Chick 149

Episode 149

“The teacher said… I have to be honest. He said you can’t know unless I tell you.”

“…”

Ah, damn it! Serhi bit his lip.

As the silence dragged on, Gidan leaned against the bathroom wall, crossing his arms.

“…Yeah, I was worried. I really have been trying to look out for you, in my own way.”

Grew looked up at Serhi, as if urging him to answer as well.

“Uh… oh, really…”

With some difficulty, Serhi finally replied, his face flushing red.

Seeing this, Grew smiled contentedly and nodded.

Serhi squeezed his eyes shut. Argh, this is so annoying!

“But then you said something about how you’re not my friend or whatever, so—I got kind of pissed off—no, I mean, I got upset and ended up saying things a bit harshly. Sorry about that.”

At Gidan’s apology, Grew tugged on Serhi’s fingers. Serhi nodded a couple of times and fumbled to speak.

“I… it’s just… how do I put it… I’m not used to people caring about me… so, well…”

Serhi bit his tongue, unable to finish the thought.

Gidan and Grew just listened in silence, and all he could hear was the pounding of his own heart.

Ah, at this point, I’d rather die than say any more.

As Serhi started to feel dizzy and thought about banging his head against the restroom wall, Gidan reached out and pulled him back.

“All right, all right. That’s enough—I get it.”

Muttering under his breath about how infuriating this was, Serhi tried to cool his burning cheeks with the back of his hand.

Grew and Gidan exchanged bright grins as they looked at Serhi.

Then, in that moment—

[Would you like to register ‘Jin Siwon’ as a guardian?]

‘Huh!’

Why did that pop up all of a sudden?

Startled, Grew widened his eyes and glanced around—just as his gaze met Jin Siwon’s, who had been secretly watching from beside the door.

Siwon scratched his chin with an affable smile and stepped forward.

“Ahem, I didn’t expect Grew and Hunter Gidan would come by. I just arrived myself, so I haven’t seen anything.”

Serhi clenched his teeth in annoyance at the lame excuse, and Gidan quietly chuckled.

‘Now that I think about it, I haven’t registered Uncle as my guardian yet!’

Register Uncle Hongsam as a guardian, too!

Just as Grew happily completed the guardian registration—

[You now have five or more guardians; the filial skill ‘Reliable Daughter!’ has been unlocked.]

[Reliable Daughter!]

Once per skill activation period, you can aid a guardian! With the strength of a most filial child, your guardians receive a 100% boost to all skill effects!

‘Ooh!’

I might finally be able to be a truly devoted child!

While Grew was examining the details of this new skill, Gidan—having heard a quick summary of the operation from Siwon—raised his voice.

“An SSS-class?”

‘SSS-class?’

Grew looked up.

SSS-class—two ranks above the Malikian they had taken down before.

Gidan, disbelieving, asked again.

“How could something like that even get brought in? It’s not like there aren’t any Hunters at the airport, and with an SSS-class, the energy is so sinister, it couldn’t possibly go undetected.”

“We think it’s pretty unlikely, too. Still, since we got a tip, we should keep the possibility in mind.”

So there’s a monstrous creature on Jeju Island.

Just as Grew was shivering at the thought—

– Team Leader Jin! We’ve found the tablet!

Siwon and Serhi both reached for their earpieces at the same time.

– I’ll be right there.

– Me too.

Siwon and Serhi replied one after the other.

“Hunter Gidan, we’re going to check out the tablet drop-off site—”

“Let’s go together.”

Before Siwon could finish, Gidan replied with a smile.

“Since things have turned out this way, let’s all go together and finish this fast.”

“If you’re coming, take this.”

Serhi handed over a spare earpiece from his pocket. Gidan accepted it.

“Oh. You can communicate without saying a word? That’s fascinating.”

“Ugh, my head is already noisy enough, don’t say anything unnecessary.”

Siwon, watching Gidan and Serhi bicker as usual, smiled slightly and touched his chest.

In that moment.

Ding!

[Alert! Guardian ‘Jin Siwon’ is in danger!]

Grew cocked his head at the notification that popped up before him.

‘Hmm?’

Uncle’s not in any danger at all right now.

Puzzled, Grew glanced around Siwon again.

After briefly fiddling with his chest, Siwon was already back to discussing urgent business with the others.

‘Could it be that Uncle Hongsam is unwell?’

He might be hiding his illness because of work at the Bureau.

If that’s the case—

‘I have just the thing for situations like this!’

Grew pulled an item from his bag and quietly slipped it into Jin Siwon’s pocket.

“…?”

Feeling a hand in his pocket, Siwon glanced down. When Grew gave him a big, bright smile, he smiled back kindly and spoke gently.

“Grew, I think it’s best for you to head back to your room for now.”

“What?”

“The gentlemen and I have work to do, so it’ll be hard to play with you right now.”

Dun-dun—!

Feeling stunned, Grew turned to look at Gidan and Serhi, but both averted their eyes, staring awkwardly at the ceiling and floor.

‘That’s just mean!’

“One of my colleagues will take you back. Okay?”

At that, Yoon Arin happened to approach, as if she’d been told in advance, and bent down to meet Grew’s eyes.

“Hey there! Grew, you remember me, right?”

Grew nodded.

They had met before at the Bureau, back when Serhi was working part-time in a mascot costume at the guerrilla dungeon.

“Oh my, you’re adorable. All right, I’ll take you back to your room.”

“Okay…”

Grew looked back sadly at the uncle and the older boys, but they were already running off in response to the call.

‘Hmph.’

As Grew, lips pursed with disappointment, took Yoon Arin’s hand and walked along, Mephisto began wriggling inside the slightly open bag, trying to poke its head out.

“Ah—Mephi!”

She had put it in the bag before boarding the plane, but had completely forgotten.

Opening the bag, Grew lifted out the plump baby bird and noticed a sprout had grown from Mephisto’s head.

‘What’s this!’

Grew’s eyes went wide.

Mephisto had merged with the snow rabbit!

‘A-a miraculous transformation…!’

My babies are evolving!

“Amazing!”

When Grew clapped her hands, Mephisto spread its wings wide and spun in a circle, the sprout on its head gently swaying in a tiny dance.

‘I need to show Dad.’

Setting sprout-topped Mephisto on her head, Grew trailed after Yoon Arin once more.

She couldn’t participate in this investigation, but at least her efforts had helped mend things between the older boys.

‘Still, I’m a pretty great Hunter myself…’

She’d even been on TV a lot lately.

As Grew fidgeted with her hands, placating her disappointment—

Ding!

[Due to the effect of (Unknown Title), you have detected an SSS-class vassal that has lost its lord!]

[Would you like to be guided to the location?]

‘Hmph!’

Grew stroked her chin as she studied the small map that appeared before her—it wasn’t far off.

Above all, SSS-class—wasn’t that the very monster the adults were just talking about?

‘And then “vassal.”’

Judging by the Ham Honggi affair—

‘Vassal = subordinate.’

That means…

1. Ham Honggi (vassal) = SSS-class (vassal).
2. Ham Honggi = Grew’s subordinate.
3. SSS-class = Grew’s subordinate.
4. Make the SSS-class her subordinate and solve the adults’ problem too!

As she reached this conclusion, a lightbulb went off above her head.

‘All right!’

Having made up her mind, Grew turned to Yoon Arin.

The adults were sure to do nothing but get in her way.

Grew cleared her throat and tugged on Arin’s hand.

“Sister, sister. Grew needs to go to the bathroom.”

“The bathroom?!”

“It’s coming out!”

Grew stomped her feet urgently.

Anyone with even the slightest suspicion would have seen right through such a flimsy act, but as this was Yoon Arin’s first time taking care of a child, she blanched and hurriedly scooped Grew up, dashing toward the bathroom.