Chick 177
by Cristae177
“Beep!”
Mephisto climbed atop Groo’s head and cried out.
But Groo was entirely preoccupied with sharing his Vienna sausages with Wooju.
To get Groo’s attention, Mephisto spread his wings and even pranced about on his feet, but Groo remained absorbed in conversation with Wooju.
With a sigh, Mephisto folded his wings and looked down at his own feathers.
He tried to mimic holding chopsticks with his wings like a human hand, but it didn’t work quite right.
With a soft, sigh-like whimper, Mephisto lowered his sunset-red golden eyes.
“Beeee…”
Before he knew it, Baelak had stuck his head out of the open bag and yawned.
He glanced curiously at the dejected Mephisto, then retreated back inside.
Soon, the meal was nearly over.
“Oh, right.”
Groo smiled as he picked up his phone and turned on the camera.
“You’re going to send that to Jena, aren’t you! I’m not letting you take my photo!”
But Groo snapped a picture of Taemin and Kitahn clinging to Serhi’s pants and promptly sent it to Jin Siwon.
“Ah, crap! She’s texting already!”
While Serhi, his face turning pale, responded to a message from Jin Siwon, Wooju and Groo laughed as they cleaned up the lunchboxes.
At that moment, Kitahn leaned in to whisper to Taemin.
“Hey, I think you should take off those earrings.”
He flashed a sly smile, waved, and then picked Groo up in his arms.
“We’ll handle the cleanup. Groo, you go ahead with Wooju.”
“Okay.”
As Groo was carried away, he gazed steadily at Taemin, who was staring down at the ground.
The afternoon sun shone brightly and fresh over the green crops of the forsythia garden.
[Groo & Wooju]
Groo went over to the sign, checked on the potatoes growing vigorously, and beamed.
“Groo’s potatoes are doing great.”
“Beep!”
Mephisto nodded his head enthusiastically.
Watching the potatoes thrive, Groo sank into thought.
Clouds began to gather in his mind, and he imagined a single stalk with dozens of potatoes hanging thickly.
‘So many potatoes from just one stem.’
What if magic stones could grow like potatoes…?
Groo’s mouth fell open as he pictured magic stones hanging from a vine just like potatoes.
It’d be amazing.
Magic stones were extremely expensive, since you had to defeat fearsome dungeon monsters to get them.
But what if you could cultivate them like potatoes?
Bundled magic stones on a single vine! Incredible value for money!
When the black wolf marveled at the potato magic stones, the little lamb puffed up with pride.
‘Yep, Groo still craves praise.’
But the important thing was…
‘Could I really do it?’
Groo crouched down, staring intently at the potatoes.
Just then, his phone began to ring. It was the school-commuter sitter, waiting in the parking lot.
“Ah! Time to go.”
He’d only stopped to check that the potatoes were growing well before leaving for the day, so it was time to head back.
Ppong!
Ppong!
Sounds of favorability stacking rang in quick succession from Serhi’s thermometer.
‘Oh?!’
Someone out there was definitely starting to like Serhi!
Dodododo.
As Groo ran around in search of the source, he spotted a group playing basketball and poked his face out beside the fence.
This must be the epicenter of favorability!
“Serhi! Over here!”
Serhi, dodging a friend marking him, quickly twisted aside and passed the ball.
Taemin, receiving the ball, fired a shot from beyond the three-point line.
Thud!
Thunk!
The ball bounced off the backboard and dropped neatly through the hoop.
“Nice!”
“Waaaah—!”
“Whoa! Lee Taemin, you crazy guy! You actually made that shot!”
Cheers and jeers erupted all around.
Laughing, Taemin draped his arm over Serhi’s totally dry shoulders amid the sweating kids.
“Why are you still bone dry?”
“I’m just built that way.”
“Guess this guy doesn’t even need to shower.”
As Taemin chuckled, the group began to crowd around Serhi.
“What the heck? Serhi’s Korean is so good.”
“How come you never spoke Korean before? Were you shy or something?”
Faced with the prospect of what was to come, Serhi squeezed his eyes shut.
Just as expected, the group kept cheering him on and patting his back.
Serhi absolutely despised do-gooders and nosy types more than anyone else in the world.
Ppong! Ppong! Ppong!
All the while, his favorability thermometer climbed higher and higher without pause.
Groo, delighted by Serhi’s annoyance, took a photo.
Click!
He might look displeased, but… getting along with classmates whose skill didn’t match his own was the very starting point for building relationships.
Favorability was climbing rapidly, too.
‘I should send this to Uncle Hungsam.’
Just then—
Click!
‘Hm?’
Groo had only taken one photo.
Click! Click!
But somewhere nearby, more shots were being fired in quick succession!
Looking around, searching for the source of the shutter sounds—
“Beep!”
Mephisto, who had fluttered up onto Groo’s shoulder, pointed with a wing.
Behind the building, Kang Jae-i, holding a large camera, was clicking the shutter nonstop.
Her lens captured Serhi, horrified, as he wiped Taemin’s sweat off his own shirt.
“Ah…”
No wonder the favorability points had been rising so quickly.
It made sense if there was someone single-handedly boosting his favorability like this.
Apparently, Subordinate 2 (or maybe not) had been driving up Serhi’s temperature.
What should I do?
Groo had only ever heard of things like this in passing on crime programs.
Groo whispered softly to Mephisto,
“Mephi, Serhi oppa is getting stalked.”
“Beep?”
Mephisto cocked his head, completely at a loss. Groo pondered for a moment, then explained.
“A stalker’s… someone who sticks to another person just like stockings cling to your legs.”
“Beep?!”
Mephisto covered his mouth with a wing, feigning shock.
Even then—
Ppong!
Ppong!
Serhi’s favorability spiked ever higher as he began taking off his shirt.
That only intensified Groo’s feeling that Serhi was the victim of a crime.
‘But still…’
Groo opened the quest window.
Favorability = Filial Points.
He checked his piggy bank just in case, and found it brimming with points, directly proportional to Serhi’s favorability.
Groo let out an awestruck breath.
[Filial Points: 41,000]
‘Wow, that’s incredible…’
With this many points, he could make four more chick drones.
For a moment, the thought, ‘Wouldn’t this be okay?’ passed through his mind.
There’s no way an S-class like Serhi wouldn’t notice someone tailing him so persistently.
He must simply be pretending not to notice because it was too much trouble to deal with.
‘Mm.’
Groo narrowed his eyes.
‘Doesn’t hurt, does it?’
Ppong!
Kang Jae-i’s favorability was climbing nearly by the minute.
It was a favorability and point gain too tempting to resist.
‘…Hm.’
It wouldn’t harm Serhi, and it helped Groo, so best to leave it be.
With a bright conclusion in mind, Groo grabbed his hoe and glanced away as if he’d seen nothing.
It was time to go home, and the sitter’s calls were coming one after another.
Moving quickly toward the parking lot so as not to worry her, he suddenly came to a stop.
The face stepping out of the van looked awfully familiar. Groo’s eyebrows shot up.
‘That bad man!’
Here to bother Taemin oppa again?
If that’s the case…
Groo opened his inventory.
‘Maybe today I’ll have to show him what a fork can do…!’