chapter_0480 part 2

Chapter 479: Playing at the Beach

We drove in the car for a long time.

Traveling continuously down the road…

“My killifish…”

I took a bite of a giant killifish the size of a person.

I expected the simple, clean taste of fish, but for some reason it tasted like soft milk.

“Own…! er…!”

Why would a killifish taste like this?

As I took another bite of the killifish, it flopped around and made Gaeul’s voice.

“Uh, what…?”

I slowly opened my eyes to find Gaeul pressing her cheek against my face.

Wait, had I fallen asleep with my face resting on Gaeul’s cheek?

While blinking, I realized that Gaeul’s cheek was caught in my mouth.

“Owner…!”

Gaeul was looking at me from the corner of her eye.

Surprised at having her cheek bitten, she was staring with wide eyes.

“Sorry, I was eating something delicious in my dream.”

“Gaeuri?!”

“No, not Gaeul, it was a giant killifish about this big.”

From left to right.

I spread my hands wide, then froze as I noticed something strange outside the window.

Water was splashing against all the windows of the large van.

Splash-!

Pitter-patter-!

The water was hitting the windows so violently that we couldn’t see outside.

Only dark, blurry outlines were visible.

“W-what’s going on…?”

My ears drooped at the unknown situation.

I unconsciously grabbed my tail with both hands.

As I looked around at my family with a startled heart, the adults, including Han Yeoreum, were nowhere to be seen.

Bom and Saebyeok were sleeping, and only Levinas was sitting in the next seat, looking rigid.

“Levinas, what is this?”

“The car entered a dungeon…!”

Levinas’s ears trembled subtly.

It seemed our vehicle had somehow crossed through a dungeon portal.

“D-dungeon? What dungeon all of a sudden…?”

“Dark storm dungeon…!”

“Storm…?!”

Indeed, a tremendous storm was raging outside the window.

It was so intense that we couldn’t see anything ahead.

This kind of storm could blow us away the moment we stepped out of the car.

But if we didn’t get out, clearing the dungeon would be impossible.

What should we do?

As I was staring out the window, not knowing what to do:

Levinas pointed outside and shouted.

“King! It’s a dark threat!”

“Huk?!”

Through the window blurred by pouring water, a massive black something was approaching.

What could that be?

Was it a monster large enough to swallow our car?

The black object approaching from all directions was obviously enormous.

“Nyaaaaak!”

“Huuuok!”

I couldn’t help but scream at this gigantic entity we couldn’t resist.

Levinas, sitting beside me, must have been scared too as she clutched my arm.

And then.

Swish-swish-swish-

The enormous something that had attached itself to the window began gently wiping it.

The mysterious black entity covering the entire car was nothing more than a giant microfiber cloth.

“Huh?”

“King! It’s the dark scrubby-scrubby!”

Levinas pointed at the giant cloth as she shouted.

I could only gape at this completely unexpected development.

“…?”

As I watched the cloth with round eyes, it retreated after wiping all the moisture off the car.

Only then could I see our surroundings and realize what was happening.

‘A car wash…?’

While I was looking around in confusion, Han Yeoreum opened the driver’s door and got into the car.

“Successfully cleared the dark storm dungeon…”

Her eyes met mine as she chuckled.

Her smile awkwardly changed when she saw me.

“Oh my, was Gyeoul scared?”

“W-well, I was sleeping when suddenly water started pouring…”

Was it my drooped ears and the tail I was clutching?

Han Yeoreum had noticed how startled I was.

“Oh dear, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. It was actually fun.”

The car wash method in this world was different from ours, probably because of magic.

It wasn’t a bad experience; I got to try something new.

“Levinas was a little scared but it was fun!”

“Gaeuri too.”

While the children were enjoying themselves, the car door opened and Sophia and Marin approached.

They were carrying simple snacks in their hands.

I’d wondered where they’d gone—they’d gone to buy snacks while the car was being washed.

“Where are we anyway?”

“This is a highway rest stop. We’ll reach our destination soon.”

“Wow.”

We’d come quite far while I was asleep.

I was starting to look forward to seeing the blue sea of the east coast.

**

Our car arrived at what was clearly a large, luxurious hotel.

Right in front of the hotel stretched a wide sandy beach and an endless blue sea.

“Woaaah.”

The first-floor lobby of the hotel was as elegant as our guild.

The blue beach visible from the front of the hotel made beast-kin hearts race.

“King, shall we run on that sand later?”

“Let’s build a sand castle after running.”

“Yes. Let’s do both.”

While we explored the hotel and made plans with the children, someone who appeared to be a high-ranking hotel employee approached us.

For some reason, his face showed great delight at seeing us.

“We’ve been waiting for you.”

“Hello.”

“Your rooms are ready. Would you like to rest first?”

“Yes, we will.”

We were led to our rooms by someone who introduced himself as the general manager.

The top floor royal suite of the hotel.

An entire floor was available for our use.

“W-wow…”

This was the most luxurious hotel I’d ever experienced in my life.

Had Han Yeoreum reserved such an exclusive room?

I looked up at Han Yeoreum with surprised eyes, and she chuckled.

“Gyeoul, this is free.”

“F-free?”

“Yes. It’s one of the things we received in exchange for catching pirates.”

“…Are the pirates that significant?”

At my question, Han Yeoreum touched her lips thoughtfully.

After pondering for a moment, she nodded.

“They’ve been raiding around here. They take all the jewelry, so tourists have stopped coming.”

“…What?”

I couldn’t help but be surprised by Han Yeoreum’s words.

It meant that these terrifying creatures were boldly operating without being caught.

They might be even more powerful than I had imagined.

“Fortunately, they just take the treasures and leave without harming people, so there haven’t been many injuries.”

“That’s a relief.”

Pirates notorious enough for tourists to have heard of them.

Yet they still hadn’t been caught.

Pirates that even modern technology couldn’t capture.

They might possess some special abilities.

**

After resting for a while, we ate lunch and went outside.

As we entered the beach, people suddenly gathered around us.

“Please help us. Those scoundrels cleaned out my jewelry store completely.”

“They even broke into our house and took all our jewelry. If they’re going to take things, why did they have to break all the furniture too…”

“I feel relieved now that Yeomyeong is here.”

Some people were pleading while holding Han Yeoreum’s hands, while others had simply come to see the Yeomyeong Guild.

Some were playing on the beach, feeling secure with the knowledge that Yeomyeong had arrived.

So this was Yeomyeong’s reputation.

I felt an inexplicable sense of responsibility.

We had to catch those pirates.

I clenched my fist in determination, but it wasn’t time yet.

Until the pirates appeared, we decided to patrol the area and play with the children.

“Marin, Marin.”

Bom called out to Marin, holding a fishing rod I had no idea when she’d prepared.

As Marin approached, Bom cast the baitless fishing rod toward the ocean.

“Yes, what is it?”

“I want to fish for Marin. Go into the sea and bite the hook.”

“What…?”

“If I catch Marin, I’ll have caught the most beautiful fish in the world, right?”

“But then I’d have a hook hole in my cheek.”

Marin smiled as she poked Bom’s cheek.

While I was watching their amusing banter, Gaeul jumped up and down on a distant part of the beach, calling me.

“Owner! Owner!”

“Yes?”

“This! This!”

Gaeul was pointing at a small crab.

It was about the size of two of my fingers combined, and it was eating something on the sandy beach.

“A crab, huh?”

“Meongmui?”

“No, not a dog, a crab.”

“Ing?”

I sat down on the sandy beach with the confused Gaeul to watch the crab.

Gaeul giggled as she watched the crab walking sideways.

“Don’t know how to walk?”

“Is that not right?”

“Nyeng. Not right.”

Gaeul stood up and demonstratively walked forward next to the crab.

Then she cleared her throat and stuck out her chest.

“Wow, Gaeul walked straight.”

“Nyeng…!”

Did she want to teach the crab how to walk properly?

Gaeul tapped the crab’s shell and repeatedly showed it how to walk forward.

But the crab ignored Gaeul’s teachings and continued walking sideways.

“Not right, not right.”

Tap-tap-

Gaeul continued tapping the side of the crab’s shell.

Perhaps annoyed at being touched, the tiny crab swung its claw at Gaeul.

But Gaeul was agile enough to dodge monster attacks.

Gaeul pulled her finger back and looked down at the crab with surprised eyes.

“Bad!”

Was she angry because it attacked her when she was just trying to teach it how to walk?

Gaeul pointed her finger at the crab that had attacked her.

Scuttle-scuttle-!

While Gaeul was distracted by the crab with raised claws, another crab approached from behind her.

It came running quickly as if to rescue its comrade.

“Gaeul, behind you…”

“Ing?”

The moment Gaeul turned around, the small crab raised its pincer and grabbed Gaeul’s tail.

Fortunately, it only caught her tail fur, so it didn’t cause any damage, but it was enough to startle Gaeul.

“Owner! Ownerrr!”

Gaeul jumped up and down, but the crab holding her tail fur wouldn’t let go.

Instead, it clung on tightly with more force.

“…!”

Hmmmph.

Gaeul, who had been jumping around, inflated her chest.

I knew exactly what this action meant.

The emergency siren for alerting danger.

A finger-sized crab had triggered Gaeul’s siren.

 

TN: we are trying to solve the small issue with chapter numberation for the next chapters