Sereuhi glanced back and forth between the surprised guild leader and I Taemin, letting out a groan.
“Ah.”
Though he showed no sign of pain whatsoever, he judged that it was better to express it at least like this.
Sereuhi furrowed his brow, gesturing with his chin toward Gru.
[“Were you thinking of hitting her?”]
When Sereuhi spoke fiercely, the flustered guild leader stammered and repeated apologies over and over.
“S-sorry! Sorry! I wasn’t going to do that!”
[“You son of a bitch, you wanna get reported?”]
“N-no. That’s not it, there seems to be a misunderstanding……. Hey, hey, Taemin. He seems to be your friend, so talk to him properly. Got it?”
The guild leader pushed Taemin, who had been standing blankly beside him, to the front.
Then he dashed away.
Watching that pathetic retreat, Sereuhi picked Gru up properly in his arms.
After first checking that Gru had no injuries, Sereuhi grumbled.
“You go around letting guys like that hit you?”
Taemin surveyed Sereuhi’s face with a somehow complicated expression.
“Hey, are you okay? Let me see. Want to go to the nurse’s office?”
“I’m fine. He was so fucking weak I didn’t even feel like I got hit.”
Hearing Sereuhi’s profanity, Gru squirmed.
Then Sereuhi corrected himself as if annoyed.
“He was supremely weak. Your guild leader.”
Taemin suddenly burst out laughing at Sereuhi’s strange quirk of speech.
“Yeah. That hyung is supremely weak.”
Gru nodded proudly, watching the two high schoolers converse in proper language.
Perhaps thanks to sound and healthy linguistic exchange, favorability shot up with a pop above Sereuhi’s head.
The favorability displayed like a mercury thermometer had already risen by 2 degrees.
‘Oh!’
Did it go up by 2 degrees at once?
When he checked the piggy bank, it was 1,000 points per degree, totaling 2,000 points saved up.
‘This is……!’
Incredible!
To gain 2,000 points this quickly!
As a brief silence settled, Taemin spoke awkwardly with an embarrassed expression.
“Thanks. It’s kind of weird to say this now, but…… you didn’t have to get hit in my place.”
What was he talking about. Sereuhi had absolutely no intention of getting hit in anyone’s place. Gru had dashed out, and he’d gotten hit while trying to grab her, that was all.
“No, I—”
What blocked Sereuhi from opening his mouth to correct the misunderstanding was Gru.
“If you do that again, Sereuhi oppa will get hit in your place again!”
“……?”
Me?
While Sereuhi, who had no such intention at all, was bewildered, Gru shouted loudly.
“Because Sereuhi oppa is nice!”
The little one effortlessly said something she had never heard in her life without batting an eye.
Taemin nodded with a face full of guilt.
“I think I misunderstood you a little. I thought you just butted heads with everyone else and didn’t care about anything.”
“No, I—”
That wasn’t a misunderstanding, it was the truth.
“That’s right!”
But this little one kept blocking his words and only multiplying the misunderstanding.
“Sereu oppa ith bad at making fiends. Thath why oppa should be nice to him.”
Taemin smiled, meeting Gru’s eyes as if she was cute.
“Yeah. I owe him too, so I’ll treat Sereuhi well.”
“No, there’s no need to…….”
“Ungh, Gru twusts oppa.”
They were having a conversation between themselves, leaving the person in question behind.
“……?”
What about my opinion?
He felt like a high school son who had been told “Play nicely with my child” by a kindergartener’s guardian. It was an indescribably dirty feeling.
Well, what could he do about it. Thinking it was no big deal, Sereuhi left the spot, carrying Gru.
Without even knowing that Gru and Taemin had secretly exchanged numbers via Bluetooth…….
Gru smiled broadly, clicking away with her phone to take photos, then sent a message.
Sereu oppa
I think I’ll make another friend
Sereu oppa is amazing
Jin Siwon
So amazing (crying)
Thanks for letting me know, Gru (crying)
*
Gru
Sere-sere
At lunch time
Follow me to the rooftop
Is this a challenge letter.
Sereuhi, who had been checking his phone while resting his chin in the classroom, sauntered outside as soon as the bell rang.
Whatever it was, she had probably called him for something trivial, but staying in the classroom only made him feel bad under the sticky stares.
The moment he went up to the rooftop thinking of a few reasons.
“……What is all this.”
Seeing the large group with Gru, Sereuhi turned his body to go back.
But the voices calling him were faster.
“Oppa!”
“Sere-sere!”
“Sereu hyung, hello.”
Following Gru waving her hand high and Gidan, Uju greeted with a bow. I Taemin was beside him too.
Gru pointed to the empty seat next to I Taemin.
“Oppa’s seat.”
“Dani brought your lunchbox. Didn’t she do well?”
“Hyung, this is radish I grew. Please eat it.”
“And this is a potato Gru grew!”
“Uh, uhh…….”
Sereuhi sat down in a daze, accepting the braised radish and stir-fried potatoes on top of his lunchbox.
I Taemin burst into a pfft laugh.
“What are you splitting?”
“Your Korean is good.”
“Ah, so fucking annoying.”
“Watch your mouth, Sere-sere.”
When Gidan scolded him, Sereuhi glanced at him with a side-eye.
“Why did you come?”
“I came to see my baby.”
Gidan hugged Gru.
“Danni oppa came to eat wif Gru!”
Gru hugged Gidan back too.
“So what. Is that not allowed?”
“Ugh, seeing the face I saw since morning again makes me sick.”
At that, Gidan smiled and patted Taemin’s shoulder.
“Taemin, he may talk like this, but he’s nice.”
“That’s wight, Sere oppa ith nith. Be good to him.”
Gru patted Taemin’s hand too.
Having received warm gazes of encouragement from a same-age friend and a kindergartener, Sereuhi’s face flushed red.
“Won’t you two be quiet?!”
Meanwhile, Uju fidgeted restlessly while watching Gidan and Gru hugging, then squeezed himself between them.
“……Hyung, don’t hug Gru so much……. Men and women should not sit together after the age of seven.”
When Uju spoke softly and sent a sullen gaze as if keeping him in check, Gidan smirked.
Ugh! Uju’s shoulders flinched at that mischievous grin. There was no doubt it was the face of ‘This is a very amusing sight, isn’t it?’
Uju tried to change the subject elsewhere, but it was futile.
As expected.
‘This is fun.’
That was exactly what Gidan was thinking.
He was wondering if it was a one-sided crush and thought about teasing him a bit, just then.
As the flustered Uju’s magic power fluctuated, Gidan suddenly stared at Uju intently.
From the first time they met, he had possessed great mana, so he had thought he would awaken someday, but…….
“Uju, Uju, did you by any chance awa—…….”
“Yes?”
Uju’s pupils shook violently, dropping the stir-fried potato he had been holding with his chopsticks.
“Why, is something wrong? I’m fine……?”
His face was full of troubled signs.
He had only been about to ask if he had awakened.
To ordinary people, awakening was practically a blessing.
Especially in Korea, where one had to suffer through entrance exam hell, awakening was nothing but an advantage no matter which career path one chose.
‘……Is there some other circumstance?’
Gidan shrugged and ruffled Uju’s hair.
“Mmhmm, it’s nothing.”
Only then did Uju let out a sigh of relief, as if thanking his luck.
“Then do you live together, Gidan hyung and Sereuhi?”
I Taemin asked, receiving stir-fried potato from Gru.
“Why is he ‘hyung’ and I’m Sereuhi?”
“What do you mean. Second year. First year.”
Gidan appealed that he was a second year by making a V sign.
“He should have been held back…….”
“Hey, don’t say scary things. I was so scared I had a dream, you know. Every time I woke up in bed, it was a dream that I had become a first year.”
Gidan hunched over, wrapping his arms around himself.
Sereuhi gestured with his chin toward Gidan, who had turned pale.
“I live with someone like this. It must really suck, right? Ugh, it sucks so bad.”
“Eung, I’m tho happy.”
“Ahahaha!”
The group conversed in their own way cheerfully, and Uju, who had no interest in the hyungs’ talk, placed braised radish on top of Gru’s lunchbox.
Just as Gru took a big chomp of the savory braised radish.
Pop! Mephisto squeezed his face out from inside Gru’s bag.
“Is it tasty?”
“Ungh. Gru ith eating mu-jorim for the first time.”
“Me too. It totally seems like something grandpas eat.”
“I shoulda grown thomething elth instead of mu.”
“What? Chives?”
“Um……. Aren’t chives a bit weird? Uju, you’re like a grandma.”
“Why?!”
Mephisto quietly watched Gru and Uju chatting as they ate their meal.
Only the friends around her and Uju were contained in Gru’s gaze.
At times like that, Mephisto’s shoulders would grow cold, and his chest would throb.
Having turned five and enrolled in a preschool program, Gru was preoccupied with forming new bonds, and Mephisto often felt from the child’s gaze that he was gradually being pushed to the back.
Today, just like now.