Shaking his head, Beilak went to look for the remote. As luck would have it, that was the day a C-rank zombie movie was newly added to the streaming service.
It was a story about zombie hamsters roaming around in swarms and gobbling up people, until a mecha hamster created by a genius scientist appeared to fight back.
‘You can’t pass up zombie hamsters.’
Beilak turned on *Hamster Zombie vs. Hamster Mecha*, which was being promoted on the streaming service’s main screen.
He had been eagerly awaiting the opening, looking forward to indulging in the hamster eating show of his dreams, when—
“Ah!”
Hearing the sound, Gru came running over with pattering footsteps and snatched away the remote.
“Baiii, I told you zombies were forbidden!”
“Muuu!” (Not this one!)
“Beep-beep-beep-beep!”
Mephisto mocked him again, and tears welled up in Beilak’s eyes.
*
Meanwhile, while watching TV at home, Uju froze on the channel as if hypnotized when a familiar chick drone appeared at a demonstration.
The caption on the screen read something along the lines of *The World’s First Railgun Equipped with a Drone*.
“……?”
Without realizing it, Uju neatly knelt down and concentrated.
The chick drone that had been scribbling around in the dirt at kindergarten was firing something astonishing.
As he watched footage of the railgun’s projectile, filmed with a high-speed camera, Uju tilted his head.
‘What did Gru do?’
Uju had sat there gaping until the news ended, then immediately picked up his phone and sent a message.
What did you say your Hunter rank was again?
Gru
S-rank!
Ah, this is a secret
You mustn’t tell anyone
Okay? Promise
Got it. I won’t tell anyone.
Gru
(a squirrel giving a thumbs-up emoji)
After replying nonchalantly, Uju stared at Gru’s squirrel emoji and reread the letter S over and over.
‘S?’
As the reality of it suddenly sank in, gooseflesh rose all over his body.
‘S-rank?!’
That was the day Uju first learned that Gru was S-rank.
Chapter: Beilak’s Star
After the invention of the chick drone, which had completely disregarded all the limitations of existing technology—
Gru ended up with one more rule to follow.
Never go outside alone, whether from home or the company!
It was common enough for reporters or paparazzi to latch onto him, but there were many other eyes watching as well, so he had been warned to be careful—extremely careful.
From countless places that were impossible to pinpoint, people were watching the every move of On Jurim and those around him.
And so, the person accompanying Gru today to protect him was…
“Why are you buying another watch? You could just buy a magic stone. I really don’t get it.”
It was Serhi.
On their way to the watch store in the luxury department store, Serhi spoke while chewing gum noisily.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk!” Gru shook his head.
“They say the technology inside watches like these is super-duper amazing!”
The child held up the watch strapped around his wrist.
Buying a top-grade magic stone was easy, but increasing the efficiency of energy conversion required highly advanced technology.
Even if you owned a top-grade magic stone, it would be terribly cost-inefficient if you could only use one percent of its mana.
“Ahhh—”
Only then did Serhi nod.
Gru smiled proudly as he looked at his pupil, who understood ten things after being taught one.
‘I can’t take apart the watch Daddy gave me, after all.’
He planned to buy a new watch and fiddle around with it.
He might be able to extract something useful from it—or perhaps gain some ideas.
The two were just entering the watch hall, lined with shops stretching as far as the eye could see, when Gru began swinging his hands back and forth excitedly.
Serhi pulled Gru into his arms and gave his cheek a firm squeeze.
“Uuuu~~~!”
Gru squirmed, and Serhi chuckled before suddenly looking toward the restrooms.
‘Huh?’
His expression looked quite serious, so Gru raised the end of his sentence.
“Oppa, uee? (Oppa, what’s wrong?)”
“Gru, you’re going to that watch store over there, right?”
Nod, nod.
“Go on ahead and start shopping.”
Serhi released Gru and headed straight for the restroom.
Although he had told him to go ahead, Gru remained rooted to the spot, deep in thought.
‘What could be in the restroom?’
He had been told there might be eyes watching them wherever they went.
Usually, when animations or dramas referred to “eyes,” they meant—
‘Assassins or spies…!’
Thump, thump!
It was just like a situation from an action movie.
Curious, Gru glanced around and cautiously tried to follow after Serhi.
Just then, Serhi abruptly turned around.
He pointed toward the watch store. The gesture was so sharp that it seemed to mean he absolutely must not follow.
‘Hmph.’
In the end, Gru trudged into the watch store.
*
Inside the newly opened premium department store.
Ham Honggi wandered between the luxury shops, yawning so hard his mouth nearly split.
Why did this guy insist on meeting in a place like this? He had only been back in the country for three days.
His kindergarten classmate, Kang Je-i.
She had enjoyed a life of debauchery alongside Ham Honggi until she was sent to study in the United States at the end of her first year of high school, like an exile.
She had failed to escape her hedonistic lifestyle even there and was expelled from school, causing her to repeat two full years.
Ham Honggi had just spotted Kang Je-i and was about to greet her when he saw the person beside her and stopped short.
The child standing beside her had placed a hand on the same product as his friend and was staring her down in silence.
‘…Why is that little brat here?’
He rubbed his eyes several times, but the four-year-old—no, five-year-old—with beige platinum-blond hair was unmistakably his master.
‘Damn it!’
At the joy(?) of encountering his master, Ham Honggi pulled his hood over his head and yanked the drawstrings tight, covering his face until he looked like an egg ghost.
‘Why does she have to be here of all places?!’
He was just reaching for his phone to secretly call Kang Je-i away when she chose the same item at the next display and stared at Gru in silence, as though engaged in a battle of wills.
Then she spoke first.
“Hey, baby! Why do you keep following me and picking up the things I pick up? Do you know how much this costs? How much?”
She fired the words at him like a chattering sparrow.
Gru glared at her, huffing steam through his nose.
“Twenty million won! Gru can read numbers too.”
“What’s the point of just reading? You need fucking money to buy it. This is expensive, so go over there and find your mommy. Got it?”
Her oily pronunciation and clumsy English, distinctive of the spoiled daughter of a wealthy family fresh back from having a grand time abroad, were embarrassingly blatant.
Gru stared straight into Kang Je-i’s eyes.
“Hmm?”
“……What? Why?”
Then, with the complete innocence unique to a child, he voiced his curiosity.
“But, noona, why do you speak English so strangely?”
“W-What do you mean, strangely! I only just got back to Korea. I haven’t adjusted yet, so it sometimes slips out…”
Looking down at Gru, she switched back to fluent Korean.
Watching her secretly, Ham Honggi was horrified.
She must have suddenly thought that, since Gru looked mixed-race, he might be particularly well-versed in English.
Gru had done nothing at all, but feeling embarrassed for no reason, she crossed her arms and began to sneer.
“Well, seriously. Is this really the luxury VIP section? Even a brat like this can wander in and out.”
When she began grumbling for no reason, Gru stuck out his lips in a pout.
Kang Je-i crossed her arms and looked Gru up and down through her sunglasses.
“What are you going to do if you act cute? Do you even have money?”
At Je-i’s contemptuous tone, Gru’s shoulders began to tremble.
“Gru has money too!”