Ko Gang frowned as he looked at Jurim’s dumb expression.
No matter how arrogant Jurim was, he was usually cooperative when it came to important matters. But now he looked completely out of it.
“You really think your kid’s birthday is more important than the state of the world right now?”
Jurim replied with total composure, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“My daughter’s birthday, of course.”
Ko Gang opened his mouth to protest, then clenched his jaw.
“...Fine, just fix your face. The better you look, the faster we’ll wrap this up.”
Only then did Jurim pretend to listen, flashing a faint smile, and Ko Gang let out a long sigh.
Who would’ve thought On Jurim would turn into a total girl-dad?
“Girl-dad On Jurim.”
That completely mismatched title had actually become a nationwide sensation.
Back during the [RP-Rank Dungeon] incident, Jurim had used Gidan and Nayeon as bait to cover Guru’s escape and quickly brought her home. But the paparazzi had caught a shot of him getting out of the car, holding his sleeping daughter in his arms.
Everyone was shocked when it turned out the kid clutching a bag of candy from the convenience store—where he had personally gone to buy sweets of all things—was his adopted daughter.
The photo of the little girl in his arms, holding the candy bag, and Jurim’s gentle expression had exploded across the internet.
Thanks to that, “Girl-dad On Jurim” was now the nickname on everyone’s lips.
Ko Gang smiled unconsciously as he recalled the photo.
Still, the guy was seriously unbelievable.
He never even introduced me to her once.
Ko Gang was Suhyeong’s lifelong friend and had practically known Jurim his entire life. And yet, not even once had the man let him meet his daughter.
Would it kill him to show her face just once? That’d be nice.
Just as Ko Gang was clicking his tongue in frustration, Jurim slowly turned his head.
At the «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» edge of his gaze, a corporate figure was chatting with some foreign guests. It was Jang Hyeonmin, head of the distribution company handling most of Korea’s silver-light grass supply.
“Hmph.”
Jurim leaned deep into his chair and narrowed his eyes at Jang Hyeonmin.
[Clack-Clack Filial Factory! Manual]
1. Assign workers to the completed factory.
The [Filial Factory] made out of LEGO was about the size of a dollhouse.
Guru set the tiny workers beside the oval-shaped conveyor belt that spiraled down from the third floor to the first.
Incomplete Bear No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3—each only palm-sized—stood in position in front of their levers.
2. Register the product for mass production.
[Excellent Strawberry Syrup (C)]
Guru raised the [Excellent Syrup].
Unlike usual, it wasn’t in a bear-shaped syrup bottle but a regular one.
She couldn’t let anyone find out this was from “Fake Saw.”
She had made a promise to her dad, and she didn’t want to end up in kiddie jail either, so her Fake Saw activities had to stay paused.
That meant all potion donations had to come from an anonymous Santa.
But since everyone knew Fake Saw always used bear-shaped syrup bottles, Guru decided to use normal ones this time.
When she dropped the [Excellent Syrup] into the raw material tank—bottle and all—the registration was complete.
3. Dump in all your [Filial Piety Points].
A window popped up asking how many [Filial Piety Points] to use.
Guru instinctively reached for the “max all!” button but stopped herself.
Hmm.
Her heart ached a little. It felt like a waste.
But...
Guru, if you wanna be Santa, you need wots of potions.
Tearing up just a little, she dumped in all of her [Filial Piety Points]
Whiiirr—
The rollers began to spin, and the conveyor belt started moving.
Perched on the top of the factory, Mephisto jolted awake and flapped up into the air.
“Iiiit’s moooving!”
Guru’s eyes sparkled as she scooted right up to the factory, sitting nose-to-nose with the machinery.
Mephisto settled atop her head, curiously watching the process unfold.
At the third floor, Bear No. 1 pulled its lever, and the lid of a toy steamer pot clamped down like a stamp.
When the lid lifted, a syrup bottle had appeared underneath. Each pull of the lever popped out another bottle from the hidden mechanism.
The completed bottles traveled down the conveyor belt.
On the second floor, Bear No. 2 squeezed a syrup pouch hanging from the ceiling. The syrup funneled down neatly into each bottle.
And in the final zone—on the first floor—the bottles were sealed shut and packed into cardboard boxes.
Bear No. 3 huffed and puffed, hauling the boxes and stacking them into a neat tower.
Hyaaa!
Guru’s eyes sparkled at the flawless assembly line.
It was faster and easier than she’d expected, and the adorable, clumsy bears added just the right amount of suspense when they fumbled here and there.
So fun!
Even just watching it was entertaining. At that moment, the 100,000 [Filial Piety Points] felt totally worth it.
As the bears scurried about, more and more boxes piled up.
Now she just had to figure out how to distribute them without being discovered...
Guru tilted her head, falling deep into thought.
Riding around as Santa Guru on her Rudolph (bike) to hand out syrup donations sounded fun, but then everyone would realize she was a closeted powerhouse.
They’d definitely ask where she got so much syrup.
And if she used puppets like she did before?
That would be the same as confessing she was Fake Saw.
Hmm. Danger danger.
No no no.
Nobody would know or praise her for it, but for Guru’s own safety, her identity had to stay secret.
Which meant she needed an accomplice to secretly distribute the syrup.
“Hmph.”
While stuffing the small potion boxes into her [Expand-a-Bag-a-Bag (C)], she thought of the one person who could help her right now.
Just one person.
In the Hyeonak Guild’s logistics department, Assistant Manager Choi let out a heavy sigh as he reviewed the supply request forms.
Almost every request from the guild members was for potions.
“Assistant Manager Kim, how many potions do we have left?”
“Ah, potions... probably almost none. We prioritized the hospitals yesterday, so...”
Assistant Manager Kim trailed off, sounding just as discouraged.
It wasn’t just Hyeonak—everywhere was in the same situation.
“Figures, right?”
“Still, I’ll check anyway.”
“Thanks.”
Kim nodded and headed into the storage room, walking toward the potion shelves.
He already knew they were basically empty. He was just hoping there’d be slightly more than expected.
Thinking about which team to prioritize with what was left, he checked the shelf without much expectation.
Huh?
The shelves were supposed to be completely empty—
Syrup bottles?
Small bottles meant for children were now packed across the shelves.
What the hell?
He stood there stunned, confused, then grabbed a few of the syrup bottles and ran back to the office.
“Assistant Manager, what is all this?!”
“What? Huh? I’ve never seen these before... huh?”
“This... this is it, right? Syrup potions?”
“I-I think so...?”
They both blinked blankly at each other.
Then, almost simultaneously, one person came to mind.
Fake Saw?
They might work in logistics, but they were still industry people—they’d heard plenty about the legendary crafter who made potions in syrup bottles.
Always selling high-quality potions, always hunted down by guilds—Fake Saw.
Sure, they weren’t bear-shaped bottles like usual, but syrup bottles like this could only mean one thing.
Neither of them was an awakened, so they couldn’t verify the potion quality. But if they asked an awakened, they’d be able to confirm the info window.
Assistant Manager Choi fidgeted with the syrup bottles before suddenly springing to his feet.
It could be someone’s twisted prank, sure—but—
Pulling a stunt like this inside Hyeonak Guild, during a national crisis? You’d have to be crazy.
He had a good feeling. For once, his gut was telling him something big was coming.
His heart was pounding.
“Assistant Manager Kim, I’m heading to the guild floor to get the info window checked!”
“W-Wait! I’m coming too!”

Comments

Loading...