Chick 221
by Cristae221
The moment Groo stepped into the bathroom stall, the hamster transformed into the shape of a child.
Wearing a human face, Bailach’s expression soured as he quickly snatched away the bell.
“Bayi, what’s wrong?”
“There’s the smell of that potato fellow in here.”
“Potato fellow?”
“The one I met back when we were doing sports activities.”
“Ah…”
It seemed he was talking about the potato friend he’d eaten lunch with in the potato field.
And now, the very same major criminal Groo was planning to sell out this time…!
“So potato friend is here?”
“Looks like it. I had a feeling something was off. But to think he’d use such a specter.”
“Specter?”
“Specter. This is a tracking fox.”
When Bailach spread his hand, a translucent fox, about the size of the bell, peeked out with its face.
“I’ve been feeding this fox to the bell for hundreds of years. It’s a specter I’d never normally use except to track someone truly remarkable.”
“Hundreds of years?!”
It certainly looked ancient… Groo shook the bell, but it didn’t ring.
‘Dad didn’t seem to know when the bell would ring, either…’
Perhaps the bell would ring when it found whoever it was looking for.
“So… the potato friend was looking for Groo with the bell?”
“It could be me he’s looking for. I am always next to you, after all.”
“But you promised to keep your identity a secret at that time…”
It didn’t sound like a lie.
“Well, maybe I just changed my mind all of a sudden.”
Bailach’s brow tightened, as if he still felt awkward.
At that, Mephisto, who had been listening quietly, began to sing in a lilting tone.
“Peep peep pee- peep- peep-“
“What?”
“If they had to search with a bell like this…”
As Groo questioned her, Bailach translated Mephisto’s words.
“…He must be looking for someone he doesn’t know the identity of.”
Someone he doesn’t know?
But they had met before, and he had even left Groo a gift called SSPED.
He couldn’t possibly not know Groo, and he wouldn’t fail to know where she was, either.
But if the mysterious person that warranted the use of a bell that was centuries old was Groo…
A sudden flash darted through her mind.
Bailach seemed to have reached the same conclusion, for the two exchanged a glance and spoke in turn.
“The one he’s looking for…”
“Jjapso.”
With the answer given, Groo drew a breath.
“Wh-wh-wh-why on earth!”
Why would a major criminal be after Jjapso?
“There can’t be a good reason. Especially if he’s using something like this to find him.”
“Peepi—”
At Bailach’s words, Mephisto nodded furiously.
“…Can’t we just break the bell?”
“No. Touching something like that carelessly could bring a curse upon you.”
“…!”
After a moment’s hesitation, Bailach whispered.
“…Should we just kill him?”
Huh?
Groo started with a jerk and lifted her head—
“Peep.”
Mephisto nodded in agreement.
“W-wait! No!”
Groo quickly intervened, stopping Bailach and Mephisto.
“Why not? He’ll be trouble if we let him go.”
“Peep peep!”
Mephisto, too, folded his wings and raised them as if urging them to do it quickly.
“W-well… Groo has a better idea.”
As Groo softly offered her own suggestion, Bailach and Mephisto furrowed their brows.
“Rejected.”
“Peep—”
“Both of you be quiet, and let’s just go to the toy section.”
Groo, lips pursed, grabbed Bailach and stepped out of the bathroom stall.
Just at that moment, a mother and daughter entered the restroom, their mouths falling open at the sight of a boy in the ladies’ room.
Ack!
Groo’s eyes darted about.
Judging by the angry shadow falling over the mother’s face, this could get out of hand.
It could even end with their parents being called immediately!
Unwilling to let that happen, Groo quickly shook off Bailach’s trousers, improvising on the spot.
“You can go potty by yourself now, Bayi.”
“…?”
“Next time, you have to go to the bathroom by yourself, even without your sister, okay?”
“Ah?!”
Bailach’s face flushed crimson in embarrassment.
Fortunately, however, the tension faded from the mother’s face, and she gently guided her young daughter into a stall.
“I didn’t… I didn’t go!”
Bailach protested that he hadn’t done anything, but Groo dragged the embarrassed child toward the toy section.
After receiving the meal kit from Reiji, Joorim tilted her head slowly.
“This one is better?”
“Look, the expiration date is longer, isn’t it?”
“Your Korean has really improved!”
“I’m always eager when it comes to learning. Though honestly, it’s mostly thanks to this translator.”
Reiji tapped the earset on his ear.
[“It allows on and off in real time, you see.”]
As he said, almost everything Reiji spoke was flowing out in real time, translated by the device.
It wasn’t that Reiji’s Korean had improved, but rather that technology had advanced.
At his banter, Joorim glanced at her watch.
“I’ll give you five seconds from now.”
“Oh, how generous.”
“Explain yourself while I can still afford to be generous.”
Joorim, striving to calm her restless heart, clenched her left hand tightly, while Reiji offered a sly smile.
“I heard you were looking for me. There seems to be a misunderstanding, but as you can see, my Korean isn’t fluent. I simply asked a friend of mine to write the letter.”
“You’re saying some friend I don’t even know tried to trick me? That’s not very convincing. Not like you.”
“I have no reason to be hostile to you. But unfortunately, you have quite a number of friends who aren’t so friendly. Besides, if I had been trying to give you trouble and then run away, I wouldn’t be standing in front of you now, face to face. Well, have I explained myself enough? The eggs?”
“A pack of ten.”
Reiji produced a carton of ten of the priciest, animal welfare-certified eggs for her cart.
“And, I have no interest in provoking the guardian who looks after my son.”
“You killed people, though?”
When Joorim mentioned the relatives who had abused Kazuki and suffered tragic ends, Reiji smiled faintly.
“They had it coming. You wouldn’t, would you?”
“If anything, it’s me who’s been bullied by Kazuki.”
“That’s news I’m happy to hear.”
“Enough small talk. What do you want? Say it quickly and be gone before my daughter comes.”
“Don’t you want to know who this friend who wrote the letter is?”
“Would you tell me?”
“No.”
His uncommunicative manner and the way he seemed to enjoy unsettling others gave him an uncanny resemblance to Kazuki.
“…I have no intention of prying. I’ve got my own circumstances.”
Joorim unfolded and clenched her left hand again and again.
The master of the 99th floor, who had been trying to consume her for so long, had quieted down at some point.
Considering the dates, it was likely from the moment she’d come clean to Groo about why she kept leaving every night.
She thought she might know why.
The 99th floor’s master had reacted to Groo’s emotions. To that concern, that apprehension for what might happen.
It was as if the master had become Groo’s guardian.
If she wanted to maintain this stable state, she had no reason to go seeking someone who might disturb her emotionally.
‘I was in danger just now too.’
Meanwhile, Reiji gave Joorim’s left hand a meaningful glance, then smiled lightly as if in understanding.
“From the look of things, my business isn’t with you, but with someone else.”
“Someone else?”
Joorim questioned, puzzled.
Dodododo—
Groo and Bailach came running up.
“Groo, don’t run in the supermarket.”
Joorim sternly admonished, and Groo skidded to a stop.
Once she saw Groo was walking, Joorim shot a brief glance at Reiji.
Reiji regarded Groo with a look that was both pleased and curious.
Joorim had told Groo nothing in advance about Reiji.
She saw no point in making her worry needlessly.
In fact, on a hunch, she had checked the footage of the sports festival recorded by the man On Suhyeong had assigned to keep watch.
Reiji had not only done Groo no harm, but the two had played together, forming odd little secrets and making promises, even though they didn’t speak each other’s language—a ridiculous children’s game.
So Joorim thought it best that Groo remember their meeting simply as interesting times with a friend.
That being the case, there was no reason for things to turn out like this, even if Groo was happy to see a friend.
“Ar, arrest!”
“…?”
Joorim’s mouth fell open.
In Reiji’s hand hung a pair of toy handcuffs. He must have just grabbed them from the toy section—there was even a price tag still attached.
“Looks like I’ve been caught.”
As Reiji smiled gently, Groo, who had fastened the plastic handcuffs to his left wrist, wiped the sweat from her brow.
“Whew, case closed.”
“…”
Joorim stared, dumbfounded.
Amakusa Reiji, a criminal who had escaped the pursuit of international joint investigation networks, now caught with a pair of plastic handcuffs picked up from the toy section.