The toy chick soon stopped in front of the information center counter.
*Thud-*
As its path was blocked and a target was caught, the chick stretched its neck long.
“Krahahaha! Krahahahaha! Krahahahahaha!”
When the chick laughed like a scene from a horror movie, the information center employee shrieked.
“Kyaa!”
“What, what?”
A light commotion arose in the lobby.
“What’s going on now…….”
“Let’s go see.”
The security guards left their posts.
In the meantime, Geuru slipped through the entry gate. She was so tiny that she only had to duck her head to avoid the entrance sensor.
Entrance passage completed safely!
Next was…….
‘There!’
Geuru sprinted with all her might toward the elevator that had just opened its doors.
The employees inside the elevator all focused their gazes on Geuru.
‘……!’
Startled, Geuru’s eyes rolled around.
“Hewwo. I’m Han Geewu fwom Saepbom Kindergarten Chick Cwass.”
When Geuru bowed from the waist, exclamations burst out here and there.
How cute, a friendly-looking sister asked where she was going, and Geuru pointed to the very top with her index finger.
“Thewre. Da vewy top.”
In truth, she had no idea where the Hyeonak Guild Master was.
But the formula “Hyeonak’s Guild Master = the highest person,” “high person = high floor” was ingrained in her head.
Because in dramas, important people were always on the top floor.
‘If not, I’ll just go down floor by floor.’
With every floor she ascended, her heartbeat exceeded its limit.
*Ding-*
Arrival at the top floor.
Geuru got off the elevator in a state of extreme tension.
Fortunately, the office was made of floor-to-ceiling glass, so it was possible to see clearly from outside who was inside.
Whenever Geuru saw a man in the office, she plastered herself flat against the glass and glared with terrifying eyes.
When their eyes met, one man approached in surprise, as if he had seen a ghost.
‘Not him. This mister is ugly.’
Geuru ran away from the man without hesitation.
After running all over the top floor, she finally found a familiar face around the corner.
‘He’s handsome!’
*
Jurim had spotted the child ten minutes ago.
‘……Is she one of our employee’s kids?’
No matter how little interest he had in everything around him, it was difficult to keep ignoring a child who stared at him as if she held a grudge.
The child was hiding her body behind a white pillar, only poking out her head to stare at him.
Briefly bewildered, he rested his chin on his hand and asked the person reporting to him.
“Hunter Shin Nayeon. Did you become a mother without telling me?”
“Me? I thought you had become a father without telling me, Guild Master.”
“No way.”
“Hmm, she looks like the fruit of a sticky war of love with the Guild Master. That gaze she’s staring with isn’t ordinary…….”
“Not even in my dreams. A sticky war of love.”
Jurim stared intently at the child.
He thought back on all the women from his past, but nothing clicked; who on earth was she?
The child who met Jurim’s eyes flinched in surprise and started looking around.
‘You, yes you. You’re completely busted.’
When he pointed at the child with his index finger, only then did she reveal herself from behind the wall.
She was a little girl with an intricate, doll-like face, her desaturated pale platinum-blonde hair tied in two bunches.
‘Mixed blood?’
Plump cheeks and big eyes. The child in a sky-blue dress and yellow hat was unmistakably a kindergartener.
Jurim beckoned her to come.
Then the little thing approached with quick, short steps that seemed to produce a playful squeak.
Soon the child stood right before his desk.
“Hewwo.”
“Yes.”
Jurim flipped through his documents.
The child kept watching him with those big, sparkling eyes.
He asked reluctantly.
“Who are you?”
Then Geuru stood up straight, bowed from the waist, and said.
“I’m Han Geewu fwom Saepbom Kindergarten Chick Cwass.”
She had tried to speak quite clearly, but it seemed certain pronunciations were an unavoidable area.
Jurim glanced at Nayeon, who was covering her mouth and holding back an exclamation of cuteness, and asked dryly.
“You’re looking for your parents, right?”
Just as he was about to make an announcement himself, Geuru shook her head.
“Then are you looking for a playmate? There aren’t any friends like that here.”
“No!”
At the immediate answer, Jurim let out a soft hmph.
As he was about to tell her to go find her parents anyway, an unexpected remark popped out of the child.
“Guild Mastew! Pwease scout Geewu!”
A brief silence.
Nayeon blinked in surprise, and Jurim asked again to confirm what he had heard.
“……Scout?”
Geuru changed her expression to one that seemed to say, ‘Does he not know what scout means?’
“Guild Mastew! Pwease put Geewu in da guild!”
Her face said that she had explained it simply so he would understand.
He smiled as if he understood.
“Ah, it happens often. Children who want to become Hunters…….”
Since Hunters were objects of admiration in this day and age.
Some guilds already sought out talented children and raised them under the name of Youth Supporters.
Students frequently came all the way to Hyeonak aiming for this.
Geuru’s eyes sparkled as she waited for his answer.
“You’re the youngest among them.”
Hah! My outstanding talent! Geuru puffed out her chest proudly.
Just then, Jurim picked up the receiver.
“Take this kid here and send her home.”
*Click-*
The moment his short call ended, secretaries poured into the office.
“Goodness, how did you get in here?”
“Hng.”
Though she cast a pitiful gaze while dangling in someone’s hand, Jurim merely returned his attention to his documents.
Geuru puffed out her cheeks sullenly.
A mistake. Since the preparations weren’t meticulous enough, today’s operation would be a strategic retreat.
*
And so, the next day.
‘Geuru doesn’t give up easily!’
For the 20 million won sleeping in Yangpa Market, and the quest, and for Mom and Dad!
Having prepared for every contingency, Geuru once again stood before Jurim’s desk.
And she opened her status window in front of her eyes and read it down like a presentation.
“I am wittwe, but I am an Awakener. Due to system-adjusted cognitive capabiwity, I can dispway high-wevew intewwectual task pewformance, and I have abiwities that pewfectwy match da tawent pwofile Hyeonak wants.”
After pausing for a beat, Geuru let out a nervous breath—*phew*—and Nayeon clapped like a proud parent at a children’s talent show.
She was someone favorable to Geuru, and the prime contributor who had let her into Jurim’s office.
“How can our best Geewu be so good at pwesenting? Amazing~”
Feeling proud, Geuru lifted her dress slightly and bent her knees.
And On Jurim, whose nap had been disturbed out of nowhere, was simply bewildered.
Since when had it been decided to hold a kindergarten talent show in his office?
He removed his eye mask and looked between the kindergartener waiting for an answer and the guild member taking photos while dying of cuteness.
Jurim rapped his knuckles on the desk.
“Hunter Shin Nayeon, you seem to have a lot of free time these days?”
“Oh my, yes. How did you know?”
“Isn’t it strange that I wouldn’t know? You’re playing in my office every day.”
“Ah~ I see~”
*Tsk*, Jurim clicked his tongue.
Nayeon was the very incarnation of the saying that if your body is capable, your head doesn’t have to suffer.
Jurim sharpened his words so she would understand a little better.
“Hunter Shin Nayeon. You can cause accidents outside, but not in my office.”
“Ah, really?”
However, Nayeon answered innocently, seemingly unfazed at all.
Shin Nayeon was invincible—until one resorted to force.
“From now on, only enter my office when you have business.”
“I did come because I have business.”
Nayeon went *ta-da*, pointing at Geuru with both hands.
*Hehe*, Geuru put her hands behind her back and swayed side to side sheepishly.
Ah, as if understanding, Jurim smiled and beckoned Geuru over.
Oh! It seemed like a positive reaction; Geuru’s face brightened.
Had he finally recognized her abilities?
Jurim showed her his document.
“Here, look at this.”
Geuru looked at the document filled with small letters.
Her premonition was not good.
Because it was full of English.
Jurim pointed to a word that started with A.
“Read it.”
“Eh…….”
There it was. A cowardly and cruel question aimed at a kindergartener.
Her vision spun at the parade of difficult words.
She didn’t know. All she knew was what she had learned in kindergarten and from TV.
Like a puppy whining and hesitating for a long time, Geuru barely spat out the English word she knew.
“Appwle……?”
“Rejected.”