Beside the fuming Chief Secretary Kwon Honggyun, a secretary who had arrived late leaned in to whisper at his ear.
Someone had insisted on meeting him.
Who the hell followed me all the way here instead of going to my office? Kwon Honggyun’s face was dubious, but he still gave the order.
“Let them in.”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a figure in a deer mask was already sitting cross-legged before him.
Without a trace of presence?! Startled, Kwon Honggyun gulped down dry saliva and asked:
“An Awakened?”
Instead of answering, the deer mask raised a hand. Tattooed on the fingers was the word:
Obsidian.
And even an animal mask...
“Ahh... so you must be from that international mercenary group the Bureau just captured.”
So there were remnants after all. Interest glimmered in Kwon Honggyun’s eyes.
“You are correct.”
From the deer mask came a voice, distorted into a mechanical tone.
Kwon Honggyun straightened his tie and sat down opposite.
“And the reason you sought me out?”
The deer mask wasted no words.
“Pardon-trade.”
“Well, you’re certainly direct.”
Though he laughed boisterously, inside Kwon Honggyun’s mind ticked cold calculations.
A pardon-trade.
Since that mercenary group had been captured en masse, he must want at least some of them sprung.
Calling it a “trade” meant he was offering something in return.
He had heard the Obsidian Mercenaries were captured because On Jurim had intervened.
At the time, Jurim had been at Bureau headquarters, and by disrupting their plan he had ruined them.
'He may even be useful.'
Having just crossed swords with Jurim, Kwon Honggyun had some measure of his character.
On Jurim was the sort who only struck back harder the stronger his opponent came at him.
As Chief Secretary, Kwon Honggyun had tens of thousands of ways to make his life difficult—but that didn’t mean Jurim would bow easily.
On the contrary, it might only provoke a counterattack.
And right now, public opinion leaned heavily in Hyeonak’s favor, not the ruling party’s.
But there was a way. Not by pushing, but by making him come closer.
“Well then, since you put it like that, I do have one idea.”
The deer mask looked him in the eye, signaling to go on.
Kwon Honggyun smiled.
“It’s nothing much. I just want a small accident.”
“Accident?”
Yes, an accident was what he needed.
If Jurim’s daughter were caught up in it and he rescued her, Jurim would owe him a debt.
From his investigations, he knew perfectly well how much On Jurim cherished that daughter.
“On Jurim has a child. I’d like that child to be placed in danger, just for a short while.”
“...A child?”
Hearing the reluctant tone, Kwon Honggyun hurried to add:
“We can discuss the details over a meal. If it doesn’t suit you, you can refuse, no problem. Just hear me out first.”
He called for the restaurant staff to bring food.
“Ms. Chuen, you really learn so quickly!”
Classroom of the Korean language program for foreigners, run by the National Museum of Korea.
At Instructor Lee Hyowon’s praise, Chuen’s face flushed faintly.
As they left the classroom together, the teacher continued with more compliments.
'At this level, you’ve practically completed beginner. You could move on to intermediate Korean.'
“Praise... thank you.”
“Your speaking is so good already.”
“I used to work in speaking-related things, so...”
Lee Hyowon nodded in understanding. If you worked directly in another country, speaking was always the first thing you learned.
“This time I think you’ll even be able to write your résumé in Korean!”
She shouted “Fighting!” and clenched her fists energetically.
Chuen nodded awkwardly.
Even in the short month-long program, her Korean had improved by leaps and bounds. This time she felt a little more confident.
“I hope it goes well.”
At the words, Chuen replied with a smile.
Today the spring sunlight was especially warm.
Looking out the window at the light filtering in, she saw children in yellow hats following a teacher outside.
It seemed they had come on a museum field trip.
The teacher leading them stopped briefly and spoke.
“Friends, what do we have to do inside the museum? We need to be quiet, right?”
The children clustered together shot up their hands.
“Yes, yes, yesyesyes!”
'Like little chicks.'
As Chuen gazed at them fondly, the goldfish tapped her cheek.
The goldfish’s tail pointed off to the side.
There, one child looked even more chick-like—standing with a plump bird perched on her head, raising her hand high.
A doll-like round, cute face, beige-blond hair, pale coral eyes.
“...On Guru?”
“Now, everyone, look up here!”
Just then, the Chick Class teacher pointed to the museum above, and Guru raised her head.
Swish! Chuen hurriedly ducked below the window.
Lee Hyowon looked at her strangely, but she couldn’t let it be known she was here.
She remembered vividly the moment that child had invited her to join Hyeonak...
'She must’ve been disappointed I didn’t come.'
In truth, it wasn’t that she hadn’t gone—it was that she couldn’t.
Chuen had taken the child’s offer seriously and prepared application documents.
But the problem was that she wasn’t yet proficient in Korean.
'...Haa.'
She covered her flushed face with both hands.
To confess that she had mixed Chinese into the résumé because she couldn’t fill it out in Korean, and had been instantly rejected—that was far too embarrassing.
That was why she was now attending this Korean language program.
'Hm?'
Sensing eyes on her, Guru stretched her neck out, peering around.
“Chick Class! No distractions—hold your friend’s hand tight and follow only the teacher!”
“Okaaaay!”
Guru answered loudly, gripping Woojoo’s hand as they entered the National Museum of Korea.
Past the large entrance, the exhibits displayed at children’s eye level came into view.
“It’s a bowl!”
“Clay!”
“It says right here it’s a pot. Pottery.”
As the kids began chattering, the Chick Class teacher turned.
“Shhh!”
At the hiss, all the kids echoed back at one another with their own “Shhh!”
Guru leaned right up to Woojoo’s face and hissed too, then giggled softly. Woojoo’s face flushed bright red.
“Woojoo, you tomatwo again.”
“N-no, it’s not like that.”
Woojoo shook his head wildly.
Above them, Mephisto glared down fiercely, clearly displeased.
'Ugh!'
If not for Mephisto, he could have enjoyed a quiet hand-holding museum date with Guru.
But now that Gu Hwiyeon had bribed him, he was forced to mind Mephisto constantly. It was miserable.
“Pip-pipit!”
As if reading Woojoo’s thoughts, Mephisto snickered. Woojoo clenched his fists.
Today’s schedule was to tour the exhibits briefly, then participate in a pottery-making program.
Guru, thinking hard about what kind of pottery to make, admired the displays with great enthusiasm.
“Sniff sniff!”
Until Veilach poked his face out of her bag.
Narrowing his eyes, Veilach sniffed.
Guru glanced at the teacher nervously, then whispered softly to Veilach.
“Bayiii, what’s wong?”
“Myu—” (I smell something...)
“Pipit.”
Mephisto also sniffed along.
“Hm?”
Now that both Veilach and Mephisto were sniffing, Guru sniffed too, but she didn’t smell anything odd.
Tilting her head, she slipped quietly behind a display stand.
There, Veilach transformed into human form, crouching at her side to explain
“I think there’s one of my kind nearby.”
“Dongdongie?”
“My kind. A monster.”
“Eeeeh?!”
In a place this crowded?
Normally, monsters that appeared outside dungeons manifested only in sparsely populated places.
“Maybe it’s a monster on display?”
At Guru’s question, Veilach stroked his chin. That was possible, but...
As he frowned uneasily, Guru rummaged in her bag.
“Den shouwd we check?”
Guru equipped her [Detective Magnifying Glass!].
They could just look for it.
If there really was a monster, her friends might be in danger.
'Hero Gwuu can’t weave fwiends in dangew!'

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