“Well, well. If it isn’t Princess Geuru, the Hyeonak mascot?”
“Geuru, did you come to the auction house to have fun? Did the Guild Master come too?”
“Gruru, who got you looking so cute today? If you don’t take a picture with oppa today, it’s a violation of internal regulations. You know that?”
“Oppa? To Geuru, you’re an uncle.”
“Then is the Team Leader a grandpa?”
“Hey, punk! That’s not it!”
While Raid Team 1 bickered back and forth, Gidan buttoned Geuru’s coat. Then he held up his phone and gestured at them.
“Hyungs. If you want pictures with Geuru, line up first. To our Geuru, Dani is always number one.”
“Oh, come on.”
“Look at him acting disgustingly cute.”
“This is the ugly jealousy of disgusting adults……. Still, Dani, whom Geuru likes the most, will understand.”
When Gidan sent a playful wink, the entire raid team shuddered and waved their hands.
In the meantime, Gidan hugged Geuru and snapped a picture.
“Hey, wait. Let’s all take one together.”
While Raid Team 1 took friendly pictures with Geuru in the middle, Huiyeon, who had been watching everything, gaped.
‘Gidan?’
Not just Gidan—it was Hyeonak’s Raid Team 1. They were all renowned high-ranking hunters.
Why were people like that taking pictures with Han Geuru and desperate to dote on her!
Huiyeon glanced at Gidan. Hyeonak always sent proxies to places like this, so it was her first time seeing him in person.
‘After stealing Dad’s ranking……’
Huiyeon glared at Gidan with a sulky expression, but when their eyes met, she whipped her head away and scrunched up her face tight.
For some reason, she couldn’t look him straight in the eye. Before she knew it, her face had flushed bright red.
“Um, Hunter-nim! Won’t you take a picture with me too?”
“Me too!”
The children around them were captivated by the Hyeonak hunters and were handing over their phones.
“Sure. If you’re Geuru’s friends…….”
While Raid Team 1 and some children took pictures, the remaining children flocked to Geuru.
“Geuru, are your parents from Hyeonak?”
Geuru shook her head vigorously.
“No, Geuru is Hyeonak.”
“What?!”
“Whaaat?”
The children asked again in disbelief.
It was unbelievable that a girl who looked about their age could be Hyeonak.
Then Huiyeon cut in with a sharp voice.
“Liar! How can you be Hyeonak?”
“……!”
Geuru blinked.
Huiyeon’s face was flushed red, her expression scrunched up.
‘Why is she so angry?’
But Geuru, who never missed a chance to brag, pulled out her Hunter License card from her bag as if she had been waiting for just this moment.
“It’s not a lie. Geuru is a Hunter too.”
“Wow……. Awesome!”
“That’s crazy.”
“Is this real?”
The children passed around the Hunter License and exclaimed.
Heh. Geuru straightened her drooping lips and held her nose high.
And Huiyeon glanced at the Hunter License and bit her lip anxiously.
She shouldn’t be like this. How could she herself be Hyeonak, not even her parents!
Huiyeon turned her gaze back toward Gidan.
Gidan squatted in front of Geuru, adjusted her bag strap, then smiled and pinched her mochi-like cheeks. His actions and expression clearly showed how much he cherished her.
Huiyeon tried to turn her attention elsewhere with a face that looked like she might cry.
But all the children at the gathering were sending gazes of admiration and cheers toward Hyeonak’s raid team.
She hadn’t felt this upset even when her dad was pushed to 4th place. She felt like she was sinking into a swamp.
It was then.
“Huiyeon. Why are you standing there? Sit and wait.”
“Ah, Dad!”
A tall man approached Huiyeon and looked around.
As he lowered his gaze, his eyes met Gidan’s, who had been squatting.
“Gidan?”
Gidan smiled brightly, stood up, and bowed.
“Hello. Guild Master Gusinhu.”
“Dana. Your features have sharpened, huh? Must be your youth, getting handsomer every day.”
“You’d have been popular even as an entertainer, hey.”
“Guild Master, did you get taller? I feel like I have to look up at you even more today?”
“Ahaha! Look at this shamelessness.”
Bursting into laughter, Gusinhu threw an arm around Gidan’s shoulder and gave a perfunctory bow to Hyeonak’s Raid Team 1.
At that insincere greeting, Hyeonak’s team members looked at each other with expressions that said they had expected as much.
“Come to think of it, what perfect timing. When are you coming to NAG?”
“Huh? Me? Me, at NAG?”
So suddenly? Gidan let out a hollow laugh.
“Yeah, you really don’t check your emails. I’ve sent several. I can match whatever signing bonus you ask for.”
“Aah, I see.”
Gidan, having brushed it off with a comment about it probably going to spam, slipped from under his shoulder and rolled his eyes.
“For now, give me your number. We’ve known each other quite a while now—if our only contact is email? How impersonal.”
Gusinhu raised his hand and urged him to hand over his phone.
Gidan’s face crumpled, and Team Leader Jongwon of Team 1, who was watching, let out a deep sigh.
Gidan’s sociable and friendly nature, which often crossed others’ boundaries, when rubbed the wrong way manifested as unbridled arrogance and rudeness.
That displeased face right now, looking like he absolutely hated this, was exactly one of those times.
Before Gidan could blurt out words without thinking, Jongwon stepped in to intervene.
“Making a scouting offer right in front of a team leader—you’ve got guts, Guild Master Gusinhu.”
Gusinhu’s eyebrows twitched in displeasure.
“Isn’t it the team leader lackey who’s got guts jumping out in front of me?”
“Keeping my team guarded is what a team leader lackey does.”
“Is that so? If you want to protect your measly team leader salary, you’d better guard them well.”
The two stood facing each other, staring while letting out low laughs.
And Geuru, who had been quietly looking up at the adults, opened her mouth.
‘Lightning is striking.’
She didn’t quite understand why the atmosphere had become like this.
But she did know that with the arrival of the 4th rank uncle, the atmosphere had rapidly grown hostile.
‘Are they going to fight?’
Then Geuru would become a shrimp caught between whales.
Imagining a crushed shrimp, Geuru shivered and tightly grabbed Gidan’s hand.
Then Gidan patted her head as if to say not to worry.
It was quite a reliable expression.
He probably meant he would handle it well. Thinking so, Geuru nodded.
Gidan, who had been making eye contact with Geuru, opened his mouth.
“Are you two fighting over me right now? Wow, Dani’s form is insane.”
Then he pressed his face against Kim Jongwon’s shoulder and leaned on him.
“But don’t worry, Jongwon-hyung. Dani likes the number one guild that opens a new era.”
And so, Gidan betrayed Geuru’s expectations and lit the fuse for an impending conflict.
‘Lightning, more of it is striking.’
When Geuru looked at Gidan with cloudy eyes, he winked as if he had accomplished something.
‘……?’
It seemed communication with Geuru had been wrong from the start.
Hearing his own oft-repeated words from Gidan’s lips, Gusinhu’s eyebrows twitched.
Gidan smiled as if completely oblivious to his displeasure and picked Geuru up.
“You guys didn’t even recruit any new members this time. Do you think you’ll last long? You need to recruit in time and build experience so you can use them later.”
“Well, we already have a sufficient talent pool, us.”
Gidan shrugged and pulled Geuru into a hug.
But Gusinhu, interpreting Gidan’s words however he pleased, shook his head as if truly worried.
“I don’t know what Jurimi is thinking. Hyeonak isn’t at a size where it can run on just a few top-rankers anymore. And the guild master isn’t the type to hustle with his own two feet.”
“Guild Master Gusinhu, are you close with our guild master? You’re calling him by name so casually.”
Onjurim and Gusinhu definitely had a relationship where they politely addressed each other as Guild Master.
Gusinhu had sent signals to build a friendly relationship even before Onjurim established the guild, but Onjurim had been completely indifferent, utterly cold.
“Jurimi is seven years younger than me. Did you think it’s some mortal sin to speak casually? But Gidan, were you always such a loyal guy?”
“Yes. Woof woof.”