“Ow!”

Gaeul covered her head with her hands.

It was the same spot where Han Yeoreum had flicked the doppelganger.

Her dog ears were pressed flat under her hands, drooping sadly.

She looked rather dejected.

“Huh? What’s wrong? That wasn’t Gaeul?”

Han Yeoreum pointed at the fallen doppelganger.

The doppelganger began melting and transforming into something like slime.

It looked like a gray metal slime, though I wasn’t sure if metal slimes actually existed.

“It died…!”

Levinas jumped in surprise and pointed at the doppelganger.

Gaeul poked it with a nearby branch.

“Dead!”

“It’s not dead, just temporarily subdued.”

Han Yeoreum waved her hand at Gaeul.

Seeing this, Gaeul’s eyebrows shot up.

She approached Han Yeoreum with a stern expression, though she didn’t seem particularly angry.

“…!”

Thunk-

Gaeul, who had been approaching Han Yeoreum with a fierce look, dropped her branch.

I quickly picked up the fallen branch and started poking the doppelganger.

I should have been watching their confrontation, but I couldn’t resist checking how the doppelganger felt.

Poke poke-

The doppelganger felt like firm jelly when poked with the branch.

So this is what it felt like.

As I kept poking the doppelganger with an inexplicable fascination, Han Yeoreum’s urgent voice rang out.

“Why, what’s wrong? That was the fake Gaeul just now. It’s a really bad monster…”

Han Yeoreum flinched at Gaeul’s intensely raised eyebrows.

Though Han Yeoreum waved her hands and protested her innocence, Gaeul maintained her expression.

She just thrust her head toward Han Yeoreum with a fierce look.

“Head pat!”

Tap tap-

Gaeul patted her own head.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Han Yeoreum placed her hand on Gaeul’s head.

As she gently stroked Gaeul’s head, Gaeul broke into a bright smile.

‘Ah.’

I finally understood why Gaeul had made that expression.

She wasn’t angry – she wanted to show the doppelganger.

Show that she was the real Gaeul who didn’t get flicked.

That the real one received love like this.

“Our Gaeul is the best.”

I put down the branch and approached Gaeul.

I patted her head, saying she was number one.

Giggle.

Watching Gaeul laugh innocently, I also thrust my head toward Han Yeoreum.

Understanding my intent, Han Yeoreum gently stroked my head.

“I’ll return the doppelganger and sort out the accident. Want to play while I’m gone?”

“Okay.”

Though I wanted her to keep patting my head, dealing with the situation took priority.

I decided not to be stubborn.

**

After the doppelganger incident, we rested in the park.

As we were sitting on a bench relaxing, Saebyeok approached from the distance, holding Leo’s leash.

“Is that Leo?”

“Yeah. Was walking with his owner over there.”

“I see.”

Saebyeok, who had brought Leo over, sat down beside me.

Their tail’s movement suggested they were troubled about something.

“What’s wrong?”

“The owner’s worried because Leo doesn’t listen.”

“Hmm… should we try training him?”

“I don’t know how to train dogs. Do you?”

No.

I didn’t know either.

I conveyed my answer through silence.

Then Levinas, who had been playing with my tail behind the bench, came around to our front.

“Levinas knows!”

“You know how to train dogs?”

“Yeah! TV showed me last time!”

Television did teach many things.

There must be at least a few dog training methods shown.

“Should we go watch for a bit then?”

“Yeah.”

I returned home with the children.

We brought Leo along too.

“Heuk.”

Leo looked around the house before picking up Gaeul’s dog plushie in his mouth.

Did she think her toy had been stolen?

Gaeul looked at me with round eyes.

“Master!”

“Hmm… looks like Leo wants to play with the plushie. Should we lend it to him for a bit?”

“…Yeah!”

Gaeul gave up the plushie without hesitation.

Our Gaeul was so kind.

I patted Gaeul’s head then sat on the sofa to watch the program Levinas had put on.

-Woof woof woof!

A fierce dog on TV bared its teeth and barked.

The host restrained the dog by pulling its leash.

“Oh…”

I understood the general idea now.

You needed to show authority as the owner.

After learning how to handle dogs through the program, we went back to the park.

“Sit!”

I channeled my wild energy and gestured to Leo.

But Leo just stared at me with a confused look.

Instead, Gaeul, who was next to Leo, sat down.

“Master.”

Sitting on the ground, Gaeul wagged her tail gently.

She seemed to be asking if she’d done well.

“Good job, but you didn’t need to sit.”

“Huh?”

“You’re only half-dog now… right?”

“No! No!”

Gaeul quickly shook her head in surprise.

Though she didn’t get up from her sitting position.

“No?”

“Yeah…! Gaeul dog!”

“Hmm…”

This probably wasn’t right, but since Gaeul wanted it…

I decided to observe for now and continued training Leo.

“Paw!”

Again, Gaeul offered her hand.

“Down!”

This time too, Gaeul lay down on the ground.

When told to stay, Gaeul froze like a statue, barely even breathing.

Unfortunately, Leo didn’t understand my commands at all.

‘Language… ah!’

Since Gaeul could communicate with dogs…

Wouldn’t it be better if Gaeul trained him?

As I was seriously considering this-

“What are you doing?”

Choi Jinhyuk approached us.

He looked at Leo with interested eyes.

“We were trying to train the dog.”

“Oh? How’s it going?”

“Not well at all. Dog training is really hard.”

“Hmm…”

Choi Jinhyuk crossed his arms and crouched in front of Leo.

“How about taking him to a training school?”

“Training school?”

“Yeah. I take Jango there often. Want to go together this week?”

A training school would have professionals teaching.

It wasn’t a bad suggestion for us who wanted to train Leo.

“Yes. I’d like to go together.”

“Then let’s go this weekend. Be ready.”

“Okay.”

**

The weekend arrived.

After getting permission from Leo’s owner, Gyeoul brought him along.

“How far is it?”

“About an hour and a half by car?”

Choi Jinhyuk brought a van.

Two dogs and four children got inside.

Levinas, who loved cars, was excited, while Gaeul smiled brightly looking back and forth between Jango and Leo.

We sang songs and stopped at rest areas.

Finally, we arrived at the training grounds in the mountains.

When the door opened, the children ran out as if on cue.

“A playground!”

Levinas pointed at the equipment in the training grounds.

My ears perked up at the unfamiliar equipment – playground equipment for dogs.

“It is a playground, but that’s for dogs.”

“Oh no! Horned rabbits can’t play?!”

“Well… I’m not sure…?”

Choi Jinhyuk shrugged his shoulders.

Levinas’s horned rabbit eyes went wide.

“Is it only for Gaeul puppy?!”

“…?!”

Surprised, Gaeul looked up at Choi Jinhyuk.

Her eyes were so wide open, lots of white was showing.

“…Probably okay to play together.”

“Heuk…!”

At hearing they could play together, a smile bloomed on Gaeul’s face.

Her tail started wagging rapidly too.

“That’s great! We can play together!”

“Good!”

The children entered the training grounds with happy steps.

The first place they ran to was the dog playground set up in one corner of the field.

“Play here for now. I’m going inside for a bit.”

“Okay.”

Choi Jinhyuk went to find the trainer first.

“Hello?”

“Ah, Mr. Choi Jinhyuk? I heard another friend was coming today…”

“Yes. They’re playing outside.”

“Shall we go check for a moment?”

Choi Jinhyuk went outside with the trainer.

While the two walked slowly talking, Gyeoul and the children were playing in the playground.

“It’s a tiny horizontal bar! How do you use this?!”

“I think you just jump over it?”

“Like this?!”

Hop-

Levinas jumped over the bar.

Woof-!

Seeing this, Leo followed and jumped over the bar too.

After clearing the bar, Leo started running fast toward the distance.

Toward the stream flowing outside the training grounds.

“Ah! Leo!”

Gyeoul chased after Leo.

Levinas followed Gyeoul, and Saebyeok walked slowly behind the children.

Splash splash-

While Gyeoul was struggling to bring Leo back from playing in the stream, Choi Jinhyuk and the trainer came out to the field.

‘Huh?’

The first thing that caught trainer Kang Min-wook’s eye was Gaeul.

Hop-

Hop-

A beast-kin child playing alone, jumping over the small horizontal bar.

She tripped and fell trying to clear a bar that was too high.

Yet Gaeul didn’t cry, just got up and bravely jumped over the bar again.

She did it!

After clearing the highest bar, Gaeul threw her hands up in victory and looked around.

Finding no one nearby, her gaze naturally turned toward Choi Jinhyuk and Kang Min-wook.

‘Don’t tell me the dog they want to train is…?’

Dog tail and dog ears.

Kang Min-wook looked back at Choi Jinhyuk with sweat dripping down.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep