Chick 331
by Cristae331
The Next Day, at the Campsite.
Iromi and Nayeon set up the last camping chair at a spot where the wide mountain scenery could be seen in one sweeping glance.
Gru waddled up with a child-sized camping chair and took a seat beside them.
Nayeon and Romi, watching with fond smiles at how adorable Gru was, scratched her small chin and showered her with praise.
“Well done, our Gru.”
“So pretty, so lovely.”
“Heehee.”
Gru, basking in their affection, blushed and smiled.
“Shall we start the barbecue now?”
Nayeon rolled up her sleeves.
Iromi nodded, taking ingredients out of the cooler she had prepared. Gru, who’d been watching intently, spoke up.
“I’ll do it! The two of you worked hard putting up the tent!”
Rustle rustle.
Gru eagerly rummaged through her own camping cart.
“You will?”
“Our little darling will?”
“Found it!”
Ta-da!!
After much rummaging, Gru triumphantly lifted a child’s cooking set in both hands.
“Yup! Just wait a moment, I’ll make you some yummy meat.”
“Ooooh!”
Click, click!!
Nayeon and Romi, charmed by the sight, endlessly snapped photos with shrieks of delight.
“So cute~”
Offering to cook with playthings—how brave and adorable.
“Want to cook with your big sisters? If we do it together, we’ll probably make more food…”
However—
Sizzle! Crackle!!!
Iromi stopped mid-sentence, stunned by what Gru did next.
Though there was no real flame, when Gru spread butter on the plastic frying pan, it vanished like snow.
Then, when she placed a cut of beef—already enticing enough to eat raw—onto the pan, the sound of meat grilling filled the air.
For a split second, Romi wondered if Gru was making the sizzling sounds with her mouth, and checked her lips.
Flip, flip! Sss! Sss!
With each turn of the meat, mouthwatering aromas teased their noses, and Nayeon and Romi could do nothing but watch, spellbound, as steak cooked before their eyes.
“Whew… The food is ready!”
Served on the wooden board, the steaming meat sprinkled lightly with herbs looked unbelievably delicious.
“Wow… What is this?”
Romi was speechless, looking at Gru, who had cooked such a fine dish—without fire and only using toys. No doubt, it must be a Hunter item.
“Dewicious.”
“Wow, it’s so good! Gru! You’re like a chef, a real chef.”
“Heehee.”
Gru twisted shyly at the praise, then straightened, returning a polite bow, looking ever the professional.
“Munch, munch. Romi, do you think there’s anything lacking in the Orchestra?”
Gru had been working her way through the steak, nicely cut by her sisters, and now voiced her concerns to Romi.
She had decided Romi, being an outsider, could give a more objective answer than Nayeon, who belonged to the Orchestra.
“Lacking… in the Orchestra?”
Iromi popped open a can of beer and gave a wry grin.
“If I had to pick, there is something missing.”
Gru, struggling with the tab of an orange juice can, perked up.
“What is it?”
Iromi opened Gru’s can for her, then took a drink of beer.
“Gru, do you know why adults work?”
“To make money and buy yummy food?”
“That’s right, but that’s not all.”
Iromi held up an index finger.
“People want more than just money. Money, power, and then—honor.”
“Oooh…!”
Gru’s mouth made a round ‘O’.
“But the Orchestra lacks honor.”
“Why?”
“We don’t have manners.”
“Whuuut…!”
Now a little tipsy, Iromi downed more beer, laughing.
Nayeon, opening her own can, tilted her head.
“Is that so?”
“You don’t realize how rude your guild is? Don’t the members notice?”
“Maybe so…”
As Nayeon fell into serious thought, Iromi looked at Gru and continued.
“So, the Orchestra may have money and power, but it lacks honor.”
Gru listened with rapt attention, mouth slightly ajar.
“Then, big sister, how do you get honor?”
“Well… Honor, you see—”
Iromi’s brow furrowed at the difficult question.
At that moment, Nayeon interjected.
“Through donations, perhaps?”
“Exactly! That’s it. Making a name through good deeds.”
“The Orchestra doesn’t exactly avoid donations…”
Romi shook her head.
“But if you do it in secret, who’s going to notice? In this world, you have to shout from the rooftops when you do good, just to get any credit. And honor doesn’t come from just making donations. You have to build an image. Donations are just one way of doing that.”
Image… Gru absentmindedly echoed Romi’s words.
At one time, Gru had even played Santa to manage the Orchestra’s image…
Gru fidgeted, rolling her eyes bashfully before murmuring,
“What about Fakeclaw? Fakeclaw did something good too.”
“Oh, right. The Orchestra has Fakeclaw as well.”
“Yup!”
Nayeon joined in, smiling.
“Recently, you made the S+-grade Mephisto Series too.”
“That’s right! It’s so impressive, they’ve been on YouTube a lot.”
As Gru vigorously nodded, Romi, finding her cute, pinched her cheek.
“You did, that’s true.”
Gru beamed, and Nayeon patted her head.
Watching the two, Romi, though not fully understanding their bond, spoke seriously.
“If Fakeclaw makes more things like that, the Orchestra just might gain honor.”
“More things… like that?!”
Gru looked stunned, and Romi slung an arm over her shoulder.
“Gru, honor doesn’t come easy. You have to donate, become number one in the rankings, win some awards… That’s how it builds up, little by little.”
Gru’s eyes sparkled, growing round and luminous at Romi’s words.
Because Iromi had fanned the flames with idle talk, Gru came to have a somewhat misguided sense of filial duty, and made a resolution.
‘I need to have honor.’
To do that—
Gru waved the paper in her hand.
[Justicea International School Children’s Bazaar!]
It was a charity event where children from the kindergarten and elementary divisions crafted goods, sold them, and donated the proceeds.
“For Gru’s team, collecting protection fees is abolished.”
When Gru declared this, Wooju and Huyeon, who were sitting opposite her, stared, mouths agape.
A few days earlier, when the announcement for the bazaar had first gone out—
Gru, Wooju, and Huyeon had teamed up, pledging an oath to earn a lot of money at the bazaar.
They had pondered ways to make money, and, based on the idea of ‘protecting classmates’ stalls and charging a protection fee,’ had planned to open a ‘Chick Labor’ stand…
“But there’s no honor in Chick Labor.”
Gru shook her head firmly.
Wooju, relieved that Gru was a child who understood honor, agreed without hesitation.
But Huyeon, as the daughter of the NAG Guildmaster, who knew the law of the jungle, quickly raised her hand.
“But I think protecting the local stall owners is an honorable thing to do!”
Really? Gru, easily swayed, pricked up her ears, but Wooju waved both hands in denial.
“No! It’s not honorable to charge money in return for protection. Do firefighters take money for putting out fires? No! That’s why firefighters are honorable people—they protect everyone without taking money!”
“Ohh.”
Gru nodded, convinced by Wooju’s words.
“Then, does that mean guilds who clear dungeons for money aren’t honorable?”
At Huyeon’s pointed question, Wooju faltered.
“Well…”
“Guilds are honorable too. But a little less so than firefighters.”
Gru interjected, answering in her place.
“Y-yeah! That’s right!”
Wooju quickly agreed.
Huyeon seemed displeased, but offered no further objection.
Instead, she mumbled, lips jutting out like a beak,
“So then what should we do? Most good stalls are already taken by other kids.”
“I have an idea, you know!”