S Chapter 5

In the end, having no choice, he jumped up and down and hung onto the doorknob. He struggled a few times because of his thick belly fat. As he flailed his tiny legs, the doorknob turned. Shin Jukyeong, hanging dangling, looked through the open gap in the door. A round back of a head inside the room came into view.

‘It’s Eun.’

Huff… puff… breathing out strong snorts, he trotted closer to his younger brother. It seemed Kang Seo-oh’s words weren’t a lie; everything around was Rakun. He must really like it.

‘Good thing I came in this form.’

Shin Jukyeong deliberately made pat-pat footsteps, hoping Eun would notice him.

‘Eun-ah, it’s your older brother. Your eldest brother.’

As if his presence had been effective, the small head turned around. A mouth that jutted out like a bird’s beak, cheeks that looked soft like glutinous rice cakes, eyelashes longer than a doll’s. His gaze met that of a child who possessed perfect beauty despite his young age.

That child was Gong Eun. The youngest of this family.

‘He’s like a chick.’

His younger brother, much smaller than he remembered, felt unfamiliar.

Shin Jukyeong quietly gazed into those bright, clear eyes, then subtly narrowed the distance. Pretending not to, he anticipated his younger brother’s reaction. Would his plump cheeks blush peach? What if he’s too surprised and bursts into tears?

‘I wish I could see him smile just once.’

However, the reaction he anxiously awaited was different from his expectation. Pat-pat-pat, whoosh! The child suddenly got up, hurriedly ran, and hid behind the curtain.

What? Isn’t that his favorite character? In his confusion, Shin Jukyeong looked around. Rakun dolls, cushions, toys… He definitely likes them, so why is he avoiding me?

The child, with his face peeking out, watched Shin Jukyeong warily. Fortunately, he didn’t seem scared. Somehow, a suffocating standoff began between a four-head-tall little kid and a bipedal furball.

“Kkurung, wwaeng-al, wwaeng, kkururu, o-ang.” (Eun-ah? Why are you avoiding me? Look closely, it’s Rakun. He’s your favorite character, isn’t he?)

“Hic…”

As he spoke, the situation worsened. The startled Eun plopped down onto the floor.

‘Why on earth…’

Frustrated, Shin Jukyeong, who had tapped his forehead, suddenly looked at his own hand.

‘This… hand…’

Shin Jukyeong looked around once more. And again, his hand. Again, the surroundings. And again, his hand.

“Kkurung…!”

Thunder struck over his head.

Ah, that’s it.

‘Unnecessarily high quality…!’

What Eun liked was 2D Rakun, not 3D Rakun. It was a mistake caused by his lack of subtlety. Realizing his misstep, Shin Jukyeong clicked his tongue. Even having too good an ability is a problem. I should have looked more roughly made, damn it.

‘I just wanted to make him happy, but I messed it up.’

While Shin Jukyeong was frustrated, pulling at his hair.

“…Kkuku…?”

A timid and adorable voice was heard. As he suddenly raised his head, he saw Eun timidly approaching. The child in blue overalls clumsily tried to speak.

“Kku… Kkuku?”

‘Kkuku?’

Ah, is that the name of this furball? Shin Jukyeong’s eyes gleamed. A hunter’s instinct is like this. A target once chosen is never let go. Exactly! If he’s giving me a chance, of course I have to take it.

“Kkurut!”

Shin Jukyeong immediately lay down and flapped his ears. With a shameless appearance that would justify a lawsuit if the real Kkuku knew, he brazenly acted cute. A thirty-year-old’s pride? Such a thing disappeared like dust a long time ago. Inside the cute outer skin was a thirty-year-old man whose only joys in life were fitness and cigarettes. For his young younger brother, he abandoned his adult self and suddenly became Kkuku.

How much time had passed?

‘…Save me.’

His whole body trembled. This was the price for underestimating a child’s stamina. Rather, clearing a Dungeon would be easier.

Shin Jukyeong waddled as he chased Eun. It had been hours of tag, to the point where his mouth tasted sweet from exhaustion. But even though it was hard, rest was not allowed. This kid, if he grows up to be an assistant or something, he’d probably be amazingly good at it.

“Come here, Kkuku! You’re IT!”

Sweating, he laughed with a flushed face. Is it that fun? The accumulated fatigue melted away instantly.

‘Because he’s a child, he opens his heart quickly.’

Shin Jukyeong decided to sacrifice his knees for his seemingly happy younger brother.

“Kkurung!”

“Ahaha! You couldn’t catch me!”

Moreover, his younger brother was skilled at evasion. It’s hard to say, but even when he pointed a knife at me in the distant future, each of his moves was heavy and powerful. He must be naturally gifted at physical activity.

After that, Shin Jukyeong continued to roll around, perform six aerial spins, do handstands on his fingers, and so on. Utilizing his past experience as a Hunter Association Director, he performed all sorts of tricks, and Eun, seemingly satisfied with the chubby raccoon’s show, show, show, clapped and said, “Good job, good job.”

A praise prison is very scary. Because it makes even a thirty-year-old man lose his reason and act cute.

“Kkururu… Huff, puff.”

When he came to his senses, it was already dark night. Eun was already half-asleep, nodding his head. If he’s sleepy, why is he holding on instead of just sleeping?

Glancing around, Shin Jukyeong returned to his original form and picked up his younger brother. He was lighter than expected. Having played together for a bit, his warm body temperature felt familiar.

Just then, a chubby hand tightly grasped Shin Jukyeong’s clothes. Gently breathing, the child’s breathing was unusually loud. As if he didn’t want to let go, the clinging hand was even pitiful.

Shin Jukyeong, after laying his younger brother on the bed, looked around the room once more. …It’s wide. Too wide and lonely a room for a child to use alone. He seemed to vaguely understand the reason he easily let him close, and the reason he didn’t let go of his hand even while falling asleep.

His younger brother is being neglected. No, it’s more accurate to say he’s suffering emotional abuse. At an age where he should be loved and cared for, he is enduring loneliness alone. Simply providing basic necessities does not fulfill one’s duties. This family was festering much more than Shin Jukyeong thought.

Five days passed. In a time that was short if you called it short, and long if you called it long, the two short ones became best friends. The furball had achieved something his older brother couldn’t even dream of doing. Should he be happy about this, or sad?

‘But when I’m not Rakun, he doesn’t even make eye contact…’

Indeed, who would think that a normal person was pretending to be a four-legged furball? This isn’t Eun’s fault.

‘Is there no way to make Eun approach me voluntarily?’

Shin Jukyeong, who had been pondering deeply, completely revised his plan. The so-called “act cold” strategy. And it was about time to get a bite.

Every time Shin Jukyeong played with Eun as Rakun, he refused all the snacks Eun offered. Moreover, he even played tag half-heartedly. The reason was simple. He deliberately created distance. If he faces a problem he can’t solve himself, he will look for an adult to rely on.

It’s not something to do to a child, but he was in a hurry, so he had no choice. And this method worked well as expected.

‘Kkuku… are you sick? There, there’s nothing else…’

The anxious Eun even tried to share his cherished cookies, but Shin Jukyeong stubbornly turned his head away. When he pouted his beak-like lips and teared up, he thought his conscience would be torn to shreds. But he had to endure. Good things come to those who wait.

Finally today, Shin Jukyeong stayed at the dining table until the end. This was to be left alone with Eun, who ate slowly. Eun glanced at Shin Jukyeong and clumsily wielded his spoon. His hurried movements seemed to be conscious of Shin Jukyeong.

‘He’ll get an upset stomach like that.’

Realizing he shouldn’t delay any longer, Shin Jukyeong took out the Children’s Animal Encyclopedia he had prepared. Suddenly taking out a book at the dining table was completely out of place, but he turned the pages with a very serious expression. From time to time, as if he understood, he didn’t forget to nod his head.

“Fish breathe with gills… This is useful knowledge.”

“…!”

A somehow cool way of speaking, a somehow profound gaze. At that intellectual appearance, Eun kept glancing at Shin Jukyeong. Shin Jukyeong read the book’s contents fluently without resting.

His plump cheeks twitched. His eating speed also noticeably slowed down.

‘He’s hooked.’

Sure enough, Eun, with his mouth open, sent a look of awe. Yes, that’s the look of someone seeing a smart older brother…! But he still hesitated.

‘Even with this, he won’t ask?’

Shin Jukyeong, having no choice, put down the book and brought out his ultimate move.

“Eight eights are sixty-four, eight nines are seventy-two…”

Looking into thin air, he recited the multiplication table. And what’s more, it was the notoriously difficult 8-times table.

“…!”

Drr-reuk! Eun, flustered, rushed towards Shin Jukyeong. His eyes, wide and round, his wiggling bottom, his adorably clenched fists, and flushed cheeks were like the face of someone who had found a savior.

“O… older brother…”

‘It worked.’

That’s right. In the eyes of that little one right now, the eldest brother reciting the multiplication table was truly a know-it-all, a walking encyclopedia. Therefore, he seemed to believe he would surely know the reason Kkuku refused snacks.

It’s beyond expectations. Fairly, both good and bad. As expected, Eun asked about Rakun, and Shin Jukyeong pretended not to know but provided an answer.

‘Since he likes to wash his food and eat it, wouldn’t it be good to put a water bowl for him?’

His younger brother faithfully followed his older brother’s advice. From the next day, a small water bowl was placed in the child’s room, and Shin Jukyeong, now Kkuku, pretended not to know and washed his snacks there to eat. Eun, who had been anxiously watching, breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of him eating well again.