88. Playground

88. Playground

After getting a little revenge on the bad adults.

Lucy and I headed to… the village playground.

“Wow…!”

In the snow-covered open space, there were various familiar playground equipment like a slide, swings, and a jungle gym. The playground itself wasn’t very large, but it was packed with things to do.

I was surprised that such a place existed in this other world.

“This is our village playground. I often come here to play when I’m bored… Actually, when I first chased you, I happened to see you here while playing.”

“I see.”

After listening to Lucy’s explanation, I looked intently at the playground.

Playground equipment that adults wouldn’t even glance at, yet for some reason, my eyes were drawn to them, and I felt a surge of interest. My tail was wagging furiously, urging me to play.

Goodness, I’m interested in this?

It’s beneath the dignity of a strong, powerful, cool, mature, and reliable wolf, but since no one else is watching me except Lucy, it should be okay to stray for a little while.

As I walked towards the playground as if mesmerized, I suddenly noticed something strange.

There was no one at the playground.

With so many pieces of equipment to captivate children, it was strange that not a single child was playing. It’s odd.

I’m not saying all the children in the village should be here, but at least one should be on a swing, twisting the ropes around themselves, doing something like a hyper-mega-spiral-slash.

As if sensing my question, Lucy explained.

“Well, I’m the only child in the village… Everyone else is a big sister or older brother, so I’m the only one who plays at the playground.”

“Huk….”

I see.

Rural exodus.

People flocking to the capital, and the average age in the countryside gradually increasing – this was a problem even in my past life.

I thought they just weren’t playing because it was cold, but there was a more serious background to it. I smiled sheepishly and headed towards the nearest swing.

Lucy tried to explain how to use the swing.

“Do you know how to do this? Sit here….”

“Yaho!!”

But I’m a transmigrator. There’s no way I wouldn’t know how to use a swing.

I ran to the swing before Lucy. But I didn’t sit down. Instead, I stood on the swing’s seat with both feet.

Dangling, the swing swayed with inertia.

After catching a glimpse of Lucy’s mouth agape at my sudden action, I twisted my waist and coiled the swing’s ropes with the momentum.

The swing spun round and round. The ropes twisted like thick ropes. But it didn’t stop. It made the swing rotate even more.

Finally, the metal parts holding the swing made a strange creaking sound, signaling that they had reached their limit. I held onto the ropes and stopped.

“S-Seol-ah?!”

“Heh heh… Watch closely! This is how you really play on a swing!”

I waved at Lucy and then let go of the ropes.

“Whoa!!”

As the coiled ropes untwisted, the swing spun at an incredible speed. I felt a thrilling sensation, as if my body would be flung out.

“Hoo ah….”

The rotation was so fierce that the hair and tail that Sister had diligently brushed were completely disheveled. I roughly tamed the fur sticking out in all directions and looked at Lucy.

Lucy was staring at me with her mouth wide open. I could see her small, cute pink tongue.

“How was it?! Want to try too?”

“Uh, uh….”

Although she seemed a little hesitant, Lucy was clearly showing with her whole body that she wanted to try. Hoo hoo hoo.

As expected, children can’t resist this game.

I deliberately coiled the swing again.

Creak.

This time, the swing was coiled even tighter than before. The ropes screamed, but I believed they could still hold.

Lucy worried.

“I-is it okay? What if it breaks….”

“Don’t worry, I can tell if it’s about to break.”

Wolves can also sense the strength of ropes. You know how they say animals can sense earthquakes in advance? It’s the same with ropes.

I should be able to tell if the swing is about to break. I coiled the rope even tighter.

“Kkang…! Kkang kkang!”

“Huh? What’s wrong, Seol-gu? Did I spin you around suddenly earlier? I’m sorry, it was my fault. I forgot to tell you!”

“Kkang!”

After coiling the rope to a certain extent, Seol-gu, who had emerged from the bag in a somewhat disheveled state, barked “Kkang kkang” at me as a warning.

It seems to be saying that it’s dangerous to coil the rope any further….

It doesn’t look dangerous to me at all. I could probably coil it five or six more times.

“Kkae-aeng!”

“Hey, is a fox talking back to a wolf now?”

I ignored Seol-gu’s warning and coiled the swing. Perhaps it was a desire to rebel, but I coiled the swing even tighter, as if to show Seol-gu.

“Hoo hoo hoo.”

“Kkiing….”

Seol-gu quickly got out of the bag and ran away. Then, he took Lucy and hid behind the slide far away.

You useless, foolish, cowardly fox. With such timidity, you’ll never become a wolf in your next life.

“Alright!”

Creak creak.

The ropes trembled.

Although I felt a little scared now that I’d actually done it, I couldn’t give up.

Most importantly, I hated the feeling of losing to Seol-gu.

“Here I go!”

I let go of the swing.

And then….

“Whoa!”

The swing spun at an incredible speed.

My vision spun. It was so fast that Seol-gu’s tail looked like it had three tails.

But it was definitely fun. It was a fun I wouldn’t have experienced if I had listened to Seol-gu’s warning.

As expected, you shouldn’t trust a fox’s words….

Clunk.

“Huh?”

For a fleeting moment, I felt something was wrong.

The metal part of the swing, where the rope was attached to the bar, was rattling.

… Looking closely, it seems something is misaligned.

Now that the accumulated snow had disappeared, I could vaguely see the rusted parts. It seemed the swing had been neglected for quite some time since no one but Lucy played on it.

It should be fine, though. How long can a swing spin? Once the rotation stops, I’ll quickly get off and ride another safe swing….

Snap!

“Hiccup.”

Should I just get off now?

It’s a little scary.

Wolves aren’t afraid, but that doesn’t mean they’ll blindly stick their heads into dangerous places.

If a wolf knows when to make a wise choice to escape, it’s a virtue….

Crack.

“Kkang?!”

The moment I decided to get off.

The swing’s bracket finally shattered.

In the blink of an eye, the metal parts broke into pieces and flew off, and the rope, having lost its support, fell due to gravity.

As I was spinning at tremendous speed, I tumbled to the ground, spinning round and round.

“Kae-aeng!!”

Scrape, scrape, scrape.

My knees scraped against the ground. My outstretched palms did too. When my body finally stopped, I was lying dazed in a circular crater.

The sky spun around.

Lucy and Seol-gu rushed towards me.

“Seol-ah!”

“Kkang!”

It hurts.

The snow was thick, so my palms were relatively unharmed, but my knees, which had borne my weight and touched the ground, had reached the dirt beneath the snow and sustained a severe injury.

A little blood trickled out.

“Hic….”

It hurt so much that tears naturally welled up.

The pain of my scraped knees was greater than the embarrassment of the spectacular accident. If Sister were here, I would have cried “Kkae-aeng” without hesitation.

… But not now.

I am the eldest here. I don’t know Lucy’s exact age, but in terms of mental age, Lucy couldn’t possibly be older than me.

It’s the same with Seol-gu. So, the most mature one here is me, Rang Seol-ah.

In that situation, I couldn’t cry like a child, “Poo-eng.”

I pursed my lips. Sobbing and tears I couldn’t hold back escaped, but I continued to hold them back.

“Kkang kkang!”

“Hwaaang!!”

I can’t hold it in anymore. I burst into tears like a child.

Seol-gu quickly took out the transparent stone from my tail and placed it on my body. Then, a bright light enveloped me, and my wound healed as if it had never existed.

When my crying finally subsided a bit, Seol-gu frowned and scolded me sternly.

“Kkang kkang kkang kkang.”

“I’m sorry for not listening….”

“Kkyae heung.”

A sighing “Kkang.”

Seol-gu licked my cheek once and then slipped back into the bag. It seemed he was sulking because I wouldn’t listen.

I got up and brushed off the snow, and Lucy approached me.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah… Ah, but my tail….”

My pride and joy, the super-duper tail, had been thrashed around in the snow and dirt, looking very sad.

I shook my tail. As the foreign substances stuck to my tail flew in all directions, my tail finally regained a little of its former beauty.

From now on, I’ll never play with swings again.

Having learned my lesson painfully, I grabbed Lucy’s hand and left the playground.

I’m tired of the playground now. It’s time to see other places.

When I asked Lucy if there was anywhere else to go, she put her chin on her hand and pondered.

Geez.

It’s so admirable that she’s thinking so hard even though she’s young. I feel like patting her head and giving her a “well done” stamp on her hand.

But I don’t have any stamps….

Hmm… Okay.

Later, I’ll dip Seol-gu’s paw in ink and stamp it on Lucy’s cheek. It would be very cute to have a fox paw print on her soft cheek.

A fox paw alone would be a bit plain, so maybe I’ll stamp a wolf tail on the other cheek.

Huk.

But if ink gets on my tail, it’ll be hard to remove.

What should I do?

Okay, instead of getting ink on my tail, I’ll collect the shed tail hairs, make a small, giant tail, and then dip that in ink….

“Seol-ah?”

“Kkae-aeng!”

Startled by the sudden call, I let out a very fearful and terrifying wolf howl.

I worried if Lucy would be scared of me now, but fortunately, Lucy seemed not to have heard my howl properly and continued speaking normally.

“I thought of another place to go.”

“Where?”

“It’s the….”

Lucy continued.

“Library!”