old Man Woojin’s. You remember?]
‘Ah.’
Synthia was trying to hold back her tears, her face continuing to get paler.
Only then did I realize what she was worried about.
I tried to hug her, but her junk was stuck to my left hand, so I just draped my left hand over her and pulled her close to me.
“It’s alright.”
“Schnnph, hic?”
“You’re only 10 years old; you could still make mistakes. You’re still welcome to live here, and I don’t care whether you call me Dad or Uncle or Gyosu.”
“You’re… not throwing me away?”
“Yeah.”
“Even though I can’t be cute and clingy like other kids?”
“Don’t. It’s weird when kids do things they didn’t do.”
“Even though I’m a b—h without any parents and steal and do other bad things?”
“Which number parent said that? Tell me. Next time I go to the Dome, I’ll go sew that bastard’s mouth up.”
The way Synthia’s face paled when she saw me. It wasn’t just the fear of being caught, but the fear of being abandoned because she was caught. The desperate excuses that followed, and the pleas to not abandon her too.
[It must mean she liked this place that much.]
‘Oh. That feels nice when you think about it that way.’
[Now then, let’s finish up this comforting! Hurry! You know what the kid wants to hear! Like, ‘I love you~’ or ‘Let’s live together forever’.]
‘Eugh, nope. Too much.’
Just when I was worried about the situation getting awkward, I saw Synthia, two hands clasped over her hand, trying to keep the tears in. That reminded me it wasn’t easy for a 10-year-old to be doing that.
“…Which one told you not to cry?”
“…Hic! Second dad… He said it was too noisy, he’ll throw me away if I cried…”
“Damn. There are so many f—ing assholes in this world. Making a damn 10-year-old not know how to cry.”
I didn’t know what it felt like to not receive the love of my parents. Because I received too much from them, and it was their love that brought me all the way here.
But I at least knew that it wasn’t right for a normal child to hold in their cries to the point they couldn’t breathe.
Still hugging Synthia close, I slowly pat down her back with my right hand.
“Now, copy me. Wahhh~”
“Hc, hic, huh?”
“Hurry. Do what I do. Wahhh~ I’m gonna throw all this away if you don’t.”
“A, aah, wahh, hnf, aaahh.”
“There you go. You can cry in our home, so cry all you want and shake it off.”
“Waaah, uahhhh…”
“Alright. One more time.”
Clasp.
Synthia’s grip on my clothes tightened,
“Uahhhh, ahhhhh, wahhhhhhh!”
“Hah, finally. I was about to pass out for you there.”
As if a clogged pipe finally opened up, she started to sob uncontrollably.
“Uwahhhhhhhh! Hic, sorwyyyy, I’ll never do, hic!”
“Yeah. It’s alright as long as you don’t repeat your mistakes.”
“Huwahhh, sob, whhhh—”
As if she was letting out the past tears she wasn’t able to let out in the past, Synthia continued to cry for a long while.
“This isn’t good. I heard Santa doesn’t give kids who cry presents.”
“Huahh, present, mine. I’m not crying anymore… hiih! Gyosu said it was okay one time. It’s only one time, so give me… sob!”
“Alright. I will so let’s stop crying and go eat breakfast, hm?”
“Hic, eugnngh.”
Even with all sorts of efforts, Synthia’s tears didn’t stop, and until Vex came back and ran into the sound of Synthia’s crying with a pale expression, Gyosu needed to toss out all sorts of petty jokes to comfort Synthia, who continued to hang to his shirt and cry.
[Daaaamn— she’s not your average b—h!]
‘Hey. She’s still a kid, don’t call her a b—h.’
[Whaddya mean? She’s 10, so she’s lived over 10 times longer than me.]
Well, when you say it like that.
Synthia Batross. Daughter of Luwil Batross, companion back in the 14 Special Ops Squad. Unlike his father, who looks like a scammer from Macao, her white skin and defined facial features made it clear that she was going to be a heartbreaker when she grew up.
Special note, she has the tendency to steal. Confirmed her habit of collecting and hiding anything and everything, from food to small bolt scraps, under the bed. I heard Vex say that he was going to take care of this while I was gone…
“Heeheehee. Thank you Mister Gunyong!”
“It’s my pleasure! It’s thanks to you saving our spot last time that our family’s living so comfortably these days! So our little Miss, don’t hold back and tell us any time you need something, alright?”
“Okay! Say hello to your wife, too, sir!”
“I will! And make sure to keep that promise! To ask Mister Gyosu to name our baby!”
“Don’t take it back later if it’s weird!”
‘Just what did you take care of, Vex?’
In the past month, the cute little foxy girl appeared with a couple more tails attached to her.
Just look at her right now. She’s met about 20 people in just this area, and every one of them took out at least a handful to at most an armful of scraps from their bags or pockets and added it to the cart, and she isn’t even pushing the cart, some buff looking man is.
At first, I thought she was doing business. Though fried Radiation Scorpion shell was a delicacy, it wasn’t especially filling, and it was the oil that people didn’t have to fry it. The shell was possible to get with some effort. So I thought that the reason why everyone was paying different amounts was because Synthia didn’t properly know the concept of trading just yet.
But as I kept on watching as I followed her, I could see that it was a little different from that.
“Ah, Miss. Please take good care of us. This is this week’s share.”
“Miss Synthia, I’m sorry, but the farming has not been going that well recently, so this is all I…”
“That’s why I told you to settle down in a place that’s less organized. It might be more uncomfortable to live in, but there are more things to dig out there.”
“It’s been years since I’ve wandered around with my mother, so I wanted to settle down somewhere safer this time so I can treat her better…”
“Hahh. Alright. I won’t take it today, so come out sometime to the village when we need a helping hand.”
“Oh goodness! Of course, I will! Please deliver good news about me to Mister Gysou!”
Even though all the fried shell was gone, the people continued to hand over scraps.
And Synthia acted like she knew everyone living around the shelter.
Dumb survivors have been long dead, and those without ambition were all betrayed and killed.
Since the Wastelands people wouldn’t hand over anything that might be worth something without anything in return, the scraps piled on that cart were the ‘cost’ for something.
Based on Synthia’s behavior, the way she’s going around the outskirts of the ‘undeveloped zones’ around our shelter as if on patrol, and asking the people how they were doing, this is…
[A lord?]
‘Similar. Protection fees, taxes, tributes. I told them not to put it in front of the house, so this is what they’ve been doing?’
Not to offend Vex, but as someone who didn’t have the proper education when he was younger, Vex didn’t have the knowledge to arrange something like this. Vex didn’t teach her this.
And since there was no way Ian, who was away since the day I went in the pod to do some big trade at the Dome, would have been able to teach this to her either, this was purely thought out by Synthia.
I was just going to let her off with a scolding and a pinch to the cheeks because it was cute that she was trying to do something on her own, but this deserved a full swing, not a small pinch.
Creeak, creeak!
“Mmm… Can you really take this by yourself? If Mister Gyosu Park allows it, then I can take it up to the front of the shelt—”
“N-no, you don’t have to! Daddy’s a little sensitive, so he doesn’t like outsiders near the house!”
“I see. But to think he still set a border and accepted people to live past it. What a generous person. Then be safe, I’ll see you tomorrow!”
“See you!”
And so Synthia dragged the full cart toward the shelter. She continued to wave with a bright smile until the man that pushed the cart for her disappeared from sight, then switched faces instantly and put on her goggles.
As if she had done this already many times before, Synthia took out several wooden planks from the corner of a building and placed them on top of the bumpy alleyway, then started to push the cart over those plants.
Rollll, thunk! Roll, rollll!
“Hahhh. I can do it. I can… Doo! It!”
In order to have a better view of mutants or people that came near, our shelter was located on top of a slightly elevated area. Synthia would push the cart a little, place a rock under the wheel to rest, then push the cart again.
[Shouldn’t we go help her? She’s gonna get herself hurt.]
‘Let’s wait and see. I’ll have to see what she does at the end.’
Drrr-r-r-r-r—
“Hagh, hahh! Almost there. Almost- huuup- there!”
In the end, Synthia succeeded in pushing the cart all the way up to the shelter by herself. But the place she took the cart full of scraps was not the new shelter that was being used for storage, but my old storage shelter room in the one the four of us were living in.
‘I knew it.’
The storage room is full of junk that I’ve collected for the last 7 years. But anything valuable that was in it was either sold or traded, and the things left in here were ones questionable to use, quite literally being just ‘junk’ without any real value. Since I now had enough money, I didn’t really care about selling scraps, and though we lived together, I told Vex that the stuff here was mine, so all sorts of trash were scattered around the place.
Clatttttter!
In the middle of all thank junk, Synthia poured out all of the ‘taxes’ that she collected today, then took off her goggles and started to sort the scraps with her little hands.
[But why bother to do it here of all places? I thought you were using that new shelter as a storage room. There should be some leftover room there because the caravan didn’t start up yet.]
‘But both Vex and Koduro organize that place. You could say that this is a sort of… hideout for her. I told Koduro that I’ll sort this place myself, so even he doesn’t come in here.’
[She’s trying to avoid other people? Then don’t tell me that’s…?]
‘Yep. It’s allll- hers. She came here to hide it.’
Well. How do I put this? What she was doing was shrewd as hell, but looking at her now, it was as sloppy as you expect a 10-year-old to be. It’s just like when you play hide-n-seek with kids, and they hide behind the curtain, thinking you wouldn’t be able to find them. She passed through the main gate that a housing AI, Koduro, manages, and she thought she wouldn’t get caught.
[Let’s see. Then she was selling out our name to collect protection fees from nearby survivors, then stowing it away all into her back pocket… that’s a criminal if I ever saw one. I don’t think you should let her off with this, even if it’s your friend’s daughter. What are you gonna do?]
‘Do I even need to answer that?’
Professor rose up from behind the shadows of the junk pile, then silently approached Synthia from behind.
‘I’ll shake out every single penny until she cries about it.’
A massive arm’s shadow fell over the little girl’s head.
‘Screws are metal, so to the left. Half of a plastic dish… should I put it in meltables for now?’
The outdoor activity clothing that Uncle Vex gave her was sturdy and did an excellent job of keeping the dust out, but it was that much stuffier and made her drenched with sweat even after a little bit.
“Phew. Done!”
Wiping off the droplets of sweat on her forehead, Synthia switched her glance between the small scrap pile and watch with a satisfied expression. 5:48 AM. It was close, but if she got washed right now, then she should be able to get back in bed before Uncle Vex came back. Another morning well used—
Grab!
“It’s damp in there. The metal’s going to rust soon.”
“Kyaaaaa! W-who is—?!”
The moment she felt an immense pressure clasp around her collar and her two feet float into the air, Synthia took out the small dagger inside of her jacket and stabbed the hand holding her by the collar as she was taught.
Kk-k-k-gk!
‘Scratching? It’s not… human?’
She swung the dagger hard enough for her hand to hurt, but all she heard was the sound of a metallic clang. In her head, all of the stories that Vex told her about the monsters of the Wastelands raced through. Just when the scared girl was struggling to escape the grasp of whatever horror was clutching onto her…
Whirl—
“It’s me, kid. When’d you learn that?”
“Gyosu… Park?”
“I heard you call me Dad just fine a moment ago.”
“You told me not to call you that!”
“Well done. What a good girl you are for listening to your dad. Then, my kind little daughter, care to explain what all this is?”
A mocking, smirking voice.
As her dangling body spun around, she could see the person that raised her up.
Gyosu Park. The owner of the shelter she was currently staying in and the leader of BDSM. Savior of the Dome. Technical ruler of the ‘Area 47 Outskirts Village’ she created.
And after going through the three adoptions and dissolutions after her mother died, he recently became her fifth father.
When her startled heart calmed down, Synthia came to realize that her current situation was a very dangerous one.
A dangerous situation where ‘her stuff’ could be taken.
And that sense of danger blew in a burst of energy into her body that had been frozen by surprise.
“Let me go! Let me down!”
“Hey, stay still. Sigh, why’d you even take… Wait, why’d you sort glass together with plastic? And what’s this? Barley? Millet?”
“Don’t throw that away! Mister Milton said it was a rare seed and that he had a hard time finding it!”
“How’s fully polished rice supposed to be a seed? And just four of five whole grains at that. You got scammed, dummy.”
“Eerrgh! Anyway, it’s mine, so don’t touch it!”
She continued to flail her body around and hit the fingers that had a hold on her nape, but it felt like she was hitting a rock, which only made her hands hurt.
When Synthia finally tired out, Gyosu put her back down on the ground.
“Let’s see… This is yours?”
“Yes! Things that I worked hard to get… that are rightfully mine!”
The monstrously big hand was able to find the treasures she hid so well in an instant and swipe them all into a small sack. The sack holding the scraps was dangling right above her, just out of her reach.
“Kiddo. Wouldn’t you call this robbery or received free of charge, not earned? You just walked up to the people that gathered nearby and threatened them to pay up a protection fee if they wanted to live here. Do you not know what the word ‘rightful’ means?’
“It’s not free! I gave those people the ‘feeling of safety and security’ and bought that in return!”
Feeling like Gyosu was about to walk out any moment now with the sack, Synthia yelled out desperately.
“Gyosu doesn’t even need it anyway! Even when the people came here, you just said ‘Don’t come to our house’, then when they came to give you stuff as a greeting you go ‘Don’t do that’, and keep your distance! Do you know how scared the people were? Those people! They came all the way here through a lang crawling with murderers and monsters only looking for Gyosu Park, that one name!”
It was a day not long after she started training with Uncle Vex. While Uncle was gone for a moment to get water, she, being drenched in sweat, climbed up the shelter wall in hopes of feeling some cool air.
There was someone in front of the door. Maybe they were short, or had a hunched back. The person with a walking cane standing in front of the door was pacing around as if anxious.
“What are you doing here?”
Because she was only barely peeking over the wall, the outsider jumped in surprise at her voice, losing grip on the basket he was holding.
“A-a-a-are you part of the BDSM caravan?”
The voice of an elderly woman. When Synthia continued to stare without saying anything, the old woman took off the rags wrapped around her body and revealed her face.
“A-as you can see, I’m not armed. I’m j-just here to give this…”
“Dad said not to do that. He’s not taking it. He said it’s hard to clean if you put it there, so just don’t bother bringing it at all.”
When Synthia delivered the message that she overheard Gyosu say, the elderly woman responded with an expression looking as if she was going to cry.
“I-I know. That this junk means nothing to Mister Gyosu Park. But still… can you please take it? Me and my son really have nowhere else to go now. If there’s anything, anything that we could do… We will bring something more valuable next time…”
Synthia, who had just recited what Gyosu said without thought, then jumped down the wall in surprise when she saw tears water up in the old woman’s eyes.
“W-we’ll take it! Here, I just need to take it, right?”
“Yes. You can throw it away. It’s just that this old heart would feel just a little better if you would accept it…”
So the old woman placed an armful of junk that she brought with her into Synthia’s arms, then disappeared down the hill, looking back to bow at the dumfounded Synthia several times as she went down.
Clack.
Picking up a small glass marble from the basket that the woman gave her, Synthia thought deeply for a moment, then put the marble deep inside her pocket.
.
.
.
.
“So, you’re saying that that’s when you started to go around collecting fees from people, so they don’t need to debate about coming and don’t go through the trouble of visiting?”
“Nobody’s at a loss here! Gyosu isn’t interested in the people that gathered here anyway! And the people are nervous at Gyosu’s reaction to them! You abandoned those people! So I’m going to take them so that they’re not abandoned! Yesterday, I made people fight over a made up spot! And a few days ago, we all worked together to clean up the road over there on the cross path that was uncomfortable because of the mess!”
No wonder. I was wondering why a road that didn’t have anything worthwhile farming got so clean.
“People get nervous when they’re together! What if that person next to me hit me! What if they steal my things! So I helped them! The mean man and the complaining woman all got nice when I said, ‘Gyosu is my dad’! Gyosu isn’t going to use that name anyway! So I used it! Give it to me if you’re going to throw it away! I can use it a lot better than rich people like you!”
Huff, huff!
Gyosu stared at Synthia, who was tearing up, yet still putting up an effort to glare at him.
[Hey, this…]
‘Shh. Let me think.’
I thought this was just a little child’s play or game, but it looks like I was too careless.
‘Mine, you say…’
Thinking about it, the things that came out from underneath Synthia’s bed were all just little trinkets at most. A broken clock, half of a wooden comb that was collecting dust in the closet, colorful pieces of melted glass that can’t be used for anything… Small things that you couldn’t even notice were gone. Synthia found abandoned objects like those and claimed them as hers, treating them like they were treasures.
It was most likely that in the process of losing both of her biological parents and repeatedly being adopted into the Dome’s higher class for being a cute kid, then being abandoned for her mean personality and habit of stealing, she started to treat herself as a sort of object. And in the middle of that, she obtained a little warped sense of possessiveness.
Seeing Synthia obsessed over something being ‘mine’ made him think that way.
Grab!
Riiiiip!
Synthia had been desperately reaching for the sack I was holding and managed to grab it, holding onto it for dear life. As the worn-down sack tore apart, a pile of junk covered in dust and iron particles poured out. It must have hurt landing on the concrete floor on her butt, but Synthia just hugged together her objects in her arms and continued to talk with a watery voice.
“It’s mine, sniff! It’s mine… so don’t throw it away. Please? I won’t do it again. I won’t… sniff! So please don’t throw it away… I’ll use it well…”
On her face, covered in dust, were wet streaks of tears and snot, and as Synthia tried to cover up the junk that spilled up with her body, she used one hand to reach for the objects and the other tugging at my pants leg.
[Let’s let her off the hook this one time. I know how that feels too, and she probably had no ill intention. Like you said, she’s just a kid. Hm?]
Explore the extended edition on pawread dot com.
‘Hahhh. I understand the situation, but I can’t just let her go like this. She took money from people, after all. Damn it. I don’t know how to teach a kid. It’s my first time.’
[I’m a little hurt you say that, Dad.]
‘Eat s**t, Hyde.’
“Schnff, hic, Don’t take it, Gyosu. I’m sorry, I was bad. But please don’t take it…”
I understood her situation, but I couldn’t just let this happen.
Gyosu pulled away Synthia’s hand that was on his pants, then pushed her aside from the pile she was trying to protect, then gathered the pile of junk together with his left hand again.
“Now. Synthia?”
“Eeehk, sniff! Mmrgk…”
“Hey, hey. Stop! I’m not taking it. I’m not going to take it away, so you can stop shaking and come here. Look closely. This is the ‘seed’ bag that you received, and these are the screws that you got as ‘comfort fees’, right?”
…Nod.
Telling her that I won’t take it must have calmed her down, as Synthia now only had big droplets of tears left in her eyes as she nodded. So I took out a few select items from her pile and showed them to her.
“I don’t know who gave it to you, but what that person gave to you, saying it’s an incredibly rare seed is just a single grain that can’t sprout and isn’t even worth a bite of food. This bolt and nut’s threads are all worn out, so they’re a lot less valuable than regular bolts.”
“I-I don’t know anything about how much they are. I’m just fine as long as people are happy after they give me…”
“Yeah, yeah. That’s on you. But these items show that’s not the case for some people.”
“Hic, hiccup?”
“They lied to you that these are expensive. That means they think you’re collecting something valuable for this ‘comfort fee’ but don’t want to give it. You never told them to give you a certain amount or give them a lot, but after you started to go around routinely to collect this ‘comfort fee’, the people got the idea that they won’t be protected if they didn’t pay the ‘comfort fee’.”
After trying to understand what I was trying to say and becoming even more frightened than before after she seemed to understand, Synthia sobbed out a response.
“I didn’t think that would, hic! I just didn’t want people to be scared, to live happily together…”
“If the world worked like people wanted it to, then Luwil would still have been your dad, and I would have been just a playful uncle. The world is a lot more complicated than you think.”
“Hic! Hieugh! Euck, mmph!”
‘Uh… I was trying to lighten up the mood.’
[Amazing job, lad. Talking about her dead dad in front of her. Are you actually stupid?]
‘No, but not that… she looks scared.’
[Hint. When we went to Old Man Woojin’s. You remember?]
‘Ah.’
Synthia was trying to hold back her tears, her face continuing to get paler.
Only then did I realize what she was worried about.
I tried to hug her, but her junk was stuck to my left hand, so I just draped my left hand over her and pulled her close to me.
“It’s alright.”
“Schnnph, hic?”
“You’re only 10 years old; you could still make mistakes. You’re still welcome to live here, and I don’t care whether you call me Dad or Uncle or Gyosu.”
“You’re… not throwing me away?”
“Yeah.”
“Even though I can’t be cute and clingy like other kids?”
“Don’t. It’s weird when kids do things they didn’t do.”
“Even though I’m a b—h without any parents and steal and do other bad things?”
“Which number parent said that? Tell me. Next time I go to the Dome, I’ll go sew that bastard’s mouth up.”
The way Synthia’s face paled when she saw me. It wasn’t just the fear of being caught, but the fear of being abandoned because she was caught. The desperate excuses that followed, and the pleas to not abandon her too.
[It must mean she liked this place that much.]
‘Oh. That feels nice when you think about it that way.’
[Now then, let’s finish up this comforting! Hurry! You know what the kid wants to hear! Like, ‘I love you~’ or ‘Let’s live together forever’.]
‘Eugh, nope. Too much.’
Just when I was worried about the situation getting awkward, I saw Synthia, two hands clasped over her hand, trying to keep the tears in. That reminded me it wasn’t easy for a 10-year-old to be doing that.
“…Which one told you not to cry?”
“…Hic! Second dad… He said it was too noisy, he’ll throw me away if I cried…”
“Damn. There are so many f—ing assholes in this world. Making a damn 10-year-old not know how to cry.”
I didn’t know what it felt like to not receive the love of my parents. Because I received too much from them, and it was their love that brought me all the way here.
But I at least knew that it wasn’t right for a normal child to hold in their cries to the point they couldn’t breathe.
Still hugging Synthia close, I slowly pat down her back with my right hand.
“Now, copy me. Wahhh~”
“Hc, hic, huh?”
“Hurry. Do what I do. Wahhh~ I’m gonna throw all this away if you don’t.”
“A, aah, wahh, hnf, aaahh.”
“There you go. You can cry in our home, so cry all you want and shake it off.”
“Waaah, uahhhh…”
“Alright. One more time.”
Clasp.
Synthia’s grip on my clothes tightened,
“Uahhhh, ahhhhh, wahhhhhhh!”
“Hah, finally. I was about to pass out for you there.”
As if a clogged pipe finally opened up, she started to sob uncontrollably.
“Uwahhhhhhhh! Hic, sorwyyyy, I’ll never do, hic!”
“Yeah. It’s alright as long as you don’t repeat your mistakes.”
“Huwahhh, sob, whhhh—”
As if she was letting out the past tears she wasn’t able to let out in the past, Synthia continued to cry for a long while.
“This isn’t good. I heard Santa doesn’t give kids who cry presents.”
“Huahh, present, mine. I’m not crying anymore… hiih! Gyosu said it was okay one time. It’s only one time, so give me… sob!”
“Alright. I will so let’s stop crying and go eat breakfast, hm?”
“Hic, eugnngh.”
Even with all sorts of efforts, Synthia’s tears didn’t stop, and until Vex came back and ran into the sound of Synthia’s crying with a pale expression, Gyosu needed to toss out all sorts of petty jokes to comfort Synthia, who continued to hang to his shirt and cry.
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