I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild
Chapter 350: Shelter

"Uh, um..."

Unfortunately the two staff members were heading straight toward me.

I couldn't help but panic seeing them approach.

They had just been talking about a difficult customer who ripped up clothes.

Standing there holding cut-up clothes in front of them was quite awkward.

"Um, uh..."

I gathered the cut clothes with one hand.

My other hand had to stay hidden holding the scissors.

Did my flustered behavior make things worse?

The two staff members started walking toward me.

One man and one woman.

"Oh, it's Gyeoul. Is something wrong?"

"...That's a customer. Use formal speech."

"...Is something wrong, miss?"

Even though they were friendly, I shrank back.

I'd always been weak in situations like this.

'Even though I haven't done anything wrong...'

I should just be honest.

I showed them the scissors I had been hiding.

"Well, I needed to make holes for tails so I cut a little..."

"Tail holes?"

"Yes... it's not that I don't like the clothes..."

"Ah... did you overhear us?"

I silently nodded.

As my head lowered, the large hole in Sophia's clothes came into view.

"This is Sophia's chosen clothes... Sophia is my family and her tail is thick so it needs this much cut out..."

Flutter-

I shook out the clothes to show the staff where I had cut.

For normal human clothes, the hole would expose most of the back.

"I see. We understand."

"Sometimes people do need to alter clothes they like."

Thankfully, the staff quickly accepted my explanation.

People really do need to communicate first.

Just as I was feeling relieved, Sophia and the children returned from looking around.

Each child held an ice cream, while Sophia carried two.

"Gyeoul, ice cream..."

"Sophia, Sophia."

I got up and went to Sophia.

Then I turned her around to show her tail to the staff.

"Look at this. It's Sophia's tail."

"...Gyeoul?"

"Ah, sorry. I was just explaining why we cut the clothes."

"Hmm... well done."

Sophia put an ice cream in my mouth.

My tail wagged at the sweet taste, but I wondered about her praise.

"I did well?"

"Yes. You tried to help them understand the differences between humans and beast-kin."

"Oh... yes..."

"It's important to help others understand our differences."

Sophia patted my head.

I'd just been trying to defuse the situation, but ended up getting praised like this.

Hehe, I awkwardly scratched my cheek while smiling.

"Gyeoul is like a beast-kin ambassador."

"Yes. Thanks to her, I've learned a lot about beast-kin."

The words made Sophia nod with satisfaction.

'Since beast-kin are a minority.'

Gradually spreading awareness like this would help.

I was glad things had worked out well.

**

After returning home, we took a break in the park.

Gaeul seemed to like her new clothes, examining herself from different angles.

"Master, Gaeul."

"Yeah. Gaeul looks really pretty."

A plain white t-shirt with no patterns.

Being adult men's size, one shoulder kept slipping down.

Gaeul smiled brightly in the pristine shirt.

"Does Gaeul like white t-shirts?"

"No."

"No?"

"Yeah."

Huh?

Gaeul looked extremely happy wearing the white shirt.

Yet she said she didn't like it - what was going on?

Just as I was wondering this.

Gaeul plopped down on the park grass.

She grabbed a handful of dirt and rubbed it on her new shirt.

Part of the white shirt turned brown with soil.

Giggling at the change, she then plucked some grass and rubbed that on too.

"Master, Gaeul pretty."

Gaeul pointed to her shirt now stained with dirt and grass.

That's when I finally understood why she had chosen a white shirt.

'She can add her own colors.'

Gaeul was creating her own unique clothes using her favorite things.

The shirt stained with earth and green was more pure and beautiful than pristine white.

"Yeah. Gaeul's clothes are really pretty."

"Master too."

"Me too?"

"Yeah."

Gaeul ran to the park tent.

When she returned moments later, she held art supplies.

"Those are..."

"Drawing."

Gaeul pressed a blue marker into my hand.

Then she pulled her white shirt taut in front.

"Will you draw for me?"

"Heh...!"

Gaeul's tail wagged rapidly.

Seeing this, Levinas and Saebyeok approached Gaeul.

"Gaeul puppy, can Levinas draw too?"

"Like."

"Oh!"

With Gaeul's permission, we all drew on the shirt together.

We drew hearts and wrote nice words.

I wrote 'The Best.'

"...!"

As the children's drawings spread across Gaeul's shirt, her tail wagged faster and faster.

It looked like she might fly away at that speed.

"King, Gaeul's clothes are the prettiest of all we bought today."

"Yeah. I think so too."

Happy to hear it was the prettiest, Gaeul gave me a tight hug.

Levinas and Saebyeok each hugged her too before looking down at their own clothes.

They all looked truly happy.

"Shall we head home now?"

"Yeah!"

We walked home with lighter steps.

Yeoreum was resting on the sofa when we arrived.

"Where have my little ones been?"

"We bought new clothes."

"New clothes?!"

Yeoreum's eyes sparkled.

She seemed to want to see them.

Should I show her Gaeul's clothes first since they're the prettiest?

I stepped aside to reveal Gaeul behind me.

"Gaeul's clothes are the prettiest of all of ours."

"Oh my! They are!"

Yeoreum got up from the sofa and came over.

She crouched near Gaeul and started examining each drawing.

"This one's by Saebyeok..."

"Yeah."

"And this is Levinas's?"

"That's right! You're so accurate!"

"Hehe, and this is Gyeoul's handwriting?"

"Yes, that's right."

Yeoreum correctly identified who drew each part of Gaeul's t-shirt.

Was this the eye for detail of a top adventurer?

My ears perked up in surprise.

"Hehe, should sister add her signature too?"

Yeoreum took out a pen and signed Gaeul's shirt.

Was it because one more person's heart was added?

Gaeul jumped up and down.

"But won't it wash off?"

"I'll ask Jung Yu-na to put a spell on it. Then it won't wash off."

"There's magic for that?"

"Yeah. You know, Eiva One has similar magic on her."

Eiva One, the former lab staff member.

So the doodles on her body and clothes staying permanent was because of magic.

Though I'd said not to erase them, I'd only meant it as words.

Somehow I felt like I'd done something really bad.

"The drawings can be erased..."

"No, she specifically asked for it. Said she needed to reflect."

"I see."

I glanced furtively at Saebyeok.

Saebyeok was wagging their tail peacefully as usual as they spoke.

"Seems like she's reflected enough, so we should change them to nice words."

"Y-yeah..."

Not erasing them but changing them to good words.

I felt relieved seeing their relationship gradually improving.

Though I wasn't sure how much longer it would take, I decided to watch patiently.

**

We all watched television together in the living room.

Levinas held the remote, browsing through OTT channels.

Movies, animations, dramas.

Scrolling through various options, Levinas stopped at the 'Documentary' section.

"King, what's a documentary?"

"Hmm... it's like a program where you learn things."

"Study!"

Levinas sat up straight and browsed the documentary list.

Beautiful Earth, Secrets of Monsters, and others.

Among various titles, they stopped at one called 'Final Shelter'.

"Shelter! King has a shelter too, right?!"

"Yeah. I have a shelter."

"King's shelter is huge! This big!"

Levinas spread their arms wide.

Though not large by adult standards, it was quite big for a child.

The rubber container was roomy enough for me and Levinas to hug with space left over.

"Yeah. My shelter is pretty amazing."

The shelter was one of the few things I could be proud of from my long tent life.

It had helped me survive many crises.

I couldn't help feeling proud of my shelter.

"Can Levinas use the shelter if in danger?!"

"Gaeul too."

"Of course. Use it anytime you're in danger."

Pride in my shelter made my chest puff out.

I might have been looking quite smug.

Levinas seemed to like my reaction, giggling while starting the documentary.

Final Shelter introduced shelters built by various countries to protect against war and monster disasters.

-This shelter in America...

"Oh..."

It showed bunker-level shelters far beyond my simple one.

The difference in funding was clear.

Hehe.

I'd gotten cocky for nothing.

I scratched my cheek awkwardly while smiling.

But for some reason, everyone except Gaeul had concerned expressions.

It felt like they were watching me carefully.