Ranker Who Lives Twice

Kronos couldn't hold his laughter in as he drove. "Hahahaha!"

"It's not funny, Grandpa!"

"Hahahaha!"

"Grandpa!"

"Haha, okay, okay. Ahem." Kronos bit his lower lip to stop laughing, but he couldn't stop the corners of his mouth from twitching. Sesha vented to Kronos about how wronged she felt about what happened in the morning, but the way she spoke was too cute.

If Kronos had to pick the greatest joys of his life these days, it would be the growth of his youngest daughter and his adolescent granddaughter. His life hadn't been the smoothest, and he wasn't able to love and pamper his children. So, now, he was giving all the love he missed out on to these children.

Of course, raising children wasn't easy. Playing with kids was more exhausting than expected. And when the kids entered the period of being troublemakers… It was an understatement to say it was tiring. Still, they grew up a little every day, and it was adorable to watch.

This child, Sesha, who was just a tiny six-year-old was now on the verge of becoming an adult. It felt quite strange.

"Humph."

Even now, the way Sesha turned around and pouted angrily was adorable. It seemed like yesterday she followed Kronos around saying "Grandpa, Grandpa," but she had grown up so much.

"Our princess is angry again, I see."

"No, I'm not!" Sesha's words clearly didn't match her actions.

"I wonder what I should do to appease our princess?"

"Humph."

"Let's see…" Kronos stepped on the brakes when the traffic light turned red and began to rummage around the backseats. Sesha pretended not to care, but she peeked glances behind her. A slight smile appeared on Kronos' face as he added, "I think a new model of that tablet came out recently…"

Twitch.

"I must be getting old. I bought this because someone said they wanted it, but I can't seem to remember who."

Twitch, twitch!

"Should I just give it to Ye-eun? It seems like kids these days watch stuff on their tablets…"

"Hehehehe. Grandpa, the light turned green. Let's go." Sesha intertwined an arm around Kronos' right arm and beamed. From her mini tantrum to a wide smile, it was a rapid transformation. Kronos chuckled at her obvious actions.

"Yup, let's go."

The car began to move again.

"But really, who should I give this to…?"

"Grandpa, Grandpa."

"Hm?"

"As you know, I started a new semester recently. But trying to take notes on all my subjects is hard. Sometimes I forget a notebook, and sometimes I get confused and write in the wrong one, so I have to do it twice. Sounds difficult, doesn't it?"

"Oh my, nothing should come in between my princess and her studies! Should I get you a recording machine then? Or maybe a package of notebooks?"

"No, that's not it. It's the twenty-first century on Earth right now and the period of electrical advancement. Should our tools also change to match? And I can watch online lectures too, hm?"

"Oh, so you want to take lectures at a cram school. Is there a particular one you want to attend? I heard once that Daechi-dong is well known for—"

"Grandpa!" Sesha became upset as Kronos danced around the subject.

"Goodness, that surprised me. You're going to give me a heart attack. My heart's already weak enough."

"That's hard to believe coming from someone who has divinity!"

"Hehe. You got me."

"Tsk. You're just like Dad sometimes!" Even so, Sesha was smiling. "Anyway, please? Can you give it to me as a present for starting high school?"

"I remember getting you a game console for that, no?"

"Nope, that was my birthday present. And I need the tablet for studying. Please?"

Kronos was about to remind Sesha he gifted her clothes on her birthday, but he surrendered when he saw her shining eyes. He had gotten the tablet for Sesha anyway. "All right, you have it."

"Yes! You're the best, Grandpa. Thank you." Sesha hugged the tablet to her chest and excitedly kissed Kronos on the cheek. She said she wouldn't kiss him on the cheek anymore since she was older, but it seemed the present was quite effective.

* * *

Sesha sat on the edge of her seat as she hummed. There couldn't be a greater joy than organizing and downloading necessary applications on her new tablet.

"Ooh! Newbie! Who gave that to you? Your boyfriend?"

Just then, someone popped out from behind the tablet. It was Park Yoo-min, Sesha's desk partner who had become her best friend.

"A boyfriend? Please."

"Then?"

"My grandfather," Sesha said proudly.

"Whoa! Your grandpa gets you stuff like this?"

"I said I wanted this in passing some time ago, and he must've remembered."

"He's meticulous too! It isn't easy for grandfathers to be like that. Must be because he lives young."

Park Yoo-min once happened to see Kronos as he dropped Sesha off to school. Kronos looked so young that she thought he was an older brother or uncle. She remembered being surprised when Sesha told her he was her grandfather. The same went with Sesha's mom, Ananta. She knew Ananta had been on television a few times back when Sesha was a player, but she really was beautiful and looked young enough to be Sesha's older sister. And even Sesha's father, who came by the front of the school to give Sesha the lunchbox she left at home.

Yoo-min didn't think there could be any parents more beautiful than Sesha's. Rumors spread around the entire school that there was a reason why Sesha became famous as a pretty player. It was the power of genes.

"My Grandpa's just attentive." Sesha looked happy boasting about her grandfather.

"My grandfather just scolds me about my grades…" Yoo-min grumbled, then looked at the clock on the wall, calculating how much time they had left before class started. "Wanna go to the school store?"

Growl. Sesha was about to decline, but the rumble in her stomach told her not to.

Park Yoo-min giggled. "Wanna go?"

Sesha started to nod when she suddenly recalled the breakfast Ananta told her to eat before leaving. She had grumbled and left without eating any of the food her mom woke up early to prepare for her. What did her mom do about it? Did she throw it away? Or did she finish the leftovers because she didn't want them to go to waste?

'…I hope she didn't.' Sesha's head was cramped with all kinds of questions.

"Hm?"

"O…kay, then." Sesha nodded absently. She felt a bit apologetic to her mom.

* * *

The student store was located behind the school building. Chatting with Yoo-min about what kinds of snacks to eat today, Sesha headed down the stairs and saw the store was busier than normal. "Argh! Why are there so many people today?"

"Yeah, maybe there's some new menu item?"

They neared the store, but the crowd didn't become any smaller. They wondered if they should just return at a later time.

Sesha had been through all kinds of dangerous situations growing up, and her life had been in the spotlight even on Earth, so she didn't enjoy places that bustled with people. She was about to suggest they go back to Yoo-min, but Yoo-min stood on her toes and nodded in understanding at what she saw.

"Oh! Sung-chan's over there."

"Sung-chan? Who's that?"

"Huh? You don't know?"

"Who is he?"

"…Wow. So clueless to the things around you. This is the problem with popular kids. Don't say that in front of Sung-chan, 'kay? He'll probably be hurt."

"So, who is he?"

"You really don't know?"

"I don't."

"You don't remember the kid who confessed to you last month?"

"It wasn't just one or two people."

"…Ah, yes, yes. Of course."

Park Yoo-min shook her head in mock disgust. Yoo-min liked Sesha, and they were good friends. Sesha was pretty on the outside, and she was actually a bit picky. But she was extremely generous to those close to her, and she cared so much for her friends that she was almost intrusive. However, toward those she didn't care for or weren't in her circle, she was ruthlessly indifferent. She didn't care what they said or did, and when Yoo-min asked her about it, she just replied half-heartedly. Then, she would forget about it.

Sesha had clear likes and dislikes, and she despised doing things she didn't want to. Even for the things that weren't much trouble, she would straight-up say no or distance herself from them. This was why many of the people who first approached Sesha for her fame didn't attempt to befriend her, and Sesha only had about five or six people who were actually friends, including Yoo-min.

It wasn't all too different for the guys who confessed to her. There was at least one boy in every class who was turned down by Sesha's indifference, and if you counted those who had crushes on her, they would probably fill one entire truck.

"Anyway, so Sung-chan? Chan-sung? Who is he, and why are there so many people?"

"He's an idol."

"What?"

"Not you, silly. He's the idol that sings."

"Oh."

"You might not know it, but he's super famous. I heard he's filming something at school before he goes on his tour for North America. Maybe this is because of that?"

Sesha used her abilities to sense inside the store. There really was some boy making small talk to a camera while surrounded by students. She asked, "How do you know so well?"

"Heehee. My bias is a member of that group. I asked Sung-chan for a signature, I hope he didn't forget."

"What's a bias?"

"…Are you a grandma?" Yoo-min then explained "bias" meant one's favorite member in a group or band, even giving examples.

"Why's there so much slang? Last time you confused me with all those acronyms or something."

"That's because you're OOTL."

"What's that?"

"Out of the loop. Geez. It's been a long time since that one's been out. They don't even use it anymore." Then, Yoo-min grinned as she pulled her phone out. "Do you wanna see my bias?"

"No. Hey! I said no!"

"C'mon, just once."

Sesha was about to push the phone aside, but Yoo-min already started a video. There was nothing that made a fan more passionate than spreading word about their bias. In the end, Sesha was forced to watch a video she didn't want to. It was a recorded video of a live session of a guy interacting with fans.

"Huh…? Him?"

"What do you think? So cute, isn't he? Eeek! Our Jin-ho oppa just looks icy on the outside, he's actually super sweet and—"

"Isn't this Lee Jin-ho?"

"Oh, so even you know him! Of course. Everyone knows our Jin-ho oppa—"

"I met him last year when I was on TV."

Park Yoo-min's eyes started to sparkle. "A-A-A-re you close?"

"No. I don't even know his number. I guess his surgery went well."

"…What?"

"His surgery went well. He said he was going to do his nose last time, and he really did. Looks like he touched his eyes too. He looked better before, if you ask me. What happened?"

"What are you talking about?! My oppa was born this way!"

"Born that way? He was made that way. Do you want to know where else he did? Last year, he did surgery on…"

Yoo-min unwittingly heard her bias' weakness and her gaze began to shake more tumultuously. Crash! The fantasies in her head came crashing down.

Sesha didn't notice. She found it interesting that someone she was on TV with last year and someone who confessed to her―although she didn't remember―were in the same group. The world really was a small place.

"Let's go back up since we're not gonna be able to get anything…!"

Sesha pulled Yoo-min's park to go up to their class, but the crowd suddenly split like the Red Sea and the male student and cameraman Sesha sensed earlier came running her way. Shin Sung-chan waved with a smile at Sesha. "Hey! You're here! Hi, So-young! Are you here to see me?"

The camera turned to Sesha, who furrowed her eyebrows. She wondered what this bastard was planning to do.