The Rogue, Genius, Chaebol's Daughter is a Baby Master Detective! - Chapter 25

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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 tycoon’s daughter make up a baby detective squad!
25
“She’s moving.”
Kang Tae-jun crouched low, signaling silently to the others.
“Based on Haru’s movement patterns, the next search point should definitely be the third shrub from the left.”
“What’s the probability?”
Gong Dae-in pushed his glasses up with a click.
“Seventy-four percent.”
The three boys slipped like shadows past the predicted location and crept toward the fourth shrub.
But Haru skipped the third and approached the fourth bush instead.
“Dammit! Statistics are worthless!”
Lee Hyun-woo hissed. They crawled rapidly across the grass, and the panda tumbled along with them.
Rip.
At the sound of something tearing, Kang Tae-jun glanced down at his sleeve. A button was missing.
His eyebrow twitched.
‘Irritating.’
“Hurry up—we’ll get caught if you drag your feet!”
“But this too is part of raising a child, isn’t it?”
As Kang Tae-jun resumed crawling and reached the shrub, Gong Dae-in’s glasses caught the light sharply.
“Leaving traces behind—amateur work.”
“What, you dropped a button?”
Lee Hyun-woo smirked wryly.
“Who wears a formal suit to the zoo, anyway?”
“Be quiet.”
Gong Dae-in adjusted the edge of his angular glasses.
“That’s not the issue. The next prediction point has an 89% probability—”
“Go the opposite way.”
Lee Hyun-woo, adjusting the panda head, cut him off decisively.
They crawled in the opposite direction from Gong Dae-in’s prediction. And it was the right call.
“Thought we were done for.”
The tense men relaxed visibly.
Tap.
Gong Dae-in recorded something on his tablet.
—Haru prediction model, reconsider reverse application of existing model.
Unaware of all this, Haru dug enthusiastically through the soil, sifting between bushes and beneath trees, but the treasure remained nowhere in sight.
A sigh was about to escape her when something glimmering caught her eye in the shrub.
“Treasure?”
She crept closer and peered at it from different angles with her magnifying glass.
It was a button.
In that moment, something forgotten came back to her.
Oh! She still had to catch the panda—she’d gotten completely absorbed in the treasure hunt. Haru turned the button over in her hands.
Was this evidence that the panda had changed clothes?
Haru pocketed the button and tapped the bulging pocket.
“Hehe. I found the first clue!”
Just as Haru broke into a satisfied smile, she heard her friends’ voices in the distance.
“Wow, Siwo found another one!”
“Amazing! There are notes everywhere Siwo goes! So cool!”
Haru’s ears perked up. Her head turned instinctively. Siwo stood there, basking in her friends’ praise, clutching several notes in hand.
How many is that?
One, two, three… five?!
Boom!
Already half the treasure found. Haru pushed up her sunglasses with a click.
She’d figured out Siwo’s true identity.
‘Siwo… definitely a child with hidden strength!’
An ordinary child couldn’t have found five notes.
Siwo sat down in the tree shade as if the job was done, ready to rest—eager to finish quickly and take a break.
Someone was watching Siwo.
The Saesseok Class Teacher!
Haru slipped behind a tree. The Saesseok Class Teacher, who had been quietly observing Siwo, was writing something in a notebook.
Haru crept closer and peeked over the teacher’s shoulder at the notebook.
-Siwo, found 5 slips. (5/10)
No other children’s names appeared anywhere. The teacher was indeed keeping tabs on Siwo even on the field trip!
“…That’s pushing it.”
The teacher’s words trailed off as she snapped her notebook shut. Haru scrambled into a nearby shrub to hide. And just as she turned her head at a strange sound—
Thump!
A panda’s enormous face was inches from her own. Haru went rigid.
She needed to cry out for help!
“!!!”
The panda flapped its front paws as if to say don’t scream, then picked up a twig and scratched something onto the ground.
“Not a villain—a treasure hunt helper?”
The panda nodded. It was still wearing the panda costume.
“Great Detective Dodo, Episode 65. The villain is never really a villain, or so it says.”
At Haru’s resolute expression, the panda gripped its enormous head and shook it vigorously.
Then it shot a sharp look at the shrub beside them and gestured to Haru.
“The treasure is in that shrub?”
The panda nodded. In that instant, the shrub rustled violently.
“Eek!”
Was there some large animal in there? Haru hesitated for a moment, then approached the shrub cautiously.
She rifled through the brush but found nothing! Instead, the grass was pressed down in a wide patch. Her hand found it still warm.
“Someone was just here!”
Haru spun around.
The panda was gone too. So much for a helper—it had bolted the moment Haru blinked!
“I’ve been tricked…!”
Haru pushed up her sunglasses. No helper. A button, pressed grass, a vanishing panda.
“They’re all in on it.”
Just then, a voice rang out like thunder.
“Haru, I found it!”
It was Kim Ho-juni. Haru jumped to her feet. Kim Ho-juni stood across the grass plaza, pointing to where a panda was.
A real panda.
“That’s not it!”
“What do you mean not it? It’s a panda.”
“I was talking about someone in a panda costume!”
“So you’re looking for a fake?”
Kim Ho-juni and Haru began trudging along the edge of the grass plaza.
“Have you found anything yet?”
Haru glanced around and pulled out the button, showing it to Kim Ho-juni conspiratorially.
“Evidence of a villain. The panda has an accomplice.”
That instant—
“Bleat!”
A goat stretching its neck out from beyond the fence licked the button right out of Haru’s palm.
“He—he ate it!”
Haru pointed an accusatory finger at the goat.
“Destruction of evidence!”
“The goat ate the button!”
Haru boldly reached into the enclosure, struggling to pry the goat’s mouth open.
“Spit it out!”
“Be careful!”
Kim Ho-juni pleaded, her face creased with worry. Haru paid no mind and began interrogating the goat.
“Who gave you that order! Are you the panda’s henchman? Answer me, goat!”
Bleaaaat—
Another goat nearby responded, then clamped down on Haru’s clothing.
Munch-munch.
“Eek! Let go of me!”
Haru twisted her body but refused to release the goat she was holding.
‘Ugh, my gloves are getting wet.’
Haru pressed harder with her hand. The goat’s mouth trembled and slowly opened wider.
“Kim Ho-juni, now’s your chance! Get the button out quick!”
“Uhhh! Hasn’t it swallowed it already?”
“Hurry!”
Kim Ho-juni shut her eyes tight and plunged her hand into the goat’s mouth.
In that instant, a panda suddenly appeared and scooped Haru and Kim Ho-juni under each arm, then leaped into the air. And bolted into a run.
The scenery blurred past in streaks, and Haru’s eyes went wide.
Fast.
She turned her head and locked eyes with Ho-juni. He was grinning like he’d won the world, his fist thrust triumphantly upward.
“Found it!!!”
In Ho-juni’s fist, a button glistened, slick with saliva. The first success of their joint operation!
The panda set the two children down in front of the Saesseok Class Teacher.
“Thank you so much,” Haru said, her words tumbling out in childish gratitude.
“Thanks,” Kim Ho-juni added.
Both children bowed deeply to the panda in thanks.
When there was no response and they looked up, the panda was already disappearing into the distance.
When the panda had been hiding in the shrub earlier, Haru hadn’t realized how enormously tall it was!
‘It looks almost as big as an adult,’ Haru thought.
Haru tilted her head, puzzled.
The panda had helped her. Haru was supposed to be a genius, but this was too hard. Was the panda just someone who loved playing hide-and-seek? Someone kind? She thought the villain had accomplices, but maybe not?
“We promised the teacher we wouldn’t get close to the fence, didn’t we!”
Haru snapped back to attention.
“We… we did,” she mumbled.
“What if a goat bit you!”
Both children hung their heads low.
Haru wrung her small hands together nervously.
“I’m sorry.”
A sigh drifted down from above.
“Sigh.”
“The teacher said safety comes first, didn’t she.”
“She… she did,” they replied in small voices.
Both children answered together, shame-faced.
“Will you listen to the teacher from now on?”
“Yes!”
Just then, the timer the teacher had set gave a sharp beep.
“Saesseok Class, gather round!”

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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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