I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild
Chapter 253: Children Are Curious

The performance, whether it was cutting magic or just an illusion, proceeded smoothly.

My separated lower body was moving away in the distance.

"Kiiing..."

Levinas buried her face in my chest, which was all that remained of my upper body.

I gently patted Levinas's head.

"Levinas, I'm okay."

"Wha! You're okay?!"

"Yeah. It doesn't hurt at all."

Surprised that I was fine despite being separated, Levinas widened her horned rabbit eyes.

After examining me for a while, Levinas's expression showed a bit of relief.

"What are we gonna do about King's missing legs?"

"Yeah, what should we do...?"

They'll probably reattach them and I'll be back to normal.

So I decided to tease her a little.

"Don't worry! From now on, Levinas will give you piggyback rides!"

"Levinas will?"

"Yeah! Even without legs, Levinas can carry you around!"

"Wow."

This was actually quite touching.

I couldn't help but smile.

"Levinas will take you to the sea and the mountains!"

"Yeah. Thanks. Let's stay together from now on."

"Yeah!"

We smiled at each other, our eyes crinkling.

Just then, the masked man squeezed between us.

"You two are very close friends, aren't you?"

"Not friends! Family!"

Levinas's eyes narrowed fiercely.

It was hostility towards the one who had cut my body in half.

"Don't be like that, I can reattach it."

The man spoke in a tone that suggested he was acting.

This seemed to be part of the performance too.

"You can reattach it?!"

"Yeah. See that part over there? Just bring it here and attach it."

"!"

Levinas tried to run towards my detached lower body, but the masked man blocked her way.

Startled for a moment, Levinas put on a determined expression and charged at the masked man.

"Hiyah!"

Pat pat-

She hit the masked man's body with her small fists.

It was a light touch, more like tapping his shoulder.

"Ow, ow."

The man, feigning pain in an exaggerated tone, fell to the side.

Levinas glanced at the fallen man and ran towards the separated lower body.

"King, wait just a bit!"

"Okay."

Levinas grunted as she dragged the bed containing the lower body.

As she pushed the two beds containing the upper and lower body close together, they started to connect.

"...Should I open the box?!"

"Y-Yeah..."

Levinas swallowed hard and opened the box covering my body.

Surprisingly, the separated body had become one again.

"Oh!"

"Wow."

Was this some kind of illusion magic?

I looked down at my reunited body with surprised eyes.

The children watching the performance also clapped.

"King!"

Levinas threw herself into my arms.

She seemed so happy that my body was back to normal, she even kissed my cheeks repeatedly.

I patted Levinas's head.

"Levinas, thank you."

"Hehe! Levinas will always help King, no matter what!"

As we chatted lightly, someone who looked like the MC appeared on stage.

He handed us gifts and led the audience in applause.

"Our brave friends defeated the evil masked wizard! Let's give them a big hand!"

Clap clap clap-!

We came down from the stage amid the applause.

At the bottom of the stairs leading off the stage, Saebyeok greeted us, wagging her tail.

"Gyeoul, you were amazing."

"Yeah."

Unlike Levinas, Saebyeok seemed calm.

She probably knew this was just a simple performance.

"Dark King! Levinas saved King!"

"Yeah. Levinas, you were great."

"Ahem! If Dark King is ever in danger, Levinas will save you too!"

Levinas put on a solemn expression and pushed me towards Saebyeok.

Then she started hopping towards the direction of the convenience store.

"Where are you going?"

"King needs to recharge his energy!"

"Ah..."

Because my body was separated and reattached.

Did she think I lost a lot of energy?

I didn't really feel that way, but I didn't want to reject Levinas's kindness.

"I'll be right back, so wait here! Don't cry if you get lost!"

"Okay. Got it."

I watched Levinas's retreating figure with Saebyeok.

We decided to wait here until Levinas returned.

---

---

At the convenience store, Levinas chose two items.

Ointment for wounds and an energy bar.

The problem was that she didn't have enough money for both.

"Hmm..."

She only had 5,000 won on hand.

That was just enough for the ointment.

The ointment was essential for reattaching the separated body.

And the energy bar was necessary to replenish the energy lost from being separated.

Which one should she buy?

Should she get the more expensive one?

As Levinas was seriously looking back and forth between the ointment and the energy bar, someone spoke.

"Levinas."

Someone pressed their palm against Levinas's cheek.

Levinas knew very well whose touch this was.

"Yeoreum's here?!"

"Yeah. Why does Levinas look so serious?"

"King!"

"King?"

Yeoreum's gaze turned to the ointment.

Ointment is for applying to injuries.

From this bit of information, Yeoreum realized that Gyeoul must be hurt.

"Is Gyeoul injured?"

"Yeah... Her body was cut in half..."

"What...?"

Was this some kind of joke?

But Levinas wasn't the type to make such jokes.

Yeoreum's eyes darted around in confusion.

"A bad person went swish-swish with a saw, like this."

Levinas rubbed her belly with her hand, mimicking a sawing motion.

Yeoreum's face turned pale at this graphic description.

"G-Gyeoul's stomach..."

"But don't worry! Levinas put it back together!"

"...You put it back together?"

"Yeah! When I put it back, it was all better! But there might still be a wound?!"

Cut in half but fine when put back together.

What on earth was this about?

It didn't seem like the child was just making things up.

Yeoreum decided to go find Gyeoul first.

---

---

As we were watching the performance in front of the stage, two people came looking for us not long after.

It was Yeoreum and Levinas.

"Gyeoul."

Yeoreum approached me with quick steps.

For some reason, she had a worried look in her eyes.

"Gyeoul, is your stomach okay?"

"My stomach?"

"Yeah. I heard you got hurt there."

"Huh...?"

Yeoreum was holding ointment in her hand.

She really seemed to think I was injured.

To show that my stomach was fine, I lifted the shirt I was wearing under my uniform.

My stomach and ribs.

I lifted my clothes up to just below my chest.

There were no wounds on the exposed white skin.

"W-Wait a minute, Gyeoul...!"

"Yes?"

"You shouldn't take off your clothes in public like that."

"But I didn't take them off..."

I just showed a bit of my stomach.

I looked up at Yeoreum with wronged eyes.

She started fixing my clothes.

"You shouldn't show your stomach just anywhere either."

"That's right. Showing your stomach is a sign of submission."

"Right! King shouldn't submit!"

Saebyeok chimed in, supporting Yeoreum's words.

Levinas agreed too.

So showing your stomach was a sign of submission for beast-kin.

I was surprised to learn this for the first time.

"It's okay. We're family, aren't we?"

"No, it's because other people might see."

Saying that, Yeoreum rubbed my cheek.

I felt like she was checking my condition.

"Why are you doing that?"

"I heard that Gyeoul's body was cut in half."

"Ah..."

"Ah?"

"There was a cutting magic trick at the children's performance over there."

The stage was still putting on performances.

Saebyeok and Levinas started watching the performance with shining eyes.

"I-I see. Did Gyeoul go up on stage? Weren't you scared when they went swish-swish on your tummy?"

"No. I'm used to it. My stomach was pierced before, remember?"

I chuckled as I said this.

The memory of that day was no longer traumatic for me.

Because of it, I met my current family.

So I could even joke about it now.

Hehe.

I looked up at Yeoreum, smiling.

But for some reason, her expression wasn't good.

"...Is it okay to say things like that?"

"Yeah. It doesn't bother me at all."

"O-Okay... I'm glad you're fine with it, but..."

"But...?"

"You got over it too quickly... No, it's nothing."

Yeoreum swallowed the rest of her words.

It seemed she had no intention of telling me.

What was it?

I stared into her eyes.

Yeoreum cleared her throat and pointed at the performance area.

"Gyeoul, look at that performance."

"Things are exploding all over."

And so we watched the performance for a while.

There were fireworks and a bubble show that Levinas loved.

"Wow."

"This is fun."

The performance lasted about thirty minutes.

After it ended, we went to find the teacher.

"I'm sorry. The children are just so curious."

Yeoreum bowed to the teacher.

I bowed alongside her.

"It's okay. All children are like that."

The teacher patted my head as she spoke.

Yeoreum's gaze was on me too.

Was it my turn to speak?

I said what came to mind.

"Children are naturally very curious."

I looked back and forth between the two women as I spoke.

As if on cue, both women burst into laughter.

"Gyeoul is certainly very curious."

"Not me, I meant children."

"Ah! Right! Gyeoul isn't a child, right?"

"Of course not."

Yeoreum and the teacher exchanged some kind of look.

They were giggling to themselves.

What was that about?

My tail curled into a question mark.

It seemed they had no intention of telling me.

Yeoreum was keeping a lot of secrets today for some reason.

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