Flinch-

I looked up at Sophia, trembling.

My eyes darted from side to side at the unexpected words.

“Did she really say that?”

“She, she did.”

Ahem.

Sophia cleared her throat and looked away.

She looked like someone who had committed a crime.

“Stupid dumbass…?”

I had heard far worse curses before.

To me, “stupid dumbass” didn’t even qualify as a swear word.

Did Sophia soften it for me?

As I looked at Sophia to uncover the truth, Levinas spoke up first.

“King…! Don’t say such bad things…!”

Levinas’s ears were pricked up.

Even Saebyeok’s expressionless ears were trembling.

To the children, “stupid dumbass” might have been severe.

“S-sorry…”

Children and adults have different standards.

I could understand why Sophia had whispered.

“Gyeoul, don’t bother using swear words. They are utterly useless.”

“Y-yes…”

“How did such a young child learn to swear…?”

Tsk, tsk.

Sophia clicked her tongue.

She seemed upset that I was able to say it so casually.

“S-sorry.”

I nervously clutched my tail with both hands.

Sophia came to my side and placed her hand on my head.

“Don’t worry, I’m not angry.”

“You’re not?”

“No, I’m just sad that you learned to swear.”

“Oh…”

In Sophia’s eyes, I must have looked like a child too.

Hearing that a child had learned to swear, it was only natural for her to feel sad.

If Levinas or Saebyeok casually swore, I would probably feel the same way.

“Okay, I won’t swear anymore.”

“Good decision.”

Sophia’s gentle hand stroked my hair.

When I let go of my tail, it bounced back and wagged gently.

“Sophia, so what happened to the radical beast-kin?”

“No need to worry too much. It’s something adults will handle.”

“Um… okay.”

I was an adult too, but maybe she meant bigger adults like Sophia or the Master.

If that was the case, there was nothing more I could do.

I just had to trust the adults who cared for Levinas.

“Levinas, I’ll finish my morning work and come back. In the afternoon, let’s play together.”

“Y-yes…!”

Levinas fidgeted, yet expressed joy.

She wasn’t completely back yet.

I decided to try a little harder for Levinas.

—

—

Gyeoul went to the hunting grounds, and Saebyeok got some much-needed sleep.

Everyone else had also left for their work.

Left alone, Levinas sat on the park’s lawn, idly swinging her feet back and forth.

When would King return?

When would King wake up in the dark?

While waiting for her family, Levinas decided to play by herself out of boredom.

Pop-pop-!

She used her characteristic horned rabbit hand movements to dig into the ground.

She played by expanding the hole she had dug with King before, but for some reason, it wasn’t fun.

It used to be fun, so why wasn’t it now?

Levinas tilted her head in puzzlement.

Looking down at her dirt-covered hands, Levinas decided to try a different game.

A carrot boat was placed in the corner of the pond.

She climbed up onto the boat and sat down.

Too scared to go far on her own, she just swung the oar to splash at the water’s surface.

Plop plop-

The sound of splashing echoed, just as it had when she played with King, but again, it wasn’t fun.

At that point, Levinas realized something.

All her joy came from being with her family.

“…This isn’t fun.”

Until King returned, she decided to pick up empty bottles.

Levinas stumbled out of the boat.

She wanted to set a new record for collecting empty bottles today.

She would collect a lot and show them off to the shark.

Levinas pulled a cart and wandered around the park and outside the park.

“A bottle!”

Next to a trash can outside the park, there was a beer bottle.

Levinas picked up the bottle and discovered foreign matter inside.

Why does someone keep putting foreign objects in bottles?

Levinas took out a stick and removed the foreign matter.

What appeared from the bottle was a familiar folded piece of paper.

“Uh…”

The way the paper was folded resembled that of the radical beast-kin.

Terrified, Levinas carefully unfolded the paper.

What was written were jumbled numbers.

Levinas knew well that these numbers were a set of coordinates.

She had learned it from one of the scary adults among the radical beast-kin.

“······.”

So, they wanted her to go there.

Instinctively, Levinas understood.

She thought about telling her family but decided to stay quiet.

The radical beast-kin wielded ‘death’ as a weapon.

She didn’t want to subject her family to a horrific experience.

“Levinas has to go… to protect everyone.”

Scared, but determined, Levinas decided to give it a try.

—

—

In the early dawn, when everyone was asleep, Levinas opened her eyes.

The first thing that came into view was Gyeoul, sleeping happily.

Levinas wanted to give one last hug.

But doing that might wake up King, who was sensitive to even the slightest noise.

Levinas left silent farewells to all her family members and slipped out of the house unnoticed, carrying only her precious Animal King cards.

She used the horned rabbit burrow she’d dug in the guild park to escape outside.

Levinas headed to a mountain where no one was around.

Sniff, sniff—

For some reason, the mountain was filled with King’s scent.

It was clear that she was mistaken due to her lingering attachment.

She already missed King.

Sniffling, Levinas rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.

She couldn’t go on like this.

She had learned courage from King.

Clenching her fists tightly, Levinas began climbing the mountain again.

“…You’ve come.”

Deep in the mountain.

In the forest, someone wearing a fox mask appeared.

Levinas shuddered at the frightening-looking mask.

“Sorry, so sorry…”

“It’s fine. Children often stray.”

“Th-then…!”

“But there will be no forgiveness the second time.”

A menacing glow emanated from the eyeholes of the mask.

Feeling a murderous intent she’d never experienced in the guild, Levinas looked like she was about to cry.

“I’m sorry… I’ll never do it again…”

“…You haven’t fixed that way of speaking, have you?”

A commanding tone mixed with informal language.

It was the way Levinas had been spoken to all her life.

Naturally, Levinas mimicked the speech of the radical beast-kin.

“I, I will change my way of speaking…[1]”

“You seem to have learned nothing outside.”

“Yes…”

She mimicked her beloved King’s way of speaking.

Seeing her pitiful appearance, the man in the snake mask nearby sneered.

“Boss, she’s a reckless girl. Shouldn’t she be punished?”

“She’s reflecting on her actions, so that’s enough.”

“…Understood.”

Levinas clutched her hem tightly under the cold gaze of the snake-masked man.

She knew it meant, “I’ll deal with you later.”

“I’m sorry…”

“You knew you’d be sorry and did this anyway?”

The vertically slit eyes of the snake were terrifying.

King had overcome worse than this, but how?

With tears welling up, Levinas murmured her name, recalling past memories.

“Levinas…”

A long, long time ago.

There were parents who kindly called her name.

She couldn’t remember their faces, but their voices were still vivid.

Her gentle mother and the most dependable father in the world.

Their voices were the only happy memory Levinas had.

That’s why.

Levinas loved it the most when someone called her name.

Just hearing her name spoken kindly made her feel like the happiest being in the world.

However, the radical beast-kin never called her name.

They only called her harsh names, so Levinas began to say her own name herself.

“Levinas…”

Ah.

No one would call her name anymore.

Emptiness settled into Levinas’s pupils.

“I wish someone would call me Levinas… please.”

“What?”

Levinas voiced a wish that would not come true.

But for Levinas, there was someone who always made her wishes come true.

“Levinas.”

From somewhere in the mountains.

A voice that shouldn’t be heard here came through.

It was the voice of the person she loved most in the world.

King?

Life flickered in Levinas’s gaze.

But if King was here, it meant trouble.

She quickly glanced at the fox mask and snake mask, but they seemed oblivious.

“It’s okay. We have good ears, so even if I speak openly like this, only you and I can hear it.”

That’s true.

King and I have much better hearing than other beast-kin.

Horned rabbits were weak, but they had the best hearing among all beast-kin.

That was how Levinas had escaped.

“Levinas, don’t respond, just listen. Got it?”

Yes. I understand, King.

Levinas responded only in her thoughts.

“Do you remember when we played games together at the arcade?”

Yes! I remember!

It was so much fun!

A smile bloomed at the happy memory.

“You could do anything you wanted and still won.”

It was possible because King helped!

“We’re going to do that again. All you need to do is run away from the scary snake. Can you do it?”

But the fox and the snake are strong…

Levinas responded again, only in her thoughts.

But somehow, King answered as if she’d read her mind.

“Don’t worry. I didn’t come alone. Levinas, you trust me, right?”

…Yes.

There was never a time she didn’t trust her.

So, Levinas.

Decided to believe in King, who had come to help her once again.

—

[1. raei: uh unfortunately this part doesn’t translate well so…

-I’m sorry… I’ll never do it again…

This is the first thing she says that is criticized. Also the first time I’ve ever heard her refer to herself as ‘I’ rather than Levinas. It is relatively formal and pretty standard for someone in a submissive position.

-I, I will change my way of speaking…

This is in informal speech, it is abrupt and can be seen as casual/less respectful

-Yes…

This is Gyeoul’s signature yes. Funny enough I text like this too. Like trailing off, not sure how to explain it further

Uhh this is all from searching it up, I don’t actually know the language…]

1/5 Enjoy the chappy!

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