Chapter Who Is the Winner?
Kang Je-i, a first-year student in Justitia High School, stood beneath a tree in the kindergarten’s backyard, arms folded as she looked down.
Three children stood in a line facing her.
Gu Hiyen, On Geuru, and Seo Uju……
After scanning their kindergarten name tags, Kang Je-i spoke sharply.
“So, which one of you is ‘GidanIsTheFuture’?”
Swish, swish—the heads of Uju and Geuru turned toward Gu Hiyen.
Gu Hiyen frowned slightly and retorted with all the edge she could muster.
“Are you ‘SergeiLicker’?”
“Right. I’m ‘SergeiLicker.’”
Kang Je-i looked Gu Hiyen up and down as if sizing her up, then swept her hair back.
“I’ll tell ‘GidanIsTheFuture’ this much: I always give it my all, even against kindergartners.”
Gu Hiyen began to tremble.
“Someone like that is an immature adult.”
“Oh my god! I’ve never heard anything like that before.”
Kang Je-i repeatedly swept her hair back, sounding deeply insulted.
Watching her, Geuru thought, Heh…… That big sister is still just as immature.
“So the three of you came out to take Gidan’s side? There’s only one of me, but there are three of you?”
The high schooler Kang Je-i, who was counting heads in front of three kindergarteners, had already pulled up Ham Hong-gi’s number on her phone, clearly intending to call him if things came to it.
At that, Geuru and Uju shook their heads vigorously.
Gu Hiyen turned on them resentfully, but if it wasn’t true, it wasn’t true.
“Geuru came ’cause Hiyen called her.”
“I just followed Geuru.”
“Is that so?”
Kang Je-i put her phone away and glared at Gu Hiyen.
Leaving her two useless friends behind, Gu Hiyen stepped forward, clenched both fists, and opened her mouth.
“Gidan oppa is the best in Hyeonak.”
“Nononono! Sergei is the top in Hyeonak. Sergei won in contribution to the exchange match, too, didn’t he? Right?”
Kang Je-i looked at Geuru and Uju, seeking their agreement.
“Umm……”
“Uh……”
Then Gu Hiyen shouted, unwilling to lose.
“Gidan oppa gave the actual orders! My dad said Gidan oppa did better, too. Right?”
Gu Hiyen also turned to Geuru and Uju, asking for their agreement.
“Umm……”
Geuru hesitated, making a small groaning sound, so Uju spoke timidly.
“Uh…… But…… Geuru was the MVP……”
“Except for Geuru!”
“Geuru doesn’t count! That’s cheating!”
“Whiiiine……”
The corners of Geuru’s mouth drooped, while Uju lowered his head, realizing his words had not worked at all.
And so, the ridiculous real-life fight—the kind that begins when people quarrel in a game and then fight in reality—had started over contribution to the exchange match.
Following Geuru, who accounted for 33 percent of the contribution, Sergei and Gidan had scored 27 and 26 percent, respectively, a minuscule difference of only one percent.
But that tiny difference was precisely what set the fans ablaze.
Looking at the overall Hunter rankings, Gidan, naturally ranked third, was higher.
So Sergei’s fans—also known as the SergeiLickers—who had secretly believed that he was being pushed down the hierarchy, declared, “This proves that Sergei has surpassed Gidan as the top in Hyeonak.”
Naturally, Gidan’s fans, who already had a firmly established fandom, protested. The situation grew and grew until it led to a real-life fight between the two people who had been fighting the most enthusiastically.
“Gidan!”
“Sergei!”
After arguing for quite some time—“My Hunter is better.” “Your Hunter is lame.”—the gazes of the two suddenly stopped on Geuru.
“You’re in Hyeonak, right?”
“Geuru, what do you think?”
“Wha, whaa?”
“Who’s the top in Hyeonak? Sergei, obviously, right?”
“Gidan oppa, right?”
Huh?! Under the two’s fierce assault, Geuru took a step backward.
“Ge, Geuru doesn’t know about stuff like that!”
The two moved right up to Geuru.
“If you don’t know—”
“Then you’re going to find out now.”
Kang Je-i and Gu Hiyen spoke one after the other.
Geuru gulped.
*
“-So that’s why we have to go to the swimming pool today. We have to find out who’s number one in Hyeonak.”
After Geuru finished explaining her story about “the kindergarteners and high schooler who got into a real-life fight,” Uju nodded solemnly.
He, too, had been dragged along because they insisted it would only be fair if he helped determine who was number one in Hyeonak.
“Ah-ha, so that’s why you brought your swimsuits.”
Nayeon smiled brightly as she listened and nodded.
The company swimming pool had recently reopened after being closed for a long time.
As a result, they had been filming plenty of videos called “underwater training,” or, more accurately, “sponsored photo shoots,” and today it was Sergei and Gidan’s turn.
“Yeees. But they said grown-ups have to go to the swimming pool with us. They said children can’t go in by themselves.”
“Ah, I suppose that’s true. Geuru and Uju are still little children, so it might be dangerous for you to go without an adult. Then shall we go to the swimming pool together?”
Yay! Geuru threw both arms into the air, while Uju merely gave a small nod, apparently displeased at being called a child.
“Then let’s go to the changing room and get changed first.”
“Okaaay.”
Geuru immediately brightened and sprang to her feet, taking Julian with her.
Water play, water play~
Before meeting Nayeon, Geuru had gone to find Jurim, but he had tried to avoid going with her by making an annoyed face and claiming that he had no swimsuit.
In response, Geuru had unfolded a tiny, palm-sized triangular swimsuit.
“That…… where did you get that?”
“I borrowed it from the swimming pool.”
“……How?”
“I asked them for one ’cause Daddy didn’t have a swimsuit.”
After Geuru explained the situation, the ladies at the desk had looked extremely flustered before finding a men’s swimsuit for her.
“Mm, Daddy can’t wear that.”
“Then they said they’d give us a bigger one—”
“He can’t wear that one, either.”
“Not even the biggest one?”
“Mm-hm.”
“Tch.”
Dad, you’re useless on important days. I guess we’ll have to go buy you a swimsuit next time.
That was why, after wandering around unable to find anyone willing to accompany her, Geuru had entered the break room and run into Nayeon.
When they arrived in front of the changing rooms, an ugly hamster and a cute rabbit climbed onto Uju’s shoulders.
“Uju, take care of the babies for me.”
“Okay.”
Mephisto, who had been sitting on Geuru’s head and was naturally about to enter the women’s changing room with her, was suddenly snatched away by Uju.
“You’re staying here!”
Separated from Geuru by Uju’s rough hands, Mephisto gave a soft cry.
“Peep……”
Holding Julian’s leash, Geuru waved with a smile.
“See you later! Come out wearing the swimsuit Geuru made for you!”
Mephisto waved back with a flutter of his wings and nodded.
Uju entered the men’s changing room and quickly changed into his swimsuit.
Mephisto received the swimsuit Geuru had made from Bellach, who had taken it out of his belly pouch.
Mephisto spread the triangular briefs wide with both wings and tilted his head in confusion.
“Piiit……?”
Meanwhile, Bellach and Lucifer seemed to have no interest in the shape of their swimsuits. They didn’t even unfold them properly before shoving their legs inside.
“Peep……” (Mine looks a little different, I think…….)
Mephisto was awkwardly following Bellach and trying to push his legs through the holes in the triangular briefs when Uju suddenly spoke to him.
“Mephi, you still like Geuru, right?”
Mephisto’s head snapped up, and Bellach furrowed his brow.
“Peep.” (That’s right.)
Whether or not he understood Mephisto’s answer, Uju lowered his eyes in silence.
“I like Geuru, too. I’ve always liked her.”
“Peh!” (Hmph!)
Whether he did or not. Mephisto stuck out his beak and turned his head away.
Silence descended over the changing room.
Lucifer rolled his eyes, flustered by the quiet, while Bellach was just beginning to wonder blankly what was wrong with those two.
Uju abruptly turned toward Bellach.
“What do you think?”
“Mrr……?”
Bellach had been putting his legs into his swimsuit when the baton was suddenly passed to him, making his body go rigid.
“Who do you think suits Geuru better?”
“Peep?!”
Mephisto, startled, opened his eyes wide and turned toward Bellach.
Bellach blinked.
“Me or Mephi?”
“Peep, peep!” (Me or Seo Uju?)
“Mrr……!”
With both Uju and Mephisto staring at him, Bellach twisted his face into a grimace.
After finally managing to put one leg into the swimsuit—wearing one was difficult enough with an animal’s body—Bellach struggled to get the other leg in and thought:
Why are you talking about things like that while putting on swimsuits?