Side Story Chapter 27 – Society? The Beginning of Experience
Yumi’s explosion ability was incredible.
Very simple yet quite powerful.
It’s still in a phase that needs adjustment.
But if she grows, she’ll become even stronger than now.
Probably because her mom is Hyeji, it played a part.
I was relieved it had no connection to me, but a bit regretful too.
[You burst every community, don’t you?]
‘Ah, so it’s a disturbance ability.’
Still, she was very powerful, resembling Hyeji’s overwhelming explosion ability.
“Hey.”
“……”
“……”
[……]
It was just that compared to Hyeji’s true rage, it was still lacking.
Moreover, there was a rather serious problem here.
If we regressed, it would have just been a small happening.
But in surprise at Yumi’s ability, the piece fixed the regression point.
‘With regression, why can’t we go back…’
[……No, f*ck. I was just so surprised…]
And it happened right after the explosion, of all times.
What good is regression if it doesn’t help when needed?
It was all talk; in reality, the piece was utterly useless.
‘Like a kid with a molten fortune…’
[F*ck you.]
Anyway, the situation was truly the worst.
Hyeji and Caressy finally realized the disaster.
While Yumi cried even harder and caused another explosion.
We couldn’t even turn things back with regression.
So, what happened now?
“Calculating.”
“Yes, please take the card.”
“Goodbye.”
I was unintentionally doing an odd job.
“Dad, surprisingly, you can work?”
“What do you take me for?”
In the building at the center of Ayeon’s business area, I was with Yeonwoo, who had just gone out.
“Bio deal—”
“Wait a second!”
I was so surprised that I covered Yeonwoo’s mouth.
It must have hurt quite a bit to have his mouth suddenly shut tight.
Yeonwoo looked at me with a dissatisfied expression.
As soon as I hurriedly removed my hand, Yeonwoo cautiously opened his mouth.
“Dad, it hurts…”
“……Who said that?”
“Moms.”
“Hah….”
I was losing my sanity.
How in the world did he already know such words at a young age?
What on earth had Ayeon taught him?
No matter how much a succubus she is, Yeonwoo is just a child.
The downsides of early education seemed glaringly evident already.
By the way, I failed to escape Hyeji and Caressy.
They were the kind of opponents that you couldn’t just run from.
Especially when they were both incredibly furious; running away was impossible.
In fact, there was a chance I could have escaped.
[No, let go!]
“If I let go, you’ll be the one to bounce, you bastard.”
[How did he know, this dog bastard.]
“While saying that, you’re also trying to bounce away, aren’t you!”
“I got it, so please let me live.”
If we hadn’t entangled each other, it could have been easier.
I hastily grabbed the piece trying to escape to God’s space.
Simultaneously, I attempted to use the fallen Elcia as bait to flee.
But even while collapsed, Elcia managed to grab my hair.
If anyone had to die, it was a very ugly scene of everyone dying together.
Thanks to that, we got beaten up like crazy by Hyeji.
“What the hell are you doing to a child!!!”
“It hurts! It was just a joke! I said it was a joke!”
[Elcia did it first! I’m not at fault!]
“Hyeji, I only said two words…”
“Shut up, you crazy bastards! What kind of f*cking joke is that!!!”
Honestly, it felt like a blessing to still be alive.
Meanwhile, Caressy was busy comforting Yumi instead of Hyeji.
Like Hyeji, Caressy had that look in her eyes, wanting to beat us up.
But for now, calming the crying Yumi took priority.
“Waaaaah!!! Mommy!!!”
– Burberberberberbeng!!!
“Did it explode again, damn it!!!”
However, that effort was in vain as our house was losing its shape and really disappearing from the world.
After a while of getting beaten by Hyeji,
As Yumi’s cries and explosions began to quiet down,
Hyeji imposed threat upon us, kneeling down.
“Stay put and clean up until I register Yumi’s ability!!! If you go out, I’ll really kill you!!!”
After leaving those words, Hyeji took Yumi with Caressy and left.
She must be visiting the government office to register Yumi’s ability.
Meanwhile, we started cleaning up the wreckage, just like Hyeji said.
Since she spared our lives, shouldn’t we comply?
But why was I here, you ask?
“Let’s just have a clean round of rock-paper-scissors to find out who cleans up!”
[Good idea.]
“Rock! Paper! Scissors!”
I won, of course.
However, Elcia did not agree with that.
She kept challenging with various conditions.
The word ‘cleanly’ I used earlier was now a stark contrast to how shabby it really looked.
“Just one round! Just one more time!”
“If you lose this time, you do a month’s worth of dishes.”
[By the way, that includes washing clothes.]
“Got it, so hurry up!!!”
But Elcia couldn’t win.
Unlike us, she couldn’t regress.
How could she possibly win at rock-paper-scissors?
Needless to say, it was a guaranteed victory for me and the piece.
Maybe it was due to the confusion from Yumi’s explosion.
Or maybe her thoughts were just clouded from the consecutive defeats.
Or perhaps her intelligence temporarily dropped from Hyeji’s beatings.
I didn’t really care which one it was, as we won anyway.
[‘Beating,’ huh… you really can’t move when you’re being fisted.]
‘If this doesn’t turn into a webtoon, it’s your fault, you fcking btch.’
Then Elcia finally realized the existence of regression late.
“Wait! Both of you can regress! Hurry and tell me!”
“Anyway, you agreed to the outcome that Elcia has to clean up, right?”
[Of course. Everyone has accepted that.]
“No, f*ck! I didn’t accept it!”
The piece and I had already left the house long ago.
[All ‘people’ have.]
“If you don’t clean properly, I’ll revert you back to regression.”
“You bastard, oh my god.”
Leaving behind Elcia’s despairing cry.
Anyway, it was fortunate that we left the house without needing to clean.
On top of that, we piled all future house chores on her.
Just that, being too engrossed in the match felt like I missed something ‘important.’
[But where are we going now?]
‘Well, how about we visit Yeonwoo or something?’
[Let’s do that.]
Whatever, it doesn’t matter much.
For now, escaping from annoying chores is enough.
Since walking seemed tiresome, the piece moved to God’s space.
While I was at Ayeon’s business area, just looking around,
I happened to find Yeonwoo, and that’s how the story goes.
“But Dad, why did you come here?”
“I just came.”
“Did something happen at home?”
That was a surprisingly sharp observation for a kid.
Ayeon might already know, but Yeonwoo surely didn’t.
Still, I was quite amazed he could deduce it to this extent.
But I had no intention of explaining the disaster at home.
It was just a trivial accident; was there a need to bring it up?
Most importantly, only Yumi awakened her ability among the two kids.
If Yeonwoo felt jealous, he might fall into deep envy.
Better to just keep the truth buried for now.
Even when he finds out later, there’s no need to crush his spirit early.
Instead, I showed a gesture as if I would smile and leave.
“I came to help our Yeonwoo, are you not happy?”
“……I’m happy. I felt a bit lonely.”
Then Yeonwoo grabbed my sleeve with a faint smile.
No matter how precocious, he’s still a child.
For a child to be perched at the counter alone without parents seems difficult.
Looking back, I thought Ayeon might have gone too far.
It’s not that I don’t understand Ayeon’s feelings.
After all, Yeonwoo is Ayeon’s direct successor.
So someday, he will inherit the business.
But that didn’t justify early education.
A child should be able to enjoy playtime, that’s my belief.
Of course, that’s not always the case, but when there’s a chance to play, shouldn’t one relish it?
“I’ll talk to mom about this. Yeonwoo would want to play too.”
“……Thank you, Dad.”
As I stroked Yeonwoo’s head, I turned my gaze again.
Anyway, this place was central based on Ayeon’s business.
Inside the large building, several shops were clustered closely together.
A department store with a market-like feature where payments are made separately sounds a more accurate description.
Moreover, this was the only place with proper parking facilities.
There were also resting areas ready for each to wait their turn.
In other words, wherever you go, you must pass through here at least once.
That’s why both visitors and succubi working here were many.
At that moment, a succubus next door let out a sigh.
Dressed in a black uniform, perhaps to show her individuality,
She was blatantly displaying her fatigue, which didn’t match the uniform at all.
She seemed to have forgotten that she was wearing the uniform because it was too tiring.
Then she noticed Yeonwoo and brightened up, quickly bowing excessively low in front of him.
Trying to make as good an impression as possible on the future lord.
“Yeonwoo the Squad Leader, have you arrived! I didn’t get to greet you!”
“It’s okay. You’re not too tired, right?”
Certainly, the naive Yeonwoo only replied with a smile.
However, upon hearing Yeonwoo’s words, the succubus seemed to choke up.
She sighed deeply and opened up her worries.
“This is also a service job, so it’s really tiring.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, indeed! Thanks to that, I was originally a human enthusiast, but now I’ve become an animal enthusiast!”
Honestly, I wished she would have kept that to herself.
She was a succubus dealing with humans.
Suddenly out and out engaging in gender identity discussions.
Truly, it seemed succubi had reached new depths.
Thanks to that, my perspective shifted towards succubi, feeling colder than a moment ago.
And as Yeonwoo recognized that disgusting fact, the light faded from his eyes.
The succubus, noticing his reaction, hurriedly waved her hands and continued.
“Ah! Don’t get me wrong! I’m not an animal enthusiast!”
“Then what?”
To be honest, it was strange at this point.
She had said something that could easily be misinterpreted.
And then asked me not to misunderstand; is that even reasonable?
For a self-proclaimed animal enthusiast, she sure had a long tongue.
“I just dislike humans and prefer animals; I’m just an aspiring art student!”
[Uh oh…]
‘Wait a minute…’
……She’s not an animal enthusiast, but in another sense, it’s dangerous.
No wonder she was wearing that black uniform.
It wasn’t to show distinctiveness; it was for something worse altogether.
Looking at the discrimination and individuality, nothing could be worse than that.
“……You draw well, don’t you?”
“I’m not good at drawing people. I manage backgrounds decently.”
“……”
Now I noticed that she wore a strange armband.
A large white circle in the center.
Inside it, a red armband with a uterus tattoo drawn.
That was ominously worrying.
It shouldn’t be said just casually.
Honestly, I’d prefer to deal with the likes of a patrol officer than this.
Plus, the way she stood stiff was even more unsettling.
[Stiff as a plank.]
‘What the fck, how do I permanently block this btch?’
However, oblivious to all this, Yeonwoo merely smiled innocently.
“I’ll request a commission later.”
“Thank you, Squad Leader! As soon as my skills improve a bit, I’ll let you know!”
“Okay, I’ll look forward to it.”
With that, the succubus loaded her arms with stuff and headed to the display stand.
It looked heavy because she muttered some curses as she moved away.
For some reason, it briefly sounded like German to me.
It’s a relief there’s no ominous mustache involved.
I seriously considered returning home at this point.
Just then, Yeonwoo tugged at my sleeve, displaying confusion.
“Dad, why is your expression like that?”
“……It’s nothing… I’m just really proud of you…”
Of course, I quietly withheld these words.
He was still too young to know about the world.
Was it truly necessary to reveal such ugliness to him?
If he got affected somehow, it would be a major issue.
So, I just decided to quietly get back to work.
“Thanks, Dad. I’ll work hard.”
“……Yeah……”
With ugliness and unease buried deep in my heart.
