As I was considering whether it was time to move on from collecting empty bottles, Saebyeok appeared.

Her sudden arrival was surprising, but I knew we would be living together from now on. Life was still unfamiliar to her, so I decided to teach her how to get by.

“Saebyeok, come over here.”

“Okay.”

Saebyeok stood in front of me, and Levinas came trotting beside her. Levinas stood at attention like a soldier, but it looked a little awkward.

“Dark King! Collecting empty bottles is a very serious task!”

“Is it that important?”

“Yes! You have to take it seriously, like Levinas does!”

A serious attitude? That was unusual for Levinas, who wasn’t usually so earnest. It was strange, but I understood that she wanted to set a good example as a senior in bottle collecting.

I decided to go along with her for now. There was nothing wrong with trying to show her best side.

“Alright, I understand.”

Saebyeok stood at attention like Levinas but without putting much effort into it.

“Okay… today, we’ll learn the basics of collecting empty bottles.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Alright.”

Saebyeok nodded as if she understood. She seemed aware of the concept of collecting bottles since she had agreed to join Levinas, but she didn’t seem to fully grasp it.

“Saebyeok, do you know how to collect bottles?”

“Not really.”

“Alright, then—”

Just as I was about to explain, Levinas raised her hand high.

“I’ll teach! Levinas wants to be a teacher too!”

“Alright.”

It would be a good experience for Levinas to teach someone, so I decided to just observe this time.

“Dark King! To find bottles, you need to sniff them out!”

“Sniff?”

“Yes!”

Levinas raised her nose to the air.

Sniff, sniff—her small nose twitched as if she were picking up a scent.

“If you smell it, you can quickly find where the bottles are!”

“Sorry, but my sense of smell isn’t that strong.”

“Huh?”

Levinas and I expressed confusion at the same time. It was odd that she looked just like me but didn’t have the same sharp sense of smell.

“Shouldn’t Saebyeok’s physical abilities be similar to mine?”

“I only changed my appearance and habits. I didn’t gain the enhanced senses of a beast-folk.”

“Just the appearance? Why did you bother to mimic it?”

“Because my original appearance is dangerous.”

Oh. That made sense. Saebyeok had been buried underground, so if the people involved were still around, her original appearance would indeed be risky.

“I ended up taking your appearance…”

“The adults helped me.”

The adults. Who were these adults Saebyeok spoke of, and what force had buried her underground despite their protection?

My head spun with confusion. There was no way I could figure it out with the information I had.

“So, are your physical abilities normal?”

“Well… I did get stronger.”

“Stronger?”

“Yes. Other than that, I’m like an ordinary person.”

“I see…”

Just how strong did she become to call it “a lot”? I wondered as Levinas’s eyes widened like a rabbit’s.

“Dark King, what do you mean by your original appearance?”

“I have an original form.”

“Your true dark form… gasp!”

Levinas shivered, then quickly turned and ran off somewhere. She must have let her imagination run wild about Saebyeok’s original appearance.

“Levinas seems really afraid of me.”

“Yes. She’s still a child, so she scares easily.”

“I see…”

Saebyeok spoke in a tone similar to mine. It felt odd, like I had a sibling.

—

We wandered through the park and then stepped outside to collect more bottles. I decided to speak more casually with Saebyeok.

“King! King, there’s trouble!”

Levinas came running toward us from a distance. Surprised, I heightened my senses and could hear her heart pounding.

“What’s wrong?”

“Over there! People are eating each other!”

“E-eating each other…?”

Cannibalism in the middle of the city? If true, that would be serious, but I had a feeling Levinas had misunderstood something again. I glanced at Saebyeok, who was following me quietly, and moved in the direction Levinas was pointing.

“King! Here!”

Guided by Levinas, we arrived at a high school. It was adorned with colorful decorations, and people were playfully throwing flour and eggs at each other.

“Wow…”

Why were they doing that when it wasn’t even graduation season? In the world I came from, the tradition of throwing flour and eggs at graduations had long disappeared. I glanced around, bewildered by the chaotic scene.

“King, look! They’re covering each other with flour and eggs!”

“Yes, I see.”

“Are they planning to fry each other?”

“Hmm…”

I could see how she might think that if she didn’t know the meaning of throwing flour. Instead of explaining, I tugged on the skirt of a nearby girl.

“Excuse me…”

“Ah?!”

The startled girl looked down at us and mumbled to herself as she glanced between Levinas, Saebyeok, and me.

“Twins…?”

“Twins?”

“Oh, no, it’s nothing.”

The girl waved her hands in front of her, so I decided not to question her further.

“Um, I’m curious about something…”

“What are you curious about?”

The girl placed her hands on her knees and leaned down to match our eye level. She was kind for someone I’d just met.

“Why are you throwing flour and eggs?”

“Oh… today is the last day of our festival. We’re ending it with a bang.”

“A festival?”

“Yes. But since eggs are flying around, it might be safer if you step back a bit.”

She gently patted my head and let out a small squeal. I wasn’t sure why she reacted that way, but she didn’t seem like a bad person, so I let it go.

“Gyeoul.”

Tap, tap—Saebyeok poked my side with her finger, and my tail instinctively wrapped around her wrist.

“What is it?”

“Eggs and flour.”

“Yes.”

I knew that already, but did she have something else to say? Just as I tilted my head, Saebyeok made a very tempting suggestion.

“If we pick up the broken eggs and flour, we could use them as food, couldn’t we?”

“Gasp!”

Levinas and I gasped simultaneously, our ears and tails perking up with excitement at her brilliant idea.

“Saebyeok, you’re so smart. How did you come up with that?”

“…”

Saebyeok’s face turned red, perhaps embarrassed by my compliment. Her expression remained fierce, but her tail wagged rapidly.

—

In the center of the festival grounds, boys and girls were throwing eggs at each other. They tossed them with the force of baseballs, but a light protective spell prevented anyone from getting hurt.

Smack!

Eggs shattered, and flour burst into the air as three kids—Gyeoul, Levinas, and Saebyeok—stood in the middle of the field.

“Throw an egg at me! Throw one at Levinas too! Sprinkle flour all over us!”

Levinas bounced excitedly, waving her arms to invite egg-throwing.

“Please throw eggs at me too… I’m good at taking them…”

Gyeoul shut her eyes tightly and waved her hand, while Saebyeok opened her arms silently. But no one threw anything at them.

“Aren’t they from Yeomyeong?”

“I’ve never seen one of them before. Are they twins…?”

“…”

The students paused, uncertain. Despite their youthful energy, none of them felt right throwing eggs at the kids.

“King, they’re not throwing anything.”

“Yeah… I guess they don’t let outsiders join.”

“Aww… I thought we could eat some eggs…”

Gyeoul and Levinas’s shoulders slumped. Saebyeok followed a beat later, her expression blank but her ears and tail drooping.

“Oh…”

The students flinched at the kids’ conversation, guilt stirring inside them. Wanting to be hit by eggs just to eat them? It was a surprising reason. A boy swallowed nervously and approached the kids.

“Hey, do you… want an egg?”

“No! King said we shouldn’t beg!”

“B-beg?”

“Yes! If we get hit by eggs and flour, Levinas will take it as her share!”

So they wanted to take what they were hit with as their own? The meaning was clear enough, but still, no one threw anything at them.

“But aren’t they too young for this…?”

“Levinas is great at taking hits! She can even handle hits from adults!”

“Huh… really?”

“King, didn’t you also get hit by adults a lot?”

The students’ hearts sank. They had heard rumors about the difficult pasts of beast-folk children, but hearing it firsthand was unsettling.

“L-Levinas, let’s stop. We might have to give up on the eggs.”

“Alright…”

“Sorry, I’ll buy you an egg on the way back.”

“No, I’m sorry for being difficult…”

The kids walked away, looking dejected. The boy holding the egg shut his eyes tightly.

It seemed he had to throw it, after all—though in the gentlest way

 possible.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep