Chick 160

The Kindergarten Class Hunter Pays Back! Episode 160

Chapter: Game Changer

With both the leash and harness confiscated, Guru sat at the table, sullenly pouting, spoon and fork in hand.

“Guru’s going to confiscate your ‘no’ and ‘forbidden’ too, Daddy.”

“Still, no leashes.”

“Tch!”

It’s always no, no, no.

She’d even bought a leash just to take Beilach for walks, but now it looked like she wouldn’t be able to keep her New Year’s resolutions.

The reason was more or less obvious.

Dad really didn’t like the human version of Beilach.

Whether it stemmed from a deeply rooted misanthropy or something else, whenever he saw Beilach in human form, his face would twist in a scowl or he’d let out a sigh.

As if he wanted to throw him out at any moment!

‘That’s why I have to level up faster.’

Her plan was to upgrade her ‘Mold and Shape’ skill and turn Beilach completely into a hamster.

‘If he was always a hamster, it’d be so much easier to take him for walks…’

A spoonful of fluffy rice topped with savory bulgogi hovered toward her mouth.

Opening wide, Guru started chewing.

‘And it’d be easier to bring him to kindergarten too, right?’

It had been a week since she’d started at Justitia’s affiliated kindergarten, in the Chickadee class.

Insisting she wanted to go with both Mephi and Bei, Guru had stubbornly brought them along every day, but Jurim’s worries never faded; he was obviously on edge that Beilach might revert to human form at any moment.

Guru understood Dad’s concern, but…

‘But if Bei stays home, all he does is watch zombies.’

Beilach was completely absorbed in a gory, adults-only zombie TV show featuring people getting devoured.

Sometimes he even licked his lips while watching zombie eating scenes in a trance; if she neglected to keep an eye on him, he might cause a real incident and get hauled away by the Department of Supernatural Management.

Department of Supernatural Management = meeting Uncle Hongsam = Waaah! (☠)

‘Yup, it’s up to Guru, as his master, to become stronger.’

Just as Guru made her firm resolve, a pair of chopsticks holding red kimchi approached.

‘Spicy!’

Guru quickly turned her head and rummaged in her bag, needing to distract Dad before he could stuff the spicy kimchi in her mouth.

“Daddy! Look at this. I made it during free time!”

With a deep sigh, Jurim popped a side dish into his own mouth and asked, a bit puzzled,

“What do you do during free time?”

“Arts and crafts?”

“Craft time?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

Guru proudly pulled a yellow fluffy bundle, about the size of an adult fist, out of her bag.

A plump, chick-shaped doll, complete with a helicopter-like propeller on its head.

“A drone?”

“Yes! We made drones during free time.”

Of course, “drone-making” just meant assembling pre-made parts onto a plushie, but—

She was quite pleased with her chick-drone shaped like Mephisto.

It could fly, it could be remote-controlled—everything!

She’d actually been worrying about how to make some new equipment as a toy, and this suddenly gave her a great idea for a fun upgrade.

“I made mine even cooler.”

Guru set the chick on her palm.

“Watch this.”

The chick plushie fluttered up for a moment, made a soft landing on the table, then—crackle! crackle!—tiny sparks of static jumped.

The static made the chick’s fluff stand on end, turning it into a little hedgehog. Jurim asked, mildly surprised,

“You even put a magic stone in there?”

“Yep!”

A drone plushie powered by a magic stone for electricity!

Guru took a proud pose, as if asking what he thought.

“It’s the Mephisto Series Prototype mk.1!”

“That’s quite the name…”

Jurim looked down at the drone-chick with its imposing title.

At five years old, this show-off still couldn’t tell coffee from cocoa, yet she’d memorized all the coolest sounding grown-up words like ‘supreme,’ ‘miracle change,’ and ‘prototype.’

“But the electricity is too weak. Why is that? I wanted it to be a million volts.”

“And where would you fire a million volts?”

“At the ultimate monsters, for conquest!”

Announcing her grand ambitions, Guru huffed through her nose and fiddled with the chick drone.

“Eat first. You can play later.”

While Jurim tried to get the easily distracted Guru to eat, the TV kept switching channels in the living room.

A zombie lunged to grab the protagonist’s arm—

The scene abruptly shifted to the newsroom.

It was another of Beilach and Mephisto’s channel wars.

As Beilach tried to push Mephisto’s body aside to watch his zombie food show, Mephisto lashed out with rapid-fire kicks—he wanted to catch the kids’ cartoon scheduled right after the news.

The two already didn’t get along; their tastes were complete opposites, so nothing about their morning TV channel battles was surprising anymore.

‘Hyeonak?’

Guru, mid-chew, glanced at the TV.

Onscreen, a woman was shown at the airport, masked and wearing a hat pulled low.

The hottest topic lately: A-rank crafting type, and former head of the National Defense Project Research Lab, Lee Soyeon.

She, a prominent crafter who’d led Korea’s only S-rank weapon project, had recently been naturalized in China; the news had been covering her departure every day.

After an expert explained that foreign nations share technology at the government level, the next shot was of Hyeonak’s company headquarters.

“Gasp!”

As Guru saw Sulyujin and the management team arriving for work, she neatly organized the news summary in her head:

A super-famous A-rank crafter left for another country.

And apparently badmouthed Hyeonak in the process?!

But what did Hyeonak even do!

‘So unfair…! Or… is it?’

Actually, it wouldn’t be weird if Hyeonak really had done something wrong.

Hmm. Furrowing her brow, Guru hesitantly asked,

“D-did we do something bad?”

“No.”

Jurim shrugged lightly, as if he didn’t have a clue.

Guru seemed skeptical, but this genuinely wasn’t just to reassure her—it was the truth. With other guilds, perhaps, but there had been no conflict with the research lab.

Although Director Lee Soyeon seemed to see things differently.

Ever since it was revealed that the syrup potion originated from Hyeonak, Director Lee wouldn’t stop contacting them.

She probably wanted to create a meeting ‘for the sake of national progress’; was curious about who Syrup really was; wanted the recipe for syrup potions; and most likely felt her position was threatened.

But even if Guru did share her recipes, no ordinary crafters could reproduce them—nor had she ever intended to reveal them in the first place.

‘It’ll just end up being a hassle.’

This was why she’d been counseled against becoming a hunter.

‘Saving lives for the good of many? The intent is good.’

But the world’s interests are complex, and good deeds aren’t always received with good intentions.

Besides, everyone knew the real reason Lee Soyeon left was the vast sum of money offered by China.

She’d just found a convenient excuse to use.

“Then why is she doing this?”

“Jealousy.”

Jurim replied simply, spooning another bite toward her mouth and urging her to eat.

‘Jealousy?’

Guru took a bite of kimchi and chewed it thoughtfully before swallowing.