Momoa's bad news entered our eting place.
If we followed, they'd probably run into each other.
Not wanting them to et, I hugged Momoa tightly.
"Let's all have a group hug."
"So suddenly?"
"Yes. Hugs can happen anyti."
I hugged Momoa, Yoo Sang-ah, and all the children nearby.
Thanks to often giving hugs normally, no one found it particularly strange.
Except for Bom, who was awkward with hugs.
"Uh, uhh..."
Bom's face had turned completely red.
Though she didn't seem to dislike it, given how her tail tip was wagging.
Watching Bom, Yoo Sang-ah chuckled and said to everyone:
"Shall we go in now?"
"Yes."
We all entered the building together.
The eting was at a buffet, but I had to stop at the entrance.
"How much does it cost?"
"Hmm... probably about a million won per person?"
"What...?"
A million won?
My fur stood on end all over.
"I'm kidding. We rented out the whole buffet, so you don't have to pay."
"...You scared ."
"Sorry. Was that too much?"
"No, it wasn't too bad."
Still, renting the whole place ant quite a lot of people must have co.
Just how many people were here?
I walked into the buffet with anticipation.
"Wow..."
Quite a crowd had gathered inside.
I even spotted so familiar faces from Taesan Guild and Sacred Guild in the distance.
"Oh, it's the Yeomyeong kids?"
"Must have followed soone here."
"First ti seeing the little ones in person."
Passersby showed interest in us.
But our children's attention was focused on the buffet food.
"Shuin! Food?!"
"Yeah. You can eat all of that. Rember when we had buffet before?"
"Eek...!"
Gaeul smiled brightly and approached the food.
I followed behind Gaeul along with the children.
We all walked around the food section together.
Perhaps because it was a gathering of promising guild mbers?
The food quality was impressive.
"Levinas loves buffet."
"You like rotting things too?"
"Huh?"
Levinas's childish pronunciation made "buffet" sound like "decay".
Bom's eyes sparkled as she asked.
Did Bom like decay?
Snake beast-kin seed to like negative things.
I was startled by my own thoughts.
Decay was also part of nature's order.
Without decay, ecosystems would collapse.
Just because it was unpleasant to look at didn't make it negative.
"...Decay is good."
"Yeah. I really like decay."
Bom smiled at my muttered attempt to make up for my mistake.
I was glad I hadn't been foolish.
As I was looking at the buffet food with relief.
"Shuin!"
Gaeul ran to carrying a huge plate.
The plate was piled high with fish dishes.
Her arms trembled, apparently from the weight of the plate full of fish dishes.
She pushed out her chest with an "ahem", seemingly proud of bringing the food.
"Gaeul, you're supposed to take small portions."
"Huh...?!"
"This is for everyone to share. If Gaeul eats it all herself, she'll be a bad child? Does Gaeul want to be a bad child?"
"No!"
Startled, Gaeul ran off sowhere.
She put down the plate full of fish in one corner of the buffet, then let out a relieved sigh.
She seed relieved not to have beco a bad child.
"Our Gaeul is so good. She might even get a Good Child Award later?"
"Right!"
Gaeul threw her hands up in celebration.
I felt like I really should make a Good Child Award to give her later.
"King, King."
As I was patting Gaeul's head, Levinas approached .
She held out a plate for putting food.
"King, want to play a ga with Levinas?"
"A ga?"
"Yeah. Finding food the other person likes ga!"
"...Sure."
My tail wagged at the fun-sounding ga.
Even our children who were looking at food showed interest.
"I want to play too."
"Gaeul too."
" too."
Food the other person would like.
Should I get dishes with at, fish, and carrots?
My tail wagged thinking about how happy the children would be.
I decided to fill up plates with lots of delicious food.
**
We hadn't co to the buffet just for the food.
Yoo Sang-ah's goal was to socialize with people from various guilds.
Whether they were familiar faces or strangers didn't matter.
With a bright smile, Yoo Sang-ah went around eting them.
They might offer even small help soday when needed.
"Long ti no see, Juyae."
"Oh my, it has been a while, Sang-ah."
"I heard you've been very busy lately."
"Oh don't even ntion it. These days at the guild..."
Though they exchanged trivial information, Yoo Sang-ah kept her smile.
She knew valuable information could co unexpectedly.
"It must be tough."
"We're relatively okay, but other departnts are nearly dying."
"Ah... I see."
As Yoo Sang-ah finished talking, Momoa, who had been watching carefully, approached.
She didn't talk to people.
Uncomfortable with people, she just stood around awkwardly.
"Sang-ah, where did the kids go?"
"They went to look at food. This is our work after all."
"...True."
Our work, huh.
Maybe I should try a little harder too.
Just as Momoa was hesitantly approaching soone nearby.
"Excuse ."
Shiver-
A voice that made people's skin crawl.
Momoa turned toward the voice.
There stood the person who had tornted her so severely.
"...Sadie?"
"It is Momoa, isn't it?"
Momoa felt disgusted by Sadie's bright smile.
She knew the ugliness hidden beneath that mask.
"...What brings you to Korea?"
Momoa didn't use honorifics with Sadie.
Sadie wasn't soone worthy of respect.
"I'm here for work. I thought you'd given up on this field."
"I had no reason to give up."
The implication was that Sadie's bullying hadn't mattered at all.
Though she had actually given up once, Momoa deliberately didn't voice this truth.
Showing discomfort was exactly what that woman wanted.
"Well, good for you."
"Yeah. Good for ."
Sadie and Momoa had so things in common.
Both blonde, both pursuing the sa career path.
Both were known for their beauty, but Momoa's grades had been far better.
For an aggressive and jealous woman, that was enough reason to bully soone.
"Let's get along from now on?"
"Hmm... sure."
She's really pretending to be friendly without batting an eye.
What disgusting political sense.
Or maybe it was just a simple power play.
"By the way, which guild are you with?"
"...Just a small local guild."
"Really...?"
Sadie's eyes curved slightly.
She must have gotten into a good guild.
Momoa could tell Sadie was dying to brag.
Wanting to show the difference in their status?
Though she didn't particularly want to know, Momoa had learned sothing from Yoo Sang-ah.
The lesson to gather even small pieces of information.
"Which guild are you with, Sadie?"
"? Epics."
"Oh..."
Epics is a good guild.
Among the top ten in Arica.
Momoa couldn't help but be genuinely impressed.
"What brings Epics all the way to Korea?"
"Ah, I'm not supposed to talk about this."
Then don't bring it up.
Though Momoa wanted to reply like that, she had just decided to gather even small bits of information.
Sadie had always loved attention, right?
Momoa decided to use Sadie's personality.
"Must be so amazing project."
You're pretty impressive, huh?
That implied aning in her words.
Sadie's lips curved up slightly.
"Well... keep this between us? Actually, our guild is forming an alliance with the beast-kin."
"Huh?"
An alliance with the beast-kin?
Weren't the beast-kin connected through our guild?
Momoa showed genuine surprise.
"You know how amazing beast-kin are, right?"
"...Better than anyone."
Moving fast enough to leave afterimages, making plants grow over wide areas.
Traveling between dinsions, turning monster armies into frogs.
...Our kids really are amazing.
Momoa played with her blonde hair and asked Sadie:
"But I heard beast-kin only deal with Yeomyeong?"
"...You must have heard so strange rumors. There's a lot of nonsense going around in this industry."
"Hmm...?"
What's this?
She didn't seem to be lying.
Was there sothing I didn't know about?
As Momoa pondered this, she spotted the children approaching with plates full of food.
"Children, could we talk for a mont?"
"Sure."
Todododok-
The children approached with their characteristic cute walk.
Sadie's body trembled at the sight of the beast-kin children.
"Beast-kin...? There were beast-kin in this neighborhood?"
"......"
She really ca here knowing nothing.
Well, Sadie is a foreigner after all.
Shrugging her shoulders, Momoa asked the children:
"Is Epics Guild forming an alliance with the beast-kin?"
"No...? What's Epics...?"
Gyeoul tilted her head.
She'd never heard of Epics Guild before.
At this sight, Momoa couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Sadie's cheeks turned bright red.
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