chapter_0624

624 – Echo

624 – Echo

Despite various happenings, Gaeul eventually returned safely to the park.

She proudly presented the items she had bought, including a hula hoop and some animal snacks.

“Wow, did Gaeul buy all of this?”

“Yay! It’s fun!”

“Hula hoop?”

“Fun!”

Gaeul stood the hula hoop upright.

Then she pushed it forward like rolling a tire.

Roll, roll—

Perhaps because she rolled it at a slow speed, the hula hoop quickly lost its momentum and fell over.

Seeing this, Gaeul let out a gleeful scream.

“Gaeul, are you having fun?”

“Yay!”

Gaeul picked up the fallen hula hoop and rolled it again.

Although her control wasn’t great and she couldn’t roll it very far, Gaeul was delighted.

She giggled and rolled the hula hoop several times.

As if they had completed the task I assigned, the children walked over to where we were.

“Levinas has finished the task! But what’s that?”

“Fun!”

When Levinas showed curiosity about the hula hoop, Gaeul demonstrated how to roll it.

Levinas perked up his ears as he watched the hula hoop roll.

“I know this! It’s a rolling wheel!”

“Huh…?”

“Yes! Levinas wants to try rolling it too!”

Levinas rolled the hula hoop quite delicately.

Though he wasn’t very strong, his control was good, and he rolled it twice as far as Gaeul.

Still, Gaeul didn’t feel jealous at all.

Instead, she just laughed and encouraged him to roll it even further.

“Farther! Farther!”

“Yes! More! Yay!”

“I want to try next!”

“Me too…!”

The children played a game of throwing the hula hoop and chasing after it several times.

While playing, Gaeul suddenly remembered me and handed the hula hoop over.

In truth, the hula hoop wasn’t a toy to be thrown around, but I thought it wouldn’t matter as long as the children enjoyed it.

“Hey kids, do you want to see something amazing?”

“Something amazing?!”

“Yes. Look.”

I threw the hula hoop while using my wrist snap to give it some spin towards me.

Then, the hula hoop that had rolled far away began to come back towards us.

“Wow!”

“What?! How did you do that?!”

Levinas and Gaeul were amazed as they watched the hula hoop return.

The other children didn’t seem very surprised, perhaps because they understood the principle.

“Hey, Gaeul too.”

“Gaeul wants to try?”

“Yes!”

Gaeul threw the hula hoop again, hoping it would come back.

Unfortunately, she didn’t use her wrist snap, so the hula hoop didn’t return.

“……”

Gaeul stared intently at the hula hoop that wasn’t coming back and squatted down.

“Come here.”

She tapped the ground as if calling a pet.

However, the hula hoop didn’t come closer.

“Juin, are you not coming?”

“Gaeul can’t?”

“Yes. Gaeul, aren’t you Juin?”

Isn’t she the owner?

Did she think it wouldn’t come back because she wasn’t the owner of the hula hoop?

Gaeul’s unique imagination was so pure and amusing.

“Gaeul, to make the hula hoop come back, you need to use your wrist snap.”

“Wrist snap?”

“Yes. You throw it like this and twist your wrist.”

I taught Gaeul and the other children the technique to make the hula hoop return.

Once.

Twice.

And ten times.

Gaeul tried many times, but the hula hoop still didn’t come back.

“Gaeul, still not yet?”

“Ugh…”

All the other kids succeeded after one or two tries, but Gaeul was the only one who kept failing.

Yet, Gaeul didn’t get discouraged and continued to try.

Persistence was indeed Gaeul’s greatest strength.

“Yay! Yay!”

Gaeul threw the hula hoop for quite a long time, and we watched her while chatting.

Then, at some point, Gaeul showed a look of understanding.

“Yay…!”

A shout mixed with newfound confidence.

The hula hoop Gaeul threw soared high into the sky and, just a little, came back.

“Wow!”

“Gaeul became a puppy too!”

“That’s amazing…!”

We all congratulated Gaeul on her success.

Then, Gaeul, wagging her tail, jumped up into the air.

Seeing effort bear fruit was always the best moment.

**

After the hula hoop throwing game ended and the children’s interest waned, I decided to demonstrate how to properly spin the hula hoop.

Using my waist, I spun the hula hoop, and Levinas’s eyes widened like a Horned Rabbit.

“Wanga, what’s that?!”

“Actually, this is how you really use a hula hoop.”

“Wow! Is that how it works?!”

Levinas stomped his feet excitedly near me.

He tried to come closer, but the spinning hula hoop prevented him from getting too close.

“I got it! The identity of the fun thing is a weapon!”

“A weapon?”

“Yes! You spin it like this to keep others from getting close!”

Levinas’s explanation was quite convincing.

If the hula hoop had blades, it might have indeed been impossible to approach.

“While it could be used that way, it’s just an exercise tool.”

“Exercise?”

“Yes. You spin it to lose weight. Do you want to try, Levinas?”

“Yes…!”

Levinas, with the hula hoop around his waist, swayed his body side to side.

He wiggled his waist as if dancing, but unfortunately, the hula hoop fell between his legs.

“Hehe.”

Levinas couldn’t spin the hula hoop properly, but he kept dancing and seemed to enjoy just dancing.

“Wang, try it like Levinas! It’s fun!”

Wiggle, wiggle.

Levinas brought his fists together at his chest and quickly shook his waist like he was doing a belly dance.

I followed Levinas and swayed my upper body back and forth to the rhythm.

“Hehe.”

It was then that we had a sudden but joyful dance time.

From the direction of the Ggaemmi Guild building, we heard loud voices from the children.

“Yay!”

“What’s happening?!”

Bomi was excitedly shouting “Yay!” while Gaeul sounded somewhat flustered.

They were in the same place, but for some reason, their reactions were different.

‘What is it?’

I stopped moving, unsure if something was wrong or not.

Levinas seemed to have the same thought, tilting his head.

“Levinas, let’s go check that out for a moment.”

“Yes!”

After walking a little with Levinas, we arrived in front of the Ggaemmi Guild.

There, the children were squatting in front of the dirt ground.

“Hey kids, what are you doing sitting there?”

“There’s someone underground.”

“Underground?”

Bomi giggled and pointed to what was our secret base we had dug a long time ago.

Gaeul was cautious, while Bomi was having fun.

And Haneul was just watching Gaeul and Bomi’s reactions.

“Yes…?”

Who could possibly be underground?

I looked at Saebyeok, the only one maintaining her composure among the children.

Then Saebyeok silently mouthed to me.

-Echo

‘Echo?’

It was a moment of confusion for me.

Gaeul grabbed my hand and squatted in front of the hole leading to the base.

“Juin! There’s a monster!”

“A monster?”

“Yes! Gaeul is calling it!”

A monster that follows what you say.

Is she talking about a microphone?

No, Gaeul already knew about microphones…

Then could it be that the echo Saebyeok mentioned?

Just as I was trying to grasp the meaning of what Saebyeok said.

Gaeul shouted towards the underground base.

“Yay!”

-Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay!

Gaeul’s loud voice echoed back.

Her ears perked up at the multiple soft echoes.

“What’s that?”

“Yes. Gaeul’s voice is coming back, right?”

“Yes! It’s fun!”

Still not fully understanding the world, Gaeul was treating the echo as if it were a monster.

Just as I was about to explain what an echo was to Gaeul, Bomi giggled playfully.

“I think this is a Jangsan Tiger.”

“A Jangsan Tiger?”

“Yes. A monster that mimics voices.”

A Jangsan Tiger.

In this world, it might really exist.

Of course, what was coming back was definitely an echo.

Seeing Bomi giggling, it was clear she was just joking.

“Don’t mimic me!”

-Don’t mimic me! Me! Me…!

The echo even mimicked Gaeul’s command not to mimic.

Perhaps angered, Gaeul’s eyes narrowed fiercely.

“Ggaemmu, shut up!”

-Ggaemmu, shut up! Shut up! Shut up…!

The echo of “shut up” came back particularly loudly.

Perhaps startled by hearing her own voice being called foolish, Gaeul’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Yay!”

Did she get angry at the echo that kept mimicking her voice?

Gaeul picked up a stone and threw it towards the hole.

Then she pulled me and the other kids away from the hole.

Thinking that since it was a monster that mimicked voices, it would also mimic throwing stones.

-……

But the echo had no physical form.

It wouldn’t throw stones back at us…

Thud-!

I thought nothing would happen, but surprisingly, a stone Gaeul threw popped out from underground.

A stone about the size of a thumb lightly fell on Gaeul’s head.

“Whoa!”

“Yaaah!”

I was so startled that I jumped up from my spot.

I had thought it was just an echo, but there was really something hiding underground.

“Ggaemmu! Ggaemmu!”

Gaeul raised her arms and spun around us.

Perhaps startled, she even let out a siren-like wail.

What was going on? Was Bomi just playing a prank?

Looking towards Bomi, I could see her genuinely flustered.

That meant Bomi wasn’t the one playing a prank.

‘Oh my.’

There might really be a monster underground.

Just the thought of it made my ears and tail start to tremble.