chapter_0374

Chapter 372: Getting Eaten

The first thing Gyeoul saw upon waking was a man looking down at her.

What was this?

What was happening?

Startled Gyeoul froze in her stretching position.

“Um…”

Dilated pupils and drooping ears.

Everything about Gyeoul screamed fear.

Jo Eun-chan looked at frightened Gyeoul, then carefully closed the drawer.

Swoosh-

The slowly closing drawer bounced off Gyeoul’s waist.

It was because Gyeoul was still stretched out like a cat.

“Ah.”

At that small sound, Gyeoul lowered her waist.

Thanks to this, he could close the drawer again.

Through the slowly closing drawer, Gyeoul’s face remained visible.

Gyeoul kept staring at Jo Eun-chan until the drawer fully closed.

Like a cat hiding under a car, watching people.

‘Why are the children here…?’

Jo Eun-chan crossed his arms and looked over the closed drawer.

He’d unintentionally brought the children all the way to his room.

What if this caused problems?

Whew.

Just as Jo Eun-chan took a deep breath.

Scratch scratch scratch-

Gyeoul started scratching the drawer with their claws.

Did she want the drawer opened?

When Jo Eun-chan opened the drawer again, Gyeoul peeked her head out.

“Um, where is this…?”

“Uh… this is, this is my accommodation?”

“Accommodation?”

Gyeoul looked around.

The still-unorganized room seemed somehow familiar.

It was Yeomyeong Guild’s standard accommodation.

“Are you one of the people who just passed?”

“Y-yeah…”

“Ah.”

But why was I in a passing candidate’s room?

As Gyeoul wondered this, Jo Eun-chan continued explaining.

“I bought this dresser secondhand, you know? But inside was y- Gyeoul, you were inside, weren’t you?”

“Ah…”

They’d thought it was abandoned.

So it was being sold secondhand.

Embarrassed, Gyeoul scratched her cheek.

“I thought it was thrown away…”

“Really? I mean, really?”

“Yes… so I went inside and took a short nap…”

Using someone else’s property without permission.

Though Gyeoul lowered her gaze feeling sorry, Jo Eun-chan was thinking something else.

‘The dresser’s as comfortable as a bed?’

A dresser comfortable enough for beast-kin children to sleep in.

It must be premium quality.

“Hahaha!”

To think something he bought cheaply secondhand was top grade.

Jo Eun-chan let out a hearty laugh characteristic of Busan men.

“Then how, how does this wardrobe feel?”

“Um…”

Gyeoul went into the wardrobe Jo Eun-chan pointed to.

The interior was cozy, better than the dresser.

“This is much better.”

“Is it?”

The wardrobe his parents bought to support his guild work.

Hearing it was better made Jo Eun-chan feel good.

“Hahaha.”

“Hehe…”

Gyeoul laughed along with Jo Eun-chan’s hearty laugh and opened the drawer where the children were.

Taking out Saebyeok, taking out Levinas, and Gaeul…

Lick lick-

Sleeping Gaeul licked Gyeoul’s cheek.

Was she hungry?

Gyeoul put chocolate in Gaeul’s mouth.

Bleh-

Gaeul immediately spat out the chocolate that entered her mouth.

Then started licking Gyeoul’s cheek again.

Gaeul preferred cheeks over chocolate.

“Um, sorry for sleeping in your furniture without permission…”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I’m, I’m happy about it.”

Jo Eun-chan waved his hand with a smiling face.

How nice that he wasn’t angry about them sleeping in his furniture without permission.

Gyeoul was glad such a kind person had become a guild member.

**

I left the guild member’s room with the children.

Levinas and Gaeul, now awake, ran around the park with even more energy.

Saebyeok seemed to need more sleep and went inside the tent.

“Yawn.”

Yawning Saebyeok went into a wooden box.

The wooden box must have felt nice, as she wagged her tail gently with closed eyes.

“Saebyeok, I just realized something – the comfort from boxes and drawers feels slightly different.”

“Right. They each feel different.”

So Saebyeok knew too.

Maybe these subtle differences in comfort could only be distinguished by those with feline instincts.

“Cardboard boxes feel like being in cozy blankets, but that drawer from earlier felt like a warm bath.”

“Yeah. That’s exactly how it felt to me too.”

“R-really?”

So I wasn’t the only one who felt this way.

Was this really something unique to felines?

I glanced at the pot beside Saebyeok.

It was the largest pot I owned.

‘I wonder if pots feel different too?’

Hmm…

Though discovering these things one by one was fun.

It felt like surrendering too much to instinct.

Instinct wasn’t bad, but it needed to be controlled.

As I stood there with crossed arms looking down at the pot.

“Master!”

Gaeul appeared wagging her tail and climbed into the pot I was looking at.

Han Yeoreum walked up beside Gaeul.

“Hi Gyeoul.”

“Hello.”

“Hehe, want to have snacks with me later, Gyeoul?”

“What kind of snacks?”

“Hmm…”

Han Yeoreum looked down at Gaeul in the pot.

She smiled brightly at Gaeul, then suddenly lifted the pot containing her.

“Should we have Gaeul for today’s snack?”

“Gaeul?”

“Yes. Let’s eat just a little bit of Gaeul.”

Han Yeoreum walked toward the campfire carrying the pot with Gaeul.

I knew she was just joking.

Did Gaeul know this was a joke?

Looking at Gaeul, she just had a blank expression with her tongue sticking out.

An expression that made it impossible to tell what she was thinking.

‘…It should be okay to play along?’

I stuck close to Han Yeoreum.

Giggling, I tapped the pot containing Gaeul.

“If we eat some of Gaeul, will she get shorter?”

“Yes. Maybe even shorter than Gyeoul.”

“Heuk!”

Gaeul, who had been calm about being eaten, opened her eyes wide in shock at the mention of getting shorter.

Did she dislike becoming short more than being eaten?

I whispered to Gaeul in the pot.

“Gaeul, don’t want to get shorter?”

“No.”

“Then I’ll help you.”

Hehe.

After patting Gaeul’s head, I looked up at Han Yeoreum.

“But wouldn’t Gaeul taste bad?”

“No!”

Before Han Yeoreum could speak, Gaeul frantically waved her hands.

She desperately denied that she would taste bad.

Did she understand tasting bad as something negative?

I whispered in Gaeul’s ear again.

“Gaeul, you need to say you taste bad so you won’t get eaten.”

“…!”

“I’ll try again, so this time you should agree, okay?”

“Kay…!”

After coordinating with Gaeul, I cleared my throat.

Then I poked Han Yeoreum’s wrist holding the pot.

“But Gaeul would probably taste bad?”

“That’s right that’s right.”

Considering our opinions, Han Yeoreum set the pot down.

“Hmm… then should we not eat Gaeul?”

“Yes.”

“Kay!”

Gaeul jumped out of the pot.

Relieved at not being eaten, she started giggling.

“Good thing Gaeul didn’t get eaten, right?”

“Heuk…”

Swish swish.

As I watched Gaeul’s wagging tail, my body suddenly lifted into the air.

Han Yeoreum had picked me up.

“Then instead of Gaeul, we should eat Gyeoul.”

“Huh?”

My floating body landed in the pot.

Han Yeoreum had put me in the pot.

“Shall we go?”

Han Yeoreum moved toward the campfire carrying the pot.

Gaeul followed beside her with a bright smile.

The situation had reversed.

Since I knew it was a joke, I wasn’t particularly surprised.

“I probably wouldn’t taste good either? I taste worse than Gaeul.”

“No. Master yum yum.”

Gaeul desperately denied that I would taste bad.

She narrowed her eyes fiercely and shook her head rapidly.

She shook it so fast her eyes seemed to spin.

“Gaeul, you need to say I taste bad.”

“Heuk…?”

“That way I won’t get eaten.”

“…!”

Gaeul’s ears perked up as if realizing something.

Then she tugged at Han Yeoreum’s clothes.

“Master yuck yuck! Yuck yuck!”

“Oh my, Gyeoul tastes bad?”

At Han Yeoreum’s question, Gaeul’s body trembled.

She stood still for a long time, then looked down at the ground and said.

“…No.”

“…So Gyeoul tastes good?”

Could she not have expected Gaeul to say I tasted good?

Han Yeoreum seemed taken aback, giving Gaeul an awkward smile.

‘Oh dear.’

Since Gaeul licked my cheeks every day.

Maybe I really did taste too good for her to lie.

“Then today’s snack will be Gyeoul.”

Thud-

Han Yeoreum placed the pot containing me on the firewood.

Of course, the fire wasn’t lit.

“Ahhh.”

At my soulless scream, Levinas came running from far away.

Seol and Kkamang were right beside her, all of them soaking wet.

They seemed to have been playing at the pool playground.

“King, what are you doing in there?”

“I’m today’s snack.”

“Ah!”

Levinas opened her horned rabbit eyes wide and rummaged through her bag.

She took out a carrot and put it in the pot with me.

“It’ll taste better with carrot!”

Levinas giggled looking at the pot with the carrot.

She was playing along because she knew it was a joke.

Between us, eating each other could only exist as a joke.

I burst out laughing at Levinas’s playful behavior.