Blood stained his clothes as he stepped back out.
Meeting the startled gazes fixed on him, Siwon offered a gentle smile.
“Ah, don’t worry about what’s inside the shed. I cleaned up everything nice and tidy so none of the acorns got dirty.”
How...?
Guru and Cheche instinctively hugged each other tight, recalling the first day they met Siwon. That smile—painted red like he'd been dunked in a can of crimson paint.
The terrifying S-Rank omnivorous squirrel...
“But why is the Snowy Panther General after the Sky Squirrel? Do you know?”
It was way too extreme of a response just to rush a delayed acorn delivery.
“Oh.”
Serhi’s mouth fell open. It clicked—Ham Honggi.
He ran a hand through his hair in frustration.
“That ‘general’ is Ham Honggi.”
“Nyeh?”
“Huh?”
Guru and Siwon echoed the question at once.
“Ham Honggi is the Snowy Panther General.”
And he was also the one Naohyeong had implanted a “eye” into to manipulate.
“Hyungsu-nim.”
Contaminated Zone. Snowy Panther encampment.
Ham Honggi called out with a mocking tone to Chun Gyuri, seated at the head of the table.
Chun Gyuri stared up at the ceiling, exhaling a deep breath.
“Hunter Ham Honggi. How many times do I have to tell you to address me as Guildmaster?”
Ham Honggi sneered and kicked his feet up on the table.
[Activating skill: ‘General’s Command (Special)’]
The moment the skill activated, Chun Gyuri’s body went stiff. Thanks to her S-Rank stats, she could resist to this degree—any other Snowy Panther would’ve hit the ground, bowing flat.
The special skill Ham Honggi had gained upon becoming a general gave him forced command authority over all Snowy Panthers.
“Just listen to me. I’m the general here, right?”
Chun Gyuri clenched her fist in silence.
She had brought a live bomb into this goddamn roleplay scenario with her own hands.
Complacent.
There was a wall of power between her and Ham Honggi that couldn’t be crossed. She thought it was something she could handle within the limits of her own strength.
I didn’t think it would come to this...
She hadn’t anticipated a “special skill” being granted. RP dungeons were rare, and so little was known about them—that lack of information had led to this mistake.
“Hyungsu-nim, don’t you think this skill’s badass? Should be able to use this outside too. Then when my mom tries to cut my card again, bam—problem solved, right? You feel me?”
Ham Honggi tilted his head and asked, still watching her closely.
“Why are you so against bringing the Sky Squirrel?”
Chun Gyuri wanted to ask right back: Why the hell are you suddenly so obsessed with the Sky Squirrel?
She had come rushing over the moment she heard he’d sent Snowy Panthers to the squirrel farm.
“Because we’re not getting enough acorns. If we purify and conquer the Contaminated Zone, we get to go home—and I get my card back, yeah?”
Your precious card, you little shit, she almost said—but bit it back.
“There are other squirrels, though. They said the Sky Squirrel isn’t essential to the farm.”
“Says who?”
“Just. People.”
Chun Gyuri’s brow twitched.
‘People’? Not ‘you’?
Next to Ham Honggi stood a man with his arms crossed and eyes closed.
Naohyeong, was it?
He was a mercenary from Freefall, a Brom-affiliated sub-guild.
Not a familiar face despite his relatively high rank, but that wasn’t unusual—mercenaries tended to drift from faction to faction.
“...Fine. I won’t object. For now.”
Definitely fishy. Chun Gyuri narrowed her eyes.
With all Brom-affiliated hunters deployed to the Contaminated Zone, the fact that this guy remained behind with Ham Honggi...
And sure, Ham Honggi always surrounded himself with the worst kinds of scum, so having one more weirdo glued to his side wasn’t new.
But when that weirdo smelled like he was trying to sabotage a conquest, that changed everything.
Something reeks here...
As Chun Gyuri shot a suspicious look, Naohyeong cracked one eye open.
Looks like she’s getting suspicious.
Probably because of the unreasonable demand to retrieve the Sky Squirrel.
He’d succeeded in pushing Ham Honggi to send people for the Sky Squirrel—but the real problem was Chun Gyuri. An S-Rank was harder to deceive.
If his power were just a little stronger, he could’ve controlled her instead.
But even implanting an “eye” into a B-Rank bottom feeder like Ham Honggi had taken a lot. Chun Gyuri? Out of the question.
Still, the fact Ham Honggi had been made general was an incredible stroke of luck.
Plus, Serhi had disappeared somewhere. Even the mannequin unit he’d stationed nearby was gone—maybe the Gnosis hunter had taken them out.
He followed all the way here. Persistent bastard.
He didn’t know what Serhi was doing, or if he was «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» alive or dead—but he didn’t care. He wouldn’t get a better window than this.
He had to retrieve that child while Serhi’s eyes weren’t watching.
The Sky Squirrel.
He’d sent a bird with an implanted eye to scan the squirrel farm and spotted the Sky Squirrel.
That kid from the auction house.
His blood boiled.
This was clearly a sign from the heavens.
A command to seize the item that child possessed.
[Unmeasurable Item.]
He had to have it.
Birdsong signaled the early morning.
Squeak, squeak.
Guru rubbed her eyes after washing her face squeaky clean
[Updating......]
Mephisto was still fast asleep on his little cushion, showing no signs of waking.
How long does an update take...
To earn [Filial Piety Points], she needed to find something called “Mephisto’s Fragment.” But if Mephisto didn’t wake up, she had no way of locating it.
Maybe I won’t finish this [Filial Piety Quest]...
Guru pushed down her disappointment and got dressed.
Squirming into the neck hole of her shirt, stretching her arms through the sleeves—
“Fwaaaah—”
She let out a big yawn and stepped outside.
Her eyes still heavy, body sluggish, but she had to move.
She had to grow those acorns quickly.
“Guru, you’re awake already?”
A gentle voice called out.
“What the hell? I didn’t even clean up yet.”
A grumbling voice followed.
Snowy Panthers were scattered across the farm, collapsed here and there.
Mmm. Guru inhaled the crisp morning air with a sniff.
A squirrel and a Snowy Panther were busily dragging the nighttime intruders to the storage shed.
S-Ranks, two of them...
She vaguely remembered hearing on a hunter special that just two combat-class S-Ranks had the firepower equivalent to a small nation’s military.
One of them was injured and hiding his strength, but still solid enough that it didn’t seem to matter.
Which meant: this tiny little farm currently had national-level defense.
Guru lifted her head toward the blazing sun.
Warm-warm...
The sunlight breaking over the farm felt cozy and golden.
Peace...
She quietly watched the sprinklers spray water across the field, then spoke.
“Cheche, you know what? They say twees gwow reaw good on soiw with dead bodies.”
“Jjjj?!”
Cheche stared at Guru with horrified eyes.
Guru hummed a tune she made up herself as she toddled toward the oak tree.
“If you dwink good nyutwients~ acorns go boom-boom~”
After the Snowy Panthers had been cleaned up—
Guru, Siwon, and Serhi gathered at the stump in the center of the farm.
“Looking at the situation, the general might be intentionally sabotaging the RP dungeon conquest.”
“Hm.”
“Is it 'cuz he hates Gwuu dat much?!”
“That’s probably not the reason. I’m guessing it’s Gnosis-related.”
“Da meanie viwwains? Den Ham Honggi is Gnosis?”
“More likely, he’s being controlled.”
“Gasp!”
Wike big sista Iromi? Back then, she’d been controlled by someone. Did that mean that person had been Gnosis too?
Jin Siwon placed an arm around Guru’s shoulder and gently patted her.
“Don’t worry. I’ww pwotect you, Gwuu.”
Guru nodded, and Serhi silently lowered his head.

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