chapter_0330

Chapter 328: Magic Play

Gaeul stared at the blanket with wide eyes before picking it up again.

She wasn’t going to give up after one failure – she lifted the blanket high over her head.

“Yah!”

Gaeul threw down the blanket with a shout.

She used even more force than before.

Swoosh-

As the blanket fell, Gaeul stood there proudly behind it.

Her expression showed complete confidence that she would disappear.

“…?”

Why wasn’t it working just for her?

That’s what her face seemed to say.

Disappointed, she drooped her mouth down to her chin and approached me with the blanket.

“Master, Gaeul too.”

Her eyebrows, which had been raised high earlier, were now completely lowered.

She looked quite dejected, probably because everyone else could do it except her.

“Want me to teach you how to do it?”

“Yeah…”

“How about watching from behind instead of the front?”

I patted Gaeul’s drooping head and picked up the blanket she had brought.

“Here?”

“Yeah.”

After confirming Gaeul had walked behind me, I lifted the blanket over my head.

Her eyes sparkled brightly, probably thinking she could discover the secret of teleportation.

“First you hide behind the blanket like this…”

I revealed the truth of the teleportation trick to Gaeul.

The secret was quiet footsteps and quick movement.

“Oh?!”

Gaeul’s ears perked straight up at seeing such a simple trick.

Thinking she could do it too, she came closer and stomped the ground.

“It’s not much, right? Want to try it yourself?”

“Yes!”

Gaeul picked up the blanket with a bright smile.

We all watched Gaeul’s magic show with anticipation – me, the children, and Encia.

Swish-!

Just like before, Gaeul threw the blanket to the ground.

She seemed to forget what came next, standing frozen with her hands stretched out.

“Gaeul, you need to run.”

“…!”

Pitter-patter-

Gaeul hurriedly ran behind the door.

Since the blanket had already fallen, we could see her running completely.

She was usually good at running on instinct.

It seemed following planned movements was still difficult for her.

“Gaeul, just a bit faster and you’ll get it.”

“Yes, just a little more practice should do it.”

Though she failed, we applauded her effort.

Encia and the children joined in clapping too.

But for some reason, Gaeul wasn’t coming back out from behind the door.

We waited a while, but she still didn’t show herself.

“Gaeul?”

What’s wrong? Did something happen to her?

Worried, I moved toward the bedroom.

Suddenly Gaeul jumped out from her hiding spot behind the bed.

“Boo!”

She held her hands up high, trying to surprise us.

It seemed Gaeul thought she had succeeded in the teleportation magic.

After considering what to do, I decided to pretend to be fooled.

“Gasp! Gaeul, when did you get there?”

“Whoosh!”

Gaeul made quick running motions.

She seemed to be showing how fast she was.

“Wow, Gaeul must be really fast.”

“Yeah.”

I took the happy-looking Gaeul back to the living room.

Encia and the children started clapping.

“That was amazing. I thought you had disappeared.”

“Gaeul’s a real magician!”

“I thought you vanished.”

Was she happy from everyone’s praise?

Gaeul puffed out her chest with an “ahem.”

Her wagging tail looked extremely happy.

As a fellow beast-kin, I could fully understand just how happy she was.

As always, Gaeul’s joy was at its peak.

**

Gaeul must have really enjoyed the teleportation game – she kept repeating it, refusing even her favorite outdoor walks.

Throwing the blanket and hiding, throwing and hiding.

Her skill improved slightly with each repetition.

I guess repetition really is the key to growth.

I learned a small lesson through watching Gaeul.

Levinas sat in front of Gaeul with a gloomy expression as she continued the teleportation game.

“Gaeul puppy, want to go play outside?”

“This…”

Levinas wanted to go outside, while Gaeul wanted to keep playing teleportation.

They were both too nice to force their preference on the other, but they kept glancing at each other uncertainly.

Someone needed to compromise.

Gaeul had done the teleportation trick dozens of times while Levinas waited patiently.

It would be good if Gaeul could yield this time.

I decided to teach Gaeul about compromising for others.

“Gaeul, come here, I’ll show you another magic trick.”

“Magic?!”

Gaeul ran over to me with sparkling eyes.

Levinas, Saebyeok, and Encia also showed interest at the mention of magic.

“This is a finger-cutting trick, but don’t worry too much since it can be reattached.”

I reassured the children it would be okay, just in case.

Still, Levinas opened her horned rabbit eyes wide in fear.

“King, is it really scary?!”

“Hmm… not that scary. It doesn’t hurt at all and can be reattached.”

“Really…?!”

Levinas gulped and fixed her gaze on my fingers.

Encia and the children also stared at my hand.

It’s really nothing special, but their focus made me feel a bit shy.

I scratched my cheek and moved to the side to perform the finger trick.

It was a simple magic trick that everyone from my world would know.

Gaeul’s eyes grew enormous when she saw my finger seemingly detach with a pop.

“Eeeeee!”

The same siren sound from yesterday burst out of Gaeul.

Since her expression hadn’t changed, it really must be an alert sound rather than crying.

“G-Gaeul, this can be reattached.”

I quickly showed her my still-attached finger.

Gaeul’s siren immediately stopped as if nothing had happened.

“Master?”

Gaeul licked my supposedly detached finger.

She seemed to be asking if I was okay.

I decided to show the startled Gaeul the secret of the finger-cutting trick.

“This is really easy.”

I showed the children how the finger trick worked.

Levinas and Gaeul’s eyes grew round.

“Levinas thought it really came off!”

“Gaeul too.”

“Yeah. But this is all fake, so don’t try actually cutting anything, okay?”

I warned the children just in case.

Levinas and Gaeul nodded quickly.

“Is this how you do it?!”

Swoosh swoosh, Levinas practiced attaching and detaching her finger with quick hand movements.

Maybe because she was naturally dexterous, Levinas did quite well with this trick.

Gaeul also managed to follow along, though a bit clumsily.

With a little more practice, they’d probably get pretty good at it.

“How is it, Gaeul?”

“Fun!”

Her tail wagged rapidly, seemingly enjoying this new trick too.

I gently patted Gaeul’s head.

“There are lots more like this, you know? The world is full of fun magic tricks and games.”

“Many?”

“Yeah. So many it’s hard to count them all.”

“…!”

Gaeul’s ears perked up as she counted on her fingers.

She looked like she was trying to count all the possible games.

“That’s why Levinas suggested playing outside too. There are so many fun things to do, we don’t need to stick to just one game, right?”

“Yeah!”

“Did you know Levinas waited for you even though she knew this?”

“Huh!”

Despite my long explanation, Gaeul seemed to understand well.

Grateful to Levinas for waiting, Gaeul gave her a tight hug.

I wondered if this meant Gaeul had learned about compromise.

I watched the two children hugging with a grin.

Yawn- Saebyeok approached us mid-yawn.

“I know a magic trick too.”

“Magic? What kind?”

“A tail-removing trick.”

“T-tail…?”

The mention of removing tails triggered an instinctive fear.

Gaeul and Levinas seemed to feel the same way.

“It’s not scary. It doesn’t hurt at all and can be reattached.”

Saebyeok used similar words to when I did the finger trick.

That made me feel a bit better.

“Should I not do it if it’s too scary?”

“No, I’m fine.”

What about Gaeul and Levinas?

Looking around, both children nodded tensely.

They looked even more nervous than during my finger trick.

“How do you do the tail-removing trick?”

“Just like this.”

Pop-

Saebyeok grabbed and pulled off her tail.

The detached black cat tail wiggled in Saebyeok’s hand.

“Nyaaa!”

Even knowing it was fake, my body jumped reflexively.

It was a feline beast-kin instinct.

“…!”

“Gasp!”

Gaeul and Levinas’s ears shot straight up.

Seeing our shocked reactions, Saebyeok quickly pulled out her real tail from under her clothes.

“This is a fake tail. The real one’s still attached.”

The tail that had been hidden under her top popped out.

Only then could we finally relax.

“The fake looks really real.”

“Yeah. I saw this at the horned rabbit cos-”

Saebyeok suddenly stopped mid-sentence and pressed her lips together.

Was she going to mention the bunny girl from the cosplay event?

She probably cut herself off for Levinas’s sake.

After all, Levinas thought that person was a real horned rabbit beast-kin.

I decided not to ask any more questions about it.

“S-so it was a f-fake tail…”

Ahem.

I heard Encia clearing her throat behind us.

Turning around, I found Encia completely frozen.

Thump thump thump, her heart was beating incredibly loud.