chapter_0480 part 3

Chapter 480: Rival

Chapter 480: Rival

Gaeul’s chest swelled with her inhale.

My ears perked up expecting the siren, but to my surprise, a different siren rang out.

“Beeboo-beeboo-beeboo!”

Gaeul made an ambulance sound instead.

Not “aeeng” but “beeboo.”

Everyone who knew Gaeul expressed confusion at this unexpected siren sound.

‘Why beeboo instead of aeeng?’

There must be a reason she made a different sound.

I decided to think from Gaeul’s perspective for a moment.

“Hmm…”

She made the ambulance sound, going “beeboo-beeboo.”

Ambulances are typically called when there’s a medical problem…

Perhaps Gaeul thought there was something wrong with her tail that had been pinched by the crab.

“Gaeul, do you need an ambulance?”

“Nyeng…! Gaeuri bleeding…?!”

Gaeul pointed at her tail with a terrified expression.

Because the crab’s pincer looked like scissors, she seemed certain she was bleeding.

“No, you’re not bleeding.”

“Hogok…!”

Gaeul was relieved to hear she wasn’t bleeding.

She then stared at me with a pitiful expression.

“Yes, I’ll get it off for you.”

I grabbed the crab’s body and shell, careful to avoid the pincers.

As I pulled the crab off, a few strands of Gaeul’s tail fur were plucked out with a tug.

“…!”

Did it sting a bit when the fur was pulled out?

Gaeul’s fur stood on end.

“Look, I got the crab off.”

I placed the crab I’d removed from Gaeul’s tail onto the sandy beach.

The crab on the beach clacked its pincers together, threatening us.

Quite an aggressive little thing.

Fearing another pincer attack, Gaeul and I backed away.

“Tak! Tak!”

Gaeul stomped on the sand, threatening the crab.

The crab clacked its pincers, engaging in a battle of nerves with Gaeul.

Sizzle-

It was as if lightning sparked between them.

Just as I swallowed nervously at the tension:

Snatch-!

Jjakjjak, the bird divine beast, suddenly appeared and snatched up the crab.

“Ing?”

Had Jjakjjak been following us?

Gaeul and I watched as Jjakjjak flew far out to sea.

“Bye-bye…”

Had she grown attached to the crab while fighting with it?

Gaeul waved gloomily at the crab being carried away by Jjakjjak.

Fortunately, Jjakjjak didn’t eat the crab but simply dropped it into the sea.

Gaeul’s tail swayed gently as she watched the crab fall into the ocean.

It was good that Gaeul’s rival had survived.

**

“Gyeoul, look at this.”

Saebyeok approached with a huge fish cradled in her arms.

Beside her, Bom held a fishing rod with a proud expression.

“Wow, did Bom catch this?”

“Well, can I really say I caught it?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Marin hooked the fish for me.”

“I see.”

It was extremely large for a fish caught from the shore.

Had Marin gone far out to sea to catch it?

It looked like a large fish weighing at least 30kg.

Judging by Saebyeok holding it, it seemed like she’d helped pull in the fishing rod with Bom.

“What’s this fish called?”

“A mansaegi, she said.”

“Mansaegi?”

That was a name I’d never heard before.

I wondered what a mansaegi would taste like.

As I examined the mansaegi Saebyeok was holding, Levinas approached and opened her horned rabbit eyes wide.

“Saegi! It’s this big and still a saegi?! How big does it get as an adult?!”

“I wonder…?”

Was the “saegi” part related to that meaning?

Since I’d never heard the name before, I couldn’t say for sure.

“Maybe, maybe it grows this big, as big as a whale?!”

Levinas spread her arms wide.

In a world where mana existed, it was entirely possible for it to grow to the size Levinas suggested.

“Yes. Then we could call it a manadult instead of mansaegi.”

“Woah.”

Levinas’s eyes sparkled.

Her yearning for the vast, deep sea was evident.

While we were chatting excitedly about our fascination with the sea, Han Yeoreum and the other adults were having a serious meeting.

“You couldn’t find them?”

“No, not a trace.”

“I also looked quite far out to sea, but there was nothing that looked like a pirate ship.”

Even Sophia and Marin, who could freely roam the sea, couldn’t find them?

These pirates were certainly elusive.

We needed to catch them quickly so the locals could go about their daily lives without worry.

With concern, I looked out at the sea.

In the distance, beyond the horizon, Jjakjjak was flying toward us.

“Peeeee!”

Jjakjjak flew to us at tremendous speed, flapping its wings to communicate.

Surprisingly, I could understand everything Jjakjjak wanted to say.

“R-really?”

“Pipee!”

“I see…”

So it wasn’t that they were elusive – it was a real ghost ship.

I decided to tell Han Yeoreum everything I’d heard from Jjakjjak.

“Umm, Jjakjjak says she found the pirate ship from the sky.”

“Really? Truly?”

“Yes. But she said it disappeared like a ghost, just slipping away. It seems it really is a ghost ship.”

“Ah, so that’s why the detection…!”

Han Yeoreum clapped her hands as if she’d realized something.

Sophia and Marin also showed expressions of understanding.

“So it hides when people get close.”

“Yes. It’s literally a ghost ship.”

Was it because we’d discovered the enemy’s identity?

My family’s expressions lightened considerably.

“It looks like we’ll need to make some preparations.”

“Preparations?”

“Yes. Now that we know how the ship escapes, we need to work on preventing it from running away. It will take some time, so would you like to play until then?”

“Sure.”

Did Han Yeoreum know how to defeat the ghost ship?

In that case, I decided to play with the children without worry.

“Kids.”

I turned back to the children after our brief meeting.

Bom and Saebyeok were absorbed in fishing, while Levinas and Gaeul were playing with the incoming waves.

“Yaaaah!”

Levinas stretched out both hands toward the oncoming wave.

The wave that had reached her shins retreated in response to Levinas’s gesture.

It was as if Levinas had pushed the wave back.

“Wow, Levinas sent the wave away.”

“Yes! Levinas has become a water wizard!”

“Amazing.”

Giggling, Levinas held out her palm to another approaching wave.

Trying to imitate her, Gaeul stood beside her and thrust out her palm with a shout of “Yah!”

“Amazing. You pushed it away again.”

“Yes! King, you try too?!”

“Okay. But instead of pushing, I’ll try pulling.”

I stretched out my hands toward the wave the children had pushed away.

I made a fist, pretending to pull the entire ocean.

Swoosh-!

Whether it was good timing or not, a larger wave than before came crashing in.

The seawater splashed high enough to wet our heads when it hit the sandy beach.

“Nyaak!”

“Huuok!”

Though we were soaked from head to toe, the wave only splashed high without much force, so we weren’t swept away.

Thanks to that, we could stand on the beach with round, surprised eyes.

“That was startling.”

Bom and Saebyeok, who had been fishing, were thoroughly drenched too.

We shook our heads almost simultaneously to shake off the seawater.

“King, that was amazing! You were almost Pose… Poseus!”

“Poseidon?”

“Yes! Poseidon!”

Tee-hee.

Levinas covered her mouth and giggled.

We looked like drowned rats with our soaked appearance, but contrary to our wet state, we were all giggling with delight.

Coming to the sea with the children had been a great decision.

**

After playing on the beach, we returned to the hotel.

Unfortunately, we hadn’t been able to swim in the sea.

That was because Sophia and Marin, who would have protected us in the water, had gone to prepare for defeating the ghost ship.

When we entered the first-floor lobby:

For some reason, the lobby was bustling with an ominous atmosphere.

“Did you really call Yeomyeong?”

“Yes. After all, this affects not only us but the livelihoods of local residents.”

The hotel’s general manager spoke in a firm tone.

However, the person facing the general manager looked equally formidable.

“We asked you to leave it to us…!”

“It’s been a month since you asked. And there’s been no progress at all.”

“There was progress. We were just about to catch them.”

“You’ve been saying that for a month, haven’t you?”

The general manager’s eyes were cold.

Completely opposite to how he treated us, we couldn’t even go back to our room and could only hold our breath in the hotel lobby.

“But treating us like this damages our guild’s honor…”

“The local residents haven’t been able to sleep properly for a month, and all you care about is your honor?”

“…”

At the general manager’s firmness, the adventurer talking with him silently clenched his fist.

After burning with some emotion, he finally let out a deep sigh.

“We’ll continue to pursue the pirate ship.”

“Yes. That’s beyond my jurisdiction anyway.”

“…Well then.”

The adventurer turned toward the exit.

Naturally, his eyes met ours as we stood there.

“…!”

He’d been angry that we’d been called.

What if he took out his anger on us?

I stepped aside in alarm, but he merely glanced at us as he passed by without showing any particular anger.

The fact that he showed no emotional reaction when seeing us seemed quite professional.

“Phew, phew…”

While I felt relieved inside, I also felt concerned.

I was worried about having competitors in chasing the pirate ship.

 

TN: we are trying to solve the small issue with chapter numberation for the next chapters