......It took quite a while before Guru’s tangled thoughts finally reached that conclusion.

'Gwuu, you just keep gettin’ scowded.'

At this rate, she wasn’t being a filial daughter at all—she was just an unfilial one.

The longer she sat on the Thinking Chair and reflected, the more a craving for praise and a desire to be useful burned in her chest.

And so, Guru made a decision. She would prove that she wasn’t just a troublemaker!

When was the last time she had been praised?

Guru brushed aside memories of all the times she’d gotten scolded for this or that, and instead pulled up the moments when she had been praised.

'Da dwone!'

That time when Guru first made a drone and tested it with Gidan! She had been praised, and it had even made the news.

'And when Gwuu made dat poofy cotton candy, dey pwaised me too.'

New item = praise!

Her eyes sparkled.

For praise and for filial piety, she needed a new and amazing item!

It wasn’t that she was chasing fun. Absolutely not.

'And Gwuu even got a pwace to use it soon.'

Guru pulled out her phone and searched for “Exchange Match.”

Every news article was overflowing with anticipation about it.

[The ‘Yustitia Exchange Match’ Is About to Begin! Spotlight on Korea’s National Selection!]

Yustitia was an international private academy foundation specializing in Awakened, ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) with campuses around the world.

Thanks to that, it could regularly hold exchange matches with other countries.

And because Yustitia gathered the most promising Awakened youths, the exchange match was basically a rookie national competition.

That was why people’s interest was so enormous—it had risen to the ranks of a national sport.

With such prestige, it was only natural that the big guilds would take turns acting as coaches for Yustitia Korea’s national team.

And this time, Hyeonak would step forward as Korea’s team coach.

What’s more, there were three S-Ranks currently attending Yustitia!

Gidan, Serhi, and Guru!

But then Guru crossed her own name out with a big X.

Two! There were two!

Which meant it was obvious that Gidan and Serhi would be selected for the team.

Guru clenched her little fist.

'Gwuu gotta make a suuupew amazing item fow Oppaws so dey pwaise me!'

And then Daddy would be happy too, right?

As she smiled to herself about her flawless plan, Jurim strode into the study.

“Guru, Daddy has to step out for a bit. Stay here with your auntie.”

Hopping down from her chair, Guru trotted to the front door to see him off.

“I’ll be back. Don’t cause trouble.”

“Yeshhh. Come back quick befooo Gwuu sweep.”

Guru giggled bashfully, clung to Jurim’s arm, and used her filial skill [Filial Piety Hands].

“Mm, got it.”

Feeling mana well up inside, Jurim kissed her on the cheek and straightened his body.

“Buh-byeee!”

“Take care, Guildmaster.”

He waved to Guru, gave Yeongran a polite bow, and hurried out.

Bang! Beep—

The moment the door closed, Guru dashed back into the study and stood before her workbench.

Click! Click! Gloves on, goggles strapped tight.

Once her safety gear was in place, she pulled out all the Creatato Reactors from her inventory and lined them up neatly in a row.

Her eyes lowered in determination.

She would make a new item using Creatato Reactors!

Magic stones were the basis of all items, and the greater the output, the greater the item’s effects.

'But da highest Gwuu can make is onwy C-Gwade.'

Even so, her C-Grades already far surpassed existing higher-grade mana stones in efficiency.

'But it’s not enough.'

To earn sensational praise, she needed an S-Rank potato seed.

Guru stroked her chin.

The grades were rising little by little, but planting and harvesting over and over again was far too inefficient.

It took ages to wait.

And even then, the improvements didn’t always succeed.

But if she used the oven and poured in [Filial Piety Points] directly...

Could she upgrade the potato seed?

'Onwy one way to know!'

Guru shoved a pitch-black C-Rank potato seed into the oven and twisted the dial.

She decided to invest a grand 100,000 points all at once.

Whrrrr—

The oven hummed as the black potato heated up.

Thump-thump.

Guru’s eyes glittered as she stared at the potato roasting inside.

Ding!

Finally, she opened the oven.

Pffffft!

With a sound like a fart, potato juice splattered all over her goggles.

The baked potato mash dribbled down her puffed cheeks beneath the lenses.

“......”

Guru wiped her face with her gloved hand.

[Potato Seed That Exploded with Filial Piety (F)]

'Faiwuwe...!'

She quickly launched the Helper for Kids Crafting app and scanned the exploded potato.

A 3D schematic appeared on the screen.

But the highlighted portion wasn’t the central reactor—it was the potato peel encasing it.

When she tapped the peel, a new window opened.

Potato Peel (☠) → When combined with higher-tier items, hardness increases and reactor efficiency rises.

Below that was a list of items it could be fused with.

[A-Rank or higher plant-type monster bones, horns, tusks, etc......]

Guru tilted her head, staring at her phone.

But buying A-Rank or higher byproducts wasn’t easy. Usually, you had to attend an auction.

Big-name guilds might have their own channels, but...

Imagining herself pestering Daddy to buy this and that for her items, Guru rolled her eyes coldly to the side.

'No fun...'

She wanted it to be a surprise.

She wanted to see Daddy’s eyes go wide as he asked, When did you even make this?!

That kind of praise was the sweetest thrill!

Guru crossed her arms.

'Den Gwuu gotta go dungeon, wight?'

But now that she knew tackling unregistered dungeons was a crime, she couldn’t just go to any random one...

So she toddled to Jurim’s desk and opened his laptop.

If she had to do it legitimately...

'Den Gwuu just go wid da guildies!'

In big guilds, they often posted recruitment notices on the internal site to form temporary teams for dungeon clears.

[Recruiting Temporary Dungeon Raid Team Members]

Spotting a new post, Guru downloaded the application form.

It was simple, so she easily filled in the blanks.

Name: On Guru

Rank: F

Department: Parachute Placement

Desired Position:

But then she got stuck at the last field.

Guru narrowed her eyes, while beside her, Mephisto tilted his head and stared at the screen too.

What did “Desired Position” mean?

'Desired... future dream...'

Future dream = dream.

Through her fluffy chain of associations, the answer came quickly.

'Gwuu’s dweam is...!'

In the blank, Guru proudly wrote: “Supweme.”

Then she looked at Mephisto with satisfaction.

Mephisto clapped as if to say she’d done well.

Giggling, Guru submitted the application.

And less than thirty minutes later, she received a rejection email.

'Instant weject?!'

She tried applying three or four more times after that...

'Rejected.'

'Again rejected...'

Storming out into the living room, Guru clenched her phone tight in frustration.

“Rejected!”

Flop! She collapsed onto the sofa.

Why wouldn’t anyone take her?

She only wanted to join a dungeon raid properly...

'Don’t teww me dis means...'

That nobody needed her?

Coming to such a dark conclusion, Guru shot up and bowed her head.

She was disappointed.

All she’d wanted was to be of help to the guild—to the world.

“Mephi, Baiiii...”

“Pii?”

Mephisto perked his head, while Veilach, who had been watching TV, turned with an annoyed sigh.

“Gwuu just wanna wive chawitabwe....”

“Pip-pip!”

“...?”

“But da wowwd won’t wet Gwuu.”

Guru lifted her sulky face to Mephisto and Veilach.

Then she stomped back into the study.

Veilach, watching his master’s back radiate a gloomy aura, flicked his ear and muttered to Mephisto.

“Why’d she suddenly go dark mode?”

Mephisto’s eyes widened as he covered his left eye with a wing.

“Pip.” (The wowwd didn’t accept us.)

A question mark popped up above Veilach’s head.