Chapter 98

Arin Han has never looked this panicked before.

Though I’m not sure if it’s right to call it fortunate…

Arin Han screamed her head off, showing every gesture imaginable to indicate she was under tremendous shock. She was practically performing some sort of abstract performance art in front of us until…

“Uwaaaah?”

She broke down and collapsed onto the floor with a thud.

Seeing this, Chae-a tilted her head in confusion, then poked Arin’s cheeks carefully before tilting her head again.

“Sis is broken…”

Then, staring blankly at Arin’s face for a while, she suddenly said “hmm,” hugged Arin tightly, and turned back to tell us:

“But Chae-a is the oldest sister now! You gotta listen to me, got it?”

Meanwhile, Yuna, witnessing this unexpected transfer of power (or not), quickly pledged her loyalty to Chae-a upon realizing the shift in authority.

“Got it!”

Watching this, I thought to myself: wherever Yuna goes, she’ll probably survive just fine. As I was patting Yuna on the head, the Spirit Master uncle walked into my lair looking utterly flustered.

“H-hey, what’s going on here?”

Not only did his expression show panic, but his voice was brimming with bewilderment as well, making his emotions easy to read.

I quickly explained the situation.

“Chae-a wants to be buried.”

“Buried? In where?”

Before I could answer, Chae-a chimed in:

“In the ground!”

“What?”

“The sprout went into the ground, so Chae-a wants to go too!”

Spirit Master uncle, being used to children, quickly assessed the situation and began stroking Chae-a’s head.

“I understand what you’re saying, but don’t talk about wanting to be buried anymore, alright? And Hae-un, you too.”

Why is he talking to me?

Confused, I stared at Spirit Master uncle, but he blatantly ignored my gaze and continued speaking.

“Anyway, let’s move on. Arin, I’ll take care of things here.”

With a sigh, Spirit Master uncle gave Arin Han a quick shake on the shoulder.

*

Despite the extremely shocking event that occurred for Arin Han,

the important thing seemed to be getting checked up, so Arin quickly regained her composure and led us to the testing room inside the association.

The examination room was slightly different from what I expected.

Instead of moving between floors and sections like the process I knew, which was somewhat complicated,

“Here, we just enter the white room and come out—that’s it.”

It was an incredibly simple method, allowing all tests to be completed within 10 seconds.

“Mana really is amazing.”

As I marveled at the technology that turns impossibilities into possibilities, Yuna suddenly clung to me with her tail drooping and whispered a warning.

“You need to be careful. If you’re not careful, they might stab you with sharp needles.”

Her experience with needles must have left a strong impression, because Yuna was on high alert, trying her best to protect me.

I shook my head to reassure her, but Yuna insisted by shaking her own head and kept guard.

“Well, needles are scary.”

Understanding her concern, I sighed when Chae-a approached me with a question.

“Hey, is the sprout doing okay?”

Technically, it should be called a seed, but I didn’t want to correct her, so I simply nodded. Then Chae-a crossed her arms and muttered thoughtfully before whispering to us.

“Let’s go see the sprout. It might be lonely and crying ‘wa wa.'”

Her statement wasn’t entirely wrong, considering the sapling of the World Tree had wilted due to loneliness. Perhaps the sprout felt the same way.

“Should we go check?”

Since it seemed like a good idea to confirm once, I suggested we go, and both Chae-a and Yuna nodded in agreement. With everyone’s opinion aligned, we decided to head to the lair immediately—until…

“Ah, kids? It’s late, why don’t we go tomorrow?”

Regaining her senses, Arin Han calmed us down and pulled us toward the inner rooms. But Chae-a resisted, whining.

“I wanna see the sprout! If we don’t go now, it’ll cry ‘wa wa’!”

“Nope.”

Arin firmly shut down Chae-a’s protest.

“Absolutely not.”

Defeated, Chae-a pouted for a bit before brightening up with a new idea.

“If you don’t let me go, Chae-a will roar! Like a tiger, scarier than Squirrel-bro!”

Though I wasn’t sure how squirrels and tigers were related, the gist seemed to be that “bigger = scarier.” So roaring like a tiger would mean something super-scary. Maybe.

While I blinked at Chae-a holding her ground like a tiny yet fierce panda,

Yuna beside me trembled and grabbed my hand, whispering:

“It’s… scary…”

“Scary? She’s adorable!”

As I couldn’t figure out why anyone would find her threatening, Arin Han picked up Chae-a and said:

“If you go see the sprout, all the ice cream I prepared will melt and you won’t be able to eat it. Do you still want to go?”

At the mention of ice cream, Chae-a gasped dramatically and hesitated for a moment before blurting out:

“The sprout wants to be alone! So… let’s go tomorrow!”

Amused by her reaction, Arin tried to suppress a laugh, her lips twitching before she cleared her throat and teased:

“Didn’t you say the sprout was lonely? Maybe we should go see it.”

“Uh… yeah!”

Unable to resist any longer, Arin burst into laughter, finding the whole scene hilarious. While I joined in, Chae-a, ever serious, informed her:

“Oh, by the way, Chae-a loves strawberry ice cream. Peach too.”

Subtly appealing for her favorite flavors, Arin nodded and promised to prepare strawberry ice cream.

* * *

As you know, I do various training at night.

For example, stretching to grow taller, controlling my tail, palm enlargement exercises, and mana circulation drills.

It’s my time to grow and improve without adult interference.

In other words, it’s my “no-adults-around” time!

“Yeah! Let’s go see the sprout!”

So naturally, with no one around to stop us, Chae-a cleverly ate two strawberry ice creams but still insisted on visiting the sprout.

Even I, oddly preoccupied with thoughts of the seed (sprout), agreed. But Yuna raised a valid concern with worry in her voice.

“It’s scary at night. Roar-scary.”

Meaning it’s dark and potentially dangerous.

Chae-a, after a brief pause, confidently declared:

“We’ve got Somtul! We’ll be fine!”

Somtul, munching on leaves, chirped approvingly.

“Right! So, we’ll be safe!”

Though I wasn’t sure why Somtul made everything okay, everyone seemed convinced. Then Chae-a grabbed a small blanket called “Tini Tini Pang Pang” nearby and threw it over our heads.

“If we wear this, we won’t get caught!”

Then, looking like little ghosts, she skipped forward.

“Shall we go?”

We both nodded eagerly.

* * *

The guild at 10 PM was dimly lit.

Not pitch black, but with distant streetlights and hallway lights casting faint illumination, we could make out our surroundings. Still, compared to daytime, it was quite dark. Thus, the three of us nervously shuffled along, dragging our blankets.

“Chae-a isn’t scared at all! Because Chae-a is as scary as Squirrel-bro…”

“Me too…”

“Let’s keep going!”

Chae-a bravely pretended not to be scared, Yuna supported her despite being nervous, and I guided them gently toward my lair.

Suddenly, in the distance, something large and blurry started approaching.

“Huh?”

What is that?

Squinting, I thought it looked ghost-like, when suddenly it rushed toward us at incredible speed.

Without hesitation, we all held hands and bolted backward.

Except Somtul.

It was summer after all.

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