Seeing his lack of reaction, it was clear that the Chairman hadn't said anything about the fraud incident.
The Jurim of usual times might have noticed, but the Jurim of late was….
‘Something's off.’
It was definitely strange! It was hard to put into words, but he looked like he was carrying some complicated, subtle worries.
On weekday mornings, Geuru waking Jurim up and taking him to the bathroom to brush their teeth together had always been the start of their daily routine.
But with a face that looked far more tired than usual, he dozed off, nodding away…….
“Guild Mastew, dat's not a toofbwush.”
“Ah.”
He'd even tried putting toothpaste instead of a toothbrush into his mouth and brushing.
“Guild Leader……. Are you alright? Your shirt is on backwards…….”
“Ah.”
He'd only noticed he'd put his shirt on wrong after the housekeeper pointed it out.
He usually looked like a languid sloth, but now he looked like a raccoon that had washed cotton candy in water.
Judging by the timing, it seemed Jurim had started acting strange after the parent open-house presentation day; perhaps fatigue had accumulated because too many people at the kindergarten had asked for photos and autographs.
‘For now, the Guild Leader becoming a Cotton Raccoon helps Geuru's plan, though.’
In Geuru's hand was a toy tablet with rabbit ears.
A star shape blinked on the screen. If she poked it, the target's address would pop up.
As she'd told On Suhyeong, Geuru was truly fine. She had no intention of letting this slide easily.
‘Did they think Geuru would just sit back and watch?’
She'd secretly attached a tiny ‘Spy Ladybug©’ toy to Ham Honggi. The ladybug would tell her Ham Honggi's location.
Then, using the skill ‘The Dungeon is an Open Door,’ she would follow him anywhere and firmly block his path.
No one had taught her, but Geuru was a perfect villain as well.
Geuru stuffed the toy into the ‘Stretchy Bag-Bag©’ she'd made to hold anything and everything.
Twenty million won in Onion Coins was Geuru's blood and sweat. If some villain who'd never earned money with his own hands looked down on it, Geuru would become a dazzling specter of revenge.
‘Chaos! Destruction! Revenge!’
The Dark Flame Dragon slumbering deep within Geuru was demanding the blood of villains, was it? She'd have to put it back to sleep quickly. Kekekek—laughing, Geuru covered one eye with her hand as she fell into darkness.
Her phone buzzed.
A disaster alert had popped up on the screen.
[Emergency Disaster Alert]
Safety advisory. Today, an RP Dungeon has occurred near the Woongin Life headquarters in Mapo-gu.
The area is currently under control; please detour vehicles and refrain from approaching.
‘RP?’
It was a rank she'd only ever heard of in the online courses for obtaining a Hunter License. It was such an unfamiliar rank that she'd heard of it nowhere else.
‘Then is the Guild Leader late because of this?’
According to the Awakened Special Act that she'd studied hard for because of this fraud case, Hunters could be forcibly deployed to dungeons.
And Jurim was first in line for forced deployment. It had been the same during the Great Dungeon incident a year ago.
‘Guild Leader, will you be okay?’
Perhaps he would end up taking off his gloves like he did back then. Then wouldn't Geuru be needed?
‘But looking at how he said he'd buy Strawberry Creamy Sweet Fairy Blast Bam Light Huge Candy, maybe not…….’
Should she ask? Just as Geuru hesitated with her phone in hand, the egg she'd placed on the windowsill cracked with a snap.
“Shakipiyo!”
Geuru carefully brought the egg over and set it on the desk.
‘Is it hatching?!’
She'd stayed awake for days on end waiting diligently, but when there'd been no response, she'd placed it on the windowsill to warm it with sunlight.
‘Thump, thump!’
It was the first hatching moment she'd ever seen in her life.
Geuru set everything aside and waited for Shakipiyo's movements.
As she watched quietly, the egg trembled. Each time it did, cracks formed here and there with little snaps, and pieces of shell the size of sand grains fell to the floor with soft taps.
‘Should Geuru help break the shell?’
It was the moment Geuru was about to go out and ask the housekeeper.
Crack!
A thin, twig-like bird leg savagely kicked the eggshell from the inside with a pop. Then another pop from the opposite side.
And so, with only two legs sticking out of the egg, it stomped its feet and shot upright.
Wobble, wobble.
Shakipiyo couldn't see in front of it, so it staggered left and right, struggling to move.
Geuru blocked it with her palm before Shakipiyo could hit the wall.
When Geuru's hand touched it, Shakipiyo started and then approached close, as if smelling her.
But perhaps it was hard to smell through the shell, it pecked at the shell with its beak, tap-tap. Soon a hole the size of a fingernail was pierced, and a tiny yellow beak popped out.
The beak found Geuru's hand and seemed to open and close happily a couple of times. No cry came out—only the sound of air escaping twice.
Now with both legs and its beak out of the egg, Shakipiyo toddled over to Geuru.
‘Waaah……!’
Geuru's face flushed with wonder and pride as she looked at Shakipiyo.
Sniff, sniff—the tiny nostrils dotted atop the beak like little points flared. As Geuru's scent drew nearer, Shakipiyo quickened its pace.
Pit-pat. But wobble-wobble. Then it spun round and round before its bottom hit the floor.
“You otay?”
Geuru picked up the dangling egg and set it upright again.
As if angry about falling over, Shakipiyo pecked fiercely at the shell. Crack-crack—broken shell fragments scattered everywhere.
It seemed to have quite the temper.
After roughly breaking the shell, Shakipiyo shook off the eggshell fragments with a shiver.
Only now had it fully emerged from the egg, its complete form revealed.
‘So cute!’
At a glance, its wings weren't visible, so it looked like a white cotton ball. But it was definitely a bird.
Its overall shape was like a chick or an owl, but its body and face were a bit plumper and rounder. Its face looked like it had chubby cheeks that poofed out.
‘Chubby-wubby!’
She couldn't tell if it was the feathers or what, but Shakipiyo looked round and plump. But soon, what stole her gaze was its mysteriously colored eyes.
Golden irises with black pupils, and eyeballs that looked like red paint had dissolved outward beside them. They were unique eyes unlike any she'd seen before.
“Pee!”
When Shakipiyo opened and closed its beak, a status window appeared before her.
[Geuru]
“You know Geuru?!”
“Pee!”
[♡]
Had it been listening to everything from inside the egg?
Well, it had helped with this and that even while inside the egg. Geuru greeted the white cotton-ball-like baby bird brightly.
“Hewwo!”
“Pee!”
[♡]
Shakipiyo rubbed its cheek against Geuru's fingertip. The dense down was so soft that Geuru burst into laughter.
“So cyoot!”
Geuru gently tapped Shakipiyo's head with her index finger.
“Mommy Geuru will raise you up good!”
Shakipiyo rubbed its cheek against her index finger. It was just a beak, but it almost looked like it was smiling.
Shakipiyo stretched its bird legs straight out and sat on Geuru's palm, meeting her eyes.
“Pee, pee!”
[♡♡]
Two hearts. Just as Geuru smiled warmly—
Ding!
[Provisional caretaker detected. Caretaker registration is available.]
“Eh?”
Wasn't Geuru the mommy? She was supposed to be the caretaker……. So why was it the other way around?
She pressed confirm for now.
The caretaker window had the name ‘Mephisto’ written on it. It seemed Mephisto was Shakipiyo's real name.
‘So it was Mephi…….’
What a shame. Geuru had wanted to name the baby Shakipiyo.
‘But why isn't there one?’
No photo showed up in the spot where a profile picture should be. There should have been a baby bird with puffy cheeks.
“Hmm…….”
Geuru narrowed her eyes.
“This is weally, weally weird.”
Geuru pressed Mephisto's cheek firmly.
“Pee!”
[♡]
It was the same when Mephisto cried—a popup appeared in the status window. Could it do all sorts of things?
‘Huh?’
Just then, Geuru suddenly picked up the tablet.
‘It's moving!’
The star shape moving meant Ham Honggi had started moving.
After waiting a moment to check the destination, a startled voice escaped Geuru's lips.
“Mapo-guu?”
Geuru alternated between checking the disaster alert and the tablet.
‘No way…….’
Given the current situation, the only place that made sense was the dungeon.