I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild
Chapter 186: Jump Rope

I chased after Levinas, holding a coffee.

Running with hot coffee made me late getting home.

"Levinas."

I opened the front door and entered the living room.

I saw Levinas pacing anxiously and Yeoreum trying to calm her down.

"Gyeoul!"

Yeoreum spotted me and rushed over, carrying Levinas in her arms.

Two pairs of worried eyes turned towards me.

"Gyeoul, is it true you drank something dangerous?"

Was she referring to the coffee?

I held out the coffee to Yeoreum.

"Oh no, Gyeoul drank coffee?"

"Yes. I had a little."

"This is bad, Gyeoul shouldn't drink coffee..."

Yeoreum clutched her head.

For some reason, her face was filled with concern.

"Why can't I drink coffee?"

"It's harmful for children's bodies."

"But I'm..."

I'm not a child, am I?

I was about to say that, but held my tongue.

Come to think of it, my 'body' at least was that of a child.

Maybe it wasn't, but still.

'...How old is my body exactly?'

It was a body created less than a year ago.

Of course, that didn't mean my physical age was less than one year old.

My reflexes and sensory abilities were superior to any adventurer.

These weren't abilities that could be displayed by a body less than a year old.

It's better to assume there's some age adjustment.

'Is it like Sophia?'

Sophia had a young appearance, but was actually an adult who had lived for over a hundred years.

Perhaps I was in a similar state to Sophia.

Looking young, but actually an adult.

Of course, I couldn't be certain.

I do fall asleep early like a child, so I decided to experiment.

I'd try drinking the coffee.

A child's body easily accepts the stimulating effects of coffee.

I decided to check my body's condition after drinking it.

"I'll just drink this."

Slurp-

I took a sip of coffee while staring intently at Yeoreum.

It had cooled a bit, so I could hold a mouthful.

Ugh.

It was extremely bitter.

Unable to swallow the coffee, I just furrowed my brow.

"Gyeoul, you shouldn't drink that. Quickly spit it out."

Pat pat-

As Yeoreum patted my back, coffee dribbled down my chin.

Yeoreum caught the coffee falling to the living room floor with her hand.

"Mmph."

What's this?

I hadn't intended to spit it out this time.

Looking closely, I saw mana flowing through Yeoreum's hand.

She had used mana to forcibly make me spit out the coffee.

"But I want to drink coffee..."

"No. Coffee is for adults only. How about if I make you some hot chocolate instead? Would that be okay?"

"But... I might actually be an adult..."

Like Sophia, you know.

I looked up at Yeoreum with pleading eyes.

Ugh.

Yeoreum squeezed her eyes shut.

She even turned her head to the side to avoid my gaze.

"Gyeoul is still a child."

"...How can you be sure?"

"Don't you remember what my ability is?"

"Ah."

The ability to check information about others.

For people, she could confirm physical specs like height, gender, age, and so on.

Yeoreum would know my physical age.

I understood why she wouldn't let me drink coffee.

"I don't know, so tell me - how old am I?"

"You don't remember your age? Gyeoul, you're eight years old."

"I... I see..."

So my physical age was eight years old.

Had she told me this separately before?

Coffee for an eight-year-old body.

It might as well be poison.

I could understand why Levinas had been so alarmed.

"Let's wait until you're an adult to drink coffee, okay?"

"Okay..."

Yeoreum held out her pinky finger, asking me to promise.

As I extended my finger in response, Levinas grabbed both our fingers tightly.

"What about the King drinking coffee?!"

"Um... a little should be fine."

"Really?! Is King okay?!"

"Yes. There shouldn't be any problems."

"Thank goodness!"

Phew.

Levinas clutched her chest in relief.

Then she suddenly put on a stern expression.

"King is a child, so no coffee!"

"Y-Yes. I'm sorry..."

There was no room for excuses.

I decided not to drink coffee from now on.

---

---

In the afternoon, I went to the recycling center with the children.

We were looking for materials to use in the tent or container house.

"Gyeoul, look at this."

Saebyeok brought over a wooden storage box from the far side of the recycling center.

It was a quite usable two-tier storage box.

"Wow, where did you find it?"

"Over there."

"We can use this to store seeds."

I had been keeping the extra seeds in an unused pot, but now I smiled at the thought of the new seed storage box.

"Did I do well?"

"Yes, you did great."

I patted Saebyeok's head.

Envious of the skinship, Levinas quickly picked up a nearby object and ran over.

"King! Here!"

"...Wow."

What Levinas brought was a long cable that looked like a charger.

I could tell it was meant to connect two devices, but I had no idea what it actually connected.

"Hehe, Levinas found a jump rope!"

"It's a jump rope?"

"Yeah!"

Levinas jumped over the cable as if skipping rope.

Endeared by her innocence, I unconsciously patted her head.

"King! Let's play with this when we get home!"

"Hmm... Should we?"

We'd found a storage box too.

Maybe it was time to head home for the day.

Just as we were about to leave with the children, there was a sound.

Thunk-

Someone had set something down at the recycling center.

Our gazes naturally turned in that direction.

A man who made eye contact with us gave a slight smile before leaving.

"It's shoes with wheels!"

What he had discarded was a pair of inline skates.

Levinas's eyes lit up as she picked up the skates.

They were old, but not unusable.

Realizing this, Levinas put the skates in the handcart.

Was she planning to take them home to play with?

The park was safe, so I didn't stop her.

It really was time to go home now.

---

---

We returned to the park with the children.

Since they had helped me with my work, I decided to play with them in return.

"Levinas, that's..."

"It's a jump rope!"

The black cable in Levinas's hands.

She really seemed to think she could use it as a jump rope.

"Do you want to try first, Levinas?"

"Yeah!"

Levinas twirled the cable and hopped up.

She moved at a slow enough pace that even a normal person could see the cable rotating.

Her form was decent, but the cable didn't make it over Levinas's head.

It bounced off her ears instead.

Thud-

The deflected cable landed on Levinas's heel.

Levinas looked bewildered at the rope that didn't return.

"Huh...?"

Levinas's gaze turned behind her.

She tilted her head quizzically at the cable by her heel, then tried a second attempt.

Thud-

Predictably, the second attempt also failed.

Again, it bounced off her ears.

"King, this isn't working."

"It's getting caught on your ears."

"! Is that what happened?!"

Levinas felt her ears.

I'd heard that rabbits have sensitive nerves concentrated in their ears, but maybe horned rabbits were a bit different.

The horned rabbits' nerves were probably concentrated in their horns instead.

"Maybe the cable is too short."

"Is that it?! Then you try this time, King!"

"Okay."

I took the cable from Levinas.

Without hesitation, I twirled the cable and jumped.

There was no reason to hesitate about jumping rope.

"Huh?"

The rope I thought I could easily jump over didn't return.

It had gotten caught on the tip of my fully extended tail.

"It's caught on the King's tail."

"Y-Yeah..."

Why did it suddenly stretch out straight like that?

I tried to control it, but it wasn't easy.

Once out of control, the tail wouldn't move as I wanted.

"Is jump rope a difficult game?!"

"I guess so..."

The only one of us who had properly jumped rope was Saebyeok.

Saebyeok, who had managed about ten jumps, patted Levinas's and my heads.

It seemed somewhat adult-like.

"Is jump rope still too hard for Gyeoul and Levinas?"

"Yeah..."

Our ears and tails were getting in the way.

It would probably be difficult until we could control them.

To think I couldn't jump rope because of my tail.

My shoulders slumped in dejection.

"It's okay. You'll be able to do it when you grow a little more."

"...Thanks."

Was Saebyeok trying to comfort me in her own way?

I did feel like I'd be able to control my tail with a bit more growth.

We'd have to play something else today.

Just as I was about to give up on jump rope, someone approached us.

It was Yoo Sang-ah, an office worker from the guild.

"Oh my, what are you all doing?"

"Jump rope!"

"Jump rope?"

Sang-ah's gaze turned to the cable.

Then she let out a light chuckle.

"That's not a jump rope, it's a cable."

"A cable...?"

Levinas expressed her confusion.

It was time to reveal the truth to her.

"This is used to connect electronic devices."

"Wha, is that what it was?!"

Levinas's horned rabbit eyes widened.

Sang-ah had a similar expression.

"Oh my, did you know that?"

"Yes..."

"Why don't you use a real jump rope instead? This would be hard to use because of the weight, wouldn't it?"

"Yes... but we don't have a real jump rope..."

To think I couldn't even buy the children a jump rope because I was trying to save money.

I felt pathetic.

I unconsciously shrank into myself.

"...I see."

Embarrassed, I glanced at Sang-ah's reaction.

Fortunately, she only wore a gentle smile.

---

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