I Became the Main Character’s Favorite

Nom Nom Nom

The contract was simpler than I thought.
All we had to do was link our pinkies and say, ‘We swear to be friends for life.’

Wondering if this is how everyone contracts with spirits, I glanced slyly at the spirit master uncle.
The uncle was looking at us very fondly with what’s commonly called a dad smile, so
I could realize that this contract wasn’t typical.

‘It’s embarrassing, but there’s no helping it.’
Thinking that if Chae-a is happy, that’s all that matters, I was feeling a bit shy when
The spirit master uncle patted both my and Chae-a’s heads and continued speaking.

“Then you should get along well from now on, okay?”
“Yes!”
“… Yes.”

I nodded along as I heard Chae-a’s bright reply.
*
Even though I contracted with a spirit, there wasn’t much that changed significantly.
Just that I gained a friend to spend my whole life with, and a desire to take care of that friend because she’s cute.
Other than that, there was nothing different from before.

“I’ll give you this. Ah!”
I looked at Chae-a beside me, who was sharing the chocolate she had found earlier.
Chae-a was giggling happily for some reason as she put a large piece of chocolate in my mouth.

“Is it tasty?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Then I’ll give you more. Wait a moment…!”

Chae-a seemed to enjoy the act of giving me food itself and was busily cutting up the chocolate.
I stared blankly at Chae-a doing this and then asked the spirit master uncle a few questions.
“Teacher, I have a question.”

“Hm? What is it?”
“What does a spirit master do?”
It was a simple but fundamental question.
After all, this question was about the reason for the existence of spirit masters, that is, why they are needed.

At my question, the spirit master uncle pondered and then smiled brightly as he answered.
“Usually, they become hunters or get jobs related to the spirit they contracted with. For example, in my case, I contracted with a water spirit, so I sometimes provide water to places lacking it or do work purifying water.”

It seems they can do more various jobs than I thought.
I stared blankly at Chae-a rubbing her cheek against me, then smiled brightly and expressed my gratitude.
“Thank you for telling me.”

“Sure. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask anytime.”
“Yes…!”
Deciding to think carefully about what I could do with Chae-a, I tidied up the hair of Chae-a, who had fallen asleep at some point.

With the help of the spirit master uncle, I carefully laid Chae-a on the bed so she could sleep soundly.
I bowed in gratitude and then

Approached the phone to thank the viewers who had helped me, when an abnormally high number of viewers caught my eye.
[Viewers: 839]
I wonder if the error hasn’t been fixed?

Feeling something was strange, I stared intently at it, when the chat window suddenly started scrolling rapidly.
[Seorinseorin – Why is Ha-eun’s glaring expression so cute ㅠㅠ It’s so cute my heart hurts.]
[HazyCandy – These days I’m living for the joy of watching Ha-eun ㅎㅎ]
[EarthwormAssociation – Wiggly wiggly]
[MintChocoChicken – Why is Ha-eun angry? No ㅋㅋㅋ Ha-eun is cute even when angry.]

Oh? I wasn’t angry, why do they think I’m angry?
To clear up the misunderstanding, I shook my head and quickly explained.
“I’m not angry…! I was looking because it’s strange that so many people are watching.”

[MintChocoChicken – Oh, is that so? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ It’s probably because Ha-eun is cute, right?]
[SillyDernDern – I’m giving birth soon, I really wish I could have a daughter like this.]
[FixYourBackSurgery500K – Just breathing is like a viral marriage proposal. Hah… Should I go on a blind date?]

Even if they say I’m cute, isn’t that going too far?
As an adult, I couldn’t just let such an evaluation slide, so I quickly shook my head and denied it.
“Um… I’m not cute.”

[Seorinseorin – That’s right, you’re not just cute, you’re the cutest in the world.]
[1Day1Chicken – Ha-eun? Not cute? In this world? Does anything cute? Even exist?]
[OmNomNom – ㅋㅎㅋㅋㅋ Just like kind people say they’re not kind, they say originally cute people also say they’re not cute~]

The viewers seem to find teasing me fun and speak jokingly.
Not knowing how to react to such words, I hesitated and then moved away from my spot as if running away.

For psychological stability, I sat on the floor and nibbled on my tail.
‘… Doing this somehow makes me feel better.’
I don’t really know why.

It just felt like I was doing it instinctively.
Anyway, as I was busily nom-nom-nomming on my tail, suddenly my phone vibrated and a message came in.
[Lee Seo-rin – Ha-eun, big sister’s training will be over soon, so let’s go buy clothes together. Of course, with Chae-a too!]

At those words, I stared down blankly.
The blue clothes that were not only tattered but also a bit torn.
Looking at the clothes that could best be described as rags, I felt the need to buy different clothes, but
The problem was that I had no money.

‘… What should I do.’
I’d like to do part-time work if possible, but I’m not sure if there’s anywhere that would hire me.
I considered going into stores and asking, but

No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t imagine any store that would hire a 3 or 4-year-old child, so I had to give up.
‘… Then what should I do? Should I contact Hunter Han A-rin?’

The thought briefly crossed my mind that maybe Hunter Han A-rin could arrange some work for me, but I quickly shook my head and dismissed it.
I wasn’t the type of person with such a thick conscience to blatantly inconvenience someone I had just met.
‘Then I have no choice but to go around and look for myself.’

The possibility is extremely slim, but as adults say, there’s always a way to survive somehow.
Deciding to look around diligently, I steeled my resolve.
‘Of course, I could make money using the broadcast without needing to do this.’

But I didn’t want to take money from the viewers who were showing me unlimited kindness, so I put this as a lower priority.
‘I can’t take money from people I’m grateful to.’
So, as an adult, I decided to try to solve it with my own strength, and decided to ask Seo-rin for understanding in advance.

About 2 hours later, Seo-rin came into the hospital room.
At Seo-rin’s appearance, I ran over quickly and brought up the conversation I had been holding onto.

“Seo-rin, you know? I’m sorry but I don’t have money yet so I don’t think I can buy clothes. Can we go later?”
My tongue being short, the pronunciation was muddled all over, but I spoke directly in as clear a voice as possible about my situation and asked for a little extension.

Not sure if my sincerity would get through, but hoping she would understand, I said this.
“Huh? Big sister will buy it for you?”
A somewhat surprising answer came back.

I shook my head at those words and told her it wasn’t okay.
“No, I’m too ashamed. I’ll buy my own clothes…!”
Believing she would understand with this much, I glanced forward.

Seo-rin looked at me with a puzzled expression and asked back.
“Hmm…? Why?”
Since it’s so obvious that you should buy your own things with your own money, my thoughts momentarily stopped at Seo-rin’s “Why?”

Thinking I didn’t know how to answer Seo-rin’s words, I was looking down when
Seo-rin looked at me like that and calmly said,
“Can’t I just buy it for you? Big sister really wants to buy clothes for Ha-eun.”

“… We shouldn’t do that.”
“Why not? It’s natural for an older sister to give gifts to her younger sibling.”
Seeing Seo-rin say it’s natural, I was about to say it’s not natural at all, but

“That’s right…! It’s natural for big sister to give gifts to her little sibling!”
Chae-a, who was watching us, made an “ahem” sound and said to me,
“So I’ll bring you a gift later! Okay?”

“Mm-hmm.”
“Good girl. Good.”
As I was hesitating while looking at Chae-a patting my head,

Seo-rin looked at Chae-a like that and said jokingly,
“Hello Chae-a? I’m Seo-rin.”
At Seo-rin’s greeting, Chae-a froze and then immediately hid behind my back, just like when she met the counselor earlier.

As I was patting Chae-a’s back and repeating that it was okay,
Seo-rin waved what looked like a very fancy candy and said,
“If you become friends with big sister too, I’ll give you this. Of course, I’ll give candy to Ha-eun too.”

Chae-a reacted to the words that I would get candy too, and peeked at Seo-rin secretly, then
Carefully came forward and opened her mouth.
“Really…?”

“Yes, really.”
“Then okay…!”
Looking at Chae-a nodding brightly, I smiled gently, deciding to tell her later not to follow strangers who offer tasty things.

“Contractor, let’s eat candy quickly too!”
“Thank you.”
As I was bowing to Chae-a and Seo-rin to express my gratitude,

Seo-rin seemed to have a good idea and made a suggestion to me.
“Does Ha-eun still want to buy clothes herself rather than have big sister buy them?”
“Yes.”

“Then I’ll give you an allowance. Will you help big sister a bit?”
“Help…?”
Is there something I can help with?

Puzzled, I tilted my head and asked.
Seo-rin smiled brightly and told me what I needed to do.
“When big sister is training, bring towels or water. Or I’d like you to do things like cuddling in big sister’s arms and reading storybooks.”

Bringing towels or water is one thing, but does reading storybooks need my help?
No matter how I thought about it, it didn’t seem like my help was particularly needed, but
Since I had no other way to earn money besides helping Seo-rin, I decided to accept.

“Then I’ll do my best!”
“Okay, okay, then will our Ha-eun call big sister ‘unnie’ from now on?”
“……”

My mouth clamped shut, too embarrassed to use such a term of address.
As I felt my ears and cheeks getting hot and hesitated,
Chae-a, who was beside me, saw this and called Seo-rin “unnie” instead of me.

“Unnie!”
“Yes, yes, I’m unnie.”
Does it feel good to be called unnie?

As I was fidgeting with my fingers, thinking I didn’t really know,
Seo-rin looked at me like that and patted my head vigorously as she continued speaking.
“If it’s hard to say, you don’t have to. Big sister will always do what Ha-eun wants.”

“I’m sorry…”
“Hmph, what is there to be sorry about? Big sister is happy just being with Ha-eun.”
Those words were so touching that I smiled unconsciously.

Then I calmed my heart and thanked her again.
“Then shall we go buy clothes first? We’ll deduct it from your allowance later, how about that?”
Thinking that wouldn’t be bad, I shyly nodded.

Seeing my affirmation, Seo-rin smiled brightly and took me and Chae-a to a clothing store near the association.
What I saw as we headed to the clothing store was
Cola bottles piled haphazardly in trash cans.