Irina’s mansion was a space created by exploiting the principle behind dungeon formation.
In that space where time seemed not to move, she always loved the evergreen garden of fragrant osmanthus.
The tree, which only bloomed in warm climates, was a rare sight in Kirrus due to the cold.
Irina opened her parasol, breathing in the dewy, clear scent of osmanthus.
“Serhi.”
Serhi, who had been walking across the garden, raised his head and met Irina’s blue eyes.
Irina’s gaze softened gently.
“You’ve come.”
“...Irina.”
Now that he knew she was Yevgeny’s sister, the resemblance was clearer. The sharpness of his features, the curve at the end of his gentle eyes—all of it.
“You’re late.”
“I came after confirming Naohyeong’s death.”
He had no regrets over the death. The mission was complete, and he had only gone to kill him himself out of thoroughness.
Thanks to that, he had even saved himself the effort.
“Mmm. I figured. I didn’t feel any resistance at all...”
Irina seemed equally devoid of regret.
Unlike Serhi, she hadn’t clashed with Naohyeong, but Irina was indifferent to the feelings and situations of others.
To her, people were no more than pieces on a board game—easy to use, easy to discard.
Of course, Serhi had never been emotionally invested in others either.
Because they treated each other like emotionless objects, living with Irina had been comfortable.
Until now.
“Here.”
When Serhi opened his hand, a fragment floated in the air.
The core of the RP Dungeon.
A fragment of what was known as the system’s memory storage device.
After the core was destroyed and the dungeon cleared, Serhi, who had been waiting nearby, gathered the remaining core fragments and returned.
Even if it was just a fragment, a portion of the stored memory would likely remain.
“Thank you. This should be enough.”
Irina smiled, her eyes folding sweetly.
“Irina.”
“Mm?”
Serhi clenched his fist. The fragment disappeared into his palm.
“The experiment I participated in—you said it wasn’t related to Gnosis, right?”
“What happened?”
“Why? Is it strange that I’m asking that?”
Serhi smiled faintly as he asked again. She must have known that he had a far stronger motive than any number of reasons.
After all, it was Irina who had rescued the pitiful test subject from the Kirrus Research Facility.
Irina stared quietly at Serhi.
Heterochromia. Originally, both eyes had been blue like hers.
But through artificial reawakening experiments, one eye had turned gold.
“Ah, I guess I was just surprised. It’s been a while since you brought up the lab.”
Irina brushed Serhi’s cheek with one hand.
“Don’t worry. It has nothing to do with Gnosis.”
Her kind voice belied the way her blue eyes examined him—like a researcher observing a test subject.
Serhi smiled faintly, his eyes creasing.
“I figured as much.”
Lies.
A few days had passed since returning from the RP Dungeon.
It was Saturday morning.
The newly opened mega kids’ café was packed with the latest toys and playground equipment designed to entice children.
Among them, what caught Guru’s interest the most was a children’s fortress full of slides and a ball pit.
Guru clung tightly to the Velcro climbing wall and ascended the fortress wall.
Stick, stick—climbing to the top, she threw off her Velcro gloves. Guru’s concept was that of a wandering adventurer.
Gwuu made it... just to here!
And at the end of every adventure, there had to be treasure.
If it’s treasure...
Guru looked around, then opened her inventory.
Supweme Acown!
She placed an acorn atop the fortress wall. It was the special purified acorn she’d acquired in the RP Dungeon but hadn’t used up thanks to her infinite acorn ability.
Apparently, this acorn would gain a different ability depending on its surroundings. This message kept popping up:
[Special item adapting to environment...]
It transforms, huh. But supweme is supweme, even for an acorn.
“Uhihi.” Guru chuckled quietly and lifted the acorn high above her head.
Adventuwuh Gwuu! Defeated da fowces twying to send hew to da Squid Game, and claimed da Supweme Acown atop da cwiff-side fowtwess!
Ba-bam!
“Ppiit!”
The white baby chick sitting on her head flew to the parapet of the fortress and spread its wings in the exact same pose as Guru.
Hihi!
Contrary to Jurim’s concern that the chick might only eat dungeon cores, the baby bird thankfully ate anything given to it.
From tender, fluffy peas to sweet candies—it gulped them down with a happy chirp, and it had become so adorable while feeding that Guru had gotten hooked.
Maybe that’s why...
It wooks a wittwe woungew...
Guru tilted her head and stared at the now rounder chick.
Mephisto tilted his head too, just like Guru.
The baby chick, Mephisto, seemed to be slowly learning about the world.
He had started mimicking Guru’s behavior and showing interest in vicarious experiences—just like her.
Even last night...
Jurim, who had gone into the room to put Guru to sleep, had stopped dead in the living room.
Mephisto was sitting on a cushion on the coffee table, completely focused on the television.
“Does it take after its owner too?”
“Ooh! Smawty birb!”
And this morning, too...
Jurim, still half-asleep and being dragged out of the room by Guru, rubbed his eyes as he glanced at the living room.
No matter how much he rubbed, the chick was clearly watching TV with glowing red eyes.
“Still?”
“Ooh! Da best birb!”
Staying up all night watching TV—what stamina.
Guru always got sleepy by 8 PM, so she’d never pulled an all-nighter.
...Though maybe because of that, Mephisto had wobbled a bit while flying over to Guru.
Guru tucked the acorn back into her inventory and pulled out a new item.
Now it’s time to defeat da boss of Squid Game—da Squid Pwesident!
The item she pulled out of her inventory was a toy fork for pretend cooking.
Guru held it aloft like the sacred sword of a hero.
[Stabby-Stab! Kids’ Fork (B)]
Use the fork to stab and break hard shells.
Children, please use with caution.
It was a reward item from her personal quest in the RP Dungeon.
Use wif caution...!
Guru reread the tooltip and slowly tucked the fork back into her inventory.
After all, you couldn’t recklessly swing around a fearsome weapon that required children to be cautious!
Guru dove off the fortress wall into the connected ball pit.
“Puhah!”
She popped up from the ball pit and waved toward a table.
Sitting at the table were On Suhyeong and On Jurim. The On father and son waved back.
Grinning brightly, Guru dove back into the ball pit and disappeared again.
The moment she vanished, the On men’s faces returned to their usual stoicism.
Their original plan to share a meal on Ijo’s death anniversary had been scrapped due to the unexpectedly long RP Dungeon campaign.
In place of a formal meal, they’d agreed on meeting at the kids’ café.
It was all because of Guru, who had stared longingly at the ads for the grand opening of the mega kids’ café.
After visiting Ijo’s memorial, the three had come straight here.
Two large men in muted suits that clashed starkly with the colorful interior of the café.
Because there weren’t enough /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ tables, families usually shared space with others—but no one dared approach the On family’s table.
Only the occasional sideways glance.
Fortunately, both were accustomed to attention. Thanks to that, they could talk freely.
Suhyeong pulled out his phone and sent a text to the project lead for the new resort.
Jurim peeked at the message, which instructed the lead to include a larger ball pit, and leaned his chin on the table.
The new resort Doan was building in Jeju Island had suddenly expanded plans for a kid’s center.
After fiddling with his phone for a while, Suhyeong finally spoke.
“This was your doing.”
On Suhyeong held out his phone, which showed a news tab.
[Breaking] Rebellion of the Daughter-in-Law? Chun Gyuri to Hold Press Conference on Ham Jinpyeong
[Breaking] Ham Jinpyeong, Candidate for Minister of Justice, Resigns Voluntarily
Ham Jinpyeong announces resignation. “I acknowledge my lack of qualifications.”
[Breaking] Brom Guild’s Chun Gyuri Suddenly Cancels Press Conference
Chun Gyuri’s cancellation—linked to Ham Jinpyeong’s resignation?
Whichever way you looked at it, Chun Gyuri appeared closely tied to the resignation of the ministerial candidate.
Unless she had bumped her head in the RP Dungeon, someone must have pulled strings behind the scenes.
On Suhyeong was certain that someone was his own son.

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