Before Sophia finished her preparations and returned, I took Levinas deep into the park.

The guild park was, in principle, a no-alcohol zone, except for one place where drinking was permitted.

Hidden from prying eyes, the inner forest was an ideal spot for collecting empty bottles.

“Is this really worth money?!”

Levinas picked up an empty beer bottle, frowning at the strong scent of alcohol emanating from its opening.

“How does this turn into money?”

I explained,

“If we take these to the convenience store, they’ll give us money in return.”

“Convenience store! Levinas knows it! It’s a place only for the rich!”

Levinas, bubbling with excitement, dashed off towards the convenience store, her speed remarkable, likely due to her horned rabbit heritage.

‘But I wonder if Levinas’s choker is okay.’

It wouldn’t explode, but it starts beeping if she goes too far.

Worriedly gazing in the direction of the convenience store, I soon saw Levinas rushing back towards me.

“Money…! It’s money…!”

She exclaimed, unfolding her clenched fist to reveal a one hundred won note and two ten won coins.

“Did you already sell them?”

“Yes! This is the first time Levinas has ever earned this much! But why would they give money for bottles?”

Her joy at earning money was obvious as she hopped around in excitement.

I remembered feeling the same way when I first sold bottles in this world, relieved that at least I wouldn’t starve.

“Empty bottles can be cleaned and reused. So, they give money in return for them,”

I explained.

Her gaze then shifted to a man drinking with his friends, eager to sell more bottles.

However, the beer bottle in his hand was still more than half full.

“Levinas wants to sell that one too!”

“We can’t sell that one; it still has an owner. We have to wait until they leave it behind.”

The man could decide to return the bottle himself.

There was no need to covet what belonged to others.

“So, we can’t sell that one?”

“Right. We can only sell those without owners.”

Disappointed at not being able to sell the bottle, Levinas’s shoulders slumped.

Meanwhile, the drinking man suddenly guzzled down his beer.

Gulp, gulp –

The half-full bottle emptied in an instant.

Just as I wondered if he might get acute alcohol poisoning, he casually rolled the empty bottle towards the nearby bushes.

“Cough, cough. The booze is going down smoothly today…”

“So, if they finish it and leave it here, anyone can pick it up?”

His friend also finished his drink and rolled his bottle towards the bushes.

Before the bottle even stopped rolling, Levinas darted towards it and snatched it up.

“Bottles! Levinas found two!”

“Uh, yeah. You’re lucky.”

Wait, was something off just now?

As I gazed at the men drinking with a puzzled look, Sophia approached us, leaning on her cane.

“You were here after all. Let’s go back now.”

“Yes…”

I replied and turned to look at Levinas, wondering what to do with her.

Before I could say anything, Levinas spoke up.

“I want to collect more bottles! But I have a favor to ask!”

“A favor?”

“Yes! There are too few bottles in the park! Levinas wants to collect them outside too!”

“Oh…”

She must be asking to have her choker removed so she can go outside to collect bottles.

Since it wasn’t something I could do, I looked at Sophia.

“Just be sure to return today.”

“Yay!”

Levinas, jumping like a horned rabbit, ran off somewhere.

Thinking that I had helped her in her life, I didn’t feel too bad.

—

—

Levinas, who had ventured out of the park, was roaming around the city to collect bottles.

Using the beast-kin’s keen sense of smell, she diligently followed the scent of alcohol.

Picking up one bottle, then another, Levinas was learning the joy of earning money.

Eventually, she arrived at a cylindrical trash can.

“Bottles!”

Rummaging through the dirty trash wasn’t difficult for her, as she had never been taught the concept of cleanliness.

“Today, I’ll sell ten bottles.”

Humming a tune she didn’t even know, Levinas pushed her upper body into the trash can, which reached up to her chest.

“It’s sticky!”

And the trash can was too big.

As Levinas immersed herself in it, her feet lifted off the ground.

It was then that someone poked at Levinas’s feet.

“Hey, kid…?”

“Huh?”

Levinas wiggled her floating feet back and forth.

Thump, thump, thump!

Unable to see, she accidentally kicked someone.

“Just wait a moment, okay? I’ll help you out…”

A stranger grabbed both of Levinas’s ankles and pulled her out, allowing her to see who had called her.

They were a man and a woman in blue uniforms.

Levinas, having recently learned about the existence of police, recognized them immediately.

“Le, Levinas didn’t do anything to get arrested…”

“No, it’s not about arresting you. We’re just wondering why you’re rummaging through the trash can.”

A child in dirty clothes digging through a trash can was a situation hard for the police to ignore.

“I was collecting bottles to sell!”

“Bottles?”

“Yes! I’ll collect bottles and become the richest person in the world!”

Having said this, Levinas tried to push herself back into the trash can, but the two police officers urgently stopped her.

“Hey, do you have a guardian or someone looking after you?”

“Guardian? What’s a guardian?”

“A guardian is someone you live with.”

Someone you live with.

Levinas thought of the people from her beast-kin village and shook her head.

She wasn’t living with them now.

“Levinas lives with the king!”

“The king?”

“Yes! The king leads everyone! Levinas isn’t on the same side as her, but she’s a very important person!”

“So, she’s like a boss of vagabonds leading other vagabonds?”

But are there vagabonds in this city?

The two police officers exchanged puzzled looks.

“Yes. Even the scary shark with the cane listens to the king. The king is a fearsome beast!”

A scary shark with a cane and a king not on her side.

The officers wondered if this was some sort of metaphor only a child could concoct.

“Does the scary shark and the king bother you, Levinas?”

“Uhmm… The shark a little, but not the king.”

“Really? So, the king is a nice person?”

A nice person.

Levinas nodded repeatedly, recalling the king who had gone to buy a mattress.

Levinas planned to sleep with the king even after getting a new bed.

“The king is nice! She hugs Levinas when sleeping! It was the first time Levinas ever hugged anyone!”

“Really…?”

“Yes… But sometimes, I sleep hugged by the shark…”

The bed was small, so there was no choice.

Sigh.

Levinas exhaled deeply.

“Senior, could this be…?”

“Hmm…”

The two police officers swallowed nervously.

It might sound affectionate, but from a police perspective, it was not.

“Levinas, are the shark and the king adults?”

“Yes. The shark is an adult, and the king is… an adult, I guess?”

Now that she thought about it, she didn’t know their ages.

Levinas tilted her head.

“So, are you related to the shark and the king?”

“No, they’re not family.”

“Oh…”

An adult sleeping with a child not related by blood.

The police instinctively sensed the stench of a horrific crime.

“Did the shark and the king ever touch you inappropriately…?”

“Stop it, Officer Kim.”

“What?”

“Stop asking the child and let’s check directly.”

Ah.

Were they concerned about the child’s trauma?

The woman named Officer Kim nodded.

“Levinas, do you know where the king and the scary shark are now?”

“Yes! They went to buy a mattress at a furniture store nearby!”

There was only one furniture store nearby.

Detective Choi Soon-cheol radioed a subordinate near the furniture store.

—

—

I was looking at mattresses with Sophia.

As we pressed them to check their softness, a man in a police uniform approached us.

“The shark with a cane… and the king of beasts…?”

“Yes…?”

The man in the police uniform scrutinized Sophia and me.

He examined us several times before picking up the walkie-talkie attached to his chest.

“Senior, I think I’ve found the shark and the beast…?”

-Already? Are you sure?

“Yes. The shark part is obvious. The beast… I’m not sure, but it seems like it.”

The shark must be Sophia, and the beast, a feline like me.

Confused, I instinctively moved closer to Sophia.

-What are you talking about?

“You’ll understand when you see them. But are they really a shark and a beast…?”

-Okay. I’ll be there soon, just wait.

“Yes. We’ll wait.”

Click.

The man put down the walkie-talkie and bowed towards Sophia and me, thankfully not in a threatening manner.

“Hey kids…?”

“Yes…?”

“Can you wait here for a moment?”

“Why, what’s happening?”

Was there some kind of incident?

I couldn’t help but tense up.

“We need to conduct a brief investigation.”

“An investigation?”

“Gyeoul, let’s just wait for now.”

“Yes, yes…”

What exactly were they investigating?

Without purchasing a mattress, Sophia and I just stood there waiting.

After about five minutes, two police officers entered the furniture store.

“The shark and… the beast…?”

The middle-aged male officer’s pupils quivered as he looked at Sophia and me. The younger female officer’s mouth fell open, and then she tightly closed her eyes.

What’s going on with them?

As I tensed up, trying to gauge the officers’ reactions in this confusing situation, a figure hiding behind the two officers sprang forward.

“Levinas is here!”

Seeing the blissfully innocent Levinas, I couldn’t help but think that maybe she had reported Sophia and me to the police.

—

3/5 Enjoy the chappy!

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