[Pupa: Ding! Reed Ville’s Fatemeter increases to -20%.]
"Eh, what? What just happened?" Yunyu was surprised when he saw the Fatemeter suddenly increase when he was busy cooking for dinner. Pupa floated around freely because there was no sign of Hermes or Clarke, and Artemis was still sleeping in her room while hugging her princess dolls.
"Not sure. Maybe he’s currently beating off his meat while thinking about you. That’s why his Fatemeter increased," Pupa replied with nonsense.
"Oh, that’s great! He should think of me more while jacking off, as long as the Fatemeter is increasing! Hehe~"
"... you really have no shame," Pupa rolled its eyes.
"Oh, come on, it’s not that bad," Yunyu giggled. "Anyway, why are you still floating around like this? What if Hermes suddenly teleported and saw you?"
"That’s not possible because I can detect his presence when he’s about to arrive here," Pupa replied. "Based on my radar, he’s far... far away even from his school."
Gaius stopped chopping the vegetables, and he turned his head at Pupa in an instant, "WHAT?!"
"Yes, he doesn’t come home right after he finished school today. I don’t know where he’s going through. I can only track whether he’s far or near me," Pupa said.
"Is he alright?" Yunyu asked worriedly. Even though he just transmigrated in this world when Hermes was already 7 years old, Hermes was still his son. He didn’t want anything bad to happen to his child.
"He is. Maybe he’s just loitering around, not wanting to come home so early," Pupa reported.
"Isn’t it too early for him to be in his rebellious phase? I bet he hasn’t even gotten his first wet dream yet," Yunyu said.
"Ew, gross."
"What gross? When you have a son, you’ll bound to know some of their secrets!" Yunyu started remembering his sons from the previous world. "I still remember that I found Lee Yongjae’s file in his underworld computer, containing lots and lots of porn in the 10th world. I can’t say much and just turn away, acting like I know nothing."
Yunyu sighed and resumed his cooking activity, "I’ll just scold him a bit when he gets home. It’s really not good for a 7-year-old boy to loiter around just because he has the ability to teleport everywhere."
[Pupa: Ding! Reed Ville’s Fatemeter increases to -5%.]
"Wow, that’s fast progress!" Yunyu was surprised himself. He didn’t expect Reed to be that generous to him. Though, he was also a bit conflicted about his opinion for Reed, "I feel like he sees everything as a game. It’s too obvious that he doesn’t like me yet."
"Yes, he treats you like a game," Pupa replied.
Yunyu knew that he shouldn’t have any emotional attachment, but he couldn’t help to get annoyed when Reed used him like a toy, "I think, he’s the only one who treats me like a real toy. Even Lee Yongsun from the 10th world didn’t treat me as one, more like a feast, I guess...."
**
"Artemis, you should eat, okay?" Gaius tried to persuade Artemis, who was still sitting on her bed. She was spacing out, but at least she didn’t have a fever anymore.
Artemis stared at her Mom and asked, "Mommy, where’s Daddy and Big brother?"
"Ah..." Gaius couldn’t answer that. Because he already called Clarke, Clarke just straight up ignored him, probably too busy working or fighting against a monster again.
While Hermes...
He had already called the principal, and the principal said that everyone had left the school three hours ago, and Hermes was still nowhere to be found.
What could he do to search for him now? At least Pupa said that Hermes was okay.
"They’ll return soon, now let’s have dinner with Mom, okay?"
Artemis looked sad, but she just nodded and had dinner with Mom. Gaius was also as depressed when he saw how Artemis didn’t have the same appetite as usual, but he couldn’t say anything.
**
Gaius checked the clock, it was already 7 P.M, and Hermes still hadn’t come home. He sat at the couch, crossing his arm with a grim expression. The good and obedient Hermes was going to his rebellious phase way too early.
Right at 7.30, Hermes popped out in front of Gaius. He was shocked when he saw his Mom already waiting for him, although he knew he had it coming.
He just lowered his head and said nothing, waiting for his Mom to scold him.
"Hermes Gaist, do you know how late you’re? Where did you go? Did you go somewhere to play with troublesome kids? You’re only 7 years old! Do you know how worried I am? Am I too lenient to you?!"
"I met Dad," Hermes replied short.
"Huh?"
"I went to Dad’s office to meet him, so we can come home together. I want him to see Artemis with his own eyes because my sister is sick right now...." Hermes explained. He slowly raised his head and stared at his Mom, "But Dad said that he’s too busy. He doesn’t even want to listen to my reason. He just scolded me and told me to leave because I’m disturbing his work."
"I ask him if he’ll at least come home today, but he just ignored me...."
"Mom, Dad doesn’t love us. He doesn’t even care about Artemis. If he doesn’t like us anymore, then he could just stay in his office forever."
Gaius felt his heart was pinched when he heard Hermes saying the word ’hate’ and ’Dad’ in the same sentence. He was also disappointed in Clarke, but he still knew that Clarke worked hard for them. He wanted to give them a prosperous life in the future.
But a kid like Hermes didn’t know the importance of work.
"Hermes, don’t say that to your Dad. He’s working hard for us. You’ll understand when you’re older," Gaius said, trying to calm his son.
But Hermes didn’t take it kindly, "Mom, you always said that I’ll understand it in the future when I’m older. Then why don’t you tell me now? I want to know why? Why Dad doesn’t love us?"
"He loves us, don’t say that, okay?"
"HE DOESN’T! IF HE DOES, AT LEAST HE WILL COME AND SEE MY SISTER! I HATE HIM! I HATE DAD"