Chapter 137: My Guardian Deity (3) (1/2)

“Ah, umm…, no. Just no.”

“What was that?”

“Our child, isn’t like that. He doesn’t have any problems…”

After finally coming back to her senses, Kaeul waved her hands.

“Ah. Yes. I get that, but please tell us where you obtained it.”

“I just, brought it in…”

“You brought it in? From a dungeon?”

“No, not a dungeon but…”

“Do you have a certificate or a serial number? If it’s not registered at Lair, is it registered in a different country?”

“Umm…”

She felt her lips going dry. The look on her face made it extremely evident that she was guilty of something. One of the staff sneered and shook his head.

“We must temporarily put them in quarantine for disinfecting purposes for unconfirmed spirit beasts. I ask for your cooperation.”

He then abruptly took a step forward. His hands reached forward at the baby chicken, Chirpy.

“Please wait!”

Surprised, Kaeul stopped his hands.

“Uhh, certificate…! We probably do have it! I don’t really know, but I can ask our ahjussi!”

“Alright. You can bring that to us later. You do not have to worry and we’re just separating them for the time being as a disinfecting measure. Once you find your registration certificate, you can come to our Spirit Beast Management Department.”

“You mean you’ll still take him now?”

“Yes. We do need to put them in quarantine for the time being.”

With that, the woman pointed at her own helmet which read [Urgent Quarantine Period] in red. Seeing Kaeul still stubbornly resisting them, the woman heaved a sigh.

“We’re not doing this because we want to either. Unregistered spirit beasts might have some sort of virus in them right? You can even come tomorrow with the certificate. Please understand that it’s for the safety of everyone.”

Her words were slightly gentler than before. But as she was listening to them, Kaeul could feel the baby chicken in her arms trembling.

Chirpy was frightened.

“S, sorry.”

Without even knowing what was going through her lips, Kaeul rambled.

She understood the necessity of the procedure,

But the child was scared right now.

“…I, I don’t think I can send him away.”

*

The beginning of their relationship was light.

She fed it and it ate well, and seeing it getting injured time after time made her pity the animal. Living together, she slowly became more attached and without even realising it, her feelings towards it changed from sympathy to affection.

Perhaps that originated not from her own affection for the baby chicken, but from the love shown by the baby chicken to herself. After all, this spirit beast tended to follow her everywhere she went.

Sometimes, Kaeul was unable to give it much love. Because of lectures and assignments; and because she had to play with her friends and unnis, she was occasionally inattentive and couldn’t do much for the baby chicken.

Even then, it always followed around her.

The first one to greet her when she returned from her lectures was the baby chicken. Before she could even place the bag down, the yellow guy would run up and rub its head on her shin. The soft yellow fur tickled her legs and she could feel the weight of its rub.

Kneeling down, she lifted it up and felt the warm temperature of the tiny body.

How would you live without me? She thought to herself.

And it was relatively recently that the baby chicken became more special to her.

It was when Yeorum achieved the top grade of the first quarter, and was being repeatedly called by the PR team.

They asked for an interview every single day and even after rejecting most of them, there were still a few that had to be taken. Yeorum began becoming more and more famous. More people recognised her and sometimes girls came to her when they were walking, and created a fuss calling themselves her fan.

Kaeul was jealous of Yeorum. She was jealous that she was going on interviews, and was also jealous of how she was annoyed by them.

To her, Yeorum being loved by others, appeared bright.

So on the day of her final interview, Kaeul who was left alone closed her eyes, and relived the moment she stood in front of a crowd.

It was only once, but countless people were watching her with undivided attention. Vividly reminiscing in those memories and emotions made her depression slightly dissipate. But the frustration that still remained made her blankly sit in the living room, when the baby chicken approached her and rubbed its fairy-floss-like fur.

As if it was telling her to give it her attention.

How did he know.

Or was it a mere coincidence.

In fact, that didn’t matter. Whatever the reason, it was giving Kaeul the entirety of its attention and asked for her own endlessly.

Like a child looking for its mother.

On that rather depressing day, Kaeul hugged the baby chicken tightly.

Chirpy cried zealously.

‘Did anything happen? My dear guardian deity.’

Despite not understanding what the baby chicken was saying, the yellow creature tilting its head and the black pair of eyes staring at only her, consoled Kaeul without her realising it.

After that, she became curious about everything related to the baby chicken and she asked Yu Jitae this and that. And during that, she heard another astonishing story from him.

“This child was confined in a small place like that for 20 years?!”

“It probably was.”

“Hul… he was older than me…! No, more importantly. Why? Why in the world would they do that?”

Why would they confine a spirit beast in a breeding centre and limit its growth.

Yu Jitae explained it by comparing it to how dolphins were in aquariums.

Simply put, it was a result caused by human greed. To make it easier for humans to grow, they used knives, and to make it better for humans to grow, they restricted its growth and kept it small.

However, the Regressor didn’t really think of that as a problem. Greed was always greater than reality, and always led to a destructive form in the end.

Other people being greedy or not had nothing to do with him, so he didn’t stand for anyone nor criticise them.

Kaeul couldn’t really understand everything he was saying, but realised that that was just how reality was like.

“That’s so sad…”

How frustrating would being confined in a small place like that have been? Kaeul didn’t want him to feel locked in, at least when they were at Unit 301.

Therefore, Kaeul thought to herself that she had to go outside with the baby chicken whenever it was time.

“Chirpy.”

What was the best and the most natural way to go outside?

“Let’s go on a walk! A walk!”

…In other words,

The risks that accompanied them going on a walk was her problem, and was an issue that had to be resolved with her hands.

“Cadet!”

“No?! Don’t come closer.”

“Cadet. Please cooperate. This isn’t even that big of a problem.”

“No. He doesn’t have anything. I’ll give you that, document or whatever tomorrow, so can you please just go back for today?”

Seemingly irritated, the female staff grabbed her forehead.

“Haa… do you think we’re doing this because we want to? If you’re like this, we have no choice but to do it by force. Mister Hyungtae.”