I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild
Chapter 389: Let's Eat Spicy Ramen

"Yah!"

Gaeul sat in a motorcycle pose with her fists pulled to her chest.

From that position, as if gathering energy, her tail started spinning round and round.

It really looked like she might fly into the sky.

"Oh..."

Was Gaeul really trying to fly?

As I watched her blankly, I heard rustling beside me.

"Oh."

Levinas took a shaking mushroom from the bag and took a bite.

It was the mushroom we hadn't sold yet since we rushed back due to the tail problem.

"Heuk! Levinas's tail...!"

"W-wow..."

Levinas's tail shook vigorously.

My eyes went wide at the mysterious sight.

Though Levinas's tail usually moved a little, this was the first time it moved with such big motions.

"Oh dear, you silly thing."

Sophia tapped Levinas's head with her cane.

Then she took out her smartphone and started sending a text message somewhere.

"...What are you doing?"

"You shouldn't eat mushrooms carelessly. Understand?"

"Got it...?!"

"Heuk..."

The children answered that they understood but tilted their heads.

Being able to fly seemed good, so why wasn't it allowed?

They seemed to have such doubts, but for now they accepted it since Sophia said no.

"Sophia, what about our tails?"

"I've asked for help, so wait a bit."

"Okay."

So we spent some time waiting with our wagging tails.

Gaeul kept practicing flying, and Levinas was fascinated by her wagging tail, watching it in the mirror.

And Saebyeok...

Saebyeok's tail was gently swaying as she watched us.

"Did Saebyeok eat the mushroom too?"

"No."

Ah.

Tails could wag even without eating the mushroom.

As I was just nodding with nothing to say-

"Master!"

Suddenly Gaeul floated up to the house ceiling.

Her tail was spinning like a circle behind her back.

"Heuk!"

"Ah."

So flying into the sky wasn't a joke but real?

I hurriedly reached toward Gaeul, but the ceiling was too high to reach.

"Gaeul, that's too high."

"Heuk..."

Gaeul looked down at us with blank eyes from the ceiling.

She flailed her arms and legs like swimming, but remained stuck to the ceiling.

Wait, how could she fly with just her tail? This wasn't ghost form.

Was that physically possible?

I just stared up at Gaeul in confusion.

Then Jung Yu-na's voice came from behind.

"Huhu, did Gaeul fly away?"

As soon as I noticed Jung Yu-na's presence, I started feeling mana.

Thanks to that, I realized.

Jung Yu-na was using magic to make Gaeul float.

"Nyuuu!"

Gaeul flew above the sofa, then toward the TV, then to the kitchen.

Flying Gaeul flailed around looking at us with wide eyes.

"Gaeul where are you going! Come here!"

"Heuk..."

Gaeul, who had been flying around the house, seemed to realize she couldn't fly on her own and stopped flailing her arms.

She just looked down at us with her characteristic blank face while spinning her tail round and round.

"Gaeul, can't you come down?"

"Nyuu."

"What should we do..."

Shouldn't she be let down now?

Just as I turned to look at Jung Yu-na, Levinas hopped up.

When Levinas touched Gaeul's ankle and came back down, Gaeul's ears perked up.

Watching this, Jung Yu-na started laughing brightly.

"Well, should I let you down?"

"Nyuu...!"

At Gaeul's answer, Jung Yu-na tapped her staff.

Then Gaeul, who had been flying, slowly started descending toward us.

"Gaeul, over here."

Everyone gathered to catch the descending Gaeul.

As she got closer to us, Gaeul started smiling brightly.

By the time our hands reached her, she was giggling.

"Wah! Gaeul Puppy came down!"

"Heuk...!"

Once on the ground, Gaeul showed her joy by wagging her tail wildly.

She licked our cheeks here and there and gave tight hugs.

"Now, everyone saw? If you eat mushrooms carelessly, you might never be able to hug family again. You'll be careful from now on?"

"Yes."

"Yeah!"

Thanks to Jung Yu-na's help, we learned to be cautious about mushrooms.

But there was still one unresolved thing.

"Um, can you make the tail wagging stop too...?"

"Huh? I removed the mushroom's poison though?"

"Oh."

I carefully looked behind me.

My tail was still wagging rapidly.

**

While resting on the sofa with the children, Levinas, who was lying on my lap looking at her smartphone, held it out to me.

"King! Look at this!"

"This is..."

There was a special event on the smartphone screen.

The Spicy Ramen Challenge.

It was an event where you just had to eat one spicy ramen from a food company.

You just had to film it and upload the video to a video platform site.

'Ramen...?'

Fire Chicken Noodles.

It was a famous ramen I'd often seen.

Famous influencers from Korea and abroad had filmed videos challenging this ramen.

So it had become famous enough for an event?

Just as I was scrolling down looking at the event details-

Levinas puffed out her chest with an "ahem."

"Levinas wants to try this!"

"L-Levinas...? Won't it be too spicy?"

"It's okay! They said it's not that spicy!"

Levinas showed me videos uploaded to the challenge site.

People were slurping and somehow managing to finish the ramen.

Among them was even someone who looked like an elementary school student.

"I guess it's not that spicy after all."

"Yeah! And look at the prizes!"

The prizes included...

Heuk.

Oh my.

From popularity awards to special awards and entertainment awards.

Among the various prizes, what caught my eye was the high-end pot for the effort award.

It said it was a pot specially made for cooking ramen well.

"Levinas, I want to do it too."

"Heuk! Should we do it together?!"

"Yeah!"

**

Going to dungeons and starting her usual game stream.

This was Kwon Arin's daily routine.

[Let's run today too]

Maybe the title was too plain.

Should she change it a bit?

As Kwon Arin pondered these ordinary thoughts, occasional big events would come her way.

Knock knock knock-

A small sound rang out from below the door.

Kwon Arin could tell who it was just from the knocking.

"Wait, I think someone's here."

Hehe.

Smiling, Kwon Arin moved toward the entrance.

"Who is it?"

"It's Gyeoul."

As expected, it was Gyeoul.

When Kwon Arin opened the door, Gaeul and Levinas poked their heads in.

"You all came together?"

"Yeah! Came to do a challenge with King!"

"Challenge? Chaerin[1] sells fish bread though?"

"Huh?"

Above Levinas's opened horned rabbit eyes, Gyeoul held up spicy ramen.

It was ramen that had recently become extremely popular worldwide.

"Not Chaerin, challenge."

"Challenge?"

"Yes. They give prizes for filming yourself eating this. Could we maybe borrow your recording equipment? They said streaming works too."

Kwon Arin had seen this challenge before.

She'd thought about trying it but gave up since it didn't fit her casual streaming concept.

But with our kids, they'd practically won the popularity award already.

"...Isn't it cheating if you guys do it?"

"Huh?"

"No, more importantly, it's spicy - can you handle it?"

"Yes. I saw even elementary school students eating it."

"Hmm..."

True, but wasn't Gyeoul just elementary school age?

Though worried, she had no intention of stopping them since they wanted to do it.

It wasn't lethally spicy ramen after all.

"Then I'll cook it for you. Wait inside a bit."

"Okay."

"Yeah!"

The children came into the lodging and Kwon Arin cooked the ramen.

Being ordinary ramen, it could be cooked quickly.

"Here."

Kwon Arin brought the ramen in a pot.

Just in case, she brought a whole pack of milk too.

The children's tails perked up seeing the red ramen.

"Heuk! It smells spicy!"

"Y-yeah..."

Levinas and Gyeoul covered their noses at the spicy smell.

Gaeul quickly backed away, and Saebyeok tapped the pot lightly with her fingertips.

[What's this what's this?!]

[Babies doing the Fire Chicken challenge?!]

[Aack! No!]

Glancing at the broadcast screen, Kwon Arin sat down in front of the children.

"Let's win this and get the popularity award?"

"No, I want the effort award."

"Effort award?"

"Yes. They give a premium pot."

"Ah, a pot."

Gyeoul really does like pots.

But no matter how you look at it, Gyeoul would get the popularity award.

Hmm, just as Kwon Arin was stroking her chin, Gyeoul picked up a fork.

"...I'll try eating now."

"Levinas too...!"

Poke.

Gyeoul and Levinas stabbed the ramen with their forks.

Then they started twirling it like pasta.

"Um... kids, isn't that too much...? How about eating just a little?"

"Th-this much?"

"No, even less..."

They unwound and unwound the twirled ramen until they had just three strands.

Just to be safe, the plan was to have them eat just a little at first.

"Should we eat now...?"

"U-um..."

It was oddly tense watching the children about to eat something spicy.

As Kwon Arin gulped, the children put the unwound ramen in their mouths.

Slurp-

The long ramen strands went into the children's mouths.

But one strand of ramen going into Gyeoul and Levinas's mouths was connected.

Munch munch.

The children ate the ramen bit by bit, not noticing this.

The ramen must have been quite tasty, as Gyeoul's tail swayed gently.

'Oh.'

The kids are handling the spiciness pretty well.

No, more importantly, at this rate the kids will...

Could see something cute.

Just as Kwon Arin was anticipating-

The children's chewing mouths suddenly stopped.

Bristle bristle.

Levinas and Gyeoul's ears and tails stood straight up.

The children froze with their fur bristled.

The connected ramen strand fell down with a plop.

[Almost]

A viewer expressed disappointment.

[1. TD]