Kindergarten Time
Time for kindergarten, Hana.
After hugging Yuna, who had kept missing me all along, and kissing her, her pale face bloomed red like a rose I had just bought.
After the kiss, I handed Yuna a bouquet. Her eyes widened like lanterns, and she covered her mouth with both hands.
"Cheon-seong… I'm really grateful. I'll treasure it carefully."
"It's just flowers. When they wilt, I'll buy more next time."
"Even so, these flowers were from you… They're so beautiful."
Despite only a handful of roses, Yuna was this pleased. I found it strange that I had never once given her a bouquet until now, scolded myself, and kissed her again. I asked Beatrice what she was doing right now.
"Ah, if it's onee-san, she entered your room earlier. About fifty minutes ago."
Yuna, who had received flowers from Cheon-seong, answered with a bright smile while I set Hana down, who had been in my arms, patted her head, and told her to be good for me.
Knock knock
"Beatrice, is it all right to come in if you're inside?"
I knocked on the door. From inside came Beatrice's voice, strangely muffled.
[You may enter.]
"Then I'll come in."
I opened the door and stepped inside. Beatrice lay obliquely on my bed, rubbing her eyes as she looked at me.
"Were you sleeping?"
[Uhm… I guess I fell asleep without meaning to while lying here for a bit. So, how was your trip?]
When I asked if she had traveled well, I hid the flowers behind my back and approached the bed, stopping in front of her with my sleepy eyes. Beatrice looked up at me as I held out the bouquet I had hidden behind me.
[This is…]
"I saw them on the way back and bought them for you, Beatrice. Do you like it?"
Beatrice silently examined the bouquet after I handed it to her, then sat up, pulled me into her arms, and said,
[Truly, truly beautiful. Thank you for the gift. It's very much to my liking.]
As she whispered into my ear while hugging my neck, I scolded myself inwardly for not having given her a bouquet until now, and hugged her back.
[Event text]
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[Event text]
In the Seoul branch office of Noah, Yu-seong slammed the table hard and shouted at the branch manager, who was leisurely sipping tea in front of him.
CRASH!
"Damn it! When the hell are you planning to deal with that bastard Cheon-seong?! It's already my second failure!"
It had only been three days since I had commissioned Noah to handle Cheon-seong. Yet I could not contain my rage.
Of course not. He was an Upper-rank ability user treated as a national asset. I had clearly hired him at Upper-rank. On the first day, for some reason, not an Upper-rank but the Highest-rank Persona had gone in, yet he had still failed to complete the job.
On the second day, another Upper-rank had attacked the department store where Cheon-seong was having his date with my target Yuna. But the Upper-rank bastard had disappeared, leaving only worthless trash like Lower- and Mid-ranks that had been swept away by the cleaning lady.
"More importantly, why the hell was the cleaning lady there?! And when you accept money to do a job, shouldn't you have blocked variables in advance?!"
To process Cheon-seong, I had paid ten A-rank mana stones. Even if mana stone mines were discovered soon and the price dropped sharply, each stone currently cost forty-five million won. It was an enormous expense. Still, using 4.5 billion won just to fail to kill a twenty-and-a-half-year-old extra like Cheon-seong made me want to scream. Especially since the commission had come directly from the head of the Seoul branch of the largest villain organization in Korea and a group spanning the entire world, Noah.
"Stop just sipping your damn tea and say something!!"
Yu-seong poured out the aura of his unique ability at the branch manager who only sipped his tea in response, shouting. The handle of the teacup in the manager's hand cracked and fell to the floor.
CLANG!
"……"
The branch manager stared at the broken teacup in silence, then slowly reached a hand toward Yu-seong.
"What the hell are you—"
WHOOSH—!
At that moment, things like black shadows burst from the branch manager's hand, grabbed Yu-seong's head, and lifted him into the air.
"This brat dares to ruin my precious time just because he passed the Branch Master's test?!"
SMACK—BOOM!!
When the branch manager slammed his hand down, the shadow holding Yu-seong's head moved with the manager's action, slamming Yu-seong hard into the floor.
"Kehuk—!"
Yu-seong's breathing became shallow from the strong impact, and his entire body screamed in pain.
Yu-seong was already struggling to breathe after just one stab, but the branch manager's fury did not end with that single blow.
"I—"
BOOM—!!
"Kept sparing you!!"
BOOM—!!
"Wasn't enough!!"
BOOM—!!
"It wasn't entertaining enough—!!"
WHOOSH—CRASH—!! CRACK! BOOM!!
The shock cracked the floor and Yu-seong's face poured out blood.
"Huu… Good. Never interfere with my precious time again. As a customer, I don't want to lose even one."
Only then did the branch manager's anger subside. He dismissed the shadows, dusted his hands, took out a fresh teacup, poured tea, and sat down.
Slurp slurp
While the branch manager sipped the tea and savored its aroma, he noticed Yu-seong sprawled motionless on the floor and said,
"Ah, I guess I didn't hear what I said. Strong-na, please heal this guest."
"Haa… I told the branch master to fix your temper. You've turned the kid into a mess. Is he still alive?"
At the branch manager's words, Strong-na, a healing-type unique ability user standing nearby, sighed deeply and approached Yu-seong, who was still bleeding on the floor, and activated her ability.
"Kkuuugh…! Gah, kuaaak! Kukh—!"
"Oh, since it's interfering with treatment, keep your mouth shut."
Unlike Yuna's gentle healing without pain, Strong-na's treatment made Yu-seong feel every wound's agony, causing him to scream. But Strong-na pressed his head to stop the scream, saying it was disrupting treatment, and continued.
"Kuuueuueh! Uheuh—!!"
Yet Yu-seong's screams kept leaking out, his body moving. Angry that Yu-seong's movement kept disrupting treatment, Strong-na stopped and shouted at the branch manager sipping tea.
"Hey, is treatment really necessary?! The more you move, the harder it is to treat and the more it gets in the way!!"
"Of course you need treatment. I angered you this much, and even though treatment is annoying, you passed the Branch Master's test. You're a precious customer."
"Then why did you make the branch master like this if I could have just not been treated?!"
Strong-na asked why Yu-seong had been made like this, and the branch manager shrugged.
"You interfered with my time. And this is your job. Stop complaining and do it quickly."
"You crazy bastard!"
Unable to hold back his cursing at the shameless branch manager, Strong-na climbed onto Yu-seong's back, stomped his arms with both feet, pinned his head down with one hand, and continued treatment.
"Kuuueuueh—!"
Strong-na's treatment continued, and Yu-seong's screams echoed throughout the Seoul branch of Noah. Finally, unable to endure the pain, Yu-seong fainted, and the only sound left was the branch manager sipping tea.
[Event text]
***
After giving Beatrice the flowers, I left the room and called Hana.
"Daddy, why did you call Hana?"
I sat Hana down, who was looking at me with round eyes, and said,
"Hana, do you know what kindergarten is?"
"I know! It's a place where kids like me gather to study!"
"Right. Our Hana is really smart."
"Hehe. It's not a big deal."
While patting Hana and praising her, she laughed and puffed out her chest, saying it wasn't a big deal. I felt a little guilty toward her and said,
"Then our smart Hana will have to go to kindergarten now?"
"…Huh?"
Hana flinched and looked up at me with a confused face.
"Hana also shouldn't just stay at home. You should go to kindergarten and make friends."
"Then Hana has to leave Daddy…?"
Hana's eyes welled up as she asked if she had to leave me, so I explained to her that it wasn't that.
"Hana shouldn't only live with Mommy and Daddy. You should also make friends your age and study things Daddy can't teach you at kindergarten."
"I don't want to! Hana won't leave Daddy!"
Even after my explanation, Hana clung to me, crying that she didn't want to leave and that she didn't have to study. Since Hana hated it so much, I thought I really should send her to kindergarten, yet I couldn't.
Social and human relationships couldn't be forced no matter how much I tried.
The reason other children went to kindergarten was not only education. Growing up through relationships with friends, forming social ties, and sharing stories was also a main reason to go to kindergarten.
Moreover, Yuna and I would soon enter the academy, so we would have to leave the house. Even if Beatrice stayed, she couldn't be with Hana every day. It was essential for Hana to go to kindergarten.
"Cheon-seong, what's wrong?"
"Ah, Yuna… It's like this."
When I was still trying to persuade Hana not to hate kindergarten, Yuna came over and asked what was wrong. I told Yuna about the earlier conversation.
After hearing everything, Yuna said to leave it to her, sat beside Hana, and looked at her with red eyes.
"Hana. Do you really hate kindergarten that much?"
"…Yeah, I hate it… If I go to kindergarten, I'll have to leave Daddy…"
Yuna used her ability to wipe Hana's red eyes and said soothingly,
"But if Hana doesn't go, Mommy and Daddy will be very troubled. Mommy and Daddy also have to go to school soon."
"Even adults go to school…?"
"Yes. It's a special school for great people called the academy. If Hana doesn't go to kindergarten, Mommy and Daddy won't be able to go to the academy and will be really troubled."
Hana's face darkened and tears welled up because she was the cause of trouble for Cheon-seong and Yuna.
"But… but Hana doesn't want to leave Daddy…"
Thud
Thud
Finally, drops of chicken-egg-sized tears fell from Hana's eyes and gathered at her chin. Yuna wiped them away and said,
"Mommy also knows Hana doesn't want to leave Daddy. And Daddy will be sad too."
"Then I can't not go…? If Daddy doesn't want me to, I can just not go…"
"But Daddy will be very sad. Is it okay if Daddy is sad because of Hana?"
Shaking head
At Yuna's words, Hana shook her head, and Yuna held her hand and smiled.
"So, can you help Daddy this one time? So Daddy doesn't get sad. Mommy is asking you."
At Yuna's words, Hana silently looked down, and Yuna stroked her silently and waited.
"…Yeah. I'll go."
"Good girl, our Hana. Thank you so much, Hana."
Hana nodded and said she would go to kindergarten, so Yuna smiled kindly and hugged her.
Cheon-seong, who had been watching that, hugged both Hana and Yuna and said to the Hana who had given up for him,
"Thank you, Hana. I'm really grateful you thought of Daddy."