It wasn’t so much a “crafting research lab” as it was a kids’ café.
After all, the room was filled with toys children would love.
There was even a section for playing with dirt, a role-play corner, a zone stacked high with blocks, and another for drawing.
“This is all...”
“They’re all the latest models.”
Guru spoke proudly, rubbing her nose.
From the look on Grandpa’s face, he seemed stunned by the parade of cutting-edge toys.
“This is just a kids’ room!”
“Gwampa! No making wots of noise at wowk!”
Guru slapped a [Noisy] sticker on Genzo.
But after checking the note with his translator, Genzo only started kicking up even more of a fuss.
“The kiln! The wheel! The anvil! The hammer! Where are they?”
Guru came toddling back holding a toy hammer.
“Hammuh, wight hewe!”
“...Ha.”
Genzo stared blankly at the child swinging the kiddie hammer around.
Not caring in the least, Guru led him over to the block play zone.
Genzo crouched with her, stacking Lego bricks, and let out a sigh.
What kind of “crafting research lab” was this? It was obvious she had brought him to a kids’ zone.
Well, it was my mistake for asking a child with no sense of discernment to guide me. What fault could she possibly have?
And yet...
When Guru suddenly shoved a hammer into his hand, Genzo’s brow twitched upward.
“Mm?”
“Yoo hit it wike dis, bonk-bonk.”
“Wait, this isn’t a real item, is it?”
[Children’s Toy Hammer (A)]
Can instantly drive anything into place with a single tap. Designed for children—harmless even when struck.
An A-Rank toy item for kids to play with? There’s overspending, and then there’s this.
He looked around, checking the information on the toys.
...They’re all magic tools?
The grades varied, but every single one had some kind of special option.
Genzo’s face was frozen in shock.
“Don’t tell me... this really is Hyeonak’s crafting research lab?”
Guru blinked at him like, 'Didn’t you just see?'
“Yeshhh. Dis is whewe Sabbuu an’ Gwuu pway an’ tink what to make.”
“Sabbuu?”
“Uncwe Kazuki!”
Guru beamed.
“Kazuki comes up with magic tools here...?”
Now that he looked closely, traces of Kazuki’s mana were all over the magic tools in the room.
“Ha...!”
So Kazuki came to Korea to... make children’s toys?
“You vile, unforgivable people!”
Genzo ground his teeth.
His eyes burned hot with anger.
Amakusa Kazuki was Japan’s treasure—envied by the whole world.
And yet they brought him here to babysit and make kids’ toys?
This had to be nothing more than an insult aimed at Japan.
Just then, the smiling Guru tugged on his sleeve.
“Dis one ish... whut we makin’ now.”
Genzo straightened his clothes and said coldly, “That’s enough. Not worth looking at.”
Guru’s mouth fell open.
“It’d be better to just bring Kazuki back to Japan!”
No matter how angry he was at the Japanese government, there was no way he’d leave Kazuki to stay in Hyeonak under this kind of humiliation.
The Prime Minister had changed recently, so this would be the perfect time to step in and bridge the gap between Kazuki and the Japanese government himself.
“Good thing I came in person. Insolent bastards!”
Guru, squirming, wrote on a notepad and slapped a [Be Quiet When Your Friend Is Presenting] sticker on him.
“What’s this supposed to say?”
After reading the sticker with his translator, Genzo’s face went red.
“Y-you little brat!”
Guru slapped another [Noisy] sticker on him and put a finger to her lips.
“Hmph!”
Rendered speechless, Genzo closed his mouth like a clam—only for Guru to whip out two robot toys.
“Tada! Dis ish a combinyashin toy! If yoo combine dem, dey get diffewent options!”
Guru snapped the two robots together, transforming them into a unicorn.
“At the end of the day, a toy is still just a toy!”
“Japan haz dis too?” Guru asked, eyes wide.
“What?”
She separated the unicorn back into two robots, then snapped them together again.
“Combine!”
“Why, you...!”
Genzo’s eyes darted around, his scowl unwavering.
Sure, Japan had more than enough combining toys—but if this was a combining magic tool whose options actually changed...?
“Ahhh, so it doesn’t, huh.”
Guru nodded knowingly, which only made Genzo snap.
“The Inoue family could make something like this anytime...!”
...Anytime? Could they really?
His words trailed off. Genzo snatched the unicorn away.
You could force items to combine, sure. But creating a new option? That was something else entirely.
This was the kind of method you’d normally only see in hybrid potion-making.
“So the magic stones in the core collide and cause some kind of reaction?”
A combining magic tool—it was still a toy, but undeniably a new mechanism.
Click, click. Snap, snap.
Genzo pulled the toy apart and reassembled it over and over, analyzing it intently—until he met Guru’s gaze.
She was smiling ear to ear.
“...Ahem. Hem.”
It hurt his pride to be caught playing with a toy, but as a lifelong crafter, he couldn’t just let go of a magic tool with a brand-new mechanism.
With an awkward cough, Genzo went back to examining it.
Guru watched him with delight and declared proudly, “It’s da supew-dupew combinyashin toy.”
Genzo snorted.
“Not quite ‘super-duper.’”
“Tch.”
“But it is new. Worth taking a closer look at.”
A flexible idea, seen through the eyes of a child—
A fresh mechanism born from it.
It was nothing like the Inoue family’s uniform, rigorous training that produced precise and delicate results.
Of course, he had no intention of denying the family’s traditional methods—those had produced countless S-Rank items and the Amakusa Series.
But Genzo wasn’t so stubborn as to ignore a new technology when it was right in front of him.
“Looks like Hyeonak’s not such a bad place after all.”
Guru’s mouth formed a round ‘O’ at his sincere praise.
“Ooooh...”
Letting out a sound of wonder, she pulled out a cart and handed him an O2 Vitamin Water.
“What’s this?”
“It tasteh good.”
Then she grabbed a camcorder and started filming Genzo holding the bottle.
Unable to withstand her expectant gaze, he gulped down the drink.
“Again!”
Guru set the camcorder on the table, turned the lens toward them, and stood side-by-side with him to drink ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) again.
Then she held the label up to the camera and recited in textbook Korean:
“For quenchin’ youw thiwst, nuffin’ beats O2 Vitamin Watuh!”
Leaving the bewildered Genzo where he stood, Guru ran over to check the camcorder, then gave a big thumbs-up.
“Good.”
“What’s good? You can’t even act. Don’t tell me this is a drink commercial?”
“Yeshhh.”
He’d turned down countless ad offers before, and now here he was in Korea, roped into a bad commercial with a bratty little girl.
“You sure know how to get your money’s worth out of an old man, tsk tsk tsk.”
Shaking his head, Genzo still couldn’t quite wipe the smile from his lips.
And then—
Ding!
The crafting research lab’s door swung open.
[“Grandpa!”]
[“Inoue-sensei!”]
Haruna and Kazuki stood in the doorway.
Jurim followed behind, tilting his head as he spotted Guru.
Genzo had jumped on a plane the moment he hung up the call with Haruna, insisting he’d head straight to Hyeonak—so the contact from Japan had been sudden.
Haruna had rushed to Hyeonak, only to hear that Genzo had gone off somewhere with Guru from the lobby. No wonder her head was spinning.
'He seemed like a cranky old man to me...'
Jurim had been wondering if his problem child had behaved herself—when he saw it.
Genzo’s body was plastered with [Noisy] stickers and a [Be Quiet When Your Friend Is Presenting] sticker.
Jurim closed his eyes tight. It was plain to see she hadn’t behaved at all.

Comments

Loading...