“Is our kid a genius?”
Held in On Ijo’s arms, Geuru had question marks popping up all over her head.
A genius? All of a sudden?
“U-Uncle. Geuru hafta go. I gotta go find Yurian.”
“Already?”
On Ijo let go of the squirming Geuru and rose to his feet, brushing himself off.
“Then Uncle will go with you.”
On Ijo firmly took Geuru’s hand.
Geuru glanced up at him, then tried to subtly shake her hand free.
But he looked like he had absolutely no intention of letting go.
What should she do?
“……Daddy said.”
When Geuru mumbled, On Ijo tilted his head.
“Said what?”
“Uncle is incompetent, so don’t cause trouble and just stay here…….”
“Ahaha! Jurim, honestly……”
“He’s wrong?”
“He’s right.”
“Incompetent?”
“Mm-hm.”
On Ijo smiled awkwardly.
“Then you hafta stay here. Geuru will go quick by herself and come back.”
“But Uncle gets scared when he’s alone.”
“Because you’re incompetent?”
“Yeah. What if scary people come rushing in while Uncle’s alone? You could get kidnapped like Yurian.”
“Gasp!”
“The world’s greatest supreme Hunter Geuru has to protect Uncle.”
“Gaaasp!”
On Ijo mercilessly attacked Geuru with phrases that struck right at her heart.
World’s greatest! Supreme Hunter!
Geuru’s lips twitched.
“Th-Then we hafta go and come back without getting caught. They said it’s a secret that Uncle’s here.”
The reason On Ijo was shut up in the hospital room was partly for all sorts of examinations, but also because the agreement on his public reveal had not yet been finalized.
From the government’s perspective, they would want to reveal On Ijo when it was most advantageous to them, and On Jurim was currently moving around for that very negotiation.
As for On Ijo himself, the person actually involved, anything was fine with him.
“Of course.”
His daughter said they had to go without getting caught, so that was what they had to do.
He accepted the star-shaped sunglasses and Teenieping mask that Geuru rummaged out and handed to him.
*
Peek.
Peek.
Geuru and On Ijo opened the hospital room door a crack and poked their heads out.
One bodyguard was standing guard in front of the elevator a short distance from the room.
It was to confirm the identities of people entering the VIP rooms.
Geuru had to be checked every time she came to the room too.
The problem was that they checked not only when visitors came in, but also when they left.
Especially if On Ijo tried to leave……
‘Stop right there!’
Geuru imagined the bodyguard’s face as he sharply blocked On Ijo’s path.
When the spy ladybug buzzed off toward the elevator, the bodyguard stared at it, fascinated.
The ladybug’s head blinked. It was searching for Yurian’s scent while tracking Geuru’s location.
“Looks like we have to take the elevator.”
“Shh!”
Geuru looked up at On Ijo and pressed her index finger to her lips.
Shh, On Ijo copied, then nodded.
He was right. They had to take the elevator.
But to do that, they first had to shake off the bodyguard mister.
Geuru rummaged through her bag and took out a duck toy.
Seeing On Ijo’s curious gaze, Geuru gave him a mischievous smile, set the duck toy on the floor, and rolled it.
Roll, roll, roll.
The duck toy rolled all the way to the bodyguard’s feet and craned its head up.
The bodyguard flinched when his eyes met the duck toy’s bizarre eyeballs.
“……?”
Just then, Geuru stuck her head out through the door.
“Mister! Please pick up Geuru’s toy!”
“Uh…… just a moment.”
The bodyguard moved his foot to grab the duck.
Then—
Roll.
The duck rolled to the opposite side of the elevator.
“……?!”
Each time the bodyguard took one step, the duck rolled once.
When he took two steps, the duck rolled twice.
It looked as though it were deliberately teasing him.
In the end, when the bodyguard strode after it, the duck rapidly rolled away, roll-roll-roll, and began fleeing to the other side of the elevator.
Geuru waited obediently.
For the bodyguard to pass by the door and quickly chase after the duck!
And once he had gotten far away from the elevator, Geuru grabbed On Ijo’s hand and slipped out of the hospital room.
Tap-tap-tap!
The two of them ran to the elevator.
“Uh—!”
A nurse sitting at the ward desk pointed at the two of them.
At that, the bodyguard whipped around.
When he saw Geuru and On Ijo getting into the elevator, he began running toward them with a startled expression.
“H-Hunter On Ijo! You mustn’t go out!”
Toward the bodyguard who was urgently spilling out words, On Ijo gently waved his hand.
Beside him, Geuru, growing frantic, repeatedly mashed the elevator’s close button.
[The doors are closing.]
The elevator doors were closing, but the bodyguard’s sprint was faster than expected.
It seemed like they would be caught before the doors fully shut.
‘A-Are we failing?!’
Just as Geuru sensed failure—
On Ijo lowered his sunglasses for a moment.
The instant the bodyguard met On Ijo’s eyes, which had turned coral-colored, he slowed as if in slow motion.
And so, before the bodyguard’s hand could touch the elevator doors—
[Going down.]
The doors closed safely.
Beyond the closed doors, Geuru blinked.
What had just happened?
“What a relief, right?”
“But the bodyguard mister got kinda slow.”
“Running must have been tiring for him.”
Maybe the bodyguard mister was weaker than she’d thought.
Geuru was once again certain that bringing On Ijo with her had been the right choice.
She couldn’t entrust her incompetent uncle to such a frail bodyguard mister.
There might be a villain in the hospital who had kidnapped Yurian, and if she left him there alone, he would be kidnapped like Yurian too.
‘I’ll protect Uncle!’
Geuru huffed through her nose and tightly held On Ijo’s hand.
“You hafta hold Geuru’s hand tight while we walk. You can’t get lost.”
On Ijo smiled brightly and nodded.
“Okay. I won’t let go.”
Geuru even laced her fingers through his large hand and looked up at the elevator floor numbers.
She had pressed the first floor for now, but was this right?
The ladybug circling above her head couldn’t tell her what floor to go to.
Would they have to check each floor, one by one? Just as Geuru was pondering this—
On Ijo pressed the third floor and the fifth floor at the same time.
“Huh?”
When Geuru looked up at On Ijo, he pointed at the buttons and said,
“If you look here, there’s no fourth floor, right?”
“Yeah.”
“That means the fourth floor must definitely be hidden.”
“Um……?”
Geuru had already been told the explanation that “since this is a hospital, they simply label the fourth floor as the fifth floor instead.”
“So if we do this, don’t you think we can go to the fourth floor?”
Seeing On Ijo smile calmly with his eyes, Geuru’s mouth fell open.
‘What do I do?’
Geuru looked pitifully at On Ijo, who seemed puzzled as to why she was making that face.
‘Uncle…… They said he lost his memories, but I guess he got a little dumb too.’
“Why?”
When she only kept staring at him for a while, On Ijo asked.
To protect the feelings of her incompetent and now-dumb uncle, Geuru nodded.
“Mm-hm. I think we can go. To the fourth floor.”
Geuru quickly wiped away her tears.
‘It’s probably better if Geuru pretends not to know.’
If the third floor came up, they could get off and pretend they’d arrived on the fourth floor.
At last, the elevator passed the fifth floor and stopped with a rattling sound.
Ding!
[Fourth floor.]
Geuru’s mouth opened wide.
“……?!”
You really could go to the fourth floor by pressing the third and fifth floors at the same time?