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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Co-Parenting an Egg
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So, my phone rang at 7:58 PM. It was the alarm for the ticket sale.

I rushed to the ticketing site and, despite frantically clicking the moment the clock struck eight, I failed to get a ticket.

The empty seats, which had been glowing purple just moments ago, vanished at the speed of light. Why didn't anyone tell me getting girl group tickets was this intense?

Just as a wave of resentment with no clear target washed over me, I managed to snag a seat at the very edge of the third floor. An obstructed view seat, at that.

Is this even living? I'm going to see my idol's face, and I get an obstructed view seat.

Some might question this. Isn't it enough for the music to be good at a concert?

But that's something only someone who doesn't understand K-pop stan culture would say. The first rule of concerts is the face, the second is the face, and the third is also the face.

Even on the third floor, it would be fine if the big screen was visible, but an obstructed view seat means even the screen is half-blocked. That's what I'm saying.

So while I technically got a ticket, it was as good as a failure. Just in case, I searched for ‘Yulli concert ticket transfer’ on social media, but it was already swarming with scalpers selling them at a premium.

It was then that Yoon Se-heon asked, ‘How can I help?’ and I almost blurted it out.

‘Do you get complimentary tickets to Yulli’s concert at the broadcast station?’

If it hadn't been for Yoon Se-heon saying, ‘Should I raise a chick or something?’, I definitely would have. But his words snapped me back to reality, and I realized he wasn't talking about the tickets.

Only then did I look up at the quest window still floating in the air.

[Hidden Quest: Raise Love Along with a Chick!]

It was a little strange, but it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

I couldn't let this chance slip away.

＊ ＊ ＊

The restaurant manager glanced at the phone used for reservations. The reservation for tonight was unusually late.

Anchor Yoon Se-heon. In all the years the manager had worked at this restaurant, he was someone who had never once been late for a reservation.

So it was strange when he pushed his reservation back, saying he'd be two hours late. Then, at eight, his supposed arrival time, another text came. He was running a little later due to traffic.

Just letting them know in advance was a great courtesy. *He must have had a busy day,* the manager thought, planning his greeting. But when he saw the two people stepping out of the elevator and through the door, he quickly changed his script.

“Welcome. It seems you’ve had quite a difficult day.”

He had never seen the station's star anchor look so disheveled. The man, who always had his hair perfectly combed and wore a neat suit, now looked as if he’d been rolling around a construction site. Not only was his suit wrinkled, but there was also dirt in his hair.

And the woman with him was no better. Her black pants were tattered, and her shirt was stained with some kind of black grease. A fine layer of sandy dust coated the glasses on her face.

‘*A fellow reporter, perhaps?*’

Reporters might roll around in all sorts of places, but he’d never seen anything quite like this. Moreover, the pair only seemed to realize their less-than-ordinary appearance after hearing the manager’s comment.

The woman’s cheeks flushed instantly, but Se-heon responded brazenly.

“My apologies. There was a reason for pushing back the reservation.”

“I see. We’re just grateful you could make it. I’ll show you to your table.”

The manager smiled warmly and led the two to a private room.

Normally, a same-day reservation would be seated in the main hall. Besides, having Anchor Yoon in the hall was good publicity with the other customers. But he couldn't have them sitting in the main dining area looking like that.

Se-heon, too, easily guessed the manager’s reasoning. What other reason could there be for the manager, who always seated him in the hall, to guide them to a private room?

But it was a welcome change. The topics he needed to discuss with Kang Ha-ra were all things that would be problematic if overheard.

“Anchor Yoon, I need to check my phone for a moment for work.”

“Go ahead.”

“Oh, why does the screen look like this…?”

Se-heon couldn't help but let out a small chuckle as he watched Ha-ra squinting at her phone. He hadn't noticed in the car, but under the restaurant's lights, her glasses were coated in a fine layer of dust.

“Here.”

Se-heon took a lens cloth from his suit’s inner pocket and handed it to her. It was something he carried around since he often wore glasses when checking articles.

Ha-ra’s eyes widened.

“Ah…”

“You didn’t notice in the car?”

“Ah, well, I was concentrating…”

Only Ha-ra knew the truth: she’d been so fixated on ticketing that she hadn't even realized her vision was blurry.

Watching Ha-ra, who had struggled for six long hours, take off her dusty glasses to clean them, Se-heon thought to himself. She was a truly bewildering person, but these unexpected sides of her were refreshing. After fighting so tenaciously, she hadn't even noticed her glasses were dirty. She was an interesting woman.

Ha-ra handed back the lens cloth, expressing her thanks.

“Is there anything you don’t have, Anchor Yoon?”

“I doubt I can compare to someone who carries an ostrich egg in their pocket.”

It was a joke, but Ha-ra just looked crestfallen and mumbled, ‘That’s true…’

*Ahem.* Feeling awkward for no reason, Se-heon cleared his throat. Then he noticed her squinting at the menu. He wondered if she still couldn't see properly.

“I’m sorry, but I’ve never been to a restaurant this nice before… Could you order for me, Anchor Yoon?”

So that was it. Ha-ra then glanced at him nervously. Se-heon nodded, called a waiter over, and handed them the menu.

“We’ll have the course menu.”

At his words, Kang Ha-ra’s expression turned slightly crestfallen. He let out a small smile and added.

“To be honest, I don’t know much about it either.”

“Haven’t you been here often?”

“I have. It’s right in front of the station. But that doesn't mean I know everything.”

*Is that so? I guess that makes sense.* Ha-ra nodded, completely unaware that her standing in Se-heon’s estimation had just risen slightly.

Se-heon couldn’t stand people who pretended to know things they didn’t. It was much better to just admit ignorance and ask for help.

And in that respect, Ha-ra was, in Se-heon’s view, a pretty decent person.

“Let’s talk about the pet.”

“Ah.”

Ha-ra’s mouth fell open, and she tapped the air. Soon, a system window that Se-heon could also see materialized.

[Hidden Quest: Raise Love Along with a Chick!]

“‘Raise love,’ my foot…”

Se-heon stared at it, his mouth slightly agape.

[Objective: Hatch the Giant Eagle’s Egg (1)]

[Reward: Giant Eagle Chick]

[Special Reward: Millet (1), Non-glutinous Rice (1), Chickpeas (1)]

“Millet, non-glutinous rice, and chickpeas…”

“I think it’s probably chick feed…”

[Completion Condition: Co-parent with designated user ‘Yoon Se-heon’ (21 days)]

Georg’s motherless chick is in an unstable condition. Please give it plenty of love from its mommy and daddy!

Co-parenting Fulfillment Condition: Stay by the egg’s side for at least 5 hours a day. (5m radius)

Se-heon laughed in disbelief. He thought he finally understood why Ha-ra sometimes glared into empty space like a madwoman.

This is how it works? Not only was it completely random, but the conditions were also absurd. The rewards were trivial, yet the demands were so strict.

“Five hours a day…”

“And it looks like it’s not something you can do alone, Anchor Yoon…”

Se-heon’s eyes narrowed.

“You’re saying both you and I have to be with that egg for five hours each?”

“Yes, probably…”

Five hours a day. Se-heon quickly calculated his daily routine.

Wake up at 6 AM. Two hours of exercise. Go to work. Check the morning news, and before I know it, it’s evening.

Normally, he only had to host the evening news, but due to his back injury and business trip, he was taking a break from it for a while. That meant he had to show up at the news team’s office every day to find stories to cover.

A simple calculation was enough to make him realize how difficult it would be to meet that time requirement, and his face paled. At that, Ha-ra quickly spoke up.

“Um, what if I go to your home or the station at night and hand the egg over to you?”

She was suggesting he keep it by his side while he slept. It was, at least, the simplest solution.

“But that would mean we’d have to meet every single night. For twenty-one days…”

“…”

“It really is determined to make us date or something…”

Se-heon groaned. Ha-ra also ran her hands over her face a couple of times and sighed.

“I’m sorry…”

“You don’t need to apologize.”

“Okay…”

Just then, a waiter came in and placed the dishes in front of them. It was a simple, bite-sized appetizer.

As Se-heon popped it into his mouth, he glanced at Ha-ra, who was once again engrossed in her phone, and asked.

“Is it not to your liking?”

“Huh? Oh, I’m sorry. I was just looking something up.”

Ha-ra apologized belatedly.

Se-heon glanced at Kang Ha-ra and thought. The Constellation was truly absurd, and it was going to ridiculous lengths to make them date, but…

‘*One thing’s for sure… Ms. Kang Ha-ra really has no feelings for me…*’

It made sense. Even while talking with him, Ha-ra seemed half-distracted, lost in her own thoughts. She was still fidgeting with her phone, just as she had been on the way up to the restaurant.

He had no idea that she was half-dazed from constantly searching for resale tickets after failing to get one for the concert.

Watching her gulp down water as if her throat was parched, Se-heon thought she seemed awfully indifferent to him.

So, her initial confession asking him to date her really was just because of the Constellation.

‘…’

But why did he feel strangely empty?

It almost felt like his pride was a little… bruised.

Se-heon glanced toward the window. It was dark outside, and their reflections appeared on the glass like a mirror. He saw himself watching her through the reflection, and the woman who was still looking at her phone…

His thoughts were starting to get unnecessarily complicated, so Se-heon quickly pushed them aside and spoke.

“So, does this mean we have to go through four more of those guerrilla event dungeons?”

“Yes. Now that we’ve started, failure would be… problematic.”

He presumed that the remaining four dungeons would also have absurd penalties on par with the closure of three major bridges.

“Closing the bridges is certainly excessive…”

Of course, Se-heon was completely unaware that there was another penalty besides that one.

Ha-ra, who hadn’t mentioned the ‘Failure results in missing Yulli’s concert’ part, flinched before confessing a little.

“Actually, there was another penalty.”

“What kind of penalty?”

“Uh, failing to get into an idol’s concert.”

An idol? Se-heon raised an eyebrow.

‘*What kind of mechanism connects the closure of three bridges on the Han River to failing to get into an idol concert?*’

Was the traffic jam supposed to be the cause of the concert failure? Even thinking about it that way, it was still ridiculous.