We hadn’t done anything special in my hometown.

Still, just being there lifted our spirits.

“Woaaah!”

“Hehe.”

I swam with the children in the pool, and at night we had a pillow fight.

Rather than swinging pillows, it was more like gentle tapping.

Tap tap-

Levinas pressed a soft pillow against Gaeul’s head.

Gaeul smiled brightly under the pillow.

She seemed to take Levinas’s attack as more of a pat than an attack.

“Hehehe.”

Finding the pillow fight fun, Levinas bounced on the bed.

As I watched Gaeul bouncing up and down on the bed, Sophia opened the door and came in.

“Time to get ready for bed.”

“Okay.”

At Sophia’s words, I checked the clock.

The hour hand was approaching ten.

My goodness.

Already ten o’clock.

We’d stayed up late playing, excited about being back in my hometown.

We stopped playing and lay down on the bed.

“I’m turning off the lights. Sweet dreams.”

“Okay.”

Click-

Sophia turned off the lights and left the room.

Levinas’s horned rabbit eyes glowed in the darkness.

“King, are you okay with going back tomorrow?”

“Yeah. We’re all together in that world too, so it’s fine.”

“Heuk! Levinas just thought the same thing!”

Giggle giggle.

Levinas’s laughter echoed in the darkness.

As I perked up my ears to hear more, someone started kneading my face.

Squish squish.

Touching my nose, my lips.

Feeling around here and there – from the clumsy movements, I could tell it was Gaeul.

“Shuin?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

She must have been searching for me in the dark.

Even though I was lying right next to her.

I kneaded her face back in response.

“Shuin, Gaeul okay too.”

“Yeah.”

So Gaeul was fine anywhere as long as everyone was together.

Though Saebyeok didn’t say anything, she expressed her feelings by wrapping her tail around mine.

“Everyone…”

I wanted to say something to them all, but sleep overcame me.

So I just went to sleep.

After all, they understood even without words.

**

Waking up in the morning, we prepared to return home.

Though we hadn’t brought much, we’d received quite a lot of gifts.

“What’s all this…?”

“Just some snacks and various things.”

“Are these clothes?”

“Yeah. One outfit each. You don’t like getting too much, right?”

“That’s right.”

The clothes Yoon Da-in gave as gifts included a tennis skirt.

But it had a large hole in the back.

I quickly realized it was for Sophia’s tail.

“Sophia, I think this is for you.”

“A-ahem… the clothes are a bit indecent.”

“This is…?”

Sophia often wore form-fitting clothes.

Yet she called the skirt indecent.

Come to think of it, I’d never seen Sophia wear a skirt.

“Sangoh pretty.”

Gaeul brought the tennis skirt to Sophia.

But Sophia quickly shook her head.

“At, at my age, wearing something like that…”

“Pretty…!”

“…Sorry, but I won’t wear it until dirt enters my eyes.”

“……”

Blinking, Gaeul crouched down and grabbed a handful of dirt.

“…Gaeul?”

Surely she wasn’t really going to put dirt in…?

Though worried, Gaeul just stood there blankly holding the dirt.

“Heuk…”

Had she finally realized how painful it would be to get dirt in her eyes?

Gaeul’s ears started trembling.

“Kkuu…”

Squeezing her eyes shut, Gaeul lifted her head.

Then she brought her dirt-filled hand up to her own eyes.

She seemed to be planning to put dirt in her own eyes instead of Sophia’s.

“G-Gaeul, I’ll wear it. I’ll wear it so don’t do that.”

Sophia hurriedly stopped Gaeul.

At the mention of wearing the tennis skirt, Gaeul’s ears perked straight up.

‘Amazing.’

“Dirt in the eyes” was just a figure of speech.

But Gaeul was so innocent she took it literally.

Gaeul’s innocence had won over Sophia.

“…But I’ll only wear it at home.”

“Nyung.”

After that amusing incident, we drove to the mountain.

We said goodbye to Yoon Da-in and Song Harin at the base.

“Sniff, you have to come back again, okay?”

“Take care.”

“Yes.”

We shared quick hugs and waved goodbye.

After the farewells, we moved near the portal.

Should we stop to view the city from the cliff rocks before going?

Though I considered it, we decided to just head back.

We could come back whenever we wanted after all.

There was no need for lingering regrets.

**

Before afternoon, we returned home through the portal.

With plenty of time left, I played with everyone in the park.

“Hehe.”

After playing with family at the pool playground, Gaeul got thirsty.

She started toward the pond for water but stopped.

She wanted to use the amazing skill her family had taught her.

Wearing her backpack, Gaeul ran toward the vending machine at the edge of the park.

She took out a card from her bag.

A card from her master Gyeoul.

It was a golden dog Animal King card.

My goodness, could there be a better card than this?

Except for cats and horned rabbits, probably not.

Ahem.

Gaeul puffed out her chest with confidence.

Surely the vending machine mister would recognize the dog card and give her delicious milk.

“Milk…?”

But even after waiting a while, no milk came out.

She tried pressing buttons as taught and inserting the card different ways, but for some reason no milk appeared.

Boing.

No response even after using everything she’d learned.

Gaeul stared blankly up at the vending machine.

Then she noticed the coin slot.

When going to the arcade, family members put coins in here.

Her ears perking up, she took coins from her bag.

She had five whole 100 won coins in her bag.

Gaeul always felt reassured when thinking about coins.

“Ahem.”

Puffing out her chest, Gaeul examined the strawberry milk in the machine.

Under the strawberry milk was written the number 1,500.

“Heuk…”

That must be the price.

Staring at the 1,500, Gaeul put two 100 won coins together.

Lining up two 100 won coins made 100,100 won.

“Howl!”

This should be enough.

Enough to buy strawberry milk and drinks for everyone else too.

Gaeul confidently inserted the two coins.

Then she pressed the strawberry milk button, but for some reason no milk came out.

“…?”

Press press presssss-

She tried pressing milk, juice, and cola buttons.

But no drinks came out no matter what she pressed.

Boing.

Was there not enough money?

But she’d put in lots of money.

Confused, Gaeul put in all her remaining coins.

That made 500 won total.

She pressed buttons after putting in all the money, but still no drinks came out.

“…!”

Gaeul’s ears and tail shot straight up.

Startled, she held out both hands to the machine.

“Give back please.”

Though she politely asked for her money back, the machine remained silent.

Not having learned about the coin return button, Gaeul could only be shocked.

“Give back!”

Thump thump thump thump-

She pounded on the machine with her fists, but it said nothing.

Gaeul decided the machine had stolen her money.

There was a very bad vending machine in our park.

“……”

Gaeul lay spread-eagled next to the machine.

She stared at the sky with a blank expression.

She just couldn’t think of any way to resolve this.

As she lay there blankly for a while, someone approached the machine.

“Ugh, so thirsty.”

A young woman approached while fanning herself.

She took out a bill from her wallet.

Seeing this, Gaeul jumped up startled.

“Bad!”

“U-um…?”

“Bad! Bad!”

She jumped up and down, strongly emphasizing that it was a bad machine.

But unfortunately, the woman couldn’t understand what Gaeul meant.

“Oh? There’s money in here?”

“Give back?!”

Gaeul held up five fingers.

She was asking if there were five 100 won coins.

“U-um…?”

But unfortunately, the woman couldn’t understand this time either.

She just tilted her head and inserted a 1000 won bill.

“Nice, free change.”

Click-

The woman pressed a button and got an ion drink.

With a clunk, the drink came out.

“…!”

Why drink? Five 100 won?

Vending machine huh?

Gaeul’s mind became very confused.

All she could do was lie face down and grab the woman’s ankle.

“Give back… Gaeul give back…”

“Gi-give back…? You mean 100 won…?”

“Nyaang… please…”

After some thought, the woman was able to understand what Gaeul meant.

100 won and five fingers.

She was claiming the 500 won inside the machine was hers.

‘Bad must mean bad…’

She put in 500 won but got no drink and no money back.

The woman looked down at her drink with troubled eyes.

She’d wondered why Gaeul was lying blankly by the machine.

It was because of the 500 won that was taken.

And now she had taken that 500 won herself.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep