Soon after, the boy whispered in a terribly annoyed tone.
“My lord, shall I stab him?”
“You idiot. Not yet.”
Taemin, his eyes trembling, tried to stop the children.
“H-Hey, guys. You can’t do this. It’s wrong.”
“But……”
At that moment, the children were hoisted up by Serhi.
“Are you insane? What are you, robbers?”
Gru rolled her eyes around.
“W-We…… might be robbers of justice…….”
“What does justice have to do with robbery? This is why the Supreme One gets scolded by Onjurim!”
“……Huff!”
Gru was flailing with all her might when—
“What the. You’re good at Korean.”
“…….”
“Liar Serhi.”
Taemin gave a disbelieving little laugh and turned to leave.
“Haa…….”
When Serhi sighed, Gru spoke as if to comfort him.
“You’re not a liar. Seruhi oppa can’t speak Korean. You lose to Gru at dictation too.”
“Will you be quiet?!”
“Hiiing……!”
“No, what is it? Did you suddenly want an earring?”
“Th-That’s not it! That’s Beii’s…….”
Stars appeared in Beilak’s eyes.
“What humans possess originally belongs to me.”
For an instant, the temperature around them dropped chillingly.
Sealed or not, the pressure of an SSS-rank was still more than enough.
How on earth did she pick up something like this…… Anyway, this kid really is something too.
Serhi, freshly astonished, looked around and said,
“Stop it. There are a lot of people here. ……But that’s yours?”
“Yes. It is an object harmful to humans. It is better not to carry it.”
“Then why are you trying to rob him?”
“Then can Beii say he’s actually an SSS-rank monster and that it’s his?”
“That’s absolutely not allowed.”
“Thas why we’re robbers of justice.”
So it had been a heartwarming robbery!
As if she had become a knight of justice, Gru solemnly raised her fork.
Serhi let out a deep sigh. He rubbed the back of his neck, thought for a moment, then said,
“I get what you mean. Well, the method is bad, though.”
“……!”
He understood.
As expected, people from Gnosis were different.
The former villain and the current villains briefly found common ground.
Gru happily held out her fist.
“Then oppa, you join—”
Before she could say, “Let’s become accomplices!”
“No.”
“……!”
She thought he understood……!
“Once it’s in someone else’s hands, that thing belongs to them. Don’t do anything stupid and just go home.”
Was all that connection we just had a lie?
Gru puffed out her cheeks.
“You villain.”
“Shut up.”
Serhi tucked Gru under his arm like luggage and started moving.
“If you’re done buying everything, let’s go.”
Mephisto flew along, and Beilak followed behind, lost in thought.
Gru, wriggling as she shifted into Serhi’s arms, spotted the dazed-looking Beilak and grumbled into Serhi’s ear.
“Seruhi dummy. Villain.”
“Don’t. It tickles.”
Serhi pushed Gru’s face away and turned his gaze.
In the direction he looked, Ham Honggi, wearing his hood pulled low like an egg ghost, was hiding behind a pillar while keeping wary watch on Gru.
‘……? Is that supposed to be hiding too?’
The woman standing beside him had taken off her sunglasses and was staring at Serhi in a daze.
‘Ugh!’
Attention from the opposite sex was always burdensome. Serhi furrowed his brow and whipped his head away.
Kang Jei, who had been staring at Serhi’s side profile as if licking it with her eyes, slapped Ham Honggi on the back.
“Hang Hangi, who’s that?”
Ham Honggi, who had a very good idea who “that” referred to, looked the other person over.
“What, the Hyeonak newbie?”
He was a new face who had appeared in Hyeonak Guild’s New Year guild member introduction video, so he had caused quite a stir.
It had also strengthened the rumor that the guild master picked people based on their faces.
Wasn’t he a new student this year? Come to think of it, he would be in the same year as Kang Jei, who had repeated two years.
In case Kang Jei started flirting with Serhi and got tangled up with Gru again, Ham Honggi drew the line in advance.
“You don’t stand a chance, so forget it. Look at his face.”
“……I think I just became a fan.”
But Kang Jei’s eyes had already gone wild.
She really is insane. Annoyed, Ham Honggi tightened the hood strings even more.
Chapter: Variety Show Debut?!
The Chick Class classroom.
While the children sat huddled around the round table, focusing on what the teacher was saying—
‘So this is the latest technology?!’
Gru scanned the battery of the watch she had bought with her cell phone.
After diligently rotating the exploded assembly diagram, Gru stuck out her lips and tilted her head.
‘It’s more than I thought…….’
Lame!
To be sure, Gru’s manufacturing methods were different from those of other creators, so it was hard to use them as reference.
Even for items with the same effect, when other creators had to attach complicated devices, Gru could make them through star candy synthesis. That alone was completely different.
Even taking that into account, there was far too big a gap in efficiency.
If Gru’s mana stone battery had an energy efficiency around 40%, the watch that used the latest technology had an energy efficiency around 5%.
The mana stone inside was top-grade, so it would actually be more useful to pull it out and use it separately.
‘Mm, can I use “Pluck It Right Out”?’
Come to think of it, she had never tried it before.
If “Pluck It Right Out” could extract mana stone energy, that would be incredible.
‘Mana stone’ + ‘star candy extracted from the mana stone’ = if you buy one mana stone, it becomes two!’
This was what she would call “Double Supreme Gru!”
Mana stones and star candies floated all through her head, and Gru grinned broadly as she pictured her happy future.
Since it was class time now, Gru decided she would try using the skill later. Only then did she realize why the Chick Railgun had caused such a huge stir.
If the latest technology could only achieve 5% efficiency from mana stone energy, then for other people to create a railgun that used mana stones as an energy source, the tail would be wagging the dog.
Well, anyway.
Just as Gru was about to tell Uju about Double Supreme Gru—
‘Mm?’
Gru fixed her gaze on Uju, who looked especially wilted today.
Uju was acting strange!
Meanwhile, Uju was blinking hazy eyes as he stared at the teacher.
“Eco-friendly %*$&(&(*$(%…….”
The teacher was explaining with gestures, body language, and even props, but none of the words entered his ears.
Because the fever he had had since morning still had not gone down.
In the end, when break time came, Uju’s head dropped with a thud.
As he quietly let out feverish, colored breaths, a small hand suddenly brushed back his hair.
“Uju, are you sick? Wanna go to the infirmary with Gru?”
“……No, I have to go film now.”
“But you’re this sick?”
“I’m okay. It doesn’t hurt at all.”
That was a lie. His head was so full of heat it felt like it was bubbling and boiling.
“You have a big fever……. Can’t you just rest?”
“I can’t today. It’s Dad’s shoot…….”
He absolutely could not miss his dad’s broadcast.
‘Absolutely.’
As Uju made that vow, Gru tilted her head and asked,
“Is it a show your dad is filming?”
Uju nodded.
Seo Unmo, the producer who had made what people called a smash-hit variety show ten years ago.
That was the phrase that always followed whenever his father was introduced.
Yes, ten years ago.
His father had chased the glory of those days and devoted himself to work day and night.
But that glory showed no sign of returning.
His father came home less and less often.
His mother grew sick of him and left, and the new girlfriend he found waited endlessly for the busy man until, like a withered flower, she gradually lost her vitality and only became sharper.
In that precarious family, Uju had begun balancing work and school from an early age.
‘If I become more established.’
If his network grew wider, if he became a celebrity with tremendous ratings power.
Then wouldn’t he be able to ease his father’s worries?
“But y’know, Uju. Since you’re really sick, I think your dad’ll worry.”
“I don’t think so. If anything……”
Uju hesitated, then spoke with difficulty.
“Dad will be disappointed.”