Soon, his keen senses began to return in fine detail. From the place where he had sensed the movement of magic, the murmur of people reached him clearly.
When he headed straight there, the first thing he saw was a hybrid in a cancan skirt, frozen like a stone statue in front of a wagon.
A hunter was gathering valuables and toys from inside the child’s wagon.
Judging by the situation, the one who had paralyzed the hybrid must have been Geuru’s magic.
The children and visitors were milling about in confusion, while the security guards had formed a circle around someone as if protecting them.
The employee who had been guiding Geuru was nowhere to be seen. Nor was Geuru herself.
Finding Geuru’s watch inside the wagon, Jurim snatched it from the hunter’s hand.
“Ah! Wait a moment! You can’t just take that!”
Lightly ignoring the person trying to stop him, he went out to the lobby and approached a security guard speaking over the radio.
“Second floor and above, all clear.”
Jurim took off his mask and seized the earpiece.
The flustered security guard was just about to grab his hand.
Thud!
“Urgh!”
The security guard’s body was shoved back on its own and slammed into the wall.
“This is On Jurim of Hyeonak. A four-year-old girl went missing just moments ago. So listen carefully and carry out what I say from now on. Evacuate all visitors from the exhibition hall and restrict entry to the amusement park.”
No matter how one looked at it, he was threatening the amusement park, yet the culprit’s voice was astonishingly calm.
The security guard confirmed the face of the man making the threat and stared with his mouth hanging open.
The one calmly threatening an amusement park was On Jurim…….
“From this moment until the child is found, no one can leave this place. If you do not follow my instructions—”
A golden gleam passed through Jurim’s eyes as he looked back at the security guard.
“—I will seal it off myself.”
Gulp. The security guard swallowed dryly.
His opponent was On Jurim. It was as if he could see the dense magic with his own eyes. Sealing it off himself was no empty bluff.
The only first-generation hunter. The conqueror of the Tower. The one who effectively stood above every hunter currently alive.
“Confirm it. That I’m On Jurim.”
Having unilaterally finished speaking, Jurim handed him the earpiece. It meant: confirm that I am On Jurim, and help with my threat.
As he looked at the hesitating security guard, he checked his watch in irritation. His will to wait not even a single second was unmistakable.
“Do as he wants. This boy does what he says he’ll do.”
At that moment, what cut into his hesitation was the voice of an elegant elderly lady.
Jurim turned his head toward the owner of the familiar voice.
The old woman hugged her clutch in front of her and gave Jurim a warm smile.
“You’re still the same, Jurim.”
Jurim let out a deep sigh and checked his watch.
“I’m sorry, but this isn’t the time for leisurely greetings. If the procedure is delayed, I’ll handle it myself.”
In front of the owner of the amusement park, he openly declared that he would blockade her amusement park. At that, she smiled softly.
“Very well. I roughly understand the situation, so let’s postpone our reunion for a little while.”
Once the VIP accepted, a reply from above came quickly.
“If you could give us the child’s name and appearance, we will also make a lost child announcement, Guild Leader On.”
*
—Due to a safety inspection issue, entry and exit will be temporarily restricted. We ask for our customers’ understanding……
—We are looking for Han Geuru. She is a four-year-old mixed-race girl with light blond hair……
All the visitors had been sent out, but he could not sense any trace of the child inside the exhibition hall.
In that case…….
‘Teleportation.’
Teleportation was a skill with many restrictions. If the caster had to move with someone else rather than alone, they would not have been able to go very far.
Judging by the amount of magic used, the range was certainly within the amusement park.
After looking around, Jurim leapt up to the top of the Ferris wheel. As he stepped and climbed several times, people inside the gondolas screamed.
“What the hell, is that a hunter?”
“Ack! Fuck, what is that? I thought it was a movie……!”
Once Jurim reached the top, the amusement park came into view at a glance.
He raised his hyper-senses to their limit. The voices of everyone within his radius flooded in like a tide. At the shock that seemed to strike his ears, he furrowed his brow.
“Who is that up there?”
“A person?”
“A hunter?”
“They said the entrance is blocked now. What do we do?”
“We can’t leave? Why? What happened?”
“Did a dungeon open? Did you get a disaster alert?”
“Hey, fuck! The Cheongnyong Express is so damn fun! Who said it wasn’t!”
“What the hell is this kid! The plan’s gone wrong!”
“I want to see the parade!”
Among the countless sounds, Jurim picked out a clue and turned his head toward one place.
“What the hell is this kid? Why are the exits blocked? Is she some kind of VVIP?”
‘Found you.’
The moment he leapt lightly, his figure vanished.
*
‘This is… a bathroom……?’
Geuru looked around at the old toilet and checked her surroundings.
She had definitely been moving through the crowd, but in an instant, the space around her had changed into a bathroom where no light entered.
The first thing Geuru checked was the bag she had been carrying. But there was nothing on her shoulder.
‘My bag…….’
It seemed she had dropped it when she was kidnapped.
Inventory capacity was proportional to magic. In Geuru’s inventory, with her meager magic, there were only the duck tongs, the bear mascot head, and the bicycle.
Geuru met Uju’s eyes. Uju, too, seemed to have grasped the situation, her expression blank with shock.
But only for a moment. Having seen Geuru’s performance earlier, Uju asked, full of expectation,
“You have another item, right?”
“No, I don’ have any…….”
Geuru saw the hope that had settled in Uju’s eyes fade away. What came over her in that instant was helplessness.
“Then there’s no other way?”
“I dunno right now…….”
The two were whispering to each other when it happened.
Bang!
“Fuck, will you shut up?!”
Along with the sound of someone kicking the bathroom door, a man’s rough voice rang out.
Startled by the loud noise, Geuru hunched her shoulders. Crawling over to Uju, Geuru hugged her.
Thump, thump, thump.
Beyond the sound of her heartbeat, she heard two voices.
A husky man’s voice she had never heard before, and the voice of their chaperone teacher.
“Those kids…… how do we deal with…….”
“Kill them…….”
“The evidence…….”
“What if our faces were caught…….”
“The USB…….”
Frightening words burrowed into her ears. Geuru squeezed her eyes shut and tightened her arms around Uju.
It was not the first time she had faced death.
She had even met Malikian right in front of her.
And yet the fear she had not felt even before an S-rank monster was now vividly clear before a far weaker human.
‘Why?’
Malikian had said something strange back then, though.
‘It was guungjuung…….’
Geuru thought it might be because of that.
When she recalled the moment she had faced Malikian, she felt her pounding heart begin to settle.
As the confusion subsided, the voices outside the bathroom became even clearer.
“Don’t you have any more useful skills or items?”
“Items? Do you even know how much those cost? If I had the money to buy and use that kind of thing, do you think I’d be helping with pickpocketing here?”
The man spoke with a sneer.
She had not felt any magic from the chaperone teacher, so it must have been that man who had brought them here.
Geuru’s head, growing clearer little by little, began to work.
It was impossible to subdue a human with the duck tongs, but…….
Geuru touched the accessory in her hair. In an emergency, she could defend herself.
Her trembling hand tightly grasped Uju’s.
When there had been a blackout at the orphanage, one child had started screaming in the deathly silence, and everyone had fallen into a panic.
Fear spread like an epidemic.
“Ish okay, Uju.”
As if to comfort her, Geuru softly whispered that it was all right.
“Ish okay.”
Uju bit her lip hard and nodded.
The thudding of their hearts clearly showed how frightened the two children were.
Geuru steadied her breathing and whispered into Uju’s ear.
“Pretty Uju. This is a secret, but Geuru is super good at running away.”
Then she smiled faintly.
“Even at the orphanage, I was really good at going around without being seen. So just trust me. Okay?”
“Okay…….”
“We just hafta run away.”
“Okay.”
Just as the children were taking comfort in each other’s warmth—
‘Huh?’
Geuru lifted her head. Something was moving on a vast scale, as if she could feel the Earth itself shifting. It felt like the air around them was vibrating.
Thud!
Thud!
Dull explosive sounds rang out one after another.
Their arms, wrapped around each other, tightened. The bathroom door opened with a creak.