How Can You Pay Back The Kindness I Raised With Obsession?

‘Uh… um…’

That night she slept with the lights on even though she was in tears over the electricity bill.

“Then how can I draw it?”

“Just draw whatever you like.”

There seemed to be no specifications in the commission, but she was used to that.

“The scene where the witch counts gold coins.”

First, they asked her to draw one sheet, so she drew it and sent it. With images diametrically opposite to witch paintings she saw on the internet.

‘But is it good for the text?’

She didn’t know what the book was about, so she couldn’t be sure about it. Then, a few days later, during a kindergarten fall picnic, she received an email from the publisher.

Hello, author.

Our CEO and the author of the book have seen your work and they like it! ^^

Thank you for drawing it beautifully.

I’ll send you a book so you can start working on the author’s story. Please check the attached detailed instructions.

‘Oops! What am I going to buy when I get this money?’

When I heard that she had been confirmed as the Green Witch illustrator, she was pleasantly planning to empty the cart.

“Gyaa!!

“Sir!”

“Whoops, no!”

A tumultuous cry was heard by the river. One of the children in the class had fallen into the water.

So she should have died in an accident as soon as she heard the good news…

“One must have a good life even when being in a foreign country.”

As was her grandmother’s habit, she soon accepted her new life, even if it was inside of a strange fairytale.

‘But why am I here?’

She still didn’t know why she had been brought there to become an evil witch.

Daisy and Lady said that day the evil witch went into the basement to use forbidden magic and they heard screams. It was that moment that she came into that body.

‘What happened to the real evil witch Hazel?’

Other than that it was a reinterpretation of Hansel and Gretel, she didn’t know anything about the story, so the only ones to ask were Daisy and Lady. The two of them have not yet seen any child visiting the house, let alone Hansel and Gretel.

So if Hansel and Gretel come to visit one day, should she take on the role of witch instead? But what was the role of a witch?

Could it be that she was a villain who wants to eat Hansel and Gretel like the classics?

But she was not evil. She didn’t even know what that book was about anyway, so whether the story goes awkward or not, can’t she just be a good witch?

The problem was the witch whose body she was occupying. Didn’t she accumulate enough karma before she came?

Thanks to that, people had the misconception that she was seducing people to the sweets house and eating them like a witch in the classics.

She was just going to serve them tea.

‘It’s frustrating…’

Since that was a fairytale, she was wholesome and could only have one-shot tea instead of a tea party… but suddenly her hand stopped.

‘Gnawing?’ 

She heard something gnawing outside. She could even hear two small voices whispering.

She crept over to the window. She poked her head out and her eyes widened at what she saw: two little kids who looked like kindergarteners were nibbling on the newly pasted cookie wall.

“It’s black, I’m crying because I ate it.”

“Shhh, be quiet.”

The boy was crying while eating the cookie and the mouth of the girl was closed. Could they be Hansel and Gretel? Was that fairy tale finally happening? She smiled in anticipation and jerked her fingers.

“Yo guys! I got you!”

‘Gwaa!’

The children’s bodies were lifted into the air. When their feet fell off the ground, their small feet struggled. With another flick of her fingers, the children flew in through the wide-open window. She grabbed the struggling children’s collars, one in each hand, and set them down on the kitchen floor.

“Back off now! Do you dare to touch me knowing who I am?”

As soon as she released his hand, the girl squeezed the boy’s hand and ran to the corner, shouting fiercely.

“Huaang, I’m jav… don’t eat.. Hmm, I’m not good…”

Meanwhile, the boy clutched the cookie he had been eating in his hand and cried uncontrollably.

She held back her laughter and folded her arms tightly.

“Yo guys. If you want to tear down my house, at least you should say ‘thank you’, don’t you think?”

“Bad witch! We don’t want to! Everyone said that a bad witch who gives sweets and eats people should be punished!”

“Exactly. And the bad children should be punished.”

“We’re not bad!”

The girl exclaimed, wrapping her arms around the whimpering boy.

“Hmm… You mean you don’t feel remorseful? Then should I punish you two?”

She narrowed her eyes and waved the finger she had just spelled, and the children began to tremble.

‘It’s so cute. They’re like squirrels.’

It was funny, but she felt like she had to make fun of it at that point.

“But I’m not as evil as you think, so I’ll give you a choice. Choose between two punishments: one, be my dinner tonight.”

‘Oops, did I say too much again?’

She pointed my fingertips at the fire pit, and the children’s eyes widened.

“Two, have tea with me today.”

She flicked her hand from pointing to the fire pit and made her way to the table where cookies and cakes were nicely set. From that point, the children’s eyes did not fall off the table.

“Fufu, that sounds delicious, right? Right?”

Seeing them exchange glances with each other, she thought we were almost convinced, but the girl suddenly crossed her arms and exclaimed.

“Bad witch, do you think I’m deceived? I hate it…”

Growl.

The moment a loud sound rang through her little cabin, the face of the imposing child blushed. In the end, the children chose the second punishment.

“Wait, before you eat!”

The children didn’t talk. As if they hadn’t washed it for days, their hair was covered with dirt and leaves, and their clothes were twisted to the point that it was difficult to recognize their original color.

She wanted to get water in a wooden barrel right away to wash it, but she held back since they couldn’t take their eyes off the sweet-smelling table.

“No matter how hungry you are, you should wash your hands.”

The children’s hands were put in the warm water from the fireplace and they were washed.

“If I pick something up like this, my stomach will hurt, right?”

They were still wary of her, but they calmly held out their hands.

“So cute.”

Those puckered, tiny hands… It’d been a long time.She was more excited than usual while entertaining her guests.

‘This… Perhaps…’

“Huh?”

The girl looked at the cookie with a cane dancing on a plate and trembled.

“Did you make a person small and grill him?”

Child’s imagination was…

She chuckled. Then the child’s eyes widened as she misunderstood her meaning and pushed the plate away.

“Oh, I won’t eat. I won’t eat people.”

“Then do you prefer a carrot cake?”

“Carrots? No, I hate it!”

“Carrot cake…”

Even the boy who sat quietly next to them and watched them mumbled some words.

She smiled again and sat down in her seat. Deliberately, she cut a large piece of carrot cake in the middle of the table and placed it on her plate. She poked her fork into the cake, which was covered with white icing like a snowfield. As she scooped it up and put it in her mouth their eyes followed her hand all the way.

“Uh-huh, delicious. Sweet and moist. You can’t even feel the taste of carrots! Try some Mr. Ginger.”

When they didn’t seem to believe her, she called the ginger cookie Mr. Ginger. It waddled over to the cake, just as she thought it would, grabbed the moist sheet, and buried its face in it.

“Mmmm, you added a bunch of honey and it tastes like honey.”

She used the ventriloquist she learned to read fairy tales to kindergarten children. The innocent children couldn’t take their eyes off Mr. Ginger, opening their mouths to see if they thought she was talking.

“Right? I thought Mr. Ginger, who doesn’t like carrots, would like it.”

Soon the cookie had eaten too much cake and was lying on her plate, saying it was full. And she was not controlling it.

“Wow, it tastes like honey!”

She deliberately exaggerated and took another big bite and put it in her mouth. One of the kids who had been watching her devour a piece of cake with swallows must have finally mustered up the courage.

“… I’d like to try it too.”

The girl winked alternately at the cake and the witch’s empty plate. She didn’t know how much I was going to eat, so she cut some cake and put it on the kid’s plate. The little girl took a small bite and put it in her mouth, her eyes widening like macarons.

The boy who was watching the girl eat one bite after another without saying a word timidly said that he would eat it too. Soon, the boy’s eyes after tasting the carrot cake were no different from the girl’s.

“Carrots… It’s sweet.”

“Right? Mr. Ginger is right, right?”

The boy nodded loudly and pointed his tiny finger to the top of the cake.

“Sweet, this is a sweet cake.”

The icing on the cake was really cute, and the child’s expression after saying it was even cuter. She laughed and took the marzipan carrots that decorated the cake and placed them on her plate.

“There’s a lot to eat, so eat slowly.”

She was so happy to spend time with children for the first time in a long time that she wanted to cry. She watched fondly as the children, forgetting their fear, filled their stomachs with cakes and cookies. 

‘Haven’t you tried something like this before?’

It’s like they had tasted icing for the first time. They seem to be children from a poor family who can’t afford sugar.

“What’s your name?”

She started asking about the kids.

“I’m Luna. He’s Luca.”

“Wow, what a pretty name. How old are you, guys?”

“I’m seven years old, Luca is five.”

“I see. Are you two siblings?”

“Yes!”

Luna, whose guard was clouded by her stomach, began to answer her questions. Speaking of which, the two of them have similar facial features. Although their hair, eye color, and personality were completely different.

“But where are your parents going, and are you alone?”

“We don’t have a mother.”

‘Were they orphans?’

But they didn’t look like children without parents. Although they wouldn’t be so messed if they had.

“Us…”

Luca, who had been quietly nibbling on the butter cookies, hesitated before talking.

“Huh?”

“We were thrown away…

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Translator Note: