Chapter: Beloved Caregiver Management
Geuru opened the blueprint for the new factory.
A holographic exploded diagram of the factory unfolded before her eyes.
It was slightly more complicated than the potion factory, but still well within a level she could build.
Geuru followed the blueprint, assembling it piece by piece with Legos.
After clicking the pieces together and completing it, colorful toy machines lined up around the central workbench.
Stations for assembling parts like the head, wings, eyes, and body were connected in a square by a conveyor belt, so from afar, it even looked like a production facility for making rockets.
‘Though they’re actually drones!’
And beside it, she had built a capsule toy machine with a transparent plastic dome, a lever, and an outlet.
Inside the plastic dome were round clumps of cotton, and it was designed so that when the lever was pulled, a cotton clump would transform into ammunition and pop out through the outlet.
When Geuru pulled the lever as a test, a notice appeared saying it would consume filial piety points.
When she pressed confirm, a round chick-shaped aluminum bullet with horn-like brows raised in a V, “Angry Chick,” rolled out.
“Nice!”
Geuru snorted proudly.
A replica of the chick drone!
And with it, the age of auxiliary weapons!
That was Geuru’s ultimate goal—the thing that would become her game changer!
Geuru brought Bear No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3, who had been playing in the potion factory, and stationed them in the drone factory.
“Hooop!”
And at last, the moment she pressed the button for the first production!
[※Warning! The production process for this item is highly complex, so each unit produced will consume ‘10,000’ filial piety points.]
[Would you like to produce it?]
“T-Ten thousand?!”
Geuru’s shoulders trembled.
“H-How many filial points did I have again…….”
The enormous amount of filial piety points made her head spin.
But a child destined for greatness also had to know how to spend.
In any case, she had to try making it, right?
“First, 3……”
[※Warning! Quality may decline due to mass production. Would you like to proceed with production?]
“Y-Yeah.”
Once she had pulled the fork, Geuru did not back down.
Whirrr—
At last, the conveyor belt began to move, and No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 bustled around, starting the assembly.
Judging by the drone pieces being made, they had become quite a bit smaller than the original item.
Was that the quality decline?
The thought lasted only a moment.
Soon, a chick drone revealed its majestic form atop the workbench.
“Hehe. Kuhuhehehe!”
Geuru laughed suspiciously and picked up the drone.
“Geuru isn’t nouveau riche anymore. Now I’m rich……! Hm?”
Had Geuru seen wrong?
She rubbed her eyes once more and opened the information window.
[Mephisto Series Prototype mk.2 (B-)]
“B-B minus?!”
The grade dropped this much?!
When she opened the app and scanned it, there were several changes to the drone.
[Mephisto Series Prototype mk.2 (B-)]
※The quality has declined as the crafted item was commercialized.
*Power is reduced by 20%.
*Recognition range is reduced by 20%.
“Hoom.”
Quality decline, huh……. Geuru stroked her chin in deep contemplation.
It wasn’t necessarily bad for there to be differences between handmade products and mass-produced ones, but……
It was still disappointing.
If this was the case, she wasn’t sure whether people would respond to it the same way they had to the handmade one.
‘Will they like this too?’
It would be nice if she could test it in front of people.
Geuru discreetly checked the app.
Perhaps using the filial piety factory raised proficiency too, because the temperature on the mercury thermometer had gone up a little.
‘15 degrees!’
It seemed that making crafted items like this raised proficiency far more than potions did.
‘Good.’
In any case, if she poured in all her filial piety points and raised her proficiency, she would be able to make even better items.
After making up her mind and fiddling with the filial piety factory for a while, Geuru soon looked at Mephisto and Beilak with teary eyes.
“Geuru’s out of filial piety points again……”
[Filial Piety Points: 0]
It was 0!
Why was filial piety never enough no matter how much she did?
“Hiiing.”
So upsetting.
When Geuru bonked her head against the floor and writhed in agony, Beilak patted her with a hand as tiny as a grain of millet, and Mephisto rubbed his head against the crown of Geuru’s head.
“Piiiiii.”
Then he soon pecked the air with his beak.
At the same time, a quest window opened before Geuru’s eyes.
“Hooong?”
Geuru lifted her head, sniffling.
[Caregiver Quest]
[Let’s perform filial piety by making ‘Serhi’ into a beloved caregiver.]
[Reward: Filial piety points acquired according to people’s favorability toward Serhi]
[Fill the cold mercury thermometer with heat.]
“Was there something like this?”
It seemed like a quest she had never seen before.
After thinking hard about where the quest had come from, she soon clapped her hands together.
“The day we bought the watch!”
“Pip!”
Mephi responded as if she had gotten the answer right.
That day, as she had dangled from Serhi on the way home, something had indeed popped up.
But at the time, she had been upset with Serhi for not trying to help her school friend, so she had simply tapped yes in a rush.
“Hoom.”
Geuru pouted.
It wasn’t as though she had completely forgiven Serhi yet.
But she had to earn filial piety points too……
‘And actually, I hope Serhi Oppa gets lots of friends.’
That was how she honestly felt.
The fact that Serhi only spoke English at school and put up walls against his classmates was something Jurim, Gidan, and Siwon all knew.
Jurim was of the opinion that he should be left to do as he pleased, and Gidan laughed, saying he was still just shy, but Siwon alone secretly wiped away tears with a face full of worry.
‘Mister Hungsam…….’
His younger brother, whom he had barely managed to reunite with, was a grumbler with not a single friend.
‘Poor mister.’
“So Geuru has to help!”
*
Geuru toddled across the central garden of Justitia International School and hid behind a tree.
She was watching Serhi, who had eaten lunch alone in the cafeteria, return to his classroom.
“Hey, Serhi! Going alone? Wanna stop by the school store with us first?”
“No, thanks.”
After swiftly rejecting the offer, Serhi began strolling along again, and Geuru took a notebook out from her arms.
[Serhi Observation Log]
-Ultimate outcast. Only goes around alone.
-Really only speaks English. Totally hates it when friends talk to him.
When a group of classmates began to appear in the distance, Serhi turned all the way around and headed toward the quiet parking lot instead.
He was trying to take a route back without being seen by people.
Why go that far?
As an extrovert who had even gotten the numbers of kids from the class next door on entrance ceremony day, Geuru could not understand it at all and merely gaped.
‘Is this quest even achievable?’
Was this farewell to Geuru’s filial piety points……!
Just as she was feeling terrified.
Serhi’s gaze turned somewhere.
‘Huh?’
Geuru rolled her eyes.
A familiar face.
At the end of Serhi’s gaze stood I Taemin, who possessed Beilak’s magic stone, his head lowered.
“Taemin, hyung is only saying this because I want things to go well for you. Don’t you get it?”
Choe Hyeonu, the guild master of Chase, was speaking to I Taemin as if pleading.
“I know that too. How could I not know? But…… ha—”
I Taemin roughly wiped a hand over his face.
“That doesn’t mean I’m an avatar who exists to fulfill your dream for you.”
“……What?”
Choe Hyeonu’s face flushed bright red.
Perhaps realizing he had misspoken, I Taemin pressed his lips tightly together.
“You little bastard……!”
Choe Hyeonu’s hand rose in agitation, and I Taemin squeezed his eyes shut.
‘He’s going to hit him!’
Geuru reflexively ran out.
She intended to stand in front of him so he could not hit I Taemin.
Smack—!
A tearing sound rang out from the cheek the hand struck.
“……?!”
Geuru lifted her head while dangling in midair.
The one who had swiftly picked her up was Serhi.
And because he had pushed I Taemin away at the same time, Choe Hyeonu had ended up hitting Serhi instead.