Chick 229

229

“Uncle?”

For a fleeting instant, Han Rowoon’s eyes went wide. His pupils dilated, his mouth opened.

“Groo-chan!”

Kazuki, who had quietly come up behind, swooped in and gathered her up in his arms.

A murmur of excitement began to fill the hall behind them.

It was because the monster specimens, which had stood like pillars, were now turning their heads and waving their arms.

“What, do those things actually move?”

“Wow, that’s amazing—they look so real.”

“Shit! They’re so real!”

As the commotion grew, Kazuki sped up his pace, Mephisto on her head, Bailach holding Groo’s hand, all rushing after him.

Even as Kazuki carried her away, Groo couldn’t tear her eyes from Han Rowoon.

For a long moment, their eyes stayed locked, even as a growing line of people finally passed between them, cutting off her view.

“……”

Han Rowoon looked down at his now-empty hand, clenched it tightly, trembling.

“Master?”

A boy with a mask approached and called to him.

“Your face is red.”

“…Is it?”

Han Rowoon laughed and brushed his cheek with the back of his hand.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm his pounding heart.

“Maybe it’s just too much—density, I mean. I told you, places like this aren’t for me. In Korea, they call people who come to these places otaku, did you know?”

“We already said we’d drop that subject, but you keep teasing me. Enough, Master, you’re cute enough as is. Did you get the photo card?”

Iulian scowled in annoyance.

“I didn’t get one of those!”

“Really?”

Han Rowoon chuckled softly and changed the subject.

“So, how’s Korea? Do you think you’ll be all right here?”

Lowering his mask a little, Iulian smiled brightly.

“It’s great. It’s well developed, the people are kind—it’s a good place. Except for Dominic being a clown, and Rage being insane.”

Han Rowoon let out a low laugh.

“You haven’t had the best luck with friends here?”

“Why do you let all those irresponsible people run free? Every organization needs proper rules, and members ought to uphold them for the good of the group.”

“Mmm, you’re pricklier today than usual. Is it because I brought you somewhere with a bunch of so-called otaku?”

Iulian, who had been smiling, promptly closed his lips in a straight line and blinked slowly.

“Whatever you think. But Master.”

“Hmm?”

“That child—is she an experimental subject, too?”

Iulian pointed toward where Groo had disappeared.

“I wonder. Maybe so…”

He let his voice trail off.

Han Rowoon thought back to how Groo had looked at him so intently.

Her eyes were definitely a pale coral color.

Original test subjects had eyes that shone gold or red. So her eye color must have changed later.

There must have been a reason Joorim took in and raised the child.

After On Ijo’s death, the researchers had all scattered, taking their data with them; Han Rowoon had seen countless experimental subjects all over the world since then.

She must be one of those many children.

Yet why did he react so differently to this one?

“Are you going to bring her over here?”

For a moment Han Rowoon’s lips tightened. Then he smiled gently, eyes curving.

“Iul, today’s rule is not to ask any more questions.”

Iulian looked like he still had more to ask, but swallowed it back and gave a short reply.

“Yes.”

He pulled his mask back on, and instead of questioning further, opened his palm.

This was, after all, the actual reason he’d come today.

“I got the core.”

The core from the first floor of the Tower that, by rights, should have been destroyed.

Iulian had extracted it from the specimen of the Tower’s floor master.

“Well done.”

“But the specimen, Master…”

“Hmm?”

Iulian’s face was perplexed.

“It moved.”

“Ahh…”

“I didn’t see any reason why it should move, but suddenly it did and—”

Iulian ran his hand roughly through his hair. The extra bustle it had caused clearly irritated him.

Han Rowoon gave a gentle smile.

“It won’t happen again.”

“What?”

Why wouldn’t it? Iulian studied him, suspecting he knew something he wasn’t telling.

“I’ll need to get a new photo card. Let’s go line up.”

“What?!”

Iulian, prodded in the back by Han Rowoon’s cheerful insistence, found himself reluctantly shuffling toward the line.

---

At that moment, Groo sat on a bench in the hallway of the exhibition, fixing her gaze on the fidgeting Kazuki.

“Master, I mean…”

They’d agreed to call him “Uncle” in crowded places to avoid attention.

“Uncle?”

Ah! Only then did Kazuki sit down across from Groo and ask,

“Groo-chan, did you use a skill just now?”

A skill? Groo shook her head.

“No, I didn’t.”

“Right?”

“It seems the master still can’t control her skills.”

“Pipi. Pipi—pi—”

It was Bailach and Mephisto who joined their conversation.

Mephisto explained about the other time, when the spoon moved on its own, and Bailach nodded.

“There was a previous incident where she couldn’t control her skill.”

Kazuki pressed a hand to his forehead as if to say, “So it was true.”

Groo, unable to make heads or tails of their conversation, tilted her head and asked,

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“It means your skill control is at a dead-end, a lost cause.”

“Lost cause?”

Kazuki echoed, “Lost cause?” and then tried to explain.

“Ah, well… I mean your skills, Groo-chan. They seem to be activating whether you want them to or not.”

Gasp! Groo sucked in a breath.

“It was like that just a bit ago, but now…”

“Hmm. It definitely doesn’t feel like it now.”

Kazuki and Bailach exchanged glances.

Had something happened that suddenly enabled her to control it?

At that moment, Kazuki noticed Groo was clutching two photo cards.

Wasn’t it one per person?

And the eyes of the “shining, sparkling” photo card Groo had coveted seemed to emanate magic as well.

“This…”

“Yes?”

Kazuki took the card from Groo and gave the edge a light lick.

He read the card’s information, his face turning grave.

“…Groo-chan, where did you get this?”

“Ah! Right. I was going to trade it with some man, but ended up just taking it…”

In fact, it hadn’t been quite so much “taking” as the card being pressed into her hand by him in that brief exchange.

Groo now recalled that, just as Kazuki picked her up, the man had slipped the card to her.

“This is functioning as a control device.”

“Correct.”

At Bailach’s words, Kazuki nodded.

It was controlling her skill output, keeping it at a level that wouldn’t overburden her body.

Since it’s a photo card, it certainly wasn’t prepared in advance. If someone could sense her magical overflow and create a controller that quickly, they had to be at least A-rank or higher.

There were plenty of Hunters among the tour group today, so perhaps it was not so strange…

Kazuki and Bailach locked eyes.

Bailach shook his head, as if to say he knew what Kazuki was worried about.

“He was an ordinary human. I didn’t sense any threat from him.”

Kazuki seemed relieved at that, though not entirely at ease. He stood and said,

“Well, just in case, let’s head home for today.”

“Okay…”

Groo nodded glumly and hopped down from the bench.

“Let’s go.”

Groo started to take Kazuki’s hand, then hesitated and asked,

“Uncle, did Groo do something wrong?”

“No! Not at all. Why would you think that?”

Groo fidgeted with her hands and said quietly,

“Um, I thought Groo caused trouble…”

It felt like she’d made a mess and they couldn’t finish the tour.

“No, no. Kids grow up having all kinds of slip-ups. It’s not your fault. Uncle just overreacted to a little thing, that’s all. Right?”

Kazuki scooped Groo up in his arms.

As Groo hugged his neck, Kazuki patted her back.

“When I first awakened, I was far more of a disaster. Everything I touched went haywire, so I wore extra-thick gloves everywhere.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely. That’s why I’m so good at making gloves.”

Groo burst out laughing, and Kazuki kissed her pink cheeks.

“Instead, keep this photo card safe, okay? It’ll help keep your skill from going wild. Understand?”

“Yes!”

Groo nodded with determination.

Clutching the “shining, sparkling” photo card tightly, Groo darted her eyes around.

Since she’d been given the shiny card, she should really return the “sleepy” card to the man…

If he ended up on their tour bus, she’d try to give it back on the way.

“All right. Let’s get some rest.”

They headed out toward the gate.

Leaning her chin on Kazuki’s shoulder as they left, Groo recalled the sleepy-eyed man who’d locked eyes with her until the last possible moment.

‘That tingling feeling…’

Whenever she saw him, her mind tickled and her heart fluttered.

Maybe it was because he was handsome.

He kind of looked like Dad, too… But the more she tried to recall, the fuzzier his face became.

‘Huh? That’s weird.’

A face that looked like Dad’s…

Thinking hard, Groo tried to conjure Joorim’s features, but suddenly looked up and asked,

“Oh, Uncle! Are Dad’s gloves finished?”

“Of course. Nothing to worry about now.”

“Oooh wow—”

“…Well.”

At that moment, Bailach, who’d been listening, opened his mouth—then shut it again.

“Huh? Bailach, what is it?”

“It’s nothing.”

No need to add another worry right now.

She’d find out soon enough anyway.