The Chick Class Hunter is Being Filial

Jin Siwon’s words were close to the truth.
But the difference from the plan was that the General was targeting the flying squirrel.
Even if Ham Honggi had bad blood with «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» Guru, if he was already under Naohyeong’s thumb, then there’d be no reason for him to target the flying squirrel, would there?

Is something going wrong?
Either Naohyeong hadn’t seized full control of Ham Honggi—
Or Naohyeong was planning something behind his back.

Probably the latter.
Serhi lightly clenched and unclenched his fist.
His injuries were nearly healed. His mana had almost returned.

It’s about time I head back...
After watching for several days, he was certain. Jin Siwon’s skill was currently blocked. He didn’t know he was a Gnosis.
He’d been lucky.

The fact that he’d made contact with the yellow Guru had worked in his favor. It had let him avoid suspicion from the Gnosis Hunter.
All he had to do was kill the unsuspecting Jin Siwon and vanish.
Kill Jin Siwon, leave the yellow Guru behind on the farm, take the special acorns, and head off to find the dungeon core...

“Serhi Oppaw, awe you sick?”
As Serhi had been sitting with his head down for a while, Guru looked up at him and asked worriedly.
“Did you push too hawd eawwiew? Wanna go west inside?”

Before he realized it, both Guru and Jin Siwon were watching him.
“I’m fine. Just thinking.”
“Don’t wowwy too much. I can handow it by mysewf.”
“Gwuu can hewp too!”

“I’m so grateful. But I’ll just accept Guru’s feelings.”
He doesn’t trust her.
Then I have no choice but to tell the truth...

Resolved, Guru glanced left and right, then whispered cautiously,
“Actuawwy, Gwuu is a heemsoomjjin.”
“Heemsoomjjin? What’s that?”

Siwon asked, and Guru’s eyes widened seriously as she declared,
“A woser who hides deir powew.”
A faint laugh escaped. Serhi scoffed and turned his head.

“Sounds about right.”
“What’s a woser?”
Siwon asked, and Serhi pointed his chin toward Guru.

“Someone wike her.”
DENG—!
Shwiik! Guru clenched her fist and trembled.

“Dat’s mean! Bad guy! Viwwain!”
She was outraged that no one believed her. Siwon chuckled awkwardly, and Serhi sighed.
How am I supposed to leave something this small and weak behind?

It was almost impossible for the yellow Guru to survive alone against the snow leopard faction’s assault.
Why am I hesitating?
What does any of this have to do with me?

Everything’s going smoothly. So why—
After some contemplation, Serhi finally spoke.
“Let’s harvest the acorns and head to the Contaminated Zone.”

Let’s go and wrap this up.
With some time, this nagging feeling should settle too.
“That should be fine... but Guru...”

Since someone was targeting Guru, they couldn’t leave her alone on the farm. She’d have to come with them.
But she was still a child.
To reach the Contaminated Zone, they’d need to march hard for several days. There was no way she could endure that—

“Maybe we couwd rent a cawwiage...”
As Siwon hesitated, someone who’d been listening from a distance came over.
“Chwit-chwit!”

Guru’s eyes went wide.
“Cheche says we can wide the twain!”
“There’s a train?”

“A twain?”
 
****

The train crossing the continent was running along its rails.
The final destination: the Contaminated Zone, the territory of the Snow Leopards.
The elephant beastman conductor’s job was to assist passengers in traveling through countless stations to that final destination... but this time, the conductor couldn’t even make the train stop at the current station.

As the train blew past the platform, flustered beastmen reached out and chased after it, but it was no use.
Right now, the only place the train would stop was at the final station.
How did it come to this...

The conductor swallowed nervously.
If only it hadn’t been for those damn wolves.
The culprit who had derailed his duties was sitting casually right next to him.

“Me, I hate beastmen and RP dungeons.”
That wolf beastman clearly had issues with a stable identity.
The man nonchalantly crossed his legs and lit a cigarette.

The assistant conductor, who should have been sitting in the man’s seat, was unconscious at his feet.
“It’s all a pain in the ass. Every last condition.”
Not exactly the kind of thing you want to hear from someone who just hijacked a train.

“A pain in the ass,” huh. If anything, you seem to be enjoying your wolf beastman life more than anyone.
The wolf tribe, wild to the point of rejecting social order altogether and prone to antisocial, unethical behavior, were the true delinquents of the beastmen world.
One small consolation was that, thanks to their unique self-identity that refused to integrate into society, their dwelling place was deep in the remote mountain ranges.

As the term “remote” implies, infrastructure in those parts was practically nonexistent.
Still, to actually hijack a train...
Just then, a fellow wolf beastman who had helped hijack the train opened the door to the conductor’s room.

“Hyung, passenger cars are all sorted.”
The mischievous-looking boy glanced at the conductor.
“What about this one?”

The man replied with a lazy expression.
“He’s the conductor. Let him drive.”
“Yup!”

As the boy answered brightly, a woman peeked her face in beside him.
“Guildmastuh, what should we do with the ones who resisted? We’ve tied them up for now.”
Hmm, the man let out a low hum and took a deep drag on his cigarette.

Then, exhaling smoke, he said,
“Let the conductor decide.”
“Uh, sh-should I try driving even harder?”

“Just keep them tied. You’re doing fine.”
“Okaaay. Let’s go, Dana.”
“Yup.”

The woman called the boy “Dana” and closed the door.
Are all wolf beastmen this pretty and good-looking? Since they hardly ever left their own territory, this was the first time the conductor had seen one in person.
While he was dazedly pondering that, the handsome wolf suddenly asked,

“How long until the final station?”
“Well, at this rate, maybe four days at the earliest...”
“That’s slow.”

The wolf—Jurim—checked his wristwatch. No matter how many times he looked, the watch was still dead inside the RP dungeon.
It had been days now since he entered the RP dungeon, dragged along by the con scheme involving Guru and the two who insisted on tagging along.
He couldn’t even check the time, and the mission deadline was twenty days.

Their given task was to prevent the wolves from interfering with the purification efforts, far from Chun Gyuri’s position.
[Personal Quest]
Wolves worship nature. Because of that, they believe the contamination is divine punishment born of human greed. What the wolves want is for humans to humbly accept nature’s punishment.

Foreigners must stop the feral wolves interfering with purification so the work can proceed smoothly!
The Brom Guild alliance was surely battling the contamination at the Contaminated Zone.
But what they’d been given was a quest to hold off nature-worshipping lunatics in the middle of nowhere.

...
It felt like some cruel joke from a referee who never intended to let them step into the ring.
From that point on, Jurim had been fed up with this goddamn RP dungeon.

The only saving grace was that there was no mana leakage in here.
The 99th floor’s master seemed to feel at peace within the RP dungeon.
Strange, but right now the priority was to wrap things up and get out of here.

Jurim’s group had easily dealt with the wolves and planned to head toward the Snow Leopard territory.
But this was the wilderness of radical naturalists. Meaning: no helpful signs or maps existed.
“Chieftain, how do we get to the Contaminated Zone?”

When Nayeon grabbed the chieftain by the collar and shook him, the best answer the man could muster was, “You take the train.”
But things just kept getting more ridiculous.
They were told that, for the safety of other passengers, wolf beastmen had to ride in a special car—and that car was currently full.

“Oh, really? Then we just have to make this whole train the special car, right?”
Jurim, fed up with all of it, decided to hijack the train.