I looked down at the pairs of feet wriggling under the table and decisively flipped the table over.

As expected.

There were children with large pupils looking at me.

A girl and a boy who looked exactly the same.

Unfortunately, the children were trembling.

“Unni, who are you?”

The boy among them asked.

I handed each of the children a wet handkerchief.

“Let’s get out of here quickly.”

Then, I held the hands of the children. However, both children withdrew their hands and stopped.

“Aren’t you coming out?”

The girl pointed, saying, “Damian got hurt.”

Damian, the boy, turned his head with a sigh.

“Where did he get hurt?”

I sat down and examined Damian’s body. I could immediately tell where he was hurt; Damian was covering one leg to hide it.

“Is it his leg that got hurt?”

When I asked, the girl nodded.

“Damian tripped while causing a fuss about wanting to get that toy and went back to look for it, but he fell.”

“Foolish Joubel! It’s all because of you, right?”

“Who are you calling foolish?”

Joubel and Damian pointed at each other, exchanging teasing remarks.

I roughly understood the situation.

Damian hurt his leg, making it impossible for him to leave, so he must have hidden under the table to avoid the fire.

“Damian, climb on my back.”

I said to Damian while offering my back to him and spoke to Joubel.

“Can you follow me?”

Joubel hesitated, then nodded.

“Yeah, unni.”

“Then, when you leave the room, be sure to cover your mouth with a handkerchief. It’s dangerous to inhale this smoke. Understand?”

“Yeah, unni.”

“What about Damian? Why isn’t he climbing up?”

I still looked at Damian, who hadn’t climbed yet. Damian looked at me and hesitated.

“How can I climb up to you, unni?”

“What’s the matter? Is it embarrassing in this situation?”

“No! I’d rather be lifted by Joubel.”

Damian shouted.

“Why?”

“It feels like I’m going to fall! How can I be lifted by you when I’m about to collapse.”

Damian avoided eye contact.

It was because his figure was fully revealed due to the wet dress. Recently, his body had become more slender due to poor health, and it seemed that Damian was quite concerned about it.

“I’m stronger than you think.”

Anyway.

I have to comfort and coax this little one to get out of here.

“I’m stronger!”

Even so, what to do.

I reluctantly lifted Damian onto my back and spoke to Joubel.
Joubel faithfully held my hand and followed along. As we approached the exit, the fire intensified. Fortunately, the flames spread along the ceiling rather than the floor, making it comfortable for us to move forward.

Seemingly relieved, Joubel looked at Damian and continued nagging.

“You should have just followed that oppa earlier. Silly Damian.”

“Then should I have left the birthday present? Let it all burn?”

Damian seemed to be referring to the scarf tightly held in one of his hands. Still, it was fortunate that the item they were desperately searching for didn’t catch fire.

“Wouldn’t the nanny be sad if her gift turned into roast pork in the fire?”

Joubel did well.

No matter how precious the gift was, life is more important.

“If you had followed that oppa earlier, we wouldn’t be in this situation, right?”

“That oppa?”

I asked Joubel.

“Earlier, with a bang! A tall and handsome oppa came in. I thought he was a prince.”

Could it be?

“Was his hair black?”

“Yeah. Eyes, too. Clothes were black. He was handsome.”

It was definitely Hertian.

“Where did that oppa go?”

Come to think of it, I didn’t see him.

“Some kid collapsed. The oppa quickly took that person and carried all the kids here and left.”

“What about you guys?”

“Damian insisted on finding this for no reason! Silly Damian!”

Joubel glared at Damian.

Hertian and I seemed to have crossed paths.

Still, I felt a little relieved that we had safely escaped.

“Foolish Joubel. You’ll get scolded by the nanny.”

“The nanny likes me more than you.”

“Really?”

Listening to the two bicker, we were leaving.

“Wait, wait!”

Damian lightly tapped my back, stopping me. Joubel seemed to have teased Damian again, and he dropped his scarf.

“Joubel, pick up the scarf.”

Joubel raised her chubby face.

“Anyway, you, the fool, can’t take care of one thing properly? Always stumbling around, you fool.”

Then she stuck out her tongue.

“You! Let’s go outside.”

“Fine. I’ll tell Father about you causing a fire here.”

“Hey!”

As the argument resumed, I chuckled and reached out to Joubel.

“Let’s go quickly. Just a bit further ahead.”

“Yeah, unni.”

But Joubel, who was laughing cheerfully, gradually widened her eyes.

“Unni! Up there.”

Pointing with a small finger in a frightened manner, I saw the chandelier hanging from the ceiling shaking violently.

“Joubel, go that way!”

I pushed Joubel out of the danger zone first, then looked back at the chandelier. However, it seemed too late for me to dodge. The sparks severed the connection holding the chandelier.

In this low-ceilinged place, the chandelier fell rapidly.