But his body still hadn't fully recovered. At this rate, he might end up being the one getting hurt instead.
He had to join up with Naohyeong, at the very least.
Even if he couldn't kill him right now, if Jin Siwon didn't know who he was, it might actually be a favorable situation.
He could figure out the Gnosis hunter's movements, or trip him up.
"I'm a mercenary affiliated with Peuripol."
Peuripol was a subordinate guild of Beurom.
"My rank is B."
When Sereuhi continued like that, Geuru perked her ears up sharply.
"B?"
"Why?"
Sereuhi was puzzled, but Geuru glanced at him once with her large eyes and then bowed her head deeply.
Since the system message had said guardian registration was available, Sereuhi's rank was clearly S.
But Sereuhi had introduced himself as B just now.
If that was the case…….
'Is Sereuhi oppa a strength-hider like Geuru too?!'
Then Geuru wasn't the only special one. Besides, Geuru's Hunter License rank was listed as F.
"Tch, too many strength-hiders."
Geuru, feeling a bit upset, muttered quietly, but the two foreigners could only tilt their heads in confusion, unable to understand.
"If you're B-Rank, you would have been picked up anywhere even without working as a mercenary."
"I haven't been Awakened long. I don't know much, so I'm taking my time figuring things out."
"Your Korean is fluent."
"I've been in Korea for a while."
"Studying abroad?"
"No, I came to earn money. I did that. Day labor? The thing where everyone gets in a car together, goes to work, and gets paid."
A history of coming to Korea to earn money and drifting from day job to day job was easier to hide than belonging to some organization.
"Ahh…… Then farm work or porter?"
"I built buildings, did farm work."
And a history of working at a rural farm was easier to gloss over than one in the Awakener industry.
"Then you must be good at farm work."
"Well…… I just did what I was told."
"That makes you a veteran."
"I suppose that's true, but……"
Before Sereuhi could add to his explanation, the farm work amateurs exclaimed in admiration and began to rejoice.
"That's great! Having a veteran means we can grow the acorns well!"
"Waaah! So many supreme acorns!"
"……?"
Don't celebrate when you're amateurs too, he wanted to say.
There had clearly been a tense atmosphere moments ago, but at their dull and docile reactions, it had deflated like a popped balloon before he knew it, leaving him feeling hollow.
Anyway, he had invited a needless misunderstanding. He should read the situation and slip away quickly.
Sereuhi, now awkward, changed the subject.
"By the way, did you two enter the RP Dungeon together?"
"There's no way."
"Nope."
Only then did Jin Siwon, realizing Geuru hadn't come with Sereuhi either, ask,
"How did Geuru get here? Did you come with Guild Leader On?"
She shook her head side to side.
Geuru shook her head.
"Geuru came alone."
"You, alone? Is it like that in Korea?"
"What? You came here alone? How? Why?"
Sereuhi had shuddered at Korea's terrifying Spartan-style education that would send such a little kid alone into an RP Dungeon, but he felt a little relieved at Jin Siwon's reaction.
At their intense reactions, Geuru recalled that day again.
Ha! The Black Flame Dragon slumbering in her heart stirred, and the pain of that day gnawed at her.
As if someone were hitting her head with a spoon, thud, thud…… The sensation of her head spinning round and round and her neck stiffening!
Geuru recalled the anger of that day and covered one eye with her hand.
"Geuru came to get revenge on Hamhonggi."
"……."
"……."
Sereuhi quietly asked Jin Siwon,
"Is 'boksu' a homonym in Korean? Does it mean something other than revenge?"
"I'm not sure either, but I think it might be."
The two foreigners failed to understand the vengefulness of a four-year-old.
*
"Geuru put in a request at Yangpa Market to find mommy and daddy. But a bad person scammed Geuru."
Geuru explained that day, her two clenched fists shaking adorably.
Geuru explained in detail how she came to know Hamhonggi, from being scammed by him to finally falling into darkness after meeting him at a law firm.
She explained that she followed Hamhonggi into the dungeon and became a flying squirrel to raise acorns.
"That bad person is at the Seolpyo Tribe, right? Geuru is going there too. Revenge!"
"……."
"……."
Siwon and Sereuhi, having listened to the whole story, were silent for a moment.
At the end of their complicated gazes, the baby flying squirrel was chanting revenge.
Siwon summarized after some thought.
"Then let's grow the acorns first."
"Okay."
"Eh?"
Sereuhi answered nonchalantly, and Geuru jumped in surprise, ears perked.
"Flying squirrels have the role of growing acorns. Since the mister is a squirrel, Geuru will help grow the acorns."
"Geuru has something more important than acorns!"
Siwon, regardless, held his chin and asked seriously,
"It seems the squirrels planted acorns today. I wonder if it's possible to harvest acorns if we plant them now. Do trees grow that fast?"
"Of course not. But this is inside a dungeon, so the environment must be different. The acorns planted are probably special too."
"Hmm, so they set a tight deadline because it's possible under these conditions."
"Probably."
No one's listening to me!
Geuru trembled her shoulders, then raised her fist with a solemn face like she'd seen in a documentary about union strikes.
"Geuru! Absolute! Revenge!"
"It's dangerous."
"No way."
Jin Siwon and Sereuhi spoke at the same time.
Even without exchanging opinions, they had already reached a tacit agreement that they couldn't send a four-year-old hell-bent on revenge into a contaminated zone.
Pfft! Geuru puffed out her cheeks.
"Mr. Sereuhi. The contaminated zone is dangerous, so please stay here a while longer before going."
"It's not Mr. Sereuhi, just Sereuhi."
"If that's okay, I'll call you that from now on."
"It's fine. And you mean for me to stay and help with the acorn farm work."
"Ah, you caught on."
Siwon blushed shyly and shrugged his shoulders.
Sereuhi scolded him, asking if he was trying to make excuses after he'd been so happy about having a veteran earlier.
Geuru, who had been huffing and puffing, stuck out her lips like a bird's beak.
Adults are quick to ignore what children say.
'Children have feelings too.'
It was upsetting, but there was nothing to be done.
'Geuru has no choice but to do her best alone!'
Sereuhi was headed for the Seolpyo Tribe. He would leave for the contaminated zone to join his guild members once his wounds healed.
Then that would be her chance.
'I just have to follow Sereuhi oppa.'
Their acorn alliance was only temporary.
Sereuhi and Siwon were drawing up the future of the acorn farm, completely unaware.
'Naive adults.'
Geuru was no longer the Geuru of before. The current Geuru possessed a pitch-black heart where the Black Flame Dragon slumbered.
'I'll strike when they let their guard down.'
Glancing secretly at the two, Geuru smirked.
*
"Then I'll stay until I'm better."
Sereuhi replied listlessly and glanced at Siwon. The simple-looking man was smiling brightly, completely unaware.
'More importantly, Hamhonggi…….'
It was a name he felt he'd heard somewhere before.
'Is it him?'
The guy causing a commotion in the Beurom Guild seemed to have a similar name.
Sereuhi vaguely recalled the name, then shook his head.
What was the point in recalling it? In the end, after the nucleus was found, everyone in Beurom would die.
The objective of this mission was to purify the swamp with acorns and find the nucleus inside the swamp. It was to take out the system's memory storage device itself.
Since a dungeon's nucleus could only exist within the boss's sphere of influence, the moment he escaped with the nucleus, a Dungeon Break would open, but he didn't care.
Sacrifices existed at any given moment. This time, he was merely the one choosing the sacrifices.
Rather, the more people fell into chaos, the better it was for them. Fear was easy to exploit.
When the Dungeon Break opened, even yellow Geuru would have a hard time surviving, but…….
Sereuhi stared at Geuru.
Even so, personally sending her to her death left a bitter taste in his mouth. The only reason he wasn't sending the child into the contaminated zone was just that.
He intended to go along with the acorn farm for only a short while.
Because once his injuries healed, he would kill the Gnosis hunter and leave.