Startled, she looked back, but the boy’s figure had already vanished.
‘That’s strange…….’
Excluding Geuru, there were a total of six S-ranks in Korea.
On Jurim, Gidan, Sin Nayeon, Jin Siwon, Gu Sinhu, and Cheon Gyuri.
Geuru knew five of them, and the remaining one, Cheon Gyuri, was ranked second and was a hunter who appeared often on TV.
Then was that older boy an S-rank from another country?
‘Like Uncle Jin Siwon?’
Even thinking of it that way, it was strange.
Once someone reached S-rank, articles and news would pour out from every kind of media the moment they set foot on Korean soil.
Not long ago, there had been a huge fuss when an S-rank hunter from America visited Korea and ate dakhanmari in Myeong-dong before leaving.
[Alice Cole’s Unstoppable Love for Dakhanmari……. I Think I’ll Miss Korea Because of Dakhanmari!]
For a while, the main image everywhere had been a photo of Alice Cole smiling brightly in front of a dakhanmari restaurant.
But after that, she had never heard or seen any news about an S-rank visiting Korea.
‘Did he come secretly?’
Was that possible?
Geuru thought blankly for a moment, then shook her head. This wasn’t the time! She had to defeat the villains!
At last, she flung the door wide open.
“Huh?!”
The place was definitely right. But all she saw before her were two men collapsed on the floor.
When she went farther inside and checked their faces, they were the villains she had seen from the vent. The man whose drunken speech had slurred, and the plump man.
Then……
‘He stopped Geuru from going in and defeated the villains?!’
Perhaps the boy had called the staff, because soon, employees began rushing in behind Geuru.
After checking the collapsed men, the staff shouted and sent out a radio message.
“Executive Director Kang!”
“Please call the medical team to the casino. As quickly as possible.”
Geuru puffed out her cheeks and glared at the collapsed villains and the staff.
To think her plan had failed because of an S-rank who had secretly snuck into Korea.
*
‘Failed. Failed. All failed.’
Geuru trudged back to the kids’ center.
“Everyone, did you have a good time at the kids’ center today? Unfortunately, it’s time to return to the banquet hall now. Let’s all move so we won’t be late!”
It was just about time to move to the banquet hall where the auction would be held.
Geuru followed closely behind the staff member leading them and entered the large banquet hall.
At the very front of the spacious, dimly lit room was a stage, and round tables were placed here and there.
Geuru was guided to a table with “Doan” written on it.
The attendants who had been seated there in advance helped Geuru into a chair.
“Did you have fun? The chairman will be here soon.”
“Yees.”
When she looked toward where the attendant pointed, On Suhyeong was talking with some old men at another table.
Geuru nodded, then turned her gaze to the tables nearby.
‘Hyeonak!’
The table with a sign that read “Hyeonak” was empty too.
Seeing how most of the tables in the front were empty, it seemed everyone was off somewhere socializing.
‘Since everything failed, it doesn’t matter even if I get caught.’
Just as she stuck out her lips like a duck and turned her gaze forward again…
Something short came trotting up beside Geuru.
“Hey.”
It was the kid who had been after Geuru’s sand scoop at the kids’ center.
Gu Huiyeon.
“Hm? Hi.”
“You, you. Why are you sitting so far up front?”
Gu Huiyeon put her hands on her waist and narrowed her eyes.
Even children knew that at events like this, the location of the table was extremely important.
A seat this far up front was not where a child whose father no one even knew belonged.
“Geuru doesn’t know either.”
I knew it! She must have just sat down anywhere.
“You have to go back to your seat!”
Huiyeon whined and tugged at Geuru.
At that, all the attendants shot to their feet and stopped Huiyeon.
“No, you—what are you doing?”
“Let go of her. Miss, are you all right?”
“Yees. I’m okay.”
Saying she was fine, Geuru took the huffing Huiyeon’s hand and stood up.
“Where are you going with Geuru?”
Huiyeon grabbed Geuru’s wrist and moved toward the back.
“I don’t know! Anyway, to the back!”
“Eek.”
She had only sat at the table she had been guided to, so Geuru had no idea what the problem was.
Huiyeon kept pulling on her wrist, and Geuru let out a deep sigh before signaling to the attendants with her eyes that she would be back in a moment.
The attendants nodded while awkwardly half-rising from their seats.
“Where are we going?”
“We have to find your seat. Where are your parents?”
“Hm? I don’t know that either.”
Geuru replied gloomily.
“You don’t even know that? Then stay here for now. They’ll come this way anyway.”
In the rear area where Huiyeon had brought Geuru, children she had seen earlier at the kids’ center—perhaps Huiyeon’s friends—were standing in a circle.
“Huiyeon, why did you bring her?”
“She was sitting up front. It’s not even her seat.”
‘It was the seat they guided me to.’
With a sigh, Geuru closed her mouth.
There were kids like this even in kindergarten sometimes. The type who thought everything they said was right and never listened to anyone else.
‘I’ll just play along for a bit, then go.’
In any case, once the auction began, On Suhyeong would look for her. Geuru planned to humor them only until then.
“What’s your name? Where do you live?”
“Our family is Yeseong Confectionery. What do your parents do?”
The children surrounded Geuru and began throwing questions at her.
Geuru stood there blankly and blinked.
“My name is Han Geuru, and I live in Yudaen Village.”
“Oh, that’s the new place. Must be nice. I wanna live in a new apartment too. But my dad keeps saying you have to live in a house to be really rich. How many pyeong is your house?”
“Hm? I don’t know that.”
Why did they keep asking about her house and her parents? Geuru rolled her eyes.
“I’m asking what your parents do.”
Then Huiyeon answered in her place.
“She says she doesn’t know stuff like that.”
“Why doesn’t she know?”
“Why do you think? Because they don’t do anything special.”
In an instant, the children’s gazes cooled a little.
“Um, I see.”
“Yeah, I guess that can happen.”
As if they had already lost interest in Geuru, the children began talking about another topic.
“My dad said this Malikian was a super weak monster too, and that it was hunted alone.”
Huiyeon brought up stories about hunters she had heard from her father and lifted the corners of her mouth.
Famous hunters were always a popular topic, and Huiyeon, who had endless things to say about them, often took the lead in gatherings.
Feeling awkward, Geuru tapped the floor with the toe of her shoe, then stood there like an acorn in dog food, only turning her head this way and that.
Huiyeon smiled faintly and deliberately tugged Geuru’s wrist so she couldn’t go anywhere.
‘She doesn’t even know what her parents do, but she talked about my dad’s rank dropping.’
It had been so upsetting when her dad fell to fourth place!
So Huiyeon decided to play a small mean trick.
Since they were beside NAG’s table, Huiyeon’s father would come this way soon.
When Geuru’s parents came looking for her, she planned to make them face her father.
She felt she would only calm down if she could show Geuru her parents bowing and scraping before her dad!
“Huiyeon, Geuru thinks she has to go now. Let go.”
“Go where? There’s still lots of time left.”
The children were still bickering when it happened.
Before they knew it, a long shadow fell over the two of them.
“Our Geuru is asking you to let go. Can’t you do that?”
“Huh?”
Huiyeon raised her head.
When the dazzlingly handsome boy curved his eyes prettily in a smile, Huiyeon froze stiff.
Gidan looked at Geuru and bent at the waist.
“Why are you here, dummy Geuru?”
Geuru puffed out her cheeks sullenly.
“Geuru’s not a dummy.”
Gidan smiled mischievously, and behind him, Hyeonak’s raid team approached.