When school was over, Guru rushed off to practice for the play, and Woojoo went to find the teacher in charge so he could switch roles.
From a branch in front of the classroom, Mephisto let out a sigh as he watched the two of them.
Was this going to end in failure after all?
It was just as the gloomy chick let out a sigh.
From inside Guru’s backpack, Lukshifer poked his head out and tilted it curiously.
It was the first time he had seen Mephisto looking so dejected.
“Kkyuu?”
Lukshifer glanced up at Guru once.
“We gotta stick togetheh. You undewstand?”
Remembering Guru’s words, Lukshifer nodded hard.
The big kids with the big kids. Us with us.
Just then, Mephisto whimpered “Piiit......” and lowered his head.
A teardrop plinked onto the floor.
“Kkyuuut!”
He’s crying?!
Startled, Lukshifer secretly hopped out of Guru’s backpack and bounced over toward Mephisto.
“Teacher Gwak Nabi, I’m Seo Woojoo from the Chick Class in kindergarten. I have something to say.”
Gwak Nabi, who had been about to leave the teachers’ office with a script in hand, stopped.
“Woojoo? To me?”
“Yes.”
Hmm? She blinked in puzzlement.
She was a teacher for the elementary division.
She knew of Woojoo, since he was so famous, but she had no reason to have contact with him—she didn’t teach kindergarten.
“This upcoming joint kindergarten play... I want to be in it.”
So that was it.
Since she was assigned as the supervising teacher for the play, he had come to find her.
“Woojoo, you’ve got great passion for acting. Fine, should I make a small extra role for you? Let’s see......”
“No. The prince role.”
“Hm? The prince role is already Park Geonwoo’s......”
“I already talked with Park Geonwoo. He said he’d switch if you gave permission.”
Gwak Nabi let out a troubled sound as she looked at Woojoo speaking so fiercely.
“Mm......”
And then—
“Give me a chance too.”
White feathers fluttered down.
At some point, a child stood beside Woojoo, dressed in a hoodie and pants, cap pulled low.
When the child raised his head toward Gwak Nabi, beneath the mop of snowy curls shone sunset-colored eyes.
Gwak Nabi’s eyes widened.
This was basically an international school, so it wasn’t strange to see a foreign child, but his face was so flawlessly doll-like that a gasp escaped her without thinking.
'Is he a kid working with Woojoo?'
As she gaped, the white-haired boy clutched the long sleeves that covered his hands.
“I want to be the prince too.”
“What?”
Woojoo frowned and turned toward him.
...Mephi?
At Woojoo’s silent question, the white-haired boy tilted his head slightly and smiled arrogantly—like saying you’re right about what you’re thinking.
Gwak Nabi glanced back and forth between the two boys, then exclaimed in amusement, “Oh my, so you both want to play the prince? In that case......”
But Woojoo shouted hastily.
“H-he’s not even from our kindergarten!”
“Oh? Is that so?”
No wonder. If such a beautiful child had been around, surely there would have been rumors, but she had never heard of him.
But Mephisto only blinked innocently, as if he didn’t understand.
Smiling wryly, Gwak Nabi bent down kindly in front of him.
“Kids who aren’t in our kindergarten can’t join the play, so what should we do.......”
“I... can’t be the prince?!”
“Mm. I’m afraid so.”
Mephisto froze, stiff as if struck.
He had to be attending kindergarten to be the prince?!
'And I only just finally became human......!'
The only reason Mephisto could take on a human form at all was thanks to the filial piety snack Lukshifer had given him.
That snack had given him the power he needed to transform.
Though in a way... it was also like poison.
Even now, Mephisto was struggling to suppress the status abnormality called “Outsider’s Wrath” that gnawed at him like erosion.
'To think it’s a debuff with such a high erosion rate.......'
He didn’t know whose wrath it belonged to, but it felt fearsome enough to chill him.
Anyway, because of that, it was hard to use his strength—
Mephisto glared at Woojoo.
Woojoo clasped his hands behind his back and shrugged, satisfied that Mephisto had been disqualified.
Hmph!
It didn’t matter.
He had another way.
Lowering his gaze, Mephisto opened his system window.
[System has identified ‘Mephisto’.]
[With system administrator authority, the skill ‘Perception Revision (SSS)’ will be activated.]
Snap!
Mephisto flicked his fingers in front of Gwak Nabi.
“......Ah.”
As if time had rewound, her memory reset and she repeated her words.
“So you both want to be the prince, huh? Well, that’s the age for it.”
“Huh? But he’s not from our kindergarten—”
“What are you talking about, Woojoo? He’s your classmate.”
“What?”
Woojoo’s face went blank—then he spotted Mephisto smiling slyly and clenched his fists.
It was obvious Mephisto had done something to the teacher.
Not like an Awakened.
'Because he’s a monster.......'
Woojoo’s shoulders hunched before he forced himself to shake off the fear.
“Then let’s divide the roles fairly, shall we?”
Woojoo’s eyes lit up.
If it was really fair, the prince role would obviously go to him, since he’d been acting all along!
“This isn’t fair!”
Woojoo shouted, holding tongs in his gloved hands.
But Gwak Nabi was unmoved.
“Those who live on Earth, work for Earth! Plogging is the true fairness for the Earth!”
Plogging was jogging while picking up litter, a program often done in kindergarten.
Snort! Mephisto puffed through his nose and started clacking the tongs like he was already ready.
“But this is a play, shouldn’t we compete with our acting skills fairly.......”
“Oh, a contest of acting skills between you and Woojoo? That [N O V E L I G H T] wouldn’t be fair at all.”
“But it’s still a play......”
Woojoo protested, unwilling to yield—
But Mephisto simply flared his white feathers and dashed off, snatching up trash at incredible speed.
“Looks like your friend’s going to pick up more.”
“Urgh!”
At Gwak Nabi’s remark, Woojoo couldn’t argue further and ran after Mephisto.
Gwak Nabi smiled in satisfaction.
“They’re at just the right age to stake their lives on being the prince.”
As she watched the two children pick up litter with burning passion, she recalled something and tilted her head.
“Then... maybe I should revise the prince role a little?”
Meanwhile, as he snatched trash from Mephisto’s tongs, Woojoo growled under his breath.
“What did you do to the teacher?”
Mephisto scowled back at him and snorted.
“Hmph.”
“I don’t need you to tell me. I already know.”
Mephisto shot back sharply.
“So what?”
“Wait—don’t tell me you like Guru?”
“Yeah.”
So easily?! Woojoo’s face flushed scarlet.
“Th-that’s not allowed.”
Mephisto cocked his head, eyes half-lidded, arms folded.
“Why not?”
“Because... you’re not even human......”
As if to say that’s all? Mephisto picked his ear with a finger. He couldn’t care less about such a trivial thing.
Woojoo’s fists trembled.
“I’m not going to rat you out for what you did to the teacher. So you’d better stop using weird skills and fight fair.”
“We’ll see. I’ll do whatever I want.”
Bleh—Mephisto stuck out his tongue.
Even so, rather than use more power, he kept working hard, picking up trash on his own legs.
“Stay nearby! Don’t wander off too far!” Gwak Nabi’s voice called after them, but neither of the boys paid her any mind.
They only focused on snatching up more litter than the other.
Peek.
Lukshifer poked his little head out over the wall of the kindergarten yard, front paws resting on the stone.
The baby rabbit sniffled up the snot that had leaked from his nose.
'Big bwuddah is fighting weaw hawd.'
It couldn’t have been easy to keep moving while suppressing that terrifying erosion.
Just as Lukshifer was sniffling proudly, tears glimmering—
A chilling voice came from behind.
“Found you.......”
“Kkyiiiiiik!”
The baby rabbit trembled as if electrocuted.
Guru, who had scooped him up, scolded—
“Wut awe you doin’ awone...... eh?”
But when she spotted who Lukshifer had been watching, her eyes went wide.
That was Woojoo.
Woojoo was picking up trash, bickering with the hooded boy.
'Who’s that kid?'

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