This Is Bad.

This wasn’t some silly prank—it was a disaster, the kind that made her think again of juvie!

There was only one way out of this.

'...Make it a perfect crime.'

Cold sweat trickled down her back as Guru’s mind spun in circles, desperately trying to cover up the offense.

Bribe everyone who knows. Make it like it never happened.

Right now, the only one who knew Guru had entered the dungeon without permission... was Hwiyeon. Because she’d gone in with her.

If Guru approached Hwiyeon... maybe even handed over her transformation item to buy her silence...!

'But that’s the only prototype I’ve got!'

Guru swallowed her tears, thinking of her transformation wand.

“What are we supposed to track if there’s no trace left...?”

Guru suddenly raised her eyes toward Serhi, who was murmuring under his breath.

Hey? You’re a fellow criminal who avoided jail time!

Back when Serhi first arrived at Hyeonak, Guru had stuck her ear to the seminar room door, eavesdropping on what was going on, and had learned a few things.

Serhi had brought a dungeon core and negotiated a sentence deal.

And now, helping the Management Bureau was probably an extension of that arrangement.

So what if?

Guru solves a criminal case and helps the Management Bureau.

⇒

The Management Bureau praises the mighty and valiant Supreme Guru for her heroic deeds... and lets her crime slide.

Nice...!

“Dis, dis not funnnyyyy... Gwuu gonna do somefin ewse.”

Guru, drenched in sweat, picked up another file.

If she secretly combed through these documents and solved all the cases she could—she’d be awesome.

Huff huff, puffing out her nose with renewed enthusiasm, Guru opened the file.

It was a document confirming the entry of a high-risk individual into Korea. Clipped inside was a photo of a man chatting with Japan’s mousey-looking Prime Minister.

Guru narrowed her eyes and leaned in to examine the man... then leaned back to check again.

His name was written beside him.

Reiji.

“...Tato fwiend?”

Why was Tato Friend here?

Beneath the name Reiji, a list of the crimes he’d committed was written in tiny letters.

Most of it had been blacked out, though, so she couldn’t read a thing.

'Something-something Blackout Incident, something-something Blackout Operation Interference...'

She didn’t know what it all was, but it sure sounded like he’d done a lot.

Even her friend turned out to be a supervillain.

Just how evil would the Management Bureau think she was now?

Thinking of scary Uncle Heungsam, Guru shuddered.

Just then, a message popped up as her smartwatch beeped.

[Dad: Where are you?]

[Dad: I’m done with work.]

[Dad: We’re going to the store, right?]

“Oh, wight. Gotta go to da mawket.”

Tonight, she was supposed to cook dinner with her dad!

During the variety show shoot, Sabbuu had said that crafting needed good hands, and cooking was great for training those hands and developing a feel for production.

Ordinarily, she would’ve gone shopping and cooked with Sabbuu, but she’d gotten jealous and begged her dad to come instead.

“Gwuu gonna go nowww... Gotta go to da mawket wif Daddychann.”

Guru drooped her shoulders and trudged out, prompting Serhi to ask in confusion,

“Why do you look so down all of a sudden?”

Half-opening the door, Guru spoke with a pitiful look.

“Gwuu... habbin a diwemma.”

“A dilemma? You?”

“Gwuu habs diwemma. ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) Cuz Gwuu... gotta tuwn in Tato fwiend.”

Even if their bond crossed borders and age, facing juvie changed how deep those bonds really were.

If she had to throw Tato Friend under the bus to survive... then so be it.

Serhi fell silent for a moment. Looking at the child’s expression, like she bore the weight of the world, he let out a hollow sigh.

It was my mistake for asking.

“...Go.”

“Wuuung...”

***

There were a lot of things to worry about—but for now, she needed to focus on what was right in front of her.

Guru grabbed Jurim’s hand and headed straight for the store.

After parking in the lot, Jurim said,

“Hold on.”

Before getting out of the car, he placed a bonnet-style character hat on Guru’s head and tied a ribbon under her chin.

The hat had long strings dangling from each side—pressing the ends made the ears flap and squeak.

He’d prepared it to hide her eye-catching hair color, hoping she’d stand out a bit less—

Squeak squeak!

When Guru wiggled the ears and blinked up at him with her big eyes, Jurim couldn’t help but chuckle.

She might stand out more for being this cute.

“Nothing we can do about it. You can’t make something cute not cute.”

He gently pinched her soft cheek.

Squeak squeak squeak squeak!

Guru giggled and kept flapping her ears. The noise must’ve woken Mephisto, who was napping in the bag—he wobbled into the air and landed atop her hat.

After making sure Guru’s outfit was all set, Jurim checked his own appearance in the side mirror.

With the mask and cap on, it would be hard to recognize him.

Getting his picture taken was part of daily life for Jurim, but the photos of him and Guru as a father-daughter duo sold insanely well—paparazzi chased them even more aggressively.

He got out of the car, holding Guru’s hand, and headed toward the crowded market entrance.

Then—Guru’s eyes sparkled as she spotted something at the cart area: a plastic kiddie cart with a toy car attached.

“Can Gwuu wide dis?”

“Yeah.”

Guru popped into the kiddie car and grabbed the steering wheel.

Her head poked out the window as she smiled gleefully. Jurim smiled back and asked,

“What did you say you were making again?”

“Waaaaiiit... Uuung... Egg in Hell (eggs in spicy tomato sauce)!”

After carefully finding the name on her phone and pronouncing it, Jurim scrunched his brow.

“...Even the name sounds difficult.”

“Dat’s okay!”

“I don’t think it’s okay...”

Muttering to himself, Jurim pushed the cart while Guru spun the steering wheel.

“Ovah dewe, ovah dewe! Da eggies—!”

Maybe she still had trauma from the variety show’s egg incident, but the kid now insisted on eating egg dishes straight from hell. Jurim followed her lead to the egg section.

Guru slipped out and examined the eggs.

“Thurty.”

“That’s too many.”

“Gwuu gonna eat wots?”

“How many is ‘wots’ to you?”

“Ten! And Mephi eats ten.”

“Beep!”

Guru put her hands on her hips like, So?

Mephisto mimicked her pose and looked at Jurim.

“...Am I raising a bird or a pig?”

“Bip?!”

Sensing that he was being insulted, Mephisto flailed his wings and protested, while Jurim stood there wondering which pack of eggs to buy.

Ding-a-ling—

“Huh?”

A shiny old-looking bell chimed softly in front of Guru’s face.

The bell floated midair like a drone, right before her eyes.

“What’s dis?”

As Guru reached for the bell—

Ding-a-ling—

That pretty sound came again.

Guru grabbed the bell in her hand.

'Why’s it floating on its own?'

Judging by Jurim’s lack of reaction, it seemed like only she could hear it.

Guru turned the bell around in her hands, examining it.

It had squiggly characters that looked like Japanese, and a red string with dark stains was tied to the top.

It didn’t feel like a child’s toy... more like a charm used by some kind of shrine medium.

And then—

“Beeeeeep!”

“Myuuuuu!”

Mephisto and Veilach both started freaking out.

“Huh?”

They flapped their wings and flailed their tiny limbs, clearly trying to communicate something.

“Bip bip bip!”

“Myut myut myut!”

But she couldn’t understand a word.

Was it the bell? That had to be it.

Guru picked them both up and bounced on her heels.

Whatever it was, they looked pretty desperate. She had to listen—but she couldn’t transform Veilach into his child form here.

People were already sneaking glances at her and Dad. If a hamster suddenly turned into a person, the store would explode.

“Daddychann! Gwuu gotta potty!”

Leaving those words behind, she sprinted into the restroom.

Jurim waited until she disappeared inside, then turned back to the eggs and examined them.

Extra-large, animal-welfare, whatever—they were all the same number of eggs but the price range was ridiculous.

He sighed.

He didn’t know anything about this stuff.

Should’ve come with the housekeeper.

As he stood there overwhelmed, his gaze wandered to the meal kit section nearby.

Should he sneak one in?

Guru would hate it, but at least there’d be no risk of failure...

Jurim ended up grabbing a meal kit. As he glanced around nervously to make sure Guru wouldn’t catch him—

[“This one looks fresher than that, don’t you think?”]

A man’s cheerful voice spoke as he picked up another meal kit.

Jurim’s brow twitched when he saw the man’s face.