“Ugh…”

My body felt heavy.

As I rubbed my eyes and woke up, I found the children restraining my body.

“Kids.”

Levinas was lying on my stomach like a cross, while Saebyeok was hugging my arm like a doll as she slept.

And Gaeul had her tongue stuck to my cheek even while sleeping.

“Oof.”

I pushed the children away with difficulty and came out to the living room.

The adults hadn’t come home last night so I went to bed with the children, but Yeoreum was in the living room now, though I didn’t know when she had arrived.

“Did Gyeoul wake up?”

“Yeah.”

I rubbed my eyes and sat on Yeoreum’s lap.

Lately, I preferred this to the sofa.

It was proof that I was getting used to human relationships.

“Gyeoul, did something happen at home yesterday?”

Yeoreum asked while hugging my stomach.

The sudden question made me remember the broken TV.

“Well, the TV broke yesterday…”

“Really? How did it break?”

She didn’t seem angry.

Even so, I couldn’t easily answer her question.

I didn’t want to blab that Gaeul had done something wrong.

“It went ‘thud’ and…”

“Thud?”

Yeoreum rested her chin on top of my head.

Her face came between my ears.

“It went thud and…”

“Did Gyeoul go thud and get hurt?”

“W-Well…”

It wasn’t me who did it, but I felt awkward saying it wasn’t me because it felt like I’d be tattling on the other kids.

How should I explain this?

As I hesitated for a while, Levinas opened the bedroom door and came out.

“Levinas fell!”

“Levinas went thud? You’re not hurt, are you?”

“Not hurt! Sorry for making the TV not work!”

Was she trying to cover for Gaeul’s mistake?

I felt admiration for Levinas’s mature behavior.

“It’s okay. As long as you’re not hurt, that’s what matters.”

“! Thank you for understanding! There’s another TV here!”

Levinas smiled brightly and patted the top of the CRT TV.

It had now become one of Levinas’s treasures.

“Wow, where did you get that?”

“Gaeul doggy found it!”

“Gaeul? Is your friend’s name Gaeul?”

“Yeah! She’s Gaeul because she’s brown!”

Hmm…

She seemed more golden than brown to me.

Well, I guess it doesn’t really matter.

While I was having these useless thoughts to myself, Yeoreum chuckled.

“That’s a really pretty name. Oh! And don’t worry too much about the TV. It’s still under warranty so we can get it repaired.”

“Can it be fixed?!”

Levinas’s eyes widened.

My ears and tail perked up too.

“Yeah. I’ll get it fixed like new.”

“Wow.”

We thought we’d said goodbye to it forever, but it was still under warranty.

Levinas cheered, and I clapped softly too.

I was relieved it wouldn’t lead to a big loss.

—

—

In the morning, we harvested vegetables as usual.

Today’s vegetable to harvest was radish.

Swoosh-!

Saebyeok pulled out a deeply planted radish without any effort.

Levinas and I were weak, so we had to dig the ground a bit to pull out the radishes.

Thud thud-!

Gaeul watched us as we dug the ground with shovels and hands.

She had been watching us with a somewhat blank expression, but then she started digging the ground with us.

Thud thud thud-!

She was almost as fast as Levinas.

But it felt a bit more aggressive.

While Levinas gently dug out the soil, Gaeul was flinging dirt everywhere.

“W-Wow.”

The soil Gaeul dug up flew towards us.

Gaeul was digging bare ground, not the radish field.

“G-Gaeul.”

“…?”

Gaeul stopped digging at my call.

Gaeul’s body was dirtier than ours, who were covered in soil.

“Gaeul, this isn’t a digging game. We’re digging to pull out radishes.”

“Wadish pull.”

“Yeah. Radish pulling.”

Wadish pull, wadish pull.

After mumbling a few times, Gaeul came over to us.

Then she started digging the ground where the radishes were planted.

Her digging was aggressive, but she didn’t damage the radishes.

“Wow…”

Gaeul learns well after being taught once.

I felt bad comparing a person to this, but she was somewhat like a well-trained dog.

“Let’s pull ten more radishes and then take a break.”

“Okay.”

“Got it!”

After we pulled the radishes, we moved to the pond.

It was to wash the dirty Gaeul.

“Gaeul, when pulling radishes, try not to get them too dirty.”

“Clean.”

“Yeah. Your body’s dirty now, so let’s wash up a bit here, okay?”

“Wash.”

Gaeul nodded.

Her characteristic blank expression made her look cute.

Gaeul’s way of speaking and her behavior…

She seemed very young.

Should I help her wash?

As I was glancing sideways at Gaeul next to me, she jumped into the pond.

Splash-!

Water droplets hit my face.

I closed my eyes briefly at the coldness, and when I opened them, I could see Gaeul moving around in the pond.

“She swims just like King!”

Levinas pointed at Gaeul in the pond.

Gaeul was chasing fish with her characteristic dog paddle.

“Don’t Levinas and Saebyeok swim like that too?”

“Yeah! Young beast-kin children naturally swim like that!”

“I see.”

I wondered if Encia swam like us too.

Maybe not.

I scratched my cheek absently and looked around.

While Gaeul was washing, I thought it might be good to quickly collect some empty bottles.

“Gaeul, I’m just going to pick up some empty bottles over there.”

“Bott…?”

“Yeah. I’ll be right back.”

I walked along the path next to the pond.

Gaeul followed me urgently.

She didn’t come out of the water, but followed me by dog paddling in the pond.

However, my walking speed was faster, so Gaeul gradually fell behind.

“Whine.”

Gaeul whined from behind.

Her usually blank pupils were trembling.

It was a look like she was watching family that would never return.

“…Should I not go?”

“…!”

When I stopped in my tracks, Gaeul’s expression showed relief.

She was so happy that she swam in circles in front of me.

Her tail wagged quickly, splashing water droplets everywhere.

Has she experienced being separated from someone?

If so, I shouldn’t go.

There was no need to make Gaeul relive unpleasant memories.

I sat on the stone wall of the pond with the children.

As we watched Gaeul swimming, Yeoreum approached us.

“Kids, want to have snacks with me?”

“Yes.”

“Snacks!”

All our ears perked up at the word “snacks”.

Gaeul’s ears twitched too as she came out of the water.

Shake shake shake-

Gaeul shook her body quickly like a real dog.

“Oh my.”

“Wow…”

Just as we all huddled together from the water droplets flying everywhere, Gaeul started running somewhere.

“Gaeul, where are you going?”

“Snack.”

“Snacks?”

Gaeul was still too young to let her go alone.

We had no choice but to follow Gaeul.

Woong-!

We arrived at the place where the portal was.

Jung Yu-na’s opaque curtain was blocking our way.

“Are there snacks in there?”

“There are.”

Did she leave snacks inside the portal?

But we can’t go through here.

Levinas seemed to know this too, as she pushed the curtain with her hand and left cheek.

“Gaeul doggy, we can’t go through here!”

“…?”

Gaeul tilted her head and reached out to the curtain.

Contrary to our expectation that she’d be blocked, Gaeul slipped right through.

“Oh.”

Surprised, we quickly reached out to Gaeul.

Me, Yeoreum, Saebyeok, and Levinas too.

Everyone’s hands were blocked by the curtain.

“G-Gaeul…?”

How did she get through there?

I looked at Gaeul with confused eyes.

Maybe because a person went through, part of the opaque curtain had become transparent.

We could see Gaeul who had gone inside and the portal.

“Gaeul, come here. It’s dangerous there.”

“…?”

“T-This way…”

I gestured for Gaeul to come out, but Gaeul on the other side of the curtain just wagged her tail while looking at us.

She even stuck out her tongue a little.

After standing like that for a while, Gaeul suddenly went into the portal.

It was such an unexpected action that our jaws dropped.

“G-Gaeul…”

Gaeul had gone back through the portal she came from.

They said it was an extremely dangerous portal that they had sealed until they could figure out how to conquer it.

My heart started pounding at the thought that we might never see Gaeul again.

“W-What should we do…?”

I grabbed Yeoreum’s clothes with trembling hands.

Yeoreum seemed just as shocked by Gaeul’s sudden action.

“Let’s calm down first and I’ll…”

Crunch-

Yeoreum bit her nails.

Is there really no way?

Just as I was racking my brain trying to think of something, Woong-!

The portal rippled and Gaeul popped out from inside.

“G-Gaeul?!”

“Heh!”

Gaeul ran towards us with something in her mouth.

She came through the curtain and grabbed my hand.

“Um…”

Ptui.

Gaeul spat out what she had been holding in her mouth onto my hand.

I wondered what it was, but it was a dried-up, rotten, and crumbling mouse.

It had changed so strangely that I had to examine it for a while to recognize it as a piece of meat.

“!”

It was a bit scary, but I didn’t feel repulsed.

I looked at Gaeul while holding the rotten mouse meat on my hand.

I also gave her a look asking why she was giving this to me.

“Mouse, King’s favorite snack.”

“Mine…?”

“Yeah.”

Why would I like mouse meat?

And a completely rotten one at that?

I looked down at the mouse meat on my hand with confused eyes.

Then I heard Yeoreum swallowing next to me.

Yeoreum seemed just as surprised.

4/6(+1) Enjoy the bonus chappy!

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