Hello, friend?
Want to play treasure hunt with me? :-)
Treasure?
Guru pressed her chubby fingers hard on the keypad to send a reply.
Treasure hunt? Was this also a mission from the Bureau?
The answer came back instantly.
'It’s a secret mission given only to child agents.'
(Map photo)
Go to the place marked here! You’ll find a delivery box. If you collect everything inside the boxes, another secret agent will exchange them for treasure.
The marked spot was a corner of the lobby.
'Hoooh...!'
A secret mission given only to child agents at the Bureau!
Guru’s plump cheeks flushed pink with excitement.
Treasure hunt was far more thrilling than boring quizzes—her whole brain was overflowing with dopamine.
Thump-thump! Treasure hunt!
While Guru was this excited, Jurim tilted his head, puzzled at her staring at her phone for so long.
Just as he was about to say something to her—
Guru suddenly equipped her [Detective Magnifying Glass!] and, with huge eyes, looked up at him.
“...What’s that.”
“Detective Magnifying Gwass.”
A bad feeling crept over him.
“So why are you suddenly—no, friend, what are you planning to do with that?”
He softened his tone a bit, but Guru only raised her brows high and declared:
“Dat’s cwassified, fiwst-gwade secwet.”
“First-grade is... water.”
“Agent Gwuu, depawting!”
Ignoring Honghong-i’s words, Guru dashed off with the magnifying glass equipped.
Honghong-i pressed a hand to his forehead, then strode after her with heavy steps.
Guru hurried down the central staircase into the lobby, heading straight for the marked spot on the map.
She checked her phone.
There!
Thunk!
“Bip!”
Guru dove headfirst into a trash can, making Mephisto flap up in alarm. Honghong-i, following late, dropped his jaw.
Startled, he pulled her out.
“Dammit, kid!”
Whether Honghong-i raged or not, Guru raised both hands triumphantly, holding up a random delivery box.
“Agent Gwuu found a fiwst-gwade secwet!”
“That’s garbage!”
“It’s tweasure.”
Guru puffed up her cheeks, struggling in his arms and demanding to be put down.
Resigned, he lowered her. Guru plopped to the floor, ripped the tape open, and flung the box wide.
Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.
At the same time, a ticking sound began from inside the box.
“Oooooh—!”
The child exclaimed in wonder, lifting out a square metal case.
On its red LED display, numbers ticked downward, second by second.
“Beeeep!”
Mephisto circled above Guru’s head, wings fluttering, as if she had discovered something extraordinary.
Well, it certainly looked impressive—like a movie-style time bomb.
Jurim snatched it away, turning it over with a frown.
For a toy, the casing seemed unusually solid.
The welds made it impossible to peek inside.
'Hmmm...'
He wanted to pry it open to check the guts, but the girl was already wriggling, reaching out for her “treasure.”
He handed it back, muttering:
“Fine, fine, here. But was this part of the program too?”
A surprise treasure hunt wasn’t impossible, but no one had told him about it.
And surely they wouldn’t tell kids to dig through trash cans while keeping it secret from their parents.
At his suspicious question, Guru narrowed her eyes and pressed her finger to her lips.
“Shhh! Secwet!”
Chastised, Jurim shut his mouth.
'Aren’t we on the same team? Why does my daughter act like I’m just dead weight?'
Tick. Tick. Tick.
[00:59:11]
The timer kept ticking down.
Guru shot to her feet, clutching the “time bomb” under her arm.
Another instruction arrived on her phone.
(Map photo)
The next delivery box is here!
'Agent Gwuu will collect all the boxes and trade them for treasure!'
“Hooohhh!”
Snorting through her nose, Guru took off running with the ticking bomb in her arms.
Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.
Awakened Management Bureau, First Floor
The door to a maintenance room storing cleaning supplies swung open.
Min Dongu stepped out, glanced left and right, then flipped his Bureau ID tag forward to make sure his photo was clearly visible.
Before closing the door, he checked under the table at the delivery box he’d placed, then looked at his watch.
'One hour left.'
In an hour, all the bombs he’d planted disguised as delivery boxes would go off, drawing all attention.
That timing coincided perfectly with Alex von Bach’s transfer from the Bureau to a special prison.
The mission for Min Dongu and his comrades was simple:
Break Alex von Bach out.
Once the bombs exploded, his allies would rappel over the outer walls, grab Alex von Bach, and escape.
Casually, he walked down the corridor, greeting staff with a smile.
With over a thousand employees, no one bothered to question who he was.
As long as I avoid Jin Siwon...
In such a massive building, hiding from one man for an hour was nothing.
He was heading through the lobby when—
Thudthudthudthud!
Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.
'What’s that ticking?'
Looking up, he caught sight of a platinum-haired little girl.
The child was sprinting away with a very familiar case perched on her head.
Behind the wobbling child lumbered a mascot suit, trudging without enthusiasm.
Min Dongu froze mid-step.
'No way.'
Then chuckled aloud.
A kid running around with one of his time bombs? Too ridiculous even for a delusion.
Over his earpiece, a comrade heard his laugh and asked:
Going well, I take it?
“Yeah. So well it’s driving me crazy. I just saw some kid in the lobby running around with a time bomb.”
What the ❖ Nоvеlight ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеlight) hell are you talking about?
“Exactly. Guess I’m out of practice, huh?”
Didn’t I tell you to lay off the booze?
True, after getting paid handsomely, he had drunk too much last night.
Shaking his head, Min Dongu strolled toward the lobby trash can.
For some reason, he wanted to confirm with his own eyes that everything was still in place.
He looked inside, then furtively rummaged with his hand.
But there was no delivery box—nothing even close.
His voice leaked out, stunned.
“...It’s gone?”
What?
“I said it’s gone...”
What the hell are you saying?
Shit! Did someone find it?
Clamping his mouth shut, Min Dongu moved quickly to the next location.
Maybe one or two could have been stumbled upon by chance. After all, they were disguised as boxes—maybe unopened.
At the second-floor seminar room behind the curtain, he checked—
“...Gone.”
No box here either. His pace quickened into a jog.
At last, he rushed into the first-floor maintenance room.
There he found an empty box. He grabbed it and hurled it aside furiously.
“Gone?!”
The box ignited in his hand, crumbling into ash.
“Goddammit!”
Jin Siwon?
But if they’d been discovered, why hadn’t there been an emergency broadcast?
As he stormed back into the lobby, his sharpened hearing caught the sound of a child’s running.
And the tick-tick-tick of a timer.
He jerked his head up.
Thudthudthud—
Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.
Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.
Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.
Up on the second-floor balcony, the little girl was dashing along—balancing three time bombs on her head.
Min Dongu rubbed his eyes.
“She really... had them.”
What the hell are you babbling about? Speak clearly!
“Crazy! Some brat’s carrying all our bombs!”

Comments

Loading...