Serhi grimaced.
“You’re crying again?”
“Ah, seeing you looking healthy made me cry again……”
“I know why you’re crying, so stop already! I told you it wasn’t your fault?!”
At Serhi’s scolding, Siwon flung his arms around him.
Suddenly embraced by his older brother, Serhi let out a sigh with half his soul seeming to have escaped his face.
‘I shouldn’t have suddenly started thinking about the past.’
Siwon had cried so much after waking up in the hospital that it took two whole days before they could have a proper conversation.
For Serhi, who had no talent for comforting someone who was crying, yet wasn’t cold enough to simply stand by and watch, it had been an eternity in hell.
“So…… how many times do I have to say it? That was something Irina did. You don’t need to feel sorry for what happened.”
Siwon silently nodded at the words Serhi had repeated countless times.
Serhi steadied his breathing as he recalled the past.
He had left the orphanage holding Irina’s hand, been sold from place to place, and eventually become a test subject. Irina had then pulled him out and kept him by her side.
In order to completely break Jin Siwon and keep him close.
Serhi continued in a voice cold as ice.
“And Irina is already dead.”
After reporting that Irina’s corpse had been completely burned, they said they had cremated it and buried it somewhere. It must have been the last bit of pity that remained because she was family.
Siwon had offered to tell Serhi where Irina was buried if he wanted to know, but Serhi shook his head.
‘It’s not like I feel relieved now that she’s dead, and it’s not like I’m resentful because I couldn’t kill her with my own hands.’
Just as when he had learned that Siwon was his older brother, he felt nothing whatsoever. He was simply calm.
‘Maybe it still doesn’t feel real.’
After all, he had merely watched the memories recreated by the elixir as if they were a movie.
Perhaps the memories had been buried for too long to evoke any intense emotions.
Serhi merely wondered, all of a sudden, where the anger he had carried with him all this time had gone.
‘Come to think of it, I’ve been too busy being pushed around from one place to another lately…….’
While Serhi continued thinking, Siwon wiped away his tears and picked up his suitcase. He turned around just as he was about to leave the hospital room.
“Where are you going to stay now? You can come to our house. We have plenty of rooms.”
“You’re a little uncomfortable. You cry too often.”
When Serhi flatly refused, the corners of Siwon’s mouth drooped dejectedly.
Siwon seemed to be trying to act like an older brother now, but to Serhi, who still hadn’t gotten used to the idea, it was only uncomfortable.
“Then should we go to a hotel?”
Serhi pondered Siwon’s question for a moment before opening his mouth.
*
The guildmaster’s office of Hyeonak.
After receiving special training from the legendary acting veteran.
In front of the sofa where Gidan and Nayeon were sitting, Geuru waved branches in both hands, fluttering them about.
“A tree when the wind blows!”
“Does the wind blow too?”
At Gidan’s question, Geuru stopped fluttering the branches and tilted his head.
“Ummm, it might blow.”
“That’s right. Even though we’re inside a theater, the wind might blow.”
Gidan bit down hard on his lip because of Jurim, who kept shooting him warning looks whenever he smiled.
Nayeon, sitting beside him, was too busy clapping and taking pictures, saying that Geuru was cute and pretty no matter what happened.
“Tree Geuru, you’re so cute! Geuru, look at me!”
Encouraged by Nayeon, Geuru lifted the branches again.
Click! Click!
As the nonstop photo session continued, Geuru showed off a few more skills he had learned from Uju: a tree suffering as a deer nibbled off its young leaves, a tree dreaming of revenge against the deer, and so on.
Knock knock—
After two or three knocks, the door to the guildmaster’s office opened.
Geuru recognized the visitor and shouted.
“Big brother!”
When Geuru ran over and threw himself into his arms, Serhi picked him up.
“Big brother, big brother, does it not hurt anymore?”
“It doesn’t hurt, so they discharged me. What are those branches?”
“Umm, Geuru is a tree.”
“So that’s why you put a sprout on your head?”
“It’s not a sprout…….”
Drawing out the end of his words, Geuru wrapped his arms around Serhi’s neck and rubbed his soft cheek against him.
“……Big brother Serhi, don’t get hurt anymore.”
His voice was full of worry.
Serhi patted the child’s back.
“……All right.”
“Everyone was really, really worried.”
“I won’t get hurt anymore.”
As Serhi soothed Geuru, his eyes happened to meet Gidan’s.
Because Jin Siwon had clung to him and burst into tears whenever he had the chance, Serhi had even refused visitors. Thus, this was his first time seeing Gidan since Jeju Island.
Gidan pouted as he looked at the suitcase Serhi had brought.
“I was thinking of just using your room as a storage room.”
“Don’t touch it. Before you go to sleep in your own room.”
“Hmph. Then where is Dandi supposed to sleep?”
“How should I know? Sleep on the living room sofa or something.”
“That’s mean.”
Despite his words, Gidan replied with a broad grin and immediately threw his arms around Serhi and Geuru.
“Ah! You crazy bastard! Aren’t you going to let go?!”
“No, no.”
When Gidan began to act spoiled, Geuru hugged Gidan as well.
“Let’s all be fwiends.”
“Yeah, let’s be friends, friend.”
“Ha…….”
As Serhi gave up and sighed, Nayeon abruptly stood and embraced the three of them, who had become one tightly packed bundle.
“What are you doing?!”
Having been embraced by a woman for the first time in his life, Serhi’s face turned bright red.
“I want to join too.”
“No, wait, stop!”
Why was everyone making such a fuss over hugging each other?!
Just then, Nayeon called him in a gentle voice.
“Serhi.”
“Y-Yes?”
Seeing Serhi respond politely out of flustered confusion, Gidan burst into a cackling laugh.
“I’m sad that you only play with them. Let’s get close too, with noona.”
Rolling his eyes back and forth, Serhi moved his lips before answering in a tiny voice.
“Yes…….”
“Ahahahahahahahaha!”
Gidan finally couldn’t hold back and roared with laughter, making Serhi grit his teeth.
‘Damn it!’
In the end, there was only one place left for him to turn to.
Serhi sent a pleading look toward Jurim, who was sitting in a chair and watching as though this had nothing to do with him.
But Jurim merely rested his chin on the armrest and smiled faintly.
“Welcome back.”
At Jurim’s greeting, Serhi pressed his lips together.
‘Right. I should ask someone I can actually expect something from.’
Instead, Serhi answered awkwardly.
“……Yeah.”
He had never been comfortable with relationships with other people.
Other people’s concern and attention had only ever been irritating and bothersome.
But the anger and wounds left behind by his intense past had gradually grown dull.
And ordinary experiences—arguments born from relationships, light embraces, words of welcome—had begun to evoke a wider variety of emotions.
For the first time, Serhi felt as though he had returned home.
Bang!
The sound of a cat-paw stamp being imprinted.
It meant that the long-neglected Nurturer Quest had been completed.
[Nurturer Quest: Welcoming a New Nurturer!]
[Let’s welcome the new nurturer! Make a friend the nurturer can rely on, as they may not yet be accustomed to their unfamiliar surroundings.]
[Quest Complete!]
‘Heehee!’
With a bright smile, Geuru hugged his nurturers tightly.
*
One week later.
The small theater where the school festival was being held.
Jeong Yuni, the homeroom teacher of the Chick Class, stood beside the director, unable to hide her discomfort as she shifted restlessly from foot to foot.
The director looked around the crowded theater and spoke with a groan.
“Maybe we should have rented the grand theater.”
“It is a bit much, isn’t it……?”
Jeong Yuni added an embarrassed smile, feeling needlessly sorry.
Even then, shutter sounds continued to explode without pause.
Click! Click!
Reporters and the children’s families alike had gathered before the festival had even begun, all holding up their phones and cameras and focusing on one place.
The group seated at the front of the theater.
Onsu Hyeong and his son, On Jurim, were there fiddling with a camcorder, with Uju and his manager sitting beside them. Around them, the rankers of Hyeonak and Jin Siwon were chatting together.
‘So Uju was that Seo Uju…….’
Jeong Yuni laughed hollowly. The child named Uju whom Geuru talked about so often was the child actor Uju.
Because of the guests Geuru had invited, the small theater hosting the school festival resembled nothing so much as a year-end broadcasting awards ceremony.
The director patted the uneasy Jeong Yuni on the shoulder.
“Teacher Yuni, don’t be so nervous. It’s fine. I’ve never had a student like Geuru either, but what can we do?”
“I’m sorry. His father had done such a good job of keeping him from receiving too much attention until now.”
“Well, that may have been possible until now, but there’s no helping it when it comes to a child’s school festival.”
“Right, the school festival…….”
“Still, it seems our Geuru is very well loved by Hyeonak.”
“I know, right?”
The two teachers were looking at each other and smiling fondly when Geuru came out in a tree costume, creaking as he took his place at the center of the stage.