*
“These days, with the development of gate detectors, there have been far too many people illegally raiding dungeons.”
At the head of the Investigation Team for Awakened Affairs, Jin Siwon nodded in agreement.
“Exactly. There still aren’t any clues about the people who raided the S-grade dungeon that appeared at Justitia International School, are there?”
“No. It’s a major case, so we’ve been investigating continuously, but we haven’t made any progress. I’m embarrassed to say.”
“Not at all. We haven’t made any progress either.”
“Haha, since you’ve come all this way, why don’t you look around while having some coffee?”
“Thank you.”
Jin Siwon accepted the instant coffee the investigation team leader handed him.
Just then, a handcuffed man entered the office, shouting at the top of his lungs.
“Does it make any sense for the government to manage every dungeon? Is this a communist country or what?!”
He seemed to be one of the dungeon raiders who had been arrested this time.
Following the noisy man, his party members filed into the office in a line.
The investigation team leader sighed and clutched his head.
“I’m telling you, there’s more than one of these guys. Why do they have so many excuses for breaking the law? It’s enough to drive me crazy.”
Jin Siwon took a sip of coffee and smiled at the team leader’s words, but then his eyebrows shot up.
“…?”
He had spotted some children toddling in behind the illegal raiders.
Boys with white and black hair. And one girl at the very end.
His gaze fixed on the last child to enter.
Recognizing the doll-like, pale face beneath beige-tinted platinum-blond hair, Jin Siwon’s shoulders flinched.
While Jin Siwon stood frozen, the one who stepped forward was the investigation team leader, his face twisted fiercely.
“What the hell, you bastards? Did you kidnap them too?”
“How many times do I have to tell you? That’s not it! The kids were already raiding the dungeon when we went in!”
At the man’s aggrieved protest, Gru sniffed, tears brimming in his eyes.
“I didn’ do nuffing….”
“You made the kid cry? Why is a child even in a dungeon?”
“No! I’m telling you, it’s true! Tell him, kid. You were already in there first, weren’t you?”
“Waaah! I didn’ do nuffing…!”
“You crazy bastard!”
The police in the office grew furious, accusing the man of even laying hands on a child. The man shouted as though he was going mad from injustice, while the child bawled his eyes out.
In an instant, the office had turned into complete chaos.
Jin Siwon stiffly turned his face and looked into the man’s eyes.
“We found an unregistered dungeon and went inside, but the kids were already there. And there wasn’t a living monster in sight.”
The truth.
“The girl at the very end was harvesting the monsters’ items with a fork!”
The truth.
“The boss was already dead, too! They must’ve done something!”
The truth.
Every word was true.
But no one believed a criminal’s words, and there was only one person who knew the truth.
Jin Siwon, who had read the man’s thoughts.
Jin Siwon had to make a quick decision.
“Gru, are you all right?”
“Mister… Sniff!”
“It’s okay. Don’t cry.”
“Hic.”
When Gru drew in a breath, Jin Siwon gently patted his small shoulder.
The investigation team leader was about to add child abduction to the man’s charges, so Jin Siwon hurriedly stopped him and said,
“I know the children’s guardian, so I’ll take them to the Management Bureau. The child seems very frightened, so I’ll conduct a witness interview myself and relay exactly what happened to you separately.”
Having fired off the words in rapid succession, Jin Siwon didn’t even wait for a proper answer. He scooped up Gru and the other children and ran outside.
*
Inside a conference room at the Management Bureau.
“……”
“……”
“……”
The children sat in a row in the order of Mephisto, Gru, and Beilak.
Mephisto blinked as he looked around in wonder, Beilak propped his chin on his hand while yawning, and Gru had his head bowed deeply.
“Here, have some cocoa.”
Jin Siwon made cocoa and set it in front of the children. Gru grasped the cup with both hands and gulped it down.
“Sniff!”
After setting the cup on the table and sucking back his runny nose, Gru gave Jin Siwon an awkward smile.
At the sight of it, tears welled up in Gru’s eyes once again.
Keeping his eyes gently fixed on Gru, Jin Siwon read the thoughts racing chaotically through the child’s mind.
‘S-grade crafting type, SSS-grade monster, Jjapso, illegally raiding an unregistered dungeon… The second time?’
Jin Siwon wiped away Gru’s tears and said, doing his best to conceal his bewilderment,
“Gru, you need to tell me the truth. That way, I can help you.”
Nod, nod.
“Have you ever raided a dungeon like this before, at kindergarten?”
In the end, tears began to spill from Gru’s eyes.
“Yesh… Sob!”
Jin Siwon squeezed his eyes shut as he wiped away Gru’s tears.
He had thought that the group that had swiftly raided the S-grade dungeon and vanished must have been a large, powerful organization.
‘Who would’ve thought they were kindergarteners?’
His mind was reeling from shock and confusion.
On Jurim—what on earth had he been raising?
But he couldn’t simply stand around being surprised.
“You know, Gru. You solved a quiz at the Management Bureau before and even received a prize, right?”
“Yesh….”
“You can’t just raid a dungeon whenever you want. You know that, right?”
Nod, nod.
“Then why would a good boy like you do something like that?”
“Gru had sumthin’ he wanted… Sob! But nobody would go to the dungeon with Gru… Waaaah…!”
Jin Siwon patted Gru’s back as the child hiccuped for breath.
Nobody would go into a dungeon with him…. It was so obvious that Jin Siwon had nothing to say.
“Did you raid it with these friends?”
As he asked, Jin Siwon looked at the children sitting on either side of Gru.
Neither seemed to have any idea what they had done wrong. No matter how he looked into their eyes, Jin Siwon couldn’t read anything.
If that was the case, then perhaps they had used items of a grade too high for him to read.
‘Or maybe both of them have incredibly high grades….’
Were these children the SSS-grade monsters he had brought back from Jeju Island?
Jin Siwon tensed without realizing it, and Gru reached out toward the children.
“Sniff! Mephi, Bai. Come here.”
At once, the children transformed into a white baby bird and an ugly hamster, climbing onto Gru’s head and shoulder.
“…!”
Jin Siwon blinked in surprise.
Those two had been the pets Gru always carried around?
Even if Gru was an S-grade crafting type, was it possible to make animals cross freely between animal and human forms like this?
Jin Siwon was left speechless at the unbelievable sight before his eyes when Gru asked,
“Mister. Am I going to the children’s prison? Hic! Because Gru arrested Lazy Mister too?”
Jin Siwon let out a groan and forced an awkward smile.
A children’s prison….
He might possess extraordinary power, but Gru was still a child.
Come to think of it, that was why Jurim had gone to such lengths to keep him hidden.
If Gru’s abilities became known to the world, countless dangerous incidents would occur as people targeted the child.
He might even suffer something as terrible as Serhi had.
Jin Siwon lowered his gaze and brushed his thumb across Gru’s cheek.
“You won’t have to go to a children’s prison.”
At his gentle voice, Gru stopped crying for a moment.
“Really?”
Jin Siwon gave him a faint smile.
For now, he had to settle the case of the illegal S-grade dungeon raid himself in order to conceal the child’s abilities.
“Instead, I’ll make you an honorary member of the Management Bureau.”
“A woof-woof member?”
“That’s right. It means that Gru is now a member of the Management Bureau too.”
“……!”
Gru blinked, unexpectedly bestowed with an official title.
“An honorary member of the Management Bureau has to be especially good at following the law, right?”
“Yes…!”
“Then can you raid dungeons recklessly, or can’t you?”
“Can’t dooo… Sniff!”
“Good job. Now I’ll take you home. Is that okay?”
Gru bobbed his head up and down.
With a small smile, Jin Siwon took Gru’s hand and stepped out of the conference room.
As they were about to pass through the corridor, a boy wearing thick, oversized glasses brushed past them.
For an instant, Jin Siwon felt the boy’s gaze from behind the lenses.
When he turned to look, the boy pulled his cap down firmly and lowered his head.
At the same time, Gru sniffed and said,
“Sniff! Mister. You really can’t tell Daddy.”
Jin Siwon smiled, bent down, and wiped away his runny nose.
“I won’t tell him.”
“Really?”
“But you can’t do it again. Got it?”
“Yes… Promise.”
Gru held out his pinky, and Jin Siwon readily hooked his own around it.
“I promise.”
After the promise was sealed perfectly with a copy and coating, Gru smiled brightly before turning around without thinking.
The boy with the thick glasses who had just passed them was nowhere to be seen.
Gru tilted his head in puzzlement as he turned back and continued walking, holding Jin Siwon’s hand.
The moment their eyes had met, he had felt something strange—like a sudden spark!
‘Why?’
After pondering briefly, Gru continued following Jin Siwon.
At that moment, Yulian circled around the corridor and leaned his back against the wall, peeking out with his arms crossed.
At the end of his gaze were Jin Siwon and Gru’s retreating figures.
Yulian quietly furrowed his brow.
‘Dominic?’
Dominic’s trace had clearly ended with the child.