Standing side by side in front of the bathroom sink, Jurim lifted Guru onto the stool. When Guru handed him the yellow toothbrush he had used the night before, Jurim squeezed out a long line of toothpaste.
‘That’s way too much toothpaste!’
With a mouthful of toothpaste piled up like a mountain, Guru started brushing his teeth. If Jurim kept squeezing out that much every ti, they’d have to buy a new tube every week.
Guru glanced at Jurim’s reflection in the mirror with a grumpy look—he was nodding off, swaying like a sickly chicken.
“Guildzhan-nim, you’re sleepy.”
“...I’m not.”
Jurim half-opened his sleepy eyes and put his toothbrush in his mouth.
“There’s no toothpaste on that.”
“Mmm.”
Still half-asleep, he absentmindedly squeezed out more toothpaste and resud brushing.
[Quest: No Lazy Mornings!]
[Completed!]
[100 Filial Piety Points Earned!]
‘Oh!’
Filial Piety Points could be used to increase stat points, just like leveling up in a dungeon.
Brushing teeth together raises my stats?!
That was insanely efficient.
‘I need to fill up my next guardian slot as soon as possible.’
With that thought, Guru was about to get excited when—
Beep beep beep—
The door lock clicked open.
‘Who’s that?’
Guru peeked out, curious.
A loud noise followed as the door swung open, and heavy footsteps rushed toward the bathroom.
The newcor looked at On Jurim with disbelief and muttered,
“Why...?”
Why? Guru continued brushing his teeth, staring at the man.
The man’s gentle, well-grood face was familiar. It was Uncle Yoon Seojun, the one who had been driving him back to the orphanage every ti he got kicked out of a company over the past few days.
“Why are you awake? What happened? How did this—?”
Seojun looked so shocked that Guru answered for Jurim.
“Guru woke him up.”
“What? No, wait—are you telling you did sothing so dangerous with that tiny body of yours?!”
Guru recalled how quickly Jurim had gotten up the mont he whispered into his ear. It hadn’t seed that dangerous... Still, the way Seojun reacted made it feel like Guru had accomplished sothing incredible.
‘Maybe I really am useful?’
As Yoon Seojun sighed and checked if Guru was hurt, letting out a long groan, Jurim spit out his toothpaste and shot him a sharp glare.
“If you don’t want to get fired, stop overreacting and get to work.”
“Yes, Guild Master.”
The man, who had been on the verge of tears, suddenly regained his composure, his face snapping back into a cool, dandy expression. Faced with the threat of unemploynt, he had apparently recovered his professionalism.
“Guild Master, I brought everything you asked for yesterday. Should I bring it in now?”
“Yeah. I need it right away.”
“I figured.”
Seojun nodded and helped Guru adjust his clothes, which had slipped down slightly.
‘...?’
****
It didn’t take long to figure out what they had prepared.
Yoon Seojun, a hunter from Hyeonak Guild, introduced himself, explaining that his job was to wake Jurim up in the morning and deliver him to work.
‘Since he sleeps so much, it’s a nightmare...’ He was in the middle of explaining when Jurim suddenly appeared and told him to shut up before kicking him out.
Shortly after, Seojun returned with two assistants, each carrying an armful of shopping bags. They had practically raided the children’s clothing section of the departnt store, fulfilling Jurim’s orders from the day before.
“Good morning, Guru!”
“Guru, you’re too cute today!”
“Hewwo!”
They were familiar faces—people from the guild’s secretary team whom Guru had seen a few tis at the office. The mont he greeted them, their eyes glead ominously.
“...?”
Before Guru knew it, he was being dragged into the dressing room.
“Let’s start with this outfit.”
“Oooh, this one next!”
Like they were playing with a doll, the secretaries dressed Guru up in various outfits, squealing in delight.
“Oh my god, he’s so cute! Is he even real?”
“Let’s try this one too, Guru.”
“And this one!”
‘Getting dressed up and praised feels nice! But still...!’
An entire hour passed just from trying on clothes.
‘Ugh...’
Unlike at first, Guru was now completely drained, his soul half-escaping his body as he surrendered to their hands.
In the end, Jurim, unable to bear it any longer, knocked on the door, telling them to wrap it up.
The secretaries, looking dissatisfied, reluctantly settled on a sailor-collared outfit.
‘Getting dressed is exhausting...’
Looking utterly worn out, Guru trudged out of the room and slumped down next to Jurim.
Jurim, who had been on the phone with soone, glanced at the child who now looked half-dead.
“You look good, so why the long face?”
Good? Guru perked up, lifting his head. The gloom on his face instantly brightened.
“I look good?”
“Yeah.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
His lips curled into a soft, pleased smile.
“You look cool too, Guildzhan-nim (Guild Master). Whoa, so handso.”
As Guru boldly patted Jurim’s shoulder, Jurim let out a soft chuckle from deep in his throat.
Feeling pleased, Guru decided to return the favor with a complint—one of the highest order!
“Guildzhan-nim is that kind of guy. The type to make a lot of girls cry.”
It was a sincere complint, but Jurim rely gave a chilling smile and stretched Guru’s cheek.
“Where did you learn that?”
“From the orphan—...”
“Should you be saying things like that or not?”
“N-not...”
Hmph. But it was a complint. Guru rubbed his now-tingling cheek.
“Guru’s eyes are tearing up a little.”
Startled, Jurim reached out and gently touched Guru’s cheek.
“...Did that hurt?”
He had barely tugged it. But as he poked at Guru’s soft cheeks, looking genuinely worried, Guru muttered with a pout.
“The type to make girls cry.”
“You wanna cry again?”
“Nuh-uh.”
Guru clung to Jurim’s arm.
Jurim shook his head and turned his attention back to his phone. anwhile, Seojun and the secretaries smiled as they watched the two.
***
‘Ugh, of all people...’
The civil servant groaned as he checked his phone for the na of the hunter assigned to field support. His stomach churned.
Every guild in South Korea was required by law to contribute a certain number of hunters for public assistance requests.
Hyeonak Guild was no exception.
Most large guilds usually sent rookies, but Hyeonak didn’t care about rank. They simply dispatched whoever wasn’t busy that day. And by “whoever,” they really ant “whoever.”
[Hyeonak, Gidan (S-rank)]
The civil servant felt dizzy. Only Hyeonak would be insane enough to send an S-rank for a basic field support request.
And Gidan, of all people. He massaged the back of his stiffening neck.
No wonder—Gidan was infamous.
A battle-crazed lunatic. A berserker straight out of a nightmare.
Wherever Gidan passed, only ruins remained. Because of that, he had been ranked the #1 hunter civil servants wanted to avoid—purely because of the aftermath cleanup.
With a deep sigh, the civil servant got to work on his first order of business.
“This mission’s field support hunter is Hyeonak’s Gidan. All personnel, move ten ters away from the suspect. I repeat, all personnel, move ten ters away from the suspect.”
He relayed the warning through his transmitter, then approached Gidan, who was wearing headphones and glued to his phone, seemingly lost in his ssages.
“Hunter Gidan, thank you for coming.”
The young man, who had practically buried his nose in his phone screen, finally lifted his head. As their eyes t, Gidan flashed a dazzling smile and gave a polite bow.
“Good morning. Gidan from Hyeonak, reporting for duty.”
After the greeting, Gidan imdiately went back to his phone, furiously typing. The music blaring from his headphones suggested he might not even be able to hear properly—but that assumption turned out to be false.
‘So this is what an S-rank is like.’
More than anything, the civil servant was caught off guard by how... polite Gidan was. The tension in his chest eased slightly.
For soone with that kind of reputation, he seed pretty normal.
‘Didn’t they say he was still in high school?’
The civil servant recalled random facts about Gidan—things he had unwillingly learned thanks to his teenage daughter, who had plastered posters of him all over her room and never stopped gushing about him.
One of the world’s few S-rank hunters who were still minors.
The boy in front of him looked noticeably younger than the wild-eyed maniac grinning on those posters, his eyes gleaming like a predator in battle.
Even now, Gidan’s KakaoTalk chat window was flying upwards, filled with exclamation marks and shocked emoji reactions.
“This way. Follow . The suspect is Kim Seungbeom, a B-rank fire-attribute mage.”
‘Sending an S-rank to catch a B-rank? This is like using a butcher’s cleaver to kill a fly.’
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