Chick SS5
by Cristae5
“I’m not that strong yet… I have to bring Mom back…”
Joorim looked as if he’d expected as much, though he couldn’t hide the bitterness on his face.
“S+ rank is beyond Groo. So I want to make something new—to become stronger…”
“Dad understands how you feel. But there are steps to everything. You can’t just get stronger in power alone. Your body and your heart have to keep up, too. Remember last time when you lost control of your skill? That nearly ended badly. Do you remember?”
Groo pouted.
She had received a photo card-shaped control device from her uncle because she couldn’t control her skills.
“Yeeees…”
At that moment, a snow-white lizard flew over and landed on Joorim’s shoulder.
It was Shea.
He folded his wings away and gave Joorim a slap on the shoulder with his tail.
It was a signal to stop scolding.
Joorim frowned but let out a small sigh and fell silent.
With that, Shea leisurely fluttered off to join Bailach, Mephisto, and Pere to watch TV.
Shea’s recent hobby was learning about Earth by watching TV.
Groo and Joorim were looking at the animals lined up in front of the TV, then turned their eyes back to each other.
“You don’t have to rush. Mom will wait for you until you grow up.”
“…But what if I want to grow up faster?”
“Enjoy every day. Then time will pass before you know it.”
“Oh…!”
On Groo’s schedule, ‘Enjoy every day to the fullest’ now became the very first item.
After comforting Groo that way, Mecha Joorim was returned to the safe.
‘Tch.’
Groo clicked her tongue privately as she took out her phone.
She had never imagined it was being filmed for a broadcast. She would never have guessed they were all streamers.
Still, now that she’d tested it, she only had to bring it out to find out its grade.
Next time, she’d make sure not to get caught.
Groo was sighing over the Mecha Joorim articles when her eyes grew wide at an entertainment headline.
[Shin Nayeon, Secret Rendezvous with First Love, Ye Seunghyun?]
Mom
Did Groo make Mecha Joorim?
Mom saw the article too
Our Groo is really amazing! Mom is proud of you every day
But Mom wishes you’d grow up healthy more than strong
It makes me sad that I can’t be there to watch over you now
Since I can’t see for myself, I hope you’ll share lots about your days with me
I’ll be waiting for your next message
I love you, my little chick
Oh, and Groo, Mom can now leave the sand without turning into sand herself. So you don’t need to worry so much anymore, okay?
Side Story 3: Nayeon’s Scandal
Groo decided to check up on and look after her caregivers for the first time in a while.
Just caring for her caregivers and sharing kindness with them would help Groo grow stronger.
Maybe this was what it meant to grow in both body and spirit?
“I’m telling you, it’s not that Ye Seunghyun guy!”
Sluuuurp—
As Lee Romi fumed, Groo was sipping on a strawberry latte.
Listening sympathetically to such stories was another way of caring for a caregiver.
Of course, Lee Romi had done all the talking from start to finish, while Nayeon just smiled along benignly.
“I told you, I just ran into Seunghyun by coincidence.”
“That bastard…”
Romi, about to let fly with a curse, glanced around.
It was early in the morning, so the coffee shop on the first floor of the Orchestra building was nearly empty.
With her hat pulled down, glasses, and a mask, no one would recognize her as a celebrity, but Romi cleared her throat a few times before going on.
“No, but now he’s using it for publicity. Spreading rumors he was your first love…!”
This scandal had erupted after Ye Seunghyun mentioned in a magazine interview that he’d been in the same class as Hunter Shin Nayeon in high school and that she’d given him chocolate.
Afterwards, Nayeon was photographed greeting Ye Seunghyun by chance, resulting in a flood of articles about “Shin Nayeon’s First Love.”
“I didn’t only give him chocolate! What nonsense!”
Romi slapped the table in outrage, protesting how giving chocolate to the whole class in high school had somehow been twisted into a ‘first love’ story.
She looked fit to breathe fire.
Nayeon just laughed brightly, finding Romi’s anger endearing.
Romi’s eyes gleamed.
“He just wants to ride your fame, you know? He’s desperate to latch onto your name. I’d bet Manager Gong sent all this material to the press.”
By “Manager Gong,” she meant Gong Jinman, Romi’s former agency CEO.
Ye Seunghyun happened to be signed under Romi’s old agency.
“Hoo…”
Was that the manager Romi had complained about being so mean back when she did variety?
Groo pricked up her ears, listening with growing interest.
Just then, a janitor mopping the floor walked past their table.
Groo turned her gaze toward the janitor, while Romi continued her rant.
“If we leave this be, it’s only going to get worse. We have to stop him.”
“Hmm. Should I call the manager?”
“No, no, don’t. If you do, he’ll just get you tangled up like a sneaky raccoon.”
Romi hunched her shoulders, crunching on ice.
“Then what? Should I go punch him for you?”
“Oh, that’d be just perfect.”
Romi grinned fiercely, turning her eyes to Groo.
Groo was leaning forward, staring intently at something.
Following her gaze, Romi saw a janitor with her hat pulled low.
Despite the ponytail of long black hair and the hat pulled low over her face… that face was familiar.
Romi too began to stare, together with Groo.
Feeling their unrelenting stares, the janitor chewed her lip nervously, then finally bowed.
“…Hello.”
“Chuu unni!”
At that, Groo dashed over and hugged Chuen.
“Oh, aren’t you the one from before? During the variety shoot…”
“…Yes.”
“So you were working at Orchestra.”
Chuen’s face flushed bright red.
“Well…”
She hesitated.
“Hello, long time no see,” Nayeon greeted her with a gentle smile, tilting her head in curiosity. “But why are you working a cleaning job here?”
“Shin Nayeon,” Romi chided under her breath, but the oblivious Nayeon whispered,
“Are you undercover for some intel?”
Since Chuen was a famous information broker, Nayeon had heard of her.
There was no way someone of Chuen’s caliber would actually be working as a janitor at Orchestra, so Nayeon assumed she was there for information.
“Wooow! You came for information?” Groo asked, eyes sparkling.
Chuen couldn’t bring herself to admit that she had mistaken the job ad for cleaning staff as an Orchestra Guild recruitment post and had applied by accident.
Meanwhile, Nayeon was explaining to Romi what a top-tier information broker Chuen was.
“Uh…”
All three of them were waiting for her to speak.
They’re all mistaken. I’m actually just here to clean…
No matter how unflappable she was rumored to be, the story “I became a janitor by mistake” was just too embarrassing to confess.
After racking her brains, she decided to redirect the conversation with something she’d overheard earlier.
“S-should I help you with that?”