Chick 190
by Cristae190
As the contribution notice appeared, Gu Heeyeon had somehow crawled dazedly out into the open, staring blankly at Gruu.
“Oh, right. Heeyeon, are you okay?”
Heeyeon nodded, her mouth still agape.
Gruu tilted her head and looked Heeyeon over with concern.
She seemed a little out of it, not quite her normal self, but at least she wasn’t injured…
Maybe just a little shocked?
Gruu grinned and held out her hand.
“Let’s go back now.”
In instance dungeons, even if you don’t destroy the core, the dungeon collapses if the boss is gone.
So behind Gruu, the tiny toy factory was already crumbling.
Gruu steadied her thumping heart and took Heeyeon’s hand.
By the time Heeyeon had followed Gruu out of the dungeon, her face was flushed bright red.
“Th-thanks for today!”
“Huh? Okay.”
Gruu was about to ask, “Will you say hi to me at school from now on?” when—
“U-uh, b-bye! I’ll go first!”
Heeyeon blurted out a rushed goodbye and sped off.
“Huh?”
Left alone, Gruu blinked in confusion.
The next day, two string instrument mascot dolls—a fox and a chick—appeared on Heeyeon’s bag.
Gruu never noticed, but from that day on, Wooju quietly began to keep an eye on Heeyeon.
Amakusa Reiji prowled around a small apartment in his leather shoes, turning the place upside down.
The apartment’s owner had clearly left in a hurry—clothes and papers scattered everywhere.
Reiji skimmed some documents tossed onto a mahjong table, then discarded them. Pages flapped gently to the floor.
[“Did she run?”]
If it was her, she very likely knew he was looking for her.
But why?
She had no reason to avoid him, did she?
Unless he’d accepted a contract himself, he didn’t bother with unrelated people.
In fact, Reiji had no intention of harming her. He just wanted to know someone’s whereabouts.
[“Hmm.”]
He tapped the table a few times, rattling a few mahjong tiles in his hand.
[“That must mean there was some other reason to run…”]
After a brief deliberation, Reiji hummed a little tune and sprawled comfortably on the couch, as if at home, reaching for the TV remote.
He paused in the middle of pulling off his brown leather gloves when a familiar face filled the screen.
His lips curled in a surprised smile.
[“Kazuki?”]
Broadcast was reporting the sudden visit to Korea by the world’s only S-rank maker-class master, Amakusa Kazuki.
Now twenty-seven, the man resembled a giant wolf.
Athletic, muscular build. Hair bleached gray and undercut. Ears loaded with piercings. Sharp fangs. Tattoos covering his body—and even snaking across his tongue, visible whenever he spoke.
“He’s grown well.”
Not just as a father’s pride—Kazuki, whom he hadn’t seen in ages, had certainly become a striking man.
‘But still…’
Reiji studied his son’s face carefully, as if scrutinizing a specimen.
‘There’s no reason for Kazuki to come to Korea now, is there?’
Especially considering the tense relations between Japan and Korea.
If anyone, Korea should be desperate and anxious; it made even less sense for one of Japan’s top figures, who hold all the cards, to come waltzing in.
[Amakusa Hunter! Is there a special reason for this unannounced visit to Korea?>
[Is your visit related to the “K-knockoff” and current Japan-Korea relations?>
As if answering his doubts, a barrage of reporters’ questions filled the screen.
A translator murmured a few words in Kazuki’s ear.
Then Amakusa Kazuki slid down his sunglasses and flashed a bright smile.
[Ah, you want to know why I’m in “Hankoku”?>
His manner of speech was awkward—almost cute—but the cold glint in his gray eyes only made him look more menacing.
[[My dad… ah, should I say it in Korean? Then—>]
He started in Japanese but caught himself, switching to Korean.
[-I came to kill my papa!>
He boldly declared, in a cutesy tone, that he came to kill his dad—his pale eyes glittering fiercely.
[Excuse me? Papa? Did you just say papa?>
[By “papa,” did you mean your father?>
[Amakusa Hunter! Please, could you clarify?>
Click, click!
The shutter sounds filled the room.
Kazuki paused, peered straight into the camera, then—his tattooed fingers forming an adorable cheek heart gesture.
[I love you! To all my fans in entertainment!>
Amakusa Reiji let out a hearty laugh.
[“He’s gotten cute, my Kazuki-chan.”]
[Breaking News>
[“I came to kill my father.” Amakusa’s bombshell—mere trouble with Korean?]
[Amakusa’s agent: ‘It was “papa,” not “papak.” And “kill” was a mispronunciation of “chill.”’]
[Will Amakusa’s surprise visit spark change in Korea-Japan relations?]
Naturally, public attention was riveted by a celebrity’s unprecedented declaration of patricide.
‘What a nutcase.’
Jurim scanned the headlines, folded her arms, and swivelled her chair.
“My ears are burning.”
The “star” of all the talk, Amakusa Kazuki, lounged on the guild leader’s office sofa, idly picking his ear.
“On-chan, someone’s talking bad about me.”
“It’s me.”
Kazuki grinned.
“On-chan, you’re so good at teasing.”
“You really think I’m the type to joke like that with you?”
“But I like even that side of you, On-chan.”
Kazuki stretched out on the sofa, arms over the backrest, a big laugh booming as he crossed his legs.
‘And this is what shows up here.’
Once, Jurim had even considered searching for Kazuki herself, because of issues with his gloves, but not like this, not in this way.
“……”
Jurim clicked her tongue, short and sharp.
Even now, word had spread that Amakusa Kazuki was here—the hallway beyond the guild leader’s door was packed with staff, peering in like a cluster of barnacles.
A punk’s style, but with striking good looks.
Even standing still, he was hard to miss—and now, after dropping a bombshell, he’d entered the guild unapologetically.
“But On-chan, where’s Gruu? I want to see Gruu. Where is she?”
Jurim rubbed her forehead.
So it was because of Gruu…
“She’s not here.”
“At home? I came to see Gruu, you know.”
That On Jurim’s adopted daughter—Kazuki looked like he was about to faint from longing, wagging his invisible tail.
With an expression of utter distaste, Jurim openly sized him up and down.
Coming to see Gruu while dressed like some back-alley punk. Never happening.
The last time they met, he wasn’t quite this bad… But now there were even more tattoos and piercings, and his clothes were even more revealing.
“Ah—is my look too stimulating for a baby?”
Kazuki glanced down. Through his ripped jeans, tattoos on his thighs were clearly visible.
“Just a minute, I’ll change into a suit.”
He started taking off his shirt right then and there.
His torso was packed with muscle and dense tattoos—Jurim just barely stopped herself from cursing out loud.
Now, in addition to “nutcase,” she mentally added “freakin’ psycho” and rubbed her face in disbelief.
How could anyone be so shameless, stripping off in her office with so many people watching?
But Kazuki, unfazed, buttoned up his dress shirt.
“On-chan, am I pretty now?”
Jurim propped her chin on one hand, sneering sideways.
“Pretty enough to make me want to kill you.”
“Ahahaha!”
Even that threat, Kazuki just hummed as he undid his belt.
Now he was actually doing a strip show in her office.
As the staff stifled their squeals, Jurim sharply sensed a new presence and leapt to her feet.
At the same time—
“Daddy—!”
Thud—!
Kazuki, his legs half into his dress pants, was abruptly thrown to the corner by an invisible force. Curtains twined around him, cocooning him up.
“……!”
Kazuki struggled and thrashed, but before long, the guild leader’s door burst wide open.
“Daddy!”
It was Gruu.
Jurim smiled in relief, seeing that Gruu hadn’t witnessed even a glimpse of Kazuki’s lurid underwear.