The third day ended with the flying squirrel’s prestige soaring endlessly high thanks to the excavator.
That evening, the squirrels treated Guru to a lavish feast.
After indulgently enjoying the strawberry juice Cheche had offered her, Guru hugged Mephisto tight and fell asleep.
And on the fourth day—
“Vroom vroom beep beep, wittow squawe bus~ Even in da wain, it’s nevuh a pwobwem~”
Keeririk— keeririk— keeriririk—
Guru was headed toward the stream with her bicycle to fetch some water.
She needed to plant acorns and water them now. Humming a cheerful tune, she spotted a thin stream of water trickling by.
Dis is it!
SPLASH!
Guru skidded to a dramatic stop, kicking up dust, and hopped off the bike.
Gwuu, da weaw mastuh of dwiving.
Wearing overalls with the pants legs neatly tucked into her rain boots, Guru grabbed the bucket with a flick of her wagging tail.
The squirrels said Guru’s ears and tail were visible because her beast transformation wasn’t complete yet, since she was still young. They said that when she grew older, she’d be able to hide them completely.
But da taiw’s so handy.
It was like having a third hand.
Moments like this made being a flying squirrel not so bad after all—until Guru shook her head hard.
Losing my human sewf wike dis. RP Dungeons awe so scawy.
Even if she was being praised as a king by the squirrels, even if she could indulge in strawberry juice and acorn cookies every single day as royalty, Guru still had an unforgettable goal.
Gwuu’s gotta go find da Snow Leopard twibe and beat up Ham Honggi!
Helping the squirrel tribe was only temporary. Steeling herself again, Guru bent down to scoop up water—when something came into view.
Something was floating downstream from the upper stream.
“Hmmng?”
A long, big, pitch-black object drifted slowly with the current. Looking closer, it was something wrapped up tightly in soaked fabric.
“Wuzzat?”
Guru pulled the duck-shaped grabber from her inventory, stretched her arm all the way out, and poked at it.
Sploosh!
At that, the thing flipped over, revealing a face.
“Kkyaaaah!”
She was so startled that her ears and tail shot straight up.
“It’s a pewson!”
Why was a person drifting down the stream?! Guru grabbed the person’s shoulders and arms and grunted as she dragged them ashore.
It was a boy in a black, hooded cloak.
“Huff, huff.”
Panting after barely dragging the boy out of the water, she blinked.
Oh!
A familiar face.
Guru pushed the boy’s soaked hood back.
Soft-looking light-brown hair, delicate and fine facial features.
Can’t see da eyes.
Guru furrowed her brow, then gently pried the boy’s eyelids open to check his eye color.
Left eye gold, right eye blue.
Just as she thought.
It’s da cat Oppaw fwom da auction house!
And for some reason... on top of Cat Oppaw’s head were a pair of triangular ears with black spots on white fur.
From the window, warm sunlight filtered in and slowly warmed his eyelids.
Feeling the warmth, Serhi’s lashes trembled faintly.
Where was this? Who was he? What was his last memory? He scrambled to recall it.
I’m Serhi.
Last memory... He and Irina opened an RP Dungeon...
He infiltrated the Brom Guild alliance to obtain the dungeon’s “core” and entered the dungeon with them.
The core was a kind of storage device that preserved dungeon ➤ NоvеIight ➤ (Read more on our source) information.
It was generated by bosses to maintain the dungeon and normally had no value for humans—but it was essential for Irina’s next plan.
They had prepared for large-scale combat and deployed battle-type mannequins, but then...
Serhi slowly opened his eyes and frowned.
“Awakey~?”
“Squee-squee?” (You’ve awakened?)
As two heads popped into view right in front of his face, Serhi’s grip on reality slipped even further.
A baby squirrel-human hybrid, and an actual squirrel... A squirrel...?
“Why am I seeing squirrels in front of me.”
“Cuz I’m a fwying squiwwew!”
“Squeechi-squeechu!” (Because he’s a flying squirrel!)
Serhi clutched his face in despair with both hands.
“...Squirrel hell. Even in hell, I end up somewhere like this...”
Cheche responded with an indignant voice.
“Squee?! Squee-squee!” (Why hell?! If anything, it’s squirrel heaven!)
But Serhi just blinked blankly.
“What are you saying?”
“He ask why it’s heww not heaven~”
“There’s no way I’d be in heaven...”
“Eh?”
Guru blinked at the cynical reply.
By now, Serhi had become more alert and looked around before speaking.
“But seriously, what the hell. Why are you here. And why are you a squirrel?! What even is all this?!”
Bolting upright, Serhi began to panic in a gradient.
The sudden movement triggered a coughing fit—he clutched his mouth and coughed up blood.
There weren’t any visible external injuries, but the internal ones were clearly severe.
Cheche tried to help, but Serhi sharply batted his hand away.
“First of all, explain what the hell is going on.”
Guru decided to correct the most important thing first.
“Gwuu’s not just a squiwwew. Gwuu’s a fwying squiwwew. King of squiwwews.”
Serhi stared at Guru with a blank look. Then he responded flatly, like he’d completely given up.
“...If you’re a king, I guess you’re OP. Congrats.”
OP? Guru tilted her head at the unfamiliar term.
“Opee... Opee pizza cake...?”
OP character: short for “overpowered character,” referring to someone with absurdly strong abilities.
“So what even is this. A squirrel map? Are you even the real one? You’re not a knockoff or something?”
Serhi tugged and squished Guru’s cheek over and over again.
“Uweeegh!”
She’s da weaw Gwuu!
Cheche was the one who had rescued her. Sitting far back on a chair, Guru rubbed her sore cheek and pouted her lips.
“Dis pwace is da squiwwew twibe. We gwow twee and cowwect acown on da fawm. And...”
Guru stared at the top of Serhi’s head.
“Oppaw, awe you Snow Weopard twibe?”
At that, Serhi twitched his right ear.
“Ah... yeah.”
Answering reluctantly, the two white-furred ears poking up through his light brown hair drooped back.
His body must’ve been so damaged he couldn’t keep them hidden anymore.
If onwy he wasn’t da Gnosis huntew.
To avoid detection by Brom Guild, he had deployed his mannequin army a bit off to the side—but that had backfired when he got caught by the Gnosis hunter of all people.
As he recalled that moment, Guru leaned in close and stared into his eyes.
“What.”
“Yo eyes...”
“Huh?”
Guru seemed to think for a second—then beamed.
“Pwetty.”
“...What?”
Serhi frowned.
Why would she say that out of nowhere? His cheeks flushed, and his ears twitched straight up.
And then—
Outside the window, the squirrels suddenly started screaming.
“Squee-squee-squeechik!” (The Master is coming!)
Serhi couldn’t understand squirrel-speak, so he was completely lost. Guru’s eyes went wide as she looked to Cheche.
Da Mastuh?!
Guru picked up fragments of what the squirrels had said.
There was a powerful stranger among them, and they decided to call him Master.
Sounds mystewious... What guild is he fwom if he’s awone? she wondered—
“Squeeeeeeeek!” (AAAAAH!)
But somehow, the squirrels’ shrieking felt... way too intense.
“Cheche, wet’s go down.”
Guru descended to the first floor with Cheche.
Together they hurried down the stairs and flung the door open.
And froze at the sight before them.
In the middle of the panicked, shrieking squirrels stood a figure, drenched from head to toe in red.
As if someone had poured a bucket of red paint over him—but the problem was, it wasn’t paint.
Anyone could tell—
...it was blood.

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