I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild
Chapter 436: Underground Flower

"Grr, grr."

Levinas stomped on the living room floor.

She seemed intent on making noise, pounding her feet to create loud thumping sounds.

The thumps were even louder than her usual ones.

They say rabbits stamp their feet when angry.

Had something made Levinas angry?

To find out the source of her anger, I decided to ask directly.

"What's wrong, Levinas?"

"Levinas kindly answered their questions, but they left mean comments...!"

"Yeah! Look at this!"

Levinas held out her smartphone to show me.

On the screen was an ongoing debate about beast-kin.

'Ah.'

So they'd ignored the information she provided.

No wonder Levinas, still unfamiliar with the internet world, was upset.

"The internet has lots of incorrect information. These people are just being cautious about potentially wrong information. Learning wrong information could be troublesome."

"Like that mean..."

Levinas paused mid-sentence and glanced at Bom.

After checking that Bom was focused on the TV, Levinas whispered in my ear.

"Like that mean snake...?"

"Um... maybe...?"

Had the mean snake spread false information?

Wait, weren't the mean snake and our kind Bom different entities?

Though confused, I understood Levinas's thoughtful consideration.

I decided not to ask about it.

"Then should I tell them I'm a beast-kin?!"

"Yeah. That should work."

"Okay!"

Levinas beamed as she tapped away at her smartphone screen.

Was she happy to share information about beast-kin?

I pressed my cheek against hers as we watched the screen.

[HeroHornedRabbit: We are beast-kin/.]

Levinas's carefully typed comment.

The "we" seemed to include me too.

Unfortunately, the internet world doesn't believe claims without proof.

[Beast-kin Doctor: Oh, so that's your roleplay...]

[Matilda: If you're a beast-kin, I'll dance handstands in Yeomyeong Park lol]

Dancing in our park?

There was no need to ask why specifically our park.

Yeomyeong Park had the highest concentration of beast-kin in the country.

They probably meant they'd dance somewhere associated with beast-kin.

But their dancing wasn't what we needed to focus on right now.

"King, they still don't believe me. What should I do?"

"Hmm... well..."

The only option left was photo proof.

Since countless photos of us were already circulating online anyway.

One more wouldn't cause any problems.

"Levinas, want to take a picture together? We'll show them we're really beast-kin."

"Yeah...! Will this work?!"

Levinas quickly tore a page from her sketchbook.

Then she wrote large letters with colored pencils.

[We ARE beast-kin!]

"Oh."

Both spelling and spacing were perfect.

This should be enough to prove we were beast-kin.

Tap tap-

I turned on the phone's camera and set up the timer.

Levinas held up the sketchbook with an angry expression while I just made a simple V-sign.

Click-

After the camera shutter sound, we checked the photo.

On the far left, Gaeul had somehow appeared, peeking just her face into the frame.

When had she joined the photo?

Giggling at the funny situation, I tapped away at the smartphone Levinas had given me.

"This should convince them we're beast-kin."

"...!"

Levinas's ears perked up in anticipation.

Beside the excited Levinas, I posted the photo with some explanation.

[Levinas likes searching about beast-kin online. She browses everywhere, but isn't very good with the internet yet.]

She might cause misunderstandings because she wasn't good at it.

With that message, I attached our photo in the comment.

The response was explosive.

[Matilda: ?]

[Beast-kin Doctor: ?????????]

The two users who had been arguing expressed their shock.

Though the cafe didn't have many members, comments started flooding in.

[DiDiDi: lol look at the self-proclaimed experts jumping lol]

[└know: Look how they're watching their language now that kids are here lol]

[KonnyakJelly: How did such distinguished guests end up in our humble place...?]

[└BlackWhiteChef: Probably found us searching beast-kin keywords? I've seen Levinas searching about beast-kin stuff in the park too.]

[└KonnyakJelly: So jealous of Yeomyeong residents...]

[IceLover: ??? : If you're a beast-kin, I'll dance handstands in Yeomyeong Park lol]

[└ThiefLegend: lololol]

Comments kept coming in real-time.

Levinas looked satisfied, probably because she'd revealed herself as a beast-kin.

There was no need to write more posts or comments that might attract trolls.

It could damage our and the children's image.

Without hesitation, I left the cafe and closed the website.

"Levinas, want to watch animation?"

"Yeah! I'd love to!"

We stopped paying attention to the internet and watched animation together.

When evening came, we took quick showers and played more with the children.

"Yawn."

It was already dark outside.

As I sat rubbing my eyes on the sofa, Bom was trembling against the living room window.

"Bom, what's wrong?"

"Th-there's a ghost in the park..."

"A ghost?"

At the word "ghost," all the children rushed to the window.

Under the streetlight illuminating the dark park, someone was doing a handstand.

They wore a Hahoetal mask, and were awkwardly wiggling their legs in a dance.

"Eek! It's a dancing handstand ghost!"

"Eeek!"

The children clung to me, trembling.

Knowing who it was, I just watched the wobbling legs.

"Hmm... it's probably not a ghost."

"It's not...?"

"Yeah. Just someone who likes dancing."

Wobble wobble.

The person doing handstands lost their balance and fell backward.

They lay face down for a while before scrambling away from the park.

Matilda.

Though a bit fierce, they were someone who kept their word.

**

The next morning.

We headed to the container house to gather hunting supplies.

As I came out with bow and arrows, the children were standing right in front of me with tense expressions.

"What are you doing?"

"Growing."

Gaeul held out plant seeds to me.

They were seeds from the "underground flower" we'd brought from the beast-kin village.

"Ah."

I'd forgotten we were going to plant them in the park.

Looks like hunting would have to wait.

"Where should we plant these?"

"That's what we're thinking about!"

"I see."

I looked around slowly.

Though the park was big enough to plant them anywhere, I wanted to be careful about the first placement.

"Hmm..."

"Hmm..."

We put our heads together to think.

Should we plant them by the pool playground?

Or maybe create a path from one end of the pond to the other?

It could be both a fun ride and useful transportation if used well.

Just as we were seriously considering this.

With approaching footsteps, Lee Gunwoo, the Wizards Association president, came toward us.

"Good morning."

"Yes. Good morning."

He probably wasn't just here to say good morning.

As I looked up at the president to ask why he'd come, I noticed him showing curiosity about us too.

"You seem deep in thought..."

"Ah. We were discussing how to use these seeds."

"Seeds?"

"Yes. They're seeds from a plant that only grows in the beast-kin village, and it's a very special plant."

"I see."

At the mention of a plant that only grows in the beast-kin village, the president showed interest.

He examined the tiny seeds, smaller than fingernails, from different angles.

"What brings you here today?"

"I came to ask about the beast-kin village, but now I'm more curious about this. Could you tell me what kind of plant this is?"

Perhaps it was because he was the greatest among mages?

He seemed more curious than others.

"This is called an underground flower."

"Underground flower... does it bloom underground?"

"No, the flower blooms above ground, but it creates paths underground. You can travel very quickly through those paths."

"Like... a tunnel...?"

"Yes. The tunnel sucks you in and moves you at incredible speed."

Though I thought I'd explained it well, Lee Gunwoo maintained his expressionless face.

Was he not interested in tunnels that could transport people quickly?

I'd thought it was quite special.

As I scratched my cheek awkwardly, I could hear it.

The president's pounding heartbeat.

I'd thought his blank expression meant disinterest.

But he'd just maintained his poker face while showing tremendous interest.

"C-could we try planting one?"

After hearing the president's heartbeat, I could tell.

His eyes were sparkling brighter than stars in the night sky.