Chapter 10

Melin’s Salvation Plan

Chapter 10

It’s time to go back after a long time after dinner.

It was raining outside, and there were not many places for him to go at time like this.

I left my room straight away. The place I visited was Karen’s room.

Karen, who was lying in bed, stood up in a fit of rage when I came in.

“Tepi, where is he?”

“W-why are you asking me that?”

Liar. I saw Karen’s eyes shaking for a moment. There was no reason for me to endure.

“Kyaaaa!”

I pulled Karen’s hair without hesitation.

“It’s your trick.”

It’s not difficult to guess.

Karen was strangely obsessed with Melinia. So Karen is jealous of everything that’s around Melinia.

The reason why Tepeo was bullied faster than anyone is because I show interest in him. Karen was the one who bothered him.

“C-can you let me go?”

I still had a knife in my hand that I had stolen from the kitchen. Karen turned pale when she saw it.

“Put it away! Y-you won’t be able to s-stab me anyway…!”

Laughter leaked through my lips.

The original Melin can’t but I’m different.

“Really?”

I can feel Karen’s stiff body. Her dark eyes shook as if they were going to break.

“Do you think I can’t?”

“Hic….”

I aimed the knife straight.

“If you don’t want to get stabbed, answer me quickly. Where did Tepeo go?”

I calmly watched the young devil get scared.

Karen sweetened her lips and answered me with a trembling voice.

“D-director’s office in the a-anex…”

I let go of Karen’s hair and rushed out of the room as soon as I heard her answer.

Hope Clementine was a man obsessed with power.

A typical loser who feels satisfied with controlling and wielding the situation to his taste, pressing down on vulnerable children according to his mood.

And if he faces Tepeo in his worst mood today…

The conclusion that I didn’t want to think about crossed my mind.

I must stop it no matter what happens.

I ran downstairs without stopping.

My cheeks and clothes were wet in an instant when I went outside the front door.

I kept running even though I was out of breath.

Otherwise, Tepeo will die.

There was no light on the annex when I arrived.

I crisscrossed the Kaman corridor, suppressing the sound of my wild breath.

Then I found a small light from far away.

It was the director’s office.

I held my breath and moved cautiously toward there.

And as soon as I gently opened my eyes in the open door, I saw Hope raising his hand to Tepeo.

I closed my eyes unconsciously at the scene that was about to come.

Soon there was a dull sound.

My legs, no, my whole body, trembled.

According to the novel, the person over there should have been me, not the male protagonist Tepeo.

【”Run away from here. You must run away, Tepi….”】

Melinia is the only supporting character who does her job by dying.

A novel device for Tepeo and Azley.

Is it because I rejected that fate?

Should I just stay and follow the story?

I clenched the knife hard so that I can’t lose it.

No, I didn’t get it wrong.

My vision turned black and red.

The door opened silently.

Hope didn’t even notice that someone had come in until I stood right behind him.

【”Exactly, stab without hesitation. If you don’t, you’ll die.”】

Like Tepeo said, I put a knife on his back for the moment he leaned.

“Acckk!”

Hope shouted and twisted his body.

I ran to Tepeo while shaking off the sensation I had left at my fingertips.

Tepeo was gripping his ear as he was hit. It was unfortunate, but there was no place for relaxation.

“Wake up, come to your senses!”

“Mel…Melin”

Hope staggered to raise himself as he pulled Tepeo’s faltering arm.

Hope was bleeding from his back and stared at us. He looked like a devil fresh from hell.

“You cheeky little bastards!”

Hope shouted and ran toward us.

I pushed Tepeo to dodge it.

Hope couldn’t overcome his own weight and bumped into the bookshelf behind him.

“keugg…”

Hope groaned and was shocked.

And time began to flow slowly, as if it had split into thousands of branches.

I witnessed everything without missing anything.

The bookcase, which was greatly shaken, and the heavy stone statue on it was reeling.

And until the moment it finally lost its balance, it fell on Hope’s head.

Pok.

With the sound of something breaking, it became quiet everywhere. It was a hell of a silence.

Hope Clementine collapsed like a broken string doll and did not move again.

I could see it on my instinct. That the villain is out of breath.

“Is he….dead?”

Teppeo asked in a trembling voice. I came close to Hope who had fallen.

He was out of breath.

“He’s not breathing.”

In fact, Tepeo shouldn’t have known. I was just afraid to admit it.

“….He’s dead.”

Hope Clementine is dead. I shudder to the cold death.

I live as a supporting character who is destined to die but the main villain is the one who died.

His part was so big that the story is ruined.  That may not make a deal with the Duke of Hilderox.

If I’m happy right now, does that mean I’m crazy?

“W-what should…”

In contrast to Tepeo, who can’t even speak straight, my insides have become as calm as water without a ripple.

My head was strangely clear.

More than ever. My cell felt alive and breathing.

“Are you good at running?”

Tepeo could not bring up anything with his lips.

I grabbed his hand without warning. The captured child trembled like a fit.

“You have to do well.” 

“……” 

“I’m leaving you if you’re slow.”

Unfortunately, my words were completely sincere. Tepeo trembled like a young animal abandoned in the rain.

Tepi and I came out with the oil lamp that was lighting the room. The light drove the darkness out of the hallway.

We ran between the overflowing lights and shadows.

I saw the annex door in the distance. By the time I managed to leave the door, a new scream rang out through the silence.

I turned my head reflectively and looked back.

“Edina.”

Edina was awakened by the disturbance and seemed to have found Hope. I really didn’t have time now.

Fortunately, the rain stopped as if heaven had helped us.

I was relieved at that fact and I grabbed Tepeo’s hand and started to run.

Passing through the main building, into the playground, into the drain behind the playground, and into the bare hall at the end of the drain.

My feet were covered with dirt, but I don’t have time to pay attention to them.

Our lungs are out of breath but I’m glad that we did not run to anyone.

And when we finally arrived in front of the manhole, we faced something unexpected.

The manhole that we worked so hard for was now close.

“Karen…!”

This would also have been her scheme.

Since when and how far did you know?

I searched the surrounding grasslands in a hurry. Fortunately, the crowbar remained where it was hidden.

I put down the lamp next to the manhole and put the end of the lever in the hole.

“Tepeo, we need to reopen this. Can you do it?”

But he didn’t answer my question. I shouted out to his blank face.

“Tepeo!”

Only then did Tepeo come to his senses as if he had been hit by a flood. I led him to the front of the lever.

“We press it on three like last time. One, two, three….!”

Tepeo hurriedly raised his hand over me.

However, his hands kept slipping on the lever due to the rain.

While repeating a few times, a fierce movement came closer from afar.

Edina was screaming like a madman.

It’s really over if they hear that disturbance and the guards come.

“We don’t have time…”

It was when I tried to rush Tepeo.

A black shadow popped out of the grass. I felt Tepeo’s body hardened like a stone statue.

The true identity of the shadow was a known face.