Deer

Deer

 

As if to prove that her claim of being experienced wasn’t a lie,

Jin-a skillfully guided us and added various explanations.

“The classes are divided into beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels depending on the time. We’re lucky, it’s a beginner class now. We can go in and listen.”

Then she opened the door, looked around inside, and started gesturing for us to come quickly.

Following her actions, the three of us scurried in after Jin-a.

“Today’s class will be about making balloon dogs. Now, let’s start by using the tools here to inflate the balloons…”

It’s hard to say if it’s right to call it fortunate, but it seems the class hasn’t started long ago.

I can see everyone doing the most basic step of inflating balloons.

I think I’m lucky not to be late as I look around, and Jin-a taps my shoulder and says.

“Let’s go to the front. You guys are too small, if we don’t move forward, you won’t be able to see the class properly.”

“…?”

I had a lot to say, but not wanting to disrupt the class, I just nodded silently.

Chae-a looks around with an excited expression, then grabs my hand tightly and whispers softly.

“They look like colorful Kkamangis…!”

It seems the inflating balloons remind her of Kkamangis.

As I nod, thinking they do indeed look like Kkamangis at a glance.

The instructor conducting the class notices us and says with a bright smile.

“Oh my, such young friends have come to attend my class. Come here, little ones? Would you like to sit here and join the class?”

Fortunately, it seems they don’t discriminate against us for being young.

The instructor welcomes us warmly and seats us in the empty spaces.

Feeling embarrassed by such hospitality, I smile awkwardly, when suddenly a loud shout comes from the back.

“It’s Ha-eun!”

“…?!”

I was very surprised to hear my name called out unexpectedly, and as I look around.

I notice nearby people staring at me with very pleased expressions.

While I’m thinking this kind of attention is burdensome and difficult, Yu-na holds my hand tightly and tells me.

“It’s okay. Your sister is here.”

Yu-na reassures me that it’ll be fine because she’s here, and hands me an uninflated balloon from nearby.

I was fumbling with the cold texture of the balloon I hadn’t touched in a long time.

The teacher carefully picked up my balloon and said.

“Then Ha-eun? I’ll continue with Ha-eun’s. Like this, after inflating the balloon…”

Since the class itself is more in the realm of ‘hobby’ rather than studying professional knowledge, everyone seems to welcome our arrival.

Thinking that it’s fortunate, I decide to listen to the class attentively so as not to disturb it.

Chae-a, who was blowing up a balloon next to me, says glumly.

“It’s so hard…”

It seems she thinks the balloon is hard because the air doesn’t go in well.

Looking at Chae-a like that, I smile triumphantly.

Thinking it’s time for me to step up as the mature one, I picked up Chae-a’s balloon.

“Let me do it for you!”

Then I grabbed the balloon somewhat skillfully (or not) and blew hard.

……

But instead of inflating, the balloon just fluttered with a little air in it.

As I was panting and wondering what to do with the pink balloon that was a stronger opponent than expected.

“Let me try. I’ll do it for you.”

Suddenly, Jin-a grabbed it and started blowing the balloon without hesitation.

Although she seemed to struggle a bit, she didn’t give up and kept blowing. Soon, the balloon grew as big as Jin-a’s face, blocking our view.

“Wow! Amazing. Chae-a couldn’t do this…!”

With Chae-a’s exclamation, Jin-a lowered the balloon somewhat haughtily.

With a very strained voice, she said something that sounded quite cool to us.

“Hueek, heck. See, did you see? If you don’t give up, you’ll eventually succeed hueek. Cough cough.”

Of course, due to the coughing and gasping sounds, it felt more pitiful than cool.

Still, I was nodding my head, thinking it was amazing to see such a tiny baby trying so hard without giving up.

Chae-a clapped her hands and her eyes sparkled brightly.

“Woah… Chae-a won’t give up too?”

“Y-Yeah.”

Jin-a seemed to like Chae-a’s words and nodded, trying her best to look as cool as possible.

I giggled watching the two of them.

Yu-na expressionlessly handed me a balloon even longer than the one Jin-a had made, saying,

“Here, Ha-eun, take this.”

“…?”

How on earth did she make it?

Somewhat bewildered, I looked at Yu-na, who showed me how she easily inflated it using a balloon pump.

Watching this, I closed my eyes thinking it’s more about machines than effort…

“Okay, now that everyone seems to have done it, let’s move on to the next step. If you hold the balloon on both sides and slowly twist it…”

The balloon feels soft and seems like it might pop at any moment, making me hesitant to twist it recklessly.

But if I get scared and do nothing, nothing will be accomplished, so I closed my eyes tightly and twisted the balloon.

“You’re doing great! Yes, that’s how you do it.”

It seems I was doing well, as I heard praise from beside me.

Thinking it was fortunate, I let out a sigh of relief and looked around.

‘Jin-a is doing well on her own…’

As expected, I noticed that Chae-a was not following along very well.

Just as I was about to advise her to release the tension in her hands while watching the balloon inflate to the point of bursting.

Yuna casually grabbed Chae-a’s balloon and perfectly twisted it for her.

Fortunately, even though Yuna did it for her, Chae-a didn’t seem to mind and watched with great excitement.

While I was thinking how nice it was that the two of them were getting along well.

Suddenly, a question flashed through my mind.

‘Come to think of it, everyone’s been quiet about my horns and tail.’

It’s a bit strange since their gazes seemed to treat it as something normal.

I was wondering if there were many people with tails like this in this world.

The instructor patted my head and then showed us the next step.

“Next, if you tie the balloon like this…”

For now, since I’m not sure, I thought I’d just focus on the lesson and follow along.

Before I knew it, a dog-shaped balloon was completed.

As I was thinking how amazing professionals are, my eyes sparkling, the instructor approached me and said.

“Ha-eun, I’m sorry, but could I pat your horns just once?”

Since I didn’t mind, I nodded.

The instructor very carefully rubbed my horns with their fingers and said.

“I thought they’d be soft, but they’re surprisingly hard?”

Given the tone that suggested they knew me from the start, I tilted my head in confusion.

Then I asked about the question I had earlier: ‘Why doesn’t everyone find my tail and horns strange?’

Ha-eun was answered by one of the students standing behind.

“Well, you’re a celebrity, Ha-eun!”

“…?”

As if hearing the word “celebrity” for the first time, I hugged my tail and started to look around nervously, when I heard a sound that I should join in from nearby.

Just as I was looking around, Chae-a confidently spoke up.

“Ha-euni is a cele… what? Yeah… celebrity!”

Chae-a didn’t seem to know exactly what a celebrity was, but she must have read the atmosphere and decided it was a good thing.

She agreed and giggled with a “hehe.”

I quickly shook my head at Chae-a, signaling that it wasn’t true, but Chae-a couldn’t see my gesture because of the balloon and started to brag about me.

“Ha-euni is cute and pretty and smart and also good at cooking and magic…!”

For some reason, she seemed to want to brag about me to those around her, continuously talking about my good points to the people behind.

I was so embarrassed that I shouted “S-stop” to ask her to stop, but.

Chae-a didn’t seem to hear my words and continued to praise me enthusiastically.

“Ha-euni is cute and a baby…! So every night, Chae-a has to say ‘Can I sleep now?'”

“It’s really cute when a baby calls another baby cute.”

“Chae-a is not a baby?”

Feeling like this could go on all day, I asked Yuna for help to calm things down, but.

Yuna seemed to be thinking similarly to Chae-a, nodding her head and showing a rather supportive response.

Realizing there was no one I could trust, I was pondering what to do when Han A-rin came in.

“Babies, did you finish your class? Oh my.”

The scene of Chae-a giving a speech (not really) while attracting a lot of attention seemed quite impressive, so she watched it for a while.

Ha-eun smiled brightly and picked up Chae-a, then spoke to those around her.

“I’m sorry, Chae-a really likes Ha-eun.”

“No, it’s fine. She’s so cute, I actually enjoyed it.”

Everyone seemed to be kind, showing reactions that indicated it was okay.

I sighed in relief seeing their responses, then approached Han A-rin with the dog balloon I had made and handed it to her.

Han A-rin looked at me with wide eyes and then smiled brightly.

“Is this for me, unnie?”

I nodded, meaning to thank her for bringing me here.

Han A-rin carefully accepted the dog balloon as if it were a precious treasure and said to me.

“I’ll treasure this as a family heirloom.”

I waved my hand, indicating that there was no need to go that far.

But Han A-rin had already decided to treat it as an heirloom, manifesting numerous spells to perfectly preserve the dog balloon I had given her.

I was wondering if this was appropriate, but I was happy that she treasured it so much, so I was giggling.

Jin-a suddenly looked surprised, her eyes widening as she grabbed my tail and said.

“T-tail?! Horns?!”

… ?

I was rather taken aback by her delayed reaction.

I was thinking how cute my tail looked as it was wriggling, trying to escape from Jin-a’s grasp.

Jin-a hugged my tail and exclaimed.

“You were a deer?!”