The Rogue, Genius, Chaebol's Daughter is a Baby Master Detective! - Chapter 24
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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A delinquent, a genius, and a conglomerate heiress walk into kindergarten—they’re baby detectives!
Chapter 24
Wait, I don’t have my gloves on! Haru flailed her hands in panic.
Their eyes met. It was Siu. Haru’s gaze landed on the back of his hand, which had turned red.
“Sorry, and thanks for catching me.”
Thank goodness.
His bare hand had touched hers, yet she’d sensed nothing—just a faint prickling at the tip of her nose. Didn’t it work on children after all? Or had the contact been too brief?
Haru wiped her hand quickly with a handkerchief and slipped her gloves back on. Then she laughed. “Hehe!”
“You’re super fast! You caught me before I even fell!”
Siu kept his mouth firmly shut, his eyes distant with thought.
“But you were slower at running before. Is it because you’re shorter than me?”
Siu’s face crumpled.
“You… wear gloves because of an allergy, right?”
“Yep, that’s right.”
“What kind of allergy?”
Keke. She had just the trick for moments like this—her secret weapon, kept in reserve.
Haru smirked, pulling one corner of her mouth upward.
“Want to know?”
Siu nodded, his expression growing serious.
Haru spread her gloved hands wide and spoke.
“This is a secret, but…”
The moment Haru’s voice dropped, Siu leaned in toward her.
“Inside Haru’s gloves, something scary is sealed away.”
“What?!”
Siu’s body shook slightly.
“If you take them off, it wakes up.”
“Is that… really true?”
A voice called out suddenly from behind them, startling both Siu and Haru. Kim Ho-jun popped out from the darkness.
“W-what happens if it wakes up?”
Haru fell silent for a moment, then whispered with grave solemnity.
“…The kindergarten disappears.”
“Kyaaaaa!”
Kim Ho-jun grabbed his hair and wailed.
“What was I about to do!”
Siu took a step back, his face going blank.
“Idiots.”
Haru rummaged through her bento box. As she kept pulling out container after container, all the children’s eyes fixed on her.
When she opened the lid, gasps of amazement spilled out.
“Wow, Haru’s bento is the best!”
“Can I try just one?”
A gorgeous three-tiered bento box, a cute character lunch container, sausages and chicken nuggets that made children lose their minds.
The friends gathered around Haru swallowed hard.
Haru grinned and said, “Let’s all share!”
“Yeah!”
The children sat down in a large circle.
“Haru, this is really delicious!”
“The bear is so cute!”
The friends each tasted Haru’s bento and their faces filled with wonder. Haru’s shoulders lifted with pride.
“Seol-ah, come eat with us!”
As if waiting for her moment, Seol-ah crept over, snatched a single chicken nugget, and backed away with a snap.
“Don’t think one bite forgives everything.”
“Okay, enjoy your meal.”
Humph. Seol-ah turned her head away huffily.
In the shade of a tree, just beyond the circle, Siu sat alone. Haru approached him holding a lid heaped with two chick-shaped kimbap.
“Want some of this?”
Siu, who had been staring intently, said nothing and popped one into his mouth.
He chewed slowly, his expression strange. Was he enjoying it? Did he dislike it? Haru couldn’t tell.
“It’s good, right?”
“…I just suddenly got hungry.”
Haru broke into a bright smile.
“Eat this too!”
She thrust the remaining chick-shaped kimbap toward him and returned to her spot.
Then she came back.
“…Why are you here again?”
“Because I’m eating here.”
Haru set her lunch box down beside Siu with a decisive thunk and sat. Siu, who’d been about to say something, closed his mouth the moment she popped open the lid.
“Let’s eat together!”
Munch, munch.
Munch, munch.
As Haru happily ate the rolled egg from her bento, Kim Ho-jun quietly scooted his rear end over next to her.
“So, what’re you up to? You weren’t kidnapped or anything, right?”
“I’m in the middle of an investigation.”
“An… investigation?”
Haru lowered her voice.
“I’m interrogating a talking bird and chasing after a suspicious panda.”
“A talking bird?”
Kim Ho-jun’s eyes sparkled as he switched his fork from one hand to both hands, gripping it firmly.
“What is it?”
“Just a parrot.”
Siu spoke flatly, chewing his kimbap.
“Why’s the panda suspicious?”
“It’s been stalking Haru since this morning, and when she approached it, it ran away.”
Haru whispered.
“Great Detective Dodo, Episode 77. The one who runs away is the culprit.”
Kim Ho-jun swallowed hard and carefully scanned the grass field around them. Thankfully, there wasn’t a panda in sight anywhere. But somehow that made it worse.
“Kim Ho-jun. Will you join the panda search unit?”
“The… unit?”
“The cause.”
Nod.
Nod.
Kim Ho-jun’s eyes gleamed with solemn determination.
“I’m in.”
“Fools.”
Siu muttered as he swallowed his last piece of kimbap. Haru tilted her head, speaking in a teasing tone.
“You want to join too, don’t you? Should I let you in?”
Siu set down his fork with a sharp clink and turned serious.
“No. Absolutely not.”
As Kim Ho-jun quietly picked at his lunch, he whispered.
“But then… doesn’t that make the teacher a villain?”
Haru’s fork stopped mid-bite.
The teacher Haru had seen today was too busy helping fallen friends up, soothing crying ones, and assisting children who needed the bathroom to be any sort of criminal.
And when they’d found Haru and Siu… the teacher had seemed very worried.
Too occupied to be a villain, and with a manner far too gentle.
“Hmm.”
Haru tapped her gloved chin thoughtfully.
“The teacher is… on hold.”
“On hold? What’s that?”
“It means we’re watching for now.”
“Wow. Haru knows such hard words.”
“If Kim Ho-jun reads his piggy picture book really hard every day, he can become like Haru too.”
“Really truly?”
Haru nodded.
“Right now, the most suspicious one is the panda.”
Haru counted off on her fingers.
“It watches Haru in secret, disguises itself in a costume head, and runs away when Haru gets close.”
Haru pronounced her judgment solemnly.
“That’s exactly what a villain does!”
Ho-jun swallowed hard.
After thinking so hard, he was hungry.
Wahhh—
Haru stuffed a whole rolled egg into her mouth and chewed contentedly. Fluffy and salty rolled egg. Born from a hundred eggs burned by the uncles.
“So yummy!”
***
Rustle—
In a thicket not far away.
“Me… the villain?”
Lee Hyeon-u, having stripped off the panda head costume, muttered in a dazed voice. To think that half a day of running for his life had resulted in becoming the prime suspect.
“Reap what you sow.”
Kang Tae-jun replied dismissively while peering through the binoculars. Haru was popping a rolled egg into her mouth.
“So yummy!”
The binoculars slowly lowered. Kang Tae-jun said nothing. Instead, he pressed firmly between his brows with his index and middle fingers.
Beside him, Gong Dae-in murmured in a flat voice.
“Ocular moisture levels rising.”
And when he met those fierce eyes, he quietly closed his tablet and looked away.
“…But why did that dark-haired little brat eat all my chick-shaped kimbap?”
No one answered Lee Hyeon-u’s aggrieved complaint.
***
“Everyone who’s finished their lunch boxes, please gather. We’re starting a treasure hunt now.”
Thump—
Haru pressed both hands against the ground.
‘Starting.’
Could Friday’s outing activity have been a treasure hunt all along?
Ding♪
[Haru’s Detective Notebook]
Clue acquired♪
“We’re starting a treasure hunt now.”
Register a deduction?
☞ Starting = Treasure hunt
☞ Collect more clues
“I’ll give a prize to whoever finds the treasure.”
“Yay!”
The children cheered.
Had Haru misunderstood the teacher? Though she’d definitely fallen asleep after eating villain-defeating candy….
But right now, the panda seemed more suspicious than the teacher.
Haru reached out her hand.
Ding♪
Deduction registered.
Verification will proceed after the case concludes.
Done! Teacher case closed! Now I just need to catch the new villain.
Haru dusted off her hands and stood up, planting both fists on her hips.
After eating so much lunch, her belly stuck out more than usual.
I’ll find the panda villain while pretending to look for treasure!
Heh, besides, I’ve got my detective set!
Haru pulled out her bag and carefully suited up in the detective set. Triangular scarf, sunglasses, and magnifying glass too. Then she made a V-sign with her thumb and index finger on one hand, pressed it to her chin, and thrust her other hand dramatically out into the air.
“Great Detective Haru—trans—form—!”
Why wasn’t anyone clapping? Peeking open her eyes, the area around her was empty.
“D-did everyone just leave to search for treasure without me?”
Whoosh. Haru scrambled into the thicket too. Not to find slips of paper, but to find the panda. The thicket was the perfect place for the panda to hide!
“Wow, you found one already, Siu?”
“You’re amazing!”
At the children’s admiration, the bottom wiggling in the thicket froze. Haru lifted her head, her mouth falling open in surprise.
“Already?”
In that moment, the panda quietly vanished from Haru’s mind.
To find it before me!
But the match wasn’t over yet. The teacher had hidden ten treasures, after all…. I can find more than him!
Dig-dig-dig—
Haru burst out of the first thicket and charged into a second one, digging frantically.
The shoulders of three people hiding in the neighboring thicket flinched.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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