The Precious Baby of the Bandit Leader Chapter 4

The decision? What are you going to do about it?

 

The chief stopped mid-sentence and fell silent for a moment, as if lost in thought.

 

What? What will happen to me?

 

I waved my arms and legs in needless impatience.

 

And then.

 

“I’ll observe the situation a bit longer and decide later.”

 

The chief let out a sigh and gave his command.

 

“But, Chief…!”

 

“Chief!”

 

“Enough. The decision has already been made. Gaon, quickly search for a wet nurse and bring her here… Deputy Chief Dupil, you are fully responsible for taking care of this child for the time being, keeping them as inconspicuous as possible. Both of you must absolutely keep the child’s identity a secret.” 

 

“….”

 

“Do you understand?”

 

Gaon and Dupil bit their lips at the chief’s pressing words.

 

Especially among them, it was Gaon who, trembling uncontrollably and looking as though he were in pain, finally opened his mouth with great reluctance and gave a reluctant nod in agreement.

 

“I shall obey.”

 

“…I shall do so.”

 

Only after the two men gave their reluctant answers and stormed out of the tent did I finally let out the breath I had been holding. 

 

‘What on earth… just happened?’

 

Feeling utterly bewildered by this incomprehensible situation.

 

* * *

 

It’s already been four days since I somehow ended up in this bandit den.

 

During that time, I had been gradually adjusting to this place. 

 

From the conversations of the people wandering around, I also came to realize that this place wasn’t Joseon from the history I knew, but a country called “Daeho-guk.” 

 

‘Could it be… that I’ve possessed someone inside a fantasy novel?’

 

An abandoned princess, and a mark on the top of my foot? Anyone can see that’s a protagonist setup!

 

‘But no matter how hard I think about it, I can’t recall any fantasy novel where a princess is picked up by bandits?’

 

Moreover, the problem was that the “turns out I’m a princess” setup wasn’t particularly helpful to me.

 

Because…

 

‘Am I being neglected right now?’

 

Ever since the chief gave the order to “postpone the decision”…

 

I was moved to a truly shabby barrack, and there I lay all alone in the middle of it.

 

Four days.

 

Judging by the size of my body, I seemed to be around six months old.

 

They had essentially abandoned a baby who had only just been born. 

 

If they were ordinary people, they would’ve rightfully been reported for child abuse.

 

‘Considering they’re a criminal organization, I guess I should just be grateful they even let me live.’

 

Exactly four times a day.

 

When a set time arrived, Gaon would come, act as a wet nurse to fill my belly, burp me, and change my diaper. 

 

But that was all.

 

They would leave coldly once they finished whatever task they had.

 

Even when I cried, no one comforted me, and when I smiled, no one paid me any attention. 

 

I had to spend most of my time alone in the quiet, spacious room.

 

I even had to endure the discomfort of a soaked diaper until they came back, whenever that was.

 

‘Things are looking bad in every way. I feel like I really need to escape from this place somehow…’

 

Ugh. I lifted my short little arms and took a look at them.

 

I racked my brain desperately, but no plan came to mind for escaping from this remote mountain hideout in a body like this. 

 

‘Think. Remember the time you infiltrated a criminal organization—how did you get out of that mess?’

 

First, let’s start with profiling.

 

It was about analyzing a person’s traits, building rapport to earn their trust, then extracting information or seizing control of the situation.

 

“I shall decide on this child’s fate… after I’ve observed the situation a bit more.”

 

He definitely said that, didn’t he? Then… 

 

I have to make sure they decide positively about me, no matter what.

 

For example, I could try to find a way to get myself adopted into a good family…!

 

To do that, I think I need to meet the chief first.

 

‘How do I meet him? The chief?’

 

With this body, I can’t possibly go meet the chief. My thoughts hit a complete dead end right there.

 

Ssshk.

 

At that moment, realizing a huge shadow was cast over me, I was startled and quickly turned my head.

 

‘W, what is it?’

 

At the same time, there was a loud thud! The sound of something rolling.

 

The sound came from the window, where four or five large shadows were looming.

 

Kiiiek.

 

While I was tense to the max, the paper-covered window quietly slid open. 

 

“Woooooo!”

 

The hairy bandits cheered loudly and gathered closely together.

 

Smirk—.

 

As soon as our eyes met, he grinned menacingly as if he had been waiting for it.

 

Woooo—!

 

Then, four fierce-looking bandits opened the door and came inside. Their cheeks turned bright red as if they were happy to see me.

 

“Wow, you’re really tiny.”

 

“Whoaaa.” 

 

“Is it true that the Deputy Chief told us to look at this?”

 

“That’s right. The Deputy Chief is still in a meeting with the Chief. Since the baby is alone for such a long time, he said to take care of the baby in the meantime.”

 

“Whooaaa~!”

 

The bandits began to pace around with expressions of deep pride, as if they had just received a medal.

 

“…What? So they were actually concerned about me being alone after all?” 

 

When I found out that they had come on the orders of the chief and Dupil, I felt a bit strange.

 

I scanned the bandits who had come to find me.

 

‘Yeah. Maybe… they might not be such bad people after all.’

 

Of course, they were huge—bear-like, even—with way too much muscle, barely any clothes, way too much facial hair, a bit smelly, and looked downright intimidating.

 

At any rate, they did seem to genuinely like me.

 

…So maybe it’s a little less boring than being alone?

 

“Then I guess we’d better do things properly just like the chief said, don’t you think?”

 

The bandits grinned solemnly and clenched their fists with determination.

 

‘But why do I feel so uneasy?’

 

And I shivered, feeling a vague and inexplicable sense of unease.

 

* * *

 

“Waaahhh—mmph!”

 

An hour later.

 

I was screaming like crazy.

 

“Waaah! Puh! Puh! WaaaAAAHHH!”

 

“Hahahahaha! Hahahahaha! It’s fun, right? Right?”

 

White snow was falling over my head. To be exact, it was snow that the bandits had scooped into buckets and were now dumping over me!

 

So how did this incident start?

 

“But, uh… what are we even supposed to do with the baby? Have you ever taken care of a child?”

 

“No. Never?” 

 

“Do you even know what babies like?”

 

“I know! Boys love snow. They like snowball fights and building snowmen!”

 

“Ooh! That’s a brilliant idea!!!”

 

It all began with their foolish yet strangely intense conversation.

 

‘Ey, it can’t be?’

 

That’s what I thought until I heard that conversation.

 

Logically speaking, no matter how clueless someone is about childcare, there’s no way they’d dump snow on a baby who can’t even crawl yet.

 

“Sprinkle!”

 

…There is?!

 

They actually went outside, scooped up piles of snow, and began dumping it all over me.

 

“Okaaaay! Let’s gooo!”

 

“Pretty, right? Isn’t it cool?”

 

They didn’t just sprinkle a little—they dumped a whole pile on me.

 

‘It’s cold! It’s cold!’

 

“Heup, phu!”

 

And then I knew for sure.

 

‘Y, you devilish XXs!’

 

I finally screamed and burst into tears.

 

“Hwaaaa….”

 

To be honest, I didn’t want to cry… but after barely surviving the cold, having snow dumped on me again made a wave of sorrow crash over me.

 

“W, what?” 

 

“She’s crying though?”

 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa—are you crying? Huh?”

 

“Is it cold or something? Try brushing it off. I guess snow really is cold!”

 

Snap-!

 

The panicked bandits were at a loss and panicked, but soon reached out.

 

The bandit with the largest build among them abruptly grabbed my body and dragged me out of the snow pile. And then…

 

Shaking—!

 

He began to shake my body just as it was—up and down, left and right.

 

As if he were trying to make a milkshake.

 

“Waa↗aah↘uh↗gek!”

 

Please save me. You crazy guys.

 

Please save me.

 

At this point, I thought this might be a death threat.

 

“Ugh!”

 

In the end, I ended up throwing up the milk and baby food I had just eaten.

 

The problem was that when I threw up, the bandits got even more scared and started stamping their feet.

 

“S, she threw up! It’s all over the clothes!”

 

“O, oh, oh, what should we do? We need to clean it first, right? She’s not having a stomach ache, right?”

 

“Get me some water! Hurry up!”

 

I struggled as best I could to get away from those devil-like guys.

 

Escaping the grasp of these bandits, whose brains seemed to be filled with nothing but muscle, was impossible.

 

‘It’s not bad, you know!’

 

I waved my hands and feet even more desperately. At that moment.

 

Bang—!

 

The door opened and someone came in.