Episode 9
The guild tour finally ended after half a day.
Her feet were aching like she’d spent the whole day at an amusement park.
“Miss Sola, how do you feel about going back to kindergarten on Monday?”
As she walked out of the bathroom after washing her hands, Apple Uncle dropped a total bomb.
“Kind…ergarten?”
That word hit her out of nowhere.
Then again, considering Sola’s age, it was time she should be going to kindergarten.
‘I don’t remember anything though…’
Or so she thought—until something suddenly popped into her head.
She got this blurry image of a colorful building, a vague teacher’s face, and some classmates.
Turns out, Sola didn’t really get to attend kindergarten properly.
Just after she started last year, King took over her body.
‘Crap. I don’t remember the teacher’s or the kids’ names at all. What am I supposed to do?’
If she just showed up like this, people would definitely get the wrong idea—or start worrying too much.
‘What if they think it’s some kind of trauma and drag me back to the hospital?’
And if rumors spread that she lost her memory, and it somehow reached the Center or the Foundation… that would be really bad.
She couldn’t risk giving anyone reasons to be suspicious.
‘I swore to stop the bad guys, and not even 24 hours in, I’m already hitting a wall…’
Yeah. Talk about a rough start.
“Miss Sola, would you like a yogurt?”
Still lost in thought, she sat on the couch, and Apple Uncle handed her a small plastic bottle with a straw already in it.
Slurp. The sweet drink cooled her dry throat, and the headache that had been nagging her all day instantly disappeared.
“Ahh, I was so thirsty. Thanks, Uncle!”
Despite how he looked, Apple Uncle was incredibly thoughtful.
‘I still can’t believe this guy was one of the Four Captains of the Destruction Squad.’
The Destruction Squad had formed back when Geum Seonghwan was younger. It was a group of elite hunters in the Kumho Guild, led by him.
Only four of them, but they stormed through dungeons like wildfire—slaying monsters left and right. That’s how they got their nickname.
“I’ll take care of the empty bottle.”
And now, one of those legendary hunters had volunteered to be Sola’s babysitter.
He even gently wiped her sticky hands with a wet wipe after drinking the yogurt.
‘I know he’s an old comrade of Geum Seonghwan, but still… that’s kinda amazing.’
These days, the Destruction Squad had disbanded after Seonghwan became Guild Master, but all of them were still big names in their own fields.
Apple was currently the head of operations at Kumho Guild—basically one of the top executives.
Every single hunter in the guild reported to him. He had nearly as much authority as the guild master himself.
‘I don’t get it. Why would someone like him be babysitting me?’
“…Uncle, don’t you have work?”
“I have plenty of time to spend with you, Miss.”
In fact, Apple seemed to enjoy spending time with her.
It was like how dog lovers consider having a dog at work the ultimate company perk.
That’s what Sola was to him—a living, breathing form of workplace happiness.
Back when she was in the hospital, he even stayed by her side and watched over her room sometimes.
You don’t do that unless you really care.
“Sola’s seriously lucky.”
She couldn’t help but say it out loud.
Everyone she met at the guild today had genuinely cared about her and worried about her.
“Mom, Dad, Uncle, the guild members… you’re loved so much.”
Once again, she realized just how important Sola was to everyone around her.
Just as she was thinking that and turned to her side—
“Ah, Miss Sola…”
Apple was looking at her with tears in his eyes, hands clasped together in awe.
“For your happiness, I would do anything!”
Whatever part of her sentence hit him in the feels, Sola could only figure it out after mentally replaying what she said.
‘Oh geez.’
She awkwardly scratched her cheek, trying to avoid his overly emotional stare.
Later that evening.
“Sola, Daddy’s home!”
Geum Seonghwan and Su Jihyun rushed back home just before dinner.
‘They’re acting like they’ve been apart for a hundred years.’
As soon as they stepped through the door, they ran straight to Sola like they’d been starved for hugs.
He practically tackled her like a human missile. She almost exploded like a balloon.
Apparently, Seonghwan had stormed out of the conference room just because he missed her.
Hopefully, no one cried or flipped a table in his absence…
“Thanks for the meal!”
After dinner, it was fruit time with the family.
Sola casually asked her dad across the table,
“Dad, am I going back to kindergarten?”
“Why? You don’t wanna go? Want me to cancel it?”
All she did was ask, and he already started throwing options at her.
His eyes were sparkling way too eagerly, like he’d been waiting for this topic to come up.
‘Why do you look like you want me to hate kindergarten?’
That was kind of creepy now that she thought about it.
What if he planned to lock her up at home and never let her out?
Judging by how overprotective Seonghwan was, it wasn’t completely out of the question.
Turning his daughter into a princess locked in a tower? Totally something he’d do.
‘No way. That can’t happen!’
Kindergarten was literally the only place Sola could get away from her parents.
She barely got to go outside as it was—if they stopped her from going to kindergarten too, she’d be completely cut off from the world.
“It’s not that. I’m just, like, excited! That’s all!”
“You used to throw fits about not wanting to go. What changed? Wanna just skip it and stay with Daddy?”
Ugh. No way.
She was never saying she didn’t want to go to kindergarten ever again—not even as a joke.
“Sweetheart, I’m sure Sola wants to see her friends. She must’ve been bored stuck in the hospital.”
Ahh, thank god for Su Jihyun.
‘Yes! For a child’s social development, kindergarten is super important!’
“Well, if Sola really hates it, we could do homeschooling until she starts elementary school.”
…Excuse me, what?
They say couples start thinking alike, and clearly, Su Jihyun was even more extreme than Seonghwan.
“After all, she didn’t want to go to kindergarten before, right?”
‘Which Sola was that…?’
Not like there was more than one.
‘King…! You jerk!’
What kind of little kid skips kindergarten, seriously?
Whatever his plan was, it was no help to her now.
“Wait, no no! I want to go! I really want to! I wanna play with my friends!”
Now she had to clean up his mess.
“I love kindergarten! Kindergarten’s the best!”
She even flapped her hands around to make it extra clear this was her honest opinion.
“Too bad. I think homeschooling with Mommy would’ve been fun.”
“Y-yeah… real shame.”
With lots of dramatic denial, she just barely managed to stop the homeschool express train from going full speed ahead.
Whew. Sola let out a tiny secret sigh.
Looks like she was going back to kindergarten.
But since she didn’t remember anything, she had no clue where to even start preparing.
“Mom.”
“Yeah?”
“So, um… the kindergarten I used to go to—”
She was going to ask what the name of her old kindergarten was… but stopped herself.
‘Wouldn’t it be weird if a kid doesn’t even know the name of her own school?’
Ugh, forget it.
There’s still time before Monday. She could just snoop around the house and figure it out.
“Wow, it’s already bedtime! I better go brush my teeth!”
She was planning to pretend to sleep and sneak out later to use her secret MewMew laptop.
Sola quietly opened her door and tiptoed into the hallway.
It had been a while since she got her goodnight kiss and pretended to fall asleep.
Now she needed to check if her parents were actually asleep—since her secret laptop was a little loud.
Step by step, she walked down the hallway like a sneaky cat.
As she got closer to the master bedroom, she noticed the door wasn’t fully shut. A bit of light spilled through the crack.
“I wish we didn’t have to send her back until the culprit’s caught…”
Geum Seonghwan said softly, his arm wrapped tightly around Su Jihyun’s shoulder.
“I’m just scared something might happen again.”
His broad, dependable back looked unusually small just then.
“If something like that ever happens to Sola again, I don’t think I could…”
They were still living with the fear of almost losing their daughter.
“Honey, we promised we wouldn’t talk like that anymore. It’s okay. Nothing bad’s going to happen.”
Their love for Sola had always seemed… a bit much.
But now she understood.
That “too much” love came from the trauma of almost losing their child.
Sola’s face turned somber.
Even the strongest people couldn’t easily move on from something like that.
Now… she was starting to understand their hearts a little better.
