*
Clack-clack.
Jin Siwon sat at the edge of a bed in the dark sleeping car, repeatedly closing and opening his eyes.
Clack-clack. Between the sounds of the train running, the groans of the injured could be heard now and then.
The wounded had been packed into a compartment with several beds, and Siwon was among them.
“Hoo……”
Letting out a deep breath, he rubbed his throbbing temples.
Though his mind had been nearly gone from mana depletion, he had remained conscious the entire time.
He pieced his memories back together, recalling in fragments how he had been supported all the way here.
The contaminated swamp.
Gnosis.
The blood tumor.
The acorn……
The acorn Serhi had brought was a fake.
At the time, he had suspected Serhi might have switched it, but seeing as the dungeon had been cleared safely, it must have been Geuru’s plan.
Only Geuru could recognize the special purification acorn.
For a moment, butterflies flitting beyond a blurred field of vision crossed his mind.
A four-year-old child had successfully cleared an RP dungeon.
He had known the child was clever, but to think he would manage this much.
He was an impressive child, enough to inspire admiration.
Siwon smiled as he thought of the baby flying squirrel.
More than anything, he was happiest that Geuru was alive and safe.
If not, he would never have been able to forgive himself now.
‘So it was true that Geuru escaped.’
When he thought of Serhi, familiar pain surged up again, and he squeezed his eyes shut.
Before he could sink once more into pointless sentiment, Siwon forced his heavy head to continue recalling what had happened before.
The situation before Geuru arrived.
“Hm, this isn’t very fun.”
Irina tossed the fake acorn aside carelessly, then controlled the Hunters and drove them toward the blood tumor.
The closer they came to the blood tumor, the louder the people’s groans and screams became.
At this rate, the lower-ranked Hunters’ skin would melt off before they even touched it.
“Barrett!”
Siwon had no choice but to summon Barrett.
There was no other way but to wrap the blood tumor with Barrett and stop the contamination from leaking out.
And so, as Barrett took on all of the contamination, his mana drained away in an instant……
The last thing he remembered was Irina’s voice.
“See you again, Zhenya. I hope you’re a little more broken and ruined the next time we meet.”
Siwon rubbed the aching spot near his heart.
‘Irina……’
He gave a faint, mocking smile.
‘I’m already a complete mess.’
He had no country, no family, nothing left.
Just how far did the sister he had loved so much want him to fall?
“Hoo……”
Having recovered all his memories, Siwon took a dagger from his inventory and drew it in a long line across his arm.
Clang!
After throwing the dagger to the floor, he dug into the wound without hesitation.
His blood-soaked hand pulled out a lump the size of a peach pit.
The pulsing seed was engraved with Gnosis’s triquetra emblem.
It was a seed he had seen countless times while pursuing Gnosis.
The seed hid inside a human body, put down roots, and created a place for Irina’s consciousness to invade.
To control a Hunter of his level, skills alone would not suffice, so this was the method they used.
Expressionless, Siwon stepped on the seed and crushed it.
Then, gripping his arm, he applied pressure and pushed hard along it.
Along with the blood squirming out of the wound, the remaining seeds were forced out.
Thud, thud-thud, thud.
One, two, three, four…… six in total.
“You sure packed a lot in.”
Just as he was wrapping his tattered arm with no particular emotion—
“Urgh……!”
One of the wounded from the Brom Guild met Siwon’s eyes. The Hunter’s eyes were full of terror and shock.
Inside the dark sleeping car.
Amid the groans coming from here and there, a strange foreigner with ash-blond hair had slit his own arm open and was squeezing out blood.
All of it felt like a scene from a horror movie.
Flustered by his gaze, Siwon stammered and wiped his bloodstained arm on his own clothes.
Though that only left him covered in blood and looking even more eerie.
“Ah…… um……. S-sorry. Some blood splattered on you, didn’t it?”
Siwon approached the injured man, bowed in apology, and wiped his face with his blood-soaked clothes.
“Urk!”
The man pushed himself against the wall to avoid Siwon.
But Siwon pressed close to him and kept apologizing over and over.
Chapter Intermission
Wriggle, wriggle.
Geuru poked his face out from under the blanket. When he raised his gaze, he saw the tip of Jurim’s chin.
‘It’s the Guild Leader……’
He always thought so, but Jurim really slept like he was dead.
Geuru blinked sleepily and sat up.
After they came out of the RP dungeon, Jurim had tossed the Brom Guild, Gidan, and Nayeon to the reporters as bait, then leisurely returned home with Geuru.
‘And theen……’
Geuru had gotten ready for bed, lain down, and begged Jurim to read him a book until he fell asleep.
“Please be born healthy.”
The last thing he remembered was Jurim’s voice reading rather earnestly. It seemed they had both fallen asleep just like that.
Geuru read the title of the fairy-tale book, Unchanging Always!, and smiled brightly.
‘Unchanging always!’
He slipped right into Jurim’s arms and hugged him.
Inside his chest, it felt like a whole bunch of earthworms were thrashing around, making him tremble and thump-thump.
‘It’s okay if I call him Dad now, right?’
He had told Geuru to call him Dad whenever he felt like it……
He felt shy, and his mouth tingled.
When Jurim woke up later, he would definitely try calling him Dad.
Just as he made up his mind, Mephisto fluttered up.
“Mepi!”
Geuru gave Mepi a little peck of a kiss.
[♥]
Mepi rubbed his tiny body against Geuru’s cheek.
The soft, fluffy down tickled, and Geuru burst into laughter.
Come to think of it, he had also earned 100,000 points from Mephisto’s caregiver quest!
There was something he had really wanted to do once he got 100,000 points.
‘Lots and lots of mana!’
Geuru opened his status window.
Name: Han Geuru
Level: LV. 10
Title: ■■■ ■■■ ■■ ■■■ (Cannot be viewed)
Strength: 1
Stamina: 1(+14)
Agility: 1
Defense: 1(+88)
Mana: 12
His stamina and defense were corrected values from the various defensive items he had received when going to his first dungeon.
His mana was the value he had raised using the stat points gained from leveling up.
Normally, one stat point increased per level, so Geuru’s mana should originally have been 11……
‘But if I have filial points, I can raise my stats too!’
Being able to grow his base stats regardless of level was an incredible advantage.
The higher one’s level became, the far more experience was needed to level up, so there would be limits to stat increases as well.
That was why, upon awakening, the higher one’s base stats were, the higher one’s rank was evaluated to be.
Jurim and Gidan were S-ranks whose base stat values had been enormous from the very beginning, and compared to them……
‘Geuru’s are all 1……!’
But there was no need to be disappointed.
With filial points, he could surpass the limits of level!
That meant he could become amazingly rich in mana with filial points!
‘Increase in mana = increase in skill effects!’
In Geuru’s mind, a fluffy baby sheep popped out and created two hundred snow ducks and one hundred splendid syrups all at once.
‘Ta-da!’
When the baby sheep bowed exaggeratedly, a black wolf made a huge fuss and applauded.
‘Ehehe!’
Just as Geuru smiled in satisfaction—
‘Hm?’
At the very bottom of the status window, there was a phrase he had never seen before.
[Would you like to spend 100,000 points to unlock the filial skill “Tinkering Filial Factory!”?]
Geuru’s hand tightened.
‘Tinkering…… Filial Factory?’
As a four-year-old S-rank production-type, it was a name he absolutely could not overlook.
“F-factory……!”
Gulp. He swallowed.
But with 100,000 points, he had to raise his mana……!
‘Geuru isn’t interested in things like this……’
So……. he would just take a tiny peek at what it was.