Beeeep!?

Beeeep!?

 

Seo-a seemed to have mistaken the food drawn in the storybook for real food.

She kept rubbing the picture with her hands and then tried to feed me.

At first, I didn’t know how to react to such behavior as it was a bit bewildering, but I couldn’t keep ignoring it, so I pretended to eat.

“Mya mya myam! Ggom!”

She showed an extremely happy reaction, flapping her hands.

As I looked at Seo-a like that and smiled slightly, about to continue speaking.

Seo-a seemed to want to share the food with Chae-a and Yuna too, so she hugged the picture book that was slightly smaller than her body and waddled towards Chae-a and Yuna.

“Ggom! Tto-tto-kkae!”

Then, just like she did with me earlier, she pretended to feed them food while her eyes sparkled.

Chae-a and Yuna responded very kindly to this, each reacting in their own way.

“This is Chae-a’s favorite! How did you know! Seo-a, you’re amazing!”

“That’s right. Yuna likes it too. It’s delicious.”

As Chae-a and Yuna showered her with praise, Seo-a giggled and sat down on the floor, opening up the scene she had been holding earlier.

She started staring at us intently with eyes that seemed to be asking for something.

‘It looks like she wants us to read it again.’

Since Yuna read it last time, I think it would be good for me to read it this time.

I calmly began to read it.

“There’s a house. Daddy bear is chubby, Mommy bear is slim, and Baby bear is cute.”

The content flows out, not much different from when I had dreamed it before.

As I’m reading this, thinking about when Chae-a talked about interest rates,

Seo-a, with her eyes sparkling brightly, spoke to us.

“Daddy. Mommy. Baby.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Is this what they mean by learning ten things when taught one?

Thinking that her ability to learn is amazing, I pat her head, and she smiles brightly like a puppy, entrusting her head to my touch.

As I’m thinking how cute Seo-a’s behavior is and giggling, Chae-a’s eyes sparkle as she speaks to us.

“I think Seo-a is a genius…!”

It seems she’s learned the excessive affection that Seo-rin often showed.

Chae-a, mimicking Seo-rin’s excessive affection, bounces up and down in her seat. Then, taking out chocolate and candy from her pocket, she says to Seo-a.

“Seo-a is a genius, so eat this!”

“Yummy.”

“Ung, mommy!”

Although it seemed like they were saying different things, I was amazed to see that they somehow understood each other.

Suddenly, Yuna patted my head and said.

“Ha-eun is a baby too. You know?”

“…?”

I couldn’t understand why she suddenly said this.

But since Yuna had a very pleased expression while saying it, I nodded along.

‘Anyway, the important thing is to read the next scene.’

Since Seo-a’s learning ability was incredibly fast, I thought that if I read a few more books, basic conversation might be possible, and just as I was about to read the next content.

“Ha-euuuun.”

I heard someone calling my name loudly.

‘Looks like Seo-rin is here.’

Judging by her voice, it seemed she had a tough day again.

To comfort Seo-rin, I picked up Seo-a like a ball of fluff and struggled to approach Seo-rin, when I heard something like a scream.

“Kyaaaa!”

It wasn’t a scream of fear, but a scream of delight.

Hearing such a sound, I blinked blankly in confusion.

Seo-rin rushed towards us, picked up both me and Seo-a at the same time, and started spinning around.

“Oh, what’s this? Can cuteness be duplicated?”

I couldn’t hide my bewilderment at Seo-rin’s actions.

Of course, it would be natural for an ordinary person to feel confused and curious upon suddenly seeing a small baby.

‘… Don’t they usually ask questions like where are you from, who are you, how did you get here?’

But seeing how she doesn’t care about those things at all and is just happy that there’s an adorable baby around.

I nodded, feeling that Seo-rin is indeed different in some way, perhaps because she’s the protagonist.

While I was thinking how remarkable she is in many ways and being forcibly cuddled by Seo-rin.

“Myamya!”

Seo-a expresses her affection towards Seo-rin by waving her hands.

I’m not sure if it’s because Seo-rin is the protagonist or if there’s some other reason.

Still, I’m glad she doesn’t dislike her and shows affection. As I’m giggling about this, Seo-rin rubs her face against Seo-a’s cheek and says.

“Oh, she’s really so cute.”

After expressing her affection for a while, Seo-rin suddenly seems to realize something strange and looks at Seo-a with a puzzled expression, saying.

“But who are you?”

“Mya?”

I find it a bit funny that she’s asking this now, so I giggle and tell her Seo-a’s identity.

“She’s the World Tree…!”

“The World Tree? That seed?”

“Yup!”

At my words, Seo-rin looks very confused and stares at Seo-a for a moment.

Then, after showing signs of various thoughts, she exclaims something that a strange cat might say.

“She’s cute, so I like her!”

“…?”

I ignore Seo-rin who’s making weird noises and come down.

Now, the important thing was to help Seo-a speak.

So, just as I was about to lift Seo-a up again with a groan and move her to where the storybook was.

“Should I help you, unnie?”

Seo-rin picked us up again and strode forward.

As I was thinking that she was certainly strong because she was a hunter, while being carried comfortably.

Seo-a seemed happy to be held by Seo-rin and laughed, saying something.

“Myam-myam mommy bear!”

Does she mean she’s like a mommy bear?

As I was nodding, thinking it seemed to feel something like that.

In the blink of an eye, we were able to return to the playroom.

“You were reading a storybook? Should I read it to you?”

At those words, Chae-a and Yuna, who were next to us, reacted first.

“Yes!”

“Me too, I like it.”

Encouraged by those words, Seo-rin smiled brightly.

She sat down nearby, picked up the storybook on the floor, and said.

“Come here, little ones!”

At those words, the four of us scurried over and sat down in suitable spots.

It was a bit funny that Seo-rin seemed the happiest among everyone gathered here.

But since it wasn’t important, I decided to let it go and calmly listened to the storybook Seo-rin was reading.

*

Seo-rin was about to read the third fairy tale book.

“Pinocchio’s nose is long… If the nose is long, it’s like an earthworm sister…”

I could hear Chae-a sleep-talking.

After hearing that voice, I looked around and saw Chae-a, Yuna, and Seo-a sound asleep.

‘When did they fall asleep?’

Thinking that they fell asleep quickly because they were children, I was about to bring a blanket to let them sleep comfortably.

Seo-rin stopped me, sat me down, and then brought the blanket instead with a playful expression.

I made a gesture of thanks to Seo-rin and was about to lie down myself.

Seo-rin, seemingly not wanting to let me sleep just yet, picked me up and whispered in a small voice.

“Shall we go for a walk with unnie after a long time?”

It seemed like she had something she wanted to say, so I nodded and said okay.

Seo-rin patted my back and headed outside.

The evenings at the association are dark.

Of course, it wasn’t so dark that you couldn’t see in front of you due to the streetlights scattered around the association and people working late into the night.

But just like before, it was enough to create an atmosphere where ghosts might appear, so it was inevitable to feel psychological fear.

That’s why I couldn’t help but hold Seo-rin’s hand tightly.

I was shaking while holding Seo-rin’s hand, which was at least 1.5 times larger than mine.

Seo-rin looked at me like that, smiled as if I was cute, and then asked one question in a calm voice.

“Ha-eun, do you like the association?”

At that question, I stared blankly at Seo-rin.

Seo-rin would be the only one who knows exactly what she meant by that question.

Whether it’s because we’ve spent a long time together or not, I could somewhat guess the intention behind Seo-rin’s question.

‘She’s probably asking if bringing her to the association was the right decision.’

It was likely a question stemming from the thought that she might have been better off if sent to the Dragon clan instead of the association.

I smiled as best I could and answered affirmatively.

Seeing my response, Seo-rin let out a small sigh of relief and continued speaking.

“Really? That’s a relief then.”

It seems my answer had eased Seo-rin’s worries and conflicts, as her expression had noticeably improved.

Thinking it was fortunate either way, I was smiling brightly at Seo-rin when.

Something strange caught my eye in the distance.

‘Fluff…?’

I could see white, fluffy-looking fluff bouncing up and down in the empty hallway.

Seeing this fluff, I easily recalled the fluffy ghost I had seen before, and showed great bewilderment.

‘Could it be a ghost?’

Thinking that ghosts couldn’t possibly exist.

Even if they did exist, I couldn’t understand how they could be fixed in a planar coordinate system, so the fluff I was seeing couldn’t be a ghost…

As I was quickly thinking these strange thoughts out of fear.

Suddenly, the fluff began floating in mid-air.

“Peeeeee?”

 

It made this sound and rushed towards me like a ghost.

As I was about to flee in shock at that sight, Seo-rin, who was in front of me, grabbed Somteol with a big smile and started patting its head vigorously while saying:

“Aww, Somteol is so cute.”

“Beep!?” (Do I still look like Somteol!?)

“I don’t know what you’re saying, but you’re cute.”

I was sighing in relief, realizing that even supernatural phenomena like ghosts are helpless in the face of great power and ignorance.

Suddenly, Somteol let out a long “beeeep” cry.

Then it burst with a “poof” and disappeared somewhere.