Chick 292
by Cristae292
[Gidan S / Sergey A]
Wooju, who had slightly lowered Sergey’s score, tried to ignore his prickling conscience.
‘Sorry, Sergey hyung.’
It wasn’t as if he held a grudge against Sergey.
It was just that Goo Heeyeon had been paired with Groo for the chick group’s independent project this semester—and Wooju wanted that spot for himself.
As if knowing how much Wooju liked Groo, Goo Heeyeon had subtly proposed a deal.
Goo Heeyeon
If I swap my project partner for you
Goo Heeyeon
Can you give Gidan oppa a higher score?
Goo Heeyeon
(teary-eyed emoticon)
If it had been any other assignment, he wouldn’t have entertained such underhanded tactics—
But the semester project required choosing a topic together with a partner and building a report based on what they’d learned in kindergarten.
Since this was the final assignment of the term, it meant spending quite a bit of time with the partner of your choosing.
It was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.
Wooju steeled himself once more.
Ever since Mephisto had taken human form, a sense of urgency gnawed at him.
He’d never paid the bird any attention before, but now it turned out Mephisto had taken on human form and was interested in Groo as well.
That wasn’t all—human-formed Mephisto was, frankly, charmingly good-looking.
Yes, being pretty was a problem.
In Wooju’s opinion, Groo was the type to swoon over handsome faces.
Hadn’t she called him “Pretty Wooju” from the very first moment they met?
Even now, all he really had to boast to Groo were his looks and his reputation, which stung his pride.
If Groo ever shifted her attentions from “Pretty Wooju” to “Pretty Mepi”…
His heart plummeted.
‘That would be the worst.’
It had to be him—not Mephisto—who showed Groo a dashing and beautiful side.
To do that, he needed to spend more time alone with her.
‘So I have no choice.’
Reassured by his own reasoning, Wooju looked up.
“……?!”
He was met by a pair of amber eyes staring intently at him.
Startled, Wooju sucked in a breath. Why is he looking at me like that?
Flustered, he instinctively hid his tablet behind his back.
Mephisto, narrowing his eyes, seemed to intuit something from Wooju’s reaction and tilted his beak in a sly smile.
‘No way!’
With a sly, mischievous glare, Mephisto hopped down onto Groo’s shoulder and was about to whisper something into her ear.
“W-wait!”
“Mm?”
Groo, who was holding onto her chick tube, turned her face to him.
“Wooju, what’s wrong?”
“N-nothing……”
Each time Mephisto, teasing, lowered his beak to Groo’s ear again, Wooju stiffened, his shoulders tense.
After repeating the motion several times like a predator toying with its prey, Mephisto grinned in satisfaction.
‘Damn!’
Caught red-handed!
“Pip-pipit!”
Mephisto cackled at Wooju’s discomfort, then gestured with his wing to the side.
It meant: we’ll talk about this later.
Defeated, Wooju could only nod.
“……?”
Groo tilted her head, puzzled, and hurried over.
“Wooju, why are you suddenly out of energy?”
“It’s nothing, really……”
“Oh?”
Groo gave a big smile as she massaged his shoulders encouragingly.
“Cheer up!”
This time, it was Mephisto who began to seethe.
Wooju, in turn, leaned gently against Groo, flashing Mephisto a triumphant smile.
Trembling with frustration!
Wooju asked in a deliberately feeble voice,
“Groo.”
“Mm?”
“What kind of person do you like?”
What kind of person…?
Groo thought for a moment, sniffled, and pulled her slipping tube back up around her waist.
“The Supreme.”
“……Aside from the Supreme?”
“Uuum—”
Groo made a cute little noise, thought for a moment—
“The Supreme.”
She pronounced it as resolutely as one might declare “Neutral Territory” in a public square.
……That settled the competition. There was nothing for it but to determine the Supreme fit for Groo.
First, he’d have to defeat that small, cunning bird.
As Wooju renewed his determination and stared Mephisto down, Mephisto glared right back.
Their standoff escalated until a Mephisto Kick headed straight for Wooju’s face.
But—
Slick—
“……!”
Wooju caught Mephisto’s kick in his palm and shoved him back with force.
Mephisto, tumbling through the air, flapped furiously to right himself.
Sparks flew in their eyes. A fight was about to break out.
‘Wooju and Mepi sure are playing hard.’
Having dropped a metaphorical nuclear bomb between Mephisto and Wooju, Groo tiptoed away toward where Sergey and Gidan were filming a training video.
‘Conduct evaluation!’
Peeking over to see how hard the older boys were working, Groo made notes on her tablet. Team One’s Son Taeha knelt down in front of her.
“Groo-groo, what are you up to?”
“I’m checking if the oppas have any conduct flaws.”
“Anything…?”
“Conduct!”
Groo held out her tablet with the checklist.
“Oh, conduct. Right, ‘condut.’ Heh. Important, sure. But what’s this?”
Son Taeha pointed at the names and marks written next to “conduct.”
“Oh, see, we have to pick the top among the oppas.”
“The top?”
Hearing this, Sergey and Gidan, lounging by the sunbeds, perked up their ears.
“Yes, Orchestra Top!”
“Top?”
“With who?”
As the amusing subject came up, both Team One and the filming crew began to gather.
They murmured as they looked at Groo’s tablet.
“Ohh, physical scores~”
“Oh, even conduct and popularity points?”
“Wow, if you ace all of that, you would be the Orchestra top.”
Teasing, Team One made their comments while Gidan, chuckling, settled back onto his seat.
“The big brothers are on the chopping block again.”
“I know, right?”
Sergey let out a snort, then shot to his feet.
“Who even cares about something like that?”
Sergey said coolly, tossing off his shirt.
“Oooh!”
Groo gasped appreciatively and readied her tablet pen.
For some reason, this irked Gidan, who frowned.
“Ser-ser oppa… full of spirit…”
“……”
“Dani oppa… conduct flaws…”
Gidan sat up halfway in protest.
“‘Conduct flaw’? You mean ‘conduct excellence.’”
“Mm?”
Groo gave him a wide-eyed, innocent look.
Gidan gazed at her affectionately for a moment, then turned to Sergey.
Sergey was doing a few simple stretches in front of the pool’s diving board.
Gidan quietly rose and went to stand next to him.
Their eyes met.
“You really aren’t bothered? About being the top?”
Gidan said teasingly, grinning. Sergey’s face darkened a little.
“No. What, you worried you’ll lose to me?”
“Scared?”
“Ha!”
“How about a contest to see who lasts longer?”
“Anytime.”
Splash!
Gidan and Sergey leapt into the pool and began swimming.
The pool had become an utter mess.
Gidan and Sergey were claiming it was a stamina contest and doing laps around the track, while Wooju and Mephisto were fighting to determine a supreme.
Team One and the filming crew began placing bets and shouting encouragement, raucous with excitement.
Meanwhile, Groo, the source of all this chaos, sat on the edge of the pool, her elbows propped on her tube, chin in hands.
Bored!
Watching to see who won and updating the tablet was a tedious job.
“Yaaaaawn—”
Groo opened her mouth wide as she yawned.
With the betting pool swelling ever higher, the adults shouted themselves hoarse at Gidan and Sergey, and Groo narrowed her eyes at their wild behavior.
Just then, Nayeon came over and sat next to her.
“Which side are you on, unni?”
At Groo’s question, Nayeon smiled and shook her head.
“I didn’t bet. It’s just silly, ranking friends like that.”
Is it? Groo yawned, blinking.
Nayeon squealed at her adorableness and playfully pinched Groo’s cheek.
Groo burst out laughing and hugged Nayeon tightly.
‘Hmm, is it not so great?’
A fluffy cloud rose in Groo’s mind.
A little white lamb with red-rimmed glasses lined up Wooju, Heeyeon, Mephisto, Bailach, Lucifer, and various friends by their scores.
The higher-scoring friends looked proud, but those with lower scores wiped tears from their eyes.
But all of them were Groo’s precious friends.
“I think you’re right, unni.”
It’s no good, measuring one friend as better than another.
Having lost all interest in their competition, Groo was about to slip into the pool for a swim—
Bailach, wearing his tube, paddled over with his feet.
“Mew-mew.” (Honestly, what a bunch of idiots.)
The ugly hamster, lying on his back in the tube as if doing the backstroke, shook his head.
“Cute.”
Groo grinned and poked one of Bailach’s chubby cheeks.
“……”
Expressionless, Bailach averted his eyes in embarrassment and blushed slightly.
As Groo spun the tube around for him, Bailach leisurely enjoyed the water and remarked,
“Mew-mew-mew.” (Looks like the winner this time is adorable me.)