I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild
Chapter 153: Emoticons

The story began with a post about spotting me at a large supermarket.

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【Saw Gyeoul at the mart today lol】

Poster: Wow! I saw Gyeoul wandering around the mart alone today.

She was buying cat food, and the store employee thought Gyeoul was buying it for herself lol.

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[Kanghornedrabbit: Does Gyeoul have a cat too?]

[└ Beastkinlover: Yep, a white cat that looks just like Gyeoul.]

[└ LuluNana: A cat raising a cat, wow.]

[Survivor: Honestly, it's understandable to be confused, right?]

[└ Collapsedtiger: Agreed.]

[Sizzle: Gyeoul is seriously so cute…]

There were normal comments and strange comments.

The most incomprehensible comment was the one calling me cute.

"There are some weird comments."

"Huh? Are there any hate comments?"

"No, it's not hate, just seems like someone strange."

I showed Yoo Sang-ah the screen of my smartphone.

It was quite embarrassing to show her a comment calling me cute.

"Are you talking about this cute comment?"

"Yes. I guess they wrote it to tease me."

The internet is full of ill-natured people.

I looked up at Yoo Sang-ah, but her reaction was different from mine.

"Why? Isn't Gyeoul cute?"

"M-me?"

"Yes. Didn't you know?"

Didn't I know?

Yoo Sang-ah also thought I was cute.

"Where exactly…?"

"Just, everything. You're small, and your voice is gentle."

"T-that's…"

Saying I was cute because I was small referred to my appearance.

I knew my current appearance wasn't bad.

Looking young was enough to seem cute.

The problem was, I wasn't actually a kid.

I was an adult, and there were genuinely small and cute kids around.

I, who was just small in appearance, couldn't outshine the real cuteness of Levinas and Saebyeok.

Unless it was teasing, there was no reason to specifically mention me among truly cute kids.

"It's a bit embarrassing."

"Why? Don't you often hear that you're cute?"

"No… It's the first time in my life…"

"Oh dear."

Embarrassed, I grabbed my tail with both hands.

The tip of my tail, slightly slipping out, drooped down.

Yoo Sang-ah gave me a pitying look and stroked my cheek with the back of her hand.

"People must be fooled by my appearance. beast-kin aren't common, after all."

"No, that's not it. Gyeoul, your personality is also like an angel's."

"T-that's…"

Every time I opened my mouth, an embarrassing compliment came out.

Yoo Sang-ah must have been mistaken about something.

This topic should end here.

I decided to change the subject quickly.

"Um, what's this picture in the comment?"

A picture of a beast-kin kid looking similar to me throwing a punch[1].

The comments were full of similar pictures.

"This is an emoticon of you, Gyeoul."

"M-me?"

"Yes. Someone must have made it."

It was a pretty high-quality emoticon.

Seeing all these emoticons of me, I couldn't help but stare.

"What about the one tied up with rope…?"

"They probably drew it for fun. Don't read too much into it."

"Oh…"

A famous adventurer naturally attracted attention.

Even in Yeoreum, SNS posts garnered hundreds of comments a day.

I, too, was an adventurer, and I was grateful for the attention.

Of course, I knew it wasn't because of my prowess as an adventurer.

It was because I was a rare beast-kin.

Still, it wasn't bad.

Fame is something you can't gain even if you want it.

I knew how grateful I should be for positive attention.

The moment I turned off the smartphone screen.

Levinas, playing near the pond, waved a stick at me.

"King! Let's play with Levinas!"

"Okay. Just a moment."

I looked over at Yoo Sang-ah beside me.

She was smiling and standing up from the bench.

"I should be going now."

"Yes. It was nice talking with you."

"I enjoyed it too."

After saying goodbye to Yoo Sang-ah, I ran toward the children.

I planned to finally try 'that' which I had been putting off.

---

---

Seol was a beast.

Although a good child, being a beast was enough to cause problems.

To avoid conflicts with everyone, I had to train Seol.

There was a big difference between a beast that could 'wait' and one that couldn't.

"Okay, Seol."

"Mya?"

"Hand."

I sat on the lawn and reached out my hand to Seol.

It was the most basic training, 'hand.'

Dogs could do it, but I wondered if cats could too.

With a mix of expectation and worry, I looked down at Seol.

But it was Levinas, not Seol, who placed a hand on mine.

"Levinas was the fastest!"

"Uh, yeah. Good job."

Did she think this was a game?

Ruffle-

I patted Levinas's head, praising her.

Levinas seemed thrilled with the simple pat, her body shaking with excitement.

"Mya?"

Watching us, Seol seemed to realize something and placed her hand on mine.

Did she learn from Levinas's actions?

She was still a young cat, but quite intelligent.

"She did it in one go?"

My tail wagged with joy.

Seol also wagged her tail, imitating me.

I could sense that Seol wanted me to pet her quickly.

'She does communicate somewhat.'

I reached out and petted Seol's head.

I could feel Seol's happiness.

"Hmm… Should we try something else?"

"Yes! Let's do something else!"

Levinas responded first again.

For some reason, Seol's eyes were also shining.

"What should we do next? Try lying down?"

"Okay!"

Levinas lay down on the lawn.

She looked so comfortable, so I patted her belly.

"Mya?!"

Seeing Levinas, Seol hurriedly lay down on the lawn.

She lay in a strange pose like a human.

"Wow…"

Seol really was learning by watching.

The smartest cat I had ever seen.

Pat-pat-

As I patted Seol's belly to praise her, Saebyeok suddenly flopped down.

"Pat my belly too."

"Okay."

I patted Saebyeok's belly.

Saebyeok, expressionless, wagged her tail slightly.

I felt sorry for not being able to buy them good toys.

But our kids enjoyed any game we played.

I was just thankful that they were always such good kids.

"What should we do next?"

"Next…!"

And so, I played and trained Seol with the kids.

It was quite a fulfilling day.

---

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That evening.

The kids washed their hands and feet one by one after coming home.

Saebyeok was first, and Gyeoul was last.

While Gyeoul was washing her hands and feet.

The kids were playing with Seol in the living room.

At that moment, Yeoreum, who had just finished work, opened the front door and came in.

"Is Yeoreum back?!"

"Yes. Your sister's here. What did you play today?"

"Today we played with hands!"

"Hands?"

"Yes! When we say 'hand,' Seol gives her hand!"

Not a dog, but a cat could do that?

Cats were known for not listening to people.

Yeoreum approached Levinas, who was holding Seol.

She was about to call out 'hand.'

"Ok…"

Buzz-!

Her smartphone vibrated in her pocket.

It could be something important, so she quickly took out her smartphone.

With her hand still extended.

'Spam message...'

Smack.

Yeoreum clicked her tongue and put her smartphone back in her pocket.

"Okay, give me your hand."

Muttering the unfinished words, she looked ahead again.

In front of her was not Levinas holding Seol, but Gyeoul.

They had switched places in that short time.

"My hand...?"

Gyeoul placed her hand on top of Yeoreum's without any suspicion or complaint.

"Oh, oh?"

They had switched places when she wasn't paying attention.

Yeoreum scratched her cheek and looked down at Gyeoul.

"Why the hand?"

"Just because I wanted to hold your hand, Gyeoul."

Yeoreum tightly held Gyeoul's hand.

The small, soft hand fit perfectly in hers.

"Yes. Then let's keep holding hands."

"S-sure."

Holding hands wasn't particularly hard.

If Yeoreum wanted to, that was reason enough to continue holding them.

Squeeze-

In the warmth, Gyeoul's tail wagged gently.

To Yeoreum, Gyeoul was always a kind and lovely child.

No matter how often she saw her, she never got tired of it.

Yeoreum thought that if she had a tail, it might wag faster than Gyeoul's.

Snicker.

Yeoreum laughed and sat on the sofa with Gyeoul.

"Gyeoul, did anything fun happen today?"

"Um... we trained Seol today... Ah. I saw something interesting."

"Something interesting?"

"Yes. There are emoticons of me on the internet."

Gyeoul emoticons.

Yeoreum knew what they were.

They had recently started gaining popularity on the internet.

There were even various parody emoticons.

"What kind of emoticon was it?"

"Well..."

Gyeoul sat on the sofa, blinking her eyes.

She wasn't familiar with the internet; how should she show the emoticons?

As she tilted her head, Gyeoul clenched her fist.

"Like this...?"

Gyeoul awkwardly extended her fist.

Imitating a mischievous expression.

It was the cutest punch Yeoreum had ever seen.

"Ugh!"

Yeoreum's body collapsed without even being touched by the punch.

"Huh?"

Seeing Yeoreum fall, Gyeoul's tail stood up in surprise.

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[1. Gyeoul punch! My favourite emote. Thank you to RIce in the discord for sending the gif. version. I use it even when talking to family and friends]

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