“I found you, poacher.”
“Poacher?”
When Gidan asked back, Serhi jerked his chin.
“I’m doing a part-time job for the Administration Bureau. I came to catch that, you dumb bastard.”
“……Oh, yeah? Dani thought my friend was getting scammed by this mister.”
“What?!”
An Sanghoe, suddenly singled out, blinked rapidly. He had absolutely no idea what was going on.
“What on earth is happening……”
Just then, Serhi threw off the sickeningly annoying mascot head, and Gidan also peeled off his patch.
“Mister, I’m sorry for suspecting you. I’ll straighten my shoulders from now on.”
“Gidan?! No……!”
“Friend, my ass.”
While An Sanghoe stammered, Serhi snapped curtly and leaped toward the Divine Legion.
Gidan followed right behind him at lightning speed.
“Hey, that’s a little harsh, isn’t it? Even I get hurt, you know.”
Serhi grabbed the man who seemed to be the leader by the collar and slammed him to the floor, snarling.
“Mind your own business.”
“How am I supposed to mind my own business? We’re even living together.”
“Once this job’s over and I get my license, I’m moving out.”
“Urgh!”
Gidan, likewise subduing the Divine Legion with perfect nonchalance, answered.
“What?! Without even talking to me about it?”
“Aaagh!!”
“Why would I talk to you?”
“Guh!”
“And this job too! You could’ve just told me honestly from the start! Am I wrong?”
“You try to butt into every single thing. Are you my mother or something?”
“No, you son of a……! Hoo……! Hey, are you going to keep talking like that?!”
“So I’m telling you to mind your own business, Mother.”
Gidan, who had been grabbing one of the Divine Legion bastards and shaking him down, arrived in front of Serhi in an instant.
Gidan grabbed Serhi by the collar.
“What are you so dissatisfied with all the time?”
“Open your damn ears. I told you to stop caring about me and stop paying attention to me.”
“Do I get on your nerves that much?”
“Yeah.”
When Serhi slapped his hand away, Gidan bit his lip.
“Fine. Once this is over…… don’t even think about showing up in front of me again. I’m sick of even seeing your face.”
At that, Serhi twisted his lips upward.
“Ha, that’s my line.”
Soon, their skills activated at the same time, and mana erupted like a storm with Serhi and Gidan at its center.
Geuru stared at the two while struggling to keep her bear head from coming off.
‘Wh-what do I do?’
*
The situation was quickly brought under control.
Compared to their triumphant entrance, the poachers were subdued far too easily by the two S-ranks.
Serhi and Gidan growled at each other until the very end even as they took Geuru into the boss room, before eventually falling silent.
Geuru sat all alone at the edge of the boss room and took off her bear head.
Then Gidan and Serhi, who had quickly dealt with the boss, returned to collect Geuru.
“Let’s go, Geuru.”
“Let’s go now.”
“……!”
Caught between them, holding Gidan’s hand in one hand and Serhi’s in the other, Geuru looked back and forth between the two.
“O-oppa.”
“Yeah.”
“What?”
Gidan and Serhi answered at the same time.
From both their voices and attitudes, she could feel their resolve not to care about each other at all.
Geuru gulped.
“It’s just……”
Could she ask them all to play together? In this situation?
With both hands held up as if she were being punished, Geuru stood there helplessly, whining under her breath.
“Serhi, what on earth is going…… Geuru?”
It was Jin Siwon.
He had heard from Yun Arin, a member of the Special Investigations Division, that Serhi was fighting with Gidan and had hurriedly entered the dungeon.
“……Mm.”
He looked around at the three of them, then swiftly picked up the flustered Geuru, left the dungeon, and seated her in the back seat of the car.
“I’ll take you back for now, so both of you get in.”
At his words, Serhi and Gidan opened the doors on opposite sides and took the seats on either side of Geuru.
The poachers the two had thoroughly beaten to a pulp seemed to be left for the Special Investigations Division to handle.
Even in the car on the way back, Geuru sat between the two in the chilly atmosphere and opened her mouth blankly.
It seemed the friend-friend quest was……
A failure.
Chapter: Let’s Go to Jeju Island!
Geuru dropped her head in front of the office that had now become the minors’ study room.
The room with only the desks sitting inside was empty.
“Geuru, they said the oppas are busy again today.”
Seol Yeo-jin, who had been watching Geuru linger, finally spoke up with an awkward expression.
At that, Geuru gripped the strap of her bag tightly and nodded.
In truth, they probably weren’t busy. They simply didn’t want to see each other’s faces.
On the day they caught the poachers.
When they arrived in front of Hyeonak’s company building, Serhi asked an Administration Bureau agent named Yun Arin to find him lodging and refused to get out of the car.
Geuru held Gidan’s hand tightly and looked up at him, but Gidan merely smiled and said that they should go too.
After that, neither of them showed up at the study room.
No matter how long Geuru waited……
‘It might be because of Geuru.’
If Geuru hadn’t asked Gidan oppa to come along that time……
Back then, she never imagined Serhi had taken on work for the Administration Bureau.
Sniffling, Geuru took out a piece of paper and tape from her bag.
Then she taped the paper to the door.
[Temporarily Closed]
“Temporarily” meant not for very long. It was her wish that the oppas’ cold war would not last long.
Seeing the crooked letters written in crayon, Seol Yeo-jin stroked Geuru’s head with a pitiful look.
“Geuru will go today too.”
After bowing, Geuru drooped her shoulders and slowly pedaled her bicycle away.
*
After her last birthday, Geuru had two houses.
She had not completely moved yet because the commute was far, but on weekends, she naturally stayed at the house where her grandfather was.
And this weekend, perhaps because of her grandfather’s company work, Chairwoman Nam was there as well.
“Hello, Chairwoman.”
“Geuru, have you been well?”
Geuru greeted Chairwoman Nam, who doted on her to no end, then sat beside her and speared a piece of fruit brought by the helper auntie with her fork.
On Su-hyeong warmly welcomed Chairwoman Nam and exchanged greetings with her, and before long their conversation naturally slipped into business.
“How is the Jeju Island matter going?”
“It’s quite a large project, so it had better go smoothly.”
She heard things about how Infinity Wave, a major big tech corporation, had decided to rent out the Jeju Island resort Doan had built this time to hold a new product launch event,
and how, because it was an ambitious new release, they had invited a great number of big names from around the world.
‘Jeju Island……’
Letting their conversation go in one ear and out the other, Geuru took a bite of apple mango and chewed.
Then Mephisto strode over with great dignity and opened his mouth wide.
Geuru put the remaining piece into Mephisto’s mouth. When the piece of fruit went in all at once, the white baby bird’s cheeks puffed up roundly.
‘Is he too chubby?’
Hmm. After pondering for a moment, Geuru put one tangerine segment into her bag. The snow rabbit, whose eyes had become as small as the rice dumplings in red bean porridge, ate the tangerine in three bites.
After suffering for several days, it had regained its senses, and the sprout on its head had grown to the size of a fingernail, but it seemed she would have to feed it for quite a while longer before it became plump again like before.
Anyway.
When she checked her tablet, Serhi’s location was still Jeju Island.
Recently, Geuru had been checking Serhi and Gidan’s locations in real time through the “Spy Ladybugs,” hoping that the two might meet by chance.
Though that possibility had become remote once Serhi went off to Jeju Island.
‘Uuum, Jeju Island.’
It seemed the Administration Bureau part-time job Serhi was doing was on Jeju Island this time.
As it happened, her grandfather’s new resort was also on Jeju Island, so it probably wouldn’t be hard to go there.
‘But it’s no use if only Geuru goes……’
Serhi and Gidan had to meet if they were going to make up or at least talk.
‘I should’ve asked them all to play together back then after all.’
She should have said something before the rift deepened this much. She couldn’t help regretting it.
Even if she asked Gidan to go see Serhi now, he surely wouldn’t budge.
As things stood, unless a huge dungeon appeared on Jeju Island, or something interesting enough to make Gidan unable to stay still happened……
Just as Geuru was racking her brain for a way to move Gidan,
Chairwoman Nam, who was looking over the list of event attendees, suddenly said,
“Oh my, Jurim is on here too?”
Dad? At the mention of Jurim’s name, Geuru perked up her ears, and On Su-hyeong lifted his head as if puzzled.
Jurim had also been invited as Guildmaster of Hyeonak and was scheduled to attend this event, but that was not especially unusual.
“Why do you mention that?”
At On Su-hyeong’s question, she gave a meaningful smile.