The sight was so unreal that even the voices in his earpiece failed to register properly.
Min Dongu immediately broke into a sprint toward the second-floor balcony. People crashed into him along the way, but he had no breath left for apologies.
'Where the hell is she going?!'
Panting raggedly, he scanned the second floor.
'Not there...?'
He rubbed his brow and lowered his head.
'Think.'
She was just a kid. She couldn’t have gone far.
And if that child was, for some reason, trying to disrupt their operation—
Then the next place would be...
Here.
Bang!
He shoved open the door to an empty office.
There, with bombs stacked on her head, the child was using a fork as a lever to pry loose a piton hammered into the window frame.
It was a special climbing piton—gold-colored, hammered in to mark the exact ❖ Nоvеlight ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеlight) spots where ropes would later be anchored once the bombs went off.
All part of the plan—now being yanked free by a kid with a fork.
Pop!
“Got it!”
Guru proudly held up the piton she had pried loose.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
At his outburst, the child and the mascot turned their heads at the same time.
The mascot stepped forward, blocking his line of sight to the girl.
“...What is it?”
“If—if you do that, we’ll be in big trouble...”
Min Dongu’s eyes flicked up and down the mascot suit.
“An intern? A part-timer?”
The mascot tilted its head, then silently nodded.
“...Part-time.”
He had no idea how a part-timer and a child ended up teaming up against him.
'I’ll just have to deal with both of them.'
He glanced past the mascot’s shoulder.
The child clutched the bombs tight like a bristling cat, glaring defensively.
She hugged them as if they were priceless treasure. The sight made his head spin.
Hiding his right hand behind his back, ready to draw from his inventory at any moment, Min Dongu asked:
“Who sent you to interfere?”
The mascot tilted its head again.
“...Wasn’t it the Bureau that sent you?”
That threw him for a loop.
If the Bureau knew, there would’ve been emergency announcements blaring. A kid wouldn’t be running around with bombs.
While he wavered, Guru peeked out from behind the mascot.
“Aw weady... is Uncwe dat secwet agent who change tweasure?”
“Treasure?”
“Yesh! Gwuu cowwected evewything hewe!”
Guru hoisted up a bomb.
Ah. At last, a plausible explanation crossed his mind.
'Someone told this kid if she collected the bombs, they’d be exchanged for treasure?'
A Bureau employee?
No. Neither Jin Siwon nor any Bureau staff would bother with something this convoluted.
Then who?
It had to be someone who couldn’t walk around the Bureau freely.
Meaning their goal was—
'...to obstruct Alex von Bach’s rescue, but without alerting the Bureau.'
“You’re not a secret agent?”
At that, the girl blinked up at him.
The mascot still had its tilted head, staring him down.
Was he being doubted? Min Dongu quickly organized his racing thoughts and said:
“No, no! Uncle is a secret agent. I was just testing you, to see if you were really on our side.”
“Ooooh! Then tweasure too?”
“Of course. I’ll exchange them for treasure. Want to follow me?”
“Yeesh!”
Guru trotted happily, humming a little tune, while Honghong-i silently followed behind.
Min Dongu cast a glance at them and led the way toward a quiet rooftop.
There, he would subdue them, steal the phone, and find out who was behind this.
“...Wait.”
But suddenly, Honghong-i raised a hand.
“...Password.”
“...What?”
“You need the password. Secret agent.”
“P-password?”
Was there supposed to be one?
Flustered, Min Dongu stammered.
Even Guru looked surprised, her mouth forming an O.
Then, Honghong-i snorted a laugh.
Whether there was a password or not didn’t matter.
Jurim had simply been testing him—because the way he led them to a secluded spot seemed suspicious.
The man’s tan and his gait reeked of combat. He looked more mercenary than Bureau staff.
“You don’t know the password?”
“N-no, I just... forgot for a moment...”
“Too bad.”
Seeing him fluster like that made it clear—this wasn’t any secret agent.
Honghong-i calmly gathered the bombs from Guru’s arms.
Then crushed them.
“Ahhh!”
Guru shrieked, and Min Dongu flung himself aside.
But instead of blasting the office apart, the explosions churned harmlessly inside Honghong-i’s palms.
The mascot had sealed the blast in a small, shimmering orb.
Each bomb had enough force to blow apart an office—yet this thing casually destroyed them in its hand.
The monster who’d done so yawned lazily.
“...They were real?”
'Gulp.'
Min Dongu swallowed, opening his inventory.
Before he knew it, a combat knife was in his grip.
'Strike first.'
Faced with a monster beyond human, instinct from countless battles drove his body.
But before he could lunge, his wrist was seized.
He was an A-rank mercenary—yet his wrist was caught so easily?
Killing intent seeped through the ugly tiger mask. Sweat poured down his back.
'This... this is a Bureau part-timer?'
That was his last thought before everything went black.
Like a blackout, his consciousness was cut.
His body collapsed.
“...Hmm.”
Jurim crouched, checking the unconscious Min Dongu. The ID tag was fake. He tilted his head.
Meanwhile, Guru stared down with a face full of betrayal.
Her lips moved soundlessly.
“Honghong-i...”
“...What?”
She jumped back, covering her mouth with both hands.
“Honghong-i twied to steaw Gwuu’s tweasure by kiwwing da secwet agent!”
“Biiip!”
Mephisto also covered its beak with its wings in shock.
At that ridiculous claim, Jurim snapped:
“...No!”
But Guru already had her fork out, gripping it tight.
“Then?”
“That man was a bad guy pretending to be a secret agent. Look. Fake.”
He lifted the ID. Peeling off the top layer revealed another person’s photo underneath.
He had stolen someone’s badge and pasted his own picture over it.
Seeing that, Guru gasped.
“Huhk! A viwwain?!”
“That’s right. A villain.”
Then Jurim asked:
“So, what should you do at times like this?”
“At times like this?”
Guru blinked blankly.
He pressed on.
“When it’s dangerous. When you’re scared.”
Guru shook her head.
“Not scawed?”
“Ung.”
Her face flushed pink.
With brows raised and her mouth in a little triangle, she said:
“Mo’ fun.”
Jurim was speechless.
Meanwhile, Guru gripped her fork tighter.
“Meffi, wet’s go catch viwwains.”
“Biiip!”
Mephisto spread its wings wide.
Jurim rubbed his face, dizzy.
This kid was utterly hopeless—completely addicted to dopamine.
But Guru paid no mind to his worries. She jabbed Min Dongu’s body with her fork, rolling him a little.
Clatter—
“...Hm?”
Guru picked up something that had rolled free from him.
Across from the Bureau, on a rooftop, Stacey peered through binoculars at the interior. She spoke playfully to her comrade still buzzing her earpiece
“Looks like Plan One’s a bust.”
She tapped the remote detonator idly.
If the bombs were still active, they would’ve blown the moment she pressed.
“What the hell happened?”
“As you see, nothing goes off, even when I push. And Min’s nowhere to be seen.”
“That idiot... Did he get caught?”
Brady ground his teeth.
Stacey folded her arms and perched on the ledge, muttering.
“But it’s weirdly quiet inside the Bureau. Like nothing’s happening.”
“...How long until Alex von Bach’s transfer?”
“Thirty minutes.”
After a short pause, Brady pulled a gorilla mask down over his head and spoke into comms.
“...Switch to Plan Two.”
Beside him, Stacey donned her cheetah mask and twirled her key.
“...Okay.”

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