Chapter 106
A small, plump head approached the table, which was as high as a man's stomach.
The child perked up her white cat ears and grabbed the table with her cute hands.
"Is this, by any chance, a cat snack?"
The cat child asked if it was a cat snack.
Lee Chan-hwi, who was participating in a competition to make cat snacks, hesitated before nodding.
"Yes... it is a cat snack, but..."
"Aha..."
Gyeoul's eyes shone as she looked at the snack the man had made.
She sniffed the scent of the snack and swallowed her saliva.
'I don't know why fish tastes so good.'
Do the cats in this world have an obsession with fish?
Gyeoul flicked her tail and rested her chin on the table, looking indecisive, like a cat pondering whether to eat the fish in front of her.
"Do you want to eat it?"
The ingredients were safe for humans to eat.
The concept was to create food that both humans and cats could enjoy together.
He wanted to tell her to eat as much as she liked, but something felt wrong about it, making it hard to offer the food.
It was difficult to treat the child like a cat.
What should he do?
At that moment, Sophia approached Gyeoul, leaning on a cane.
"Gyeoul, try not to be too much of a bother."
"I was just smelling it."
Not only the prepared snack but also the raw fish was appealing.
Gyeoul's gaze shifted to the fish that hadn't been cooked yet.
"Do you like the smell of fish that much?"
"Yes. It smells similar to Sophia."
Upon Gyeoul's words, both Sophia and Lee Chan-hwi shivered at the same time.
Sophia was surprised to learn her body smelled of fish, while Lee Chan-hwi was shocked by Sophia's shark tail.
'Fish...?'
Did he just make a fish dish in front of a fish beast-kin?
Isn't this situation ethically problematic?
Lee Chan-hwi looked at Sophia with a worried expression, but she only cared about Gyeoul.
"...Does my body really smell of fish?"
"Um... it's similar."
"That, that so...?"
Sophia, unusually, gaped in shock.
It was her first time hearing that a shark beast-kin's tail could smell fishy.
Despite daily cleansing with body wash and even using polish, it smelled?
Sophia frantically smelled her tail but couldn't detect any fishy scent.
"What kind of smell are you talking about?"
"It's a good fish smell."
"...Maybe your nose is much better than the average beast-kin."
"Really...?"
She wondered why others couldn't smell this pleasant scent.
Gyeoul looked around with wide eyes for Levinas and Saebyeok, wanting to check if they could smell the fish too.
"Levinas smells only roses!"
Sniff, sniff.
Levinas sniffed the scent of Sophia's tail and suddenly bit down on it.
Crunch, crunch -
The sound of something being gnawed came from the tail Levinas was biting.
"Hey, stop grinding your teeth."
Levinas's head shook along with the widely flapping tail.
Her head shook so much that it left an afterimage, but Levinas did not let go of the tail.
"Mmmph."
Grinding teeth on Sophia's tail, of all things.
Wouldn't that be quite painful?
Gyeoul was worried, but Sophia seemed unfazed, wearing an expression as if it didn't bother her at all.
Upon closer inspection, Sophia's tail, which was once soft, had become as hard as steel.
"Sophia, is your tail okay?"
"I used magic, so it's fine."
"Ah..."
So magic can do that, too.
Gyeoul tried flexing her forearm, but it didn't become hard or anything like that.
It remained as soft as it always was.
'It's not my power to be strong, after all.'
Feeling a bit awkward, Gyeoul scratched the back of her head and casually looked around for Saebyeok.
Does Saebyeok like the smell of fish?
She wanted to ask that question but closed her mouth upon seeing Saebyeok staring intently only at the fish.
"What's with the kid now?"
"I don't know...?"
Just like me a moment ago, gripping the table tightly with both hands, flicking her tail right in front of the fish.
It seemed like she could bite into the fish at any moment.
Plop -
"Ah."
"Oh dear."
Saebyeok bit into a fish larger than her own forearm.
Yoo Sang-ah quickly lifted Saebyeok up.
"No, spit it out."
Yoo Sang-ah tried shaking Saebyeok, but Saebyeok just hugged the fish tightly.
Gyeoul grasped her head, realizing they had ruined someone's competition.
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"I'm sorry..."
I raised my hand above my belly and apologized politely to the man.
I was worried about being scolded, but he just chuckled.
"It's okay. It was fun."
"Huh?"
Where was the fun in this situation?
My head tilted in confusion.
Saebyeok was still biting into the fish at that moment.
"You must really like fish?"
"Yes. A person I really like also smells like fish."
"Aha..."
I glanced at Sophia's shark tail.
Levinas was still attached to Sophia's tail, grinding her teeth.
"Hm... You like fish... Can you taste this and give me your opinion? I'll give you fish as a reward."
"Really...? Is that okay...?"
"Yes. I'd be grateful if an expert could taste it."
An expert.
It felt strange yet flattering.
I scratched my cheek and called for Saebyeok, who was still in Yoo Sang-ah's arms.
"Saebyeok."
"..."
"Saebyeok?"
"...Huh. What have I done."
Saebyeok dropped the fish she was holding.
Just when it seemed like the fish would hit the floor and get dirty, Saebyeok caught it with her tail.
"Wow."
She said that her strength increased with her transformation, but to catch a fish with the power of her tail was something else.
Applause came naturally out of amazement.
"Sorry, the fish just looked too tasty."
"Yeah. I know how you feel."
"...You too, Gyeoul?"
"Yeah. It's something we can't help."
Having transformed only less than a day ago, it must have been hard to keep composure at the sight of fish.
As a fellow feline beast-kin, I could fully understand her feelings.
"I'm embarrassed."
Saebyeok said expressionlessly.
She didn't seem particularly embarrassed, but her ears and tail were drooping.
"It's okay, let's try these snacks. He said he'd give us fish as a gift if we reviewed it."
"Fish..."
I fed Saebyeok the snack, which she swallowed eagerly.
It was a well-minced white fish paste, but I didn't know what it was made of or how.
"Yum."
After taking a bite of the snack, Saebyeok's ears and tail perked up.
Her pupils began to dilate so much that they were visibly expanding.
"It's tasty."
Tasty, huh?
Is it that good?
Curiosity got the better of me, and I shoved a snack into my mouth.
"Wow..."
This is incredible.
Being several times more sensitive than the average human's taste buds, I could tell.
It was several levels above any fish dish I'd had at the high-end buffet.
"Is this really meant for cats...?"
"It's a competition. It's aimed to be as luxurious as possible."
"Ah..."
That makes sense.
As I nodded and was about to feed Saebyeok another bite, someone suddenly lifted me up.
"Whoa."
My legs, floating in the air, instinctively flailed.
Turning around, Yeoreum was looking at me with a smile in her eyes.
"Gyeoul, what were you doing?"
"I was tasting."
"Tasting?"
I fed Yeoreum a bite of the snack.
Although we were all eating from the same spoon, it didn't seem to matter much.
"Oh my, this is delicious."
"Yes. It's unbelievably tasty for cat food."
"Cat..."
Yeoreum's pupils widened as the chef approached us.
He showed Yeoreum the ingredients.
"It's okay. The concept was to create a dish that both humans and cats can enjoy together."
"Ah... Is that so? The cat food was so delicious it got me a bit confused."
"Ha ha, thank you."
The chef bowed his head and returned to his table.
Uplifted by the compliment, he started cleaning the table, humming a tune.
Yeoreum, watching the chef, put me down on the ground.
"It was so delicious, I thought I had turned into a cat."
"That would have been fun."
"Yeah. It would have."
Hehe.
With a smile in her eyes, Yeoreum took out a bead the size of a finger from her pocket.
When she tapped my nose with the bead, my body, which had been covered in flour and egg, started to clean up.
"Wow."
Magic is always so fascinating, no matter how many times you see it.
My eyes lit up as I looked down at my body, now spotless without a single speck of dust.
"Gyeoul, do you know what this is?"
"Um... A magic bead?"
"Yes. Specifically, it's a cleaning item. It's the same magic that's on the pond. Yu-na said to use it to clean you up."
"Ah..."
To use such an amazing item just to clean my body felt like I was living the bourgeois life.
"By the way, Gyeoul, can you spare some time tomorrow?"
"Yes."
"Aren't you going to ask why?"
Yeoreum poked my nose with a smile in her eyes.
Each time her finger touched me, I blinked.
"Why do you need time tomorrow?"
"It seems like it's time for Gyeoul to take on a level 1 dungeon boss."
"What?"
I've reached that stage already?
It felt like there was still a long way to go.
Surprised, my ears and tail perked up.
"Gyeoul won't be going alone. I plan to show you how to work in a standard party."
"Ah, a party..."
If Yeoreum was with me, there was nothing to fear.
Her presence in a level 1 dungeon was absolute.
"Whoo whoo!"
Levinas, still biting Sophia's tail, raised her hand.
Instinctively, I understood what she meant.
"Yep. Let's all go together, Levinas."
"Whoo!"
The idea of taking on a boss with party play was both frightening and exciting.
It felt as if I had truly become a resident of this world.
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