Living Dangerously with a 999-Year-Old Gumiho – Chapter 49

The child’s tray was finally completed with rainbow-colored cupcakes, and she proudly held it up to show Yoonhwa.

“Looks delicious, right?!!”

When they arrived at the checkout, the friends exchanged glances at the pile of bread stacked on the child’s tray.

The tray was filled with various breads, almost resembling a small tower.

Seojin stood at the checkout and began placing the breads one by one.

Every time a bread was added to the counter, the price kept adding up.

Choco chip cookies, cream bread, baguette, and finally, the rainbow-colored cupcake.

“78,000 won, please~.”

As the cashier announced the final amount, all the friends looked shocked.

It seemed the child hadn’t paid attention to the price at all.

Seojin smiled as she took out her wallet from her pocket.

“Don’t worry… I’m treating you!”

She handed over the bills and smiled at her friends. They gave her grateful looks in return.

After the transaction, Seojin accepted her receipt and led her friends deeper into the store.

One side of the store was set up with cozy tables and chairs, and they took a seat at a large table near the window.

The friends sat down and laid out their trays. The child couldn’t contain her excitement and shouted.

“Can we eat now??”

Seojin chuckled at the child’s enthusiasm and nodded.

“Yes, you can eat!”

Yoonhwa and the child, feeling quite hungry, began to devour the various breads eagerly.

The child was particularly enchanted by the rainbow cupcake and got lost in its taste, while Yoonhwa alternated between enjoying the baguette and the cream bread.

The happy expressions of both enjoying their bread made anyone watching smile unconsciously.

Kangtae watched the child eating the cupcake and noticed a striking feature in her eyes.

The child’s eyes sparkled like golden sunlight.

“Oh… your eyes are golden..?”

Her reaction was more joy at being noticed and loved rather than embarrassment.

In response to Kangtae’s comment, she beamed and her golden eyes sparkled.

“Really? Are my eyes pretty?!”

The child’s voice was filled with happiness.

Yoonhwa responded to the child’s joy and smiled.

“Yes~ they’re really pretty!”

“I’ve never seen such pretty eyes before.”

At her praise, the child’s smile grew even wider.

At that moment, Kangtae looked into Yoonhwa’s eyes and made another discovery.

Yoonhwa’s eyes were special too.

They bore a soft pink hue. Kangtae, unable to hide his confusion, asked.

“Yoonhwa, your eyes are pink.”

“Do all the demons have different eye colors?”

Yoonhwa seemed to ponder for a moment.

“Well, I guess not all demons do…”

“I’m not sure~”

And they all continued to enjoy their bread together.

While they were happily tasting their bread, Hyun suddenly shifted the flow of conversation and turned to the child.

He proposed a new idea among them.

“What if we give this child a name?”

The child exclaimed in an excited voice.

“A name?!”

Her eyes sparkled with anticipation, and suddenly all attention focused on her.

Seojin thought it would be great to give the child a special name after they finished eating all the bread.

“How about we stop by a naming place once we finish this?”

The atmosphere around the table perked up with the child’s excited reaction.

“A name~!!”

The child’s voice was filled with enthusiasm, and she began to eat even more quickly.

With each bite that disappeared into her mouth, satisfaction filled her face.

Inspired by the child’s passionate reaction, Yoonhwa and the other friends began to savor their own breads even more.

Yoonhwa took a big bite of a soft croissant, amazed by the taste, while the child alternated between cookies and the cupcake.

Kangtae enjoyed the savory baguette, occasionally glancing at the happy child with a smile.

Hyun finished his choco chip cookie and pondered over Seojin’s suggestion.

Having their bellies filled with delicious bread and milk, they wrapped up their time in the bakery.

As Kangtae stood up, he said to his friends.

“Alright, shall we head out now?”

Everyone got up from the table and left the bakery.

Seojin checked her wallet and said.

“Hmm.. I need to bring more money.”

“I just spent too much on bread…”

They walked along the path leading to Seojin’s house, discussing the meanings and stories behind their names.

The child, filled with curiosity, listened eagerly to her friends’ stories and occasionally tried to think of beautiful words that might suit her name.

Before long, they arrived at Seojin’s house.

Upon reaching, they noticed the door had been knocked off its hinges, and they were taken aback.

Yoonhwa and the child were astonished to see Seojin’s door down, and with it, felt a faint qi.

Yoonhwa scanned the surroundings and whispered to the child.

“Something feels off; it seems there’s a strange smell here.”

“Do you feel it too…?”

The child nodded and cautiously looked around.

Their sensitive senses hinted that something unusual had occurred.

Yoonhwa said cautiously.

“It seems a demon might have entered here…”

Kangtae and Hyun also started to pay attention to the situation, and they all agreed to enter the house to assess what was happening.

Yoonhwa led the way, carefully stepping inside.

Once inside, Yoonhwa made her way to the living room.

The lights were all off, letting in only soft sunlight through the windows.

Under that illumination, she saw a boy smaller than the girl lying down in the sunlight.

Yoonhwa cautiously approached the boy lying on the living room floor.

Deep concern and a sensitive awareness of qi nestled in her heart.

As Yoonhwa quietly approached the living room, the boy suddenly began to move.

When Yoonhwa took another step toward him, the boy scampered into a corner of the room, startled.

“Waaah..?!!”

As Yoonhwa carefully approached, the boy hiding in the corner slowly revealed his face. Moments later, as his face was illuminated by sunlight, his identity became clear.

It was the Darkness Demon Eunho.

He appeared shocked, and the sudden appearance of his friends clearly threw him off.

“Eunho?!”

Yoonhwa asked in a surprised voice.

At that moment, Seojin stepped forward and questioned Eunho.

“Eunho, why are you in my house?!”

“Are you trying to hurt us again..!!”

Eunho waved his hands in panic in response to Yoonhwa and Seojin’s questions.

“No, no! I’m not here to hurt you! Really…!!”

His voice was frantic and urgent.

Eunho continued to explain anxiously.

“I was so hungry… I came to find the Nine-Tailed Fox…”

As he spoke, his gaze stopped on the child behind Yoonhwa.

His shocked expression intensified.

“N-Nomi?!”

Eunho’s voice held an incredulous astonishment.

The child also showed a surprised expression upon seeing Eunho.

There was clearly some connection between them.

“Are you the Darkness Demon brother..?!”

The child’s voice also conveyed surprise and recognition.

With the unexpected reunion between Eunho and the child, all the friends stared in disbelief.

They exchanged puzzled looks at each other.

“What the heck, do you two know each other?”

Seojin asked in shock, her voice mingling suspicion and curiosity.

Kangtae also seemed intrigued and asked with wide eyes.

“Nomi..? Is that this child’s name?”

Once Eunho confirmed their acquaintance, he received the curious gazes of his friends and cautiously replied.

“Umm… Yeah. This demon’s name is Nomi.”

Yoonhwa shifted her interested gaze between Eunho and Nomi and asked.

“What happened?”

“What kind of relationship do you two have?”

Eunho paused for a moment, deep in thought, then made up his mind to share.

His voice was full of warmth and affection.

“One day, Nomi came to me and asked if I wanted to play.”

“It started as just a one-time play, but after a few times, we naturally became close.”

Everyone smiled at Eunho’s warm story.

At that moment, Nomi burst into laughter as she looked at Eunho.

“Why have you shrunk so much since the last time I saw you?!”

Nomi’s joke made Yoonhwa and the other friends burst into laughter as well.

Eunho couldn’t hide his embarrassment amidst the laughter, turning red.

After a moment, Eunho said seriously.

“I’m really hungry…”

“I feel like I’m gonna die…”

The sudden seriousness in Eunho’s tone shifted the mood among the friends into a tight tension.

However, Yoonhwa and Nomi couldn’t help but laugh at Eunho’s cute demeanor and exaggerated expression.

To them, Eunho’s words felt unexpectedly out of place, like a joke.

Yoonhwa, holding back her laughter, said to Eunho.

“If you’re that hungry, you should eat something.”

“I’ll whip up something simple! Just wait…”

Hyun offered to help Yoonhwa, but she shook her hands in refusal.

“That’s okay, Hyun! I’ll do it myself this time.”

“You can rest~”

She headed to the kitchen, gathering various ingredients and beginning to cook.

Yoonhwa’s cooking skills weren’t the best, so her cooking process was somewhat unstable and chaotic.

As she mixed the ingredients, heated them, and struggled to create something, it looked almost like an experiment or research.

Unsettling smoke began to rise from the kitchen, filling the house with a strange odor.

Hyun quietly sat in front of Eunho, observing his eyes closely.

He noticed that Eunho’s pupils were black, unlike Yoonhwa and Nomi.

Hyun, unable to hide his surprise, said while gazing into Eunho’s black eyes.

“Yoonhwa and the child, no… Nomi..? have special eye colors, but yours are just black?”

“Is there no connection between eye color and powers among demons?”

Eunho paused for a moment in thought and replied weakly.

“I guess eyes are… one of their abilities.”

“That fox over there was originally a demon, but it transformed into a human…”

“When it turns human, its eye color can probably change to whatever they want.”

Yoonhwa perked up when she heard Eunho’s words. While chopping vegetables, she turned to look at Eunho.

“Eye color?”

Eunho felt her reaction and quickly said.

“O-oh! I’m sorry. I should’ve been careful with my words…”

Kangtae tried to lighten the mood by speaking up.

“Yoonhwa’s eye color is really cool!”

“Pink is just the right color for Yoonhwa, don’t you think?”

Seojin chimed in.

“Is it really possible to change your colors like Eunho said?!”

Yoonhwa chuckled at her friends’ comments, feeling delighted.

“I can’t change colors~ Oh! Maybe I don’t know the magic that changes it yet?”

Eunho gave an awkward smile and tried to escape the awkward atmosphere.

At that moment, the sound of Yoonhwa finishing her cooking came from the kitchen.

“Tada~! Now, my first breakfast for Eunho is complete!”

Yoonhwa emerged with food in hand, and everyone displayed eagerness at her dish.

However, the moment they laid eyes on her creation, there was a subtle change on their faces.

Eunho cautiously asked while looking at Yoonhwa’s dish.

“Is… is this really edible…?”

His gaze was glued to Yoonhwa’s offering.

His eyes wavered between worry and doubt.

Her dish was far from a typical meal.

From color to shape, even down to the smell, everything was bizarre.

Yet, Yoonhwa exuded confidence about her dish, encouraging her friends to try it.

“Give it a taste!”

Hyun ignored Eunho’s anxious expression and bravely grabbed some with his chopsticks.

He could see his hands shaking a bit, but he didn’t want to upset Yoonhwa.

As he put a small portion into his mouth, his expression changed drastically.

His mouth was filled with a strange and bizarre taste, leaving him at a loss for how to react.

“Ugh… this is really… unique in flavor..!”

Hyun coughed out, struggling to get the words out.

There was a hint of tears in his eyes as he forced a smile at Yoonhwa.

Watching Hyun taste the dish only deepened Eunho’s fear.

Hyun’s agony stirred a fear that arose from the depths of Eunho’s heart.

“I-I wasn’t really that hungry anyway..~!!”

Eunho said with an awkward grin.

But Nomi, undeterred by Hyun’s reaction, said with conviction.

“They’re just overreacting.”

“You made it, so it must be delicious!”

Nomi confidently stretched out her hand to Yoonhwa’s dish.

As soon as Nomi put Yoonhwa’s dish into her mouth, her expression changed instantly.

At first, her eyes sparkled with anticipation, but in an instant, they shifted to confusion and shock.

An incomprehensible sound burst from Nomi’s mouth, and she spat the dish out.

Eventually, she broke into tears, sobbing.

“Waah…!! W-what is this..? The taste is weird…”