The mont Zhang Wei transford using the item—
Inside the soap bubble, Guru felt a jolt of electricity shoot through her body.
‘Th-That’s...!’
It was the very Miracle Change (transfowmation) she’d always dread of.
The very dream five-year-old Guru had longed for all her life... was right there!
Every ti Guru had shouted, “Miwwacwe Changey– Transfowm!” while watching cartoons, Jurim would say things like:
"Screaming that won’t do anything. Just eat." or "Guess you’re not a magic girl after all." or "Mind your pronunciation," and so on...
Instead of encouragent, all she got was sarcasm day after day—those mories flashed before her eyes.
Guru narrowed her eyes and locked onto the transformation item embedded in the man’s chest.
‘It wooks kinda wike da Beiie’s Yodewray (mana stone) dat Oppaw Taemin wore as an eawwieng back den......’
It looked like it used explosive mana to trigger the transformation, but she'd need to analyze it firsthand to know for sure.
‘Gwuu wants dat item so bad......! Wants to see it up cwose!’
She desperately wanted to load its blueprint into her and take it apart.
Guru clasped her little hands together in earnest.
‘Gwuu too... Gwuu too wants to do supaw Miwwacwe Changey– twansfowm (pwonunciation pwactice)!!’
Her expression suddenly changed. The desire of a five-year-old to transform had never been more sincere.
***
anwhile, Zhang Wei—now suddenly outnumbered—was completely thrown off.
Ssssshhhhk—!
The armor near the bullet hole was still burning.
His right arm, and everything from his shoulder to the back of his neck, had been blown off.
The power behind that hit... was overwhelming.
His face pale, Zhang Wei had no choice but to fend off Chuen’s attacks while keeping a wary eye on the drone’s movents.
Still, as long as he stayed close to Chuen, the drone wouldn’t be able to shoot.
He kept the distance between them as tight as possible, continuing the lee.
Chuen gave a faint smile.
[“You've beco a coward, Zhang Wei.”]
[“......!”]
[“When you die, I’ll make sure to summon your soul right between the vengeful ghosts you killed.”]
With that, Chuen kicked him square in the chest, sending him staggering back.
At the sa ti—
One of the goldfish nudged Guru’s fork, guiding it to aim at him.
“Bwam!”
Zhang «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» Wei instinctively turned his body to defend against the attack.
But—
‘Why...?’
The drone didn’t move.
While he hesitated in confusion, Chuen snuck up behind him and struck a pressure point on the back of his neck.
“Ghk!”
Thud!
With a short groan, Zhang Wei collapsed to the ground.
“Huff...”
Chuen exhaled as she used her foot to roll his stiff body over.
Zhang Wei, paralyzed, lay motionless with only his eyes rolling.
By then, Guru had scampered over, used her fork like a lever, and pried the item out of his chest.
Pop—!
She picked up the item that rolled to the side and triumphantly raised it above her head.
[tallic Armor Changer (S)]
‘Gwuu can twansfowm now too!’
Chuen softly clapped her hands as Guru bead with joy.
‘Uheehee!’
Guru gave her thanks with repeated “Gamjyaa, gamjyaa!” and hugged the item tightly to her chest.
Smiling gently at her, Chuen stepped closer.
“Thank you, On Gwuu.”
Taking a martial salute, she added,
“You were the supawest one. Even my master, Nosa, said he was impressed by your strength.”
‘S-Supawest!’
Hearing the word for the first ti, Guru’s face flushed with excitent. She sniffled proudly.
‘Gwuu's aweady da supawest.’
The title weighed heavily on her fork.
At that mont, Chuen held out her palm, and a shimring blue-silver goldfish leapt into it.
“This is my master. His na’s Nosa.”
“Hoohh!”
Guru gave a belly-button bow.
“Hewwooo!”
The goldfish flicked Guru’s chubby cheek with its tail.
Then it floated over to Iromi, gently lifting her body and gliding her onto the wooden porch.
“Huh?”
“I’ll just drop her off here. I have to get going. I’m sorry.”
Hoisting the unconscious Zhang Wei over her shoulder, Chuen sounded sincerely apologetic.
“......I ended up causing a lot of trouble.”
“Gwuu not mad! Gwuu got dis too!”
Guru held up the transformation item with a proud smile.
Even so, Chuen pressed her lips tight and lowered her gaze with a blank face.
“There won’t be any more of that now, so don’t worry.”
Despite her emotionless tone, a strange sadness seeped through—regret, guilt, maybe both.
Chuen, who once said she stole crops because she was hungry.
Chuen, who said she had no ho because she was always on the run.
Chuen, who was just fighting bad guys monts ago.
Whatever her story was...
“Den baii, On Gwuu.”
“Chuuw unnie.”
Guru called out to stop Chuen from walking away.
“Mm?”
“Dis yeaw, Hyeonak’s gonna wecwoot new mbuhs.”
“New recruits?”
Nod nod.
She didn’t know Chuen’s story, but she knew she was kind and strong.
“If yoo join Hyeonak, dey give you a house, da snack shewf is packed, and yoo get wotsa fwiends.”
Guru held up her fork and said with determination,
“An’ Gwuu is da Hyeonak nakasan. Da giwdy mbuhs awe gonna pwotect supaw Gwuu.”
“......”
Guru toddled forward and gave Chuen a tight hug.
“So if you co to Hyeonak, Gwuu’s gonna pwotect yoo too.”
“Ah...”
After a brief hesitation, Chuen gently returned the hug, patting the child’s back.
This tiny girl who said she would protect her...
Did she even know how much danger she was in?
That single toy drone alone had made her a target for countless organizations.
It was the reason Chuen had gone into hiding.
Because people were chasing her, trying to uncover Jjapso’s true identity.
She hadn’t wanted to endanger the child—that’s why she’d run again. As always... running was the easiest thing for her to do.
Chuen opened her mouth slightly.
“...I really have to go now.”
“Okaay! See yoo next ti, unnie!”
Then, as if steeling herself, Chuen gave the faintest nod—almost imperceptible—and vanished with a leap.
“Phe..”
Guru sat down beside Iromi.
Though peacefully asleep and seemingly unhurt, Guru sprayed syrup over her just in case.
That’s when one of the goldfish fluttered through the air and tickled Guru’s face.
She broke into a wide smile, and the goldfish slipped into Iromi’s body.
Then Iromi mumbled in her sleep.
“...Yeah, soone go arrest that asshole...”
Is she tawkin’ to da goldfish?
Shortly after, the goldfish floated back out and waved to Guru.
“Bai baii~”
Guru waved her little hand as the goldfish zipped away.
Then, sitting next to the sleeping Iromi, she gazed up at the stars, cascading like waterfalls across the sky.
She wanted to see those stars together with her dad.
“When’s Daddychann comin’ back?”
***
Ssssshhhk—
The end of his cigarette burned as Jurim exhaled deeply.
His mana had drained all at once, leaving him staggering across the snowy field, step by step.
Lately, the master of the 99th Floor had been showing up more frequently.
That was a bad sign.
Jurim, though soaked in cold sweat, spoke as if it didn’t matter.
“You’ve been showing up a lot lately.”
—Need, sshkk—, reason.
Because it was needed.
The master of the 99th Floor spoke in longer sentences now, but static still distorted the words.
“...So you still haven’t let go of that dumb idea, huh?”
In response, the master rely closed its eyes.
Eventually, the snowy field vanished, and Jurim ground out his cigarette underfoot.
A faint crack ford between his brows. He looked up at the sky where stars were pouring down like a waterfall.
“This is... kinda bad.”
Leaning against a wooden pillar, arms crossed, he murmured.
And he recalled the mont when controlling his mana had beco difficult.
—Danger. Guru.
Back then, the master of the 99th Floor had determined that Jurim himself was a threat to Guru.
After all, Jurim was human—his emotions could overwhelm him, his power spiral out of control.
But the 99th Floor’s master was different. It wasn’t human. It thought on a fundantally different level.
Like a program running on a fixed algorithm, it had calculated that Jurim posed a potential fatal risk to Guru.
That’s where the problem started.
Ever since, the 99th Floor’s master had begun trying in earnest to devour Jurim’s soul in order to contain him.
Wiping the sweat from his throat, Jurim closed his eyes for a mont, composed himself, and began walking.
It would be dawn soon.
Guru had been injecting him with mana at every opportunity lately—maybe she’d figured out he was sneaking out at night.
“......”
He had to go back. He couldn’t let the kid worry about her parents anymore.
His limping, unstable steps soon returned to normal.
Jurim straightened his back and lifted his head.
A cool breeze blew, drying his damp clothes.
For now, he could only hope that the glove-maker he brought from Japan could do sothing to help.
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