“How come you never tell Daddy?”
“’Cause…….”
Daddy’s reaction algorithm flitted through Geuru’s mind.
Geuru rolled her eyes to the side.
“It’s fun!”
“……!”
For a moment, Jurim was at a loss for words, his mouth falling open.
In the meantime, Kazuki grinned and perched on the edge of the desk.
“My little disciple, Master was really surprised, got it? How did you do it?”
Geuru, who had been sitting with her legs tucked under her, stretched them out and leaned against Kazuki’s side. She smirked, then spoke with mock solemnity.
“I’m the Potato Master.”
“Wow!”
Kazuki threw his head back laughing at the words “Potato Master,” so Jurim kicked his shin.
“Ack!”
“Since Dad’s no fun, tell me everything honestly. What did you do behind Dad’s back? When you used your skill, you extracted it from an S-Rank item. What is it? Where did it come from?”
“Then Daddy’s gotta be honest too.”
“What did I—”
“When you filmed the variety show. Daddy, you snuck out at night.”
“……You weren’t asleep?”
“Mm-hm.”
“…….”
Left with nothing to say, Jurim clamped his mouth shut.
Geuru smirked, as if she had won.
Perhaps because that smile was unbearably smug, Jurim narrowed his eyes to slits, crossed his arms, and drummed his fingers against them like a piano. Watching the two exchange glares, Kazuki covered his mouth with his hand.
“Secretly at night? A—ack!”
Kazuki, kicked in the shin by Jurim yet again, muttered, “Hidoi—that’s awful,” and sniffled back tears.
“Dad…… The glove is broken.”
“The glove?”
“The glove?”
Surprised, Geuru and Kazuki spoke at the same time.
They weren’t the only ones.
Sensing a commotion from the children secretly eavesdropping at the guild master’s office door, Jurim let out a sigh.
“It’s nothing. I went out to stay awake because I was worried something might happen while Geuru was sleeping, and……”
“If so—!”
Geuru cut him off, her voice brimming with worry.
“If the glove breaks, does the master come out?”
The moment those words left her lips, Mephisto—who had been sitting curled up on her head with his eyes closed—opened them.
As the little bird flapped his wings once, Geuru cradled him in her arms.
“Does…… does he come out?”
Mephisto’s father.
The terrifying master of the 99th floor—feared by all, so powerful that not even Jurim could stop him, leaving no choice but to seal him away.
“What would happen then?”
If the master of the 99th floor escaped, what would happen to Daddy?
Her large coral-colored eyes trembled, lost and frightened.
Jurim cupped Geuru’s cheeks with both hands and continued calmly.
“It’s not anything else. I just couldn’t tell you because I was afraid you’d be this scared. It’s okay, you don’t need to be scared. Daddy will somehow—”
At that, Geuru shook her head.
“Geuru is worried about Daddy.”
“…….”
“If Daddy gets hurt, what then? Geuru hates that.”
Before anyone knew it, Geuru’s eyes had grown moist. She pressed her lips together in a sharp pout as if holding back tears and puffed out her cheeks.
Swallowing a laugh at her adorable expression, Jurim spoke softly.
“Even if the master escapes, Daddy won’t be hurt at all. And a friend of Daddy’s will fix the glove.”
“Master will?”
Geuru hurriedly looked at Kazuki.
Kazuki, who had gone rigid ever since hearing Jurim’s story, quickly broke into a gentle smile and put his arm around her shoulder.
“Sure thing. Master will fix Daddy’s glove. Don’t worry.”
“See? No need to worry, so that’s the end of that. Now you’ll tell me too, won’t you?”
Perhaps disappointed that Daddy’s mystery had ended so simply, Geuru pouted.
Looking up at him, she rested her chin on both palms. Jurim called her name gently.
“Geuru.”
“Yeah……”
“Tell Daddy everything. What happened.”
“……That time. When Daddy went out at night…… Geuru met a big sister from Jeju Island.”
“The Jeju Island unnie?”
After hesitating, Geuru brought up the story of a very suspicious sister who handled goldfish and a bad Chinese man rummaging through the cast’s belongings.
“Chuan.”
“It’s Chuan.”
Jurim and Kazuki recalled her at the same time, exchanging glances.
“You should tell Daddy if something like that happens…… What happened to the Metallic Armor Changer?”
“Geuru took it from that bad Chinese mister.”
Saying she had pried it open with a fork like a bottle opener, Geuru took the item out of her inventory and handed it over.
“……Why?”
To Jurim’s incredulous question, Geuru spoke as if embarrassed.
“’Cause Geuru wanted to transform too…….”
“Geuru-chan amazes me every day.”
Jurim and Kazuki checked the item and let out low murmurs.
The bashful yet proud Geuru suddenly gasped.
“Does…… does Geuru have to give it back to that mister?”
“No. You don’t have to return it. This…… you did a good job on this one thing.”
“Really?”
Jurim let out a short laugh like a sigh and stroked Geuru’s head. Her eyes sparkled, and she broke into a bright smile.
“You’re quite the little child bandit.”
“Hmph!”
Jurim lightly pinched the cheek of the beaming Geuru and fell into thought.
A Chinese person who had rummaged through the cast’s belongings.
If so, the target was likely not Chuan but Xuanyue.
Lately, China had been keeping Geuru’s drones in check, and they might have tried to make a move for that reason.
Having thought this far, Jurim looked down at Geuru.
The transformation item that the child had been fiddling with like a toy truly belonged to China.
And this five-year-old had used it to create a potato that would turn the world upside down…….
China, which had been keeping Geuru in check, had ended up handing their own technology over to her instead.
Ha! Jurim let out a hollow laugh, dumbfounded.
China valued honor and overestimated its own strength.
Jurim crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.
“Since we received something like this, we should give something back too.”
“We should?”
As Geuru tilted her head, wondering what they could possibly give, Kazuki hurriedly changed the subject.
“Then, Geuru-chan, did you make this potato with the transformation item?”
“Uh-huh.”
Geuru held the potato in both hands and answered with a beaming smile.
“Ah, so that’s why…….”
Kazuki nodded as if he had finally pieced something together.
While Kazuki repeatedly called her amazing and fiddled with Geuru’s potato, the deep-in-thought Jurim glanced at the guild master’s office door.
“You there. Stop hovering around annoyingly and just come in.”
At that, Gidan—who had been hiding—flinched in surprise, opened the door, and entered the guild master’s office.
“Y-yes…….”
Standing awkwardly with his hands behind his back, Gidan bowed deeply at a 90-degree angle upon seeing Kazuki.
“A-ah, hello. Hunter Amakusa, sir.”
“Hello. You’re Hunter Gidan, right? I saw you a lot in the raid videos. You’re even more handsome than on screen~”
“Really?”
Having been told every day that he was handsome, Gidan would ordinarily have made some blasé remark, but for some reason his face brightened right up.
Then he showed an oddly awkward reaction.
“C’mon, rather than me, Amakusa hyu— Ah, I mean, Hunter-nim is truly handsome and cool and makes swords so well…….”
Geuru’s mouth fell open in astonishment at Gidan’s shy demeanor, and Jurim burst into a short laugh.
Kazuki was, without a doubt, the greatest swordsmith alive; swordsmen everywhere were desperate to wield even a kitchen knife he’d sharpened, so it was hardly surprising.
Jurim directed his gaze beyond the door.
“Sereuhi, you too.”
“…….”
At that, Sereuhi—who had been holding his breath and hiding—shuffled inside.
“See? I told you you couldn’t hide. People with super senses have different detection ranges, didn’t I say?”
Gidan grinned sheepishly and pointed to himself and Jurim. Sereuhi clicked his tongue and turned his head.
“You’re the one who got caught first, dummy.”
“No, why are you distorting it like that?”
As soon as the two revealed themselves, they began to bicker, and Jurim let out a sigh.
“Geuru’s here.”
“Sir.”
“…….”
Looking at the high schoolers who had barely closed their mouths, Jurim twisted his lips in exasperation. He felt like he was raising two more children on top of everything else.
Reading his expression, Kazuki burst out laughing, “Hahaha.”
Taking a deep breath, Jurim gave orders to Gidan and Sereuhi, who stood with their hands behind their backs.
“Relay this: all other teams’ field duties are canceled for the time being. Only Team 1 will be moving.”
“Only us?”
“Yeah. And Team Leader Shin will be moving with Team 1.”
“Why Nayeon noona? Is something big about to blow up?”
“It’s about to blow.”
“Now?”
A strange light flickered in Gidan’s eyes as he sensed something interesting was about to happen.
*
[On Jurim Makes Bold Statement on China’s Metallic Armor Changer: “Nothing More Than an Amusing Toy”]
[‘Doan Gnovation’ Begins Discussions to Mass-Produce China’s Metallic Armor Changer as an ‘Infant Toy’…….]
[Guild Master On on China’s Metallic Armor Changer: “Our Daughter Likes It…… ‘5-Year-Old Level’”]