Raon, who had stopped mid-way while entering, grinned at Jay who was looking at him. Once he’d hugged it, Bbobbo had been quite reluctant to let go. It had followed him to the bathroom and even entered the shower booth, and though Raon had kindly suggested it leave, Bbobbo hadn’t even pretended to listen.
After urging it several more times, when Raon tried to physically carry it out, he could precisely understand the phrase that had been explaining the species called Gem Kitten. It was as light as down, and yet he couldn’t lift the thing he’d been carrying around just moments ago. Bbobbo just stood there comfortably with all four paws on the ground, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t lift it, so eventually Raon left it as it was and turned on the water.
There was a small incident where Bbobbo, startled by the pouring stream of water, bumped into the shower booth glass and struggled to get out, but anyway, Raon finished his shower in a good mood.
Whether it understood his words about going to work or not, Bbobbo, fluttering around at his eye level, continuously made cute sounds like “bbuing, bboing.”
Thanks to those cute sounds, he could easily come up with the name Bbobbo. At first he wondered whether to name it Bbubu, but pronouncing Bbobbo was easier and seemed cuter, so he gave the Gem Kitten the name Bbobbo without asking its opinion.
Even when he called it Bbobbo, it answered with “squeal?” so it didn’t seem to dislike it.
“Ah, this is Bbobbo. A Gem Kitten.”
When Raon poked the tip of Bbobbo’s black nose with his index finger as it flew around, Bbobbo made a “chuu—” sound and sneezed lightly.
You told me when leaving work yesterday to come straight to the office today, but what is this creature? Ah, a dungeon monster? But why is it here? To Jay’s eyes asking such questions through his gaze, Raon smiled vaguely.
“So, what happened was…”
Raon, who had opened his mouth to make up an appropriate story, looked at the door at the sound of knocking. Then he hastily grabbed Bbobbo flying around him with both hands and shoved it inside the cardigan he was wearing.
“Bbeuk!”
Tapping Bbobbo’s small mouth, which was chattering as if it didn’t like being shoved inside the clothes, with the tip of his index finger, Raon completely wrapped Bbobbo with the cardigan and crossed his arms.
Jay also seemed to think hiding Bbobbo was a good idea, as he approached the door with slower steps than usual and checked on him before opening it, making Raon bite down hard on his molars to keep from bursting into laughter. However, when the door opened and he saw the two people entering, his expression instantly hardened.
It was Hyukjin holding a dungeon tablet, and Jaehwi, fully armed in black from head to toe. Even when training at the Center, he always wore black clothes, and sometimes trained wearing protective gear. So even if Jaehwi appeared wearing black protective gear, Raon wouldn’t find it strange.
But seeing Jaehwi with his protective gear full of dirt that appeared roughly brushed off, and his clearly dirtied hair that had gotten wet and dried, was a completely different matter. To anyone’s eyes, he looked like he’d just come out of a dungeon.
“The dungeon atmosphere has been unusual lately, and yesterday’s A-grade dungeon that occurred became S-grade during the breakthrough process…”
Even at Hyukjin’s words, who quickly approached while operating the tablet immediately without greeting, Raon couldn’t easily take his eyes off Jaehwi. Without realizing it, he was checking whether he was injured anywhere, whether his condition was okay.
His face and hands seemed to have been washed, as no particular external injuries were visible. Of course he looked more down and tired than usual. Having hastily scanned Jaehwi from head to toe, Raon confirmed there were no major injuries or problems. The moment he looked into Jaehwi’s eyes while swallowing a sigh of relief inwardly, Raon closed his slightly parted lips and crossed his arms a bit more firmly.
“Did you go to a dungeon?”
“Thanks to Esper Min, we managed to resolve it before it completely changed to S-grade, but if it continues like this going forward…”
“I told you to go together.”
Jaehwi and Hyukjin’s words overlapped.
“And according to what came in to the field team right after coming to work, last night one E-grade dungeon…”
“Do you like going alone?”
“No. What, am I talking to myself right now?”
Raon stepped back a bit further at the sight of Hyukjin alternately looking at the tablet held out before him and himself and Jaehwi.
“It’s a Gem Kitten, right?”
“What? Gem Kitten?”
The moment Jaehwi spoke, Raon, who had lowered his head, confirmed that not a single hair of Bbobbo, staying quietly on his left chest area, was visible. Yet Jaehwi had accurately found Bbobbo, and Hyukjin was looking at him with a bewildered expression.
“Squealing~”
Bbobbo, who had been holding its breath until just now, popped out of his chest with a “bbyong” as soon as the words “Gem Kitten” came out, and spun around making cute sounds as if it had become the protagonist.
In awkwardness, Raon rubbed his forehead with his hand and made the same smile he’d shown Jay. That’s right, he shouldn’t have brought it to work in the first place. Even when it looked at him with such pleading eyes, kissed his cheek and lips first, and made all sorts of cute sounds, he should have coldly refused.
He’d tried his best, but he ended up losing to Bbobbo, who sat on his shoe-wearing foot and wouldn’t budge. It wasn’t that the area where it sat hurt, but it was so heavy he couldn’t lift his foot. No matter what he said, Bbobbo, who only pretended to listen or not listen, flew up lightly at the words “Okay, let’s go together. It’ll be fine if we go,” and only then could Raon move his foot.
“Kang Raon. I think we need to talk.”
Hyukjin’s voice, which had been chattering about the dungeon until just now, had lowered considerably. Raon had no means to overcome Jaehwi’s gaze either, staring at him from behind with eyes like endless darkness.
The Gem Kitten flying around the office like it was its territory, Hyukjin sitting on the sofa across the table, Jaehwi sitting next to him, and Jay, who had brought simple refreshments, standing in front of the door, were all staring at Raon.
“Last night, the E-grade ore dungeon…”
“The ore dungeon suddenly disappeared when the collection team was about to deploy today!”
“You said you wouldn’t send me to dungeons, but you sent me to an A-grade dungeon and then you went to a dungeon alone?”
Can’t I say something too? Raon, who had barely opened his mouth, made a smacking sound at Hyukjin and Jaehwi’s words and drank some of the lemon water placed in front of him.
“I went to the ore dungeon, looked around to the end, and there was only ore, no monsters. I looked around and came out, and the dungeon immediately dissolved. When I woke up in the morning, this one was at home. It seemed like it didn’t want to be alone, so I brought it. The end!”
Unable to overcome the three pairs of eyes, Raon quickly explained the situation briefly and concisely. The gazes directed at Raon now shifted to Bbobbo flying around.
“As far as I know, no one has tamed a Gem Kitten.”
“Squeek!”
This time, a short scream burst from Bbobbo’s mouth, which had been happily flying around in light green. Unlike Hyukjin, who was examining the Gem Kitten with scholarly eyes, Bbobbo was caught in Jaehwi’s hands—when he’d stood up, no one knew.
“Squeeoong! Squeal! Squeek!”
Though Bbobbo noisily chattered as if it didn’t like being caught, silence fell in the office at Jaehwi’s single phrase, “Shut up.”
“Squeeuung.”
Raon, who had been looking at Jaehwi and Bbobbo with surprised eyes, jumped up from his seat at Bbobbo’s faint sound. Seeing tears even welling up in Bbobbo’s eyes, he overlapped his own hand on the large hand gripping Bbobbo.
“Let go! Bbobbo’s crying. Bbobbo. Does it hurt? Does it hurt? He’s really strong, you know. Hey! You, to this tiny thing…”
Raon, who had been hitting Jaehwi’s forearm and telling him to quickly let Bbobbo go, didn’t notice his gaze looking at him. Somehow trying to rescue Bbobbo that Jaehwi was holding, he stuck close to him, hitting his forearm and trying to pry off his fingers.
“Bbobbo?”
“Hey. Min Jaehwi. Won’t you let go quickly?”
“You even gave it a name?”
“Yeah. Hurry up and let go before you talk. Let go.”
As Jaehwi’s hand gradually rose higher, Raon unknowingly stood close to him and tried to rescue Bbobbo held in his hand.
“Ha, really.”
Coming to his senses at Jaehwi’s hollow laugh, Raon could discover Jaehwi looking down at him with an expression of disbelief, and himself standing on tiptoe, hanging on his arm.
“You don’t even listen to my words with one ear.”
Jaehwi’s words, spat out in a considerably lowered voice, stabbed into his ear. You did say let’s go together, but I never said I would. But he couldn’t bring himself to say it. Why are you looking at me with eyes like you’ve lost your owner and been hurt?
Before he could answer anything, Jaehwi just let go of his hand. At the same time as the sound “Squeal!” was heard, Bbobbo, escaping from Jaehwi’s hand, flew flutteringly through the air. Having forgotten that Bbobbo had wings and just trying to catch it with his whole body in case it fell, Raon turned his head at the sound of the door slamming shut. Jaehwi, who had been in front of him just moments ago, had disappeared.
“…That’s a Gem Kitten. Really a Gem Kitten? It followed you from the ore dungeon?”
At Hyukjin’s words, who was sitting on the sofa alternately looking at the tablet and himself—more precisely Bbobbo—Raon sat down weakly on the sofa. Jaehwi suddenly leaving was one thing, but at Hyukjin’s gaze toward Bbobbo, Raon looked at Bbobbo landing on his shoulder.
There’s a mountain beyond a mountain—hiding Bbobbo was clearly not going to be an easy task.
“Choi Hyukjin. Everything else is fine, but you can’t dissect Bbobbo.”
“Bbyaek!”
It wasn’t Hyukjin who reacted intensely to Raon’s sincere words, but Bbobbo. It seemed certain that Bbobbo understood human words precisely
