Lee Yuna

Lee Yuna

 

I stared blankly at the girl in front of me with tears brimming in her eyes.

Gathering my thoughts, I blew on her forehead and used my healing ability.

Others have said that my healing ability is superior to the average healing ability.

A minor injury like bumping her forehead should heal very quickly.

“……”

The girl in front of me was still rubbing her forehead with both hands, seemingly still in pain.

Then she bowed slightly and thanked me.

“Thank you.”

Judging by her voice and expression alone, she seemed indifferent and unemotional.

But because she was crying, she looked like she was in a lot of pain.

I pondered for a moment while looking at the girl, then decided to do what others had done for me, and slowly opened my mouth.

“Are you okay?”

At this question, the girl stared at me blankly and shook her head from side to side.

Seeing this reaction, I thought for a moment and then gently stroked her forehead while saying.

“Pain, go away…!”

“……”

I’m not sure if it actually works.

But Han A-rin had done this a few times, rubbing and saying for the pain to go away, so I imitated it.

The girl in front of me blinked rapidly, then opened her eyes a little wider and spoke to me.

“… It really doesn’t hurt anymore.”

Then she looked up at me with somewhat bright eyes.

She perked up the animal ears on her head and waved nine tails gently…?

I blinked blankly as I noticed something strange.

Even if the animal ears could be a headband, the nine tails were strange no matter how I thought about it.

As I felt cognitive dissonance and stared ahead, the girl clung to my side and rubbed her tails all over my face, expressing affection.

Feeling something was off, I tried to ask others for help.

But since everyone was looking on fondly, I realized asking for help would be pointless and had no choice but to stand still.

“Is that a gumiho? I don’t think I’ve seen one before.”

“Right? I never imagined we’d see a creature that should only exist in history books.”

Maybe it’s because the gumiho girl looks about five years old, similar to Chae-a.

Or perhaps it’s because Perseus and Han A-rin’s abilities are so exceptional.

Even though it’s a species I’m seeing for the first time, I don’t feel any particular sense of danger.

‘Or is it because it’s a safe species?’

Not sure, but thinking it might be something passed down like that, I blinked.

I gathered my thoughts and asked the girl next to me.

“What’s your name?”

At that question, the girl twitched her ears, looked at me, and answered nonchalantly.

“Yu-na.”

“You must be Yuna. I’m… Ha-eun.”

“Euni?”

It seems she misheard due to my mumbled pronunciation.

I shook my head and corrected it to ‘Lee Ha-eun’.

Hearing that, Yuna finally said “Ah” and nodded.

While I was wondering what to do with Yuna clinging to me,

Chae-a, who had been watching us closely nearby, came trotting over.

She took out a small chocolate from her pocket and held it out to Yuna, saying,

“Since Ha-eun’s friend is Chae-a’s friend…! I’ll give you this!”

At those words, Yuna looked down blankly.

With a completely puzzled expression, she tilted her head and said,

“What’s dis?”

I wonder what “What’s dis” means.

It seems she mispronounced “What’s this” as “What’s dis”.

Finding it somewhat funny, I was giggling, when Chae-a looked at me and Yuna confidently and said,

“It’s something that makes you feel good when you eat it…!”

“Something that makes you feel good?”

After hearing Chae-a’s explanation, Yuna stared at the chocolate blankly.

Then, perking up her ears, she quickly shook her head and said,

“Black things are spoiled… You shouldn’t eat them.”

“…!?”

Chae-a was extremely shocked by the statement that the chocolate had gone bad.

Soon after, she fidgeted with her fingers and gave me a look asking for help.

I felt that I couldn’t leave things as they were, so as the most adult person here, I decided to resolve everything and opened my mouth.

“It’s okay. Chocolate doesn’t go bad.”

At those words, Yuna looked at the chocolate as if she didn’t understand.

Then, blinking expressionlessly, she said to me.

“Ha-eun is a baby, so you don’t know well. But food does go bad.”

“Yeah. That’s right. It hurts.”

“……?”

Even if that’s the case for Yuna, shouldn’t Chae-a not say such things?

As I stood there blankly, thinking my head was full of confusion.

Han A-rin, who had been watching this from behind, looked at us and chuckled.

“As Ha-eun said, chocolate doesn’t go bad, so you can eat it. Try it.”

“……”

When Han A-rin spoke to us, Yuna glared at her intently and then hid behind my back as if running away.

Then, wagging her tail, she covered both her face and mine while saying.

“… Adults are scary.”

I wonder why she’s covering my face too.

I tried to remove the tail because I couldn’t see well.

But Yuna seemed to have no intention of removing her tail from me, and kept sticking it to my face.

Just as Chae-a, watching this, was muttering ‘Chae-a wants a tail too…’ and becoming gloomy.

Han A-rin spoke to us in a very flustered voice.

“Oh, big sister doesn’t have to be scared. Big sister is a good adult.”

“Bad adults all say that too.”

“Is that so…? But big sister is really good. Right, Ha-eun?”

At those words, I tried to nod.

But it was difficult to nod because my tail was wrapped around my face.

Han A-rin looked at me and, perhaps judging that it would be difficult to get help from me, asked Chae-a next to her for her opinion.

“Yeah, that’s right. A-rin unnie is nice. She pats Chae-a’s head and pokes my cheeks… But it hurts when she pokes my cheeks. People who hurt others are bad people. So A-rin unnie might be a bad person…!”

With the flow of unconsciousness continuing like flowing water, she ended up becoming a bad person in the end.

Perhaps because of this, Yuna’s wariness doubled.

There was almost an unfortunate incident where she tried to run away somewhere while hugging me.

“It’s okay. A-rin unnie is really nice.”

Thanks to Seo-rin’s mediation, we were able to stop.

For some reason, Yuna unexpectedly listened well to Seo-rin’s words.

I thought it might be because of the inexplicable sense of familiarity that subtly flowed from Seo-rin.

Anyway, because of this, Han A-rin seemed to have suffered a great emotional wound, as her expression became very gloomy.

But the moment Chae-a asked to be hugged, all her sadness seemed to disappear.

She quickly changed her expression and started smiling brightly.

“Then let’s go back for now. Han A-rin, you contact the association.”

“I’ve already done it.”

“……”

The two of them bicker even in this situation.

That seemed a bit funny, so I was giggling, when Han A-rin sighed and clicked her tongue while looking at Perseus.

She looked around and then spoke in a low voice.

“That aside, it is strange. It’s odd that they placed such a kidnapping location in a high-traffic area, and it’s also strange that a rare species like a gumiho is here.”

“Moreover, there were only three people guarding this place.”

“Only three? That is certainly strange.”

As everything was full of questions, the two exchanged puzzled looks while talking to each other.

Deciding it would be best to return immediately, they put away their weapons and approached us.

Seeing them, I was about to spread my arms to hug them, but realizing this might be an embarrassing action, I quickly lowered my hands.

*

As soon as we returned to the association, people in white gowns were waiting for us.

It seems that medical staff had gathered to assess Yuna’s health condition.

Remembering that I had various checks when I first came to the association, I was about to send Yuna to the medical staff without hesitation.

However, Yuna shook her head quickly and clung to my back, making it impossible to send her.

‘Is she scared because there are many adults?’

Recalling her earlier words about being afraid of adults, I was wondering what to do when Han A-rin looked at Yuna and me.

“Ha-eun, I’m sorry, but would you mind going with Yuna for the examination? It seems she’s afraid of other people.”

She said it was okay for me to go together.

Thinking that would be fine, I patted Yuna’s head vigorously to comfort her.

Then I tried to explain as logically as possible that it would be okay.

“They’re not bad people… so it’s okay! And I’ll protect you, so you don’t have to be scared!”

At those words, Yuna stared at me blankly.

Soon, she wagged her nine tails gently and said to me.

“It’s okay. I’ll protect Ha-eun.”

“Huh?”

“Ha-eun is a baby, so I need to protect her.”

“…?”

Isn’t Yuna more of a baby to anyone who looks?

I sent a look to the people around me, demanding an explanation for this injustice.

But everyone just nodded and said things like ‘The older sister is so mature,’ without denying it.

As I was standing there with my eyes wide open and mouth agape at this shocking situation.

Yuna, seemingly having gained confidence, dragged me along expressionlessly towards the medical staff.

“Ha-eun must be happy to have an older sister now, right?”

As I heard Han A-rin’s voice coming from somewhere, I decided to sulk a lot later.

Suddenly, Chae-a burst into tears and clung to me.

Confused about why she was acting like this, Chae-a whimpered and said something to me.

“Chae-a wants to join too…!”

It seems she was upset in various ways because I kept focusing only on Yuna, who was scared.

As I was stroking Chae-a’s cheek to stop her from crying.

Yuna wrapped her tail around Chae-a’s body and perked up her ears.

Chae-a seemed to enjoy the tail stroking her, and she started laughing through her tears.

Then she hugged my tail and Yuna’s tail tightly, looking as if she owned the whole world.

As we were comforting Chae-a like this for a while.

The phone rang with a buzzing sound, and I struggled to pull it out with both hands.

[Grandma Lecia – The gift for the child is ready. I’ll come to the association later.]

I saw Grandma Lecia’s message, who had now started giving same-day notifications.