“Eliminated.”
Thud.
Geuru’s eyes shook violently, as if she’d been struck on the head.
Jurim curled his lips in a smirk, as if to show her exactly that.
“Miss Han Geuru.”
“Ye-s……”
He leisurely checked the watch on his wrist and spoke.
“It’s already four o’clock. Shall we head back now?”
“Ye-s…… goodbye……”
After giving a deep bow, Geuru turned around.
As she toddled away, her small shoulders trembled. Her tiny frame shook pitifully.
Sharp eyes that seemed to say *don’t bully a child* poured toward Jurim.
*Why am I the bad guy here?*
He truly couldn’t understand.
But Nayeon glared at him, signaling with her eyes to hurry up and comfort her.
Jurim made the surprising discovery that he wasn’t so cold-blooded as to simply stand blankly watching a crying four-year-old. With a sigh, he rose from his seat.
He caught Geuru, who had turned away, and spun her around. A cute little face, covered in tears and snot, looked up at him.
*I’m going crazy.*
* * *
Jurim was by no means a person kind to children. No, he was simply a human who wasn’t kind to anyone.
But this brat—her talent for making people weak was truly at the Awakener level.
“Han Geuru, stop crying.”
Geuru, who had been sniffling, held her breath.
“Hup!”
Perhaps trying to stop crying, her cheeks puffed out. But from her large eyes, tears fell like a waterfall.
Jurim hurriedly cupped Geuru’s face, wiped the corners of her eyes, and then held a handkerchief to her nose.
“Blow.”
“Hngh.”
Having blown her nose clean, Geuru pouted her whimpering lips out like a duck.
“I haven’t wearned that yet. If Geuru wearns it too, she’ll know. Her kindergawten teacher said if you teach Geuru, she can do anything well. She’s an ewite of the Chick Cwass……”
“Alright. ……Stop crying.”
It was true, it really was. She was so upset that she couldn’t prove it properly that the tears wouldn’t stop.
It was a disaster. She was at the point where showing off how smart she was might not even be enough to get scouted, and here she was crying…… This wouldn’t do. He would hate a crying child.
“Hup!”
Geuru held her breath again and puffed out her cheeks.
Jurim stared directly into her eyes. Each time she choked up, her chubby cheeks bobbed up and down, and Jurim—deciding that this simply wouldn’t do—asked Nayeon:
“Does the cafe on the first floor sell things for kids?”
“There should be some cookies.”
“Han Geuru, want a cookie?”
“Cookie?”
Geuru, falling for the temptation, swallowed with a sniff.
“What do you like? Chocolate?”
In her head, cookies studded with dark chocolate were already floating about, and her mouth watered.
*It looks so good……*
No. If she gobbled down a cookie here, she’d be a nuisance. It would be at least minus one hundred points.
“Let’s go.”
Jurim tilted his head, and Geuru—rolling her eyes hesitantly—nodded.
She was very sad, but she couldn’t resist cookies. Geuru naturally took Jurim’s hand.
“…….”
Jurim stared at the child holding his hand, let out a small sigh, and headed toward the cafe.
Following behind the two, Nayeon cheered softly.
“Geuru, don’t cry. Even I don’t know what that means.”
“……!”
“……?”
Jurim and Geuru looked at Nayeon with surprised eyes.
Nayeon let out a small “Heh” smile.
* * *
Getting cookies while crying—total failure.
Jurim pressed the cookie into Geuru’s hand and told her never to come find him again.
He said he wouldn’t let her in even if she came.
*Should I just become Gudetama instead of a Hunter……*
But now she knew she couldn’t become Gudetama anymore.
Not long after awakening, Geuru realized the well-known fact that a person cannot become an egg yolk. It was the bitter pain of growth left behind by the System.
Curling up on her side, Geuru wiped away her trickling tears and nibbled on the tear-soaked cookie.
*Delicious……*
She didn’t know why cookies eaten while feeling upset tasted the best.
Watching her favorite video on her kids’ phone, she reached the scene where Shakipiyo the chick rescued Gudetama, who had nearly been eaten by a customer at a Japanese restaurant.
Her dark pupils dilated. Just like Shakipiyo, Gudetama wanted to see Mama too.
“Mama……”
She was on the verge of crying from being so moved. Then a notification popped up saying she had a message on Yangpa Market.
[IiiiIIIiiII: Can we trade?]
Comparing it with the nickname that had left a review, it was Jang Yeongung, the C-rank Hunter she had traded with before.
* * *
Guerrilla sales couldn’t generate large profits. A considerable portion of her sales until now had come from regulars.
Geuru squirmed sneakily into a dog hole in the warehouse.
She gathered a few syrups that Jang Yeongung wanted, stuffed them inside a teddy bear’s belly, and worked the remote. The teddy bear moved skillfully, got on a bicycle, and started pedaling.
Geuru opened the door.
[Activating skill “The Dungeon Is an Open Door.”]
Ring-a-ling, ring-a-ling.
The bicycle entered the Dobongsan Dungeon.
It was an abandoned mine that was poorly managed, a place she frequently used for transactions.
Passing through the winding, narrow, tunnel-like dungeon, Geuru checked an old TV screen and tilted her head.
She heard someone’s voice from afar.
Ring-a-ling, ring-a-ling.
As the bicycle approached, the voice grew louder.
Geuru, pedaling the child-sized bicycle excitedly, finally discovered them.
*Huh?*
Jang Yeongung was scuffling with someone.
That uniform—it was the police.
An avid viewer, Geuru couldn’t fail to recognize it.
It was even the Awakened Investigation Unit that had appeared in Episode 11.
*A crackdown?*
Was it because she had been going in and out of dungeons so recklessly? As the adults in the show said:
Illegal.
Police station!
Wee-woo, wee-woo!
Guilty verdict, bang bang.
Goodbye, my twenty million won!
Ba-dum!
Geuru reversed the bicycle. She couldn’t get caught!
The child-sized tricycle began to race forward, creaking like mad. Hearing that sound, an investigation unit member turned his head.
Seeing the small figure fleeing, he shouted in shock.
I Minu, who had been about to give chase, stopped. Looking back, he saw Jang Yeongung trying to flee and then slyly straightening up as if nothing had happened.
They couldn’t let the illegal trade buyer get away, either. I Minu pressed the transmitter on his shoulder and sent a support request.
* * *
The Management Bureau Director’s sedan passed the highway next to Dobongsan.
In the backseat, the Management Bureau Director, Go Gang, was chattering incessantly to the man wearing an eye patch.
“The mess you made at Gongdeok Station dungeon a while back—that was Hyeonak too, right?”
“…….”
Jurim, wearing a black eye patch with his arms crossed, breathed unevenly as if asleep, but this situation was nothing new.
The Director continued speaking nonchalantly, as if he knew Jurim was listening to everything.
“How many times do I have to tell you not to touch unregistered dungeons? Can’t you go even one day without causing an accident?”
Just then, a phone vibrated with a rumble from his chest.
It was a nearby support request.
Jurim, who had been sitting with his arms crossed, removed the eye patch. When he pressed the notification, a map app opened and a location blinked. The request had come in right beside their current location.
Checking his phone with sleepy, half-lidded eyes, he spoke as if reading from a textbook.
“Well, well, a support request from the people’s protectors. As a proud Hunter of the Republic of Korea, I cannot leave criminals disturbing public order unchecked.”