I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild
Chapter 368: Let's Make a Snowman

They'd expected about half to fail the climb.

Who would have thought everyone would pass?

Surprised by the unexpected result, Park Taesan called over the guild member supervising the test.

"Juseong, what exactly happened here?"

"Well, the children..."

"Children?"

Instead of explaining, supervisor Kim Juseong played a pre-recorded video.

It showed the children in the cable car following behind the test participants.

"You can do it."

"Yeah."

The children adjusted the cable car's speed to follow behind those trailing at the back.

When people were about to collapse from exhaustion, they'd start moving again after receiving the children's encouragement.

"Weren't they supposed to be preparing lunch boxes?"

"After finishing preparations, they came back down to cheer people on."

"Well, well."

Did the children sincerely want to encourage the adventurers?

Park Taesan looked around at the adventurers eating lunch at the summit.

He'd wondered if Gyeoul's unique buffing ability had activated, but he didn't sense any unusual energy from them.

'Mental strength was the most important part of this test.'

Actually, this test wasn't about physical abilities at all.

The mental fortitude to not give up during extreme trials.

That's what Taesan wanted to see.

'Yeomyeong already verified their physical abilities.'

Only those with a chance of passing Taesan's test were sent here.

Though all had potential to pass, usually less than a quarter actually made it.

Taesan's test was designed to wear down adventurers' mental strength.

'Usually half should have failed but...'

They barely made it thanks to the children cheering them on.

Encouragement could be incredibly powerful.

"Hmm."

Park Taesan pondered as he watched the children celebrating everyone's success.

Though he wanted to tell them not to cheer during future tests...

He didn't want to say that to children who cared so much about others.

The Yeomyeong Guild members would probably feel the same way.

Park Taesan decided not to stop them.

**

'This really is Taesan.'

The mountain summit was truly spectacular.

Though the upper part was snow-covered, it didn't feel cold.

Thanks to temperature-regulating items provided by Taesan Guild.

Nom nom-

The children and I huddled together eating lunch boxes.

Maybe it was the scenery, but the lunch boxes were delicious too.

"This is really good."

While eating and looking around at the children, something seemed odd.

Gaeul was chewing something, but her lunch box was untouched.

What was she eating?

Had Saebyeok or Levinas fed her from their boxes?

Curious, I decided to ask.

"What are you eating, Gaeul?"

"Look."

Gaeul, still chewing, grabbed a handful of snow scattered around.

She showed me the white snow, then put it in her mouth.

"Oh... isn't the snow cold?"

"Cold."

"I see."

Though the items blocked external temperature, they couldn't stop the snow's coldness once it entered her throat.

Gaeul's shivering body proved this.

"Gaeul."

"Yeah."

Saebyeok, eating mackerel, poked Gaeul's side.

Then showed her a ball of packed snow.

"Gaeul, do you know what snow really is?"

"Huh...?"

Gaeul tilted her head.

An easy question for some, but difficult for Gaeul who was new to everything.

"Snow is actually water."

"...?!"

Gaeul's eyes went wide at Saebyeok's words.

She poked the snowball Saebyeok had made with surprised eyes.

'Hmm...'

We had equipment for boiling water.

We could use that to show Gaeul how snow becomes water.

"Gaeul, look at this."

I brought over the gas burner and pot.

After filling the pot with snow and heating it, the snow quickly melted.

"Master!"

Gaeul pointed at the melted snow.

Her surprised wide eyes were adorable.

Snow is water.

Had Gaeul learned another thing about the world?

Feeling satisfied, I ate my lunch, but noticed something odd about Levinas.

She was frantically stuffing food in her mouth.

After quickly finishing her lunch box, she munched on her carrot snack for dessert.

"Why such a hurry, Levinas?"

"Snow person!"

"Huh?"

"Levinas is going to make a snow person!"

Ah.

So she wanted to finish quickly to play.

I watched Levinas while eating my lunch.

She made snowballs with her small hands, then rolled them on the ground.

Roll roll.

Levinas walked around us rolling her snowball.

Finding it fascinating, Gaeul bounced excitedly watching the snowball grow.

"Master! Masterrr!"

"Yeah. Want to play together after eating?"

"Yeah!"

We ate while watching Levinas roll snow.

Gaeul, usually a slow eater, finished second fastest.

"Gaeul puppy, try rolling snow like Levinas."

"Huh..."

Pat pat-

Gaeul packed some snow and rolled it on the ground like Levinas.

Though clumsy, her dedicated rolling turned the small snowball into a bigger snowball.

The head and body of the snowman were complete.

"Now, put the small one on top of the big one!"

"I'll do it."

Saebyeok lifted the thigh-high snowball easily.

Then placed it on top of Levinas's snowball.

"Wow."

The children worked together to make a snowman.

Clapping my hands, I searched my bag for useful items.

Bottle caps saved from selling empty bottles, and carrots Levinas had given as gifts.

"Look."

I made eyes with bottle caps and cut the end of a carrot for the nose.

Though the face was roughly made, the children were overjoyed.

"It has a face!"

"Wow...!"

We expressed our joy by wagging tails or raising our hands in victory.

As we played with our finished snowman, a test supervisor called out from far away.

"Time to prepare for descent!"

"A-already...? Can't we rest a bit longer?"

"You've rested enough."

"Ughhhh..."

The adventurers looked to be despairing.

They were clearly very tired.

Hang in there.

Silently cheering them on, I prepared to descend with the children.

While packing up our things, I heard Gaeul grunting behind me.

"Gaeul?"

Gaeul was pushing the snowman toward the cable car.

She seemed to want to take our jointly-made snowman with us.

"Want to take the snowman with us?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm..."

What should we do about this?

While I was considering, Saebyeok approached the snowman.

"I'll push it."

Saebyeok pushed the snowman toward the cable car.

'It'll probably melt in the warmth below...'

There was space left in the cable car though.

We decided to try taking it with us.

**

The test continued over two days.

Strength tests, hunting monsters brought from dungeons, and more.

Gradually wearing down the test participants' stamina.

"Keep going. Just hang in there a bit longer and you'll pass."

"O-okay..."

A young man with a sword struggled to his feet.

His trembling body looked ready to collapse any moment.

"There's lots of delicious food at the guild."

"R-right... I'll try to hold on a bit longer..."

We weren't sure if our encouragement helped.

Still, whenever someone looked tired, we'd run over to cheer them on.

Thanks to beast-kin's unique peripheral vision, I could quickly spot who seemed most exhausted.

As the final test ended and they were about to announce who passed-

Gaeul came running urgently from far away.

"Masterrr!"

"Yes?"

"Quick! Quick!"

Gaeul pointed somewhere frantically.

She seemed so urgent she was stamping her feet.

The children, some Taesan Guild members, and I ran to where Gaeul pointed.

It was where we'd placed our snowman.

"So small."

"Yeah... you're right..."

Though only a day had passed, the warm weather had melted our snowman.

One eye had dripped down, and the nose that faced forward now drooped downward.

'I thought it would last at least a day.'

It melted so quickly.

If we'd made the snowman at our guild, we could have asked Jung Yu-na to preserve it, but this was Taesan.

As guests, we couldn't make unreasonable requests.

"Oh dear, looks like the warm weather melted the snow."

A woman from Taesan Guild crouched in front of the melting snowman.

She fixed the snowman's dripping eye and nose.

"Melted?!"

"Yes. Snow melts when it's warm."

"...!"

Gaeul had just learned yesterday that melted snow becomes water.

Understanding what melting meant, she looked devastated.

Levinas seemed to feel the same way.

"The snowman we all made together...!"

Thump-

Levinas lay down on the ground.

She spread her arms and legs wide.

"...!"

Seeing this, Gaeul carefully lay down spreading her arms and legs like Levinas.

Unlike Levinas who had dropped down with a thump, she lay down carefully.

"Hey children?"

The Taesan Guild woman crouched beside the lying children.

Though muscular and sturdy, she looked like a mage carrying a staff.

When she poked Levinas and Gaeul's sides with her finger, the children couldn't help giggling from ticklishness.

She seemed good with children.