Beep!?

Beep!?

 

I giggled while watching the tails swaying in front of me.

The already cute babies became even cuter with their adorable tails, making them at least twice as cute as usual…!

‘So cute.’

My silly tail was smooth and sleek, giving off a cool vibe rather than a cute one.

Thinking that it felt a bit different from those fluffy and furry tails, I looked at the babies alternately.

‘They all match their hair color.’

Chae-a’s was pink, and Seo-a’s was brown.

Thinking how well they suited them, I was stroking each of their newly grown tails when Yuna, who was standing next to me, subtly moved closer and pushed her tail towards me.

It seemed that Yuna also wanted her tail to be stroked, so I smiled brightly and stroked Yuna’s tail as well.

“I like it…! Now Chae-a can also sway her tail!”

While I was stroking their tails for a while, Chae-a suddenly stood up as if she had made a decision and said to us.

“Swaying makes Cotton-teri happy. Should I sway?”

Then she started calling for the three bears with movements even more intense than her usual dance routine.

As I was bewildered by Chae-a’s sudden action, Cotton-teri and Cotton-i popped out from somewhere.

“Beep!?”

Then, seeing the tail that had grown on Chae-a, she made an extremely shocked expression.

Soon after, she quickly ran over and started rubbing her body against Chae-a’s tail.

“Beep!” (Amazing!)

It seems she’s happy because something similar to her own fur has appeared.

While I was watching this, thinking that the whole surroundings were covered with fluffy things.

Han A-rin, who had been filming this for a while, came up with an idea as if she had thought of something good.

“Since you’ve grown a tail, want to go show it off to people?”

As I tilted my head at the word ‘show off’, Han A-rin immediately added an additional explanation seeing my reaction.

“It means going around the association and bragging about growing a tail. What do you think?”

To be honest, showing off something to someone is quite embarrassing, so I wanted to refuse Han A-rin’s suggestion.

But because Chae-a and Seo-a were so happy, I found it hard to refuse.

Although I wasn’t very keen on it, I awkwardly nodded, deciding to go through with it for Chae-a and Seo-a’s sake.

‘The kids are more important than me…’

So, deciding to close my eyes tight and do it despite the embarrassment, I suggested we go around the association.

* * *

Because many hunters were stationed at the association, it was always crowded except for the outskirts.

As a result, you could encounter hunters wherever you went.

Among such places in the association, the area near the training ground was particularly crowded.

We were blankly watching numerous hunters passing by here and there.

Then we gathered in a circle and started to have a strategy meeting.

“How should we do it?”

Since “showing off the tail” was actually a goal where it wasn’t clear exactly what to do.

I asked this to redefine the goal of what exactly we should do.

Chae-a, who was next to me, hugged her tail and said proudly.

“Yeah. I’m gonna tell them to come close and touch Chae-a’s tail.”

“…?”

“And when they’re done touching, I’ll tell them to touch Ant oppa’s too.”

“…?!”

At first, I thought she was joking.

But seeing Chae-a’s very serious expression as she said this, I realized it wasn’t a joke.

As I was worrying about whether the hunters would actually want to touch Ant and looking around cautiously, Seo-a next to me said proudly.

“Myam-ya-ya! Roar, and pounce!”

“If they don’t touch, roar and tell them to touch!”

Does she mean she’ll scold them if they don’t touch?

I shook my head quickly at Seo-a, meaning that she shouldn’t do that, and said.

“You shouldn’t roar, okay?”

“Bya…”

Although she has some aggressive tendencies, Seo-a was essentially a very kind child.

She seemed to understand what I said well, nodding her head in agreement.

I patted Seo-a’s head to comfort her and then continued speaking.

“What do you think, Yuna?”

At that question, Yuna stared at me blankly and then made a suggestion.

“I saw it on TV. If you hang something cute on a long stick like this, the fish will get caught.”

Is she talking about fishing?

I was puzzled, wondering why Yuna suddenly mentioned fishing.

Yuna explained the reason she brought up fishing.

“So if we stick out our tails and wait like this, people will get caught too.”

Logically speaking, it was an absurd suggestion.

But somehow… thinking about Han A-rin and Seo-rin, the idea that it might actually work flashed through my mind.

‘Since I can’t think of anything else anyway, it might not be bad to give it a try.’

Since there was nothing to lose even if we failed, I told the kids we should give it a try.

*

The method was simple.

We just had to stick out our tails in front of the training ground where many people pass by, and wait for people to get “caught”.

So we were waiting with our tails out, hoping for hunters to get “caught”(?).

‘No one is coming.’

Everyone just glanced at us or took pictures.

No one approached us.

‘I wonder why?’

If I were a hunter, I’d be curious enough to ask why the kids were doing this.

It’s somewhat incomprehensible that everyone is pretending not to see us.

As I was tilting my head in confusion, Seo-rin, who had just come out of the training ground, exclaimed in shock.

“What, what are you doing?”

In response to that question, Yuna, who was feeling down because she couldn’t catch a hunter (her ears were folded in half), explained.

“It feels good when you touch the tail, so I’m doing this. But I’m sad because no one is coming.”

“You want someone to touch your tail?”

Yuna nodded sadly, though her expression remained blank.

Seo-rin, seeing this and feeling sorry for her, slowly stroked Yuna’s tail while saying.

“Then, can I stroke it for you?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

With those words, Yuna extended her tail to Seo-rin, perking up her ears.

It seemed she was quite excited about having her tail stroked, so I watched with a grin.

Seo-rin stroked all nine of the gently swaying tails equally, wearing an extremely happy expression.

As I was watching this, thinking how funny Seo-rin looked.

Sung Na-yeon and the counselor approached us from one side, asking what we were doing.

In response to that question, Chae-a explained what we were doing with a very proud expression.

“Yeah! People are here because Chae-a and Yuna and Ha-eun and Seo-a like having their tails touched!”

“Tails?”

At those words, Sung Na-yeon stared blankly for a moment, then spoke while fidgeting with her hands.

“Th-then can I touch them too?”

“Yeah! But after touching all of them, you have to touch Ant oppa too…!”

“Ant?”

Seong Na-yeon looked bewildered as she stared at the small ant waving its hand next to Chae-a.

She then closed her eyes tightly and nodded.

“… If that’s the case, there’s no choice.”

What exactly was there no choice about?

While I was thinking that Seong Na-yeon’s expression looked like that of a protagonist sacrificing themselves alone to save the world,

I noticed hunters quietly approaching from nearby.

Seeing this, I realized that the reason the hunters hadn’t approached before was that they had been deliberately ignoring us for our sake, and I smiled awkwardly.

‘They were pretending not to see us in case we felt uncomfortable.’

As I was wagging my tail to the people around me, feeling grateful yet apologetic,

Perseus came running urgently from the side corridor, shouting something incomprehensible.

“… I heard there was a tail!”

“?”

As I stood there blankly watching Perseus,

Perseus approached me and said.

“Tail.”

At those words, I unconsciously extended my tail.

Perseus gently stroked the tail with a satisfied expression, then suddenly disappeared somewhere.

‘Enlightenment…?’

What on earth was that about?

As I was hugging my tail and meowing, thinking I couldn’t understand at all,

Chae-a, seemingly tired now, squirmed and spoke to me.

“Chae-a, is your tail okay now…”

It seemed the sudden flood of attention was overwhelming, so I quickly asked Seo-rin for help.

Seo-rin nodded as if understanding and said.

“The little ones are struggling, so we should go now. I’m sorry.”

Hearing this, the hunters immediately regained their composure, nodding and smiling awkwardly.

“The little ones are so cute, we lost our senses for a moment.”

“Sorry? It must have been hard with us suddenly crowding around.”

“Here, have some snacks. I bought them earlier.”

Since everyone generally had a tendency to cherish the little ones, they quickly acknowledged their mistake and backed off.

As I was bowing repeatedly to the hunters with gratitude and apology.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, Chae-a lifted Somteol and said.

“Chae-a is tired so it’s not okay, but…! Somteol is fine! Here, hold and hug!”

Then she gave Somteol to the hunter in front, and told me, Yuna, and Seo-a to come along.

Surprised by Chae-a’s actions, I couldn’t help but ask one question.

“Aren’t we taking Somteol with us?”

“It’s okay. Somteol is strong…!”

“Peeeee!?”

I had no choice but to run away, hearing Somteol’s scream of despair from behind.

If I were to turn back, Somteol’s sacrifice (or not) would be in vain.

So, deciding to let it go, I ran forward with both arms spread wide.