After the noble sacrifice of the six monsters, a short time passed on Earth.
In a normalized life once again, Mary was sprawled on her bed since the weekend afternoon.
Mary had taught Shiyeon how to use the food delivery app, in case she got hungry while she was asleep.
Unlike usual, she appeared to be sleeping soundly without a worry or care, fitting for her age.
Of course, that smartphone that had passed into Shiyeon’s hands.
Currently, it was in the possession of Gomtaengi, who had skillfully persuaded Shiyeon to hand it over.
The former monster, now the mascot, Gomtaengi.
Now quite accustomed to using the smartphone, it seemed to have gained enough skill to adeptly browse various communities besides the gallery.
‘What messy news will I find today?’
With that thought, Gomtaengi began pressing the smartphone with its fluffy hands.
In the lifestyle of mascots, where there was nothing but a radar for detecting monsters, the fact that there was something to do other than watching TV was surely like a refreshing rain in a drought.
As soon as it entered the search engine, the news appeared.
Swipe, Gomtaengi pushed its palm from bottom to top, scrolling down.
[‘The nightmare is over’ Monsters in the Sun&Mun area, numbers normalized.]
[Monster analysis expert Professor Lee, ‘Keep an eye on the previously unseen behavior patterns.’]
[Monsters’ new operation ends in great failure… Who is this magical girl who stopped them from the front?]
[Member Na, annoyed, says ‘Sorry’ after facing fierce criticism for comments about magical girls…]
[As expected, she’s different. What was her strategy to confront the increased monsters?]
Similar news and sounds had circulated for days.
Gomtaengi frowned and scrolled back up.
It’s always a matter of one or two days before the same news takes over.
As that thought crossed Gomtaengi’s mind, it slumped onto a cushion and muttered absentmindedly.
“Same old clichés.”
“Why are you talking like that?”
“Huh?”
Shiyeon’s mascot tilted its head.
Didn’t they say if you look into the abyss, the abyss looks back at you?
Slowly becoming immersed in the community, Gomtaengi was unconsciously correcting its way of speaking.
Prompted by the remark from a fellow mascot, Gomtaengi realized it belatedly.
“If you talk like that, isn’t it just getting caught again?”
“Wow… That’s just great, right.”
In a moment, as the ‘outburst’ was about to slip out, Gomtaengi became aware of it and carefully swallowed the words, rephrasing.
Even when it had said something like ‘tough,’ it had garnered a chilling response, and if it let slip this way of speaking, it truly wouldn’t survive.
With an unexpected concern now weighing on it, Gomtaengi spent the day swallowing down non-existent dry saliva.
The next day, at school.
Mary, having awakened refreshingly, sat down with a completely clear expression as she broke free from the devil of drowsiness.
The reason she looked so refreshed wasn’t solely because she was free from the horrors of sleep deprivation.
Vacation, summer vacation!
That word, which every student feels sweet, was right around the corner.
It was what every student would never turn down, a long-awaited event for active students.
The day of the vacation ceremony had dawned.
“Everyone, today is the vacation ceremony, right?”
“Yes—!”
In response to the teacher’s question, the children answered vigorously.
The youthful cheers gathered together, turning into a noise that pierced the ears and scratched at the eardrums.
At the prime age for such robust voices, first graders in elementary school.
That combined with the buff of it being vacation ceremony day meant their voices felt even louder, and it was surely not just in their heads.
“Okay, pass the papers from front to back?”
Feeling unfortunate to be in the front row, I reached out my hand to receive the papers.
Various papers announcing the start of vacation.
Library will be open during vacation, guidance for classroom operations during vacation, and so on.
After setting aside the unnecessary details, I began to skim through what needed to be prepared.
With vacation comes homework, of course.
Still, being a first grader, there isn’t much to do.
[Write one picture diary a week]
[Complete at least one reading study sheet]
[Exercise regularly]
[Engage in various expressive activities (origami, crafting, drawing, etc.)]
[Experience various activities (traveling, etc.)]
Confirming that more than half could be done directly without any validation.
In other words, four diaries and about one book report.
If I just prepare that much, for a month, I wouldn’t even have to wake up early in the morning or play around!
Exercise, origami, travel?
‘Yeah, no thanks.’
“Alright, then shall we make a vacation plan?”
As I mocked internally, a heap of papers was thrust onto the desk along with the teacher’s voice.
A round sheet with a tiny dot on the end where the hour hand points, paired with the grand phrase ‘Vacation Plan.’
Thinking to myself, ‘This will also be a memory,’ I took one sheet and flipped it over without looking back.
I scribbled a squiggly line nonchalantly, planning the ‘glorious’ schedule, such as ‘sleep,’ ‘breakfast,’ ‘lunch,’ ‘exercise,’ and so forth, which I wouldn’t follow anyway.
In reality, it would just be sleeping, eating, irregularly taking out monsters, and sleeping after playing on the smartphone.
Still, I created a ‘normal’ schedule in one go since I had to.
The key to the vacation plan was that it must look like a perfectly good kid’s timetable.
Going to bed at midnight, which means… getting into bed at 12 and waking up at 11 in the morning so as not to appear as a lazy child.
If I wrote it realistically, it would be rejected.
Even if I didn’t actually do it, pretending to wake up around 7 in the morning had its importance.
Even as I moved my own hand to write, I couldn’t help but chuckle.
‘Why should I wake up at this time when I don’t have school?’
If anything were to wake me up at this hour, it would surely be the monsters.
With that thought and my internal mockery, I presented my fib-laden vacation plan to the teacher.
A truly textbook-like plan. A perfect schedule that included vacation homework was easily passed on the first attempt.
Once the mission was complete, the plan was nonchalantly tossed into my bag.
Whether it got crumpled or not didn’t matter. I wouldn’t live by that anyway, so I didn’t care.
With the teacher’s parting words wishing us a good vacation, I began my journey home.
At the age of being just a first grader.
Not distinguishing between the back gate or the main gate, some parents still came to pick us up every day, like when we were in kindergarten.
Of course, there are kids who aren’t so keen on it.
“Why are you here! I can go alone!”
“Because I’m worried.”
Today too, conversations mixed between a parent worried about their child and the child who feels embarrassed for being picked up by their parent along with friends.
Although we’re in the same school, unless Shiyeon says she’s going with her friends, that role belongs to this side.
This scenery will be saying goodbye for a month, how delightful.
Walking back in front of my home, where the steps were even heated by the sun.
We had a recently arisen issue upon returning home.
“It’s hot….”
The absence of an air conditioner, a fitting feature of summer.
Until now, we had been barely surviving with a fan, but after tasting the greatness of air conditioning at school or the mart, that presence became even more desperate.
Seeing Shiyeon sprawled in front of the fan due to the increasing heat, we could no longer delay.
To install an air conditioner, plumbing work had to be done, and having outsiders come into a house with only two elementary school kids made it something we continually postponed…
‘At this rate, I won’t be able to stand it either.’
Muttering my frustrations internally, I envisioned a horrifying scenario in my mind.
Returning home right after fighting monsters, into a sweltering sauna during mid-summer?
Just imagining it was dreadful.
On top of that, if I opened the balcony door, the irregular nicotine scent wafting in would likely have a negative effect on Shiyeon.
Eventually searching for information on air conditioner installation, I entered the official website for genuine purchases and arrived at the non-member payment screen.
[Identity Verification]
[XX.com restricts access for child customers under 14 years of age, and identity verification is required to confirm age. Please select one of the verification methods below.]
What appeared before my eyes was an identity verification window that demanded age even from non-members, irritatingly enough.
‘Damn it.’
In the moment I realized I couldn’t buy what I had been determined to get, I blamed the world that made it impossible for anyone under 14 to do anything.
Upon realizing I couldn’t buy the item I had set my mind on, a person inevitably goes insane.
Desire turns into stubbornness.
Stubbornness transformed into obsession.
‘I’ll find a way to buy it and get it installed.’
Obsession had fueled action.
With Shiyeon clasped by the hand beside me, we headed to none other than the department store.
In particular, to the basement reached by the escalator.
There awaited countless appliances in the basement, each flaunting themselves and waiting for someone to stroke them as they positioned for purchase.
Families casually passing by and kids bouncing their feet while seated in their shopping carts.
Amid such normal scenes were two little girls holding only one hand each.
“We’re buying an air conditioner!”
“An air conditioner!?”
It was me and Shiyeon.
Bringing the hand I held closer to my waist proudly, as I spoke, Shiyeon’s face lit up at the mention of an air conditioner.
Yes, now our house would have an air conditioner too.
“When talking with big brother or sister, you have to stay quiet, alright? If not, we can’t get the air conditioner.”
“Okay…!”
With money at our disposal but no adult supervision.
Even in making a purchase, there would hardly be a remarkably irrational employee who would allow two kids to present a card and say, ‘Yes, is that so?’
So, what did we need, with only two kids in the house?
A scenario.
From now on, we had imaginary parents.
Parents who would leave two first graders in charge of buying appliances while they went upstairs to buy clothes…
Absurd yet wealthy, clueless parents.
