I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild
Chapter 399: Gyeoul Challenge?

Kwon Arin looked down at the children clinging to her legs.

Gaeul on her left leg, Gyeoul on her right.

Their earnest, innocent eyes were hard to meet.

"We could go on walks together when we're bored... and play games..."

"Majo! Majo!"

Gyeoul listed the good things about living in the guild.

Gaeul chimed in with agreement.

"Um... well..."

She'd meant to tell them she was moving to the apartment below theirs.

But seeing them clinging to her, begging her not to go, made it hard to speak.

'This makes me happy.'

To be liked unconditionally like this.

Kwon Arin felt grateful for a life where she could be with the children.

"And there are pretty flowers blooming in the park..."

"Majo...! Pretty...!"

At this rate, the children might cry.

Just as she was about to tell them the truth-

Levinas and Saebyeok came running into the living room after their shower.

"What's this! Playing cicadas?!"

"No..."

"Then why are you all like that?!"

Levinas scurried over and clung to Kwon Arin's arm.

Though she didn't know what was happening, she clung on anyway.

"She said she's leaving the guild..."

"What?!"

Gripping Kwon Arin's arm tightly, Levinas looked at Saebyeok.

Even without words, the request for help was clear.

Saebyeok grabbed Kwon Arin's arm with strong force.

"Don't go - Levinas won't let you!"

"No, that's..."

Arms and legs.

Children hanging from everywhere.

It was kind of nice actually.

Just as Kwon Arin cleared her throat-

"What's going on? Why are you all like that?"

Han Yeoreum entered the living room and looked around at the children curiously.

To see them all clinging like this.

She felt a bit envious.

"Yeoreum, hurry up and cling on too!"

"U-um...?"

At Levinas's shout, though confused, Han Yeoreum pressed against Kwon Arin's back.

When she hugged tight, Kwon Arin let out a startled scream.

"...Arin, you scream when your sister hugs you?"

"Well, I'm not used to hugs from adults..."

Kwon Arin cleared her throat at Han Yeoreum's sharp gaze.

She'd made a faux pas, not being used to feeling an adult woman's chest against her.

"...So what's this about?"

"Kwon Arin says she's leaving the guild! We have to stop her!"

"Huh...?"

Isn't she not leaving, but moving closer to the apartment below?

Han Yeoreum glanced at Kwon Arin.

"Well, there seems to be a misunderstanding. I'm not leaving - I'm moving to the apartment below..."

"Heuk!"

"...!"

As soon as Kwon Arin finished speaking, she saw it.

All the children's tails wagging in unison.

Could beast-kin even coordinate their tails like this?

The tails moving as one was amazing.

"You're not going far away?"

"No. Since it's just downstairs, I'll actually be closer."

"Hehe..."

I see.

Thank goodness.

Feeling relieved, Gyeoul hugged Kwon Arin tight.

As the children followed suit and hugged her, Han Yeoreum felt a slight twinge of jealousy.

"U-um..."

Would the children cling to me and beg me not to go if I said I was leaving?

Though Han Yeoreum seriously considered it, she didn't try.

She'd decided to be a mature adult for the children after all.

She wouldn't play pranks that might upset them.

**

Kwon Arin wasn't going far away.

Rather, she was moving closer by coming to live below us.

Happy about this, we decided to spend today with her.

"Call me when you move. I'll help carry things."

"Oh yeah? Then can Gyeoul move that refrigerator?"

A huge refrigerator sat in one corner of the lodging.

It was much taller than me.

When I went to try lifting the bottom, it didn't budge at all.

Only my arms and legs trembled.

"......"

This is way too heavy for me.

I turned hesitantly to look at Kwon Arin.

She burst out laughing.

"I'm kidding - we'll call movers, so Gyeoul doesn't need to do anything."

"Ah."

It was so heavy.

What a relief.

Nodding, I sat on Kwon Arin's lap at her computer desk.

"Yah! Yah!"

"Yap! Yap!"

Levinas and Gaeul were playing a classic fighting game.

They were facing off, both stuck at the edges of the map just jumping and attacking.

They kept at it until the time ran out.

It ended in a draw.

It must have been tense - Levinas wiped sweat from her forehead.

"Gaeul puppy fought well!"

"Heuk...!"

After confirming the children were playing happily, I watched Kwon Arin's work.

She was doing some money calculations while streaming.

───

[Spending Plan]

10,000 won per day

Final donation 30,000 won x 1000

───

Spending 10,000 won per day and donating 30,000?

What was she doing?

Confused, I tapped the monitor screen.

"What's this?"

"Ah... it's a challenge that's popular among streamers lately."

"Challenge?"

"Yeah. Surviving for a week on 100,000 won."

'Surviving' on 100,000 won for a week?

That amount could let you live luxuriously for a week with money to spare.

Being a famous streamer must make her spending habits different.

"So you donate the leftover money?"

"Yeah. But not me - the streamer I'm competing with will donate. A thousand times the amount left."

"The competing streamer?"

"Yeah. Last time they had 20,000 won left so I donated 20 million won. This time I'll make them donate 30 million won since I'll have 30,000 won left."

Donating a thousand times what the other person saved.

It seemed fun and for a good cause, but the amounts were absurdly large.

As my ears perked up in surprise, Kwon Arin tapped them gently.

"Of course, the thousand multiplier is just our rule. Usually it's up to ten times max."

"Ah..."

So the famous streamers had raised the stakes.

Using that money for donations wasn't bad.

"Before I got famous, I lived fine on 10,000 won a day... so 30,000 won should be enough..."

"Hmm... should I help?"

"You, Gyeoul?"

"Yes. I can save over 50,000 won for you."

Ahem.

I stuck out my chest confidently, making Kwon Arin's eyes go wide.

"50,000 won?"

"Yes. At least 50,000. Maybe even more."

"Really?"

"Yes. Just trust me. I'm really good at this."

I thumped my chest at Kwon Arin.

Telling her to trust me.

"Hmm... Gyeoul is good at this kind of thing..."

[Gyeoul's legit a survival expert]

[She used to live in a tent lol]

[Ugh... it hurts to think about those times...]

Both Kwon Arin and her viewers seemed to trust me.

I decided to demonstrate my survival skills for them after so long.

**

"To save money, you need to minimize food costs first."

"Yeah, I thought so too. Food will probably be most of it..."

"Yes. So first we need to find the cheapest food with the most volume."

I went around neighborhood markets with Kwon Arin.

After checking five places between big markets and small shops, we found the store selling corn flour cheapest.

1kg of corn flour for just 5,000 won.

Much cheaper than when I'd bought it.

"Mix this with water to drink and you won't worry about food for a week."

"What...?"

[?]

[???]

Both Kwon Arin and her viewers expressed doubt.

"Just eat this and nothing else...?"

"No, eating only corn flour causes nutritional imbalance. So you need to eat other things too."

"R-right? You scared me there."

"Hehe."

Besides carbohydrates, we needed protein and fiber.

Gyeoul knew the cheapest way to get those two nutrients.

A place that gave all food for free.

That place was the "mountain."

**

Sitting on a park bench, Kwon Arin looked down at the "food" on her lap.

Corn flour, pine needles, and dozens of minnows.

[Ow...]

[;;]

Knowing Gyeoul's past, neither Kwon Arin nor the viewers could say anything.

The chat slowed noticeably, and Kwon Arin kept her mouth shut tight.

The corn flour and minnows made sense, but how was she supposed to eat pine needles?

Had Gyeoul eaten these too?

Kwon Arin tried eating a pine needle from the tip, like a Pepero stick.

The moment she put it in her mouth, Gyeoul's eyes sparkled.

"How is it? Delicious, right?"

"...It's bitter."

"B-bitter...?"

"Yeah..."

Her mouth was bitter.

Still, Kwon Arin chewed the pine needles silently.

Munch munch-

As she ate, it started tasting kind of good?

Just as she reached for a second pine needle-

Han Yeoreum, coming to the park, gaped at Kwon Arin.

"Arin, did you go bankrupt from moving...?"

"No, I'm doing a challenge right now."

"Challenge... Gyeoul's challenge...?"

"...The 100,000 won challenge."

100,000 won challenge?

What was that?

It looked exactly like Gyeoul's challenge though.

Han Yeoreum quickly picked up Gyeoul and held her.

She hid Gyeoul's face against her chest.

She worried that Gyeoul, who'd escaped foraging life, might learn strange things again.