“Nn?”
Bom turned around nonchalantly. The grass-coloured ponytail shook underneath the lamp, while all the mirrors of the changing room appeared like they were sparkling.
“What are you doing?”
“I wanted to try this on.”
She looked indifferent, as if she wasn’t concerned about anyone entering in the first place.
“Why would you wear that?”
“Why not.”
“Why not?”
“Nn. I just wanted to try it on.”
“Hnng…? That’s a bit perverted.”
“Is it?”
She smiled.
Yeorum found that smile to be interesting. Ever since they had set off for the Amusement, they went through a dimensional disjoint and accidentally landed on Earth and lived together for a while, but she had rarely ever seen Bom smile. Back then, she thought the Green Dragon was just acting mysterious and elegant as always but,
These days, Bom tended to smile very easily.
“How is it. Does it look good?”
Wearing a gentle smile, she raised her arms up. The business shirt came all the way down to her thighs and thus concealed the short pants she was wearing.
Even in the eyes of Yeorum, who was comparatively uninterested in beauty, it looked good.
“Looks pretty.”
Hearing the word ‘pretty’, Bom placed her two hands under her chin, like the leaves of a flower.
“Ahh, I already said it looks good. You look pretty okay. You want a kiss or what?”
Bom giggled, hearing her irritated voice.
“Pretty yeah, but more importantly…”
Recently, Yu Jitae spent his days killing his aura as much as he could. He seemed to have judged that enough of a trust had been formed between them, and felt like he was respecting their privacy.
So he probably didn’t know what was happening yet but,
“Wouldn’t that human hate it if he knew?”
“Hmm… maybe.”
Wearing the same expression as always, Bom gestured to Yeorum.
“Come in. You shouldn’t open changing room doors wide like that.”
Yeorum walked in and closed the door behind her as Bom turned around and began taking the shirt off.
There was a passing thought.
Thinking back, Bom sometimes mentioned Yu Jitae in weird situations all of a sudden and talked about strange things. Things like, doesn’t he look cute when eating, and how he would probably pay someone back diligently after borrowing money.
They were mostly compliments and good words, and were praises that didn’t really suit Yu Jitae. Whenever that happened, Kaeul would say, “Is that so?” and give little regard to it, while Yeorum would consider it the usual nonsense of the green race with a “Bullshit”.
Once, Bom had said this.
‘You see, when I wore the evening dress last time, it was actually my first time wearing it and I was very nervous. But you know what? Ahjussi said it was pretty straight away. Sometimes, ahjussi surprises people with one unexpected word.’
Bom appeared very happy about something unimportant so Yeorum had been doubtful back then but her thoughts changed when she later heard Kaeul speak.
‘Unni unni! I think I know what Bom-unni meant last time.’
‘Nn?’
‘You know, when there were lots of bad comments, ahjussi gave me a sweet candy so I ate it, yeah? And after the candy, he talked about what happened and at the end, he said he would be on my side no matter what. I was really surprised, you know?’
‘Ohh. Right? You know what I mean?’
Bom empathised with Kaeul’s words so Yeorum decided to think less about the relationship between Yu Jitae and Bom.
But now that she was watching Bom carefully take the business shirt off, a doubt appeared in her mind.
Wait, this kid.
Don’t tell me.
“Bom-unni. I’m just asking this but, do you…”
“No?”
The laid-back voice replied to her question before it even ended. Caught off guard, Yeorum’s reaction was slower.
“…What?”
Bom turned around after hanging the shirt.
“I don’t. So…”
She placed her finger near her lips with a “Shh,” and left the changing room. An incomprehensible smile had been hanging on her lips until the moment she walked out.
“…”
Left alone inside the changing room, Yeorum slowly thought about the things that had happened once again and yet again felt doubtful.
However, even the fact that she was thinking about something like this didn’t make sense.
“…What’s going on. Seriously.”
Seriously, the green race all has a screw or two loose…
She was complaining when Yu Jitae’s shirt entered her eyes.
“Hmm…”
***
“Don’t you have a lot of shoes.”
Yu Jitae spoke to Kaeul inside a branded shoe store.
“Yes?”
“You’re buying more?”
“Yes yes. Can’t I?”
Carrying a bunch of shoes, the baby chicken asked Yu Jitae. He shook his head. It didn’t matter how much she bought, even if she bought the entire store for herself.
He was just curious.
“We have something similar at home.”
It was a black shoe with low heels.
“Hmm… It’s different tho.”
“Looks similar.”
“See this.”
Kaeul pushed the shoe forward.
“This one has shoelaces but the one at home doesn’t have them.”
What was the difference, he thought.
Even after that, she chose several pairs of socks and more shoes before asking him if she could buy all of them. He nodded but for some reason, it seemed that Kaeul was buying more than she usually did.
Well, she did like shopping especially more than others so it was understandable. That’s what he was thinking but the moment he saw her choose four exactly the same shoes with different colours, he thought differently.
Suddenly, Yu Jitae thought back on the Gold Dragon of the fourth iteration.
The goddess of billboard, Baby Yellow, enjoyed shopping frequently whenever she wasn’t actively promoting songs. He had followed her from behind as a bodyguard so he could remember the faint traces of how she was like.
Even though she was called the goddess of billboard and was an amazing singer, there were always those that hated Baby Yellow, and it’s not like all the songs ended up at the top of the charts.
Although her life was blessed all around, that might in fact be the reason Baby Yellow had felt extremely stressed out from small misfortunes. He didn’t know back then, but that might be the case now that he thought about it.
She tried to look fine on the outside but couldn’t withstand the urge sometimes. During those times in order to relax herself, she tended to visit department stores and show mindless purchasing behaviours.
With a doubtful heart, Yu Jitae asked her.
“Kaeul.”
“Yess!”
Her circular golden eyes revealed pure innocence devoid of contamination. While Yu Jitae looked for the correct words, Kaeul tilted her head.
“Why?”
Were his worries unnecessary? Regardless, the Regressor decided to ask.
“Is there something difficult these days.”
“No?”
“You feel fine?”
“Yess. I’m really fine.”
“Is there anything you need.”
“Hmm, hmm… shoes?”
She chuckled.
“Oh, oh right! There’s something I need. Can I say it?”
“Of course.”
“Maybe because I’ve only been going to the lessons these days? I want to go somewhere far on a trip.”
Was this a problematic response? The Regressor assessed her answer.
Looking back, the Gold Dragon loved travelling around. That was the same in the fourth iteration and even in this iteration, she talked about wanting to be dispatched somewhere during the guardian consultation session. It might just be her personality.
Thus, deciding to just watch on for the time being, Yu Jitae nodded.
“Right. I’ll prepare for it.”
*
Only after visiting several more stores did the shopping end that day. Yu Jitae wore the turtleneck knit straight away after removing the tag.
They bought dozens of clothes and shoes but most of them were Kaeul’s. Gyeoul, who had bought herself cute gata shoes, seemed to be greatly fond of them and was walking on her two feet. These days, she looked really natural walking and running.
But suddenly, Gyeoul looked back at Yu Jitae with surprise.
“…”
“Why.”
“…?”
She thoroughly glared at Yu Jitae’s neck before soon becoming greatly flustered. Yu Jitae couldn’t understand why but it was because Gyeoul had finally realised the critical downside of turtleneck knits.
Turtleneck knits!
It stuck close to the body and covered both the chest and the neck. Unlike business shirts, she couldn’t open the chest up, nor was it easy to pull it down.
At this rate, she wouldn’t be able to check whether the necklace was there or not…!
And doesn’t Yu Jitae wear the same clothes without changing for several days?
The more her thoughts continued, the worse her expression became.
“…!”
Of course, the necklace would most likely be there as always. Gyeoul trusted Yu Jitae.
However, directly checking it with her eyes and not doing it were greatly different. Checking his necklace was like a ritual for Gyeoul, carried out whenever she was seeing Yu Jitae after a long time.
Wearing a depressed look on her face, Gyeoul reached forward with her arms. Yu Jitae habitually raised her up as Gyeoul placed her hand next to his neck. Then, she tried to pull the knit down.
“What’s wrong.”
“…!”
It didn’t work. It was impossible to easily pull the knit down to the chest, and forcibly doing it would tear the sweater apart. Realising that none of the options were viable, Gyeoul became teary.
“Huing…”
Her panic manifested as teardrops.
“…”
The Regressor was slightly stumped. He didn’t know why she was like this, but since she could talk a lot better now, he decided to ask her.
“What’s wrong, Yu Gyeoul.”
Gyeoul mumbled and hesitated before opening her mouth.
“…I don’t, like this.”
“You don’t like these clothes? Why.”
“…don’t like.”
“You liked it before.”
Shake, shake.
He thought he could understand her with a conversation, but that was a mistake. The Regressor still couldn’t understand the thought process of the blue-haired child.
But what else could he do if she didn’t like it? He promised that he would change into different clothes once he got back home, and only then did Gyeoul stop whining.
After arriving at Unit 301, Gyeoul walked down from his arms. The kids all carried their bags and entered their rooms while Yu Jitae also went into his. In the living room that suddenly turned quiet, Gyeoul looked for the protector, who was habitually cleaning the already-clean floor.
Gururuk…♪ Kwaruruk…♫
He was humming with the clashing sound of steel.
Gyeoul glanced at the protector before toddling her way behind. Then, she pondered whether she should tap the protector by the back or something, before opening her mouth.
“…Hel, lo.”
The protector turned around as Gyeoul looked back with a gentle smile.
“Yes yes. Did you call me, young lady.”
“…Yes.”
“What is the matter. Is there something you need?”
Gyeoul hesitated for a bit before taking something out from behind her back and giving it to the protector. The protector quietly received it. He was wondering what it was but after looking at it closely, it was a pair of pink… rubber gloves.
“…Present.”
Gyeoul stared at the hands of the ‘Cleaner Ahjussi’. The vicious gauntlets had various spikes so the original rubber gloves had a lot of holes in them. The spikes were too sharp, while the rubber gloves were too old.
The protector finally realised why Gyeoul threw a glance at his arms before walking out of the house.
“…Young lady!”
He felt warm inside. Humans seem to call this ‘being moved’. She acted as if she hated him everyday, but to think she would buy a gift for him…
Ahh, young lady…!
It was when the protector was about to follow the etiquette of Askalifa by bending his back.
“Thank y…”
Gyeoul took something else out.
“…”
It was Gyeoul’s exclusive bowl, which the protector had accidentally scratched the day before while washing dishes, with the spikes that ripped through the rubber gloves.
“…Don’t, scratch dem.”
In other words, the gift didn’t have a pure intention behind it, and was only because the bowl was scratched. The protector felt less moved.
Even then, the protector was happy. He continued through with the etiquette and bent his neck into a 90 degree angle.
“It will never happen again.”
That was when two arms were wrapped around the helmet of the protector’s lowered head. He was slightly surprised.
“…Thank, you.”
By the time he looked back up, Gyeoul had already run away. Left alone in the living room, the protector looked at the rubber gloves and thought.
Thank goodness he became a cleaner.