Chapter — Who’s the Winner?
Yustitia High School freshman Lee Taemin stood with his arms crossed under the tree in the preschool backyard, looking down.
In front of him, three children stood side by side, facing him.
Gu Hwiyeon, On Guru, and Seo Woojoo...
Scanning the preschool nametags, Taemin spoke sharply, like shooting arrows.
“So, which one of you is ‘Gidan’s Futuwa’?”
Swoosh, swoosh—Woojoo and Guru both turned their heads toward Gu Hwiyeon.
Hwiyeon, frowning slightly, shot back bristling with hostility.
“Unni, are you ‘Serhi Tongue-Lick’?”
“Right. I’m ‘Serhi Tongue-Lick’.”
Taemin looked Hwiyeon up and down, pushing his hair back with a hand.
“Tell ‘Gidan’s Futuwa’ this: I give my all even against kindergarteners.”
At that, Hwiyeon trembled furiously.
“People like that are just childish adults.”
“Oh my god! I’ve never heard such a line in my life.”
Taemin kept running his hand through his hair like he’d been insulted.
Watching this, Guru gaped, thinking, Dat Unni... still as chiwdish as evew.
“So you three came out to side with Gidan? It’s just me on this side, and you’ve got three?”
The high-schooler who was invoking numbers against preschoolers had already pulled up Ham Honggi’s number on her phone, ready to call if needed.
But Guru and Woojoo shook their heads vigorously.
Hwiyeon looked back at them resentfully, but wrong was wrong.
“Gwuu came ’cause Hwiyeon cawwed hew.”
“I just followed Guru here.”
“Really?”
Taemin put the phone away and glared at Hwiyeon.
With her two unhelpful friends left behind, Hwiyeon stepped forward, fists clenched tight.
“Gidan Oppa is the best in Hyeonak.”
“Nononono! The top of Hyeonak is Serhi. Even in the contribution rate for the exchange match, Serhi beat him, didn’t he?”
Taemin looked at Guru and Woojoo as if asking them to agree.
“Uuum...”
“Uuhh...”
But Hwiyeon shouted back, refusing to lose.
“The actual orders came from Gidan Oppa! Even my dad said he did better. Right?”
She turned to Guru and Woojoo, demanding their agreement this time.
“Uuum...”
Guru groaned, hesitant, so Woojoo muttered timidly:
“Uh, yeah... but... the MVP was Guru...”
“Except for Guru!”
“Guru’s a foul!”
“Hwiiing...”
Guru drooped her mouth corners, and Woojoo, who couldn’t get through at all, hung his head.
And so, the ridiculous IRL fight (in-real-life after a game quarrel) had begun—over contribution rates.
Guru had taken 33%. Behind her, Serhi and Gidan had 27% and 26% each—barely a 1% difference.
But that tiny gap had only fanned the flames among fans.
In the overall Hunter rankings, of course Gidan, who was 3rd place, stood higher.
That was why Serhi’s fans (a.k.a. Serhi Tongue-Licks), who’d felt he was being pushed down, suddenly declared: “This proves Serhi has surpassed Gidan as Hyeonak’s top.”
Naturally, Gidan’s already-entrenched fandom fought back. The dispute grew and grew until it finally escalated into this IRL fight between their two loudest fans.
“Gidan!”
“Serhi!”
After shouting “my Hunter’s better” and “your Hunter sucks” for a while, both sets of eyes suddenly snapped onto Guru.
“You’re in Hyeonak, right?”
“Guru, what do you think?”
“U, um?”
“Who’s the Hyeonak top? It’s Serhi, isn’t it?”
“It’s Gidan Oppa, right?”
Eh?! Guru stumbled back under their fierce assault.
“Gwuu dunno ’bout dat stuff!”
But both of them closed in on her.
“If you don’t know—”
“You’ll find out now.”
Taemin and Hwiyeon spoke one after another.
Guru swallowed hard.
“—Sooo dat’s why, today we gotta go to the swimming poow. To decwide who’s the number one in Hyeonak.”
After Guru finished her story about a “high schooler and preschooler IRL fight,” Woojoo nodded gloomily.
He too had been dragged along—because it would only be fair if he also helped decide who the true number one in Hyeonak was.
“Aha, so that’s why you brought swimsuits.”
Hearing the story, Nayeon smiled and nodded.
Recently, the company pool had reopened after a long time.
So they had been filming plenty of videos written as “water training” but read as “sponsored photo shoots.” Today was Serhi and Gidan’s turn.
“Yesh! But dey said at da poow kids gotta go wif an aduwt. Chiwdwen can’t entuh awone.”
“Ah, that makes sense. Guru and Woojoo are still little, so it could be dangerous if you went without an adult. Then shall I go with you?”
“Yaaay!” Guru threw her arms up high, while Woojoo only nodded lightly, not pleased with being called a kid.
“Then let’s go change first.”
“Yeshhh.”
Brightening instantly, Guru grabbed Yurian and sprang up.
'Watew pway, watew pway~'
Before meeting Nayeon, she had tried Jurim first, but he’d brushed her off, saying he didn’t have a swimsuit. To that, Guru unfolded a tiny triangle swimsuit.
“Where did you... get that?”
“Gwuu bwought it fwom da poow.”
“...How?”
“Gwuu said give me sum ’cause Appa didn’t got any.”
After she explained, the desk attendants had looked terribly troubled while fetching the largest men’s swim trunks.
“Uh, Appa can’t wear that.”
“Dey said dey got biggah ones—”
“He can’t wear those either.”
“Even da biggest?”
“Yeah.”
“Tch.”
Appa, so useless on important days. I’ll have to go buy him one later.
So, failing to find someone to go with her, she’d bumped into Nayeon in the break room.
At the entrance to the locker rooms, the ugly hamster and the cute bunny hopped onto Woojoo’s shoulders.
“Woojoo, take care of Guru’s babies.”
“Mm.”
Meanwhile, Mephisto had perched on Guru’s head, trying to naturally follow her into the women’s locker room, but Woojoo snatched him up.
“You’re over here!”
Separated from Guru by his rough hand, Mephisto let out a low whine.
“Piii...”
Guru, holding Yurian’s leash, laughed and waved.
“See you latew! You gotta come out weawin’ da swimsuit Gwuu made!”
Mephisto flapped back at her in farewell and nodded.
Woojoo quickly changed into his swimsuit in the men’s locker room.
Mephisto received the swimsuit Guru had made from Veilach’s belly pouch.
Spreading the triangle briefs wide with his two wings, Mephisto tilted his head.
“Piiiit...?”
Meanwhile Veilach and Lukshifer, uninterested in the design, were forcing their legs into the holes without even unfolding theirs properly.
“Piiiit...” (Mine looks a bit different...)
As Mephisto awkwardly pushed his legs into the holes of the briefs like Veilach, Woojoo suddenly spoke.
“Mepi, you still like Guru, don’t you?”
Mephisto’s head shot up, while Veilach furrowed his brow.
“Pit.” (Yeah.)
Seeming to understand, Woojoo quietly lowered his gaze.
“I like Guru too. I’ve always liked her.”
“Pehht!” (Hmph!)
Whatever. Mephisto stuck out his beak and turned away.
The locker room fell silent.
Lukshifer rolled his eyes nervously at the tension, while Veilach just wondered blankly what the hell was going on.
Then Woojoo spun toward Veilach.
“What do you think?”
“Myut...?”
Halfway into a leg hole, Veilach froze at suddenly being dragged into it.
“Who do you think suits Guru better?”
“Piiiit?!”
Mephisto snapped his eyes wide and looked straight at Veilach.
Veilach blinked.
“Me, or Mepi?”
“Pii, piiit!” (Me, right, Woojoo?)
“Muuut...!”
With both Woojoo and Mephisto staring at him, Veilach scrunched his whole face.
Struggling to get his other leg into the briefs with his animal body, he thought:
Why the hell are you two talking about this while putting on swimsuits?

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