"Watch your mouth in front of the kid."
"Yes, sir......."
Gidan immediately deflated, bowing his head like a guilty criminal.
Guru, who had been blankly watching, mentally stored away another forbidden word.
"And Guru."
Hic!
"You’re banned from watching TV for a week."
"Guildjan-nim....... No way......."
Guru paled, shaking his head in horror. Anything but that......!
But Jurim was merciless.
"It’s happening."
Guru’s eyes darted around desperately before he copied Gidan’s earlier move, cupping his chin in his hands like a blooming flower.
"Iiiing—"
As Guru drooped his lips and wobbled his body, Jurim’s shoulders twitched.
"......Still no."
Just as Jurim tried to turn his head away—
Suddenly, he reached out toward Gidan.
Thud!
Gidan’s body lost its balance, and Jurim caught him.
Gasp! Guru sucked in a breath.
"Da, Dani-oppa is dead......!"
Guru’s eyes widened as he stared at Jurim—accusingly, as if to say, You did this.
Jurim, checking Gidan’s condition, furrowed his brows.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Dani-oppa doesn’t wanna go to the Hnghng Team......."
"You mean the PR team."
After confirming Gidan’s state, Jurim called an ambulance. Before long, the paramedics carried him away.
Jurim briefly explained that Gidan had only passed out from exhaustion and potion overdose, so there was no need to worry. Then, he put on his sleep mask.
Dani-oppa is going beep-beep.
Guru pressed up against the window, watching the ambulance carry Gidan away with envy.
"Aah, after kindergarten tomorrow, we’re getting your bed. I’ll replace all the furniture, too."
Guru trotted over to Jurim.
"Huh? Guru has a bed."
"That one’s mine. You need one that actually fits you—a tiny little baby bed."
A tiny bean....... Guru pouted, and Jurim, lowering his mask, chuckled and tugged at his lips.
"It’s your room. Pick whatever you like."
My room....... Guru fidgeted with both hands, excitement bubbling up.
"But, children grow fast. When I turn five, the bed might be too small."
Children wear clothes that are too big for them, sleeves covering their hands, because they’ll outgrow them soon.
The same goes for a bed. A tiny baby bed will definitely be too small in no time.
But Jurim replied nonchalantly.
"Then we’ll get you a slightly bigger one. About the size of a baseball."
Guru, having graduated from a bean to a baseball, burst into giggles.
"What if I get as big as a soccer ball?"
"Hmm. I don’t think that’ll happen."
Ding—!
Guru, forever stuck as a baseball?
"Then I’ll buy you a bed the size of a soccer field."
"......Really?"
"Of course."
Jurim lifted Guru onto his stomach and leaned back in his chair. Then, he pulled his mask down once more.
As darkness settled over his vision, echoes of a phone conversation with the orphanage director lingered in his ears.
— Normally, we don’t disclose these records, but.......
Irritated by the unpleasant thoughts, Jurim frowned and opened his eyes.
— It’s not that we’re keeping it from you on purpose...... Some people see past adoption records as a flaw in the child. But that’s not fair. It’s not the kid’s fault. Did they get a say in it? Adults just take them, then return them like borrowed things. It’s all the adults’ fault.......
— Guru was adopted by a family before, about three months ago.
— When his foster mother first took him, she swore she’d love him, her voice practically dripping with honey. And Guru... Guru called her ‘Mom’ so sweetly, he followed her everywhere. Back then, we thought he was going to a good home.
— And then, three months later, he was back.
The middle-aged couple had returned the child, shedding tears about how heartbroken they were, how sorry they felt.
They had such kind, gentle expressions as they explained—
We’re expecting a baby now, and we don’t think Guru will adjust well. We just want to find him a family that can love him more.
— When we asked Guru what happened, he said one day, she stopped calling herself ‘Mom.’ She told him she was just ‘Auntie’ now. That Auntie had a baby in her belly.
The director had paused for a long while.
"......I’m listening. Please continue."
— They weren’t evil people. They probably didn’t mean to hurt him. It was just... now that they had to give him up, they thought they had to make it clear. I suppose a child they waited so long for must have felt precious.
Jurim let out a deep sigh.
— I can understand their feelings, but...... did they really have to tell him like that?
The fear in Guru’s voice when he mentioned going back must have come from this.
— I know this might be too much to ask, but even if Guru doesn’t fully accept you as family yet, please wait a little, Guild Master. He just needs time to be sure. He’s really smart and kind. He’s sweet and loving, and now that he’s awakened...... If you just give him a little time—
"I understand, Director."
— Pardon?
"I’ll do my best with him, so you don’t need to worry."
Humans can be frighteningly cruel sometimes.
Sometimes, he felt that the malice of people was sharper than the calamities of the Tower.
Sleep had long fled, leaving his thoughts tangled. He took a deep breath, trying to quell the simmering anger rising within him.
Then, all at once, the scent of a baby washed over him, and the tension drained from his body.
Gently patting Guru’s back as if singing a lullaby, he spoke in a slow, soothing tone.
"When you grow, your room can grow too, little by little."
So that, piece by piece, it would become yours—so that you would feel like you belonged in this house.
Guru leaned into his embrace and closed his eyes.
Fluffy clouds swelled, forming a tiny bean-sized bed. Then it grew to the size of a baseball. And eventually, it expanded into a bed as vast as a soccer field.
Would a bed the size of a soccer field even exist?
A bed so big that even rolling over three times wouldn’t send him tumbling off sounded fun.
Nestled in Jurim’s arms, fast asleep, Guru dreamt of playing soccer on his bed.
The day after Gidan’s hospitalization was confirmed.
Guru carefully placed one star candy into each of the round syrup bottles lined up like a row of dominos.
Plop, plop, plop, plop, plop...
One by one, the star candies sank into the dozens of syrup bottles.
Before, Guru would have drained all his magic and stamina trying to combine the syrups one by one...
[Activating skill ‘Masterful Knead-Knead’.]
As the skill activated, the star candies dissolved into the syrup bottles all at once, turning the liquid a deep red.
“Heh. Heh. Heh!”
This is how the Knead-Knead skill evolves!
Knead-Knead → Beginner Knead-Knead → Intermediate Knead-Knead → Masterful Knead-Knead!
No longer was Guru the child who had to struggle, activating the skill over and over!
With a two-tier rank-up in one go, Masterful Knead-Knead now allowed him to synthesize everything at once.
Guru can now mass-produce!
"Hiyaaa—!"
Guru grinned proudly, closing the lids of the syrup bottles, completely amazed by his own growth.
And that wasn’t all.
[Strawberry Syrup (B)]
Restores external wounds and stamina.
Warning: Be careful not to let children get addicted to the sweet taste!
A B-rank recovery potion!
B-rank potions were the go-to for high-ranking hunters.
A-rank and above were either too rare or too costly to be practical, making B-rank potions the best value.
On the other hand, using lower-grade potions meant consuming them more frequently, increasing the risk of potion addiction.
Like Dani-oppa...
Thinking of Gidan, who had ended up in the hospital, Guru stuffed the B-rank syrups into his Quokka Crossbody Bag, planning to bring them as a get-well gift.
Hmm. I should sell the C-rank ones.
Just like other skills, potion-making wasn’t a guaranteed ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) success every time. As a result, he had plenty of C-rank syrups left over.
[Excellent Strawberry Syrup (C)]
Restores external wounds and stamina.
Guru narrowed his eyes at the word ‘Excellent’ in the name.
It has a bit of a weird label, but...
Well, if it says "excellent," it must be fine.
Probably.

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