“So, you’ll do it?”
Kazuki just smiled, and Jurim gave a nod.
He’d expected as much, but it still left a bitter taste in his mouth.
From what he’d learned, the curse was a blood-bound spell—a talisman passed down through the Takahashi onmyoji bloodline.
It wasn’t going to be easy to unravel a curse like that, not when it had festered for centuries and carried the karmic weight of the entire family.
All of this was Takahashi’s doing—born from his hunger for power.
Snatching the Prime Minister seat ahead of formidable rivals had been largely due to one major edge: he had control over an “S-Rank Crafter.”
“The veteran lawmakers mostly know about your debuff, you know.”
“Haha, not even surprised anymore.”
Kazuki shrugged and folded his arms.
Japan ran on a parliamentary cabinet system. To control the government, you needed backing from veteran lawmakers. So of course they’d been briefed on what Takahashi had done to Kazuki.
In the end, the only one who hadn’t known... was Kazuki himself.
“Kinda feels like The Truman Show~”
Kazuki laughed it off, pretending he was fine, but Jurim frowned and turned away.free
Amakusa Kazuki.
The self-proclaimed “friend” who had approached Jurim during the height of public hatred, expressing admiration and helping him avoid synchronization with the 99th Floor’s master.
Jurim had no particular feelings about him. He had no interest in personal entanglement—there was no need for that.
But then he turned and locked eyes with Guru.
Guru was sitting strangely wrapped in her monk robe like a skirt, trying to gauge what the two adults were talking about.
It was probably too complex for a child to understand.
Better that way.
He could already picture her crying if she learned that her Sabbuu or uncle was sick.
Catching his gaze, Guru tiptoed over like a puppy spotting her owner and plopped down beside him.
Jurim brushed the dirt off Guru’s knees and casually muttered:
“I’m going to bring Takahashi down. Rummaging through a Prime Minister’s mind isn’t easy, but once he’s a civilian, it’ll be a different story.”
He meant to dethrone Takahashi and dig into his head for a way to undo the curse.
“Uhh?”
But isn’t that... a bit much to say in front of a kid?
Kazuki fidgeted with a troubled face.
“On-chan, you don’t have to go through all that trouble just for me—”
“This one feels broken. I’ll need someone to make a new glove.”
Instead of saying Guru would be sad, Jurim just waved his left hand.
Kazuki chuckled like it was a joke—but then noticed Jurim’s serious expression and asked more carefully.
“You’re serious? Can I be touched now?”
“Dunno.”
Jurim gave a vague answer just as he removed the monk robe draped over Guru’s head.
Guru quickly covered the top of her head.
“What’s wrong?”
At Jurim’s question, Guru pressed her little maple-leaf-sized hands against her scalp and pouted, her voice trembling with tears.
“Daddychann—Gwuu, Gwuu’s gonna tuwn into Gwooooot...”
There were times Jurim just genuinely didn’t understand what she was saying.
He looked puzzled and asked again.
“But you wuv Gwooot.”
Didn’t you say “I’m Gwooot” during the play?
Shake shake.
After much hesitation, Guru made up her mind and stretched her hands wide, revealing her scalp.
“Daddychann, take dis off. If you don’t... Huuuk!”
Inside the little bud she’d been hiding, a tiny acorn had sprouted.
“If you don’t... Gwuu gonna tuwn into a twee...! Hup! Hic!”
Jurim was left speechless.
[Activating skill: ‘Potter of the Star Festival’.]
Pop!
The moment Kazuki’s skill touched Guru’s head, the sprout that had been trying to turn her into Groot popped out.
Instead of just removing it, he crafted a tiny flowerpot and planted the sprout inside.
Sniff!
Guru hugged the flowerpot tight, which now contained the acorn-sized seed.
The sprout had tiny snowballs instead of roots.
And nestled inside the bud—was an unmistakable acorn.
An elixir.
[Underdeveloped Elixir... 33%]
It wasn’t fully grown yet, but...
“That thing grows?”
Jurim asked with a serious look. Guru tilted her head.
She didn’t know.
It had always been a sprout from the start. And it had always been weak and flimsy, so she never imagined it could grow.
But—
“Spwouts awe supposed to gwow.”
With her eyebrows drooping into a pitiful arc, Guru spoke as if it was obvious.
“...Fair point.”
Jurim had nothing more to say. He picked up Guru, who was holding the underdeveloped elixir flowerpot like a pot of honey.
“Guru-chan, is that really an elixir?”
Kazuki, who had been watching their exchange, asked with disbelief on his face.
He probably couldn’t believe elixirs were real. Jurim had felt the same at first.
“Yeshhh.”
“Why was it growing from your head? Is that normal?”
Shake shake.
“Gwuu got an acown in the RP... ummm, pwanted it in hew head.”
She’d skipped over some steps, but she felt proud to have explained why an elixir had been growing on her scalp.
And Kazuki—
“Waaao! That’s seriously amazing, Guru-chan!”
—took it at face value.
“Heehee!”
While the two of them babbled in their own world, Jurim slipped into quiet thought.
‘Am I the only one not keeping up with this?’
So that’s what she’d planted in her head—an elixir.
It was confusing, but he was starting to get it.
He had to understand his daughter not with his head, but with his heart.
Not Why did you do that? but So that’s what you did.
Jurim swallowed down the question Why did you have to plant it on your scalp? and decided to shift gears mentally.
“...Well, I guess now I don’t need to dethrone the Prime Minister and dig through his brain anymore.”
“Hmm?”
“Since this showed up. It’s not fully grown yet, but...”
He nodded toward the flowerpot.
“You’re gonna use that? On me...?”
Kazuki looked genuinely overwhelmed.
Weighing the situation, using the elixir was arguably an even bigger deal than dethroning the Japanese Prime Minister.
Then Guru, rolling her big eyes and watching the whole thing unfold, quietly asked:
“Why? Is Sabbuu sick?”
“He’ll be okay now.”
Jurim gave a wink as he pinched her cheek, gesturing toward the elixir.
Guru’s eyes widened and she nodded, then clutched the pot even tighter with a relieved face.
With a faint smile toward her, Jurim glanced at the now-silent Kazuki.
For someone who had been prepared to die just to break the °• N o v e l i g h t •° debuff, he looked even more disoriented than before.
What’s with him now? Does he think this puts him in too much debt?
‘Annoying.’
Jurim let out a heavy sigh and thought.
All he needed was a reason strong enough to balance the emotional scales.
Something that would justify everything—and give him a good excuse to punish that damn Japanese government that kept pestering him.
What would hurt Prime Minister Takahashi the most? What did Japan treasure the most?
It was right in front of him.
Jurim found his answer and said:
“Naturalize.”
“Huh? What did you say?”
Ruthless villain On Jurim had taken a tiny acorn hostage.
“If you want the debuff removed, you have to naturalize.”
Kazuki was so thrown by the idea of naturalization he was left gaping.
“Until the elixir’s fully grown, Monk Hyeongak can look after it. So move to Korea.”

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