“Watch your mouth in front of the kid.”
“Yes, sir……”
Gidan, whose spirit had been crushed in an instant, bowed his head like a criminal.
Geuru, who had been staring blankly, stored away the words she wasn’t supposed to use.
“And, Geuru.”
Hic!
“You’re banned from watching TV for a week.”
“Guild Mashter…… Nooo……”
Geuru turned white and shook her head. Anything but that……
But Jurim cut her off mercilessly.
“Yes.”
Geuru’s eyes darted wildly, then she cupped her face in both hands like Gidan had done earlier.
“Eeeeng—”
As Geuru drooped the corners of her mouth and swayed her body, Jurim’s shoulders flinched.
“……Still no.”
Just as Jurim was forcing himself to turn his head away—
He suddenly reached out toward Gidan.
Thud!
Gidan’s body lost its balance, and Jurim caught him, supporting him.
Gasp! Geuru sucked in a breath.
*
“D-Dani oppa died……!”
Geuru stared at Jurim with wide eyes. As if to say, You did it.
Jurim, who had been checking Gidan’s condition, frowned at her.
“What’s with those eyes?”
“Dani oppa didn’t wanna go to the pwomo team……”
“You mean the PR team.”
After confirming Gidan’s condition, Jurim called an ambulance, and soon the ambulance carried Gidan away.
Jurim said briefly that Gidan had only fallen asleep for a while due to exhaustion and potion poisoning, and that there was no need to worry, then put on his eye mask.
‘Dani oppa gets to ride the wee-woo.’
Geuru pressed herself against the window and gazed enviously at the ambulance carrying Gidan away.
“Oh, tomorrow after kindergarten, we’re going to buy a bed for your room. We’ll replace all the furniture too.”
Geuru trotted over to Jurim and said,
“Huh? Geuru has a bed in Geuru’s room.”
“That’s mine. We’ll buy you a tiny little baby bed that fits your height. Something bean-sized.”
Bean-sized……. When she stuck out her lower lip, Jurim lowered his eye mask, laughed, and tugged at her lips.
“It’s your room. Pick whatever you like.”
My room……. Geuru fidgeted with both hands in excitement.
“But children grow fast. When Geuru turns five, the bed might get too small.”
Children had to wear big clothes whose sleeves came down to their fingertips. They’d grow quickly, and the clothes would become too small.
Beds would be the same. An extremely small child’s bed would obviously stop fitting her in no time.
But Jurim replied indifferently.
“Then we’ll buy one a little bigger. One the size of a baseball.”
Geuru, having grown from a bean to a baseball, burst into giggles.
“What if Geuru gets as big as a soccer ball?”
“Hmm. I don’t think you’ll get that big.”
Clang—!
Geuru, a baseball forever?
“When that happens, I’ll buy you a bed the size of a soccer field.”
“……That’s okay?”
“Of course.”
Jurim picked Geuru up, set her on his stomach, and leaned back in his chair. Then he lowered his eye mask again.
As his vision darkened, the phone call with the orphanage director lingered by his ear.
—We don’t usually tell people about records like this……
At the unpleasant thought, Jurim grimaced and opened his eyes.
—I’m not telling you because I have no choice…… It’s just, when we tell people a child has a history of a dissolved adoption, some assume there’s something wrong with the child. But that’s not true. What did the child do wrong? Did the children ever have a say? Adults take them as they please, then return them as they please. It’s all the adults’ fault……
—Geuru was adopted by her previous family and lived with them for about three months.
—When her adoptive mother took her from the orphanage, she was just dripping honey from her voice, saying Mommy would love her. Geuru followed her so well, calling her Mommy, Mommy…… Back then, I thought the child was going to a good home.
—That child came back after three months.
The middle-aged couple had brought the child back, dabbing at their tears as they said their hearts ached and they were sorry things had turned out this way.
With truly kind-looking faces, they said they were going to have a child now, and they thought it would be hard for Geuru to adjust, so they had brought her back. They wanted to help her find a family that could love her more.
—When I asked Geuru what had happened, she said that one day, Mommy told her to call her “auntie.” That there was a baby in Auntie’s belly.
The director was unable to continue for a long while.
“……I’m listening. Please continue.”
—They weren’t exactly bad people. It wasn’t as if they intended to hurt the child…… It was probably because they knew they had to send her back now. Well, they did say they had waited for a child for so long, so a blood-related child they’d finally conceived must have been precious to them.
He let out a deep sigh.
—I understand how they felt…… But still, I can’t help wondering if they really had to do that to the child.
This must have been the anxiety underlying Geuru’s words about possibly going back to the orphanage.
—I’m sorry to say this, but even if Geuru can’t accept you as family, please wait just a little, Guild Master. The child probably just still needs certainty…… She’s really smart and kind. Pretty, good, and lovable, and she’s awakened too…… If you just give her a little time—
“I understand, Director.”
—Pardon?
“I’ll make an effort regarding the child, so you don’t have to worry.”
People often became frighteningly cruel.
Sometimes, he felt that human malice was sharper than the disasters of the Tower.
Before he knew it, his drowsiness had vanished and his mind was in disarray. He took a deep breath, trying once again to calm the anger boiling inside him.
Then, at the sudden rush of baby scent, the tension drained out of him.
As if singing a lullaby, he patted Geuru’s back and said slowly,
“When you grow, your room can grow little by little too.”
Filling it one thing at a time with what was yours, so you could feel that you were a member of this home.
Geuru leaned into his arms and closed her eyes.
Fluffy clouds billowed up, became a bean-sized bed, grew to the size of a baseball, and eventually evolved into the size of a soccer field.
‘Are there beds the size of soccer fields?’
A huge bed she wouldn’t fall off even if she rolled three times sounded fun too.
As Geuru slept in Jurim’s arms, she dreamed of playing soccer on a bed.
*
The next day, after Gidan’s hospitalization was decided.
Geuru placed a piece of star candy into each syrup bottle arranged in a circle like dominoes.
Plop, plop, plop, plop, plop……
One piece of star candy went into each of the dozens of syrup bottles.
In the past, synthesizing all the lined-up syrups one by one would have drained both her mana and stamina entirely……
[Activating skill “Skilled Knead-Knead.”]
When she cast the skill, the star candies dissolved into the syrup bottles all at once, turning them red.
“Heh. Heh. Heh!”
This was how Knead-Knead’s skill grade had risen.
Thanks to Knead-Knead, she could now synthesize things all at once.
‘Geuru can mass-produce now too!’
“Hyaaah—”
As Geuru closed the lids on the lined-up syrup bottles, she repeatedly marveled at her own growth.
And that wasn’t all.
[Strawberry-Flavored Syrup (B)]
Heals external wounds and restores stamina.
*Children should be careful not to get addicted to sweetness!
B-rank recovery potion!
The potion grade most commonly purchased by high-ranking Hunters was B-rank.
Potions of A-rank or higher had worse cost-effectiveness compared to B-rank in terms of rarity and price.
But if one used potions of too low a grade, they had to be consumed more frequently, increasing the chance of potion poisoning.
‘Like Dani oppa……’
Thinking of Gidan, who had been taken to the hospital, Geuru packed the B-rank syrups into her quokka crossbody bag. She intended to take them with her when she visited him.
‘Mm. I should sell the C-rank ones.’
As with other skills, potion-making didn’t always succeed perfectly, so quite a few C-rank syrups remained.
[Excellent Strawberry-Flavored Syrup (C)]
Heals external wounds and restores stamina.
Geuru narrowed her eyes as she looked at the modifier “Excellent.”
‘Something a little weird got added to the front, but……’
It said excellent, so it should be fine.
‘Probably.’