I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild
Chapter 357: Crouching

"Ow, oww..."

Levinas clutched her hand and slumped down.

We quickly rushed over to her.

"Levinas, are you okay...?"

"Ouch, that must hurt."

Despite Kwon Arin and I approaching, Levinas just kept groaning.

The pain must have been quite bad.

I carefully removed her goggles.

"Levinas?"

Her eyes, previously hidden behind the goggles, were now visible.

Her drooping eyes and ears gave us a glimpse of the pain she was feeling.

"King..."

"Y-yes...?"

"The watermelon was too strong..."

Crack.

After saying "crack" out loud, Levinas closed her eyes and lay down.

She still had enough energy to joke around.

I was relieved that Levinas wasn't in too much pain.

"Looks like she's not badly hurt."

Kwon Arin seemed to share my thoughts as she let out a light sigh.

As soon as she confirmed Levinas was okay, she glanced at the broadcast screen like the professional streamer she was.

[Ouch, that must've really hurt ㄷㄷ]

[But she's so brave, it's nice to see]

[I got scared when she threw her hand at the wall lol]

I followed Kwon Arin's gaze to the broadcast screen.

Many concerned chat messages were scrolling up.

Hmm.

Deep in thought, Kwon Arin approached her streaming computer.

"I'll end the stream here for today."

[Nooo!!!!!!]

[You're ending it here???]

[Why do you get the kids all to yourself? Why do you get the kids all to yourself? Why...]

[I'll be good!!! Don't go!!!]

"The kids are pretty startled, so they need some rest."

Kwon Arin was right - we all looked quite tense on screen.

None of our tails were moving at all.

The viewers seemed to notice this and didn't protest further.

[Well, can't be helped...]

[Yeah, the kids need rest.]

[Bye Kwon!]

[See you later, Gyeoul!]

As Kwon Arin ended the stream, we heard the sound of feet pattering on the floor.

When I turned my head, I saw Gaeul stomping the ground next to the fallen Levinas.

"Horned rabbit!"

Gaeul, who had been fretting, shook Levinas's body.

Levinas seemed to want to keep up the act, keeping her eyes closed.

Though she was pretending to be unconscious, she kept rubbing her hurt hand.

"Master...!"

Gaeul turned to me with a look asking for help.

I decided to play along with Levinas's prank for now.

"Maybe if we blow on the hurt spot, she'll wake up?"

"...!"

Gaeul's eyes went wide as she grabbed Levinas's hand.

Then she started licking the injured hand.

"Oh."

Licking instead of blowing.

That's actually much better.

Gaeul's licking seemed to work, as Levinas slowly opened her eyes.

"Ugh... Gaeul puppy, you must avenge Levinas...!"

"Avenge...?!"

Levinas put the goggles on Gaeul.

Surprised by the suddenly changed world, Gaeul froze in place.

"...?"

Still frozen, Gaeul looked around.

Perhaps startled that she couldn't see her family, she started turning her head faster and faster.

"Master?!"

"Gaeul, I'm right beside you."

"Heuk...!"

Was she relieved to hear my voice in the changed world?

Gaeul's tail started wagging rapidly.

After she stopped looking around, Gaeul fixed her gaze on a virtual apple.

We could see everything through the monitor.

"Apple."

Gaeul reached for the apple.

We could see the virtual hand grabbing the apple.

Confused that she couldn't feel anything while holding the apple, Gaeul looked puzzled.

"Wow, Gaeul caught the apple."

"Yeah."

Gaeul took a bite of the virtual apple.

She chewed for a bit, then tilted her head with an "oh?"

She probably couldn't taste anything from the apple.

"Gaeul, does the apple taste good?"

"No."

Gaeul held out the virtual apple to me.

Did she want me to try it?

Though I couldn't see the apple without the goggles, I decided to pretend to eat it.

"I'll try some."

I held Gaeul's hand and pretended to eat the apple.

When I made chomping sounds, Gaeul's tail started wagging.

"Oh. This apple has no taste at all. Must be a fake apple."

"Right."

Watching Gaeul nod, I had a thought.

It would be fun to put a real apple in Gaeul's hand.

Unfortunately, we didn't have any apples on hand.

"I want to try too."

"Levinas too!"

Saebyeok and Levinas took turns pretending to bite the apple Gaeul was holding.

Finally, even Kwon Arin pretended to take a bite.

They had to hold Gaeul's hand to eat the apple, which made her tail wag even faster.

"It has no taste."

"This apple tastes like air!"

"Heuk."

Gaeul looked quite happy.

Was she excited about discovering a tasteless apple?

It would be quite amazing if such an apple existed.

"Gaeul puppy! Should we try peach too?!"

"Like."

Gaeul reached for the peach.

Our fruit-smashing game had turned into a fruit-tasting game.

It was a fascinating game where none of the fruits had any taste.

**

After finishing our play, we all returned home together.

But Gaeul's hand position looked strange.

She was holding her hand as if gripping a baseball, but there was nothing actually there.

"Gaeul, what are you holding?"

"Apple!"

"Ah."

She must still think she's holding the virtual apple from before taking off the goggles.

I kept staring at Gaeul's hand until we entered the living room.

"Sophia."

"Hmm?"

"Apple."

Gaeul handed the invisible apple to Sophia.

Sophia, not understanding what was happening, glanced at me.

"It's an invisible apple - you can't see it or taste it. You can't even feel it when you eat it."

"My goodness, there's such an apple?"

Hoo.

An impressed Sophia took a bite of Gaeul's invisible apple.

Then she pointed to the table with her finger.

"I brought something tasty too, have one each."

Four cafe drinks were placed on the table.

They were drinks called bubble tea.

"Sophia, children shouldn't have coffee though?"

"It's not coffee, it's bubble tea. I hear it's quite popular."

"Bubble tea?"

Levinas picked up one of the bubble teas.

As she sipped through the straw, large pearls came up.

"There's rice cakes in the drink...!"

"Rice cakes?!"

We each took a bubble tea.

Thanks to the wide, thick straws, we could finish them quickly.

'Delicious.'

We should all get some together again later.

As I was savoring the bubble tea's aftertaste, Levinas approached me with the distinctive large straw in her mouth.

She pressed the straw against my cheek and started sucking.

It was just like Levinas to play such an innocent prank.

"My cheeeeek."

I could feel my cheek being pulled.

Ugggh.

I let out a lifeless groan.

Slurp slurp slurp-

After continuously sucking on my cheek, Levinas slowly backed away.

"Levinas ate King's cheek."

Levinas patted her belly as if she'd eaten well.

Looking in a nearby mirror, I could see a circular straw mark on my cheek.

'Oh?'

Don't these marks usually last quite a while?

As I was examining my cheek in the mirror, the compressed feeling suddenly released and my cheek returned to normal.

"...You must heal quickly because you're young."

"Hmm..."

Does skin regenerate like this just because you're young?

As I was staring at my cheek in the mirror with fascination, Gaeul pressed her straw against my other cheek.

Had she learned a new game from watching Levinas?

I waited for her to start sucking, but Gaeul just blew into it.

"Gaeul?"

Phooooo.

Gaeul's breath came through the straw.

One side of my cheek warmed up from her breath.

Puzzled, I turned to look at Gaeul and saw her seriously blowing air.

"Gaeul, what are you doing?"

"Master...! Shrink shrink...!"

It was an urgent-sounding "shrink shrink."

From this, I could understand what Gaeul was trying to do.

Was she trying to blow back what Levinas had sucked out?

I couldn't help but giggle.

"Gaeul, it's okay if my cheek gets sucked a little bit."

"Okay? No shrink shrink?"

"Yeah, this much won't make me shrink... huh?"

Did Gaeul get taller somehow?

Wasn't she about my height before?

As I looked up at Gaeul in confusion, Sophia spoke from her massage chair.

"Did you get smaller somehow...?"

"R-really?"

"Yes, noticeably smaller. Would you stand up for a moment?"

"O-okay..."

When I stood up, Gaeul stood up with me.

"Oh..."

For some reason, Gaeul was now more than a head taller than me.

Both Gaeul and I had wide eyes.

"Master...!"

"Heuk...!"

Levinas's horned rabbit eyes went wide as she looked down at her straw.

That's when I finally realized what had happened.

'Levinas must have imagined me getting smaller when she sucked with the straw.'

This was Levinas's special magic, different from other mages.

It had activated.