New Encounters

New Encounters

When I came to my senses, it was morning.

I was blankly listening to the sound of sparrows outside and slowly got up.

Then I saw Chae-a next to me, making “angnyangnyang” sounds with Somteol.

As I watched this fleeting peaceful scene, I felt somewhat calm.

Someone gently knocks on the door, calling for me and Chae-a.

“Ha-eun, Chae-a, your big sister is here!”

Judging by the voice, it seems to be Seo-rin.

As soon as I hear Seo-rin’s voice, I calm my wagging tail and tell her to come in.

“Ha-eun, you’re already up? Good job.”

Seo-rin enters with a bright smile.

She puts down a huge backpack on the floor and makes a meaningful expression.

“Let’s try to have as much fun as possible today. Okay?”

At those words, I feel my tail wagging even faster than before as I nod.

Chae-a, who has turned into a lion’s head, rubs her eyes and slowly gets up.

She makes eye contact with me and says with a grin.

“Slept well…”

Then she lies back down on the bed.

I gently shake her body to signal her to get up.

“It’s okay… Chae-a can sleep more.”

She mumbles as if babbling and falls right back asleep.

I thought about waking Chae-a up again, but since we still had time before departure, I decided to let her sleep a bit more.

*

After that, we performed tasks like washing our faces, changing clothes, and having a quick breakfast.

We then immediately stepped outside the association, smiling brightly.

There was no particular reason for it, just that the morning sunlight was warm and bright.

‘It feels like we’re going on a trip.’

Or maybe we’re actually going on a trip?

I’m trying my best to suppress the laughter that keeps bubbling up, clearing my throat.

Han A-rin, who came along to protect us, grins and tells us.

“Kids? Repeat after me. First, don’t follow strangers.”

I quickly repeated after her to get it over with.

But Chae-a seemed to have a question, tilting her head and asking.

“They might offer yummy food. But why shouldn’t we go…?”

At those words, Han A-rin seemed to have a brief brain freeze, staring blankly with her arms crossed.

Quickly regaining her composure, she explained why we shouldn’t follow.

“If you follow, scary people might bully Chae-a and others.”

“Chae-a doesn’t like scary things…”

“Then we shouldn’t follow, right?”

Chae-a quickly nodded at those words, and Han A-rin sighed in relief and said.

“Second, if you want to go somewhere, always hold my hand.”

Hearing this, Chae-a’s eyes sparkled.

Then she stared at me, giggling, and said.

“Got it!?”

“…?”

Something seemed off, so I was feeling puzzled.

Seo-rin, standing next to me, quickly corrected this in surprise.

“The ‘unni’ A-rin unni mentioned only includes me and A-rin unni.”

“Chae-a is Ha-eun’s unni too!”

“Well, yes, but this is a bit of a different case…”

Chae-a tilted her head, seemingly not understanding well.

Then, as if her interest had suddenly disappeared, she said with a big smile.

“Okay…!”

Chae-a is smart, so she must have understood well.

I was holding Chae-a’s hand tightly, determined to guide her as best as I could.

Han A-rin cleared her throat and mentioned the last item.

“Lastly, give unni a kiss on the cheek once every hour. That’s it. Got it?”

“…?”

I wanted to object, but.

I couldn’t because Han A-rin picked me up and held me dangling.

I was enjoying this somewhat comfortable position, perhaps because I’ve gotten used to it by now, when Seo-rin continued speaking while looking at us.

“So, the place we’re going today is… an amusement park!”

At those words, I blinked blankly and looked at Seo-rin.

I never dreamed we’d be going to the ultimate destination, an amusement park, right from the start.

As I was thinking this and wagging my tail at an incredibly fast speed, Chae-a spoke to us as if she didn’t understand.

“What should we do? Chae-a doesn’t have money…? They said you need this much money to go there! But Chae-a doesn’t have that.”

I was tempted to tell the truth when I saw the check slightly sticking out of Chae-a’s squirrel pajama pocket.

But feeling like it would destroy her innocence, I kept my mouth shut.

Ha-eun, who was standing next to her, grabbed Chae-a’s check and said.

“It’s right here, isn’t it? Chae-a is totally rich!”

At those words, Chae-a confidently smiled, crossed her arms, and shook her head.

“Chae-a is smart, so I know… That’s not money…! Money is round and hard!”

Then she rummaged through her pocket and pulled out a 10-won coin to show us.

“It looks like this.”

Then, as if putting a treasure back into her bosom.

After carefully putting the coin back in her pocket, she continues.

“It’s a precious treasure Chae-a got while exploring under the vending machine…! Of course, bottle caps are treasures too!”

Chae-a gently strokes her pocket full of treasures.

Then she groans and grabs Han A-rin’s hand.

While I was wondering what to do seeing Chae-a’s behavior, Han A-rin sensibly said something that could persuade Chae-a.

“You need a lot of money to go to an amusement park. But it’s okay if you have a friend at the amusement park. As it happens, my friend just invited us to the amusement park, so we can go for free.”

At those words, Chae-a seemed very happy and looked at Han A-rin with eyes full of anticipation.

Han A-rin chuckled and said it was time to leave.

* * *

Most things in this world were the same as on Earth.

This was literally true.

Most of the stores and buildings that existed on Earth also existed here, and the popular trends were similar.

‘However, unlike Earth, mana exists here.’

If you just listen to the explanation, it might sound like the same world, but when you actually see it, you could tell that the structure was very different.

‘Flying horses! Huge growing trees! Hunters moving at high speeds!’

Things that were impossible on Earth have become not so difficult here.

Things that would have been unimaginable before were spread out everywhere, delighting my eyes.

I was standing there in a daze, looking at fun and exciting things that made my head spin.

Seo-rin, while holding me in her arms, asks me a question.

“If there’s anything you want to see, tell your sister, okay? Should we go see it right away?”

“Yes!”

“Let’s see. Then, should we start by casually looking at the animals first?”

At the mention of animals, my curiosity blooms.

Of course, even just seeing Cotton and Blackie, you can tell that there are very unique creatures here.

I was really excited to see what would appear when things started to get truly (?) unique.

I was thinking about unicorns or dragons… oh well.

Anyway, I was thrilled at the thought of seeing really unique creatures.

Seo-rin points to a bulletin board and smiles slightly.

“Ha-eun, look over there, it shows a ranking of unique animals.”

Curious about this, I take a look and see:

—

[Unique Animal Rankings]

1st place – Platypus

2nd place – Pegasus

3rd place – Shadow Fish

—

There’s something rather strange written at number 1.

While I’m staring blankly at it, tilting my head wondering if that’s correct.

Han A-rin nods as if she understands and adds an explanation.

“Certainly… platypuses are strange. They’re mammals but lay eggs, and they have no teeth but secrete milk like sweat.”

Now that I hear it, it is incredibly strange.

I’m blankly blinking my eyes, staring at the platypus’s name tag, and then tilting my head.

[… Help me.]

Suddenly, I could feel a strange echo in my head.

I was wondering if the platypus was talking to me,

But I couldn’t help but pause as the voice asking for help echoed in my head again.

‘Is it an auditory hallucination? Or is it really a request for help?’

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure it out, so I looked around trying to find the source of the sound.

But even after looking closely here and there, there was nothing particularly special to be seen.

So I told Han A-rin about this.

“You heard a voice in your head? Twice?”

She took my words seriously and had a somewhat grave expression.

Apparently, since I’m not the type to lie, it was difficult for her to just brush off my words.

Still, as if she couldn’t completely believe it, she put her hand on my forehead to check my temperature, or

“Seo-rin, did you hear any voices asking for help?”

She did various checks like asking Seo-rin, but.

Ha-eun closed her eyes with a worried expression, unable to figure out the answer.

‘Did I say something unnecessary?’

Just as I was about to tell them not to worry about it, thinking I might have misheard,

Once again, a voice echoes in my head.

[Top floor of the blue building…]

When such a specific request for help comes through, it becomes difficult for me to ignore it completely.

I asked Han A-rin and Seo-rin to ‘find a blue building’ and as I was looking around,

A tall blue clock tower in the center of the amusement park catches my eye.

‘Could it be there?’

Since there were no other blue roofs visible, I, who had been pondering with my eyes closed,

Thought it would be best to check it out, so I pointed to that place.

Seo-rin and Han A-rin nodded and slowly approached the spot.

*

Upon arriving at the clock tower, Seo-rin looks around and asks me a question.

“Ha-eun, is this the right place?”

Since I wasn’t sure either, I couldn’t answer, but

Han A-rin looked at us and smiled softly before speaking.

“Kids? Don’t get too serious. We can just check it out and move on if needed.”

“…That’s true, but how do we get in?”

To that question, Han A-rin smiled brightly and gave a definite method.

“We can ask someone we know.”

With those words, Seo-rin made a call somewhere and spoke briefly.

“Hey. Can you open the clock tower door in your amusement park?”

As I was tilting my head wondering who she was talking to.

Han A-rin laughs and tells us.

“The owner here is Perseus. Didn’t you know?”