35: Kindergarten II

"Our baby is just smart." The Red King's voice was very reassuring.

Once again, his teenage parents were gaslighting themselves into thinking that there's nothing wrong with their baby.

Baby slept walked into the basement of two different cabins twice in a row? Nothing suspicious, just his superpower awakening.

Baby could comprehend full sentence and give viable responses even though he can't clearly talk yet?

Baby could open a chocolate wrapper cleanly in one go without help nor tutorial?

Their baby is just smart.

Jay isn't complaining because it works wonders in his favor. After all, if the two caretakers are wholeheartedly convinced that their baby is just "smart", then the transmigrator was saved from OOC.

They thought he's sleeping, so they're talking among themselves. Jay held the Rubik's cube tighter in his hand as he curled up in his blanket. It's been a hour since sunset, and they're already tucked the baby into bed.

Talking about bed, they bought him a portable baby bed and placed it on the floor. Inside the new baby bed, Jay got a few plushies while his more solid toys stayed outside of the bed.

The two teens were sitting on the couch, and they will definitely sleep there again. The transmigrator could feel their eyes staring into him as he's breathing softly, trying to fall asleep.

"I think he's understanding entire sentences, Jay. That shouldn't be normal for a kid his age." The teenage girl grumbled.

Her partner's response was rather casual. "You entered the Equinox Academy when you were eight. Minimum age allowed for anyone to even apply was twelve. Don't you think you're normal?"

"Thanks for reminding me." She rubbed her forehead, and she leaned on the couch cushion to look at the bland ceiling. "That I don't remember anything about my life before I was four."

"Same." A chuckle came from her companion. "Hell, Kaon won't even remember Red Lady 'cause he's a baby."

"But what kind of baby wants to buy a book?" JJ's valid point was followed by the sound of her companion taking off his shirt. "I know it's an alphabet book with pretty colors, but... You're gonna take a shower?"

"Yeah." The teenage boy mumbled back. "At this point, we're complaining for the sake of complaining, Jay. Lady Red's baby is probably a future genius or something."

A sigh left the teenage girl's lips, and she stood up from the couch to stretch. "What else can we do but complain, Jay?"

Her companion didn't answer her question, and his footsteps disappeared down the hall. The teenager sat back down on the couch, only to lean down and traced her finger over the baby's face.

The transmigrator tried his best to stay calm when he felt her breath on his cheek. In the next second, her cracked lips pressed on his forehead, and before he knew it, she was far away again.

No matter how many times he's been kissed, Jay still wasn't used to it. In his original life, his family was not very touchy-feely. Hell, he didn't even remember the last time he got a hug. But here? The Red King sometimes kiss the baby's forehead when he wakes up, and JJ also sometimes kisses the baby's forehead or cheek before she goes sleep.

"Goodnight, little guy." JJ mumbled before she pulled a blanket over herself.

Now that Jay was alone again, he could loosen up a bit.

'System!' The transmigrator called out in his head. 'Hey, System!?'

[ YES, YSER JAY. ]

'Where's the mission? I've been waiting all day for it.'

All day and probably all night, too. For the entire day, Jay was jittering with anxiety because he thought something bad was going to happen for the sake of the mission, but thankfully, nothing bad happened while they were shopping for baby products and tried to find a contractor to work on their new home.

Even after his parents finally finished tye grueling task of negotiating with the construction business owner, Jay was still on edge.

[ THE MISSION HAS ALREADY STARTED. ]

'I know...' The baby frowned a little in his sleep as he continued to converse with the blue interference screen. 'Nothing happened, System! That's the problem!'

[ MISSION THREE: KINDERGARTEN IS A MISSION THAT ALLOWS USER TO DEVELOP KAON'S SUPERPOWER. IT WILL TAKE FROM ONE TO SIX YEARS TO COMPLETE. ]

Oh, for fuck's sake. The System should've mentioned that since the beginning so that Jay's anxiety wouldn't get more and more intense with each pass hour of nothing happening.

[ IN THE MEANTIME, WOULD USER JAY LIKE UNLOCK SMALL SIDE QUESTS TO EARN EXTRA USER EXP? EXTRA USER EXP WILL HELP USER LEVEL UP FASTER—]

Yes! Activate it now!

[— USER CAN OPT OUT OF THE SIDE QUESTS ANYTIME BECAUSE SIDE QUESTS WILL NOT AFFECT THE MAIN PLOT OF THE STORY. FAILING TO COMPLETE A SIDE QUEST WILL NOT HAVE ANY PUNISHMENTS. ]

'Just give me the side quests already!' Jay was basically yelling at this point. Why is the System so stubborn?

[ SIDE QUESTS: ACTIVATED. ]

[ PLEASE SELECT SIDE QUEST. USER CAN HAVE UP TO THREE SIDE QUESTS AT ONCE. ]

Finally.

The transmigrator began looking at the options given to him, and he was a bit perplexed.

[ AVAILABLE SIDE QUESTS:

• THE SWEETEST BABY BOY: GIVE A MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP BAR TO REGINA MCLEAN, +20 EXP

• FIND THE LAST WONDER SOLDIER EUGENE ROMANOV, +20 EXP

• HELP GRANDMA ELLA RECONNECT WITH HER LOST SON, +20 EXP

• GET A DAISY TO LINDA MULLIN, +10 EXP

• DRAW A GIRAFFE AND A UNICORN FOR JAY PLENG, +5 EXP

NEW SIDE QUESTS WILL SHOW UP WHEN USER MEETS MORE NPCS. ]

First of all, how is he gonna give a mint chocolate chip bar to Regina? And help Grandma Ella reconnect with her lost son? All of these quests require him to get into town. He's still one year old, so it might have to wait for a while.

Also... Who's Eugene Romanov? Is that the same guy that JJ asked the Red King about a while back? That looks like a pretty hard mission, so he won't take that one no matter how much he wanted to know more about his male caretaker's backstory.

Next up, who's Linda Mullin? He doesn't think he's met her before. Isn't side quests are from people you've already met?

System! Pull up Linda Mullin's profile!

[ LUNATIC WOMAN

NAME: LINDA MULLIN

AGE: unknown

CURRENT PROBLEM: unable to let go of her dead daughter, so when she sees other's children, she thought of her own. ]

Is that... Is that the woman who dislocated Jay's wrist because she pulled too hard?

Let's just ignore that side quest for now. The last one is the most doable one, so he'll take that.

Drawing a giraffe and a unicorn can't be that hard, right?