♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢

Rogi was busy cleaning and organizing luggage in the new room.
When he opened a light pink bundle, he found family photos inside.
Seeing his mother smiling brightly while holding him, Rogi wiped away tears as he thought of his sick mother.
Just as sorrow was about to overwhelm him, [Bzzzz~] Bermuda vibrated.

“Hm?” Rogi roughly wiped his eyes and looked into Bermuda.
By then, the children, who had already finished dinner, were chatting in a group chatroom.
But Rogi could not tell who was who, because all the children were using nicknames as their IDs.

King of the Prairie: Dabi must have told him~
Space Hero: Yeah, I told Rogi’s dad~ But Rogi wasn’t there.
Cho Co: Why not?
Cheese Burger: Huh? He has to be there!
King of the Prairie: Why isn’t he?
Yo!: No way… Rogi doesn’t know the way! He just moved today.
Cho Co: Dabi, didn’t you go to look for Rogi?
Space Hero: Ah… uh!
Cho Co: “Uh!” isn’t good enough!! You… really.
Space Hero: Ah… should I go now?
Cheese Burger: Let’s all go out and look. If we all go, we’ll find him fast.
Stone White: You fool of a brother!
Yo!: Let’s just all go out first.

While everyone was worrying about Rogi, he was smiling as he read the conversation.
Just before things could get worse, Rogi tried to join the chat, but a window popped up asking him to set a chat name.
Flustered, Rogi quickly typed in “Hotteok Witch ” and immediately posted a message.

Hotteok Witch (hotteok: Korean pancake): Stop—

There was a brief silence.
But since only one person had just entered the chatroom, everyone guessed who the new name belonged to.

Hotteok Witch: I got home safely, thanks for worrying about me.
Yo!: Thank goodness, Rogi~
Stone White: Sister~
Cho Co: Rogi~
Space Warrior: Wow, what a relief.

The children all rushed to express concern for Rogi, exchanging thanks and words of relief.
They came to know that although Rogi had gotten lost, he was helped by some Grandma.

Hotteok Witch: Hmm… I think I know who’s who now, but who are “King of the Prairie” and “Cheese Burger”?
Cho Co: King of the Prairie is Leo, and Cheese is Elly, Rogi~
Hotteok Witch: Thanks, Pie~ Then why is Eti “Stone White”?
Cheese Burger: Eti doesn’t know how to write very well yet, so she typed it wrong! It came out as “Stone White,” but even when I tried to fix it, she liked it!
Stone White: I like this name, yep! [STONE WHITE]
Hotteok Witch: Alright! Then last question! Where did this machine come from? Did you all buy it?
King of the Prairie: No, Elly made all of this.

Elly, despite her young age, was very clever.
She gathered parts from discarded junk and built communication devices so her friends could talk to each other.
Of course, for parts that were too complicated, she got help from their study teacher.

Hotteok Witch: Amazing, Elly. You must be a genius.
Cheese Burger: Nah~ I don’t know much, the teacher helped me~

The children chatted away without noticing the time passing, sharing what tasks each had to do tomorrow.
They also promised to finish their storytelling game the next day.

Yo!: Rogi, you have to check the story summary~
Hotteok Witch: Yep~ I’m looking at it right now.
Yo!: And Rogi, you have to make up a story too.
Hotteok Witch: Make up a story?
Yo!: Yeah, what genre do you like?
Hotteok Witch: A story I like…

Rogi thought for a long time, but nothing came to mind.
After that, the children continued their endless chatting, spending a joyful night.
Through the little devices at their homes, another connected space opened up, giving them so much fun and excitement.
It also became a chance for them to grow closer quickly.
At that moment~ the children could not know.
How precious these times would one day become, bringing comfort and courage into their lives….

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Under the moonlight, OLFIN and EAT were staggering, with EAT grabbing OLFIN by the collar and shaking him.
EAT was in fact not an OLFIN, just someone acquainted with them.
POLUN was doing his best to calm down the uncontrollable EAT.

EAT: “POLUN! Do you know how long I was imprisoned! Why did you never come! You bastard!”
POLUN: “I… really didn’t know. When you didn’t contact me, I thought you were still angry. So I waited…. I’m sorry, I truly didn’t know~” [POLUN was very sorry, but first he had to clear the misunderstanding.]
EAT: “Do you know how much I was beaten and humiliated by the bugs!~~~”
POLUN: “I am sorry!! It’s my fault~ ……… Alright!…… The Red Rooster!!…… The bugs…… Should I take revenge on them all for you?”
EAT: “What!? …Let’s just kill you first!”
POLUN: “I am sorry.” [ㅠ-ㅠ]

EAT kept shaking POLUN by the collar.
To ROTAR and PAD, watching them, the Red Rooster EAT looked truly great.
POLUN was the supreme commander, the highest rank among all OLFINS.
In all the universe, there were said to be only a few beings who could stand equal before POLUN—yet no OLFIN had ever seen them.
But here was EAT, shaking POLUN by the collar, and POLUN fumbling helplessly in the situation.
Watching them, ROTAR spoke.

“PAD, come to think of it, why is Lord POLUN called the Golden Owl? His body isn’t golden at all. He’s just yellow, no matter how you look at him.”

After thinking hard, PAD answered seriously.

“Now that you say it, ‘Yellow Owl POLUN’ would be correct! Strange! Weird~ Should we ask him?”

Already troubled, POLUN could not forgive his subordinates grumbling behind him.

POLUN: “Hey~ you two, go catch more bugs or return to base! Get lost!…… Hurry! Still not gone!!”

POLUN vented his anger on his subordinates.
All while still being shaken by the collar~

ROTAR & PAD: “Yes, understood!”

ROTAR and PAD, afraid of the trouble reaching them, hurriedly left the place.
ROTAR flew away with his cloak flapping, while PAD ran on foot.
But then they saw MOND, still covering the fallen giant UGU, unable to leave.
Quietly, they walked toward them.

MOND, too worried about UGU, panicked when he saw the approaching OLFIN.
He tried to cover UGU’s huge body with his small frame, even with tree leaves, but there was no way to hide it.
In the end, his choice was to kneel down before the approaching OLFIN’s feet.
He could not open his mouth to beg for mercy, for as the lowest of the BARAK, opening his mouth before an OLFIN could mean death.
Like the relationship between a bug and a mighty bird…?

PAD: “Why do you not run away?”
MOND: “Eh? …..Ah!”

In that moment, MOND covered his own mouth.
Death had come close!!

Trembling all over, MOND was watched by PAD, who stretched out his hand and formed several energy spheres.
MOND thought, “Now I will die.”
But at that moment, PAD was surprised again.
MOND had spread his arms wide, shielding UGU, as if ready to die in his place.

PAD: “You… If you want to save that one……. put this inside his body!” [PAD handed over the spheres he had created.]
PAD: “Hey!……… Don’t worry~ Just put this inside him, otherwise he will die! …..And after that, I’ll fix his arm too~”

Without a word, MOND carefully did as PAD told him, pushing the given sphere into unconscious UGU’s body.
Then UGU slowly began to regain consciousness.
When his eyes finally opened, he saw trembling MOND and the purple OLFIN PAD.
Mistaking it as a threat to MOND, UGU weakly rose and stretched his arm to attack PAD.
It all happened in an instant, but since one of UGU’s arms was already severed, he could not harm PAD at all.
And soon, UGU collapsed again, his body not yet fully recovered.

PAD: “Answer me. What are you? Why?”
MOND: “Eh….?”
PAD: “You… perhaps?”

From afar, ROTAR, who was watching them, grew impatient and bored with PAD’s curiosity.
Even so, he waited endlessly for PAD.