SRSYT C4

Chapter 4

“Kkokko is pretty. Kkokko looks like this!”

The little client, just six years old, twisted in place and held out a sketchbook. There was no comb on the bird. It was a half-grown chicken with only thick white feathers.

“How old is Kkokko?”

At Seojin’s question, the child held up three fingers.

“Three years old?”

Older than he thought. Then again, if a child loved it this much, they must have been together for a while.

“Uum, nooo.”

“That means three months.”

Yoon Haegang cut in before the child could answer.

“Ah…”

“Ahem. Ah, I see. You draw really well.”

Embarrassed, Seojin scratched the bridge of his nose with a finger and praised the drawing, hoping to ease the child’s tension as the kid’s eyes flicked between the two of them.

Even to Seojin, Haegang’s presence was a bit too much. That delicate face on a body that did not match it made the attitude understandable.

“Hee…”

The gap-toothed smile was so cute that a faint smile rose on Seojin’s mouth too. He thought of Euni, who would be playing happily at daycare.

“Alright. Then will you lend me that for a bit?”

“This?”

The child hugged the sketchbook to their chest and looked wary.

“Yes. It’ll help a lot when we look for Kkokko.”

“Uum…”

“And our client should wait at home. Okay?”

A snort came from beside him, but Seojin did not look over. Soothing the worried child came first.

It bothered him that a preschooler who should have been at kindergarten or daycare was at a playground at this hour.

“You’ll find Kkokko?”

The gap-toothed question was cute. Seojin nodded at once.

“Yes. That’s why the uncles came here, so don’t worry.”

“Okay…”

Seojin took the sketchbook with a smile. Next he had to send the child home.

“Where’s your house?”

“Oveeer there…”

The child’s empty hands fidgeted. Seojin followed the pointing finger. The residential alley was packed with similar multi-family houses and villas, so it was hard to tell which one.

“Okay. Then let’s go home and wait. Here, hold uncle’s hand.”

“Yes…”

Seojin kept talking kindly, and the child’s heart seemed to loosen. The little hand grabbed his at once. They walked down the alley side by side, matching the child’s steps. Haegang followed a pace behind.

Checking house numbers as they walked the way the child pointed, Seojin tilted his head at a strangely familiar road name.

What is this? Where have I seen it?

He was still wondering when the child’s shout snapped him back.

“We’re heeere!”

A three-story multi-family house.

“You live here?”

“Yes!”

The child answered stoutly, fished a keyring from a pocket, picked one, and unlocked the door with practiced ease. Seojin clapped without meaning to.

“Wow, you’re so good at that!”

“Heehee…”

Pleased by the praise, the child smiled with the missing tooth showing. Seojin patted the small head and pushed the heavy front door open for them.

“Now wait quietly at home…”

He was about to say that when he locked eyes with someone coming down the stairs. The other person looked startled too, stopped mid-step, and froze.

“Seyeong hyung!”

At the child’s happy call, Seojin looked at the man again.

A white face so smooth there was not a speck on it. Features that looked carefully sculpted. A neck line as fine as a deer’s, and a supple body.

Anyone could see the fresh air of someone announcing, I am an omega. But that was not why Seojin stared.

So that’s why Yoon Haegang suddenly wanted to come along. He knew this was where Shin Seyeong lives.

No wonder the road name had felt familiar. It was the main bottom’s home address, the one Seojin had been studying hard at the office.

His gaze went to Haegang on its own. Haegang had already been watching Shin Seyeong.

It felt like a drama ending song should have started playing. Sadly, reality offered only awkward silence.

“Jun-ah! Who are those people?”

On top of that, Shin Seyeong’s suspicious look made cold sweat run down Seojin’s back. The child’s answer mattered now. But the kid only rolled their eyes, flustered. What he needed was quick thinking.

“Our little friend lost Kkokko, so we were looking together. Right, Jun-ah?”

“Y-yes…”

“Kkokko?”

Shin Seyeong looked doubtful.

“Yes. But I thought it would be better for Jun-ie to wait at home, so I brought him back.”

Seojin put on a sociable smile, and Seyeong’s suspicion seemed to thin a little. The child nodding hard probably helped.

“Did Kkokko run away again?”

“Ung.”

So this was not Kkokko’s first outing.

“What do I do? Hyung has to go out for work, so I can’t look with you…”

“It’s okay. The uncle said he’ll find it! Jun-ie even paid…”

The child was about to announce, in a lively, airy voice because of the missing tooth, that money had been paid. Seojin spoke for him again.

“Jun-ie offered to help! I refused. It’s dangerous for a child to keep wandering outside. Right, Jun-ah?”

“Y-yes…”

Jun-ie fidgeted with the keyring, unaware of the slip that had almost happened. Seojin was rubbing the child’s shoulder kindly, but he himself was too busy watching Seyeong and Haegang to notice.

“Then please contact this number when you find it.”

Shin Seyeong recited his number as if it were nothing.

Seojin glanced at Haegang without meaning to. Haegang still could not take his eyes off Seyeong. There was so much personal interest in that look that Seojin felt more embarrassed than anyone.

After saying goodbye to Jun-ie, Seojin and Haegang ended up walking out of the alley with Shin Seyeong.

“Kkokko is probably hiding at the playground. Look there.”

They had just reached the point where the alley met the playground when Seyeong spoke suddenly.

“The playground?”

Seojin looked toward the place where they had first met the child. A small space with a slide, swings, a seesaw, and a horizontal bar. Nowhere looked like a spot a chicken could hide.

And if it had been there, why hadn’t the child found it earlier?

“There. Around there, probably.”

Seyeong pointed again. Seojin looked. A block-style slide with a red roof stood out.

“Lately Kkokko’s gotten into flapping around, so it keeps leaving the house and going in there.”

“Jun-ie doesn’t know?”

“No.”

“Why…”

“Jun-ie’s scared of going up high.”

“Ahh…”

The slide was high. That explained it.

“Thank you for the help.”

“Not at all. Then I’ll leave it to you.”

Seyeong really did seem busy. He said goodbye and hurried off. Seojin looked from the receding back to Haegang, who still could not look away.

Usually at times like this the main top helps and the mood softens a little.

Since this was a secondary top, maybe a meeting like this just ended here. Having decided that on his own, Seojin went straight to the slide. Sure enough, something vague moved inside the cage-like structure.

“Kkokko.”

At the name, wings flapped. A few white feathers drifted down.

“Kkokko, let’s go home.”

A head popped out of a small hole. It really did look like the chicken in the child’s drawing, peering this way and that.

The problem is how to get it down…

The roof was higher than expected. Even on tiptoe, Seojin’s arms would not reach.

“How did Shin Seyeong get that thing down.”

There was no support, and he could not think of a way to lure it. He was staring blankly at the ceiling when he felt a presence behind him. A long arm shot up.

Seojin turned in surprise. Using that tall frame, Yoon Haegang had already caught Kkokko and was pulling it out.

“Insane…”

Taken down in one move. A yandere top really was different. Seojin clapped, privately offering that slightly random review.