Chapter 297
Chapter 297
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 297
Chapter Title: 92. Cottage Industry (1)
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“Winter. Lately, you haven’t been selling stationery or supplies to your friends, have you?”
Winter flinched.
She hesitated for about two seconds at her homeroom teacher’s words.
It hadn’t been a saintly life. But she needed mental preparation before lying.
“…No.”
“Really? Not even doing homework for money?”
Fl inch.
“…I quit that.”
“No usury either?”
Fl inch.
“…That’s far-fetched.”
“I see? Hmm~ Then how about running in the election this time?”
“…No.”
Her honest refusal burst out immediately.
Election? Winter, who knew how much the class president suffered being dragged around by teachers every day, rejected the offer right away.
“I see? I thought you’d be perfect for student council president.”
“…Student council president?”
“Yeah. You’re about to enter sixth grade, so you can serve for a year.”
“…Ah.”
“You know how cool that is, right? You’ll represent your friends and do lots of good things.”
“…Yeah.”
“And that’s not all. The student council president of the prestigious Lair Public Elementary gets bonus points on middle school applications…”
Around that point, Winter seemed to be thinking something else. For example, about her recent losses.
And sure enough, the dried apples she’d sold the other day hadn’t been popular at all. She’d had to throw some away. Sweet potatoes and bananas sold like hotcakes. Why weren’t apples popular?
While giving half-hearted responses amid such thoughts.
“If you run, you’ll get campaign support scholarship money too.”
A tempting phrase caught her ear. Campaign support scholarship?
“Anyway, you seem ambitious and greedy. I figured you’d be interested in something like this. You’re the best little merchant, aren’t you?”
Winter frowned at those words.
Her gaze dropped.
“…Don’t say it like that…”
“Huh? Oh, then the best entrepreneur.”
“……”
At that, she fidgeted with her interlaced fingers. Her blue eyes looked hurt.
Oh no. Had she offended her? Had she treated the child too much like a material girl?
“Oops, sorry from the teacher. So what is our pretty Winter?”
Winter answered.
“…Politician.”
And just like that, she filed to run.
The elementary school student council president was a position with no real meaning anyway.
Class presidents got called everywhere nonstop, but council presidents almost never. After filing, she learned it was practically honorary.
So Winter decided to be satisfied with the campaign scholarship she received. A whopping 50,000 won! It was deposited into Yoo Ji-tae’s account, and the next day, Winter immediately demanded it from him.
A few days later.
On the day of the student council president candidate pledge announcements, Winter learned one surprising fact.
If elected student council president, she’d receive another scholarship.
“Ah, didn’t I mention? Full semester scholarship.”
“…How much?”
“One million won.”
One million won…?
The units were on a different scale. She’d been so thrilled over 50,000 won. Twenty times that?
Her eyes seemed to spin.
Winter pulled out her tiny coin purse and checked the five 10,000-won bills she’d gotten from Yoo Ji-tae the other day.
This makes a hundred of them…?
Visions of winged stacks of cash flapping by danced before her eyes.
Then the first candidate at the podium announced her pledges into the mic. Clean the flower beds. Reduce supplementary lessons… She rattled off the usual ritualistic promises over things she had no authority for anyway.
The listening kids looked bored.
Winter smiled. Against that level, she could win with the trust she’d built among her friends.
At that moment. Public opinion flipped.
The neatly dressed boy fiddled with his bowtie and grinned.
—If you elect me student council president, pizza for every class!
“Huh? Pizza?”
“But didn’t the teacher say no handing out food or money…?”
“Oh, right. Right.”
As the kids looked puzzled.
—Made with family! No problem then, right?
The grade-level teacher asked in surprise. ‘Is that even possible? There’s a thousand students.’ The boy flashed his white teeth in a smile.
—Of course! Number one, Kim Tae-ho!
Only then did the kids brighten up and clap enthusiastically. Even rich kids were still elementary students. Plus, plenty of homes banned junk food, so the cheers were genuine.
“Wow! Kim Tae-ho!”
““Kim Tae-ho! Kim Tae-ho!””
As the cheers rang out, Winter’s expression darkened in real time.
The flapping money stacks were drifting away from her sight.
“Did you kill it?”
“No.”
“You left it alive? Fuck. Just smash it dead.”
Yeoreum frowned.
It was morning. Chilly weather, cool enough for Winter.
Hatchlings didn’t feel cold but sensed the chill. Gaeul sat on the sofa hugging Chickie like a heater, while Yeoreum hugged Gaeul like a heater.
“Black dragons have to die.”
“Why.”
“Why? Obviously they do. Right?”
“Yeah, well…”
Gaeul nodded with a serious expression too.
“Why hesitate on the answer? Right?”
“Uh, no. Totally…”
“Those bastard Black clan. Even after getting chased out of Ascalifa, they wander around causing chaos everywhere.”
Gaeul nodded cautiously.
“I heard the Black clan can transmit memories and emotions.”
“……”
“We only receive them, right? So they go around sharing all those super super bad thoughts in their heads.”
It was a known fact. Yoo Ji-tae nodded.
“Gotta kill ’em all. Fucking trash bastards.”
“Uh… Still, killing…”
“Hey. Look at her going soft like it’s someone else’s problem?”
“Uh, uh, um…”
But the kids’ atmosphere felt off.
Yoo Ji-tae turned to Bom, who’d stayed silent till then. She shrugged her shoulders slightly.
“Pissing me off. Why’s everyone so lukewarm? Black dragon. Black dragon! Hey, Yoo Gaeul.”
“Yeah?”
“Yoo Bom might get a pass, but you can’t be lukewarm. You told me yourself.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah…! Sis, sis…!”
Gaeul flapped her hands trying to block Yeoreum behind her.
“Why? Is that unsayable? Why can’t talk about the Blue clan?”
“Siiiis, stop…!”
Suddenly Gaeul started holding Yeoreum back. While sneaking glances at Yoo Ji-tae.
Yoo Ji-tae turned to Bom. As if realizing something, Bom’s expression grew a bit gloomy.
“What’s going on.”
“No, Ajusshi…! You don’t need to know!”
“What.”
“Why! We’ve lived together this long, it’s time to tell.”
“Sis, don’t…! Can’t talk about Ascalifa stuff. It’s taboo…!”
“Taboo my ass. I already spilled my whole past, even showed my true form to Ji-tae a few months ago? Think that’s all? Yoo Bom straight-up crossed the line. Told me just looking at Ji-tae’s body gets her horny and…”
“Uw aaa…! What the hell! Stop!”
“Hey. When did I?”
Yoo Ji-tae slowly turned to Bom.
He’d glanced out of habit, but Bom shook her head as if wronged.
“I never said anything like that.”
That was when.
Over Gaeul’s constant interruptions, Yeoreum yelled.
“Why the fuck can’t we say it! Taboo a big deal?”
“Sis…!”
“Two Blue dragons killed by the Black clan. That’s why Yoo Gyeoreul has no parents! Ji-tae needs to know at least that much—!”
It was like a bomb went off.
Yoo Ji-tae squinted. Yoo Gyeoreul’s parents murdered by Black dragons? No child rebutted. The living room fell suddenly silent. Only Yeoreum’s ragged breaths continued.
Flustered, Gaeul covered her face with both hands.
Bom frowned at Yeoreum and let out a sigh.
Silence settled over the living room.
Peep…
Right after the chick rolled its eyes and broke the silence.
Bom scolded Yeoreum.
“Yoo Yeoreum. You really…”
She swallowed the rest.
“What about me? Hiding this shit till now is the real legend.”
“It’s another clan’s business. Why do you have to say it.”
“If I don’t? When will that little punk spill it?”
“If Winter doesn’t want to say it, she shouldn’t. What gives you the right to spill without her okay?”
“Sigh. Gotta get permission from a kid who can’t even drink blood yet? She won’t say it. Then Ji-tae stays clueless about something this important till we head home. That normal?”
“If that’s what Winter wants, then it’s right.”
“You seriously think that’s right? Fucking kills my vibe, for real? I can’t understand pretending with Ji-tae like that!”
‘Talking bullshit, fuck!’ After the shock of the unknown fact faded briefly, he felt he had to stop them fighting more.
“Kids. Calm down first. No yelling.”
“Yoo Yeoreum. You.”
“What me! This lunatic yapping about this and that?”
“Hey, hey.”
At Yoo Ji-tae’s words, the two quieted momentarily. As they glared wordlessly at each other. Gaeul wore a complicated expression and buried her face in the chick’s back.
Winter had gone out to play strung on Gaeul’s necklace in egg form.
He’d found it strange many times. But even when asked someday, the kids hadn’t answered.
Was that so.
Winter’s parents were dead…
“Uh… Mom…”
Gaeul cautiously opened her mouth.
“Friends with the Blue clan… Asked to take the egg and bring Winter out instead. Around then, the rift to Ascalifa opened after forever. No dragons since across all clans… Not even any due to hatch in over a century. Excluding Winter, I’m basically the baby of the family…”
She’d come out timed to match.
So Winter had gone out to play in egg form.
“But I think Summer sis is wrong…”
“Wrong how?”
Yeoreum wrapped an arm around Gaeul’s neck. Half playful, half genuinely annoyed.
“But but… That was a different Black dragon… And it got caught by the Dragon Lord and killed…”
“One’s the same as another! Don’t know about Australia getting wrecked recently?”
“Uh… But saying kill every Black dragon… Then Red dragons too…”
“What’d you say, punk?”
Chattering Gaeul shut her mouth.
She’d decided not to poke Yeoreum needlessly.
Anyway. The atmosphere in 301 had unnecessarily overheated, so Yoo Ji-tae had to calm the kids.
“Yoo Yeoreum.”
“What.”
“Hands up.”
“Why just me?”
Then Bom silently raised both hands beside her.
Yeoreum pouted her jutting lips and raised her hands too.
Meanwhile, his thoughts reached what Winter had become interested in as she aged: ‘money.’
No, not ‘money.’ Precisely, ‘earning money.’ She flatly refused when he tried to give her allowance.
Unlike the other three, Winter enjoyed the act of selling to others and making money. He’d asked why once, out of curiosity. Why was earning money fun?
— …Secret.
He hadn’t thought much of it then.
Maybe that secret was this?
In other words, wasn’t Winter building a foundation to live alone after returning home?
Understanding her situation. Instinctively training to survive.
It might be speculation, but the thought struck him.
Earning money at school was maturing Winter.
Sales required fluent speech. Pricing required reading psychology. Avoiding teachers meant reading the atmosphere.
What about preparing goods? It added a flow of ‘preparation’ to her previously aimless life. Sometimes deficits occurred, forcing self-reflection.
Thus, Winter was becoming an adult.
“…Uh, um.”
Then Gaeul said softly.
“Ajusshi.”
“Yeah.”
“Can you just pretend you didn’t hear?”
“Don’t worry. No plans to let it show.”
“Right? Whew…”
As Gaeul heaved sighs of relief.
Yoo Ji-tae’s watch buzzed.
[Yoo Gyeoreul: ㅠ]
[Yoo Gyeoreul: ㅠ]
[Yoo Gyeoreul: ㅠ…]
A message from Winter. Three crying emotes.
She should be at school right now. What happened.
Suddenly, he recalled it was candidate announcement day for student council president today. Had something gone wrong?
[Me: Why]
[Yoo Gyeoreul: Can call?]
[Me: Yeah]
Soon, his watch rang.
He answered, and Winter explained the situation in a stammering voice. No. 1 promising pizza. No. 2 chicken. Her turn as No. 3 coming up soon.
— …Says they’ll fry 500 chickens.
— …Power’s gone to their head.
The most aggrieved voice in the world.
Meanwhile, he hadn’t realized Winter wanted to be student council president this badly.
— …What do I do.
— …I can’t cook.
Indeed. What to do.
Probably no elementary kid was frying 500 chickens alone. Family would help. Or rich family, maid or house chef.
He was the type to judge based on experience. And in his past loops, he’d never made an elementary kid student council president.
In other words, Yoo Ji-tae had no clever solution either.
— …Yeah. …My turn soon.
“Hmm… Then say we’re giving hamburgers.”
— …Hamburgers?
“Yeah. Learn how and make them together.”
An admiring voice came over the receiver from Winter. Like such a method exists?
But would hamburgers cut it? Enough competitiveness against chicken and pizza? As he pondered.
Suddenly, an idea popped into his head.
“But Winter.”
— …Yes.
“Pizza and chicken. They’re promising to give them after getting elected, right?”
— …Huh? …Yes.
When do real politicians pull out the biggest vote-bait with voters? Right before the vote. When they go around shaking hands with market vendors they’d never touch otherwise?
For kids, maybe something soon beat far-future promises.
“That hamburger. Say you’ll give it the day before the vote.”