The Chick Class Hunter is Being Filial

“Open sesame, cwadwe!”

At her words, the snow rabbit popped out of Mephisto’s head and flapped its sprout.
“Gyung!”
With that loud cry, a tiny window appeared before her eyes.

[Emergency! Cradle transformation failed!]
I-It faiwed?!
What now? Guru cautiously glanced at Veilach.

Veilach wore a face that screamed how could you possibly fail at this.
[Request updated. Creating substitute subspace for the Cradle.]
[Would you like to open the entrance to the temporary Cradle?]

Okay, this shouwd wowk, wight?
When she hit ‘Yes,’ the air split open, revealing a tiny entrance.
“To think you couldn’t even open this much…”

Veilach shook his head in disbelief, and Guru puffed out her cheeks.
“Gwuu’s stiww a kid…”
Clicking his tongue, Veilach obediently stepped inside.

“Shhiiick…”
Huffing, Guru quickly followed him through.
Inside the subspace was a pure white snowy field.

It’s not even cowd!
She could make a million snowmen here.
As Guru gawked in wonder, delighted—
Veilach took a few steps across the snow.

With each step, his body turned pitch black, revealing his massive true form with growing horns.
Like branching tree limbs, black antlers twisted upward beneath a mask that covered his face, and a long black veil wrapped down to his feet.
—Haa…!

Veilach took a deep breath, an icy chill crawling into his lungs like frostbite.
He was born in a cradle just like this.
It felt like returning home.

An intense sense of freedom!
I'm back.
His power!
Still smiling, Veilach lifted his gaze toward the sky—
and then turned his eyes.

At the edge of his vision was a child humming a tune as she packed snow together.
Guru was building snowmen—one for Daddy, one for herself.
But then, the snow rabbit perched on Mephisto’s head trembled violently.

Hoom?
Suddenly, the subspace began to collapse.
Already?!

“Gyuuu…”
As the snow rabbit went woozy, Mephisto kicked it in the belly.
“Gyuu…”

“Peep!”
Pointing urgently at the exit, Mephisto signaled that it was time to go.
Guru trudged through the snow toward Veilach.

“Vei—”
A sharp gleam shone through the mask’s eye slits.
“Time to go now.”

She reached out her hand.
Veilach stared at the small hand.
A collapsing Cradle…

And.
A tiny Lord from another world.
To him now, she was no more than a snack.

He stared silently at Mephisto.
That child had sealed his father’s heart—and never submitted, resisting the order of the world and falling to corruption.
In his world, the Lord was a god. The one who gave birth to all bloodlines and civilizations from the primordial Cradle.

Because he defied the Lord’s law, his fall brought about a curse. And with that curse came agony that melted his very bones.
Even as his screams tore through the frozen land, the ruler of the snowfields showed no sign of care—just sat in silence, eyelids closed in boredom.
After enduring that unbearable pain, when he next opened his eyes, Veilach knew his world had crumbled.

And he had been stuffed into the vessel of a puny child from another realm.
“…Why?”
Veilach made no move to take her hand, only continued to stare, prompting Guru to ask quietly.

“…?”
The Cradle this small Lord had opened looked just like that snowy day he had suffered through.
At last, Veilach sank to his knees before the little girl, the crumbling snowfield behind him.

Everything had lost its meaning.
He had lost his Lord, was trapped in a feeble shell, and his pride had long since vanished.
—My name is Veilach Shados. The first bloodline created by the original Lord, Sheia. First Guardian of the Hesed Order.

Even as it all fell apart, he knew—this body was nothing more than a mirage forged by the subspace. Once they returned, he would be sealed again in the form of a child.
He placed his fingertips gently into her palm.
—I now become the follower of the little Lord.

Then, a system message appeared before Guru.
[Would you like to register ‘Veilach Shados’ as your follower?]
It was the same prompt as with Ham Honggi.

That meant an SSS-Class follower?
“Yes!”
Guru gripped Veilach’s fingertips tightly.

I got a fowwowew!
But there was just one problem…
“You too big.”

She was just thinking how nice it’d be if he were Mephisto or snow rabbit-sized—
[Activating skill ‘Squeeze-Squeeze’.]
“Oohh!”

In an instant, Veilach shrank small enough to fit in her palm.
—…!
He flopped onto her hand, dazed.

“Hmm, Gwuu wikes em more wound and cutesie.”
[Activating skill ‘Squeeze-Squeeze’.]
Veilach transformed again—now into a hamster with scribbly eyes, like a child’s doodle.

“Nyut!”
—What is this madness!
“You got teeny!”

Guru’s eyes sparkled.
“Myuuung! Myung myung!”
[Within the Lord’s domain, a follower is subject to absolute constraint.]

The status window popped up like it was refuting Veilach’s objection.
“Hoom, I see.”
“Peeeeep—”

Guru nodded sagely like she understood, and Mephisto nodded too, as if he kind of got it.
“…Myuugh.”
Veilach let out a deep sigh as he stared at the two fools.

***
In the resort’s basement control room—
Gidan stomped on the last of the Shin Corps stragglers and looked up.

“Not a big deal.”
After interrogating the ones who’d handed over the tablet, they’d raided the machine room where the smugglers were gathered.
“They must’ve already sent out the alert.”

Gidan sighed when he saw that emergency messages had been mass-broadcast to the buyers who had received the tablet.
Catching all the buyers too might be a stretch.
Meanwhile—

Jin Siwon and Serhi were looking for something.
Siwon shook his head after using a reading skill on one of the survivors.
“This guy doesn’t know either.”

“What about Allen Kravis? You sure there’s nothing else on Irina?”
“Hmm. Let’s go find out.”
They turned to Gidan.

He tilted his head slightly. He didn’t know the details, but…
“I’ll stay here and hold it down.”
Agents from Special Investigations and the Awakened Crimes Division were still pouring into the control room.

Someone had to stay behind to explain the situation and brace for any possible counterattack.
Gidan took that job, and Serhi and Siwon exited the machine room, heading upstairs to find Irina.
Allen Kravis should be on one of the upper floors, where the suites were located.

Since both of them were S-Rank, it was faster to take the stairs than wait for the elevator.
Soon, they climbed up the stairwell railing and stood before Allen’s door. Just as they rang the bell and waited—
“…Hm.”

Serhi spoke.
“Hey.”
“Yes?”

Siwon turned his head.
The boy scratched the back of his neck without meeting his eyes.
His awkward posture only made him look younger, and Siwon smiled gently.

If I pat his head now, would he get mad?
Like a cat, Serhi had a prickly temperament that made him hard to approach.
Even without reading him with [Barret’s Whisper], Siwon could tell that Serhi was still uncomfortable around him.

It probably had to do with how Serhi had abandoned Guru and Siwon in the RP Dungeon. The guilt must still be eating at him.
Siwon tucked the hand that was about to reach out into his pocket.
“It’s, uh, nothing really. Just… After ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) this is over, I got something I wanna say.”

Siwon didn’t ask what it was—he just smiled, soft and encouraging.
Maybe thanks to Guru’s influence earlier, Serhi finally seemed ready to take a step forward.
“…Yeah.”

As Serhi bowed his head shyly—
Throb!
Siwon clutched his chest.

The pain again.
…Again.
The doctor had said it was psychological, but the strange chest pain had only grown more frequent since the RP Dungeon.

No—more accurately…
Since meeting Irina.
“…!”

A sudden thought sent a shiver down Siwon’s spine.
What if the seed wasn’t all there was…?