chapter_0133

Chapter 131: To Rescue Gyeoul

Gurgle—

As I sank to the bottom of the pond with the carrot boat, I was contemplating whether to wait a bit longer before surfacing when Yeoreum dove towards me.

Splash!

Her hands caught me, and she pulled me up to the surface.

Surprisingly, I wasn’t even out of breath.

Could it be that my lung capacity has increased?

“Gyeoul!”

“Yes…?”

“Are you okay…?”

Her voice was laced with genuine concern.

She obviously thought I had accidentally fallen into the water.

“I’m fine. The water here is shallow. I just took this boat Levinas made out for a test.”

“Is that so?”

After glancing at the sunken carrot boat, Yeoreum helped me up onto the pond’s edge.

Levinas and Saebyeok then grabbed my drenched hands.

“King! Are you alright?!”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“That’s good! I thought you were in big trouble because of Levinas!”

Whew.

Relieved, Levinas grabbed my soaking wet hair.

Even a gentle squeeze sent water dripping steadily.

“King, you need to shake it off!”

“Shake it off?”

“Yeah! You have to give it a good shake!”

Levinas shook her head and upper body from side to side, much like a dog shaking off water.

The movement was so fast it made her dizzy.

“Umm…”

Was this a method used by the beast-kin, or just Levinas’s own technique?

Not sure what it was, but I decided to follow her lead.

“Like this?”

Shake shake shake-!

I shook my head and upper body from side to side, and my tail responded by shaking along with it.

Honestly, I didn’t expect it to work well, but the effect was surprisingly dramatic.

My agile body flung water all around, enough to soak the nearby people.

“Sorry…”

I quickly apologized to the children.

Fortunately, no one seemed upset.

“Gyeoul, you’re really energetic today, huh?”

Hehe.

Jung Yu-na chuckled and swung her staff, gathering the splashed water into a sphere that fell back into the pond.

“Wow…”

Magic never ceases to amaze me.

As I stood there admiring Jung Yu-na’s magic, she began to cast an even more astonishing spell.

Swoosh!

The carrot boat that had sunk began to rise to the surface of the water.

Levinas jumped up, thrilled by the resurrection of the boat.

“Levinas’s boat!”

“Just a moment? I’ll make it safer.”

Jung Yu-na’s magic enveloped the boat. I wasn’t quite sure of the specifics, but it was evident that Levinas’s carrot boat was improving.

“It’s a magic boat!”

Levinas extended her foot towards the carrot boat.

Scared by the rocking motion, she stepped back and looked up at Jung Yu-na.

“Okay. I’ll lift you up.”

Jung Yu-na’s magic wrapped around our bodies, and suddenly, both the children and I were floating in mid-air.

“Wow.”

I never imagined I’d experience levitation magic in my life.

The novelty made my tail perk up.

Coming from a world devoid of magic, my reaction was understandably more pronounced than the others’, but the children, accustomed to magic, hardly batted an eye.

Saebyeok lay down in the empty space and slept, while Levinas merely rowed the carrot boat.

“King! Look, there are fish below!”

“Okay.”

As a school of mackerel swam under the carrot boat, Levinas suddenly lifted the oar.

“Gotcha!”

She swung the oar at the school of mackerel, but because of the buoyancy, it only slapped the water.

“Hehe.”

Levinas seemed to enjoy the action, continually striking the water.

Although it was clear we wouldn’t catch any mackerel this way, since Levinas was having fun, I decided to just let her be.

“The mackerel dodge well.”

“Yeah! But fish are weaker than horned rabbits! Except for sharks!”

Slap! Slap!

Levinas struck the pond repeatedly.

Perhaps provoked by her indiscriminate attacks, a mackerel that had been swimming beneath the surface suddenly leaped up.

Thwack!

The mackerel struck Levinas on the nose and quickly darted away.

Startled, Levinas froze in place with the oar still raised.

“…”

Slowly, she turned her head to look at me, her eyes wide with fear and her pupils trembling.

“Are you okay?”

“Ru, run away…!”

Levinas paddled frantically to escape the mackerel.

The angry school of fish continued to circle around us.

“It looks like the mackerel are really angry.”

“Do mackerel here attack people? It’s a truly violent world.”

Levinas’s arms trembled as she rowed. “Mackerel attack…!”

She directed the boat towards where Yeoreum and Jung Yu-na were standing, both women watching us with alarmed eyes.

“Should we help?”

“Yeah, the kids are scared,” Jung Yu-na said, raising her staff.

At that moment, the mackerel that had earlier struck Levinas leaped at her again.

“Ugh!”

Levinas squinted her eyes shut.

I had to help her.

As I resolved to do so, time seemed to slow down, and then I saw it.

Saebyeok, who I had thought was asleep, was alert and her eyes sparkled.

Saebyeok snapped up the leaping mackerel in her mouth.

“Oh…”

She caught it with her mouth instead of her hands or tail.

Not only was she strong, but her reaction speed was impressively fast.

“Chomp.”

With the mackerel in her mouth, Saebyeok wagged her tail.

Saebyeok was the victor of this maritime battle.

—
Raei Translations
—

After a light morning of boating, Gyeoul went off to hunt.

When the time came, Saebyeok tugged on Yeoreum’s hem.

“Hey…”

“Yes, Saebyeok?”

“I’m ready now.”

After playing thoroughly with the children, Saebyeok realized something.

If she continued to suffer alone, she couldn’t genuinely interact with the children.

Wanting to have more fun with Gyeoul and Levinas, she decided to confide a secret to Yeoreum that only she knew.

“Is it okay if I tell you?”

“Yes.”

“…”

Yeoreum stroked Saebyeok’s head.

With her decision made, Saebyeok’s ears perked up towards the sky.

“Gyeoul actually comes from another world. She crossed over through a portal.”

“Is that so. Was there a reason you tried to hide the truth?”

“Yes. Gyeoul doesn’t remember what happened to her own world.”

She can’t remember her destroyed world.

Despite the situation being pitiful, a sigh of relief escaped.

It was fortunate she couldn’t remember such a world.

“It’s better if fewer people know the truth, right?”

“Yes. If she knew that her original world had been destroyed…”

“It would be tormenting.”

It wouldn’t have been surprising if she chose to end her life out of despair.

Yeoreum could understand why Saebyeok had wanted to keep the truth hidden.

It was all for Gyeoul’s mental well-being.

‘Wait, just a minute.’

She can’t remember the destroyed world.

But conversely, does this mean she remembers the world before its destruction?

Perhaps Gyeoul only remembers a world where she lived happily with her family and friends.

‘Could it be…?’

Yeoreum remembered the first time she met Gyeoul.

The child seemed to have no will to live.

‘Was it not that she didn’t want to live, but that she didn’t want to live in our world?’

She definitely mentioned her friends were in a place she couldn’t reach.

If what Gyeoul truly wanted was to return to her world and reunite with her friends and family…

For Yeoreum, it felt as though a tangled thread was suddenly unraveling.

“But Gyeoul’s world had already…”

Perished.

Completely and irreversibly.

“My God.”

There had been a time when Gyeoul asked Sophia if she wanted to return to her original world.

At the time, it seemed like an insignificant question, but it actually cut right to the heart of Gyeoul’s predicament.

“So Gyeoul’s goal was to return to her original world.”

It didn’t matter that Gyeoul wanted to go to another world.

Any world had the potential to open a portal, and as long as Gyeoul was happy there, that was all that mattered.

But what if, after all her efforts, the world she returns to is one that has been destroyed?

Would she be able to stay sane?

“Ah.”

That must not happen.

We must stop Gyeoul.

Yeoreum’s face turned paler than ever before.

Saebyeok decided to offer Yeoreum a glimmer of hope.

“But there’s still a possibility for a miracle.”

“A miracle…?”

“I was reborn in a dungeon, remember? I know a lot about dungeons.”

“What do you mean…?”

Tears welled up in Yeoreum’s eyes; she was on the verge of crying.

Saebyeok patted her back gently.

“Dungeons are created when someone seeks help. It was like that in my case too. If the world Gyeoul lived in opens as a dungeon…”

“…you mean, we can save a doomed world?”

“Yes. Perhaps the dungeon might open at the very point in time before its destruction.”

Does that mean we can reverse time?

Yeoreum harbored hope.

Saebyeok, being a child born from a dungeon, knew about dungeons better than anyone else.

“But the chances are extremely slim. We are talking about a miracle.”

“…It’s okay. I believe in miracles.”

A child without mana, a horned rabbit dungeon where there was no mana.

Experienced the world without mana through Gyeoul’s memories.

‘Is it teaching me how to fight without mana?’

It felt as though someone was training her.

The world Gyeoul came from might be training her.

Then the portal must surely open.

Everything that had happened so far couldn’t just be a coincidence.

Yeoreum decided to intensify her training in preparation for that day.

Not to save a world, but to save a child.

—