chapter_0306

Chapter 304: What’s the Use of Knowing

“Nom nom.”

We were in the middle of enjoying pizza with the children.

Out of nowhere, Levinas threw her pizza on the floor.

Splat-!

The cheese and toppings from the fallen pizza scattered everywhere.

“Bah! Levinas is going to eat a tastier pizza!”

“A tastier pizza?”

“Yeah! King’s pizza!”

Levinas approached with a serious look and suddenly bit my cheek.

As she chewed on my cheek and pulled her head back, my cheek stretched out like cheese.

“Oh.”

What’s going on?

Is this some new magic from Levinas?

As I stared at my stretched-out cheek in confusion, Gaeul ran over and grabbed my other cheek.

“Stretch!”

The cheek Gaeul grabbed stretched out long.

I was so surprised that I dropped the pizza I was holding.

“Aaah! My cheeks…!”

I let out a long cry as I opened my eyes.

Then I saw the ceiling of our house.

The horned rabbit sticker Levinas had put up some time ago was still there.

“Uh…”

Outside the window, the sun was rising over the horizon.

My mind was foggy.

I blinked my eyes, trying to recall what had happened.

We ate pizza yesterday and then played with the kids before going to sleep.

Ah, so that was just a dream.

Whew.

As I let out a sigh of relief, my cheek felt oddly itchy for some reason.

“Stretch…”

I heard Gaeul’s voice from beside me.

I rolled my eyes to glance to the side.

Gaeul was sleep-talking and biting my cheek.

‘She must have bitten me in her sleep.’

Behind me, Levinas was biting my tail, and Saebyeok had climbed on top of my head and was licking my ear.

It was a typical morning.

How can they all groom while sleeping?

Is it some kind of beast-kin instinct?

As I pondered these things, I gently detached the children clinging to me.

Click-

I quietly opened the bedroom door so as not to wake the children.

In the living room, Sophia was sleeping in the massage chair.

“Oh.”

I was about to stretch freely in the living room.

But I couldn’t because Sophia was sleeping there.

Not being able to stretch made me feel a bit uncomfortable.

‘But I can’t wake someone who’s sleeping.’

Beast-kin are sensitive to presence.

To avoid waking Sophia, I walked on my tiptoes, stepping lightly.

It was the typical light-footed walk of a cat.

“…You’re up.”

“Yes… Did I wake you?”

“No. I was about to get up anyway.”

“Ah, then is it okay if I stretch?”

“Go ahead.”

With Sophia’s permission, I lay down on the floor and stretched in a cat pose.

I insisted on this pose because it felt the most refreshing.

Sophia seemed to understand this, as she didn’t comment on my posture.

“Nnngh… By the way, Sophia, why are you up so early today?”

“No particular reason.”

“I see.”

Sometimes we have days like that.

Days when we wake up earlier than usual for no special reason.

I nodded and sat on Sophia’s lap.

I could feel the vibrations of the massage chair through Sophia’s body.

“Sophia, did you also groom when you were young?”

“No, unfortunately sharks don’t groom.”

“Ah…”

Right, Sophia isn’t a mammalian beast-kin.

I felt a strange sense of disappointment.

“Why, do the children keep grooming you?”

“Yes. They even lick me in their sleep.”

“You do the same thing, don’t you?”

“Me…?”

I lick people around me in my sleep?

I could only blink in confusion.

“Every time you fall asleep in someone’s arms, you lick their cheeks so much…”

“I… I do?”

“Yes, but grooming is a very natural behavior for your species, so don’t worry too much.”

“Okay. I won’t worry. The children must do it because they like it.”

If anything, I should be worried if the children stopped grooming.

It would mean they didn’t like me anymore.

“That’s a good attitude. As I always say, don’t reject your instincts. Don’t be ashamed of them either.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

And so, I spent the morning chatting with Sophia about various things.

Thanks to this quality time together, I felt like I was going to have a good day.

**

In the morning, I did some simple crop management, and in the afternoon, I went to a level 1 dungeon.

By now, I could easily go through level 1 dungeons as if taking a walk.

“Hehe…”

I’m growing bit by bit too.

I wonder if someday I’ll be able to take down sand worms on my own.

Swish swish-

As I was happily wagging my tail, about to go find the children,

Yoo Sang-ah called my name from behind.

“Gyeoul.”

“Yes?”

I turned around and ran towards Yoo Sang-ah.

I stopped right in front of her, and she hugged my head tightly.

As a result, my face was buried in Yoo Sang-ah’s stomach.

Unlike Yeoreum’s firm yet soft belly, Yoo Sang-ah’s was squishy and fluffy, which felt nice in a different way.

“The Master is looking for you upstairs.”

“Fuh me?”

I wanted to ask “For me?” but my mouth was blocked by Yoo Sang-ah’s stomach.

Surprisingly, Yoo Sang-ah understood what I said perfectly.

“Yes. He said a guest is coming and he wants you to meet them together.”

“A guest?”

“Yes. I’ll take you upstairs.”

Yoo Sang-ah picked me up very naturally.

It was a hug I had no reason to refuse.

‘This is comfortable.’

Being held in her warm, soft body made me drowsy.

I started nodding off and buried my face in Yoo Sang-ah’s shoulder.

That’s when it happened.

“Gyeoul.”

Tap tap-

Someone patted my back.

When I came to my senses, we were already in front of the Master’s office.

“…?”

What’s this?

When did we get here?

As I looked around with half-open eyes, I realized something.

I had my tongue sticking out like Gaeul.

Yoo Sang-ah’s neck area was slightly damp.

When Sophia told me earlier, I didn’t quite believe it.

But it seemed I had licked Yoo Sang-ah’s neck while dozing off.

“I-I’m sorry…”

“…For what?”

Yoo Sang-ah asked why I was suddenly apologizing.

She genuinely seemed not to know.

“I think I licked you here while I was sleeping…”

“Oh, that? It’s fine.”

Yoo Sang-ah chuckled and patted my head.

Is she really not bothered about being licked?

Puzzled, I just rolled my eyes back and forth.

“Let’s go for a walk together again sometime.”

Yoo Sang-ah put me down.

A walk?

But I was just sleeping?

I tilted my head in confusion, but it wasn’t an offer I had any reason to refuse.

“Okay, let’s go flower viewing together.”

“Oh my, flower viewing sounds lovely.”

“There are lots of delicious flowers blooming at the edge of the park.”

“Ah, delicious…”

After a brief chat with Yoo Sang-ah, I entered the Master’s office.

As always, the security guard opened the door to the Master’s office.

“Uncle.”

The Master was sitting at his desk in the office.

I quickly ran to the Master’s side.

“You’re here.”

“Yes. Are we greeting a guest?”

“No, there’s no need to greet them. Let’s just have some tea.”

The Master picked up a thermos on the desk.

It contained the dandelion honey tea I had made.

It was my favorite tea among the ones I made, with its sweet yet deep flavor.

**

I placed some snacks on the office table and poured tea into the cups.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t drink the tea right away.

The tea from the thermos was too hot.

I wondered when it would cool down.

As I rested my chin on the table, staring at the steam rising from the teacups,

“Kang Jinho! Is Kang Jinho here?!”

A booming voice came from outside the door.

The person had shouted as soon as the elevator doors opened.

“He’s here.”

“Who is it? Is it the guest you mentioned?”

“No, just an uninvited visitor.”

“Ah.”

For the Master to call someone an uninvited visitor…

I warily glared at the office door.

The door finally opened, and a blonde Westerner with a Nordic look appeared.

He looked like a warrior straight out of Norse mythology.

“Jinho! How have you been?!”

“…I was doing fine until just now.”

“Oh? But what’s this beast-kin kid doing here?”

The Nordic warrior’s gaze turned to me.

How dare he speak so casually to our Master.

I flinched, not used to this type of person.

“H-ha… Hello… Nice teu mit yu.[1]”

“Speak Korean.”

“Okay…”

I’ve always been scared of aggressive types.

I lowered my head and just stared at the teacup.

The Master, watching me, let out a deep sigh.

“Why did you come so early?”

“Didn’t you invite me for tea? I got on a plane as soon as I received your message.”

“Then drink your tea quickly and go back.”

“…Did you really just invite me for tea?”

Scrape-

He sat down in the seat across from me.

Finding it hard to look him in the face, I kept my eyes on the table as I pushed a teacup towards him.

“H-here, have some.”

“Thank you.”

He took the teacup and looked me up and down.

Then he took a sip of the tea.

“Oh, this tea tastes…”

He trailed off mid-sentence and pressed his lips together.

His eyes widened, almost popping out, and he glared at our Master.

“What is this?”

“Dandelion honey tea.”

“…I should rephrase my question. Where did this come from?”

“What good would it do you to know?”

The Master answered in a rather indifferent voice.

As he spoke, he reached for the snacks.

It was a cookie with chocolate chips.

I naturally followed the Master’s hand with my gaze.

The cookie, which I thought the Master was going to eat, ended up in my mouth.

Crunch crunch.

In the heavy atmosphere, only the sound of me crunching on the cookie echoed.

Even in this situation, the cookie was sweet and delicious.

—

[1. raei: Gyeoul here says “하, 하이··· 헬로우··· 나이스트밑유.” The characters here phonetically mean “H-ha… Hello… Nice teu mit yu.” Think heavy korean accent, hesistant/nervous english words. Just thought it’d be cool to know.

The reverse, korean greeting but phoentically in English would look like: “Ah-ahnyong… hasayo… manaseobangapsumnida.”

Haha looks hella weird. I tried to keep the ‘teu mit yu’ incorrectness in english->korean phonetisation/accent but not sure if I got that right.]