TTYOAD 27

Episode 27

[system] Your contractor starts trembling furiously, wondering where on earth you learned such things and what you plan to use them for!

[system] Curses that a proper and well-raised adult should never say flash by their mind.

‘Geez, chaos everywhere.’

At that moment, Hwan-oppa lightly pinched my lips as if to scold me.

“Ah!”

“You’re only getting good at tricks. Tsk.”

“Heeeng.”

I rubbed my pinched lips and pouted. Hwan-oppa snorted at my crumpled expression.

“I’ll let it slide.”

Yes! Got past one hurdle!

‘Phew. Acting like a baby isn’t easy.’

I pretended to wipe sweat off my forehead with a sigh. But then…

“…….”

Ilwon was staring at my face like he was trying to bore a hole through it.

“Irwoni, wha choo doin’?”

He opened his mouth as if to answer—

“Hm?”

Noise from outside, then the front door opened.

“Oh, finally. I can breathe again.”

“Let’s eat first.”

“I’m gonna sleep…”

Familiar faces. Members of the Changcheon Guild.

And among them—

“Ayuna!”

“Teacher Euna!”

I ran toward her—do-do-do-do!—and leapt into Teacher Euna’s arms.

“Why chu come now! I wait long time!” (Why did you come now! I waited so long!)

I could feel everyone’s eyes on me. Teacher Euna suddenly cleared her throat with an exaggerated “Ehem.” Then she smiled brightly.

“Did Ayun wait for teacher a lot?”

“Mhm.”

I nodded seriously.

“Teacher best. If no hug, I sad.”

[system] Your contractor feels an indescribable sense of defeat.

‘Huh? Why?’

“Haaaa…”

Teacher Euna scooped me up with a melted, blissful expression. I wrapped my arms around her neck and rubbed my cheek against hers, whining affectionately.

“Teacher smell.”

“Was Ayun doing well?”

“Uh-huh. Slept wiff Hwan-oppa, and wiff Irwoni at night too.”

I realized I’ve been sleeping a lot lately, but Teacher Euna just kept cooing, “Really? Really?”

“Teacher okay?”

“Teacher’s great. All my fatigue just vanished!”

After hugging and cuddling for a while, we headed into the living room.

“But…”

Teacher Euna looked toward Ilwon.

“Who’s your friend?”

“……Seo Ilwon.”

Ilwon clearly wasn’t planning to explain anything more. So I jumped in.

“I bwought Irwoni. He live wiff us!”

“Ayun did?”

Surprised, she looked to Hwan-oppa. He looked annoyed, but he knew no one else would explain, so he opened his mouth.

“We rescued him from a Black Guild. He’ll be staying here from now on.”

“Oh…”

Teacher Euna nodded carefully.

“Nice to meet you, Ilwon. I’m Teacher Choi Euna.”

“Ah-cha!”

A thought suddenly hit me.

“Teacher! Irwoni hurt!”

“What?”

“Irwoni got hurt during twaining yesterday. Lotsa blood!”

“I… I see.”

Teacher Euna turned to him.

“Ilwon, I’m a healer. May I take a look at your injury?”

“…Yes.”

Ilwon nodded. Teacher Euna sat beside him, gently undid his bandage, checked the wound, and immediately began healing.

‘Amazing.’

As soon as she placed her hand on it, the wound closed—almost instantly.

“All done. Anything still hurt?”

Ilwon shook his head.

“Thank you.”

“Teacher is best.”

Teacher laughed shyly at my praise. I walked up to Ilwon.

“Irwoni no more hurt?”

“I’m fine.”

“Good. I happy.”

Ilwon blinked a few times, eyes moistening, then nodded.

Just then—

“So this is where everyone was.”

A cheerful voice—and the sound of something growling beside me.

‘Hwan-oppa?’

He glared with hostility at the approaching woman. I studied her face.

I’d seen her a few times. Her hair was messily tied, big round glasses, slightly hunched posture like a turtle neck, and wearing a lab coat.

And despite Hwan-oppa’s hostility, she walked right up as if nothing bothered her.

Teacher Euna greeted her.

“Hara, you’re here?”

“Let’s see… so this kid is the owner of the key?”

“!”

I froze.

“T-that’s secwet!” (That’s a secret!)

“Haha, just as cute as I heard.”

Hara plopped down beside Teacher Euna and pulled something from her pocket.

“For our little master.”

“!”

I instinctively received it with both hands.

“A… fragment?”

“Where did you get that?” Hwan-oppa asked sharply.

“The dungeon we hit this time was a stable dungeon.”

Dungeons fall into two major types: stable and sudden.

Stable dungeons don’t close even after clearing the boss—so you can farm them repeatedly.

Sudden dungeons close after the boss is cleared.

The amusement park dungeon before was a sudden dungeon.

Stable dungeons are easier and more predictable since the strategy is known.

Because of that, guilds who only farm stable dungeons get looked down on.

But Changcheon isn’t one of those—Changcheon usually handles the first clears of new dungeons.

Still, they occasionally do stable dungeons for farming items and stats.

And this time—

“Stable dungeons don’t drop key fragments once cleared.”

Hara grinned.

“But we got lucky. There was a hidden path—with a True Boss.”

I inspected the fragment. The Roman numeral engraved on it was—

“It’s Key Fragment No. 47. Just got it this morning.”

Which means—

There are 47 key fragments found in South Korea so far!

Currently, I—meaning Changcheon—have 18 fragments.

With this new one, that makes 19 total.

“Since Teacher Euna is here, I’ll give a briefing.”

Hara pushed her glasses up and continued.

“There are four groups collecting fragments in Korea: us, government agency, Extermination Unit, and Aegis.”

She displayed a floating screen.

[As of March 31, 20XX — Key Fragment Ranking (South Korea)]

1st • Changcheon (▲1)
2nd • Korean Awakener Management Bureau (▼1)
3rd • Aegis
4th • Extermination Unit

“We snagged four fragments from that amusement park dungeon, so we jumped to first place.”

Hara explained excitedly.

“We used to be tied with the government agency. They’re probably flipping tables by now.”

“We aw first pwace?”

“It’s all thanks to you.”

She looked at me with curiosity. Hwan-oppa grabbed me and sat me on his lap.

“Try anything funny and I’ll kill you, cockroach.”

“Ugh, our guard dog is annoying as usual.”

Both of them were smiling, but zero positive energy was present.

They seriously hate each other.

“Anyway.”

Hara continued.

“Based on deductions, minimum remaining fragments are 11, but since the government was tied with us until recently, they should currently have 14. Thanks to our ‘lucky charm,’ we’re now leading by a big margin.”

“Woooow.”

I clapped in pure amazement.

“Don’t act surprised. It’s all thanks to our master.”

“Don’t put weird titles on her.”

“Well, my lecture is done, and I’m tired. I’m going to sleep.”

“Bye bye! Good night!”

Hara waved and disappeared.

Hwan-oppa clicked his tongue.

“So annoying.”

“Hwan.”

Teacher Euna warned him, but his sulky expression didn’t change.