episode_0087

Up until now, I’ve only lived among people who vaguely knew what was going on between Jess and me, so I never imagined such a situation.

In an instant, I, who had become the wicked master of a cute and innocent beastman, trembled all over and raised both hands.

“Ah, no, it’s not like that…!”

“Oh! Is this the owner that Jess was talking about?”

“Yes!”

“…?”

Unable to follow the situation, I stood frozen with my hands raised, and Jess’s teacher smiled and whispered softly.

“Among beastmen, there are cases where they call their protector their master.”

“Ah, I see…”

Only then could I breathe a sigh of relief. The teacher smiled lightly and said,

“Would you like to watch the class?”

“Oh, is that okay?”

“Of course.”

Upon hearing that, Nero and I entered the classroom. While the teacher briefly introduced us, I waved gently at Iris, who had wide eyes. Iris’s cheeks turned slightly red.

“Iris and Jess look the oldest.”

Although the age groups were diverse, there were mostly much younger children than Jess. Most of them seemed to be in the lower grades of elementary school.

Considering that Iris was in middle school and Jess was in upper elementary, there was quite an age difference.

“Come to think of it, I don’t know the exact ages of these kids.”

Having been enslaved for several years, knowing their ages seemed odd.

“Maybe Noah and I are the same age, and Iris is one or two years younger than me.”

I could be so sure because it was mentioned in the original work. I couldn’t remember the details, but I had a memory of reading that Rian and Noah, trash characters from the original, were the same age.

“If there was a status window, I could have definitely known their ages.”

It’s a shame.

While thinking such thoughts, Nero and my introduction ended. Nero and I dragged chairs to the back of the classroom and sat down, watching the children’s class.

The children kept looking back and couldn’t concentrate on the class. They soon started participating in the class passionately, and after Jess received praise from the teacher, she ran over and had her head patted, and from then on, it was like that.

After that, as if such a rule had been established, when the children received praise, they would come to me and ask to be patted, fidgeting.

The children who grew up without parents at a young age seemed thirsty for affection. When I patted them as much as they wanted, Iris looked at me with a strangely cold gaze.

As my instincts responded eagerly, when Iris, who came to be patted, whispered that she was the only one, her scary gaze regained warmth.

“Uh… I know this kind of thing isn’t good for Iris…”

Knowing it but unable to fix it… It was because I felt an instinctive warning that if left alone, it could really cause a big problem.

Anyway, the noisy class came to an end and it was lunchtime. I followed the teacher to the kitchen.

“Oh? Are you preparing the food alone, teacher?”

“Yes, even though there is a magic circle, it’s not a place where ordinary members can be brought in easily.”

She knew well that the annex and the main building were close, and that you needed a pass to go back and forth.

If she brought in ordinary members carelessly, the information about the officers’ quarters could leak out. However, there were no reliable officers available to assign as cooks, and there wasn’t a single idle officer.

She had no choice but to prepare meals for more than 20 children alone. Even during class!

“I’ll help you.”

“What?! No, no! If I ask a guest to do this kind of thing…”

“Ah, we can finish quickly if we do it together.”

Smiling, Nero went into the kitchen, where he received a call through a communication device in the form of a modified communicator, as if someone had contacted him.

“Hyung, I’m really sorry, but can I go somewhere for a moment?”

“Sure, go ahead. I’ll have lunch here and then return to the main building with Jess and Iris.”

“Yeah, if anything comes up, you can contact me by talking to the teacher.”

“Got it.”

The modified communicator was quite valuable, so there was only one in the annex. I didn’t receive one because I never had to leave the main building. Besides, the officers who had the modified communicators were always nearby, so I didn’t feel the need for one.

After Nero left, I rolled up my sleeves and said, “Shall we start?”

The professional housewife arrived in the kitchen.

***

“Delicious!”

“Mmm!”

“Wow…”

I looked at the children eating eagerly with a pleased expression on my face.

“Oh… where did I put those ingredients?”

The teacher, looking puzzled at the unfamiliar spices and ingredients, soon brightened up after taking a bite and began to enjoy the meal.

“Juing-nim, what’s this I’m eating?”

Jess stuffed food into my mouth, thinking it was delicious, and piled my plate high with what she thought was tasty.

“I’m okay, so you eat a lot.”

“Mmm, it’s so delicious! Juing-nim is the best!”

“The best! Juing-nim!”

“Juing-nim!”

The sight of the children shouting along with Jess quickly turned my pleasant expression pale.

To think that the children collectively called me their owner! It was a situation that wouldn’t be strange even if the police appeared from beyond time and space to arrest me. I immediately raised both hands and said, “You shouldn’t call me that way! Just call me sir – … no, call me hyung or oppa!”

Realizing that asking them to call me sir was ambiguous given our age difference, I corrected myself. Then the children obediently started calling me hyung or oppa.

Some children proudly showed off their chubby bellies, saying they had already learned the terms for “older brother” and “older sister.”

After a delightful lunch, Jess and Iris prepared to return to the main building with me. While other children ate and slept in the annex, only Jess and Iris came out of the building.

Some children threw tantrums, while others burst into tears. Perhaps due to their premature maturity, some slightly older children advised the crying ones, “Don’t cry!”

Because one must not cry in dangerous situations to survive, the teachers did not stop them.

“I’ll come again tomorrow. Let’s stop crying now.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. I’ll come with Jess and Iris tomorrow.”

The children’s faces brightened at these words. They seemed satisfied just knowing they could meet again, despite still looking somewhat regretful.

Since that day, I visited the annex every day. Although they were children, I convinced Noah that he didn’t need to stick by my side anymore since there were plenty of people around.

After much contemplation, Noah nodded after visiting the annex once.

I finally gained freedom!

Every morning, I went to the annex with Jess and Iris to assist the teacher’s lessons and prepare meals together.

I came up with various classes that seemed beneficial for the children’s education and conducted them. Days passed joyfully…

Three years had gone by.

“…? Huh? It’s been three years already?”

When you live the same day over and over, don’t you sometimes wonder how time flies? That’s exactly how I felt right now.

“No matter what, isn’t it too fast?”

Feeling such doubt, I suddenly saw my reflection in the mirror.

The face that’s passable (if you think about other people’s faces, it’s probably average, right?), the white hair that always stays around shoulder length, and the elongated arms and legs that definitely show that I’ve crossed 17 years.

‘But being tall is still good.’

There was still a lot of youthfulness left on my face, but the feeling of being a child had largely disappeared due to my tall height. It felt comfortable, like wearing clothes that didn’t fit.

While observing the changes in my appearance over the past three years.

Knock.

I heard a slightly heavy knocking sound. There was only one person who knocked with such force.

“Come in, Jess.”

Bang!

“Master!”

Even though Jess had become proficient at speaking as he got older, he still called me ‘Master!’ instead of just ‘Master.’ Honestly, now I would feel a bit disappointed if he didn’t call me that way.

Thud!

Jess, who had run over, hugged me. Before I knew it, Jess had grown to be nearly 170 cm tall. If I had grown a little later… I would have had to look up at Jess.

“Oppa.”

Iris walked softly from outside the open door, smiling gently. Iris was a little smaller than Jess. It seemed that Jess, being a giant, was taller.

After lightly patting Jess, who wouldn’t let go while hugging my waist, I released him.

“Since Jess has also grown up, you can’t just hug me like this, okay?”

“Whining…”

Seeing his drooping ears, I wanted to cancel what I said, but I held back. Unlike when he was young, now that secondary sexual characteristics had appeared, it was necessary to teach that you shouldn’t hug or touch others recklessly.

“But you’re my master…”

Jess easily understood that you shouldn’t touch or hug strangers, but when it came to me, he didn’t understand.

“Hehe…”

Iris, who had come close, hugged my waist tightly.

“It’s okay for family to hug each other, right? Right?”

“Y-yeah?”

Since it wasn’t a wrong statement, Iris nodded while trembling. Then Jess puffed up his cheeks and shouted.

“I want to be family too!”

“No, you can’t. Oppa is my oppa. Jess, your hair is red.”

“Then we can get married!”

An unexpected statement brought down a heavy silence.