In front of the storage room used by the pop-up store staff.

When his subordinate opened the storage door, Yamauka Shun stepped inside.

He addressed the person who had been waiting in advance.

“Target?”

“Confirmed.”

The subordinate, wearing the pop-up store’s staff uniform, replied.

“Release the mist.”

“Yes.”

The subordinates standing behind him pulled specially treated gas masks from inside their jackets and put them on.

Yamauka Shun also took a gas mask from them and put it on.

'Casting [Mana Smoke Screen].'

As the item activated, mist began to curl upward from his feet, slowly seeping into the department store’s sales floor.

Ordinary people wouldn’t be able {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} to see it.

The stronger your mana, the denser the mist would appear.

Yamauka Shun pushed his way through the crowd at the pop-up store.

Most Hunters had flocked to the special exhibition, so the majority of people here were civilians.

The entire point of putting Inoue Haruna at the forefront of a Korea–Japan joint exhibition had been to draw Hunters’ attention away.

After returning to Japan, Yamauka Shun had replayed in his mind over and over the moment he’d been forced to yield.

If he had used the power of [Kagehira (S+)], he could have taken Amakusa Kazuki back to Japan.

No—at the very end, Kazuki had been about to board the helicopter of his own will.

But because of one small child standing beside him, everything had been ruined.

'A kid...'

It was absurd. That a single burst of a child’s power could destroy a helicopter.

From then on, Yamauka Shun had begun investigating Hyeonak.

Someone in Hyeonak... yet rarely seen in public.

Jjapso.

Piece by piece, the puzzle came together.

Jjapso wasn’t an adult controlling puppets.

It was a child, hiding their identity inside a puppet-shaped suit.

Having met in person, he was certain.

A child connected to Hyeonak, with enough power to destroy a helicopter.

He would take in exchange for his failure and humiliation what Korea valued most.

Soon, his target came into view. Fortunately, she seemed to be apart from her guardians.

'Looks like I can take her more easily than I thought.'

Yamauka Shun grabbed the slender wrist of the child wearing a round bird on her head.

Her eyes went wide in alarm, and his lips curled upward.

The mist seemed to be clouding her vision—her pupils darted around, unable to find his face.

A sure sign of someone possessing massive mana despite being a child.

'Got you, Jjapso.'

He tore the scroll in his other hand, prepared for teleportation.

Shuuuk!

In an instant, both Yamauka Shun and the child vanished.

“...?”

***

Yamauka Shun, having teleported to a safe house he’d prepared in advance, burst into a cool laugh.

“Ha ha! At last! Hahahahaha!”

“...”

He grabbed the child’s shoulders and shook her.

“I found you. I found Jjapso!”

“...”

“I know everything. I know that you are Jjapso...

Do you have any idea how many days I’ve wasted searching for you?

Every single person going in and out of Hyeonak’s headquarters—civilians, Hunters—I investigated them all, one by one.

And yet strangely, I never once saw you.

Then one day, I saw you walking out of the building alongside Hyeonak’s princess, and I knew my deduction was right.

Usually you appear as a small child. When you’re a Hunter, you wear that bizarre teddy bear suit as Jjapso.

That’s why On Jurim assigned you to guard Hyeonak’s princess.”

Veilach and Mephisto, who had been perched on his head, both tilted their heads at exactly the same angle.

“...?”

“Piiit?”

What the hell is this guy talking about?

***

What was left behind in the spot where they had vanished...

...was Guru, mouth hanging open, holding a trembling baby rabbit.

“Eeeeh?!”

“Kkyuu...”

She had been on her way, having turned Veilach into human form after Haruna’s warning to be careful.

Then some man had strode up, grabbed Veilach’s wrist, ripped a scroll, and disappeared with him.

This was bad.

'The mist—it’s too thick!'

Guru hesitantly followed the sound of Gidan and Serhi calling for her.

The crowd was too dense to move quickly.

Then Lukshifer shook its sprout.

Like a window being wiped clean, the blurry haze before her eyes began to clear.

“Oh!”

“Kkyuu!”

“Fanks, Pew.”

Guru patted Lukshifer’s head, then ran dodododo toward Gidan and Serhi, who were looking around as if searching for her.

“Oppaw!”

“Guru, you okay?”

“Wook.”

Gidan scooped her up, and Serhi examined her from head to toe.

Seeing she was unharmed, Serhi let out a breath of relief.

“Let’s just go back to the office for now. This mist is artificial. It’s dangerous.”

“Ah, nooo. Mefi an’ Bayi got kidnapped!”

“What?”

Gidan and Serhi echoed in disbelief.

Now that they thought about it, it was odd for a kid who’d gone to fetch Veilach to come back alone.

But why would someone kidnap not Guru, but Mephisto and Veilach?

Guru firmly explained the situation.

“Da stwange man gwebbed Bayi’s wrist an’ dwagged ‘im! Den—pop!—da thwee of dem disappeawed!”

In Gidan’s mind, the image formed of an adult man using the chaos to drag off what looked to be a five-year-old child.

Covering his mouth with his hand, Gidan went pale.

“What kind of insane perverted bastard—”

Cautiously gauging the situation, Haruna glanced at her translation app and then spoke with a startled face.

“Hentai...”

“He... hengttai...?”

Guru repeated Haruna’s word, stricken.

It seemed this “Hengtai” man had kidnapped Veilach.

The name sounded Japanese—could he be working with Yamauka Shun?

While Guru was falling into that misunderstanding, Serhi, having pieced together what happened, made a low sound beside her.

“Hm...”

Whether the guy was a pervert or not, given who had been kidnapped, there wasn’t much cause for worry...

Still, he glanced at Guru, who was clutching the trembling rabbit and stamping her little feet.

If she was worried, they’d have to at least pretend to look—otherwise she’d be a nuisance.

And leaving an SSS-Class alone in an unguarded location could lead to real trouble.

If it suddenly regained its strength and opened a dungeon, it could become one of the few SSS-Class Great Dungeons in recorded history.

“Don’t worry too much. We’ll look later.”

“Fuuung... Why not find Mefi an’ Bayi now?”

Guru looked up at Serhi with glistening eyes, as if to ask why they had to wait.

“Well, first we need to deal with the mist.”

Dealing with Yamauka Shun took precedence over worrying about the safety of an SSS-Class.

Guru pouted but nodded in understanding.

Lost in thought, Serhi popped his bubblegum, then turned to Gidan, who was hopping mad and yelling, “Veilach got snatched by a pervert!”

“Hey, Gidan. You brag all the time about your super senses, right? Use ‘em. I think we should find Yamauka Shun before we deal with the pervert.”

“...Ah.”

Only then did Gidan activate his super senses.

From his position, his awareness expanded in a huge circular sweep, flooding him with a variety of sensory input.

“The mist is flowing out from the warehouse side.”

Wiping the cold sweat from his brow, Gidan moved toward the location where the mist item had been used, the others following close behind.

They figured Yamauka Shun was likely there.

Guru, with Lukshifer perched on her head, hurriedly texted Jurim.

***

Brrr—

Meanwhile, in a reception room prepared inside the special exhibition.

Facing Jeon Byeongho, the man who had hosted Inoue Haruna’s Korea–Japan joint special exhibition, Jurim sat with one leg crossed, eyes fixed on his phone.

It was a message from Guru.

Daddy! Bayi got kidnapped by a Hengtai!

A question mark popped up above his head.

“...?”

Half-lidding his eyes, Jurim read the message again, as if doing so would make the contents change.

Even with Kazuki and Jeon Byeongho watching him curiously, he stared at the phone screen for a long time.