I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild
Chapter 284: It Actually Became Promotional

The Academy classes began.

Today's lesson took place in a goblin dungeon.

The instructors taught us a lot about goblins' characteristics, habits, and weaknesses.

It was great to learn theoretically what I'd only known instinctively before.

The Master was right; there's a lot to learn at the Academy.

With a sense of growth, we headed out for practical hunting.

We managed to catch thirty goblins.

Yoon Hyunseo and Han Taehwi said they caught twice as many goblins as usual.

It was due to my tracking abilities and their desire to somehow beat Baek Ihyeon, who had powerful backing.

We couldn't beat Baek Ihyeon, who had bribed the instructors.

This incident raised Baek Ihyeon's rank to 29th, while I settled at 34th.

Despite coming in second twice, my rank remained low due to my poor initial score.

"Haa..."

Yoon Hyunseo sat on a protruding tree root outside the dungeon.

I sat down next to her.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine, but I feel bad for you, Harang."

"For me...?"

"Yeah. It feels like we're only showing you the bad side of adults."

"Ah..."

She felt guilty about showing me the dirty side of adventurers.

Just knowing she cared about me made me feel better.

"Don't worry about it. I'm in a party with good people right now."

"R-really...?"

A smile returned to Yoon Hyunseo's face.

She patted my head, and I didn't particularly mind.

"But why would they manipulate rankings in an Academy like this?"

"...I think they're trying to show someone rising from the bottom. People love that kind of thing."

"I see..."

Indeed, the public does love success stories of those who started from nothing.

I thought something was off, but Yoon Hyunseo's explanation made some sense.

'Fabricating a success story.'

It's somewhat bitter.

As I drooped my shoulders listlessly, Han Taehwi approached us.

"You two look down."

"Yeah... sorry..."

"...Here, this might cheer you up. Hyunseo, you like cute things, right?"

Han Taehwi held out his smartphone to us.

Surprisingly, the screen showed Levinas and Gaeul.

Levinas had a bag full of empty bottles.

As if that wasn't enough, she was holding empty bottles in both hands.

Gaeul had also been helping Levinas diligently, holding an empty bottle in one hand.

In front of the children stood a massive bottle.

It looked like a promotional beer sculpture.

"That's a really big bottle...!"

Thump thump thump thump-

Levinas, excited and stomping on the ground, rushed towards the giant bottle.

She pressed her cheek against it and tried to push, but the huge bottle didn't budge.

"Bottle! Bottle!"

Gaeul ran towards the bottle a bit late.

She pushed the bottle hard with her small hands, then even licked its surface.

"Oh dear, how dirty."

A sigh escaped Yoon Hyunseo's lips.

But she was smiling.

As Han Taehwi said, she really seemed to like cute things.

"Gaeul puppy! This is too heavy!"

"Nng..."

Levinas looked up at the bottle with pitiful eyes, then jumped up towards its surface.

She seemed to stick to the bottle's surface for a moment, then slid right down.

"It's too heavy to take..."

Ugh...

Levinas's shoulders slumped.

After being gloomy for a while, Levinas's ears suddenly perked up.

"Bubbles! Levinas has soap bubbles!"

Levinas ran off somewhere, taking Gaeul with her.

The video ended there.

'Bubbles...'

Levinas had once used soap bubble magic to lift me into the air.

She might try to use this to take the giant bottle.

'This is bad...'

I was worried for various reasons.

Unaware of my concerns, Yoon Hyunseo started reading the comments.

[The kids are knocked out by the giant bottle lol]

[lol If they sell it, they'll be rich lol]

[The children are so cute. These days, I find healing by watching them. Thank you so much.]

Fortunately, the comments were mostly positive.

However, reactions might change if the children actually brought that huge bottle.

I was worried.

I decided to find the children quickly after the Academy classes ended.

------

As soon as classes ended, I took Encia's car and returned home.

I hoped nothing had happened.

I prayed earnestly, but the incident had already occurred.

The guild's convenience store.

A huge bottle stood in front of it.

Levinas had brought the beer bottle using soap bubbles.

I rushed towards the convenience store.

"Master!"

The giant beer bottle was hollow.

Gaeul was inside it.

Happy to see me, Gaeul wagged her tail and licked the inside surface of the bottle.

How on earth did Gaeul get in there?

When I tapped the bottle with my finger, Gaeul followed my finger, licking the surface.

"Gaeul, how did you get inside?"

"Heh."

In response to my question, Gaeul pointed to the bottle's opening.

Then she started blowing, "Whoosh."

A small fog formed on the bottle's surface.

It meant she'd entered using Levinas's bubbles.

"I see."

As I was nodding to Gaeul,

Levinas walked out of the convenience store entrance, pouting.

Her eyes were slightly narrowed, looking fierce.

"Ugh...!"

She looked disappointed about something.

I quickly approached Levinas.

"Levinas."

"King!"

Seeing me, Levinas beamed as if she'd never been disappointed.

Then she puffed out her chest with an "Ahem."

"King! Did you see that?! Levinas brought a huge bottle!"

"Y-yeah..."

"But they say they can't buy such a big bottle...! It's the most amazing bottle Levinas has ever seen in her life...!"

Levinas shook her clenched fists up and down.

She was fully expressing her disappointment and frustration.

"I've never seen such a big bottle either. It's probably the most amazing bottle in the world."

"Wha! The most amazing in the world?!"

"Yeah. It's so amazing that probably no one can buy it."

"R-really...? It's too amazing for anyone to buy...?"

Levinas looked up at the empty bottle.

Her eyebrows went up and down repeatedly; she seemed half-convinced.

"This bottle is like Levinas's horns. You can't buy Levinas's horns even if you brought all the money in the world, right?"

"Oh...! That's right...! Levinas's horns are too precious to buy with money...!"

Levinas nodded.

She seemed to understand in her own way why the bottle couldn't be sold.

"This bottle is amazing, but if we can't sell it, it's useless to us. Someone might really need it, so should we put it back where it was?"

"Yeah! Got it!"

What a relief.

I sighed, rubbing my chest in relief.

'We need to return it quickly.'

Otherwise, it would become theft.

Even when I lived without anything, theft was something I never did.

"Do you remember where this was?"

"Yeah! Over theeere!"

Levinas pointed down the street.

At the end of it, a man in a suit was running towards us, panting heavily.

He was a middle-aged man who seemed to be in poor physical shape.

He alternated between running, walking, and resting several times.

His final destination was us.

More precisely, it was the giant bottle Levinas had brought.

He placed his hand on the bottle's surface and took a moment to catch his breath.

"Haa... haa..."

"Um..."

Who are you?

Just as I was about to ask this,

The man, having caught his breath, wiped his sweat and looked at us.

"Kids, this bottle belongs to someone. You shouldn't take it without permission."

"What?!"

"Owner?!"

Levinas's ears shot up, and Gaeul looked at me with surprised eyes.

They seemed to react quite strongly to that.

What should I do?

After a brief moment of thought, I decided to apologize first.

"We-we're sorry..."

Is he very angry?

Not knowing what to do, I just fidgeted with my fingers.

Then Levinas tapped the bottle's surface with her clenched fist.

"This was just lying on the ground?! Isn't it an ownerless bottle?"

"Well... It wasn't abandoned, it was set up for promotion."

"Promotion...?"

"Yes. We set up a big bottle because it's eye-catching. It's to make people look and buy."

"Oh!"

Levinas's horned rabbit eyes widened.

Realizing she'd taken something that belonged to someone, her ears started trembling.

"S-sorry...! Levinas did wrong...!"

"Sorry..."

Levinas bowed deeply from her waist.

Gaeul also prostrated herself on the ground.

"Haha, it's okay, it's okay. You usually collect empty bottles, right? You must have really wanted to take such a big bottle."

The middle-aged man smiled kindly, not seeming too angry.

I approached the man nervously.

"Um, I'll definitely compensate you... I'm really sorry... My family took it without knowing..."

How much cash do I have on me right now?

I took out my wallet from my bag.

After looking at the crumpled bills and coins, I looked up at the middle-aged man again.

It was far from enough for compensation.

My ears and tail started trembling.

"Oh no, it's fine. No compensation needed."

The man waved his hand, seeing my state.

He looked a bit flustered.

"But still, compensation..."

"It's okay. Actually, this incident has been great publicity for us."

"Huh...? It's been good publicity...?"

"Of course, we should be the ones paying and thanking you."

"What...?"

We took a giant bottle placed in the middle of the street without permission, and it became good publicity?

What does he mean?

Not understanding, I tilted my head.

The middle-aged man held out his smartphone to us.

On the screen were Levinas and Gaeul, smiling brightly next to the giant bottle.

The comments were explosively positive.

---

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