Guru giggled along with them and glanced back at the poster.
A school festival!
That sounds fun!
She scanned the poster eagerly, and a familiar name popped up among the lineup for the congratulatory stage.
Oh!
Guru shot to her feet.
“Guru, where you going?”
“Yeah, where you going?”
Gidan and Serhi both asked at the same time.
“Ung! Gwuu goin’ to Nayun unnie, be wight back!”
Leaving the two puzzled behind her, Guru hurried toward Nayun’s office.
Iromi unnie is coming!
After parting ways with Romi like that a few days ago, Nayun had gotten a call from her.
They had been keeping in touch ever since.
They hadn’t been able to meet again because of conflicting schedules.
Though, whether that was really the case, or Iromi had been avoiding the meeting on purpose, no one could say for sure.
But if Iromi was coming to the festival? That meant they had a chance to meet!
When Guru opened the office door, Nayun’s eyes went wide.
“What brings you here, little Guru? Weren’t you supposed to be studying with the management team?”
Thanks to Gidan, who always complained like he was dying when dragged off to study, it was pretty famous in Hyeonak that the three of them studied together.
“Unnie, unnie! Gwuu and Dani Oppaw and you, let’s all go to Oppaw’s school festival!”
“Huh? Festival?”
She looked at the name Guru pointed to and seemed surprised for a moment, then smiled brightly.
The day of the Eusticia International School Festival arrived.
It was the only day ordinary people were allowed on campus, so the school grounds were packed with people from all over.
At the back of the massive campus, so big it felt overwhelming—
Inside a van parked off to one side of the lot, Romi, listening to one of her self-composed songs, lifted her head at the sound of someone tapping the window.
“We’re here.”
Nayun waved her hand. Next to her, a tiny little hand peeked out, waving energetically.
“Ah, hang on.”
Romi slid the van door open, and Nayun stepped inside with Guru in tow.
♪ Staring up at the billboard with your face on it... ♪
The {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} lyrics flowed out, and Romi’s face flushed bright red as she scrambled to stop the music.
It was one of Romi’s autobiographical songs—singing it in front of the person it was about was just too embarrassing.
Even though she had set aside her dream of being a singer and was focusing on acting—
Thanks to her song being recommended on the social media of a currently viral idol, it had spread like wildfire, especially through short-form videos, and Romi’s star potential as a singer was suddenly reemerging.
Nayun grinned at Romi’s flushed face.
“I listen to it every single day lately. It’s so good.”
Romi chuckled knowingly. She was well aware Nayun had been promoting the song nonstop in her story posts.
It didn’t seem like Nayun had any clue the song was literally about her, though.
God, she’s so clueless...
Romi shook her head as Guru chimed in with more praise.
“Mooji-mooji wuvved it! Romi unnie gonna be number one on da Muwang chart!”
“Right? I think so too!”
Hehehe, the two beamed at Romi.
These two are exactly the same, Romi thought, letting out a helpless laugh.
She wanted to maintain her cool, aloof image, but her lips just wouldn’t stop curling into a smile.
Twisting the ends of her hair, Romi shrugged.
“Even if I don’t get first place... well, wouldn’t be so bad if I did.”
Truth was, she was super hyped about it—but pretending not to care had become a habit after all her past failures.
“When’s your performance today? How much time you got?”
“Got about three hours to kill.”
After checking the time on her phone, Romi suddenly pulled out a suitcase and plopped it on her lap, popping it open.
“Pick one.”
Inside the suitcase, rows and rows of sunglasses in every shape and style filled the case, like a portable optical shop.
Seeing Nayun and Guru blinking in confusion, Romi quickly explained.
“Hard to have fun if people keep mobbing me.”
All the sunglasses were in matching pairs.
Nayun, recalling why there were two of each, giggled and picked one.
“Let’s go with these.”
Heart-shaped sunglasses.
They had once promised to wear them together when they went to Garosu-gil, so Romi had bought a set and kept them.
Romi smiled softly, picking up the same pair.
Then she turned to Guru and pointed to the star-shaped sunglasses next to them.
“Okay, baby, you wear these.”
Guru’s face lit up as she grabbed the sunglasses.
Gwuu gets to wear sunglasses wif da unnies...!
Her little heart raced.
But—
“They’re prob’ly too big for Gwuu,” Nayun pointed out.
Romi lifted the star-shaped sunglasses and held them up to Guru, nodding.
“Yeah. Way too big. They won’t work.”
Deng—!
Guru drooped, struggling to push the sunglasses up her nose, her little shoulders slumping.
“Den Gwuu can’t wear da anglasses...?”
Mumbling with disappointment, Guru’s lips wobbled, making Romi and Nayun panic as they scrambled to comfort her.
“Then let’s not wear any at all!”
“Yeah! We can just go without them!”
But Guru shook her head furiously.
Da unnies can’t miss out on fun ‘cause a Gwuu.
They had finally gotten to meet again...
Sniffling, Guru suddenly lit up with realization.
“Ah! Gwuu can make it small!”
She rummaged through her bag and pulled out a special band.
[Playing Is the Best! Kororo Kids Band (C)]
When attached to an object, the band shrinks it down to a perfect kid-size toy. It carries the dreams of children.
Note: Does not apply to all objects. Use with caution.
She wrapped the band around the sunglasses’ frame, shrinking them down to kid-size.
“W-What the hell?”
Romi’s eyes went huge as she cupped Guru’s cheeks with both hands.
“This baby’s a Hunter?!”
“Nyeye!”
“Yup. Our little Guru’s in Hyeonak. Pretty cool, huh?”
“She’s still such a tiny baby though...”
Romi looked Guru over in disbelief, thoroughly amazed.
“Wow, that’s crazy...”
Heehee, Guru flashed a proud grin.
“Gwuu can do dis too.”
The time had come.
Guru pulled out her duck grabber with determination.
Clack clack!
“See here? Nuffin inside.”
She showed the empty space, then poured magic into it, summoning a snow duck.
“An’ den—ta-da! Snow duck!”
“Whoa!”
“So cute!”
Romi and Nayun clapped like thunder.
Guru bowed proudly, beaming.
Clap clap clap clap!
“Tanks! Tanks!”
Romi cheered enthusiastically, then suddenly rolled her eyes around mischievously.
She seemed deep in thought for a moment, then leaned in to whisper to Nayun.
“Does your guild recruit Hunters based on looks too?”
No way a tiny kid like that made it into a major guild like Hyeonak on ability alone. She must’ve been accepted for being cute.
Romi glanced between Guru and Nayun, then thought of Gidan.
“Guildmastuh On’s really into faces, huh.”
Maybe? Nayun recalled how Jurim had sworn off new recruits, then brought in Guru and the last recruit, Serhi. Serhi was a pretty-boy type...
“Yeah, maybe.”
“Oh my god...”
The misunderstanding only deepened.
With Guru’s snow duck show finished, Romi opened the van door.
The three of them hopped out.
Romi, Nayun, and Guru lined up along the street, sliding their sunglasses on.
Click. Click. Click.
“Let’s go, girls.”
“Let’s go!”
“Yaaay—!”
The trio slipped through the crowd like little eels.
The weather was perfectly cool for walking around, but for heavily bundled-up Guru, it wasn’t so ideal.
Hot!
Guru panted, flushed and sweaty, until Nayun and Romi finally took her coat and scarf for her—then the three of them could properly enjoy the festival.
There were mishaps—like Nayun breaking a punching machine, forcing Romi to drag her and Guru away, or Guru smacking clingy guys with her duck grabber when they tried to hit on Nayun, nearly starting fights.
But—
Mmm, yummy...!
Guru munched on a tanghulu candy, wandering around, and bought two ugly quokka keyrings to give Jurim and Serhi as souvenirs.
It’d be nice if Serhi Oppaw came too...
But he had waved her off, saying he wasn’t interested, so she hadn’t been able to bring him.
Guru opened her quest window and sighed deeply.
The quest to help Serhi make a friend was still completely stuck.

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