chapter_0619

619 – Duel Arena

619 – Duel Arena

“Wing~ Chik!”

Gaeul followed the robotic vacuum cleaner as if she had become a machine herself.

She even picked up trash in place of the vacuum cleaner.

“Look at that, Gaeul has betrayed humanity!”

Bomi shouted, pointing at Gaeul.

But our Gaeul seemed unfazed.

“Gaeul is not a human.”

“…Huh?”

Indeed, humans and Beastmen were different.

Perhaps Bomi was taken aback, as she fell silent.

“Gaeul is not a human; she’s a Beastman.”

“Not a human, but a Beastman.”

“Oh, I see.”

It meant that she had been modified to be neither human nor Beastman, but a robot.

Gaeul made mechanical sounds, as if to prove that she was a robot.

“This is bad. Gaeul has completely turned to the side of machines.”

“That’s the scary thing about mechanical monsters! They turn all life into machines!”

It suddenly turned into a fun game.

Making everything into a game was indeed the fun part of our children.

“What should we do? Is there a way to turn Gaeul back into a human?”

At Bomi’s question, Haneul raised her hand excitedly.

“I have a way…!”

“Really? What is it?”

“Since she was modified from human to machine, we can reverse-modify her back to human…!”

“Reverse modification? What’s that? How do we do it?”

“We take off the mechanical parts and put the human parts back on.”

Pop-

Haneul pulled out her mechanical arm.

As a result, Gaeul, who had been making mechanical sounds, froze in place.

“…Huh?”

Watching Haneul pull out and reattach her arm, Gaeul slowly looked down at her own arm.

It seemed she realized that to return from being a machine to a human, she would have to go through a very frightening process.

“Gaeul, hang in there a little longer, Levinas will…”

“Ugh, ugh…!”

Before Levinas could finish his sentence, Gaeul clutched her head and knelt down.

Her face contorted in a way that made it clear she was acting.

“Gaeul?”

“…Chuin?”

Gaeul looked bewildered.

She was pretending to be in shock, fearing that her arm might actually be pulled out.

Goodness.

Our Gaeul had become capable of thinking this much.

As a family member, I was simply moved.

“Wow! Gaeul’s mind has come back!”

“This is something that happens in movies…!”

The children jumped up and down, celebrating Gaeul’s return.

In the center of those children, Gaeul merely stuck her tongue out and made a blank expression.

She seemed somewhat overheated.

‘Gaeul has been using her head a lot lately.’

She had noticed the ventriloquism and even the mechanical acting.

For young Gaeul, it was bound to be overwhelming.

‘Still, Gaeul has grown.’

I watched Gaeul standing there in a daze.

The way she was cooling her overheated head seemed even more robotic than when she was acting.

**

Kim Woo-jin.

He was the leader of Team 3 of the Dawn Guild.

“Haah.”

After finishing his physical training in the underground training ground, Kim Woo-jin wiped his sweat and opened his cabinet.

As he was organizing his personal training equipment, he noticed a piece of paper on top of the cabinet.

Seeing the words “[Duel Arena]” written at the top of the note, Kim Woo-jin sighed deeply.

‘What kind of villain is this?’

As a team leader of the Dawn Guild, he often received duel requests from all directions.

But he had never encountered someone who submitted a duel request in such a rude manner.

‘If you want to duel, you should apply officially.’

No one from their guild would submit a duel request like this.

Perhaps it was someone from an external guild or a personal adventurer.

As Kim Woo-jin stepped outside, he checked the contents written on the duel request.

After confirming when and where the duel was to take place, he tossed the request into a nearby trash can.

It felt like someone had whimsically pursued romance by submitting a duel request, but to Kim Woo-jin, it was just rude.

‘If they have a complaint, they should come properly.’

After Kim Woo-jin left, a new person soon approached the trash can.

It was Levinas, who had been wandering around the park looking for empty bottles.

“Any bottles?!”

Levinas leaned in, slightly pushing his head into the trash can.

On top of a bottle that Levinas really liked, there was a piece of paper.

As Levinas was about to remove the paper to take the bottle, he noticed something written on it.

“Duel request?”

Levinas knew what a duel request was.

Wasn’t it a kind of application to challenge someone to a fight?

As he pondered why a duel request was in the trash can, he recalled a message sent by a bad snake in the past.

Knowing that he was picking up empty bottles from the trash can, the snake had left a message inside.

Realizing this, Levinas’s ears perked up.

This was a duel request sent to him.

Levinas hurriedly read the duel request and perked up at the mention of “[the team leader].”

The team leader was undoubtedly Wang.

“Huh…!”

Was this a duel request sent to Wang through him?

If so, it was a bigger problem.

Levinas realized it was an issue he couldn’t solve alone.

For now, he decided to consult with his family.

**

“Wanga! Wanga, something big has happened!”

While watching Saebyeok and Bomi work in the guild, Levinas rushed in with a panicked look.

“Levinas?”

The children’s eyes turned towards him, noticing his urgency.

Gaeul, who had been lounging on the sofa, jumped up from her spot.

“What’s wrong?”

“Duel request! It’s a duel request!”

Levinas pulled out a piece of paper.

The word “Duel Request” was written in large letters on the paper.

“Levinas, what’s with the duel request?”

“This is from over there…!”

Levinas explained how he had obtained the duel request.

When he mentioned that he found it in the trash can, it sounded odd, but after the explanation, it made some sense.

‘There really wouldn’t be a reason to put a clean duel request in the trash can.’

A duel request is sent to the target one wishes to challenge…

It felt as if someone who knew Levinas’s movements had preemptively placed the duel request in the trash can.

The problem was that the mysterious someone had challenged him.

“Wanga, what are you going to do?”

“Well…”

There was no need to accept the challenge.

As he was about to shake his head, Bomi, who was furious, began banging on the table.

“How dare they challenge Gyeoul!”

“That’s right, our master is the strongest…!”

“Exactly! This is a challenge to the Ggaemmi Guild!”

Ugh!

Levinas, angry, threw a punch into the air.

He seemed to be upset just by the fact that someone had challenged him.

“Gyeoul, just fight and teach them a lesson.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. You’re going to win anyway.”

At Bomi’s words, the children nodded in agreement.

“Exactly! Wanga will win!”

“That’s right!”

Was it due to their infinite trust in me?

The children were convinced that I would definitely win.

There was also a hint of wanting to teach the rude challenger a lesson.

“Hmm…”

Indeed, I was not weak at all, as the children said.

Thanks to absorbing two blessings, I had gained a speed that would astonish even the members of the Dawn Guild.

‘If they sent a duel request to me instead of the guild members…’

It probably meant that they weren’t strong enough to defeat the members of our guild.

In that case, I had a fair chance of winning.

“Alright, then I’ll accept the challenge.”

“Really?!”

“Wow!”

The children cheered, raising their hands in celebration.

It seemed they believed I would definitely win.

To be honest, I didn’t think I would lose either.

If they were challenging me, they must be someone of average skill.

“Wanga, make sure to teach them a lesson!”

“Let’s kick their butt!”

While the children were unable to hide their excitement, Saebyeok approached me with a rather serious expression.

She seemed to have something to say as she tapped my back.

“Gyeoul, did you read the duel request all the way to the end?”

“No, I didn’t read it all. It was just filled with strange embellishments.”

“…Then you should read it.”

Seeing her serious demeanor, I began to read the duel request again.

As I skimmed past the flowery language, I reached the end of the duel request.

There, the proper details about the duel were written.

Since the difference in our skills was clear at the moment, it stated that we should fight without using Mana.

“Huh?”

If I didn’t use Mana, my speed would significantly decrease.

Of course, I would still be fast, but compared to a speed that was impossible to react to, it would be noticeably slower.

If I were to get hit even once in that state, my low durability would lead to an instant K.O.

“Uh…”

My heart sank at the sudden change in circumstances.

Looking at the children who were insisting that I would definitely win, it seemed difficult to cancel now.

This is why one should always listen to what people say until the end.

‘I was too overconfident.’

Knowing that the result of arrogance is poison, I always tried to keep myself in check.

But has it come to this?

Perhaps this duel would serve as a punishment for my overconfidence.

“Ugh…”

Suddenly, my energy drained, and my shoulders slumped.

In contrast to me, the children were in a festive mood.

A word from the author (Author’s note)

Thank you so much for reading today, PIA1747014585384!

Thank you for the comments and recommendations! They always give me strength!

I wonder who sent the duel request?!

───

Thank you to Changlovingperson for the 50 coin support!