chapter 188
That night.
After Guru had fallen into a deep sleep under Jurim’s gentle soothing—
Mephisto sat at the edge of the bed, wings drooping limply.
Lately, Mephisto had been in a terrible mood.
Ever since being born, Mephisto had continued to develop like other lifeforms.
He gained weight, found joy in learning, and even felt sadness and jealousy.
“Piiiit…”
Yeah. The swirling, heavy, sinking feeling in his chest was definitely sadness.
Ever since Guru had gotten accepted into preschool and started spending more time with Woojoo instead of paying attention to Mephisto, those were the feelings that came rushing in whenever he felt unloved.
Just then, a child rolled out from under the bed and looked up at Mephisto.
Veilach had been secretly watching a zombie movie on {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} a tablet so Jurim wouldn’t catch him.
“You’re a stupid bird.”
“Piiiit!”
Mephisto, enraged, spit at him, and Veilach used gravity to lift the spit up and fling it right back.
Mephisto slightly turned his head to dodge.
Splat!
Mephisto’s spit landed on Guru’s sleeping head.
“…!”
“…!”
The two of them shot up immediately and wiped Guru’s head with wings and palms.
“Mmm…”
Fortunately, Guru didn’t wake, her mouth hanging open in her sleep.
Phew—Veilach let out a quiet sigh of relief and gestured with his eyes for Mephisto to follow.
Soon, they were sitting across from each other in the living room in silence.
The one to break the silence first was Veilach, who had been glaring at the sulky Mephisto for days.
“You’re a pet dying for your master’s love. Disgraceful.”
“Piiit!”
Splat!
This time, the spit stuck to his nose before he could even use a skill.
This fat bird bastard…! Veilach forced himself to stay calm as he wiped it away with the back of his hand.
“Since your master’s skill is still trash-tier, her interaction with that delicious child is inevitable.”
“Piiiu?”
“Trash-tier means the stats are very low. It’s a slang term used by young people in Earth’s civilization.”
Veilach puffed himself up like a boomer trying to act cool, and Mephisto wrinkled his beak in disgust and furrowed his brow.
Ever since the superconductor incident, Veilach had been studying language hard.
Though most of what he learned through the tablet was bizarre vocabulary, rivaling Serhi’s.
“The only way you’ll be loved again… is to raise her experience points so her skill upgrades out of trash-tier.”
He had zero intention of helping Mephisto, but the reason he was offering this advice—
Was entirely self-serving.
If the master’s level rose, he’d be able to maintain his human form longer.
The skill’s duration depended on mastery and level.
If he wanted to reliably turn into a hamster—or a human—he had to level her up.
From Veilach’s perspective, he didn’t really care whether he was a hamster or a kid, as long as it wasn’t his true form, but…
“Hamsters are kind of inconvenient for life in Earth civilization.”
It was hard to even press the buttons on the tablet with hamster paws.
He had to fast-forward through zombie shows at 1.5–2x speed and switch to 1x during eating scenes, but it was a struggle.
“You’ll benefit too, delinquent. If that damn potato farming project succeeds, she’ll start paying attention to you again.”
“Pii…”
Mephisto lowered his gaze, deeply thinking with his tiny head.
It wasn’t wrong.
No matter the motive, it was helpful advice.
To level up, you needed experience points.
Experience = monsters = dungeon.
Which meant—Guru needed a dungeon!
Hunters usually grew stronger in dungeons.
But Guru was trash-tier.
“Piiiii…”
Mephisto stroked his beak with a wing.
Just like a mama bird feeding her baby, he had to find a way for Guru to level up easily.
Most of all, it had to be a dungeon that wasn’t dangerous—but gave lots of EXP.
Then there was only one option!
“Pip-pip!”
He could make a dungeon!
Even though he’d lost his memories after hatching, Mephisto instinctively knew it was possible.
[Connecting…]
[System Operator ‘Mephisto’ access confirmed.]
Accessing the system, Mephisto began materializing a subspace.
Its form: lowest-tier slimes.
Its EXP: S-rank.
Its theme: a toy factory.
All for a dungeon just for Guru!
***
The next day.
After the preschool ballet class ended, Guru was in the changing room, taking off her stockings and stuffing them in her bag when once again—
I feel it.
Sloooow burn—
A fiery stare.
When she glanced toward the source of the gaze, it was, as expected, Hwiyeon.
Hwiyeon was holding her tutu skirt, standing on tiptoe, stretching her neck to peek past the locker door.
Was she trying to look inside Guru’s locker?
Was there something worth seeing in there?
Inside the locker were a four-cut photo with Gidan, Serhi, and Woojoo, and a bunch of Tinyping series stickers.
Guru finally nodded in understanding.
'Yup, yup. Kids can’t help but stare.'
'Tinyping is da best.'
She had tons of Tinyping stickers at home, all different kinds—she’d bring some tomorrow.
With that thought, Guru peeked her head around the door too.
When their eyes met, Hwiyeon froze on the spot.
“Hwiyeona!”
“Uh, yeah?”
When Guru grinned knowingly, Hwiyeon turned beet red and bolted out the room.
“Ah.”
She ran away!
Guru was gonna say she’d bring her Tinyping stickers tomorrow.
As Guru drooped in disappointment, her classmates chimed in.
“Does Hwiyeon not like Guru?”
“She always acts weird around Guru. So strange.”
“Fuuuung…”
Guru pouted.
She wanted to be friends with Hwiyeon… But like the other kids said, maybe Hwiyeon really didn’t like her?
Feeling down, Guru shut her locker and left the changing room.
“Babaaii!”
“Bye-bye!”
“See you, Guru!”
The kids all scattered.
Guru walked toward the garden plot—to farm potatoes with Woojoo.
As she crossed the quiet schoolyard—
“Um?”
The wooden poles started shaking like there’d been a local earthquake.
'What’s that?'
At the center of the tremor, an oval-shaped entrance shimmered into existence.
That was…
'A gate?!'
But it was clearly different from regular gates.
There were dungeons that appeared without warning and vanished just as suddenly. People called them “one-time dungeons” or “instance dungeons.”
Some even called them “hidden dungeons” because they often gave rare loot.
Guru reached out and touched the gate—then flinched after reading the dungeon info.
[Kids Dungeon (S)]
Domain of the Frostblood Clan. Only those age 7 or younger may enter. Guardians, please wait outside.
An S-Rank Kids Dungeon?!
Guru’s mouth fell open.
An S-Rank?! For a kids dungeon?! S-Rank meant it was classified as a mega-dungeon!
A mental slot machine spun through her head.
'S-Rank Mega Dungeon! S-Rank EXP! S-Rank Rewards!'
Floating S’s danced in front of her eyes.
That wasn’t all. The dungeon was bursting with flashy speech bubbles, designed to lure preschoolers.
“So fun!”
“Heaven for preschoolers!”
“You! Defeat the Mischief Slimes!”
Normally, she’d have considered this a huge opportunity, but…
'Can Gwuu go into a dungeon again without asking? Should Gwuu tell him?'
But if it was Daddy, he’d definitely say no. And the system already said guardians must wait outside.
Gulp.
Guru unintentionally tightened her grip on her garden trowel.
Just then, Mephisto flitted over and plopped down on the trowel—then curled his two wings like fists.
“Piiit-!”
Mephisto gave her a power boost, as if to say, You can do it yourself!
“Mepiiing…”
“Pip-pip!”
“Hmm! Awight!”
Guru sent Woojoo a text saying she couldn’t make it to the garden today, then picked up her fork.
“Gwuu got no choice.”
If the world needs Supreme Gwuu—
Guru gripped the fork with both hands and crossed the gate.