Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Grocery Run and Making Amends
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Today's cart duty falls to Mo Myo-mi. I wanted to pull it myself, but with Senior Baek Sang-a insisting we grab stuff quick and head out, we handed the cart over to her!
So what are Senior Baek Sang-a and I doing?
Sweeping up the fresh produce!
"Ji-hyeok, department head, you pick the meat! I'll raid the fish section!"
"Got it!! But what kind of meat should I get?!"
"The most recently slaughtered!"
"Ah, right!"
Senior Baek Sang-a, sharing her meat-picking tip, shot off toward the fish aisle like an arrow.
But is there anyone at the MT who'll eat fish? Aside from Senior Baek Sang-a, nobody's main diet is fish, right?!
Eh, whatever! If we buy it, someone'll eat it!
'Then I'll pick meat and keep an eye on Mo Myo-mi at the same time!'
I turned around to check on cart-duty Mo Myo-mi. But it wasn't just her I saw—there were other shoppers staring at her from behind.
'Plenty of other beastkin around today, but she's drawing all the aggro.'
And for good reason. Compared to the other beastkin milling about, Mo Myo-mi's looks were in a league of her own.
If she were a stray wandering the mart, everyone would've been scrambling to scoop her up!
Even I, with a succubus like Choi Eum-a as my girlfriend, thought she was pretty. Imagine how she looks in everyone else's eyes!
'Can't even tell her to tone down the beauty a notch!'
And why's her walk so slow? I'm on edge worrying we'll run into more creeps having meltdowns!
"Argh!"
"What?"
"What do you mean, what! Better to hustle than die of frustration!"
I snatched the cart from Mo Myo-mi.
Pushing it with one hand, I grabbed her wrist with the other and headed for the butcher section.
'Watching her pull the cart would just attract those meltdown types like magnets!'
Better for me to handle both, even if it's a hassle—a hundred, a thousand times better!!
Mo Myo-mi thought differently. She stared at her wrist in my grip for a moment, then yanked it free.
"Don't grab me without asking."
"Then walk faster!"
"Walking slow won't kill me."
"Oh yeah? What if more humans like last time latch on?"
Her trauma and her laid-back attitude were separate issues.
Maybe she didn't expect me to connect it to that incident, but Mo Myo-mi started to retort, then shut her mouth.
Even she doesn't like thinking about that, huh?
In the end, Mo Myo-mi gave in a step.
"I'll walk on my own. Don't grab."
"Fine, handle it yourself. Hurry up! Butcher's over there!"
I didn't grab her wrist, but I got her cooperation.
I pulled the cart at a brisk pace, and Mo Myo-mi followed faster than before!
At the butcher section, I carefully checked slaughter dates per Senior Baek Sang-a's tip and picked the meat.
How many people for the MT? I roughly calculated portions and asked the butcher to slice it up.
Chop! Chop!
The butcher effortlessly started slicing the meat.
This is a piece of cake! Rushed over for nothing!
'...Come to think of it, why did I rush?'
Thinking about it, there was no reason to run?
Creeps bothering Mo Myo-mi? Just record audio or video like with Senior Kim Daram-i and call the cops, right?
'Guess I got swept up seeing Senior Baek Sang-a bolt.'
Chop! Chop.
Mo Myo-mi, without a care, just watched the meat get sliced on the rubber board.
'Pretty from the front, pretty from the side too.'
Her personality's quirky, but even her shadow screams beauty.
As I stared at Mo Myo-mi, I remembered why I joined today's grocery run. Just then, she noticed my gaze. Her blue eyes flicked toward me before she fully turned my way.
"What're you staring at?"
She always says it like that!
'Nope.'
Her Mo Myo-mi speech pattern irked me for a second, but it faded fast. Because I realized it might just be her everyday way of talking.
If that's the case, this adult gentleman Joo Ji-hyeok can totally understand!
With my anger settled, I recalled my original goal and spoke up.
"Hey."
"What."
"Was being vice department head that bad?"
"...Out of nowhere."
Yeah. It kinda is.
Still, talking it out with you comes first, no choice!
"I'm asking 'cause I wanna hash it out with you. Bluntly, that's why we kept butting heads, right?"
"......"
"I heard cat beastkin hate it when their daily routine gets messed up. If that's it, I overstepped, so sorry."
"......"
I knew she'd been nicer to me in her own way since that bathroom incident. I could sense it was her subtle way of making peace.
But making up shouldn't be about vibes—it needs a conversation, right?
Right, Myo-mi-ya?
"......"
To my apology, Mo Myo-mi just blinked silently. Her sapphire-blue eyes stared at me unwaveringly.
Wh-what? Why stare like that?
Even with succubus Choi Eum-a as my girlfriend, getting eyed by a beauty like this is embarrassing!
"......Sorry from me too."
Oooh?
'Did I hear wrong?'
I swear I heard "mi" start and "an" end. For real?
Not a mishear?!
Mo Myo-mi of all people admitting fault!
An apology from the girl who'd never say sorry!!
'What is this, Choi Eum-a turning ladylike vibes!!'
Elated, I teased Mo Myo-mi!
"Sorry? Sooo-rry?"
"......"
"You just said sorry, right? Huh? For trying to scam me out of 100,000-won churu! For treating me like a churu vending machine! You apologized! Right?! "
"......"
"Haaaaah! This is it! Can't be helped! With my Buddha-wide heart that even the Buddha would yield to, Joo Ji-hyeok forgives you... ughhh...!"
"Take it back."
Smack!
Fed up with my teasing, Mo Myo-mi kicked my shin!
Kicking with shoe on! This is straight-up aggravated assault!!
'Hurts, but feels good!'
Not 'cause I'm a masochist freak who likes getting hit!
It's good 'cause the root of our friction from day one is finally resolved!!!
'We made up!!!!!'
We finally made up!!!
Adrenaline surging from reconciliation joy! This little shin kick? I could take another!!
Barefoot, though!!
"But, you......"
"Me? What's with me?"
I was rubbing my shin, basking inwardly in pride.
Mo Myo-mi spoke.
"Saw your Kakao D-Day."
"D-Day? Oh, that."
Her "D-Day" had to mean mine and Eum-a's couple anniversary!
Sure enough, she nodded and recalled the bathroom incident.
"You and Choi Eum-a were really just flirting, huh."
"Of course it's real, why would it be fake?"
Saying it pricks my conscience! It was fake when I first told Mo Myo-mi!
But we're dating now, so this white lie's fine, right?!
As I rationalized to myself, Mo Myo-mi gave a small nod.
"I see."
'Now what's with that.'
She seemed to accept it with "I see," but her actions gave me an inexplicable unease.
Flutter flutter.
Ears folded, then perked.
Tail whipped hard, then stilled.
"You need to poop or something?"
"......"
"Ah, if not, just say so—don't glare like that, scary......"
Can't friends joke about poop?!
Mo Myo-mi scowled murderously at me.
Gonna go full cat claws next? Huh?!
'But that expression just now was weird.'
Right before the poop joke, Mo Myo-mi had this vague, puzzled look.
Like a glitchy cat?
Wanted to ask why the face, but held back.
'Think I get it now.'
This girl! Can't believe her tiny, cute mochi-like friend Eum-a's dating me!
'Eum-a-ya! Your boyfriend's getting this treatment!'
Sad, so sad!
Whether I was sad or not, the meat got sliced.
The butcher, sweating as he cut to my portion specs, loaded the cart and said,
"Gave extra 'cause your girlfriend next to you is so pretty! Enjoy!"
"Thank you!! But she's not my girlfriend."
"Oh, she's not?"
"Nope. Got an even tinier, cuter one!!"
See that, Eum-a-ya?!
Your boyfriend's handling himself perfectly!!!
Business at the grocery mart wrapped up.
Baek Sang-a said she'd store the meat at her place, so she dropped dorm-dweller Joo Ji-hyeok at university and commuter Mo Myo-mi at the nearby station.
"Get home safe, Myo-mi. See you tomorrow."
"Thank you."
Mo Myo-mi bowed to Baek Sang-a. Her gaze shifted to Joo Ji-hyeok, now in the passenger seat.
"Bye."
What's so great about shotgun that he's grinning.
"......"
"Hey, why ignore me!"
Mo Myo-mi ignored Joo Ji-hyeok and headed into the subway station.
The train arrived right as she entered.
Mo Myo-mi boarded, took an empty seat, closed her eyes, and recalled the mart conversation.
'He's dating Choi Eum-a, huh.'
They'd posted couple D-Days the same day, so she'd assumed they were together.
'......Why's my chest so noisy.'
For some reason, her heart felt unsettled.
Cats are creatures of routine. This trait carried over perfectly to cat beastkin.
Varying by individual, but daily routines were hugely important to Mo Myo-mi.
Unplanned activities bred irritation.
That's why Joo Ji-hyeok naming her vice department head pissed her off. It wasn't in her planned college life at all.
Plans derailed from the semester start irritated her. She used it as an excuse to demand pricey churu from him.
When refused, she nitpicked constantly out of spite.
Even overhearing his and Choi Eum-a's bathroom rendezvous unintentionally, her first thought was using it to snag churu.
Flirting? She straight-up didn't buy it.
Someone like Choi Eum-a, hot enough beastkin—why settle for a Joo Ji-hyeok?
Better bet: two pervs rushing to vent lust, slapping together an excuse.
To Mo Myo-mi, Joo Ji-hyeok was just another roadside human.
Buy churu if asked, open cans if told.
That kind.
'But it was real.'
Bustling weekend grocery mart.
There, Joo Ji-hyeok shielded her.
Despite her baseless complaints and cold shoulder, he protected her without hesitation.
He got genuinely mad on her behalf, even though it wasn't his injustice.
'Is that why Choi Eum-a likes him?'
Joo Ji-hyeok might not know, but Choi Eum-a's feelings seemed real.
Rumble rumble.
'They'll do well together.'
Both good people.
In the shaking train, Mo Myo-mi sincerely cheered them on.
......But it's weird.
Why this hollow feeling?
The train rattled noisily on.