“Daddychann! Gwuu bwought it back!”
Jurim’s face froze in shock at Guru’s unexpected action.
And that was when murmurs started bubbling up around them.
“Hey, isn’t that On Jurim?”
“Did he just tell the kid to fetch the frisbee?”
“My god... how could he.”
For Jurim, an S-Rank Hunter, those murmurs sounded deafening, like they were being shouted right into his ears.
He could see people pulling out their phones, fingers flying as they sent messages somewhere.
Jurim’s expression hardened.
“No, Daddy didn’t tell Gwuu to fetch it...”
He took the frisbee from Guru, but she was already panting, wagging her invisible tail.
“Daddychann, shouwd Gwuu bwing it again?”
Jurim squeezed his eyes shut.
He normally didn’t care about others’ stares, but the idea that people thought he had told his child to fetch a frisbee like a dog was horrifying.
Regardless, Guru still looked up at him with a bright, innocent smile.
Jurim glanced around, then finally checked his wristwatch.
“Time for work... Let’s go. Daddy has to head in.”
“Awweady? Gwuu wants tu go too.”
Guru quickly scooped Yurian into her arms.
“Don’t you want to play more?”
“Nehhh. Gwuu goes with Daddychann.”
She bounced ahead, and Jurim followed behind with a sigh.
Looking back at her father with an innocent face, Guru then turned forward again—her lips curling into a sly smile.
'Kuku. Fwom the dog pawk, Gwuu has finawwy escaped.'
No matter what, making a person act like a puppy was just too cruel.
'Gwuu has tu tuwn hew back soon.'
First, she’d go with Daddy to work and prepare properly.
At that moment, the other dogs around them panted and circled happily around Guru.
“Woof woof!”
“Ah, nyo! Shoo awaaaay!”
Guru hugged Yurian even tighter to keep her from getting scared.
Jurim spoke with the owners, who pulled their dogs back.
Meanwhile, pressed breathlessly against Guru’s chest, Yurian let out a long sigh.
How had she ended up being “protected” by a little brat like this?
'No... it’s happened again.'
With a sullen face, Yurian rested her chin on Guru’s arm.
It had been a long time since anyone had stroked her like this.
Meanwhile, at Hyeonak Guild, a tour for ordinary civilians was underway.
At the very back of the group followed secretly by Lea, the oversized glasses on her nose slipped down. She pushed them back up with a grimace.
'Uncomfowtabwe! Dizzy!'
She had never once in her life worn glasses—much less such ridiculously thick ones just to hide her face.
Feeling like she might throw up, Lea excused herself to the restroom. Outside the restroom door she caught her breath.
The moment she took the glasses off, her nausea eased a little.
'Damn these glasses...!'
Anger flared up, but she couldn’t just take them off.
If her face was seen, it would be bad. She was in enemy territory!
She had snuck in here for the sake of children like Guru.
She had to find proof that Hyeonak was experimenting on kids and expose them!
“Hoo...”
She took a deep breath to [N O V E L I G H T] settle her stomach, then put the glasses back on. Just as she was about to resume her mission—
“Huh?”
Two long shadows fell over her head.
“Well, look who it is.”
“Lea Müller?”
Lea instantly found herself in a far worse situation.
'Gidan? Serhi?!'
Why, here, and now?!
Gidan and Serhi stood on either side of her, hemming her in against the wall.
A cold sweat broke out as Lea ducked her head.
“M-Must be mistaking me for someone else.”
Her whispered denial only made Gidan smirk, curling his lips.
That ominous grin made her shudder. She tried to slip sideways—
But Gidan raised a foot against the wall, blocking her path.
“Knew you’d try to run.”
Of course it was Gidan. Lea’s eyes narrowed.
Should she fight it out here?
She began drawing up mana, ready to use a skill to escape—
But Gidan tilted his head like a back-alley thug and spoke.
“I heard my kid owed the German team something.”
“What?”
“Before the exchange match.”
Ah... He must mean the time when Guru was hurt and her wounds got healed.
“A debt? Nothing like that happened...”
But she didn’t want to get tangled up with them.
She couldn’t exactly explain why she was here in Hyeonak wearing these glasses.
So she planned to feign ignorance. But Gidan didn’t listen.
“Take her in, Serhi. We need to show her a lesson.”
“What?”
Lea blinked.
“There must be some misunderstanding...”
Before she could finish, Serhi, looking bored, grabbed one of her arms. Gidan seized the other.
Then they lifted her easily and carried her toward the lobby.
“Eueeek!”
Lea looked around, hoping someone would help.
But everyone either gawked at Gidan and Serhi like celebrities, or glanced over with a “there they go again” expression.
'What’s going to happen to me?!'
She squeezed her eyes shut. If she’d known, she would’ve told her comrades where she was going!
At that moment, a bright voice rang out.
“Oppaws, awe you doing fun tings without Gwuu?”
Having just returned from the walk, Guru stood there, hands on her hips, feigning anger.
The little fluffy Maltese dangled far away at the end of a stretched-out leash in her hand, as if desperately trying to stay out of it.
“Oh, Gruugwuu. Perfect timing. Did you eat yet?”
“Nope.”
“Good. Then let’s go!”
Gidan took Guru’s free hand and pulled her along.
“Eh?”
And so, Guru and Lea were both dragged off by Gidan and Serhi—to the Hyeonak cafeteria.
“Owa~ food~”
Guru cheerfully grabbed her own familiar TiniPing kids’ tray and lined up.
“Not that one. Use this.”
When Lea tried to take a child’s tray too, Serhi stopped her and handed her a normal one.
“What’s this?”
“Food.”
“Food.”
Serhi and Gidan spoke in turn.
“...Food? Just like that?”
Then Guru stood on tiptoe and placed a yogurt cup onto Lea’s tray.
“Yoguwt. Yummy.”
Guru beamed. Lea forced a weak smile back.
'...Yogurt?'
What was this?
Then Serhi and Gidan piled on braised short ribs, seasoned fried chicken, kimchi, bibimbap loaded with vegetables, and more onto Lea’s tray.
“Auntie, she’s our friend. Give her lots.”
“Oh my, Dani and Serhi’s foreign friend? Eat plenty~”
The cook even gave her a heaping bowl of doenjang stew.
With question marks filling her eyes, Lea allowed herself to be dragged to a table by the “Miseongnyun-z.”
As she sat down, her hands trembled.
What was this?
'Bullying?!'
She quietly set her glasses down beside her tray and folded her hands on her lap.
In the big steel bowl, the bibimbap’s colorful ingredients were neatly arranged, looking surprisingly appetizing.
She sniffed secretly. Spicy, savory, a hint of sweet—complex and rich.
“Lea, ever had Korean food?”
“No...”
“Wow, you haven’t lived. Right, Serhi?”
Serhi sighed.
Gidan had said the same thing when he’d first forced Korean food on him at Hyeonak.
“Mm...”
Staring at the bibimbap, Lea clumsily picked up a bean sprout with her chopsticks and popped it in her mouth.
'Nutty.'
But the other vegetables just tasted like... vegetables.
'Is this really bullying? she wondered, chewing glumly.'
“Unghni...”
“Hm?”
Guru, cheeks puffed with food, called her.
Distracted from wrestling with her bibimbap, Lea looked up.
Gidan, Serhi, and Guru were all staring at her with intense expressions.
“...What?”
Lea asked nervously.
Serhi, sitting across from her, calmly took her bibimbap bowl.
Then he mixed the rice, egg, vegetables, and sauce together.
He even added a scoop of doenjang stew and stirred it in.
Gidan nodded approvingly from the side.
Lea trembled, both hands clapped over her mouth.
Surely... surely this was bullying.

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