Chapter – Game Changer
Guru sat at the dining table, both the leash and chest harness confiscated, her lips pushed out in a pout with a spoon and fork in each hand.
“Gwuu gonna confiscate ‘no’ and ‘not awwowed’ fwom Oppaw too.”
“You’re still not getting the leash back.”
It’s always no, no, no.
She had even bought the leash so she could go on walks with Veilach, but now it looked like her New Year’s plans were going down the drain.
She had a rough idea why.
Dad really, really didn’t like human Veilach.
Maybe it was his deep-rooted hatred of humans, or maybe it was just something else, but every time he saw Veilach in human form, he’d either scowl or let out a heavy sigh.
Like he was ready to kick him out at any moment!
So I gotta wevew up fast.
She was planning to upgrade the [Squeeze-Squeeze] skill and turn Veilach into a full-time hamster.
If he stay hamster aww the time, it gonna be way easiew to take him on wawks...
A spoonful of fluffy rice topped with savory bulgogi came to her mouth.
Guru opened wide—waaang—and started munching.
An’ den it gonna be easy to take him to kindy too, wight?
It had been a week since she’d started attending the Chick Class of Yustitia Preschool.
Guru had insisted on bringing both Mephi and Bayi with her, and so far, she’d gotten her way. But Jurim still looked visibly nervous every morning, clearly worried Veilach might transform into a person at any moment.
Guru understood Dad’s concerns, but still...
But Bayi onwy see zombies when she at home.
Veilach had become totally obsessed with this over-the-top, gory, adults-only zombie show.
She’d zone out while watching zombies eat people alive and even licked her lips sometimes. If Guru got careless, Veilach might cause a real mess and end up in the hands of the Management Bureau.
Management Bureau = seeing Heungsam Uncwe = Kkyaang! (☠)
Unngh, so Gwuu gotta be da stwong one since Gwuu da mastuh!
Just as she made that firm promise to herself, chopsticks holding bright red kimchi moved toward her.
Guru quickly turned her head and rummaged through her backpack. She had to change the subject before Dad shoved that spicy kimchi into her mouth.
“Oppaw! Wook at dis! Gwuu made dis duwing fwee time!”
Jurim sighed and popped the side dish into his own mouth, then asked curiously,
“Free time? What do you do during free time?”
“Uhm... cwafty time?”
Guru proudly pulled a fluffy yellow ball of fur from her bag, about the size of an adult’s fist.
The chubby bird doll looked like a chick, complete with a helicopter-style propeller on its head.
“Yeeeh. Gwuu made dwone duwing fwee time!”
Well, “made” was a stretch—it was more like she attached some pre-made parts to the doll. Still, she was pretty proud of her chick drone modeled after Mephisto.
It could fly, and it was remote-controlled—everything!
She’d been thinking about what gear to make next, so this gave her a great idea for a new toy-turned-tool.
“Gwuu made it extwa cool.”
Guru set the chick on her palm.
The chick doll floated up briefly and landed on the table, and then—zzzt zzzt!—a burst of static electricity sparked.
The static made the doll’s fuzz stand up like a porcupine, and Jurim blinked in surprise.
“You added mana stone too?”
A drone doll powered by mana stone that generated electricity!
Guru puffed out her chest proudly, waiting for praise.
“It’s Mephisto Sewies Pwototype mk.1!”
“...That’s a hell of a name.”
Jurim looked down at the chick drone doll with a face that said: You’ve got to be kidding me.
At five, Guru didn’t know what an Americano was, but she had no problem remembering words like “Supreme,” “Miracle Change,” and “Prototype.” She’d picked up every cool-sounding word she heard.
“But ewectwic stuff too weak... whyy? Gwuu wanted one miwwion vowts.”
“And what exactly are you planning to zap with that?”
“To defeat da Suwpweme Monstuh!”
Guru declared her grand plan, puffing hot air through her nose, and fiddled with the chick, spinning it in her fingers.
As Jurim kept trying to feed Guru, who was thoroughly distracted, the TV in the living room kept switching channels.
A zombie lunged to grab the protagonist’s arm—
And the screen cut to a news studio.
It was a channel war between Veilach and Mephisto.
“No, Sarah! We go together! If you get bit, it’s over!”
Veilach, desperate to keep watching zombie food carnage, shoved Mephisto’s body aside. Mephisto, hoping to catch the children’s animation that aired right after the news, countered with rapid-fire kicks.
Their relationship had never been great, and their taste in TV couldn’t have been more different. Morning channel fights had long stopped being newsworthy.
Guru turned toward the TV, still munching rice.
Onscreen was footage of a woman at the airport, face covered with a mask and hat pulled low.
It was Lee Soyeon, an A-Rank crafter and director of the National Defense Research Institute—currently the hottest figure in the media.
She had once led Korea’s only S-Rank weapon production project, and her decision to defect to China had thrown the country into a frenzy.
As an expert explained that other nations shared tech internally at the national level, the scene cut to Hyeonak Guild’s building.
Guru spotted Seol Yeo-jin and the management team heading into work and tried to piece together what the news was saying.
What did Hyeonak even do?!
Actually, even if Hyeonak did do something wrong, it wouldn’t be that weird...
Furrowing her brow, Guru hesitantly asked,
“D-Did we do something bad?”
Jurim just gave a short shrug, like he truly had no idea.
Guru didn’t look convinced, but he wasn’t just trying to comfort her—he was telling the truth.
Maybe other guilds had beef with the research institute, but Hyeonak had no real reason to clash with them.
Not that Lee Soyeon saw it that way.
Ever since she learned “Santa G” was affiliated with Hyeonak, she’d been relentlessly reaching out.
She wanted a seat at the table “for the good of national development.”
She was probably curious about who Santa G was, wanted the [Excellent Strawberry Syrup (C)] recipe, and—above all—felt threatened by Guru’s rising influence.
But even if she did get the recipe, normal crafters couldn’t replicate it, and Guru had no intention of sharing it in the first place.
It’d onwy make my wife mo’ compwicated.
That’s why Jurim had been reluctant to let Guru become a Hunter.
Helping wots of people is good? Suwe, da idea is nice.
But the world was full of tangled interests, and good intentions didn’t always come off as good to others.
Everyone knew the real reason Lee Soyeon left was the giant sum of money China had offered.
The rest was just window dressing.
“Den why she say dat stuff?”
Jurim left it at that and brought another spoonful to Guru’s mouth.
Guru bit into the kimchi, chewed twice, then swallowed with a gulp.