VROOOOOOM—
The tricycle blazed down the narrow path between the rice paddies.
'Gwuu’s wegs awe so wight!'
Thanks to the built-in 200% strength buff option, Guru’s Strength stat had gone from 2 to 6 (+4).
With her Strength at 6, she could pedal longer, and much harder.
As the speed maxed out, Woojoo—seated in the back—held onto Guru’s waist with his mouth open in shock.
'So fast...?!'
For a tricycle, this thing was absurdly fast. It felt like they were going at least 30 km/h.
'Is dis da 20-biwwion-won Oonamazu twike I wead about in dat news awticle?!'
Woojoo remembered the article he’d carefully clipped about Guru.
Riding a legendary vehicle like this sent chills of excitement through his body.
The wind fluttered their clothes and hair, and Mephisto gripped Guru’s hair with his teeth to hold on against the headwind.
Rattletattletattletattle—
Just then, the village headman, leisurely driving his cultivator, raised a hand in admiration.
“Now that’s one fancy tricycle.”
“Hewwooo!”
“Ah, h-hello there!”
VROOOOOOM—
The tricycle zoomed past the cultivator.
“Hehehe.”
The laughing headman tilted his head with a question mark as the trike suddenly U-turned and raced back.
“Gwampa!”
“Eh? What # Nоvеlight # is it?”
“Whewe’s da conveniwence stowe?”
“Convenience store? No such ting. But dere’s a shop on da otheh side o’ dat fiewd, a shoo-puh.”
“Shoopuh! Do dey have eggies?”
“Eggs? ‘Course they do. Head on over dat way.”
“Tankoo vewy much!”
“Sure thing~”
With that, Guru and Woojoo raced off in the direction the headman had pointed.
The film crew in their van scrambled to follow behind.
“Hewwooo!”
“Hello, Grandma.”
The elderly shopkeeper looked over the children, then murmured with a soft sigh of admiration.
“Kids these days sure are pale ‘n pretty...”
As she stared curiously at Mephi on top of Guru’s head, her eyes glinted.
“That chick looks real plump. Bet I could boil him into a meal for two.”
“Piiit?!”
Mephi crossed both wings over himself in horror.
'T-Two servings?!'
Shocked, Guru quickly stuffed the trembling Mephi into her backpack.
She had to hide him if she didn’t want her Mephisto turned into soup.
Shaking slightly, Guru addressed the salivating shopkeeper.
“G-Gwandma! We’d wike some eggies pwease!”
“Eggs, huh?”
“Yesh!”
Guru pulled out her quokka wallet.
As a nouveau riche, eggs were nothing to her. She’d withdrawn a whole 30,000 won in cash!
The shopkeeper took out a 30-count carton from the fridge.
“Alright then, just give me 3,000 won.”
Guru handed over three crumpled 1,000-won bills.
The shopkeeper took the bills and gently patted Guru’s head before handing over the carton.
Guru staggered under the weight, so Woojoo quickly reached out and took it from her.
“Can you carry it all the way?”
“Ah—yupyup!”
Now that her hands were free, Guru pulled a folding cart out of her bag.
“Is dat one o’ dem magic items? Kids from Seoul really got it all, huh.”
In truth, even Seoul kids couldn’t get their hands on stuff like this.
The price alone was way out of reach for regular folks.
But Guru’s trinkets were all S-Rank crafter gear—stuff she made herself.
Woojoo didn’t bother correcting the misunderstanding, and Guru just gave a cheeky smile.
“Heehee~”
While Guru attached the cart to the trike, Woojoo carefully placed the eggs inside.
“My, even yer tricycle’s fancy, sweetie.”
Was it time again?
Guru was about to go off, explaining how it wasn’t just pretty, but also had a 3-horsepower turbo booster and full transformation functions—but Woojoo stopped her just in time.
“Let’s go. We didn’t tell the adults—we’ll worry ‘em.”
“Ah, okay~”
They were just about to head back when—
Shiver!
Guru snapped her head up.
It felt like she’d been splashed with ice water.
A chill hit her out of nowhere, and she glanced around.
Woojoo also rubbed his arms, suddenly spooked.
“Didja... feel a chill just now?”
“Uh-huh.”
Woojoo took off the shirt over his tee and draped it over Guru.
“Maybe it’s getting cold ‘cause the sun’s going down.”
“Is it...?”
But the sky was still bright and sunny?
Then, the shopkeeper rubbed her own goosebumped arms and murmured softly.
“Must be the Dokkabi showin’ up again...”
“Dokka?”
Guru tilted her head, puzzled. The shopkeeper waved her hands, her face suddenly serious.
“Run along now. Yer folks’ll be worried.”
“Okaay~!”
“Bye, thank you!”
“Bye bye thank youuu!”
VROOOOM—
The kids mounted the trike again and zipped off toward home.
Back in the van, one of the crew mumbled under their breath.
“Just now... wasn’t it really cold for a second?”
“You felt that too? I did.”
“It didn’t feel like the temperature dropped. It was like... something passed by.”
“Yeah, right? It gave me full-body goosebumps.”
“S-So does that mean what the village head said was true?!”
Silence fell among the staff.
They’d heard rumors during pre-interviews while scouting the location.
“Let’s stop. I hate ghost stories.”
“H-Hey, they say if a ghost shows up on set, the show’s a guaranteed hit.”
“...Still.”
“...Yeah, but if it’s real, that’s not fun anymore.”
“We’re rolling out!”
“Yes, sir!”
The staff scrambled into the van.
The location Hwang PD had secured for the show was a tile-roofed traditional house a little ways out from the village.
It used to belong to the owner's parents and had been well-maintained since their passing. Just as the owner had claimed, it was a bit worn, but quiet and neat.
The landscape was like a painted scroll—rolling green hills, with a cozy garden full of vegetables.
Peppers, lettuce, scallions, cucumbers, carrots...
And on one side, a chicken coop had been set up in a hurry, so protein wouldn’t be hard to come by.
Since the whole concept of “Awkwardly Chon-cation!” was chaotic self-sufficiency, the setting was perfect.
Of course, for the cast, challenges remained.
Kazuki and Iromi exchanged glances as they realized the damp firewood wouldn’t catch properly in the furnace.
“I’ll go get more wood!”
Iromi stood up cheerfully—then paused as she looked over at Jurim, snoozing on the wooden porch.
'Wow. The Guildmastuh of Nayun’s team is really someting.'
To put it nicely, he was completely unpretentious. The man on TV was exactly the man dozing before her.
Even in a world where public image was everything—he didn’t seem to care.
Maybe it was just the confidence of the strong...
Iromi, secretly impressed, rubbed her aching back from squatting too long.
The kids had gone off to get eggs and hadn’t returned.
The one they’d trusted most was doing nothing but sleeping, and the only ones actually working were herself and Kazuki.
'Maybe I should’ve said no when I saw the cast list...'
But she couldn’t resist the curiosity about On Jurim and Amakusa Kazuki. The sheer buzz they generated just by sitting there was enough to drag her into this hell.
Swallowing her regrets, Iromi stood up from where she’d been gathering firewood.
“You’re totally the big sister type. Feels like you’re singlehandedly keeping your family alive.”
Hwang PD teased as he walked over.
“PD-nim, you’re the worst.”
“Oh, am I?”
“Ab-so-lute-ly.”
“Well, hey~ Watching other people struggle is the most fun part~ Such a shame I can’t help even if I wanted to~”
“You’re the wooorst. Sooo mean.”
Iromi laughed quietly and glanced sideways.
The PD, the writers, the crew—they were all trailing after her.
She was used to having cameras and people around. Still...
'It’s bothering me.'
She couldn’t say exactly who, but there was a very unpleasant gaze mixed into the crowd.

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