Creak~

The bathroom door was unlocked, revealing Tae Hyun Goo wearing casual clothes that were easy to move around. Holding the towel on top of his head, he continued drying his hair as he exited the bathroom. But as soon as he crossed the door, a small creature appeared right in the corner of his eye.

“Cha So-Young… why are you crouching in front of the bathroom? You want to pee?”

Glaring at Tae Hyun Goo with her lifeless eyes, the crouching girl grumbled. “Hyun Goo… why did you bathe for so long? It was so boooriiing waiting for you!”

Tae Hyun Goo’s eyes twitched when he heard that.

‘What the hell, I had barely been inside for like 10 minutes! This brat is really impatient!’

“…What are you still doing here? Hurry, enter the bathroom and do whatever you want to do there! Shoo!”   

A (-_-) expression appeared on her face as she looked at him dead in the eyes.

“Hyun Goo…”

“Eee why are you looking at me like that?”

Although it took him some time, after experiencing the constant deathly glare from the girl, he was reminded of their conversation just now.

“Aah… you still want to know how I hide myself as a kid?”

Cha So-Young nodded slowly like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“It’s simple actually, I just cover myself! Wait, lemme get the disguise first.”

Entering a room that was just a storage room, the boy shortly came out with a robe and a mask on his arm. He quickly presented himself after donning it all.

“See? Nothing special.”

“But how about your voice?” So-Young wonderingly asked.

Tae Hyun Goo promptly cleared his throat. “Ehem ehem… how’s my voice now? Deeper?”

Although he said deeper, his voice sounded more like a hoarse young adult experiencing late puberty.

“I’m still growing, so other than using the tall shoes for my height, this is the best that I can do. But once I get a little older, my voice and height will be perfect,” the boy remarked confidently.

“Hmm…” but the little fashion critic only responded with her eyes examining him from head to toe.

“How is it? Do I look cool?” Tae Hyun Goo quickly stuck out his chest and played a confident posture for her.

So-Young instantly shook her head. It seemed the great fashion critic had concluded her evaluation.

“Hyun Goo… your mask makes you look funny.”

…..The more accurate term for it was cringe, but the girl didn’t know this term.

Tae Hyun Goo’s confident pose quickly deflated. “It kinda hurts you know… I made this myself…”

“Eh?! Really?! Woah! Can I see?”

But as if she had never belittled the mask just now, she flipped her face after hearing what the boy had said. After being given the mask by the boy, Cha So-Young studied every inch of it. Meanwhile, the boy explained.

“At the time I don’t have money at all, so I had to make the disguise by myself. And well, it did take me a long time to learn from scratch. But looking back at it now, it was worth it.”

“So how is it? Is it cool now?” now that the ignorant girl finally understood the great history behind it, her opinion must have changed.

“Hmm… So that’s why it’s so ugly.”

“…”

With his hope crushed mercilessly, the boy lost all his interest. Tae Hyun Goo then snatched the mask away from her merciless eyes.

“Whatever, I’m going out now.”

But before he left the door, Cha So-Young blocked his way off.

“Wait! Hyun Goo, is there anything that I can do? How about cleaning?”

Tae Hyun Goo was glad to learn that the girl was so eager to help. But unfortunately, “Hmm… honestly, I just clean everything up yesterday.”

So-Young was immediately left disappointed.

“But well, maybe there are still some places that I missed, who knows?”

After telling her where to find the broom, he told her to wait for a bit. Not long after, he returned with a piece of paper in his hand.

Paper was actually an expensive product. Unless they wanted to become a scholar, very few commoners would have it lying around and gathering dust. But Cha So-Young had seen papers on a daily basis, so it didn’t matter.

“A map?” So-Young took a glance at the paper.

“Nn, it’s a drawing around this house. There is a waterfall half an hour from us here and there are also a few caves around an hour or more.”

“But Hyun Goo, what is the shaded part at the top?”

“Ooh that? It means it’s a dangerous place, there is a good chance you can meet an evil monster there, so don’t go near it alright?”

“Ok!” So-Young nodded obediently.

“Great, I am going now, I am gonna be back around… evening.”

Seeing that there was nothing else to do, Tae Hyun Goo decided to leave. After following him to the door, Cha So-Young waved her hand.

“Safe trip Hyun Goo!”

“Thanks,” waving his hand back, the boy left the house.

Watching his back walking further and further, Cha So-Young closed the door and grabbed the broom from the storage room. Following that, she began scanning around the area, searching for any dust to sweep away.

But sadly… even after searching for almost an hour, she didn’t find a single spot.

Feeling a little dejected, she returned the broom to its place before lying on the wooden couch lazily.

Now what?

Unsure of what to do, Cha So-Young stared at the ceiling and began daydreaming.

But she soon found it impossible. Sadly for her, these moments of stillness only brought stress to her mind. Left alone with just herself, the memories that she dreaded and refused to see would resurface at the back of her mind, eager to haunt and terrorize her.

Both her body and mind could only scream in distress.

The girl shook her head furiously and got off from the couch. She needed to do something, something that can distract her.

Cha So-Young turned her head to the right, the thought of that ancient tree came to her. The girl quickly took the backdoor to check out the beautiful tree.

Pushing through the rough wooden door, the creaking sound came about as the slight breeze greeted the little child while she found herself showered by the pleasant warmth of the rising sun.

Feeling a little better, she stepped outside and onto the porch and saw the old tree existing in harmony with the nature. But before she could even taste the beautiful sight, a small garden and a well at the back of the house caught her interest. After moving to the edge of the porch, she realized that some vegetables that she ate yesterday came from this small garden.

Fascination appeared on her as she enjoyed the scene laid out in front of her eyes. The sight of the tiny plants swaying in the wind and a pair of frogs sitting by the well, along with the hidden crickets courting the morning sun.

But not long after, her face froze in a sudden realization.

She… hadn’t eaten anything this morning! Tae Hyun Goo actually forgot to feed her!

“…H-Hyun Goo said that he will be back in the evening…”

“Oh no…”

She once again shook her head in denial.

“N-no… there is still some leftover porridge from yesterday!”

She immediately ran back to the house and check the kitchen. But when she opened the lid of the plate...

“Hup! It’s so smelly!”

The girl instantly closed the spoilt food. With hopeless eyes, she fell to the wooden couch.

GGgggrrrrr~~~

And like a perfect alarm, her stomach grumbled in unison.

“Boohoo…. I’m going to die!!”

Although Cha So-Young was only introduced to this feeling of hunger a few months ago, she had already hated the experience very much… this feeling had only brought back bad memories for her.