Chapter 29
“……!”
Startled, Gru’s shoulders twitched as their eyes suddenly met.
“How did the Guild Master end up here?”
Hot! Gru glanced at the smartwatch on their wrist.
It seemed that the impact from just rolling around had sent Gru’s location to the Guild Master.
He stepped on Gidan’s shoulder to immobilize him, then slowly turned his gaze.
By now, Malikian had disappeared, and the torn space had shrunk to the size of a fist.
Jurim furrowed his brows.
“……Still quick to run away, huh.”
Watching the S-rank monster flee awkwardly, Gru let out a nervous laugh.
Yeti Boss < S-rank Monster < Guild Master
Dun-dun-
“The… strongest!”
He lazily scanned the field before shifting his eyes to Gru, who was hanging from the rooftop railing.
“Hic!”
Scary!
Gru hid their face under the railing.
“Scarier than an S-rank monster.”
While Gru trembled under the railing, Jurim applied force to restrain the struggling Gidan.
“Let go! Let go!”
“Gidan, you can’t handle this alone. Calm down.”
“I’ll kill you!”
But reason seemed to have already left him. Gidan couldn’t calm down at all.
Sighing, Jurim bent down and whispered into Gidan’s ear.
“……!”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Gidan immediately lost consciousness.
Gru peeked out from under the railing, shoulders shaking.
“R-Run!”
Gru tried crawling away unseen on all fours, but had to stop after only a short distance.
Seeing the shoes blocking their path, Gru swallowed hard.
Gru looked up at Jurim, who had approached.
Was he in a hurry after receiving the smartwatch signal? His shirt was untucked and his tie hung loosely.
Their eyes met, and Gru forced a small smile.
“Guild Mas…ter! Hic! Sir!”
Jurim asked slowly, his expression terrifying.
“You said you were going home with Director Yoon, right? Is this home?”
“Hic!”
Gru’s heart dropped. The world seemed to spin, so they lowered their head and fidgeted with their hands.
“I’m going to get scolded. Scary.”
“Gonna get scolded, huh?”
“Uuu~”
Gru pouted and shook their head.
Jurim let out a soft laugh, then hardened his expression again.
Straightening his resolve, he crossed his arms.
“Hangru. No more sudden actions without telling me, got it?”
“Aa… but…”
Gru knew it was wrong… but the frustration and sadness bubbled up, and they pouted.
“But…”
Gru had their reasons, but they couldn’t explain them right now.
Instead, they curled up and muttered.
“Gru… did bad… Hic!”
Rolling their large eyes nervously, Gru looked around, and Jurim, who had been moving his mouth slightly, finally wiped his dry face.
Seeing Gru trembling like a baby squirrel, sniffing their little nose, Jurim finally gave in.
He looked over the child and asked gruffly.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No… Hic!”
“You’re not hiding anything because you’re scared of being scolded, right?”
Gru nodded vigorously.
They bounced on the spot, showing they were fine.
“……Not hurt at all.”
Their pale coral eyes flickered between Jurim and the ground.
Seeing Jurim’s blank expression, Gru lifted their arms as if asking to be picked up.
Jurim sighed, looking at the child with arms stretched wide in a pleading gesture.
“……Haah.”
Unable to scold them any further, he picked Gru up.
Gru hugged Jurim’s neck tightly.
“He picked me up! Hehe!”
Thinking they wouldn’t get scolded now, Gru’s lips relaxed into a soft smile.
Rubbing their flushed cheeks, warmth quickly spread.
“So warm.”
With Jurim holding them, Gru’s racing heart calmed as if by magic.
When a runny nose started, Gru wiped it on Jurim’s collar.
Feeling the dampness on his shoulder, Jurim opened his eyes halfway.
Gru asked, noticing Jurim checking their forehead.
“But… Hic! How’s Dandi oppa?”
His gaze was different from usual—especially sad, almost frighteningly so.
“……Dandi is…”
“Is he hurt? Hic!”
Jurim patted Gru’s back as they hiccupped repeatedly.
“It hurts his heart.”
Calmly saying this, he then left the dungeon.
When Gru returned home, he immediately went into his study.
As soon as Dan met Malikian, something had clearly changed.
“Maybe Malikian used some kind of strange skill!”
Gru lay face down on the sofa in the study and opened a thick dungeon compendium.
“Malikian… Malikian…”
Finding the page about Malikian was easy—the page had a newspaper clipping tucked into it. The articles were all dated a year ago.
[Great Dungeon Incident in Jumunjin, Gangneung; Casualties Being Assessed]
“A great dungeon incident occurred in a detached house in Jumunjin…”
Gru traced the letters with his finger as he read the article.
A “dungeon incident” is a phenomenon in which an entire surrounding area transforms into a dungeon. When such an incident occurs, monsters spill out and take over the region.
Globally, this was an extremely rare case—Jumunjin was officially the fourth known dungeon incident.
The article stated that it had been a major crisis with two S-rank monsters appearing. Fortunately, since it occurred in a sparsely populated area, there were few casualties.
“The confirmed casualty is a man in his 40s, Mr. Ki… his middle school-aged son survived…”
A year ago, Mr. Ki’s middle school-aged son.
And Dan’s anger, which seemed almost abnormal.
Gru felt his chest tighten as he opened the next clipping.
[On Jurim, Successfully Suppresses Great Dungeon]
[On Jurim, One S-rank Monster Escapes… Three Major Guilds Launch Search]
[Escaped S-rank Malikian, Status Unknown?]
[Two Months After Malikian’s Escape, Official Search Concludes]
“Malikian… escaped…”
Malikian, who had been tearing through space.
Dan had wanted to confront Malikian, the one who killed his family.
“But…”
Gru recalled seeing Malikian remain unmoved against Dan’s assault.
Dan’s movements were sharp and effective, but it seemed impossible to deal damage.
“Does he have high defense?”
If Malikian’s defense could be lowered, would Dan’s attacks finally work?
Gru took a duck clamp from his inventory, and suddenly spears appeared one after another before his eyes.
[Measuring Filial Points…]
[Conditions met; enhancement function unlocked.]
[Item enhancement available using Filial Points.]
[Filial Points Consumed: 500]
“Enhance!”
Could Gru’s duck clamp finally escape being subpar?
If so, would it also allow him to apply a debuff to Malikian?
Despite numerous past failures flashing through his mind, Gru quickly clasped his small hands together.
“Here we go, enhance!”
Let’s go! Ordinary duck clamp!
[Enhancement Successful.]
[Duck Clamp Infused with Mephisto’s Power (Useful)]
“Useful?”
Gru narrowed his eyes.
It wasn’t “ordinary” after “subpar”—it was “useful”?
Gru puffed out his cheeks. Whoever had set the rating system clearly had no sense of scale.
[Hidden Function Unlocked]
[Absolute Command: The caster’s attacks have a small chance to ignore the target’s effect resistance.]
“Ignore effect resistance!”
Though the chance was low, it meant that debuffs would no longer fail.
“This is it!”
It was basically another way to fight Malikian.
Using his Filial Points had paid off.
“How long did you think you could keep dodging my debuffs?”
Gru smirked with a sly expression.
“I want to see him flustered.”
Soon, he could finally show the power of Guuwoongjuwoong. Kekekek! Gru was overcome with exhilaration.
—Rugged, dashing body~ wearing red clothes~ giving off a sweet and tangy scent~ stylish tomato~
When the bell rang, Gru quickly sat at Jurim’s study desk. Right in front of him was the smartwatch Jurim had given him.
