Close to a month passed after the end of the enjoyable trip.
The kids were sitting right next to each other on the sofa, watching TV. They prepared popcorn and drinks in preparation for the movie they were to watch, but it was none other than Yeorum who chose the movie.
Filling up the screen was a sign that read, ‘R 18+’. Fortunately, the movie was more focused on art instead of being provocative but even then, it wasn’t for teenagers to watch.
The title of the movie was, ‘Beauty and the Beast in Chicago’, a modernised version of the animation.
“Turn it on?”
“Are we really watching it?”
“I’m turning it on.”
“Uah. I don’t want to…! Don’t…!”
Kaeul suddenly snatched the remote controller from Yeorum and hid it between herself and the baby chicken.
“What are you doing. You said you were curious.”
“I am curious but…! But…!”
“Yu Kaeul. Think about it. When would we watch it if we don’t do it now?”
Yeorum had her reasons. Ahjussi had left and since it was very rare for him to leave the house alone with the kids staying back, this was a rare opportunity.
“Uuhh. Even the cover is weird. Why is the man sticking his tongue out…?”
Hearing that, Yeorum sneered but is was soon replaced by mischievousness as she opened her mouth with a coquettish voice.
“My dear sister. What do people do with their tongue?”
“Nn? They eat delicious stuff…?”
“Then why do you think the man has his tongue out?”
“Uh, uhh… to eat…?”
“That’s right ♥”
She licked her lips with a decadent smile. Startled, Kaeul immediately clung to Bom, while the baby chicken also clung to Kaeul in surprise.
“W, w, w, wh what is he eating? No! Don’t say it…! I don’t want to know…! I don’t know…!”
“The heck.”
Yeorum clicked her tongue, seemingly finding that pathetic. They continued quarreling on whether they should watch the movie or not, while Bom suggested Gyeoul go inside her room.
Shake shake. Gyeoul shook her head, and she in fact appeared calmer than Kaeul.
“Will you be fine? The movie might be a bit weird.”
“…How is it, weird?”
“Hmm…”
Bom caressed her blue hair in contemplation. It was hard to explain what was weird and she had to choose the right words that were suitable for a child.
“…Do they do bad things?”
“They’re not bad things. They’re natural, necessary and could be beautiful. At the same time, it could be dirty and some might hate it or like it.”
“…What is it?”
“Hmm. So it’s-”
Bom whispered into her ears but Gyeoul tilted her head as if she didn’t really understand.
“…I shouldn’t know about it?”
“You’ll know about it later on, and you would need to know it in order to have the right mindset about it.”
“…Too difficult.”
“Then do you want to watch it while holding my hand? So that we can share some emotions to an appropriate level and if I think it’s too much, I will cover your eyes for you.”
“…Nn. Thanks.”
Meanwhile, the protector who was standing in a corner of the living room opened his eyes with a suggestive gaze. He seemed to be remembering the ‘days’ where he was popular and thinking about watching an R rated movie was about to cause his crimson eyes to bend into crescents.
“Oi. Cleaner.”
“Yes. Second young lady.”
“I’ll get you a little area outside, so go there and see if that human is coming or not.”
“See if he is coming or not? What do you mean by that?”
“I’m telling you to be on the lookout.”
“Ah…”
The protector had to stay outside.
The movie began with Bom and Yeorum focusing on it. Hugging the baby chicken, Kaeul covered her face with her hands and glanced through her fingers to watch the movie. And whenever someone’s skin showed up, she immediately closed the gap between her fingers.
And when that happened, Bom also covered Gyeoul’s eyes and lowered the volume with the remote controller.
“Why are you lowering it?”
“Because the sound is too explicit.”
“It’s boring. Give it here.”
“No.”
When Bom remained firm, Yeorum tilted her head.
“Give it.”
“No, Yeorum.”
“Ah, for real.”
Yeorum pondered before suddenly floating a cunning smile as if she thought of something. It was when Bom was starting to feel slightly nervous, about what Yeorum was trying to do.
“Hnn… ♥ ”
A heated orgasm left Yeorum’s mouth.
Kaeul was freaked out.
“Unni, are you crazy? What are you doing…!?”
“Nn… ♥ Hang… ♥”
“Don’t do it! You lunatic!”
Yeorum flipped her eyes up in response to Kaeul’s words.
“Ahh ♥♥”
“Uahh! Dirty! Crazy…! You have a screw loose or something seriously…!”
When Kaeul tried to run away from the sofa with a serious look, Yeorum grabbed her and laughed like a witch. Because of all that fuss, the movie didn’t feel erotic at all.
With all things considered, the movie was quite fun except for the obscene moments. It was the story of a tyrannic rich guy and a poor female secretary.
The rich was a bad person who looked down on others and the secretary tried to run away after being sick of it but was locked up in the office. At the start after being locked up, the female secretary hated the rich but opened her heart towards him later on for some reason, and dated him before changing him near the end.
…It was a romantic cliche.
After the movie came to an end, the kids started chatting about their impressions of the movie.
“But, but, there’s this thing I don’t really understand.”
“Maybe because you didn’t watch half the movie.”
“No? I watched everything except for the erotic scenes…!”
Kaeul thought for a bit before opening her mouth.
“Around the middle part, why did the locked-up female open her heart to the man? I didn’t really get that part.”
“What don’t you get?”
“Look, unni. The man wasn’t even that nice to her. He was bad; swore at her, hit her and locked her up, right? Inside the office.”
“He’s handsome though.”
“Nn…? No, but even then!”
“He has a good body, and his butt is like, damnn~”
“Uhh, so dirty… even then! He was being such a bad person!”
“He’s rich though?”
“Hmm…! But it’s still strange. No matter how handsome and rich he is, I wouldn’t like him if he’s that bad.”
“Apparently, it’s called Stockholm Syndrome,” explained Bom.
“Stockholm Syndrome?”
“Nn. If the perpetrator occasionally shows a gentle side to the victim, apparently there are some victims who open their heart up and sync with the perpetrator.”
Gyeoul interjected with a question.
“…What’s perpetrator?”
“Someone that does bad things.”
“…What’s sync?”
“It means sympathising and empathising with other people.”
“…Ah.”
“A long time ago, apparently there were some armed robbers that attacked a bank in Stockholm and took the staff hostage for several days. It seems that they were occasionally nice to the hostages and after being rescued by the police, they stood on the side of the robbers.”
“Ehhng? Really?”
“Nn. They apparently refused to give testimony and stuff.”
“Uwahh… that’s so strange. So humans are like that…”
The kids all entered their own world and each pondered about various things.
“Hmm… are we kind of similar?”
“Nn, nn?”
“Since we were suddenly kidnapped and locked inside Unit 301.”
Bom said that in a half-joking manner, but Kaeul, who had been immersed in the movie, shook her head with a serious expression.
“No? That’s definitely not the case.”
“Really?”
“I’m not like that foolish woman…! Nothing bad was done to me so I’m not that, whatever syndrome either!”
“Then?”
“Then…? It’s just that, the macaron and the sausage bread were delicious… not! I mean, I just, came here on my own feet, right?”
She was saying that it wasn’t Stockholm syndrome because nothing bad was done to her.
Yeorum also shook her head.
“Not me either.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t like that human that much.”
“But don’t you follow him quite a lot?”
“Hmm. Well, he’s at least better than other humans.”
She meant that it wasn’t Stockholm Syndrome because she didn’t like him.
“What about you?”
“…?”
Gyeoul didn’t really understand what her unnis were talking about. But since they all said no, that must be the correct answer.
“…I don’t think so?”
“Really?”
Bom patted the child’s small head–
“Then it’s just me, I guess…”
And she whispered that under her breath.
In that instant, Kaeul’s eyes turned into circles.
‘It’s just me, I guess’?
“Let’s pack things up. It’s about time for ahjussi to come back.”
It seemed that Yeorum and Gyeoul didn’t take what she said to heart, judging from how they stood up and began cleaning all the rubbish. But Kaeul was different. Despite hearing the same words as the other dragons, she was feeling something different from them.
With a deeply flushed face, Kaeul started picking up the rubbish. Her mind became muddled.
Bom-unni most likely wasn’t saying that for no reason, and it probably had a connection with the expression she showed before. There most certainly was a connection.
For a month, ever since Peace City, Kaeul had been feeling greatly curious about it, since Bom had never shown such an expression when she was with others.
However, fear got the best of her and stopped her from fully empathising with Bom. Didn’t Bom-unni, who was indifferent and straight like a pine tree, become weird? Thus, it must be a tremendous and violent emotion…!
So Kaeul had decided to set it aside.
The deep empathising ability (immersion) unique to the gold race was done automatically, but could be handled proactively by hardening one’s mind beforehand.
Ever since she returned from the trip, Kaeul had been avoiding Yu Jitae and these days, she was able to look at his face again without feeling confused.
But hearing what Bom said just then caused curiosity to lift its head again. The moment she saw Yu Jitae’s face after he came back to the house, her emotions started overlapping with Bom’s.
‘What is it. What is this…’
In any case, this wasn’t good.
Kaeul decided to set her curiosity aside once again. It was dangerous, scary and whatever it was, she couldn’t do it.
In other words, she had to make sure that it was never just the two of them.
Never…!
“There will be a guardian consultation today.”
Oh no…!
That was what Yu Jitae said during the meal.
Kaeul turned pale. A 1 on 1 consultation at a time like this? Simply imagining it made her sink through the floor and she couldn’t even feel the food going down her throat.
“Come to my room one by one after the meal.”
“Okay.”
After the meal started the consultations for Bom and Yeorum and meanwhile, Kaeul desperately looked for ways to escape.
“Yu Kaeul. Come in.”
“Uhhh…”
In the end, she couldn’t come up with any.
Cold beads of sweat travelled down her spine. Like a pig being taken to the slaughter house, Kaeul entered his room and intentionally left the door open.
“Right, Kaeul.”
“Yes, yes…!”
She couldn’t stare at his face so instead, she gazed down and stared at her hands.
“What’s wrong.”
“Yes? What do you mean…!?”
“Are you uncomfortable somewhere? Why are you like that.”
“N, no? I’m not…”
Yu Jitae stared at her.
“How are you these days.”
“J, just normal?”
“Anything you need.”
“Nothing. Nothing…!”
*
Kaeul became weird again. Yu Jitae thought to himself.
She slowly became better after coming back from the trip but was suddenly like this again. The way her heart raced and the way she couldn’t look into eyes seemed to be suggesting that she was scared of him for some reason.
“You really don’t need anything?”
“Yes…! I don’t! So can I please go out now?”
“Not yet. Are you uncomfortable with anything.”
“No…!”
There was nothing she was uncomfortable with, apparently. Was she speaking the truth?
[Eyes of Equilibrium (SS)]
Yu Jitae tried to look into her eyes again and bent his back but she lowered her head ever further and avoided eye contact. So he got out from the seat and lowered his body even further to see the child’s face but when he did that, Kaeul immediately covered her face in fright.
“Let me see your face.”
“Ah, ah… please don’t…”
She was stubborn and stood on firm ground, desperately stopping him from seeing her face. The guardian felt slightly frustrated but didn’t want to forcefully look at her face when she was so against it.
“Okay… I got it. And anything you want?”
“Uh, uhh…”
“Yu Kaeul?”
“P, please end the consultation…”
He seriously had no idea.
*
After escaping Yu Jitae’s room, Kaeul stayed holed up inside her room by herself for a very long time. She even chased the baby chicken outside.
She was seriously this close to being doomed…!
Yu Jitae’s adam’s apple, the veins on his arms and his wide shoulders were still hovering before her eyes. At this point, she was scared, imagining what Bom thought of whenever she was looking at Yu Jitae.
Kaeul still didn’t know what this emotion was.
But what she certainly did know is that–
‘My heart’s not normal…’
It felt like she was going crazy.
At this rate, she might get uncomfortable simply staying inside Unit 301, so Kaeul decided to stay away from Yu Jitae again for the time being.
That was when a question appeared inside her head. If these tremendous thoughts and emotions were normal for Bom-unni,
‘Nn…?’
How was she able to treat ahjussi normally?