After the Sun and Moon performance—
Slurp.
Sejun took a brief break, sipping his coffee.
“Ttondaen-nim, I’m hungry!”
“Shongshongi is hungry too!”
“Bear-Bear too!”
The children started whining. After sitting tensely through the play, their nerves had relaxed—and now they were hungry.
“Alright kids, let’s start with these.”
Sejun handed out snacks: boiled eggs and milk. Then, he began preparing lunch about 30 minutes earlier than usual.
“Queng, go fetch so sli for .”
Kkuhehehe. Queng!
[Hehehe. Got it, da yo!]
Clank.
At Sejun’s request, Queng opened the subspace storage and headed to the sli farm.
Then—
Queng!
Boom!
While Queng was catching Gold Slis—
“Wow! So much food!”
Chomp!
Munch munch.
Gulp.
Mulmuli, who had sohow snuck in, was munching on live Gold Slis.
Queng! Queng!
[Stop, da yo! Mom said if you eat anything alive, you can't be a mom, da yo!]
Queng hurriedly shouted and used telekinesis to pull Mulmuli away from the sli.
Pink Fur had taught Queng that disasters must never eat anything alive.
Queng?
[Mom, then can I eat sothing if it’s dead, da yo?]
Kuong! Kuong! Kuoong!
[No! You must always eat it cooked! And only if Dad cooked it!]
When a disaster dies, its destructive energy quickly dissipates, and its corpse retains almost no such energy. Once cooked with fire, it disappears completely.
But Pink Fur, with a traumatic history involving disasters, would tolerate not even a speck of lingering destructive energy. She had strictly instructed Queng to only eat what Sejun cooks.
Because Sejun always cooks the corpses thoroughly—even their insides. His food was both safe and delicious.
Once Queng pulled Mulmuli away—
“Why won’t you let eat it?!!!”
Mulmuli scread, throwing a tantrum.
Goooooo...
A surge of red Destruction Energy burst from her body.
While eating the Gold Sli, Mulmuli had also absorbed its Destruction energy—and awakened her own destructive power.
Just like her title, Child of Creation Tainted by Destruction, even a small amount of that energy could trigger an awakening.
And since she had eaten the sli alive, Mulmuli had absorbed quite a bit of destructive energy.
“Mulmuli, if you interfere, I won’t go easy on you—even if you’re a teacher!”
Still, so reason remained—at least she still recognized her teacher status.
Queng!
[I’ll handle this before Dad finds out, da yo!]
Thunk.
Queng shut the door to the sli farm.
Then—
Queng!
She charged at Mulmuli. When soone was this out of control, a good beating was the answer—that’s what big brother Theo had taught her.
Monts later—
Boom! Crash!
“Waaah! Why are you hitting ?! Waaah! Mulmuli was wrong!”
Cries echoed from the sli farm.
Wriggle. Wriggle.
The slis, terrified by the sound of Mulmuli getting beaten, hid trembling in the far corners of the farm.
***
When Queng didn’t return—
“Why’s she taking so long? Vice Chairman Theo, go help Queng.”
Sejun sent Theo.
“Puhuhut. Just leave it to , nya! I, Vice Chairman Theo, am the most competent subordinate of the great hybrid Chairman Park, nya! Iona, let’s go, nya!”
“Kkyut-kkyut-kkyut. Yes!”
Under Sejun’s orders, Theo dashed toward the subspace storage with Iona clinging to his tail.
Five minutes later—
“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, I’m back, nya!”
Theo returned, carrying loads of sli at.
“What about Queng? Huh? Iona’s not back either? Did sothing happen?”
“There was a minor issue, but they’re handling it. You don’t need to worry, nya!”
Theo dismissed it like it was nothing. For the Sejun family, minor incidents involving Destruction were now routine.
“Yeah? Alright then.”
Sejun knew Theo never lied to him, so he let it go.
“Vice Chairman Theo, slice up the at.”
“Puhuhut. Trust , nya! Chairman Park, are you watching clean my paws thoroughly, nya?!”
“Yeah. You’re doing great.”
“Puhuhut. I know, nya!”
After washing his front paws and receiving praise from Sejun—
Snap.
Theo popped out his claws and—
Dadadadada.
Started swiftly slicing the at into perfect portions.
As the cooking neared completion—
Kkuhehehe.
“Kkyut-kkyut-kkyut.”
Sob sob.
Queng, Iona, and Mulmuli returned from the subspace storage.
So that’s what happened. Mulmuli had snuck into the storage and got scolded.
Sejun, unaware that a Destruction Awakening had nearly occurred, just thought it was a minor incident.
Sob sob. Next ti I’ll only eat cooked food...
At least Mulmuli seed to have learned her lesson.
And so, the quietly suppressed Destruction disappeared without anyone noticing, and the Kindergarten of Destruction enjoyed lunch in peaceful harmony.
Until—
“Sejun, let’s do this one next!”
Aileen handed him The Snail Bride story. Well, handing him the book was fine.
“And I want to be the Snail Bride! You be the farr.”
“Huh? You want to play the Snail Bride, Aileen?”
“Yup. So I’ll need to train in cooking for about a week! Gotta make it realistic!”
The problem was—Aileen had declared she’d cook.
“Hm. Aileen, actually... I think I’ll be the snail. Suddenly, I really want to try being the Snail Groom.”
“Huh? But the snail is a girl.”
“I’ll just change it to a man. Snail Groom.”
When Sejun strongly insisted—
“Okay, then I’ll be the farr.”
Aileen had wanted to be the farr since she knew the farr and the snail end up married.
“Alright. Then you can be the farr.”
“Hehehe. Got it!”
With that, the two leads of The Snail Groom were decided.
Kihihit. Squeak!
[Hehe! That ugly butler suits the snail role so well!]
Kkamang teased Sejun, full of glee.
“And you’ll be the snail before transformation.”
Squeak?!
And just like that, Kkamang landed the important role he’d been begging for.
“Theo will be the magistrate, Iona the magistrate’s aide, Queng will be the Bear King, Bat-Bat and Flamy are Bear King’s subordinates one and two...”
Sejun assigned roles to the whole group.
Since Queng was a bear, the Dragon King role beca the Bear King.
Did it really matter?
After all, they’d already changed The Snail Bride to The Snail Groom.
And Sejun, the shaless king of plagiarism who’d claid others’ songs as his own, had no qualms.
With all roles set—
Queng?
[Dad, when are we playing detective again, da yo?]
Queng asked.
“Oh, right. Gotta solve that mystery too.”
Sejun rembered the empty honey jars in Iona’s subspace.
“Sejun, let’s practice now!”
Next to him, Aileen clutched the Snail Bride book with excitent, urging him on.
So much to do. Or rather—so much to play.
Sejun pondered what to prioritize...
He hadn’t spent much ti with Aileen lately.
So he decided to postpone the detective play and focus on rehearsing The Snail Groom with the group.
Three days into rehearsal—
“Sigh. What’s the point of farming... who will I even eat with...”
Kihihit. Squeak!
[Hehe! You can eat with the great Snail, obviously!]
Aileen sighed deeply in character, and Kkamang barked enthusiastically while wearing a brown poop-shaped hat—bought online for its uncanny resemblance to a snail shell.
“Huh? Where’s that voice coming from?”
The farr (Aileen) looked around and found a snail the size of two fists.
“I shouldn’t let it get stepped on by soone. I’ll take it ho.”
“She put the snail in a jar at ho. And from the next day on, strange things began happening. Whenever she left the house, the place was tidied up and a bountiful al was laid out in the master bedroom.”
“Wow! Food! And there’s chocolate cake too!”
Aileen had insisted that chocolate cake was essential for emotional realism, so alongside her favorite dishes like squid rice bowls and spicy rice cakes, a chocolate cake was placed on the table for dessert.
Because a new al had to be made every ti they practiced, rehearsals dragged on.
“Wow! So delicious!”
As Aileen actually dug in, relishing the food—
Ding dong.
The doorbell rang.
When Sejun opened the door—
“Sejun-nim, good day.”
“Dong-sik-nim, hello.”
Dong-sik was there.
The reason—
“I brought so supplies from the Black Tower.”
Since Sejun hadn’t visited the Black Tower recently, crops harvested from the 99th floor were delivered to the 1st floor by the residents, and Dong-sik, who lived two houses over, brought them to the Kindergarten.
While checking the delivery—
“Hm? Dong-sik-nim, there’s no honey?”
Queng’s honey was missing, so Sejun asked.
“There’s been a honey thief at the Black Tower lately. It must have been stolen along the way.”
Honey thief?
The mont Sejun heard that, he rembered the empty honey jars from a few days ago.
So that was the suspicious sll.
As Sejun confird the link between the missing honey and the empty jars—
Queng!
[Soone stole the honey I was supposed to eat, da yo! Unforgivable, da yo!]
Furious, Queng’s eyes turned sharp and triangular.
Then—
“Everyone, let’s go!”
The Detective Squad set out for the Black Tower.
***
Black Tower, 1st floor.
Once inside—
“Kkyut-kkyut-kkyut. While I was investigating the glass jars, I collected the scent and requested analysis from the Mage Association! It should be done by now!”
“Puhuhut. Detective Iple, you’re amazing, nya!”
Theo praised Iona.
“Kkyut-kkyut-kkyut. Thank you.”
Iona bead at the praise.
But then—
—“Iona-nim, we’re sorry. The analysis isn’t finished yet...”
Her mood soured instantly.
“Kkyu-kkyu—I told you to finish it even if you had to stay up all night!”
“But I haven’t slept in two days...”
“Kkyu-kkyu-kkyu—What did you just say?! I handed that in four days ago! So you did sleep one day?! Get your act together!”
The head analyst from the Mage Association was too exhausted to protest. Getting scolded and sleepless—it wasn’t ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) fair.
But he couldn’t fight back. His boss was Iona—the Chair of the Mage Association, and the Mage of Mass Destruction.
—“I’m sorry! I’ll finish it as soon as possible!”
All he could do was bow furiously and try to calm his superior’s fury.
“Kkyu—Make sure you finish it fast!”
—“Yes! Loyalty!”
Once the call ended—
“No sleep. No als. Until this is done!”
“Wha—?!”
Sorry. I’ve gotta survive too.
The chief analyst began working his team into the ground.
Sniff sniff.
Queng! Queng!
[I sll honey from this way, da yo! Trust Detective Quenan and follow , da yo!]
Even while angry, Queng continued the skit, tracking the honey scent.
No matter how well you cover the trail, you can’t erase honey’s sll.
Kihihit. Squeak!
[Hehe. The great Detective Kapang has a good nose too!]
Sniff. Sniff.
Kkamang sniffed beside Queng.
The great Kkamang-nim will find it first!
Snouts clashing, the two entered a heated rivalry—
Thud.
Squeak!
Roll roll roll...
Kkamang got bumped by Queng and rolled far away—
Squeak...
And passed out.
“Pffft. Classic glass-body Kkamang.”
Sejun smiled brightly as he tucked the unconscious Kkamang into his sling bag.
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