*
That night.
After eating a hearty dinner, Geuru lay beside the deeply sleeping Jurim and opened her eyes fiercely.
Whether it was an animal or a ghost, she would see it clearly with her own two eyes and prove that her kindergarten teacher’s teachings were not wrong.
Because to a kindergartener, the teachings of a kindergarten teacher were an absolute truth, like the sun rising in the east.
And that was not all.
Geuru shot a glare at Jurim’s sleeping face.
She planned to pretend to be asleep, then, when Dad tried to sneak out, grab him by the tail and sternly ask where he was going.
Yes, that was what she would do!
How much time had passed since she made up her mind? A colorless, odorless incense began to seep slowly into Geuru’s room.
……
……
……
“Peep! Peeeep!”
Geuru woke blearily at the noisy chirping by her ear.
Mephisto was pushing at Geuru’s cheek with both wings, trying to wake her up.
“Slurp.”
Geuru swallowed the drool at the corner of her mouth.
Huh? She had definitely only meant to pretend to sleep for a little while.
She hurriedly checked the time.
11 p.m.
Dad was nowhere to be seen, and outside the window, it was already pitch-dark.
‘I failed!’
Was it because she had shaken the tambourine too passionately for the first time in a while?
She had asked Beilak and Mephisto to wake her up, but if she was only waking up at this hour…
“Mephi, you slept too?”
“Piiing.”
Mephisto lowered his head, brought his two wings together, and swayed his body from side to side.
It meant he had no excuse.
Geuru glared at Beilak, who was snoring away with his belly exposed, then comforted Mephi.
“It’s okay. He might not be back yet.”
“Peep—”
Mephisto nodded, fluttered up, and settled on top of Geuru’s head. Geuru took a fork out of her inventory.
“Let’s go.”
“Peep!”
“We’re moving out. Peep Ghost Hunters!”
The fork and wing feathers thrust toward the sky.
“Hmph!”
“Peep!”
Geuru snorted and gripped the fork tightly in both hands, then stealthily headed for the vegetable garden.
Creeping along like that.
As Geuru and Mephisto drew close to the garden, their eyes went wide.
“……!”
A long-haired figure was moving around in front of the vegetable garden.
The corners of Geuru’s mouth trembled.
“Me-Mephi. Go over there and see who it is.”
But Mephisto was just as frightened.
“Peep peep……”
Mephisto shook his head and clung tightly to Geuru’s head.
“Mephi, you coward.”
“Peep peep peep.”
[Geuru, coward!]
A pop-up window appeared, translating Mephisto’s retort.
Geuru puffed out her cheeks sulkily. He had been sending hearts just a little while ago, and now he was calling her a coward. Two servings of meanie.
Geuru and Mephisto, who had been quietly criticizing each other, clamped their mouths shut and called a temporary truce.
“We go on three.”
“Peep.”
Hoo— After breathing out deeply and steeling herself, Geuru counted in a whisper.
One, two, three—!
Then the fork charged toward the intruder.
But at the sound of the child’s pattering steps, the intruder whipped around and reached for the fork.
“Got—!”
“Waaah~!”
“Huh?”
“Mm?”
Iromi, who had grabbed Geuru’s fork, and Geuru, who had let out a strange scream because her fork had been caught, blinked at each other.
“……Geuru? Why aren’t you sleeping? What are you doing here?”
Romi unni? She’s not a ghost?
Geuru’s eyes even welled with tears of relief as she sniffled loudly.
“A gho…… a ghoost…… sniff!”
“A ghoost?”
Nod, nod.
“I came to catch…… the ghoost, hic!”
“Ah, the crop-thieving ghost?”
Iromi, who had heard the staff talking about it, nodded.
“You couldn’t sleep and came out because of that? Our baby must have been scared. You were startled, weren’t you? Unni’s sorry.”
“Heeung……”
When Iromi patted her back, Geuru whimpered and burrowed into her arms.
Sniffle, sniff! Geuru was tucked in that warm embrace, sniffling, when—
Grooooowl—
“Our baby, are you hungry?”
Shake, shake.
“That growl wasn’t Geuru.”
“Hm? Then……”
In an instant, the blood drained from Iromi’s face, and even Geuru, realizing what it meant, went pale as her eyes trembled.
“Wh-who’s there?”
Iromi’s voice shook.
Someone other than them was here.
Iromi moved Geuru behind her, and Geuru once again tightened her grip on the hand holding the fork.
“I’m going to call people. Come out right now.”
After a brief silence.
Rustle—
The sound of leaves brushing came from the grass.
A long-haired figure appeared hesitantly, shoulders hunched, looking like a criminal.
Groooooooowl—
Once again, a loud sound like thunder came from her stomach.
“……I’m sorry.”
Chuen hurriedly bowed her head deeply.
Geuru’s eyes went round.
A face pale as a ghost. Pitch-black hair and eyes.
No matter how she looked at her, this was someone familiar.
“Jeju Island unni?”
Chapter: The Price of Good Deeds
“Not…… Jeju Island. I’m Chuen.”
Still on guard, Iromi asked cautiously.
“By any chance, are you the owner of this house……? No, right?”
“No.”
Lifting her head, she spoke with the detachment of some ascetic cultivating the Way.
“I don’t have a home. I’m being chased, so I have nowhere to go.”
Gasp! Geuru drew in a breath, and Iromi closed her mouth in bewilderment.
‘D-did she borrow money from loan sharks or something?’
“Then why were you in the field……”
“I was hungry. ……I’m sorry.”
Her words were halting, and despite her expressionless face, it was obvious she was embarrassed.
Letting out a deep sigh, Iromi pressed her palm to her forehead.
“Ah, and here I thought you were someone the boss sent……”
“Bawss?”
“Yeah. There is one. A bad person who treats unni very meanly…… I thought that person was trying to interfere with my broadcast, so I was waiting……”
Then what was that unpleasant gaze? Iromi trailed off and tilted her head.
“Is the bad bawss bothering unni? Should Geuru scold him for you?”
Iromi chuckled.
“It’s okay. Even if Geuru doesn’t scold him, he’s a bad person, so a scary ghost will take him away.”
At that moment, Chuen, who had been quietly listening, blinked and said blankly,
“I can take him away for you.”
“Pardon?”
“Mm?”
When Iromi and Geuru’s gazes landed on her, perhaps embarrassed, her expressionless face flushed slightly.
“Never mind……”
Iromi crossed her arms, let out a deep sigh, and stood up.
“I understand your situation…… But anyway, since you’re not the homeowner, I think it would be best for you to talk to the police.”
“What?!”
The one who asked back in shock was not Chuen, but Geuru.
Kneeling on the ground, Chuen looked at Geuru with a puzzled expression.
Geuru sidled up beside Chuen and looked up at Iromi with sparkling eyes.
“Chuu unni says she’s being chased.”
“Well……”
In Iromi’s mind, the image of a thin, petite woman being chased by gangsters flashed by.
She looked like a foreigner—had she been scammed somewhere?
“Chuu unni says she’s hungry too……”
“That’s……”
Grooooowl—
Right then, Chuen’s stomach rumbled like thunder, and Geuru drooped her eyebrows as if to say, See?
“We have to help her.”
Geuru declared resolutely, standing between Chuen and Iromi.
“Food first.”
“……”
Grooooowl—
“……I’m sorry.”
Chuen apologized again with an expressionless face, and Iromi covered her face with both hands.
“Geuru, do you know this person?”
Geuru nodded.
“A little.”
In the end, Iromi nodded once as if she had no choice.
I don’t know why I’m so weak to the type of people I feel like I have to look after.
“……Wait here for just a moment. I’ll make some rice balls and bring them over. For now, after you eat, we can talk then about calling the police or waking someone else.”
After saying that, Iromi turned toward the furnace.
There should be some rice left that she had saved for tomorrow, so she planned to mix in a little sesame oil and make rice balls.
“Phew—”
Once Romi left, Geuru let out a sigh of relief and wiped her forehead.
Feeling a sense of kinship as a fellow criminal with circumstances of her own, Geuru looked at Chuen pitifully.
‘Mm, the police really are dangerous.’
Moreover, Chuen was a caregiver candidate.
The notification that she could be registered as a caregiver if her attachment level increased was still valid.
‘Caregiver candidate = good person’
It was sad for a good person to be hungry enough for her stomach to growl.