chapter_0488

488 – Autumn of Rage

488 – Autumn of Rage

The children really found the animated movie boring, leaving the theater with their last complaints.

Naturally, Gaeul ended up receiving the brunt of their dissatisfaction.

Fortunately, thanks to the children exiting the theater, Gaeul was not scolded any further.

As a result, we were able to watch the movie without discomfort.

– Our adventure starts now!

Doo-woong-!

After about two hours, the movie ended, and the credits rolled.

The animated film, infused with the philosophical struggles of its creators, could be considered quite a masterpiece.

“Wanga, this is an amazing animation…!”

“Yeah. It was really fun.”

“Levinas seems to have gotten smarter…!”

While discussing the movie with Levinas, someone tapped my shoulder.

It was Bomi, sitting behind us.

“Gyeoul, Gaeul is acting strange.”

“Gaeul?”

I followed Bomi’s finger to look at Gaeul.

Even though the movie had ended and everyone had stood up, Gaeul remained seated in her chair.

With a rather sulky expression.

“Gaeul?”

“Cold…!”

Her eyebrows were furrowed fiercely, and the corners of her mouth drooped with dissatisfaction.

Her small feet, unable to touch the ground, were stretched out in front of her.

It was the first time I had seen Gaeul, who always showed a kind demeanor, with such an expression, yet she still responded, proving she was indeed kind.

“Why are you angry, Gaeul?”

“I’m not talking!”

“Not talking… but that’s not true?”

“Cold! Gaeul is not talking! Yak-yak! Study!”

Gaeul pointed angrily at the front seat.

It was the first time I had seen Gaeul speak so quickly in this manner.

Interpreting her words roughly, it seemed to mean that she hadn’t been talking but was scolded for it.

“Oh dear, that must have been really unfair.”

“Cold…!”

Gaeul’s mouth twisted further downward.

It was surprising to see Gaeul, who had never expressed anger like this before.

‘…Has her anger been building up?’

She wanted to convey that she hadn’t been talking, but it was after we had been taught not to make noise in the theater.

As a result, she must have been unable to say anything, just accumulating her grievances.

That unresolved frustration had tormented Gaeul’s heart throughout the movie.

Two hours of accumulated unfairness—it was no wonder Gaeul was angry.

“First, I need to let her know that it wasn’t her fault…”

As I spoke, I looked for the woman sitting in front of us, but she was nowhere to be seen, perhaps having already left.

Even after stepping outside the theater, there was no sign of her.

“Yak! Yak!”

Gaeul, filled with rage, threw a punch into the air.

She jumped from her seat and stomped her feet hard on the ground.

Gaeul’s anger, which was usually so gentle, was enough to startle the other children.

**

Watching Gaeul express ‘I’m really angry’ with her whole body, the children exchanged worried glances.

She was so angry that she picked up a stone from the ground, pretended to throw it, and then placed it back down.

“Gaeul must be really angry.”

Saebyeok observed Gaeul with concern.

At that moment, Levinas spoke in a very quiet voice, one that Gaeul couldn’t hear.

“We’re going to help Gaeul’s anger go away…!”

“Help her anger?”

“Yeah…! We’re going to throw a surprise party to make her happy…!”

A surprise party, huh.

That wasn’t a bad idea.

If it was a party, it might just help alleviate Gaeul’s anger.

“That’s a really good idea, but how do we prepare a party without Gaeul knowing?”

At my question, the children paused for a moment.

Hmm, Bomi, who was pondering with her arms crossed, raised her index finger.

“How about we split into two teams? One for party preparation and one to hang out with Gaeul for a bit.”

“That sounds good.”

Teamwork for the surprise party.

Nodding, Saebyeok asked while looking at Gaeul’s back as she walked away.

“But isn’t preparing the party going to be harder?”

“Yeah. Then let’s divide it into three people for party preparation and one person to stay with Gaeul.”

“Sounds good.”

We secretly drew lots to determine who would be on Gaeul’s team.

We asked Sunny to help with the drawing, and she created it for us in real-time.

The party preparation team ended up being Levinas, Saebyeok, and Bomi.

“Then I’ll stay with Gaeul.”

“Yeah…! We have to come back in an hour…?!”

“Yeah. See you later. I’ll be back, okay?”

Before heading towards Gaeul, I greeted Master, who had silently followed us, watching over us.

Master responded with a single nod, but I knew it was filled with affection.

“Gaeul, Gaeul.”

“Cold…!”

Gaeul, who had been walking briskly, turned around.

Realizing that everyone except me had disappeared, her ears perked up.

“Where did they go?”

“Um… I guess so…? Now that I follow Gaeul, everyone seems to have vanished.”

I delivered the lines I had prepared for the surprise party.

At that, Gaeul, who had been in a state of anger, showed a sulky expression.

“I’m sorry…”

“Huh? What are you sorry for?”

“I didn’t talk… I’m sorry…”

Was she apologizing for being angry?

Even though it hadn’t been long since she got angry, she was already cooling down and apologizing.

That’s our Gaeul.

“It’s okay; in fact, I think you did well.”

“Huh?”

“If you hold it in when you’re angry, eventually you’ll explode.”

“Explode?!”

Gaeul’s eyes widened in surprise.

Metaphors were still difficult for her.

“It means you’ll mentally explode. You could say it festers inside and becomes a problem.”

“Huh…?”

“When you’re really angry, you have to let it out by shouting. Didn’t you feel a little better after you yelled earlier?”

“Cold!”

Gaeul nodded in agreement.

Shouting does help release the pent-up feelings inside.

I decided to teach Gaeul a way to relieve her stress.

**

I decided to show Gaeul how to relieve stress.

It was a way to let out some of the hidden aggression within her.

“Gaeul, let’s break all of this.”

“Huh?!”

“Yeah. We’re going to break all of this.”

Gaeul looked down at the sand beach with trembling eyes.

There was a sandcastle we had built together.

“Really?!”

“It’s okay. We can build the sandcastle again quickly.”

“………”

Gaeul hesitated for a moment while looking at the sandcastle, but then she jumped on top of it.

Thud, thud, thud, she stomped on the sandcastle and struck it with her Wooden Caliber.

Just watching it made me feel like the accumulated stress was being released.

“How does it feel? Do you feel like something is being released?”

“Cold!”

“Yeah. Don’t keep your anger bottled up inside; let it out like this. Building and breaking a sandcastle doesn’t hurt anyone, right?”

“Huh…!”

With her ears perked up, Gaeul hugged me.

It seemed to mean she was thankful for helping her relieve her stress.

But I still had more stress relief methods to share.

“Next is this.”

I took out a pair of wooden chopsticks I had prepared from my pocket.

Then, for effect, I broke one of the chopsticks in half.

“How about it? Do you want to try breaking one too, Gaeul?”

“Cold!”

As I was about to hand her the remaining chopstick, Gaeul pulled out a pair of chopsticks from her bag first.

They were metal chopsticks that we couldn’t break with our strength.

“Ugh!”

Gaeul gripped the chopsticks tightly and trembled her arms.

The chopsticks didn’t break, but they did bend like a crescent moon.

“Juin, hello.”

“Yeah. Metal is originally harder than wood.”

“Huh?”

Gaeul looked down at her Wooden Caliber.

The Wooden Caliber was a different matter altogether.

“But doesn’t it feel good to bend it with all your strength?”

“Feels good!”

I checked the time while looking at Gaeul’s smiling face.

It was almost time for the hour we had promised the other kids.

“Shall we head to the hotel now? Everyone will probably be there.”

“Cold!”

With lighter hearts, we returned to the hotel accommodation.

But we had prepared a party to relieve Gaeul’s anger, and she had already calmed down.

I wondered if it mattered much.

While I was lost in thought, we arrived at the top floor of the hotel.

Ding—

The door to the hotel room.

As soon as we opened the door, colorful streamers welcomed us.

Gaeul, startled by the sight of the streamers, wagged her tail as she saw the family behind them.

“Today is Gaeul’s day!”

“Gaeul?”

“Yeah! Come in quickly!”

Levinas pulled Gaeul’s hand and led her into the hotel room.

Inside the hotel, there were cakes and plenty of things Gaeul loved.

“Ggaemmi! Ggaemmi!”

“Yeah. This was prepared by the King of Darkness!”

“Stone!”

“This stone was found by Bomi!”

A giant ant doll and a bone-shaped stone.

It was amazing that they managed to gather all of this in just one hour.

“Ggaemmi!”

Gaeul hugged the ant doll and the two stones tightly.

She seemed to like them so much that she even combined their names.

“And this was bought by Levinas with Levinas money!”

Levinas presented a chocolate cake that looked quite delicious.

Gaeul, who was smiling at the cake, tilted her head at the cylinder next to it.

“What’s this?”

“This is a party item, but it’s a scary thing that goes bang! So we won’t use it!”

“Boom?!”

“Yeah! It’s a complete bomb! But it’s a magical thing that won’t hurt you!”

“Huh…”

Gaeul, sticking out her tongue, picked up the firecracker.

She showed it to me, asking for instructions on how to use it.

“You point this up to the sky, and then you pull the string, and it goes bang while paper comes out… Are you going to do it?”

“Cold!”

Maybe it was because she learned a way to relieve stress from me? Gaeul was eager for the firecracker’s bang.

We watched with tense eyes as Gaeul pulled the firecracker.

Since it was something used for birthdays, it shouldn’t be too dangerous.

“Yak!”

Bang—

As Gaeul pulled the string of the firecracker, something amazing happened.

Instead of the expected paper popping out, a mini fireworks display spread throughout the hotel.

Boom-boom-boom—

The fireworks bursting in front of us were enough to startle everyone.

“Meow!”

“Whoa!”

“Ah!”

We, sitting on the hotel floor, jumped up as if we had made a promise.

Except for Saebyeok, who was staring blankly at the firecracker, everyone else jumped up.

In a world with magic, there was no moment to let your guard down.

A word from the author (Author’s note)

Thank you so much for reading today, PIA1747014585384!

Thank you for the comments and recommendations! They always give me strength!

I wanted to see a destructive Gaeul…