Life, Once Again!

couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“Good work.
I tried to get this done by myself yesterday.
It was way too hard, which is why I called all of you here.
Thanks for coming.”

“It’s our club room.
It only makes sense we’d look after it.”

The boys nodded in agreement.
Miso told them she originally tried to do this with Daemyung alone.
They realized they needed more people, which was why they called out the other boys.

“Let’s eat first.
We can talk after that.”

Instructor Miso was frowning when she put the word ‘talk’ in her mouth.
Everyone became a little bit quiet.
What did she want to talk about? They all tried talking about it as they ate.
When they finished eating, the instructor gestured for them to get close to her.

“What I’m about to say now isn’t good for anyone of us.
But we have to go over it, so listen well.”

Yurim felt herself becoming nervous.
This atmosphere, those eyes… She could tell what instructor Miso was about to say.

“You probably all know this, but this fire was intentional.
A fire couldn’t have started on its own in the auditorium, so it had to be done by someone.”

Silence.
Yurim couldn’t hear anything other than the instructor’s voice.
The air around her felt like lead, weighing down on her.

“There was fire and there were damages that resulted from it.
We can’t just let this pass.”

Instructor Miso looked around the auditorium silently, the other club members looked around as well.
Yurim, on the other hand, just stared directly at the floor.

“I heard recently that they’re going to renovate this place soon.
It won’t be the acting club’s anymore.
It’ll be the baseball club’s training room.”

“So next year…”

“We’ll have to work in an empty classroom.
Well, we can practice anywhere.
The problem is that we’ll run out of place to store props.
How’s the fourth floor clubroom? Is it still full?”

“It’s only been getting fuller after you graduated, instructor.
We have a lot of things we don’t use, but it’s not like we can throw them away.”

Instructor Miso nodded with a smile.

“Thanks for putting it that way.
In any case, we have to leave this place, so start thinking about that.
Ah, that’s not what I wanted to talk about.
Sorry, I really don’t want to talk about this either, so I keep changing the topic.”

Instructor Miso sighed.
Her eyes turned sharp again.

“Only the acting club was in the school when the fire happened.
You should know what that means.”

So it’s come to this.
Yurim wasn’t able to even look at instructor Miso, she might pass out if their eyes met.

“I’ll cut to the chase.
It’s only logical to think that the one who started the fire is one of us.
Right?”

“……”

No one responded.
Why would they? No one wanted to admit there was a criminal among them.
Yurim hoped that this awkward atmosphere would dissipate quickly.
That they would quickly dismiss such a thought as immoral.
But.

“There’s definitely someone among us.
We need to find out who it is.”

Instructor Miso stood up with that, she walked outside the auditorium.
Before she left, she quietly uttered a few words.

“One by one, in that order you’re sitting in, come to the classroom in front of the auditorium.
Got it?”

Instructor Miso was speaking with an incredibly scary glare.
Yurim shivered.
Did the woman find something? Did she have a suspect already? The doors closed.
The club members stayed silent for a few minutes, Yoonjung was the first to stand.

“I’ll get going first.
We’ll go in the order of the people to the right of me.
Got it?”

The girl was clearly forcing a smile.

“I’ll be back.”

Yoonjung took her first steps with a concerned look.

* * *

Miso sat down on a chair, waiting for a student to enter.
She already had an idea of who might come first.
Yoonjung, the club president.
The door opened with a creak.
Indeed, it was Yoonjung.
But right now, the girl wasn’t smiling.

“I’ll be direct.
Did you start the fire?”

“No, I didn’t.”

Yoonjung waved her hands in surprise.
That was the right reaction.
No one could remain calm if they become a target of suspicion.

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

She noticed the girl ball up her fists, her eyes were firing up with life.
This one probably didn’t do it.

‘There’s no way kids like these would’ve started a fire.’

Miso wanted to believe that there couldn’t be a person who started the fire in the club, she wanted to believe that Maru was mistaken.
She sighed before saying the sentence she prepared beforehand.
What would this girl’s reaction be?

“I trust that it’s not you either.”

“…….”

“What about Maru, then?”

“What? M-Maru?”

“I heard he came out the last out of all of you.
Isn’t that suspicious?”

“No.
There’s no way he could’ve done that.
And!”

Yoonjung jumped up from her seat with a frown.

“You know what he’s done… how could you get suspicious of him?”

This was the first time she’s ever seen Yoonjung react so strongly to something.
The girl was usually so incredibly positive, but right now she was looking at Miso with disappointment.
Those eyes of hers… Miso was glad to see it.

“So you think it can’t be Maru?”

“Yes!”

“Anyone else you might think it might be?”

“No!”

The girl sounded confident.
Miso nodded.

“Alright, good.
Go back inside.
Keep this to yourself.
I’ll trust that you’ll keep it that way.”

“…Yes.”

Yoonjung turned around with a saddened expression, Miso felt sorry that she had to burden the poor girl with something like this.

‘Han Maru, if you did this without giving it any serious thought, I’ll kill you.’

It was difficult to act suspicious of the club members.
The thought of how Maru could be sitting in the hospital relaxing while she was doing this was starting to annoy her.
She’d bother the kid at the hospital after this for sure.

“Alright, call the next kid.”

11 people left.

Please go to https://www.novelupdates.cc/Life,-Once-Again!/ to read the latest chapters for free