I was curious how smart Gaeul had become after using the item.

While checking the item's performance, I decided to ask Gaeul a few questions.

"Gaeul, how much is this?"

I took out four 100-won coins from my pocket and showed them to her.

Gaeul pointed at each coin one by one, then held up four fingers.

"Four hundred won!"

"Wow..."

Gaeul's coin-counting speed was at least twice as fast as usual.

She even accurately held up four fingers.

I wasn't the only one surprised; everyone around us had their eyes wide open.

Even Saebyeok, who rarely showed any expression, had her eyes wide open.

"Gaeul is really smart."

"Nyeng, Gaeul smart."

Ahem.

As Gaeul puffed out her chest, I showed her paper money instead of coins this time.

Three 1,000-won bills, totaling 3,000 won.

"Gaeul, how much is this?"

"Heuk..."

After examining the bills from various angles, Gaeul held up three fingers.

"Three paper money!"

"W-wow..."

Three paper money.

I'd say she got about half of it right.

Sophia couldn't help but marvel at Gaeul's remarkably improved calculation speed.

"It seems to be an item that enhances cognitive ability."

"Yes. Looks like it."

I wondered if I should give the gem to Gaeul.

Then again, it might not be good for her to become too dependent on the gem.

While I was lost in thought, Bom approached with a math workbook I'd never seen before.

"Gaeul, can you solve this too?"

The workbook Bom opened had addition problems.

It was single-digit addition, but the answer would be a double-digit number.

"Oh, that's too difficult."

Seven plus eight?

Even with Gaeul's enhanced intelligence, this would be...

While thinking it would be too hard, I still glanced at Gaeul out of curiosity.

Meaang-

Gaeul made her usual expression when faced with something difficult in Bom's workbook.

So this was beyond her after all?

Just as I was feeling disappointed, Gaeul alternated between holding up all ten fingers and five fingers.

"Fifteen!"

"Oh my goodness."

"Huoooook!"

Gaeul's calculation ability had exceeded my expectations.

Levinas was so shocked that she closed her eyes and collapsed as if fainting.

"L-Levinas, are you okay?"

"...Levinas is in a fainted state right now."

"I see."

Maybe she needed a moment to calm her mind.

I patted Levinas's back gently, then turned to Bom.

"Bom, where did you get this workbook?"

"Marin gave it to me. I'm supposed to solve one page a day."

"I see."

So Marin was looking after Bom's education.

Maybe our children should be studying a bit more too.

While I was pondering this, Levinas suddenly jumped up from where she had collapsed.

"This means we can play difficult games with puppy Gaeul too!"

"Difficult games?"

"Yeah! Really, really difficult games!"

I was curious what kind of difficult games would make Levinas so excited.

**

"Ah, thank you so much. That's Yeomyeong for you."

"Yes, but we didn't do it alone. These people helped us too."

Han Yeoreum turned to look at the adventurers behind us.

When the hotel manager's eyes met Han Yeoreum's, they blushed and bowed their heads.

"...I see. Thank you."

A strange atmosphere flowed between the adults.

Finding the awkward yet harmonious mood stifling, I returned to the hotel room with the children.

"Levinas, what was that difficult game you mentioned earlier?"

"It's...!"

"Yes?"

"Word chain game...!"

"Whoa."

A word chain game.

That would indeed be quite challenging for our Gaeul, who struggled with speaking.

"Puppy Gaeul, play word chain game with Levinas!"

"Okay. But Gaeul eat choco candy first."

"Alright!"

Gaeul unwrapped a chocolate candy and popped it into her mouth.

She seemed to have plenty of chocolate candies, as she gave one to each of us.

With everyone having a candy in their mouth, Levinas and Gaeul's word chain game began.

"I'll start with 'frog'!"

"Heuk..."

Gaeul showed a blank expression after hearing the first word.

She seemed to be thinking hard, so I decided to explain the rules of the word chain game to her.

"Gaeul, in a word chain game, you can change the final consonant to a different one if needed."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Gaeul smiled brightly after hearing my explanation.

Then she held up two fingers.

"Two hundred won!"

"Won... won-ppang (crackers)!"

"...Ppang-baek-won (bread-hundred-won)!"

"What?!"

Ppang-baek-won might be Gaeul's own word for not having 100 won for bread.

Though momentarily caught off guard by this unfamiliar term, Levinas seemed to understand the general meaning and continued the game.

"Then, geonbae (cheers)!"

"Bae-geon (pear-building)!"

"Um, geon...!"

Wow.

Our Gaeul was playing the word chain game using only variations of "geon" (building).

At this level, she could be considered a master of word chain games.

"Geon... geoni (petition)!"

"Ui-baek-geon (meaning-hundred-building)!"

"...!"

Ui-baek-geon.

It sounded similar to "i-baek-won" (two hundred won).

Levinas must have thought it made some sense, as her ears perked up.

"Geon... geon...! Geonmul (building)!"

"...Mul-baek-geon (water-hundred-building)!"

"Mul-baek-geon?"

I understood ui-baek-geon, but what was mul-baek-geon?

Curious, I decided to ask Gaeul directly.

"Gaeul, what's mul-baek-geon?"

"If put water on baek-geon, become mul-baek-geon."

Ah.

A hundred-won coin that got wet became a wet hundred-won.

It made sense in its own way.

"Geon... geon...!"

Levinas, still trying to think of words starting with "geon," eventually fell to her knees.

She seemed unable to come up with any more words starting with "geon."

"Uhuhuuk, there are no more geon words...!"

Watching the despairing Levinas, Gaeul stuck out her tongue playfully.

After thinking for a while, Gaeul carefully opened her mouth.

"Squirrel!"

Squirrel?

Could she be counting Levinas's "there are no more geon words...!" as part of the word chain?

Energized by the new starting letter, Levinas jumped back up.

"Ral, Earth!"

"Earth-baek-geon!"

"Uhuhuuk!"

Levinas wailed as she collapsed face-down on the hotel floor.

The emerald item appeared to be quite formidable and powerful.

**

After finishing our business at the hotel, we decided to stay and rest for a few days.

While relaxing at the hotel, we told everyone about what had just happened.

"Gaeul is that good at word chain games?"

"Yeah! Puppy Gaeul is a word chain genius! No one can beat her!"

"My goodness, should I try playing with her? I won't go easy on her!"

Han Yeoreum confidently challenged Gaeul to a word chain game.

It took less than ten minutes for that confidence to crumble.

"...Construction?"

"Wet-construction-baek-geon!"

"W-wet-construction-baek-geon? What's that...?"

To the confused Han Yeoreum, Gaeul showed a hundred-won coin that had been soaked in water.

She meant a wet hundred-won that had become damp.

"I-I see...? What else starts with geon...?"

Han Yeoreum had already used nearly twenty words starting with "geon."

With no more words coming to mind, she eventually collapsed onto the floor.

"Oh dear, Gaeul won."

"Indeed."

Sophia and Marin chuckled playfully.

At this, Han Yeoreum covered her face with both hands and said:

"...I'm going to sleep now. Good night, everyone."

**

The next day.

We decided to visit a dungeon for a quick adventure.

We'd heard that new dungeons appeared near the beach.

'They say water-related dungeons mainly appear near the sea.'

I'd realized something after facing the kraken yesterday.

That I was quite inexperienced in underwater combat.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, I decided to experience a water-filled dungeon.

"Gaeul, this item is yours from now on."

I handed the emerald gem to Gaeul, who had returned to her normal state.

When she tried to lick the gem immediately, I quickly extended my hand to block her mouth.

As a result, Gaeul ended up licking my palm instead of the gem.

She seemed to like that better, giggling happily.

"This is rechargeable, so you should only use it in real emergencies. Only use it when you need to think quickly, understand?"

"Nyeng!"

Watching Gaeul nod, we headed to the dungeon that had appeared on the beach.

Since this was our first seaside dungeon, we decided to start with a Level 3 dungeon.

"Hello."

"Oh! You're from Yeomyeong? The ones who caught the pirates and the giant squid."

"Yes. Can we enter here?"

"Of course. They say it's a sea dungeon, but you'll do well."

After getting permission from the dungeon management civil servant, we entered the dungeon.

Woong-

What we saw after crossing the portal was a vast ocean.

"This is..."

We were standing on a small wooden boat that could barely fit the five of us.

What were we supposed to do on this boat?

As I looked around, Saebyeok tapped my shoulder.

"Gyeoul, over there."

"Ah."

A sand island, larger than our boat.

We rowed to the sand island.

The waves were rough, but Saebyeok's strength was more powerful than the waves.

"Seems like we need to do something here..."

It was a small uninhabited island that took less than a minute to walk around its perimeter.

What exactly were we supposed to do here?

While standing there blankly, Bom pointed to the distant sea and shouted:

"There! Something's coming there!"

Beyond the horizon where Bom was pointing.

From there, an enormous school of fish was approaching us.

Kak-! Kak-!

The ones that jumped out of the water clashed their teeth.

The ones that had just jumped numbered over a hundred.

Startled by the immense number, Gaeul quickly licked the emerald gem I had just given her.

"...!"

The gem's mana seeped into Gaeul's body.

Her eyebrows, which had lowered in fear, began to rise fiercely.

"Gaeul, did you think of a good solution?"

Gaeul looked at me in response to my question.

Then, very confidently, she puffed out her chest and shouted:

"No!"