NOVEL NEXT chapter 215
“Why don’t you ever tell Dad ahead of time?”
“Becauwse…”
Guru’s mental algorithm for Dad’s reactions scrolled through her brain.
She rolled her eyes to the side and answered,
“It’s fun.”
“…!”
Jurim’s mouth opened and closed wordlessly, caught off guard.
Meanwhile, Kazuki sat on the edge of the desk, grinning from ear to ear.
“Discippwe-chan, Sabbuu was weally shocked, ya know? How’d you do it?”
Stretching out her legs and leaning against Kazuki’s side, Guru let out a sly grin, then spoke solemnly.
“Ah’m da Potayto Mastuh.”
“Wow!”
Kazuki burst out laughing at the phrase Potato Master, and Jurim promptly kicked his shin.
“Gah!”
“Since Dad’s boring, let’s be honest now. What were you doing behind my back? When you used that skill, you extracted from an S-Rank item. What was it? Where’d you get it?”
“Den Daddychann gotta be honessht too.”
“What did I—”
“When shootin’ the vawiety show. Daddychann snuck out at night.”
“…You weren’t asleep?”
“Uh-huh.”
“……”
Jurim had nothing to say. His lips clamped shut.
Guru curled her lips smugly in victory.
Clearly displeased with that smile, Jurim narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms, drumming his fingers against them like piano keys.
Kazuki, watching the stare-down, covered his mouth with a hand.
“At night, secretly? Gah!”
Kazuki yelped again, booted in the shin a second time by Jurim, and whimpered, “Hidoi…” (So mean...)
“Daddy… somethin’ went wrong wif da gwove.”
“Your glove?”
“Your glove?”
Guru and Kazuki both spoke up at once in surprise.
And they weren’t the only ones.
Jurim sighed as he sensed a commotion outside the Guildmaster’s office door—it was the kids eavesdropping again.
“It’s nothing. I just left the room because I was worried something might happen while Guru was asleep…”
“But—!”
Guru cut in with a voice full of worry.
“If gwove bwoke, den da Mastew comes out?”
As she said it, Mephisto, who had been napping on Guru’s head, suddenly opened his eyes.
With a flutter of his wings, the baby bird leapt down into her arms.
“Da Fiyew Dwaggy… comes out?”
Mephisto’s dad.
The terrifying ruler of the 99th floor—so powerful even Jurim couldn’t stop him and had no choice but to seal him away.
“Den wha happenz to Daddychann?”
If the master of the 99th floor broke free… what would happen to her dad?
Her large coral-colored eyes shimmered with panic.
Jurim gently cupped Guru’s cheeks with both hands and spoke calmly.
“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to scare you like this. It’s okay. There’s no need to be afraid. {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} Daddy will handle—”
Guru shook her head.
“Gwuu not wowwied abwout dat.”
“……”
“Gwuu wowwied Daddy gets huwt. Gwuu dun wike dat.”
Guru’s eyes had grown misty before she even realized it. She puffed her cheeks, lips trembling to keep from crying.
Jurim stifled a laugh at the adorable face, then said softly,
“Even if the master breaks out, Daddy won’t get hurt. And the glove—my friend’s going to fix it.”
“Sabbuu?”
Guru turned to Kazuki in alarm.
Kazuki, who had been stiff ever since hearing Jurim’s story, smiled gently and pulled Guru into a one-armed hug.
“Of course. Sabbuu’ll fix Daddy’s gwove. No worries.”
“Got it? You don’t have to worry about this anymore, so let’s end the topic here. And now Guru, you’ll tell me everything too, right?”
Guru puffed out her lips a little, looking reluctant that her dad’s mystery had been resolved so easily.
As she rested her chin in her palms and looked up at him, Jurim softly called her name.
“Guru.”
“Ye~esh…”
“Tell Dad everything. What happened.”
“…Dat time… when Daddychann weft at night… Gwuu met a big sista from Jeju.”
“Big sister from Jeju?”
Hesitant, Guru started explaining about the very suspicious big sister who handled goldfish, and the mean Chinese man who was rifling through the cast’s belongings.
'Chuen.'
'It was Chuen.'
Jurim and Kazuki locked eyes, thinking of her at the same time.
“When something like that happens, you have to tell Dad… What about the Metallic Armor Changer?”
“Dat one, Gwuu snatched fwom da bad Chinese man.”
Guru pulled the item from her inventory and handed it over, mimicking how she had popped it off with a fork like a bottle opener.
“…Why?”
Jurim asked in exasperation, and Guru replied sheepishly,
“Uuh… Gwuu wanna twansfowm too…”
“Gwuu-chan surprises me every single day.”
While Jurim and Kazuki inspected the item with low murmurs, Guru stood there looking bashful yet proud—until suddenly she gasped.
“D-does Gwuu gotta give dis back to da man?”
“No. You don’t need to return it. This… this was well done.”
“Reawwy?”
Jurim chuckled quietly, almost like a sigh, and patted Guru’s head. Her eyes sparkled as she grinned from ear to ear.
“You really are part of the kiddie bandit gang.”
“Hing~”
Jurim pinched Guru’s cheek lightly and fell into thought.
A Chinese man rifling through the cast’s belongings.
Then the real target probably wasn’t Chuen—it was Hyeonak.
China had been wary of the drone Guru created recently. They may have tried to intervene because of it.
Thinking that far, Jurim looked down at Guru again.
The transformation item she’d been playing with like a toy really had been Chinese.
In other words, China—who had been trying to suppress Guru—had actually handed her the very tech that helped her succeed.
Ha. Jurim let out a scoff of disbelief.
China was all about face and self-confidence.
Jurim crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.
“Since they gave us this, guess we’ll have to return the favor.”
“We will?”
Return what? Guru tilted her head, but before she could ask further, Kazuki hurriedly changed the subject.
“Then Gwuu-chan, you made that potato with the transformation item?”
“Ye~esh.”
Guru picked up the potato with both hands and beamed.
“Ah, so that’s why…”
Kazuki nodded as if a puzzle piece had finally clicked into place.
While Kazuki kept marveling and fidgeting with the potato, Jurim, deep in thought, glanced at the Guildmaster office door.
“You two, stop lurking and just come in.”
At his words, Gidan flinched in panic and opened the door, stepping into the room.
“Y-yessir…”
He walked in with his hands behind his back, glanced at Kazuki, and gave a deep 90-degree bow.
“Ah, hello, Amakusa Hunter.”
“Hello! You’re Hunter Gidan, right? I’ve seen you a lot in raid footage. You look even better in person~”
“Really?”
Though he heard that all the time, Gidan’s face lit up in surprise. Instead of his usual cheeky tone, he reacted clumsily.
“N-no, Amakusa hyeong—uh, I mean, Hunter—y-you’re the one who’s really cool and handsome and makes such amazing swords and…”
Guru gawked at Gidan’s bashful demeanor. Jurim burst out laughing.
It wasn’t strange, really. Kazuki was undeniably the greatest living swordsmith. Anyone who used a sword would kill to wield even a kitchen knife forged by his hand.
Jurim looked beyond the door.
“Serhi. You too.”
“……”
With those words, Serhi, who had been silently hiding, hesitantly stepped inside.
“See? Told you you couldn’t hide. People with hypersenses have a totally different detection range.”
Gidan grinned and pointed between himself and Jurim, while Serhi scoffed and looked away.
“You got caught first, dumbass.”
“Wow, rude. That’s a spin job.”
The moment the two appeared, they immediately started bickering. Jurim let out a long sigh.
“Guru’s here.”
“Yessir.”
“……”
Watching the two high schoolers finally shut up, Jurim clicked his tongue. It really did feel like raising two more kids.
Kazuki burst out laughing at the look on his face.
After a deep breath, Jurim gave the two—Gidan and Serhi—his instructions.
“For now, cancel all other teams’ field work. Only Team 1 will be operating.”
“Just us?”
“Yeah. And Team Leader Shin will move with Team 1.”
“Nayeon noona? Why? Something big coming?”
“It’s about to.”
“‘About to’?”
A glint sparked in Gidan’s eyes. Something fun was on the way.
***