Chapter 27
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Allure
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'Finally clearing this quest.'
My heart pounded.
This quest had a decent difficulty level.
Just getting coconuts was incredibly tough—regular coconut trees towered over twenty meters tall.
Climbing those towering trunks that grew straight up without a single branch was no easy feat unless you were a pro.
And even after picking the fruit, problems remained.
The shell was so hard that extracting the contents without tools was nearly impossible.
'But buy it with money, and it's all solved in one go.'
The moment I spent the cash, all those issues vanished.
It felt so damn refreshing. Is this why people obsess over money?
You have purchased 'Coconut'.
1,843 won deducted from cash.
You have purchased items not yet received. Would you like to receive them now?
A trimmed coconut materialized in midair and dropped right into my hand. I waved to Kim Yeonju.
"Yeonju, got those metal chopsticks from earlier? Pass 'em here."
"These? Why?"
Kim Yeonju, who had been grilling clams, blinked at me.
"If I hand them over, can I suck your dick later?"
I snatched the chopsticks from her and settled into a shady corner.
Spinning the coconut in my hand confirmed what Kim Yeonju had said—the spot to poke was clearly visible.
According to our homeroom teacher, that was where the sprout grew, the weakest part of the coconut.
'Anyway, just stick the chopstick in here, right?'
Poke.
The chopstick slid in effortlessly. When I pulled it back out, a drop of liquid glistened at the tip.
I tasted it.
'Hmm. Not sure.'
Too little to tell? I tilted the whole coconut and poured some into my mouth.
'Oh, there's flavor. A bit bland, but it has this subtle sweetness.'
I wouldn't rave about it to modern folks hooked on sugar, but after sweating in this sweltering heat, it wasn't bad at all.
Pretty sweet, actually.
I quenched my throat and went for another sip when a deep shadow suddenly fell over my vision.
"Huh?"
I glanced up, and two faces peered down at me.
The twins.
Shin Yuri and Shin Yejin leaned over, staring at me.
"Well, if it isn't you two."
"......"
"Go on, shoo. Go sleep some more."
They shook their heads.
The twins stared blankly—not at me, but at the coconut in my hand.
Look at these two?
"Hey, this is mine. Go sit over there."
Chiiing—they gazed at me with those pitiful eyes.
Their big, clear eyes sparkled like jewels. The pathos stabbed right at my heart.
Staring so sadly with those pretty faces made me want to hand it over on the spot.
Anyone would feel the same seeing those faces.
They looked more forlorn and heartbreaking than drenched kittens.
In fact, whenever the twins pulled that chiiing- expression, no one could refuse their requests.
Not even the school teachers.
Not even the rowdy kids in our class.
"Yuri, Yejin! Have you had water? Need anything else? Tell Teacher!"
"No, tell your big sis here. I'll take care of it all!"
Having sweet-talked the homeroom teacher and the flight attendant, the twins were now targeting me.
They wanted a taste of the coconut in my hand.
Sparkle, sparkle.
"Yeah, nice try."
I waved them off.
After three years of their relentless pranks, I'd built total immunity to their charms.
I ignored them like stones and poured more coconut water into my mouth. The twins dropped the pitiful act, smacking their lips.
They rubbed their tummies.
Gurgle.
'Come to think of it, it's already lunchtime. Past mealtime for these kids?'
That thought softened me a bit.
Sigh. No helping it.
"Want some?"
Nod, nod.
"But the world runs on give and take. You gotta give to get."
The twins signed with their hands, then grabbed mine tightly. Drawing from three years of "eye daggers," I got the gist and checked.
"We're friends, right?"
Nod.
"Hey, is it okay to borrow money from a friend and not pay it back?"
Shake, shake.
"Exactly. Friends have to be even stricter about that stuff. Gotta keep those rules tight."
"!!"
Enlightened expressions.
What am I, their tutor? No clue what I'm doing here.
I scratched my head, and suddenly a small hand shot out from the side.
Smack!
It was the twins. The subtle difference told me it was the older one, Yuri.
She'd slipped out of my sight and snatched the coconut, hoisting it with both hands. Her sister bounced after her excitedly.
They took turns sipping.
Gulp. Gulp.
Unbelievable. I yelled as I chased them—
"Hey!"
They glanced back briefly, then bolted.
Kyahaha!
Damn, I only got halfway through. And the small size barely bumped the progress.
[147/500ml]
But maybe that's why?
They froze.
The fleeing kids halted abruptly. Even shaking the empty coconut upside down yielded just a drop or two.
"Hey."
I ostentatiously bought a fresh coconut from the shop and tossed it up and down in the air.
"!!"
The two cheeky kittens who'd swiped my fruit slunk back over.
"Want some?"
Nod, nod.
"But here's the thing—I don't wanna give it."
"!!"
"I'd only share with friends. Like Teacher over there or Kim Yeonju."
The twins frantically pointed at themselves, as if they were my friends too.
"Nah. Real friends don't steal from friends. How can thieves be buddies? Yeonju! Catch! Teacher too!"
I lobbed two coconuts in perfect arcs toward the two women.
The twins' eyes bulged, tracking the trajectory.
"Oh my. You figured out how to open coconuts, Master? How on earth?"
"Got my ways. That's for you two—don't give any to the kids, no matter what."
The twins threw a fit.
They alternated stares between the coconuts in the women's hands and me, the giver.
The twins gestured wildly at me.
"Told you, nothing for you."
Oink, oink.
"What? That was just a prank? No more pranks?"
Nod, nod.
The twins clasped their hands together and approached me.
Chiiing—super pitiful faces.
'Prank. Just a prank.'
Ever heard that one? Frogs die from stones tossed in jest.
Shin Yuri and Shin Yejin—the twins. They probably thought it was all fun and games, but for three years, it was pure hell for me.
—Huh? Where's my tablet?
—Forgetting materials needed for class? Jeong Woojin, you think I'm a joke? Out! No need for students like you in my class. Report to the office after!
Stuff like that happened all the time.
—What? Lost the textbook for class? Are you insane? Find it, whatever it takes!
That too, pretty often.
Maybe the kids just wanted to play with me.
But to me, it was agony.
Even if they never meant to torment me, it wrecked me every time.
'Still, I could endure that much.'
Know when life's most emotionally charged moments hit?
When you're misunderstood.
I eyed the twins.
'About to make their move.'
Seeing their charms fail against me, the twins turned their gazes to the homeroom teacher and Kim Yeonju.
They approached and hit them with the chiiing- faces.
"Wh-whoa? Kids, what's wrong?"
"Tell your big sis everything. What happened?"
Whisper, whisper.
After the ear-whispering, both women whipped around and glared at me fiercely.
"Woojin! Even if the kids pranked you, how could you bully them like that?!"
"What? They're hungry? Here, eat big sis's."
"Have Teacher's too, okay."
...Still blows my mind every time.
The twins' looks were insane. Rumor had it they'd been that stunning since childhood.
So they always got what they wanted with their faces.
One chiiing- expression, and followers inevitably appeared.
If the twins looked troubled, people tripped over themselves to help.
If they seemed in crisis, folks even turned violent.
—You're saying the kids are lying? You're a real scumbag, Woojin!
All the pranks started with the twins, but all the blame arrows pointed at me.
Thanks to that, I spent three years branded a total trash heap.
Later, when reason returned, people realized the twins were culprits—but their family background kept anyone from revisiting the issue.
"Master! Could I have my chopsticks back, please?"
Kim Yeonju yelled, wanting the tool to poke holes for feeding the twins her coconut.
'To fuck those twins and keep 'em by my side, gotta break 'em once.'
Good thing this wasn't school.
No powerful families to back them up here.
And I already knew how to handle kids like them.
"Yuri. Yejin."
I pulled fresh fruits from the shop and held them up.
"!!"
The twins' eyes went wide as saucers.
"Want these?"
Nod, nod.
Nod, nod.
I dangled two ripe, red strawberries before them. Mesmerized by their luscious allure, the twins inched closer.
"Eh? Yuri? Yejin?"
"Kids?"
Even as the homeroom teacher and Kim Yeonju tried to hold them, they shoved them off roughly and came to me.
Totally hooked—the twins' eyes shook only with visions of strawberries.