Horas answered as if he had entered and exited Gemvil’s mind.

“If you need more vacation time, I’ll fill out the vacation request form for you.”

“Oh, how unusual that my baby agrees with me. Indeed, we are destined…”

Padrid made an expression of extreme disgust.

“I just want to have at least one normal person next to me.”

Rodi, who had been unusually attentive to Gemvil’s mood, was about to reach out her hand when Gemvil stood up.

“I’m not joking. I have no intention of changing my mind, so go back.”

After saying that coldly, he turned around and walked away.

Everyone looked at each other awkwardly.

“Gemvil seems serious.”

“This isn’t right.”

At that moment, Rodi suddenly jumped down from her chair.

Then she ran after Gemvil like an arrow without looking back.

“Rodi!”

“Rookie!”

“Let her be.”

Padrid said, watching Rodi chasing after Gemvil with her short legs.

***

Gemvil pretended not to notice Rodi following him from behind.

She didn’t know how to hide her presence, and why were her small feet so noisy?

It was impossible not to notice her.

Moreover, Gemvil’s stride was so large that she was breathing heavily trying to keep up.

As he was about to turn around and say something, his hand was grabbed first.

A small, firm hand turned Gemvil around, who was already about to look back.

He looked down at her tightly holding his pinky finger, and she pointed behind her with her other hand.

“Stop following me and go back, rookie. You’ll get lost.”

After all, she was just a child. What would a child know?

She was just doing what the others told her to do.

Rodi shook her head.

“I want to go with Gemvil.”

“You’re quite stubborn—”

“Gemvil, your dream. You haven’t achieved it yet. You have a reason to stay in Cheiles, don’t you?”

Rodi said, panting.

“….”

“You said you wanted to prepare something for your sister who might someday return and appear before you.”

A shadow fell over Gemvil’s eyes.

“You heard it from Ekision.”

That was true. As Rodi said, he did have a dream.

When Rayleigh, who had lost her home, parents, and everything, was about to give up hope while climbing the dark mountain path.

“We can still live well enough in Ulria.”

“Brother.”

“Even if we can’t return to our homeland, let’s build an identical house in Ulria. Let’s live happily there. Then our parents in heaven will be at ease. Once we settle down, we can buy a noble title. We can live exactly as we did before.”

A far-fetched promise he had hastily made to reassure his anxious little sister when they were young.

But even after burying his sister in his heart, even after resigning himself to her death, just in case.

He couldn’t let go of the small hope that she might not be dead and might be alive somewhere, and he was still pursuing that dream.

He stared at Rodi, who was gripping his pinky finger again with her small hand.

“Gemvil’s sister is alive. She will definitely come looking for her brother. Then I’ll also tell her. That Gemvil tried to protect me, his colleague.”

“….”

“Then she’ll probably, probably be proud of you? And if I tell her you have many friends… she’ll be really, really happy?! Let’s search together! Okay? Don’t give up.”

Rodi seemed uncertain if she was saying the right things, but she was clearly determined to persuade Gemvil until the end.

Even going on tiptoes.

‘Alive, huh.’

When everyone said she must have died, that he should forget, there were others who told him his sister might be alive.

Those were the colleagues he had left behind.

And even Rodi, the smallest colleague which suddenly appeared one day.

“….”

Rodi held Gemvil’s hand even tighter.

“So, Gemvil, let’s go back together.”

Gemvil’s face grew more pensive.

Whether it was an impulse or not, he had never looked back on his decisions even if he regretted them.

But…

As the noisy sounds around them subsided, Gemvil, who had been staring blankly, suddenly let out a chuckle.

“Well, with you begging like this, what choice do I have?”

Then he picked up Rodi with one arm.

“Gemvil?”

“Let’s go back, rookie.”

Gemvil grinned.

Rodi’s eyes widened.

“Really?”

Gemvil’s body had already turned back toward the way they came.

“Take it or leave it.”

“No, no, no! I want to go with you.”

Rodi quickly stretched out her hand in the direction they had come from, afraid Gemvil might change his mind again.

Gemvil chuckled and took large strides.

Rodi, who had been leaning quietly against him, hugged Gemvil’s neck and nestled against him.

Gemvil, who had briefly paused his steps, raised his eyebrows and looked at Rodi for a moment before starting to walk again.

“Did anyone bully you while I was gone?”

Shake, shake.

While hugging his neck, Rodi shook her head and mumbled softly.

“I’m grateful to Gemvil.”

“If you didn’t do anything wrong, there’s nothing to feel bad about. Just don’t make the same mistake twice.”

“Okay. And I won’t call Gemvil ‘mister’ anymore.”

Gemvil chuckled.

“I like that.”

***

When Gemvil appeared carrying Rodi, everyone’s faces brightened as if they had been waiting.

Despite everything, they hadn’t felt good about a colleague who had been like family quitting.

They felt empty, and couldn’t focus on work.

But they couldn’t push too hard on a decision made by a grown adult, and leaving it as it was had been disappointing.

So they were grateful and impressed that Rodi had bridged that gap.

They hadn’t thought Rodi would be able to do it in the first place.

“See, I told you he’d come with us.”

Hailo grinned as he saw Rodi waving her hands excitedly, returned her greeting, and then held out his palm behind his back.

“Ah, what a shame.”

Ekision rummaged through his pockets and placed some money in Hailo’s palm.

“….”

Next to him, Jin also silently handed over money, and Horas clicked his tongue regretfully.

“Hey, Gemvil. You’ve gotten too soft.”

“Horas is right. You could have held out at least one more day.”

“Shut up and hand over the money quickly.”

Hailo urged Horas and Padrid to hurry up.

After collecting everything tenaciously, Hailo rose from his seat as Rodi approached.

“So the rookie succeeded? Good job.”

Rodi nodded with a confident smile.

“Yes! But why are you giving money?”

“To buy our rookie some treats?”

“They must have bet on us.”

Gemvil, still holding Rodi, grumbled from the side.

“A bet?”

Rodi’s eyes shone with curiosity.

“Whether you could bring me back or not. See, that’s the kind of guys they are.”

Hearing this, Rodi wrinkled her nose and glared at Hailo.

After agreeing to bring Gemvil back together, how could he betray her!

“Hailo is mean!”

Hailo responded to those words with a fresh smile.

“Really? Even though we’re going to buy something delicious now? And those guys bet that you couldn’t bring Gemvil back. Only I believed in our rookie.”

When Hailo shook his pouch of gold coins, Rodi’s eyes followed the movement.

“T-then I take it back! Hailo is nice.”

Of course, minds can sometimes change when money is involved.

“Right? Those guys are the bad ones.”

“Rookie, I didn’t really mean it. That guy has always been like a block of wood. You know how I feel, right?”

Ekision, who had suddenly lost his affection points to Hailo, regretted it belatedly.

Rodi, who had turned her head away with a “hmph!”, nodded and smiled brightly at Ekision’s groan as if nothing had happened.

Since she couldn’t have done it alone, she decided to let it slide just this once.

Padrid, thinking things were somewhat settled, pushed back his chair and stood up.

“Good job, rookie. Now let’s go get something to eat. And since it seems inappropriate to return right away, I think it would be best to rest and depart tomorrow.”

“Oh, what’s this? Usually, you would have insisted on going back immediately to work. You must have missed him quite a bit too.”

“Ah, please shut that mouth…!”

As Padrid flared up, Hailo giggled.

“Let’s do that. Since we’re here, let’s rest a bit before going back. Rookie, what do you want to eat? Is there anything you’d like? Or should we see more of the ocean? You said it was your first time seeing the ocean, right? Yes. Since we’re here, let’s see as much as we can. The night sea should be quite magnificent too.”

Ekision, who had been shaking his head, stretched and asked Rodi without pause.

Rodi, who had been quietly watching everyone getting up one by one, shouted confidently.

“I want meat!”

“Meat is good. Our rookie knows how to eat.”

Horas, who had shaken hands with Gemvil, ruffled Rodi’s hair vigorously with a proud look.

Jin, watching him, smiled slightly.

“Wah! My hair!”

Although her hair was messed up and it hurt a little from his rough touch, Rodi couldn’t help but smile.

Because now she could return with peace of mind.