Chick 205
by Cristae205
She couldn’t put her finger on who, but among the crowd, there was an unpleasant gaze fixed on her.
Romi sharpened her eyes without thinking, then caught herself—she was in front of the cameras—and smoothed her expression.
‘…Am I still on edge from that incident?’
Romi recalled the day her former agency’s president paid her a visit.
During her idol trainee days, that man had ruined her self-esteem, then denied her a debut. Now he’d resurfaced, bragging about how well his agency treated its actors.
As if Romi would just sit and listen.
“Haven’t you noticed I blocked your number ages ago?”
“Hey, you’re going to work in entertainment for years—you shouldn’t act so uppity. That little spike of attention you got? It won’t last. Even if your song did well, you’ll just be a one-hit wonder. You’ll shine for a moment and that’s it. It’s not like you and S-class Nayeon are in the same boat, you know?”
His voice, cracking with bitterness, still rang in her ears. She shuddered.
‘What business is it of his?’
Forcing a neutral expression, Romi walked out of the shed.
He must have mentioned Nayeon on purpose, knowing full well that as her fellow debut group member, Romi might harbor feelings of inferiority.
A darkness she could do nothing about forced her head down. It was a burden she’d carry her whole life.
At least she’d been praised for expressing such feelings with depth and nuance in her singing.
‘Don’t worry about it, strong Romi. The guy’s notorious for being a piece of garbage.’
She was bracing herself again when—
VROOOOM!
Thump!
The sound of brakes brought her tangled, sour mood to a halt.
The kids had returned on their tricycle, with a cart carrying thirty eggs trailing behind!
“Why—why did you buy them?!”
Romi asked, startled, as Wooju and Groo hopped off the bike and answered in turn.
“…If we take the eggs, the chicks won’t get to be with their mom.”
“Yeah. And I don’t like baby chicks that aren’t finished. We wanted safe eggs to eat.”
“Beep beep.”
Mephisto, usually mistaken for a plump chick but perfectly happy to swallow egg dishes, nodded in earnest.
“Baby chicks that aren’t finished…? Oh, I get what you mean…”
Romi, raised in the countryside, had experienced it as well—cracking an egg only to find a chick half-formed inside.
“…Yeah, that’s horrible.”
“Ugh.”
“Yikes.”
“Beep.”
The three of them and the little bird all shivered.
“So that’s why you bought some?”
“Yep!”
Romi burst out laughing and took the children’s hands.
Groo pulled the cart over to the hearth, where Kazuki, who’d been blowing carefully on the flames, took one look at the unmistakably store-bought eggs and burst into laughter.
“Groo-chan, you must have really wanted eggs!”
“We’re allowed to buy ingredients?”
At some point, Joorim had wandered over, shuffling his way toward them.
Groo tried to hide the cart behind her and shook her head vigorously.
“If you don’t help, you can’t eat.”
“……”
In the end, Joorim found himself standing next to Kazuki, helping crack eggs.
And while this scene of cheerful chaos played out as the group prepared dinner together, someone in the background was quietly smiling to himself.
As the first day drew to a close, a man who’d hidden as an assistant staff member waited until nightfall to begin his real task.
Although both cast and staff seemed to have fallen into dead slumber, he couldn’t afford to be careless.
He moved only after confirming Joorim had left, but there was still one more S-class Hunter around. Even if you were a master of crafting, it wouldn’t do to let your guard down.
Stealthily, the man sprayed a colorless, odorless sleeping agent into Kazuki’s room, then crept into the room where all the cast’s belongings were stashed.
Crrrreek—
Inside the empty room, suitcases and bags were clustered together.
Having found his target, he rushed forward and was about to open a suitcase.
A flowerpot—brought by the child named Groo—was sitting on the windowsill, glowing softly with mana in the moonlight.
‘Mana?’
And an acorn shouldn’t be growing like this.
The plant consisted of a single stem rising from a pair of seed leaves, with an acorn just barely budding on top.
Suddenly, his hand reached for the flowerpot—irresistible curiosity surging up: what could this be?
But then—
Whish—
The stem bent like a bow, dodging his hand.
‘Did it move?’
He tried again, reaching from another side—
Whish—it dodged again.
“…!”
Not only that. The plant, now evading his fingers, began to tremble all over.
Annoyed, the man tried to grab the bulging base of the roots.
From the soil, a small, round, white something popped up and bit him.
Chomp!
“Ah! Damn!”
He snatched his hand back.
‘…It bit me?’
Drops of blood welled up on his hand.
And the white thing had disappeared back under the soil.
Anger flared. Roughly now, he tried to grab the whole pot, when—
“You’re not supposed to touch that…”
A drowsy, languorous voice—an unmistakable child’s.
Startled, he spun around. At the door, rubbing her eyes, stood Groo.
Yaaawn—Groo asked,
“Mister, what are you doing in here?”
“Huh? Oh, I, uh… was looking for something.”
Adjusting his brimmed hat, the man stood, still chewing gum.
“It’s really dark in here.”
“I can see just fine.”
“Oh, I see. Did you find what you needed?”
“Yeah, yeah. I’d better get going…”
Alertly scanning the area, the man hurried to leave—but then felt a tiny hand tugging at his pant leg.
“Mister…”
“Hm? What?”
“I, um, need to use the bathroom. But it’s too dark and I’m scared.”
“Oh, is that so?”
“Yeah…”
“Won’t your dad be back soon?”
Groo’s eyebrows drooped miserably.
“But I really have to go.”
“…All right, I’ll go with you.”
Nod, nod.
Groo took the man’s hand.
She’d been waiting and searching for her still-absent father, but now she simply couldn’t hold it.
‘Where did Daddy go, anyway?’
Groo followed the man outside, looking everywhere for her father.
Lately, Joorim had been acting strange.
Even when Groo replenished his mana, he just slept all day. And then slipped out at night. Today, too, after coming to this mana-rich countryside, it was the same.
He’d lazed the day away, not working at all—just an extension of his recent behavior.
She hadn’t expected him to keep this up even with the cameras rolling.
‘Daddy is amazing.’
In so many ways.
‘…But still.’
Groo glanced up at the man’s face under his wide-brimmed hat.
He was with the “assistant staff,” wasn’t he?
‘How did he know Daddy wasn’t around?’
Had he run into him? Groo opened her mouth to ask.
“Mister?”
“Here we are. Go ahead.”
“Oh!”
Groo stepped into the outhouse, shivering from the chill.
“Mister, you’re still there?”
“I’m here.”
“Okay.”
When she’d finished and stepped back outside, the man was fixing his hat and already striding toward the house.
Groo scurried after him.
‘It got colder again all of a sudden.’
She rubbed her arms for warmth as she caught up—and then, suddenly, a lightbulb went off in her head.
If the man had met Daddy going out, maybe he knew where he’d gone.
“Mister, did you see my dad earlier?”
“…What?”
For a moment, the man’s face hardened, making Groo jump in surprise.
“Why do you ask?”
Why did he suddenly look so scary?
“Um, I was just curious.”
“You’re curious about everything, aren’t you?”
“Do you know where he went?”
“No, I don’t.”
Rustle—
Just then, a sound.
Groo and the man both turned to look toward the vegetable patch.
They both spoke at once.
“Daddy?”
[“…Chun Chun?”]
“Huh?”
Chueeeng?
The quick accent and unfamiliar ring—was that a foreign language?
“Mister, did you come from another country?”
“…”
“Which one? Japan?”
Hmm, it didn’t sound Japanese…
“Or somewhere else?”
Pressed by questions, the man looked down at Groo, his face growing stiffer.
After hesitating a moment, he spoke quietly.
“Groo.”
“Yes?”
“There’s a ghost in this place.”
“Eh…?”
Why did he say something so scary, suddenly? Groo’s mouth dropped open, hands clasped before her chest.
“Aren’t you cold right now?”
Groo timidly nodded.
“I heard from the village head: there’s a ghost around here stealing vegetables and fruit.”
A ghost…? Stealing?
Groo shuddered, imagining a terrifying white-faced specter.
Even though she was one of the bravest in Chick Class, it didn’t mean Groo wasn’t scared of the dark or creepy things.
For kids like her, Ms. Jungyoon at Saebom Kindergarten always said—
“B-but Teacher said there aren’t any ghosts…”
So she’d heard.
But the man gave her a crooked smile.
“Then why do you think it feels so cold right now?”
“Eek!”
Groo whipped her head frantically from side to side.
Thankfully she saw nothing, but the darkness felt so deep she worried something might be lurking.
“So be careful of ghosts. Understand?”
The man looked on with satisfaction at the now-stiff Groo, then brought her back to her room.
Click—
Behind the closed door, Groo crawled deep under the covers in the silence.
Mephisto and Bailach, waking from their slumber, shuffled over to snuggle close as Groo returned, and soon fell asleep again. Groo wrapped them up in her arms and rolled her eyes.
She doubted she’d be getting much sleep tonight.
An owl’s hoot echoed through the night.
The man pressed something on his watch, sending a transmission, then folded his arms restlessly.
Soon, a notification blinked on the watch—he seemed to receive a reply.
Meanwhile—
A shadow crept through the fields.
Eyes, so black they seemed to draw in all light, scanned the surroundings.
Grrrrrrr—
Keeping a wary eye on the man, it hid behind a tree and watched everything.
Then took a bite from a freshly pulled carrot.
Crunch—