Chapter 134: Negotiation Skills (2)
TL: Lollies -> Gummies
Bom did not miss Gyeoul throwing a glance at the gummies and a faint trace of a smile appeared in her indifferent expression. Did she miss it that much? She thought, but asked calmly without showing any signs on the outside.
“What is yours?”
“…Gummies.”
“Gummies?”
“…Nn. They’re, mine.”
“Hmm~ I can’t give you gummies. Our dear Gyeoul always eats these gummies and is picky during the meal.”
“…But, I’m not, picky with gummies.”
Bom looked into her eyes.
“Really?”
“…I can, eat anything.”
“So you mean you’re fine with just eating gummies?”
“…Nn.”
“What if there aren’t any gummies in the world?”
“…?”
“There aren’t any gummies in Askalifa. So Gyeoul, will you be starving when we go back?”
“…!”
“Gyeoul might die of starvation then, so I can’tt. Your unni can’t give you these gummies.”
Gyeoul pondered for a bit, before slowly opening her mouth.
“…I won’t, from now on.”
“You won’t do what?”
“…Being picky.”
“Really?”
“…Nn. You can, trust.”
“What a good girl.”
After finally receiving a positive response, Gyeoul’s lips curled up slightly.
“Then, I’ll give it back to you once you’re no longer picky with food.”
But soon went back down.
“…Unni, you don’t, trust me?”
“You? I trust you of course.”
“…Then?”
“But as you know, gummies are sour and sweet.”
Nod, nod.
“And they’re savoury and chewy.”
Nod, nod…!
“It makes you happy to eat them, right?”
Is that even a question? Gyeoul nodded with a bright expression.
“That’s why I can’t trust gummies.”
Kwagwang.
Something visibly crumbled in Gyeoul’s expression.
She thought to herself that the first negotiation skill, ‘calm conversation’ had failed. To be fair, this skill had never really worked on anyone other than Yu Jitae.
Now that things had come to this, she needed to start with the second negotiation skill…!
The second negotiation skill was a skill that was already confirmed to work through a test with Kaeul-unni.
Gyeoul reached her arms out at Bom, asking for a hug. Since Bom hugged Gyeoul the most after Yu Jitae, she naturally raised her up and placed the child on her lap.
After coming right up to her nose, Gyeoul hesitated for a bit before lifting her head up. The pair of water-coloured eyes closed in.
Bom watched on, doubtful of what she was trying to do when the child kissed on her unni’s cheek.
Slightly surprised, Bom gazed down at Gyeoul.
“What was that? What was that just then, Gyeoul.”
“…Mhmm, bribe?”
She gave a wide smile. Finding that cute, Bom also smiled gently.
But Bom wasn’t that easy. Grabbing onto her two arms, Bom slowly carried her lips to the child’s forehead. She then kissed with a loud ‘chu’.
Gyeoul was the one that then became flustered.
The child quickly went through a calculation in her head. She gave a bribe, but it was returned. Isn’t that plus minus 0?
“…!”
“The bribe’s been cancelled now. Isn’t it?”
“…It is.”
But that wasn’t the end. With a crafty and a deep gaze, Bom looked into her eyes before carrying out a baptism of kisses on her forehead and cheeks.
“…S, stop.”
Having received too many bribes, Gyeoul waved her hands and blocked Bom’s face from coming closer.
“Now Gyeoul is a corrupt official.”
“…”
Gyeoul covered her face with her two hands and murmured “…I’m, a corrupt official…?” She was thinking of the corrupt official that had appeared in a fairy tale read by the protector.
Seeing the child sincerely concerned, Bom giggled.
This time as well, Gyeoul accepted her defeat with the failure of her ‘bribes’, the second negotiation skill. Bom-unni was terrifying.
The blue-haired girl who instead became a debtor heaved a sigh.
Now, the only one that remained was the third negotiation skill. She didn’t want to go this far, but there was no other way around it at this point.
Surrounding herself with magic, Gyeoul slowly flew forward before sitting down next to Bom’s laptop.
The smile on Bom’s face vanished.
“What are you doing?”
“…It’s, a hostage.”
“Hostage?”
“…Give me, gummies.”
Gyeoul reached her hand out with a rigid look on her face. She was copying what she saw from Yeorum’s favourite American drama.
Bom smiled dumbfoundedly and asked.
“What if I don’t?”
“…If you, don’t give me gummies…”
She glanced at the laptop and pondered. She couldn’t fold the laptop in half, nor did she know how to use a device.
“…”
Gyeoul wanted to threaten, but couldn’t do anything even after holding something hostage.
What should she do…
After some time, something decent popped up in her mind.
Creating water in mid-air with mana, she gathered it to one place and carried it until it was above the laptop. Buoyantly, a ball of water fluctuated in mid-air, as if it was in a vacuum.
“…There will be no tomorrow, for Laptop.”
That was the threat she barely came up with after deep contemplation. Bom, who was indifferently staring at Gyeoul, waited for a bit before opening her mouth.
“I dun care?”
“…Nn?”
Gyeoul asked back, thinking she heard it wrong.
“…The novel, will be gone?”
“Of course I saved it somewhere else, you blue devil.”
“…”
Even the third method proved to be a fail. Heaving a sigh, she shook her head, and water which had been formed with mana returned to its original state.
And she probably didn’t know;
In fact, Bom wasn’t that interested in writing novels.
“Come down if you’re done. Let me write.”
“…Nn.”
In the end, she used everything that she had prepared but failed. Gyeoul powerlessly walked out of the room. It was her complete defeat.
Bom watched her powerless back leave the room. She then gave a faint smile.
*
She couldn’t just give up like this.
Gyeoul went to Yu Jitae and whinged. Gummies. Bom-unni. Corrupt official. Behind flower pot. Help please. Seeing her diligently explain with an awkward and slow tone of voice, the Regressor patted her head.
“You need help?”
“…Yes.”
Wearing a pitiful look on her face, she nodded. Unlike usual, it was easier to understand her expressions and actions. The Regressor pondered.
“How should I help.”
“…Mhmm.”
Didn’t everything fail despite her trying whatever she could? Gyeoul’s eyes turned into a glare. After thinking for a while, she placed her hands on top of her head and shook it.
She had no idea what to do.
“Come here.”
Yu Jitae raised the child and sat her on his lap.
“Look.”
They stared at the same place – at the door of Bom’s room.
He opened his mouth with a crafty voice.
“What do you see.”
“…Bom-unni’s room.”
“What’s inside it.”
“…Bom-unni.”
“Yes. And where are the gummies inside Bom’s room.”
“…Top of bookshelf. Behind flower pot.”
“I see. The bookshelf is at the end of the left wall, so you have to go in quite a bit. Right?”
“…Nn.”
“Then let’s do it like this. I’ll call Bom out for a bit. And when she’s outside, you can sneak inside and take the container out.”
“…!”
In other words, ahjussi will be bringing the boss out of the boss room for a bit. Gyeoul just had to take the treasure out.
It was an extremely simple and easy task, but for Gyeoul who was forming a cooperative plan for the first time since her birth, it was an extremely exciting situation, to the point that her heart beat faster and louder than usual.
“…There was, such a method…?”
“Does it sound good?”
Nod, nod.
“…Genius?”
“No. In any case, you roughly understood everything, right?”
“…Yes.”
“You can’t hit the flower pot or something. It’s Bom’s writing time, so I can’t bring her out far.”
Gyeoul nodded.
“You can’t make a sound either. She’s fast at reading the mood so she’ll find out immediately if you do.”
All the dragons copied Yu Jitae by killing their senses as much as possible inside Unit 301, so she wouldn’t find out if Gyeoul moved stealthily.
“Stealthily. Carefully and quietly. Understood.”
Nod. Gyeoul brought her index fingers together and crossed them into an ‘x’ in front of her mouth.
“Good. Let’s start straight away.”
Right when Yu Jitae was about to stand up, Gyeoul held his sleeves down.
Why.
She then pushed her fist forward – this too was something she saw from the American drama she watched with Yeorum. With a nod, Yu Jitae pushed his large fist forward as well and bumped it with the small fist.
Operations start.
“Bom.”
Yu Jitae knocked on the door.
Gyeoul hid beneath the sofa and curled her body. She saw Yu Jitae’s legs and feet and after the door was opened, she could also see Bom’s legs and feet.
“Yes, ahjussi.”
“Can we have a chat.”
“About what?”
“…Why, you know. The one from before.”
“Ahh. Okay.”
He took Bom and headed to the kitchen. Seeing the legs go further away, Gyeoul tried to sneak out from beneath the sofa.
“Ah, one second.”
But Bom suddenly turned her feet back to the room, making Gyeoul stiffen on the spot in fright. Her heart thumped. However, she couldn’t become too nervous. She would definitely make a mistake if she was.
After exiting the room yet again, Bom followed Yu Jitae and walked towards the kitchen.
Is she coming back now? Gyeoul deeply stared at Bom’s feet but realised that she probably wouldn’t be coming back. This was the chance.
Sneaking out from under the sofa, Gyeoul slowly walked towards Bom’s room. Bom was especially sensitive to mana, so she would immediately find out about it if she used mana to fly there.
But she was soon met with the first obstacle. After leaving the room, Bom had closed the door shut.
“…”
Holding the door knob with her two hands, she carefully lowered it.
Very slowly,
Like the hands of a clock.
It won’t make a sound if it goes down slowly…
Click.
That’s what she had been firmly believing in, so the moment it created a sound, Gyeoul felt her heart skip a beat. If Yu Jitae’s dry cough hadn’t intervened from the kitchen in a timely manner, she would’ve been caught red-handed for sure.
I made it. I made it…!
Slowly opening the door, Gyeoul carefully walked in and went straight to the end of the room. The clean and tidy white room with not a sign of rubbish only had a bookshelf with organised books and flower pots decorating it.
After finally standing in front of the bookshelves, she realised that it appeared taller than usual. However, Gyeoul had also gotten slightly taller. She stood on her toes and carefully pushed the flower pots away.
Since the pots were made with porcelain, they would make a clicking noise if she was too hasty.
Carefully. Ever so carefully.
She grabbed the opaque plastic container and felt its heaviness. The treasure was there indeed.
Carefully carrying the container, Gyeoul controlled the urge to cheer out loud and cautiously walked out of the room.
Then, she waited behind the sofa again, waiting for the opportunity.
“I’ll go back to writing then.”
“Yeah.”
Soon, Bom went back to her room. Yu Jitae sat on the sofa and Gyeoul, who had been hiding behind the sofa, stood up carefully and faced a bright smile at Yu Jitae.
“How was it. Did you succeed?”
“…Nn!”
Gyeoul bent her back before lifting the container of gummies. He pushed his fist forward, which the child bumped her own fist to multiple times.
Success!
“…Kuhih.”
Excitedly and hurriedly, she opened the lid.
But, what was this.
There were no gummies inside the container, and it was just filled with dirt.
“…Uh. Uh?”
Startled, she shook the container several times but she could only find a stack of dirt.
It was then.
Feeling a gaze, she raised her head in doubt and found Bom peeking out of the room. The moment their eyes met, Bom giggled before closing the door.
Gyeoul was shocked quite a bit.
It was a fail..
“…Huing.”
A fail. Another fail.
Realising that all the effort had been in vain, she whined and extended her arms at Yu Jitae. She was seconds away from tearing up.
So he hugged the child, and gently tapped on her back.
*
After lying down on the sofa, Gyeoul stayed still for over twenty minutes with her head buried inside the pillow. She wasn’t crying, but it seemed that she had a severe reality hit.
He expected things to turn out this way because the opponent was none other than Bom. However, Yu Jitae was learning how to go against Bom these days.
You couldn’t fight a straightforward battle with her.
Knock knock.
Someone soon knocked on the door of Unit 301. Yu Jitae opened the door and received a black plastic bag from the person.
“Good work.”
“Your will, my lord.”
After sending the clone away, Yu Jitae walked towards Gyeoul. Then, he took the new container of gummies out and shook it near her head.
With a pair of dispirited eyes, Gyeoul turned her face but the moment she saw the gummies, doubt caused a ripple in her face.
“…Uh?”
She sat up with a vacant mutter and with stiff hands, she received the container. Her astonished gaze glanced at Yu Jitae and the gummies, before going back to Yu Jitae. After her initial surprise, joy bloomed forth threatening her to scream out loud in happiness.
Seeing that, the Regressor placed his finger in front of his mouth.
Shh.
Aht, right.
Gyeoul realised the situation and gave a big nod with her mouth closed.
“You can’t let other unnis find out about it.”
“…Nn.”
She flapped her feet and toes around in joy, before slowly standing up from her seat in silence and bending her back to a right-angle.
“…Thank, you.”
“It’s fine.”
“…You can’t, tell anyone too. Ahjussi.”
“Got it.”
Therefore, that day became a slightly more special day for them.
There was a secret which only Yu Jitae and Gyeoul knew of.