Chapter – Chick-Class Merchant

“You’re weawwy not gonna teww me?”

At Jurim’s question, Guru, who had climbed up onto the kitchen cabinet, raised her brows into sharp points and lifted her head.

She looked so disgruntled that her hands—still mid-assembly of the kiddie cotton candy machine—had stopped entirely.

Mephisto, sitting on her head, let out a diamond-shaped sigh like he couldn’t take it anymore.

Guru’s tiny face also wore a frustrated pout, but even so, Jurim asked again like it was something he absolutely had to say.

“The one who gave you the photo card—are you sure he wasn’t someone strange?”

“Neeng! If Uncwe asks one mowe time, dat be a hundred times awweady!”

“I haven’t asked a hundred times.”

Maybe like... twenty-three?

Jurim did a rough mental count and replied.

“So what Gwuu is twyin’ to say is, Daddychann awweady asked too many times.”

Guru, who had the bwing-bwing photo card hanging from her neck, bopped the cotton candy machine with a chopstick and scolded him.

Jurim felt wronged.

Why did she take an item from someone she didn’t know? And not just any item—it was made using his photo card...

Still, he held back that thought. He’d already said that spiel like twenty times over the past two days.

It’d be nice if she just swapped it out for a new item...

Even though Kazuki had offered to craft her a new one, Guru had insisted on keeping the bwing-bwing, so the photo card stayed around her neck ever since.

Jurim rubbed his forehead with his palm.

He poked at the wrinkle between Guru’s brows and changed the subject.

“What are you up to today?”

Each time Jurim poked, Guru would tilt backward like a weeble and bounce back with a scowl, until suddenly her eyes lit up.

She was clearly happy her dad was showing interest in her.

“Cotton candy makin’! Daddychann shouwd make it wiff Gwuu too!”

Jurim asked how it worked while inspecting the machine.

“Wwoll it wound ‘n wound wiff chopstick ‘tiww it go aww woond.”

Guru handed him a pair of chopsticks herself.

“Wike dis?”

“Uh-huh. Wike Gwuu’s wittwe fist size.”

“That small?”

And then—

“......!”

Veilach, in his human form, suddenly dashed over and planted himself right between Guru and Jurim like a wall.

Just moments ago, he had been sprawled out on the couch, scratching his belly while watching a zombie drama, and now he had sprinted over at lightning speed. Both Guru and Jurim raised question marks over their heads.

“......?”

“......?”

The two stared at Veilach, confused.

But Veilach, unfazed by their looks, simply crossed his arms and let out a long yawn.

“Bayii wanna make cotton candy toooo?”

“No.”

A brutally honest reply.

“Here, take this, put it in, and wwoll it wike dis. Make it wike, dis size.”

Still, Guru handed him the chopsticks. He clicked his tongue but reluctantly began making cotton candy.

After all, it was an order from his master.

Veilach shoved the chopsticks into the machine half-heartedly while repeatedly side-eyeing Jurim.

Jurim narrowed his eyes at the glances laced with suspicion.

What kind of sudden emotional development is this?

Up until now, Veilach had shown zero interest in Jurim.

Likewise, Jurim had found Veilach’s existence kind of irritating, but as long as Guru was watching with her fierce little glare, he’d just ignored it.

Basically, they had both been treating each other like background noise.

But lately, Veilach had been looking at Jurim with... that face. Like Jurim’s very existence was some kind of offense.

Which made no sense.

If anything, Jurim had been a generous landlord, letting the freeloading tag-along rent zombie B-movies every day without complaint. There was no reason for him to suddenly become a threat.

He hadn’t even been paying attention just a moment ago, but the moment Jurim approached Guru, Veilach had wedged himself between them.

That meant... the only explanation was...

Suddenly, Jurim’s thoughts screeched into overdrive.

'No way. Did he fall for our five-year-old...?'

So now he was acting all territorial with everyone around her?

Ha!

Jurim’s gaze turned dangerous as he began glaring at Veilach.

Woojoo at six years old had been borderline, but since he was close to Guru, he was barely within the acceptable range.

But this guy? No way.

No matter how cute he looked in child form, he was clearly some shady little thing from who-knows-where. This could not stand.

Their glares clashed fiercely above Guru’s head.

While the two stared daggers and ignored the task at hand, their cotton candy kept growing and growing.

“Cotton candy can’t be dat biiiiig!”

Guru’s shout finally burst out, and the two flinched and grabbed new chopsticks.

But the electric storm in their eyes raged on.

“Eyyuuu—”

“Beeeeep—”

Guru and Mephisto let out mutual sighs of disappointment.

Guru carefully sealed her round cotton candy in a zipper bag so it wouldn’t get squished, then tugged Veilach along.

“Bayii, fowwow me. Mephi too.”

She slipped into her room, used [Dungeon is an Open Door], and opened a gate.

On the other side was a neatly arranged forest that looked like a park.

Around them, a few toy factories were churning out chick drones and excellent syrup.

It looked like a theme park, but this was inside a dungeon.

Once inside, Guru placed her hands on her hips and lectured Veilach.

“Bayii, no twy eatin’ Daddychann, okay?!”

Veilach, who had no such thought in the slightest, blinked in shock.

“...What?”

Guru had long since noticed how Veilach had been giving Jurim scary eyes lately.

At first, she thought maybe she’d imagined it...

“Bayii’s wookin’ at Daddychann wike he’s yummyyyy. Is it twue?”

“Don’t be ridiculous! Just thinking about eating that thing makes me wanna vomit!”

“Huh? Then why ya doin’ dis?”

Guru lifted her brows upward with both index fingers.

“...That’s...”

When Veilach hesitated—something totally unlike him—schemer Mephisto seized the moment.

“Beep-beep—Beep-beep—Beeeeep—”

“Mephi, Gwuu don’t unduhstand ya...”

Didn’t land.

“Beep?!”

Mephisto widened his eyes, stared at his wings in annoyance, then popped up a system window.

[Daddychann smells funny.]

“Huh?”

Guru blinked in confusion.

“Daddychann takes showuhs aww da time... he’s cwean! Pwobabwy!”

Honestly, she couldn’t tell if he actually washed or just stood in the bathroom!

“No, Daddychann don’t smeew funny! He smeews good! Wike cozy wittle wind!”

Guru was doing her absolute best to defend Jurim.

Veilach interrupted her.

“It’s not that. Sheir’s devoured too much of On Jurim’s soul.”

What? Her heart dropped with a loud thunk. Guru’s face turned pale as she blinked and asked,

“...Sheiw?”

“The master of the 99th floor. Our emperor. The thing in On Jurim’s left hand.”

“But the gwoves... Gwuu made new ones!”

“As if something like that could contain Sheir. Humans, honestly.”

“Wait, Bayii... then what happens to Daddychann? No—what should Gwuu do?!”

It didn’t matter what happened if the soul got eaten—what mattered was how to stop it from happening!

Veilach thought it was impressive she’d hit the core issue and replied,

“I know of two possibilities. Either ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) separate Sheir from On Jurim’s left hand and turn him into a follower, or have On Jurim fully synchronize with him while maintaining control.”

Too hawd!

Guru gaped.

Seeing that she didn’t understand, Veilach picked up a twig and started drawing in the dirt.

He drew two circles inside a stick-figure body.

“Right now, On Jurim’s body holds both Sheir’s and his own soul.”

“Uuung.”

“Since Sheir’s soul is of a higher class, it’s only a matter of time before he gobbles On Jurim up. You think the glove was stopping it, but really—Sheir just hadn’t tried yet.”

“So da gwove was woafwess?!”

“It might’ve helped a little, but there’s no way it could block it entirely.”

Ding!

It felt like a bell ringing in her head. The black flame dragon sealed in Daddychann’s hand... wasn’t actually sealed?!

“So the choices are: pull Sheir out or have On Jurim devour him instead.”

“Dat wiww fix it?”

Veilach stared straight at Guru, who now saw a sliver of hope in his words.

“Yes. In theory, a master like you could extract Sheir and turn him into a follower.”

He meant like Yorang.

Seeing Guru brighten, Veilach shut it down fast.

“Of course, that’s impossible right now.”

“Wh-why not...?”

“Because you’re a total trash-tier.”

“...!”

Guru’s mouth fell open at the cruel words that pierced her ears.

“Gwuu is... twash?!” 😢

“Trash-tier,” Veilach repeated firmly.

“Right now, you can’t even control my body properly. No way. Your control skills are still far too weak.”

No way...

Guru clenched her fists and bit her lip.

Her chest felt cold.

His soul was getting eaten...

She couldn’t just let that happen.

If she wanted to save Daddychann, she had to get stronger.

But how?

Just then—

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Her phone rang with consecutive deposit notifications. Probably money from the recently sold drones.

At the same time, a popup appeared in front of her.

[Total Sales Amount Updated.]

[Achievement: 5-Year-Old Billionaire Tycoon unlocked!]

[(Due to the effect of an Unknown Title, 1% of all sales is now deposited into your Filial Piety Points savings piggy bank.)]