chapter_0496

496 – The Surprising Button

496 – The Surprising Button

Is the transformed bow completely devoid of any power?

As I slowly drew the bowstring, I was taken aback.

It was common knowledge that the larger the bow, the stronger the tension.

Yet, surprisingly, the bow modified by Shin Haeil did not exhibit any increase in tension.

‘It seems like the power has increased.’

Perhaps the range has significantly extended as well.

While Shin Haeil valued aesthetics, it seemed she also considered practicality.

Clack-! Clack-!

As I pulled the bowstring and adjusted the modified bow, Gaeul, who had been staring intently at my bow, rushed to the guild office with a sense of urgency.

“Haek···!”

Gaeul emerged from the office holding a Wooden Caliber.

With an expectant look, she handed the Wooden Caliber to Shin Haeil.

“Make it awesome.”

“This is···”

Shin Haeil examined the Wooden Caliber from various angles.

Then she shook her head.

“This won’t do.”

“Eh?!”

“This seems to be my grandfather’s work. If we modify it further, it might put a strain on your friend’s body.”

“Haek···”

So the blacksmith who made Gaeul’s weapon was Shin Haeil’s grandfather.

If we modified it further, it would be too much for Gaeul’s body to handle.

Was it a weapon designed with the user’s condition in mind?

The blacksmith’s skill was impressive, but Gaeul was disappointed to learn that further modifications were not possible.

“Ugh···”

Seeing Gaeul droop, Shin Haeil rubbed the back of her neck.

Then she made a thoughtful expression.

“Even if we can’t increase the power, we can give it a cool effect…”

“Cool···!”

Gaeul handed the Wooden Caliber to Shin Haeil.

At that moment, Levinas and Bom clung to Shin Haeil.

“Make mine awesome too!”

“Me too.”

“Okay. I’ll do it all.”

Gratefully, Shin Haeil agreed to everyone’s requests.

Levinas’s magic staff scattered sparkling magic dust, and Gaeul···

“Wooing?”

Gaeul examined the modified Wooden Caliber from different angles.

It seemed something had been done, but there were no noticeable changes on the surface.

‘What exactly has changed?’

As I was inspecting the Wooden Caliber with Gaeul, Bom approached us holding a round black pouch.

“Everyone, formation!”

“Huh?”

At Bom’s command, we instinctively took our positions.

Then Bom threw the black pouch behind her.

Boom-!

As the pouch hit the ground, an explosion occurred.

The sound was not very loud compared to the scale of the explosion, so it didn’t make us jump.

Of course, our ears perked up.

“What, what was that?”

“Comic-style effect.”

“Comic-style effect?”

“Yeah. In Ultra Ranger, when the Rangers strike a pose, it goes boom!”

“I see.”

So Bom was pursuing that kind of flair.

Turning around, I examined the remnants of the explosion.

Was it just a big effect? There were no traces left of the explosion.

“Good Bom knows a thing or two···!”

Levinas trailed off and stared intently to the side.

Gaeul, startled by the explosion, lay down and pretended to be dead.

She was still afraid of many things in the world.

**

For some reason, Shin Haeil requested to become our guild’s exclusive item artisan.

I didn’t know why she wanted to join, but having her around wouldn’t be a bad thing for us.

“Thank you, then I’ll go grab some supplies. Can I use the storage next door?”

“Sure.”

An item creator joining the guild.

The size of the guild was steadily growing.

Was there anything more to do here?

I looked around at the kids and asked,

“What should we do now?”

“We worked hard, so now we play!”

“Hmm··· should we?”

We had worked hard for the guild until now.

Taking a break to play wasn’t a bad idea.

“Then what should we play?”

“Hide and seek! Levinas wants to play hide and seek!”

“Alright, then I’ll be the seeker. You all have to hide really well since I’ll be using my ears and nose!”

“Okay! Got it!”

I closed my eyes and counted to ten.

Even though it was just ten seconds, our quick-footed kids had already disappeared from sight.

‘I need to search like a tracker.’

The footprints left by the kids and the scents they left behind.

All traces led to the guild building.

‘Did the kids hide in the building?’

Upon entering the building, I followed the traces to the reception desk in the first-floor lobby.

There, Saebyeok was sitting calmly in a staff uniform.

“What can I do for you?”

“I’m here to catch Saebyeok.”

“What?!”

Was my disguise discovered?

Saebyeok walked out from behind the reception desk with a slouch.

Behind her, the real receptionist chuckled at Saebyeok.

“That was quite a disguise.”

“Yeah. But I can recognize Saebyeok.”

“······!”

Watching Saebyeok wag her tail, I set out to find the other kids.

I quickly discovered that the kids’ traces led down to the basement.

‘This is···’

Did the kids go into the guild’s magic stone storage?

I moved without hesitation to the magic stone storage.

There were no cats or magic stones there now.

‘This smells like Levinas.’

Following the scent, I approached a nearby basket of magic stones and found Levinas buried in them.

‘Wow.’

Levinas was completely buried in magic stones from her head to her torso and legs.

However, thanks to her slightly protruding ears and arms, I could tell she was hiding beneath the stones.

“I found Levinas.”

As I pointed to the magic stone basket, Levinas hurriedly began to move her hands.

Levinas gathered the nearby magic stones and piled them on top of herself.

It looked like she was trying to hide even more thoroughly.

“Eh?”

I climbed up on the basket as Levinas continued to burrow deeper into the stones.

When I tickled her palm that was sticking out from the stones, Levinas’s hand began to tremble.

“I surrender! Levinas surrenders!”

“Hehe.”

At Levinas’s declaration of surrender, I waited for her to come out.

But Levinas remained still beneath the magic stones.

“Wanga, help Levinas out. It’s too heavy for me to get up.”

“Okay.”

As I pushed the magic stones off Levinas’s body, she sat up.

“I could have hidden perfectly if I had just a little more time···!”

Sigh.

I took the disappointed Levinas to the underground gym.

I could sense the traces of Bom and Gaeul there.

‘Around here···’

As I looked around the gym, the sound of hurried footsteps caught my attention.

It sounded like our kids.

“Wanga, over there.”

Levinas pointed with her finger to one side of the gym.

There, Gaeul and Bom were running on the treadmill at an incredible speed.

Upon spotting us, Gaeul shouted in a panicked voice.

“Chuin! Chuin! Chuin! Chuiiiin!”

“Whoa!”

Thud thud thud-

Gaeul ran on the treadmill at a speed where her feet were barely visible.

Behind her, Bom screamed and chased after her.

We had experienced that before.

I hurried towards the treadmill and pressed the stop button.

Vroom-

The speed of the treadmill slowed down, and the kids’ running speed decreased as well.

They seemed to have good stamina, as neither Bom nor Gaeul was out of breath.

“Gaeul and good Bom almost fell victim to the curse of eternal running···!”

“Eternal?!”

“Yeah! If you get on that, you have to run forever! Everyone, be careful!”

Levinas, who had suffered greatly from the treadmill in the past, warned everyone.

I placed my hand on the trembling heads of Bom and Gaeul as I looked at Levinas.

“I found Bom and Gaeul.”

“Ah!”

“Wooing?”

Had they forgotten they were playing hide and seek in the midst of the urgency?

Bom and Gaeul’s eyes widened.

“I thought if I hid among the people exercising, I wouldn’t be found, but there’s no one here.”

“True.”

Everyone was an adventurer.

They must have gone hunting.

It felt awkward to be the only ones in a gym filled with dangerous equipment, so we decided to leave quickly.

**

After finishing hide and seek, we returned to the park.

As we sat on a bench to take a short break, we heard Gaeul calling us urgently from a distance.

“Juin! Juin!”

“Yes?”

Gaeul was even stomping her feet.

Curious, we followed Gaeul.

When we arrived with Gaeul, a middle-aged man was sitting on a bench, resting.

One of his arms was unlike a normal arm.

‘A mechanical arm?’

It was a mechanical arm like something out of a movie.

I could guess why Gaeul had called us.

“What is this?!”

“Hmm…?”

“Why is your arm made of steel?!”

“This is a prosthetic arm. I lost my arm, so I got this.”

“What?! Is Levinas giving this to you?!”

Levinas pulled a potion from her bag.

It was a powerful potion capable of regrowing a severed arm.

“Thank you, but it’s useless to me.”

“Why?!”

“Potions don’t work on old wounds.”

“Really?! But Levinas thinks a steel arm is cooler!”

Levinas tapped the middle-aged man’s arm.

It seemed she genuinely thought the steel arm was cool, not just as a comfort.

“Can Levinas touch your arm… please?!”

“Of course, go ahead.”

Levinas began to touch the middle-aged man’s steel arm from various angles.

Gaeul, intrigued by the steel arm, even tapped it with her fist.

“There’s a button here! Can I press it?!”

“That’s a special surprise button.”

“A surprise button?!”

“If you’re prepared, go ahead and press it.”

Levinas hesitated at the sight of the button, but then raised her eyebrows fiercely.

With a firm press-!

An astonishing thing happened.

Thud-

The man’s steel arm fell off.

“······.”

“······?”

The kids, including myself, froze at the sight of the fallen arm.