“Give you a hug? Keep telling you that you’re pretty? Isn’t she into you?”
“Whaaat?!”
The manager hyung gave a mischievous grin as he watched Uju turn bright red like a tomato.
“So the two of you are going to start dating now?”
“N-no, we’re not?! We aren’t even seven yet! Don’t you know that men and women shouldn’t sit together after the age of seven?”
“Is that what it means? You really need to stop watching historical dramas.”
Hmph, did he think I didn’t know?
The phrase *“men and women shouldn’t sit together after the age of seven”* meant that boys and girls couldn’t become a couple (the kind who held hands or kissed while dating) before they turned seven.
*Men and women shouldn’t sit together after the age of seven: A saying meaning that once boys and girls turn seven, they should not sit together in the same place, emphasizing that men and women must be strictly separated.*
In other words, they had to wait until they turned seven to officially start dating.
Geuru liked him. Suppressing his growing excitement, Uju leaned back against the sofa.
As he covertly watched Geuru checking something on his phone, Uju mentioned something he had just remembered.
“Oh, the director told me to ask if you’d be interested in filming something.”
“Geuru?”
“Yeah. He says you’ve got a good mask.”
“My mask?”
“He means you’re pretty.”
“Oh…”
Just as Jurim had taught her, Geuru curled up the corners of her lips.
“Geuru knows that too.”
“……?”
Uju was momentarily dumbfounded by Geuru’s boundless confidence.
She really was pretty, sure. But not being embarrassed was a surprising reaction. He had vaguely sensed it, but Geuru was really shameless.
Suddenly remembering how he had been the only one embarrassed by being called pretty, Uju spoke gruffly.
“……But your acting was terrible.”
Ding-!
Geuru’s mouth fell open at the scathing criticism.
Feeling a little guilty at her obviously disappointed reaction, Uju continued.
“Well, if you follow the director’s instructions, your awful acting won’t show that much. Anyway, tell me if you’re interested. I’ll give you his contact information. The director’s variety show is super famous too. Just contact him first, and then you could go on the show with the hunter lady who came that time……”
Uju, who had been rambling on by himself, craned his neck forward.
Geuru was focused on her phone, only half-listening to him.
“But what’re you doing?”
“This?”
Geuru held up her phone.
At the very top, Uju could see the words *Onion Market*. It was a screen he was familiar with too.
“This! Manager hyung is totally addicted to it. Do you have anything to sell too?”
“Mm-hmm, no. Geuru’s going to post a request. If you go in here, hunters accept requests too.”
“What kind of request?”
“To find Mom and Dad.”
Whaaat?! Uju’s mouth fell open, and he froze.
“Your parents? You’re trying to find them? Why?!”
“Huh? Because…… they’re Geuru’s mom and dad.”
Uju opened and closed his mouth.
Was this okay? There had to be a reason Geuru had ended up in an orphanage…… It probably wasn’t a good one, was it?
Uju had met countless child actors while filming dramas, and he knew the illusion of biological parents all too well.
Naturally, he couldn’t bring himself to think positively about Geuru’s biological parents either.
“Then what about the Hyunak Guild Master? Weren’t you adopted by them?”
Uju thought of the handsome guild master he had just met.
Since the teaser for the drama they had been filming was about to air, he had stopped by Hyunak with the manager so he could watch it together with Geuru.
Jurim had been sleeping in the president’s chair in the guild master’s office, wearing an eye mask. But the moment Geuru said she was going out to play with Uju, he took off the mask and sprang to his feet.
“Who?”
“Uju.”
“Uju?”
With a strangely displeased look in his eyes, Jurim scanned Uju and the manager from head to toe before proceeding to interrogate him.
“How old are you?”
“I’m five.”
“Religion?”
“None.”
“Occupation?”
“Does your place not have a television, mister?”
The manager silently shuddered at that, but Jurim remained calm. No, if anything, perhaps he had actually taken it as a compliment.
“……Not the worst.”
“Pardon?”
“Are you this boy’s father?”
“M-manager, actually.”
“Ah.”
Only then did the chill in his expression ease a little.
“I’m On Jurim.”
“Yes! I know, of course I know! It’s an honor to meet you like this, Guild Master On.”
When the manager extended both hands, Jurim gave him a light handshake and said,
“Please keep an eye on them while they play. This kid’s a troublemaker. I never know what she’ll do if I leave her alone.”
“Yes, of course. I’ll guard her with my life.”
The manager began squirming as if he wanted an autograph, so Uju grabbed and pulled him away. How embarrassing, trying to get an autograph from Geuru’s father.
‘……That’s what I thought, anyway. He isn’t her father?’
Come to think of it, Geuru did call him Guild Master, not Dad.
“Guild Mas’er is jus’ lookin’ after Geuru. Geuru’s a hunter, and she belongs to Hyunak.”
Uju was fairly mature for his age, but when faced with such a complicated and subtle relationship, he had no idea what to say.
“Th-that so?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Then it’d be nice if you could live together at our house……”
Uju murmured quietly.
“At Uju’s house?”
When Geuru stared at him, Uju grumbled for no reason as he explained.
“Then I wouldn’t have to come pick you up like today! And I could buy you whatever you want to eat and anything you want to have!”
“It’s okay. Geuru can find Mom and Dad.”
“How? Those hunters there are going to find them for you?”
“Mm-hmm. Look here. There’re lots and lots of people who say they can find them. They say they can find anyone.”
“Can you really trust something like this?”
“Mm-hmm. You see this here? You use one of these to see if you can trust something…… If the temperature’s warm, you can trust it.”
“That’s a mercury thermometer. I used one when I was filming a historical drama.”
“Ooh. Uju’s so smart.”
Uju gave a small cough and raised his shoulders proudly.
“It’s nothing.”
“Ta-da, look, look. Geuru’s temperature is warm too. See how it’s red here?”
There were strings of comments clamoring for her to come back. What was she selling to be this popular?
“IAMGROOT123?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“What does 123 mean? Don’t people usually use their birthdays?”
“123 is Geuru’s birthday too.”
“January 23? December 3?”
“December 3.”
Uju opened the schedule app on his phone and entered Geuru’s birthday.
“What about Uju?”
“Mine’s February 11.”
“Oh, I see.”
“……You’re not writing it down?”
“Nooo, it’s okay even if I don’t. Geuru won’t forget. February 11.”
“Wha…… Fine, then. But you really mustn’t forget.”
“Got it.”
Uju nodded.
When Geuru scrolled down the screen, Uju showed interest.
“This person is bright red. Right?”
“Yeah. They say to contact them. Are you going to message them?”
“Mm-hmm.”
Geuru opened the private message window.
[IAMGROOT123: Hello.]
[PayingMyCardBillCherry: heyy heyy]
[PayingMyCardBillCherry: What, are you a fake newbie?]
[IAMGROOT123: What does that mean?]
[PayingMyCardBillCherry: Guess you’re a total newbie lol]
[IAMGROOT123: I want to find someone. Can you do it?]
[PayingMyCardBillCherry: Can can can]
[PayingMyCardBillCherry: But it’s a little expensive, you okay with that?]
[IAMGROOT123: How much is it?]
[PayingMyCardBillCherry: lol asking about the price right away?]
[PayingMyCardBillCherry: How much can you pay, newbie?]
[PayingMyCardBillCherry: Make the first offer please lol]
*
Officer Sin Inyeong of the police substation set down the paper cup of coffee he had been drinking as he watched a child struggle to open the door and come inside.
The child, who had been stamping his feet, approached him with tiny steps that seemed to go *pitter-patter*.
“Police mister! Help me, pwease.”
The child, with platinum-blond hair almost the color of beige, was strikingly pretty and adorable, and he smiled.
“What can I help you with?”
He asked as he looked behind the child, but no parents followed.
“Are you alone?”
“Yesh…….”
Geuru fidgeted with both hands and lowered her head deeply.
“I wanna weport a bad pewson.”
“Hm? Report someone?”
Could this be domestic violence? His expression immediately grew serious.
“Can you tell me what happened? What did that person do?”
He seated the child and sat down across from her.
The child nodded vigorously.
“You came to report a bad person? What did they do to you?”
“Yes. Geuru made a deal on Onion, but I got eat-and-runned.”
Oh, so that was it? Sin Inyeong let out a quiet chuckle.
Apparently she had been scammed out of a gift certificate or something. Kids these days often came in to report such things. She was the youngest one yet, though.
“Oh dear, so that’s what happened. What a nasty scammer.”
“Sniff…….”
Her large eyes filled with tears and grew misty.
She looked so pitiful that even Baek Nyeonseol’s heart would ache and melt.
Good grief. The world really was a harsh place. How could anyone think of stealing money from a little kid still wiping her nose?
Sin Inyeong wiped the child’s eyes with both hands.
“I’ll scold them for you, so don’t cry. Oh, you poor thing. There, there, okay? How much money did that scammer steal from our baby? Five thousand won?”
She was so cute that if it was only five thousand won, he could just give her the money and send her home comforted.
“Th……”
Geuru sniffled, as if she was too upset, and broke off.
Sin Inyeong asked again.
“Two……?”
“Th……”
Geuru swallowed her tears once.
“Th-th-th…… tw-two hundred thouuuusand woooon…… sob…….”