'A humpback whale.'

Splash-!

The humpback whale that had leaped out of the sea fell back down, colliding with the water and creating a massive splash.

Even though I'd seen giant monsters like Sand Worms and krakens multiple times, the awe inspired by an animal was on a completely different level from giant monsters.

"Wow."

"Fish!"

Everyone at the playground gaped in wonder at the magnificent sight of nature.

Everyone except one boy.

"A-ahhh!"

The humpback whale, vaguely visible beneath the water, cut through the waves and approached us.

Terrified, the boy struggled to climb onto the equipment, but he seemed to be in such a panic that he couldn't get out of the water.

I understood well the fear of being in the same space as a massive living creature.

"H-help me!"

"Here, grab Levinas's hand!"

Admirably, Levinas reached out to grab the boy's hand.

At that moment, I noticed something.

Only the part of the sea where the whale was had risen higher.

"Huh?"

The humpback whale approached us, riding the ocean water that had risen like a tsunami.

Relatively smaller dolphins were swimming around the humpback whale.

'This seems artificial.'

Why were so many whales gathering here?

Could it be that Sophia...

"A mermaid!"

"It must be a mermaid princess."

I turned to the side at the children's admiring voices and the sound of someone splashing in the water.

Beside us, Marin in her mermaid form was waving at us.

"Marin, did you bring the whale?"

"Yes. Sophia said she'd show us sharks too."

"Wow."

Thanks to the elevated water, we could see the massive humpback whale and dolphins up close.

Everyone—the children at the park, their guardians, and the park staff—was mesmerized by the whales.

The park had many attractions, but none could compare to the mystique of the whales.

"See?! Giant fish big enough to eat people really do exist!"

"Y-yeah..."

"Levinas doesn't lie!"

Levinas thrust out her chest proudly, pointing at the humpback whale.

Bom clung to Levinas's side.

"Levinas, I don't think whales are fish."

"Huh? Why wouldn't a fish be a fish?"

"I don't know? I'm not sure of the reason."

"What?"

While Levinas was looking confused, Gaeul hopped toward the sea.

She swam toward the humpback whale and crawled onto its back.

"Owner, look!"

Sitting on the humpback whale's back, Gaeul waved her arms up and down, giggling with delight.

The instinct to ride a giant animal seemed universal.

"Amazing. Is Gaeul controlling the whale?"

At my question, Gaeul, who had been staring blankly, pointed her finger at the sea.

Then she shouted to the whale in what seemed like a commanding voice:

"Go!"

"Beeeeyuuu."

The humpback whale made its distinctive ultrasonic sound and began to move at Gaeul's command to depart.

It turned halfway and started going back the way it came, with Gaeul on its back gradually getting farther away.

"Gaeul, where are you going?"

"Ing?"

Gaeul sitting on the whale's back was getting further and further away.

She just sat there with a blank expression.

"..."

When Gaeul had shrunk to the size of a finger in the distance, Levinas fell to her knees.

"Puppy Gaeul has been taken to the dragon palace... to a dragon palace that will take a horned rabbit's liver..."

Sob.

Just as Levinas was wailing, something unexpected happened.

Gaeul, who had been drifting away on the whale's back, must have decided she didn't want to go any farther and jumped into the sea.

Splash-!

Gaeul was swimming back toward us with a dog paddle.

"Heuk..."

She was approaching slowly but steadily with her dog paddle, when something enormous appeared behind her.

A fin jutting sharply above the water.

Just from the size of the fin, I could tell it was a massive shark.

"A sh-shark!"

"Huok! Puppy Gaeul, come quickly! Hurry!"

As the shark pursued Gaeul, the children began stomping their feet anxiously.

The good news was that the shark was moving at a leisurely pace.

But even so, the distance between it and Gaeul was gradually narrowing.

"Quickly! Quickly! Faster!"

Tap-tap-tap-tap-

Levinas, stomping on the tube in fear, suddenly seemed to make some kind of decision and clenched her fist tightly.

"Yah!"

With a tense face, Levinas backed up a few steps, then charged toward the sea with the characteristic speed of a horned rabbit.

She had thrown herself in to save Gaeul.

"I'll go too!"

Bom jumped into the sea following Levinas.

Saebyeok also followed them into the sea, but she didn't seem particularly urgent.

That was because she knew the shark's identity.

'It's Sophia.'

The being that had appeared with the giant shark.

It was none other than Sophia.

**

"Phew, Levinas thought puppy Gaeul was going to be eaten by the shark."

"Heuk..."

The shark Sophia had brought was none other than a great white.

The park visitors were terrified yet fascinated by the appearance of the enormous shark.

They seemed to understand that it had been tamed by the beast-kin's abilities.

"Subin, look at the shark's teeth."

"Sharks are scary."

"My goodness, it's my first time seeing such a large shark up close."

The reactions of the people seeing the shark were just like mine.

As I was cautiously looking at the shark, I turned to the side at the sound of splashing water.

"Levinas, you were so cool. You jumped into the sea to save Gaeul."

"Yeah! Levinas will always rush to help when family is in danger!"

"Wow."

Levinas was truly admirable.

I gave her a tight hug, feeling proud of her.

The boy who had played a prank on us approached Levinas.

"Um, I'm sorry. I really didn't think there would be whales and sharks..."

"It's okay!"

Ahem.

Big-hearted Levinas forgave the boy, and we all played together at the seaside park playground.

I stepped away for a moment to approach Sophia.

"Sophia, thank you for showing us such an amazing shark. This is the first time in my life I've seen such a big shark."

"I'm glad it was worth the effort."

"Was it difficult?"

"Great white sharks don't live around here."

"Ah..."

So she had gone far out to sea to show us sharks.

I gave Sophia a tight hug, grateful for her hard work.

This probably wasn't enough to repay her effort...

"This gives me strength."

...or maybe it was enough after all.

**

After playing in the park, we headed to the shower rooms.

It was a simple shower area where we could rinse off the salt without taking off our clothes.

As I turned on the shower to wash off the seawater, Gaeul approached me with an urgent look.

"Owner! Owner!"

"Yes?"

Slurp-

Gaeul licked my cheek as she came close.

She seemed to want to lick the salt from my cheek before I washed it off.

"What does it taste like?"

"Milk?"

"I see."

Why did our cheeks taste like milk?

I wondered about this as I finished showering.

After that, we walked around the neighborhood with our wet bodies.

"Everyone, this way!"

"Okay."

Levinas, who had become the gang leader, walked around the unfamiliar neighborhood with a stick in her hand.

With the Master behind us, we fearlessly entered even dark alleys.

"Now this way!"

"Wait a minute, kids."

Just as we were about to enter a new alley with the children, Bom called out to us from behind.

She was looking at an old, worn-down movie theater.

"They're showing cartoons here. It says it's a robot cartoon, but it looks kind of weird."

The cartoon showing at the theater was a bit different from the animations we usually watched.

The art style had a blurry, aged feel to it.

"A retro theater...? It says they're showing old cartoons as an event..."

"Old?! How old?"

"About... fifty years?"

"F-fifty years?!"

Levinas's eyes lit up.

Being an animation lover, she ran straight into the theater.

"How much for the robot cartoon tickets?"

"Huh?"

The ticket booth employee looked surprised to see us but gave us tickets, and we also bought some snacks from the food counter.

The screen in the theater we entered was a bit smaller than the screens I was familiar with.

'The interior feels old too.'

Was it deliberately done this way to evoke nostalgia?

Looking around the theater, most of the audience was adults rather than children.

"It's starting!"

"Yes, but when the movie starts, we need to be quiet, okay?"

"Mmm...!"

The theater lights dimmed, and the fifty-year-old cartoon we'd been looking forward to began.

The non-digital art style and the distinctive flavor of old-time voice actors made it quite entertaining in its own way.

Though the other children in the theater didn't seem to agree.

"What's this? It's boring."

"Super lame."

The children sitting right next to us expressed their dissatisfaction.

As their complaints continued, a woman sitting in front of us turned around and cautioned them.

"Kids, could you please be quiet?"

The woman's warning was directed at Gaeul, who was sitting right next to the children.

Gaeul, who hadn't uttered a single word and was watching the movie, tilted her head in confusion.

The woman must have thought Gaeul was part of the group with the noisy children.

"This robot is so outdated."

"Old cartoons are too childish to watch."

The children, apparently bored with the cartoon, continued to complain during the movie.

As the noise from the children persisted, the woman in the front seat turned to look at Gaeul and sighed deeply.

"Not me...!"

Gaeul, looking quite wronged, frantically waved her finger and pointed to the front seats.

She seemed to have a lot to say, but unfortunately, our Gaeul wasn't good at speaking.

Of course, one shouldn't speak much in a movie theater anyway.

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That's it guys! Sad, Gyeoul makes her own guild with the kids after this which is a pretty funny part. Hope to see ya guys again!

- raei (￣ー￣)ゞ