Chick 265
by Cristae265
After school, Groo dashed off to rehearse for the play, while Wooju went in search of the supervising teacher to switch roles.
From a tree branch outside the classroom, Mephisto looked down on the pair with a sigh.
Was this really how he would fail?
The baby bird was feeling gloomy as he heaved a sigh.
At that moment, Lucipher peeked its face out from Groo’s bag and cocked its head.
It was the first time Lucipher had seen Mephisto look so down.
“Kkyu?”
Lucipher glanced up at Groo.
“We have to stick together, just us. Got it?”
Recalling Groo’s words, Lucipher nodded emphatically.
The big kids with the big kids. Us with us.
Then, Mephisto whimpered “Pit…” and hung his head.
A single tear dropped to the ground.
“Kkyut!”
Is he crying?!
Startled, Lucipher slipped out from Groo’s bag and hopped toward Mephisto on the sly.
“Ms. Gwak Nabi, this is Seo Wooju from Chick Class in the kindergarten. May I speak with you?”
Gwak Nabi, who had been gathering her script in the teachers’ room, paused.
“Wooju? You want to see me?”
“Yes.”
Hmm? Gwak Nabi blinked in puzzlement.
She was a teacher in the elementary department.
She’d certainly heard of Wooju—he was famous—but as she didn’t handle the kindergarten, she had no direct dealings with him.
“Um, about the joint kindergarten play. I’d like to participate too.”
So that was it.
She must have come because Gwak Nabi was directing the play.
“Wooju, you’re so passionate about acting. All right, should I find you a small part? Let’s see…”
“No, I want the prince role.”
“Hm? But the prince role belongs to Geonwoo…”
“I already talked to Park Geonwoo. He said he’d give up the part if you allow it.”
Gwak Nabi let out a conflicted sound as she looked at Wooju’s determined face.
“Hmm…”
Just then—
“Please give me a chance too.”
White feathers fluttered down.
A child now stood beside Wooju, dressed in a hoodie and pants, cap pulled low.
When the child raised his head toward Gwak Nabi, under a mop of white hair, his eyes gleamed red as a sunset.
Gwak Nabi’s eyes widened.
It wasn’t strange to see foreign children at the international school, but this one was so exquisitely formed—he looked like a doll, beautiful enough to draw admiration at a glance.
‘Is this a child that works with Wooju?’
As Gwak Nabi stared in surprise, the white-haired child nervously twisted a long sleeve down to his knuckles.
“I want to be the prince too.”
“What?”
Wooju frowned and looked back at the child.
…Mephi?
With a silent question, Wooju tilted his head, and the white-haired child answered with a slight, arrogant smile.
Just as you’re thinking.
Gwak Nabi glanced between the two with a gleam of interest and broke into an amused sound.
“So you both want to be the prince? Well then…”
At that, Wooju quickly shouted,
“He—he’s not from our kindergarten!”
“Oh? Really?”
No wonder. If there was a kid this beautiful, there would have been rumors, but she had never heard of him.
“……?”
But Mephisto merely blinked as if he didn’t understand.
Smiling wryly, Gwak Nabi knelt down in front of him and said gently,
“If you’re not one of our kindergarten friends, you can’t be in the play…”
“I can’t be the prince?!”
“That’s right, I’m afraid.”
A look of utter shock froze Mephisto’s face.
He had no idea you had to actually attend the kindergarten to become the prince!
‘Just when I finally managed to become human…!’
It was only thanks to the filial cake Lucipher had given him that Mephisto had managed to assume human form.
The filial cake had given him the power to take human shape.
Though it had come with… the side effect of poison.
Mephisto was struggling to suppress the status effect “Loner’s Fury” as it tried to consume him from the inside out.
‘Such a high rate of corrosion for a status effect…’
Whoever’s anger this was, it felt truly fearsome.
In any case, it made using his power difficult—
Mephisto glared at Wooju.
Wooju, satisfied to see Mephisto eliminated from consideration, folded his arms behind his back and rolled his shoulders.
‘Hmph!’
No matter.
He had another way.
Lowering his gaze, Mephisto brought up his system window.
[System recognizes ‘Mephisto.’]
[By authority of the system administrator, skill ‘Rewriting Perception (SSS)’ is activated.]
Snap!
Mephisto snapped his fingers in front of Gwak Nabi.
“…Ah.”
It was as if time rewound and her memories were erased—Gwak Nabi repeated her previous words.
“So, both of you want to be the prince? This is just the age for that, I suppose.”
“Huh? But he’s not from our kindergarten.”
“What are you talking about, Wooju? He’s your classmate.”
“Huh?”
Wooju looked stunned, then, spotting Mephisto’s sly grin, clenched his fist.
Clearly, Mephisto had done something to Ms. Gwak Nabi.
Not just an awakened being—
‘…Because he’s a monster.’
Wooju trembled, but shook his head to brush off the fear.
“So, shall we distribute the roles fairly?”
Wooju’s eyes sparkled.
If the distribution was fair, he was confident his acting experience would win him the prince part!
“This isn’t fair!”
Wooju shouted, waving his tongs in his gloved hand.
But Gwak Nabi shook her head.
“Those who live on earth, work for the earth! ‘Plogging’—that’s true fairness to the planet!”
Plogging—picking up trash while jogging—was a common activity in kindergarten.
Hmph! Mephisto fluffed his white feathers and clicked his tongs, already prepared to go.
“But it’s a play—shouldn’t we compete in acting skills…?”
“Pitting you against Wooju in acting? Wouldn’t be fair at all.”
“But still, it’s a play…”
Wooju protested, unwilling to yield—
But Mephisto, unconcerned, fluttered his white feathers and darted off, rapidly gathering trash at high speed.
“Looks like your friend will pick up more than you, hmm?”
“Ugh!”
At Gwak Nabi’s words, Wooju could protest no further and chased gallantly after Mephisto.
Gwak Nabi smiled contentedly.
“They’re just at the age to stake their lives on the prince role.”
As she watched the children passionately picking up trash, something seemed to occur to her and she tilted her head in thought.
“So should I revise the prince role a little…?”
Meanwhile, as Mephisto snatched up trash with relentless tongs, Wooju growled lowly,
“What did you do to the teacher?”
Mephisto, glaring in displeasure, snorted.
“Hmph.”
“You don’t even have to say it, I know.”
Mephisto retorted sharply,
“So what?”
“Don’t tell me you… like Groo?”
“Yeah.”
So quick to admit it? Wooju’s face flushed red.
“Y-you can’t do that.”
Mephisto tilted his head, half-lidding his eyes and folding his arms.
“Why not?”
“Because you’re not even human…”
In a tone like “That’s it?” Mephisto picked his ear—clearly not bothered by such trivial matters.
Wooju trembled with clenched fists.
“I won’t tell anyone what you did to the teacher. So you, stop using weird skills and compete fairly.”
“We’ll see. I do as I please.”
Blech—Mephisto stuck out his tongue.
Yet despite those words, he didn’t seem to plan on using any more tricks, gathering trash diligently with his own hands.
“I’ll stay here, so don’t go too far!” Ms. Gwak Nabi’s voice called, but neither paid her any mind.
They simply kept snatching up as much trash as possible, focused solely on outdoing each other.
Peek.
Lucipher, from the tranquil kindergarten yard, put his front paws on the wall and peered over.
The baby rabbit sniffled, sucking up a dangling string of snot.
‘Brother, you’re fighting well.’
To keep moving like that while fighting off such a fearsome status effect couldn’t be easy.
Lucipher was moved nearly to tears with pride—when a chilling voice sounded from behind.
“Found you…”
“Kkyiiiiik!”
Startled as if struck by lightning, the baby rabbit shook violently.
Groo scooped Lucipher into her arms, ready to scold him—
“What are you doing all by… huh?”
She noticed what Lucipher had been watching and blinked her eyes wide.
Wasn’t that Wooju?
Wooju was picking up trash, bickering with a hooded child.
‘Who’s that kid?’