chapter_0358

Chapter 356: VR Machine

Living in a house for so long had made me forget.

That among all disasters, natural disasters were the most terrifying.

Before nature’s unstoppable whims, I too was just a helpless worm.

‘This is bad.’

How far had I been swept away?

Looking around underwater, I made eye contact with Levinas.

-King!

Bubble bubble bubble.

Air bubbles burst from Levinas’s mouth.

Seemingly shocked from being swept up by the wave, Levinas wasn’t even moving her limbs.

She just sank toward the seafloor with her horned rabbit eyes wide open.

‘Oh no.’

As I hurriedly approached Levinas, I realized something.

This wasn’t particularly deep water.

Levinas seemed to know this too, as she touched the bottom and jumped toward me.

I reached out to catch the approaching Levinas, but for some reason her gaze was fixed behind me.

‘Huh?’

What was behind me?

I turned around and got quite a shock.

There was a shark tail right in front of my face.

-Nyaaa!

A muffled scream escaped underwater.

As I frantically swam toward Levinas, I suddenly stopped.

The shark tail that swiftly passed by was too familiar.

-Sophia?

When I called Sophia’s name underwater, she shot over like a shark and snatched me up.

Levinas was already caught in Sophia’s other hand.

‘Wow.’

Sophia was really fast.

With Sophia’s help, we quickly made it back to the surface.

“Kids!”

“Master!”

Our family ran toward us as we got onto the beach.

Leo and Jango, who had been digging in the sand, ran over too.

“Are you both okay?”

Yeoreum checked on me and Levinas.

Fortunately, we were both fine.

Thanks to beast-kin’s excellent lung capacity.

“Yes, we’re fine. Thanks for saving us, Sophia.”

“Good, I’m glad nothing serious happened.”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

After nodding, I checked on Levinas’s condition.

Despite falling in the ocean, Levinas didn’t seem particularly scared.

Probably thanks to her natural love of water.

‘Well, with Sophia here…’

I knew Sophia’s swimming ability.

With Sophia around, there was no reason to fear the ocean.

‘Still, better to be careful.’

We should watch out for waves from now on.

Just as I was thinking this-

Gaeul came close and poked my shoulder.

“Master.”

“Yeah?”

“Gaeul too.”

Gaeul walked toward the shore where waves were rolling in.

With her ankles in the water, she turned to look at us with fierce eyes.

“Yah!”

“…?”

“Yah yah!”

Gaeul shouted with determination.

What was she doing?

I watched her actions carefully.

‘That’s…’

She raised her clenched fist above her head, then threw it down.

It was the pose from her favorite teleportation magic trick.

‘Ah.’

Since Levinas and I had vanished instantly in the wave-

Gaeul thought it was magic and was trying to copy it.

“Gaeul, that wasn’t magic just now.”

“Heuk…?”

“We got swept away by the wave. Waves are really scary, so we need to be careful, okay?”

“Scary…?!”

Gaeul quickly ran out of the water.

She hid behind me while watching the incoming waves warily.

“Hehe, not all waves are scary, just be careful of the big ones. Got it?”

“Yeah…!”

After answering energetically, Gaeul licked my cheek.

“…!”

Was it because of the saltwater?

Gaeul stepped back hesitantly.

She froze with round eyes for a moment, then started licking my cheek repeatedly.

“…!”

Gaeul shuddered each time she licked my cheek.

But she didn’t stop licking.

“Gaeul, isn’t it salty?”

“Salty.”

Gaeul tilted her head while continuing to lick my cheek.

She didn’t seem to understand why it was salty yet.

“That’s from the seawater. The ocean is really salty.”

“Heuk…?”

Gaeul stopped licking and approached the ocean.

She crouched by the shore and scooped up seawater with both hands to drink.

“Gaeul, don’t-”

Before I could stop her, Gaeul took a mouthful of seawater.

She immediately sprayed it out.

Puhoo-

The seawater fountain shot up and made a rainbow.

The water must have been very salty, as Gaeul’s face scrunched up and twisted around.

“Ugh! Myak!”

“G-Gaeul, are you okay?”

When I hurriedly approached, Gaeul showed her belly and lay down flat.

She was declaring defeat to Mother Nature’s ocean.

“Oh dear, you silly thing.”

“Gaeul, drink water! Fresh water!”

Our family gathered around to take care of the fallen Gaeul.

As everyone fussed over her, Gaeul’s tail started wagging rapidly while she lay there.

Thankfully, she didn’t seem too shocked by the experience.

**

After playing at the beach, we returned home that day.

As we were resting on the sofa, Han Yeoreum chuckled while looking at her smartphone.

“What are you looking at?”

“Pictures of Gyeoul and Levinas getting hit by the wave.”

“Hmm?”

Curious, I looked at Han Yeoreum’s smartphone.

The photos were quite dynamic, taken in continuous shooting mode.

We were smiling and clapping, then suddenly shocked by the wave.

When swept up by the wave, my eyes were wide open as if screaming “nyaah!”

Levinas beside me had a similar expression.

“They’re really dynamic photos.”

“Right? Can I post these on my personal SNS?”

“Sure.”

After I agreed, Han Yeoreum started posting the memorable photos on SNS.

The title was ‘Scary Ocean’.

[LOL LOL LOL]

[Oh my goodness LOL what happened?! LOL]

[The photos are so dynamic LOL]

[Are the little ones okay!?]

Comments started appearing quickly.

Most people found it funny while also showing concern for our wellbeing.

“Hehe.”

It felt nice that everyone liked it.

As my gently swaying tail bumped against Han Yeoreum sitting next to me-

Levinas burst through the front door and ran to the living room.

“King! King! Something big!”

“What?”

“Kwon Arin has something really fun!”

“Something fun?”

“Yeah!”

Levinas stomped her feet, saying we should go quickly.

Since we had nothing else to do, I decided to go along.

**

Knock knock-

Kwon Arin opened the door when we knocked.

Entering the room, we saw a broadcast screen.

[The little ones are here!!]

[Kwon Arin using her viewer count cheat key again LOL]

[Damn LOL spent all my money this month LOL;;]

I glanced at the broadcast screen and sat down nearby.

The children who came with me huddled around me too.

Saebyeok lay down on the blanket to sleep, while Gaeul sat with blank eyes and stretched legs.

Once everyone was settled, Kwon Arin brought out the fun thing Levinas had mentioned.

“Is this what you meant?”

“Yeah!”

In Kwon Arin’s hand was a VR device.

The difference from VR devices in my world was how miniaturized it was.

It looked similar to the drone goggles we’d played with before.

Levinas took the VR device from Kwon Arin and came to us.

She put it on like swimming goggles and waved her hands around in the air.

“King, I’ll show you what I’m doing.”

“Okay.”

The VR device Levinas wore was connected to a nearby monitor.

Thanks to that, we could see everything Levinas was doing.

“Yah! Yah!”

Levinas threw punches in the air.

On screen, fruits started getting destroyed in real time.

Clap-!

When Levinas clapped, a tangerine burst.

When she made a tearing motion, an apple split apart.

This world’s VR devices seemed to recognize hand movements.

“Levinas is really good at this.”

“Master…?”

Just as I was praising Levinas’s enthusiastic gaming-

Gaeul tugged at my clothes.

She pointed at Levinas with blank eyes.

To Gaeul who didn’t know about VR, Levinas must have looked like she was doing strange things.

“Remember when you wore the drone goggles before, Gaeul?”

“Drone?”

“Yeah. When you wore something similar and could fly in the sky.”

“…!”

Did she recall that special experience of flying?

Gaeul’s tail shot straight up.

“Right now Levinas is seeing another world through those goggles.”

“Gaeul too…?!”

“Yeah. Let’s have you try it later too.”

After explaining the VR device to Gaeul, I turned back to watch Levinas.

Yah yah.

Levinas, who had been throwing punches with shouts, started walking forward.

“Oh!”

“Levinas, wait!”

“Hyah!”

After taking a few steps, Levinas thrust her fist forward like a karate chop.

The problem was that Kwon Arin’s room was smaller than our house.

Thunk-!

Before we could stop her, Levinas’s fist collided with Kwon Arin’s wall.

With a light but loud impact sound, Levinas froze in place.

It was loud enough to make Saebyeok look up from their nap.

“O-oww…”

Levinas very slowly withdrew her fist.

She clutched her wall-punching hand while groaning.

Her whole body was visibly trembling.