chapter_0537

537 – Jeering

537 – Jeering

I moved to the dungeon with the children.

It was a four-stage dungeon, and just as I was about to enter through the portal, Levinas suddenly tugged at my tail.

“Wanga! Wanga!”

“Yeah?”

“Did you not hear what Wang said over there?!”

“No, I didn’t hear.”

“Really?! Wang must be too far away to hear! Levinas heard it because I was close!”

It wasn’t that I couldn’t hear because it was far away; it was more accurate to say I simply didn’t hear.

In the city, various sounds echoed, and I tended to unconsciously let most of them slip by.

“Who said something to me?”

“Yeah! They said, ‘Our Gyeoul is going to the dungeon?! Don’t cry because the dungeon is scary!’ …that’s what they said!”

“Uh, yeah…?”

Who on earth said that to me?

I’ve never cried because I was scared of a dungeon.

I had trembled in fear, but I had never shed a tear.

“W-who said that?”

“Jjogi!”

In the direction Levinas pointed, two women were playfully tussling.

One looked mischievous, while the other had a sharp, fierce gaze.

“Do you really want to die?”

“Okay, okay. I’ll stop now.”

The playful-looking woman turned towards me.

And just like that, our eyes met.

“Oh…!”

The woman raised her eyebrows as she looked at me.

Her expression suggested she had discovered something interesting.

“Is it the real deal…?!”

“Well, if you think about it, am I not the real deal?”

The fierce-looking woman let out a deep sigh.

I had no idea what she meant by ‘the real deal.’

“Are you really messing with a kid…?!”

“Enough. Let’s go to the dungeon.”

“Yeah, yeah, we should go to the dungeon with Gyeoul.”

They’re going to the dungeon with me.

Even though we had just met, they acted as if we were close without hesitation.

People who behaved so casually on a first meeting were usually scary.

Feeling a bit frightened, I ran towards the dungeon.

Whoosh-!

With a twist in space, we arrived at the dungeon.

As I calmed my startled heart, the children followed behind me.

“Gyeoul, what’s wrong?”

“I just… wanted to get to the dungeon quickly…”

I waved my hand at Saebyeok, assuring her it was nothing.

As I gathered my thoughts and prepared to hunt, the two women I had just seen came through the portal into the dungeon.

‘Oh no.’

Did they really follow me all the way here?

No way, that can’t be it.

It must just be a coincidence that we ended up in the same dungeon.

Clap clap-

I lightly slapped my cheeks and decided to focus on hunting.

This dungeon was the Big Frog Dungeon, where giant frogs appeared.

**

“Catch all the frogs!”

Hahaha.

Bomi dashed around the dungeon, spilling Black Mana.

The dungeon was wide, with a pond that reached up to my ankles, making it the perfect place for Bomi, who loved water and frogs.

“Break it!”

Bam-!

Gaeul smashed the head of a shrunk Big Frog with her Wooden Caliber spell.

Levinas bound its feet with vines to prevent it from jumping, and Saebyeok dealt with the Big Frog with a punch.

‘They really work well together.’

My startled heart returned to normal thanks to the women.

I maintained a suitable level of tension and shot an arrow at the Big Frog.

Swish-!

The arrow struck the Big Frog right between its eyes.

From a distance, one of the two women hunting separately screamed.

“Ah! Gyeoul, that’s not how you catch a Big Frog!”

“Uh…?”

Is it not okay to shoot from far away…?

I hesitated, then moved closer to the frog.

The playful-looking woman let out a deep sigh.

“Gyeoul, if you get that close, you’ll get all sticky from the King Frog’s slime!”

“Hmm…?”

The fierce-looking woman had slime on her hands.

As she flexed her fingers, the sticky slime oozed out.

It felt like she was doing it just to show me.

‘…What is this?’

I can’t shoot from a distance, but I’m also told not to get too close.

Is there a specific way to hunt the King Frog?

Other kids were using magic from afar or attacking up close, though.

I couldn’t understand why the two women were only saying things to me.

“It seems like Gyeoul still can’t handle a four-stage dungeon.”

“Why? I’m catching them just fine.”

“How is this catching them well? You’re just forcing it.”

“Um…”

“Our Gyeoul was a fool!”

A fool, huh.

That was incredibly rude.

In that moment, my ears and tail drooped.

“Ugh!”

Smack-! Smack-!

Levinas stomped on the pond water.

Gaeul followed suit, stomping on the pond water.

“Levinas can’t hold back! Levinas can’t stand it!”

“Gaeul too!”

“M-me too…”

Splash splash-

Levinas ran towards the two women, splashing through the pond water.

Gaeul chased after her, while Haneul hesitated and then returned to hide behind me.

“Yahhhh!”

Bam-!

Levinas attacked the waist of the woman who called me a fool and then ran back towards us.

Seeing this, Gaeul’s ears perked up.

“Hit her!”

“Yeah! Normally, you shouldn’t hit people, but Levinas just hit her because she said something to Wanga!”

Ugh ugh.

Levinas, still furious, continued to stomp on the pond.

And, of course, the two women approached us.

“What’s this? Why did you hit me?”

“There must be a reason the kids hit you.”

“…Even my friends aren’t on my side.”

Despite being hit by Levinas, the woman didn’t seem particularly angry.

Thanks to Levinas not hitting her hard.

“Levinas hit you because you said something to Wanga!”

“Wanga? Gyeoul?”

“Yeah! Our Wanga is the smartest in the world! Take back what you said about being a fool!”

“How rude!”

Levinas and Gaeul protested, making angry faces.

Haneul, hiding behind me, waved her arms back and forth.

“You misunderstood, didn’t you?”

“Misunderstood?”

“Yeah. I was talking to my friend. My friend’s name is also Gyeoul. Han Gyeoul.”

“······!”

As we heard the woman’s explanation, our ears perked up simultaneously.

We realized late what kind of misunderstanding we had.

“How can names be the same…? Shouldn’t names be different…?”

“No? There are so many people in the world with the same name.”

“······.”

Levinas’s ears drooped.

To hit someone because of a misunderstanding.

I couldn’t help but feel sorry.

“Levinas was wrong…”

Levinas apologized to the two women.

Watching this, Gaeul collapsed onto the pond.

“Quack quack.”

It seemed she was trying to say “quack,” but only bubbles rose from the water due to the pond.

I worried if she would be okay, as it would be hard to stay down for long without breathing.

As I looked down at Gaeul with concern, she lifted her head and took a breath.

Then she buried her face back into the pond water.

No matter how much she wanted to quack, it seemed she couldn’t stand being suffocated.

**

“Levinas will give this to you, take it!”

Levinas handed the King Frog’s magic stone to Lee Hyun Ah.

However, Lee Hyun Ah shook her head and refused.

“It’s okay. We have plenty of magic stones.”

“Are you sure…? Levinas did something wrong…”

“If you apologized, that’s enough.”

I thought she was a strange person.

But we had misunderstood; she was actually very kind.

Feeling sorry, I poked Han Gyeoul in the waist.

“By the way, your name is really pretty.”

“Yeah. Your name is pretty too.”

“Thank you. It’s a name given to me by someone very precious.”

“That’s… the same for me.”

Han Gyeoul made a bittersweet expression.

She looked like someone who had committed a sin.

“Why do you say that?”

“Actually, since my name is the same as yours and I live in the same neighborhood, I’ve often been misunderstood.”

“Misunderstood?”

“Yeah. When people hear ‘Han Gyeoul’ in this neighborhood, they only think of you. When they hear ‘Han Gyeoul,’ they look at me and get disappointed.”

“Oh dear…”

It must be tough for people to look at me and feel disappointed.

“That’s why I thought about changing my name, but I decided not to. My name was given to me by someone very precious. I guess I became a coward for a moment because of people’s disappointed gazes.”

“Ah…”

It’s understandable to be afraid of people’s disappointed looks.

The Han Gyeoul in front of me had overcome that.

She wasn’t just any Han Gyeoul; she was a wonderful Han Gyeoul.

I wanted to become a Han Gyeoul like that someday.

**

After parting ways with the two women, we returned to the Ggaemmi Guild.

In the guild office, Sophia was sitting at her desk, working.

I was surprised to see Sophia during work hours.

Feeling delighted, I approached Sophia.

“Sophia, what are you doing?”

“I’m reviewing the information of the new employees we just hired.”

“Ah.”

New employees, huh.

I felt good that our Ggaemmi Guild was growing.

“Hey, when the new employees come…”

What should we do first?

As I pondered for a moment, Bomi raised her hand excitedly.

“Let’s have a picnic when the new employees come!”

“A picnic?”

“Yeah! We need to get to know each other better to work hard!”

“Hmm… That’s a good idea.”

A picnic for socializing isn’t a bad idea.

As I nodded, I noticed that Levinas’s expression wasn’t good.

“Levinas doesn’t want to have a picnic…”

“You don’t want to…?”

“Yeah… Levinas won’t go to the picnic…”

“Uh…?”

Why can’t we have a picnic together?

I was shocked and opened my eyes wide like Levinas.

“It’ll be really fun, though?”

“Is it fun…?”

“Yeah. Let’s have a picnic together.”

“I-I don’t want to! Levinas will never go to a picnic with Wanga…!”

“Uh…?”

Never with me, huh.

I was shocked by the statement and opened my eyes wide like Levinas did once.

“But it would be fun to go together…”

Seeing me disappointed, Levinas glanced around nervously.

“Then maybe just a little…?”

“Yeah. It’ll be really fun.”

“But Levinas will have a picnic with someone other than Wanga.”

“Huh?”

A picnic?

At the same time as my question, Levinas gave a thumbs up.

Levinas pointed her thumb down and began to mock.

“U, uuu… Uuuh, I’m the only snake…”

Levinas’s target for mockery was the empty air.

A word from the author (Author’s note)

Thank you so much for reading today!

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

Sorry for being late…!

Levinas mocked the faraway snake instead…

───

Thank you for the 5 coins, ggori!