I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild

After resolving the beast-kin village's problems and mostly solving the divine beasts' issues, I had nothing left to do.

I sat blankly on the park ground, wondering what to do next.

'What should I do now?'

I thought about going hunting with the divine beasts but decided against it.

They'd get tired if we went hunting too often.

Maybe I should just play with the children today?

Looking around, I saw the children staring ahead with the same blank expression as me.

Seems like they all had nothing to do either.

But where had Bom gone?

"Levinas, what are you doing?"

"Imitating King."

"Aha."

So they weren't bored—they were just playing by imitating me.

Looking further to the side, even the usually expressionless Saebyeok was wearing the same blank face as me.

"King, who looked most like you?"

"Hmm... probably Saebyeok..."

"Right! The Dark King looks just like King, so she's the most King-like!"

Kekeke.

As Levinas laughed mischievously, Bom came running from behind.

She wore a smile as playful as Levinas's.

"Guys, there's something cool going on over there."

"Something cool?"

"Yeah. An eating contest."

By eating contest, she probably meant a food-eating competition.

Since I had nothing to do, I became interested.

Levinas, who was sitting with me, seemed to feel the same way.

"Huok...! Wouldn't Levinas win first place if she entered...?"

"Levinas would?"

"Yeah...! If Levinas tries hard, she can eat up to four carrots! But after eating, her tummy will be this big!"

Levinas bent at the waist, pushing her stomach forward.

She seemed to be demonstrating how full her belly would get.

"That's amazing. I think I could only eat three."

"Hehe, that's because King is smaller than Levinas! If King was as big as Levinas, King could eat four too!"

"...Is that so?"

Levinas is a bit taller than me.

I absently touched the top of my head as I went with the children to where the eating contest was being held.

'It's in our park.'

Various festivals and competitions were occasionally held in the park.

The park was spacious enough to accommodate many people.

Quite a crowd had gathered at the far end of the park.

Hot dogs were piled like a mountain on the table at the center of the crowd.

"Kids, they say these are being given out for free to festival attendees."

"The hot dogs?"

"Yeah."

Bom picked up a hot dog from the table.

No one stopped her or said we couldn't take them.

"Wow."

It was hard to believe they were giving away such delicious-looking hot dogs for free.

Just as I picked up a hot dog, Levinas ran over to someone who looked like an event staff member.

"Hello?"

"Uh... hi?"

"Can Levinas join the eating contest too? Levinas can eat up to four carrots!"

"Wow, you can eat four?"

Ahem.

The staff member smiled as Levinas puffed out her chest.

Thinking she could participate, Levinas's eyes sparkled.

"Can Levinas join too?"

"Well... the thing is, only adults can participate in this one. What should we do?"

"Huk?! Really?!"

Levinas didn't seem disappointed about not being able to participate.

Instead, she calmly thanked the staff member and ran back to us.

"King, they say children can't join the contest!"

"That's too bad."

I handed Levinas a hot dog.

Just then, the contest was about to begin on a stage set up on one side of the park.

"Look at that."

Hot dogs were piled high next to the contestants.

There must have been at least a hundred.

They're going to eat all of those?

I wasn't the only one surprised—Levinas's ears shot straight up.

"How can they eat all of that?"

"...They probably won't eat it all. Since it's an eating contest, they must have prepared as much as possible."

"I see!"

Levinas picked up one of the free hot dogs.

Then, with a very serious expression, she looked around at us and said:

"Levinas should try speed eating too!"

Levinas looked up at the stage.

It seemed she wanted to eat hot dogs along with the contestants when the competition started.

"That sounds fun. I'll try too."

"Gauri too."

The children each picked up a hot dog.

Having nothing better to do, I grabbed one as well.

Just as a small tension began to build, the bell rang to signal the start of the contest.

Chomp-

The contestants devoured hot dogs in one bite.

I followed along and took a bite of my hot dog.

Nom nom nom-

By the time they were stuffing their second hot dogs into their mouths, I was still eating my first bite.

'How are they so fast?'

Nom nom nom nom-

I chewed as quickly as I could and took a second bite.

By that point, the contestants were already on their fourth hot dog.

'What's going on?'

By the time I finished one hot dog, the contestants had devoured more than thirty.

The children and I lost our fighting spirit and just watched them eat.

"King, that's cheating."

"Cheating?"

"Yeah. They must have vacuum cleaners in their mouths...!"

It was definitely fast enough to make me wonder, as Levinas suggested, if they had vacuum cleaners in their mouths or stomachs.

We couldn't beat those people even if we all teamed up.

Just as I was about to accept defeat, Gaeul grabbed a hot dog in each hand.

"Yah!"

"Gaeul, you're still going?"

"Nyam...!"

Burning with determination and taking her own stance, Gaeul pushed the hot dogs toward her mouth.

Before she could bite down with an "ang-!", a small portal that appeared in front of her mouth sucked in the hot dog.

Gaeul continued to devour hot dogs this way.

"Woah...!"

"Uh..."

Was it because Levinas mentioned having vacuum cleaners in their mouths?

Gaeul created a portal in front of her mouth and began pushing countless hot dogs into it.

She even made eating sounds to go with it.

By the time Gaeul had pushed ten hot dogs into the portal, someone who looked like staff ran toward us.

"Uh, um, kids...? This is meant to be shared with everyone..."

"Ah."

I quickly stopped Gaeul.

In a short time, Gaeul had pushed a whopping ten hot dogs into the portal.

At this rate, she might have won the contest.

Although she was cheating by using a portal, we thought the contestants' incredible stomachs were also a form of cheating.

**

"Amazing! If she'd kept eating, Gaeul doggy would have won!"

"That's right. Our Gaeul would have won for sure."

"Heuk...!"

Gaeul's tail spun like a propeller at the children's praise.

Thanks to that, we were able to return to the tent in good spirits.

"Chikchi? Chikchi?"

Gaeul took out a hot dog she had brought from the festival.

It seemed she wanted to share it with Chikchi, the mouse divine beast.

However, Chikchi was nowhere to be seen.

In place of Chikchi, Meongmui, the wolf divine beast, snapped up Gaeul's hot dog.

As Gaeul patted Meongmui's head, she asked me:

"Owner, where Chikchi?"

"I'm not sure?"

The park is large.

Maybe he's playing somewhere?

Just as I was looking around, Levinas pulled a smartphone from her pocket.

"We can find Chikchi with this!"

"With a smartphone?"

"Yeah. Chikchi's collar is connected to this!"

"Ah."

The collar also had a tracking function.

Gaeul seemed to know about this feature, as her expression brightened considerably.

"Sunny, please tell us Chikchi's location."

-Here is Chikchi's current location.

Chikchi's position was marked with a red dot on the map Sunny displayed.

It was about five hundred meters away from our location.

"He's coming toward us. We'll meet him if we wait."

"Chikchi!"

We looked at the smartphone map and waited for Chikchi.

When Chikchi was about a hundred meters away, we looked up and spotted a small mouse approaching from the distance.

Beside Chikchi were Gubuki, the turtle divine beast, and three adventurers we hadn't seen before.

"Um..."

The male adventurer at the front handed us a pouch.

As I accepted it in confusion, I discovered a pile of mana stones inside.

"Why the mana stones..."

"You saved our lives."

"Your lives?"

"Yeah. We would have died without these friends."

He expressed his gratitude, pointing at Chikchi and Gubuki.

I was simply bewildered.

"Did you go to a dungeon with Chikchi and Gubuki?"

"Chi!"

"I see."

Did they go because they were bored?

We should have gone hunting together.

I looked down at Chikchi and Gubuki and handed back the pouch I'd received from him.

"You don't need to give us mana stones."

"Oh, these are from the monsters these little ones caught."

"R-really...?"

"Yeah. Actually, I added a bit more mana stones, but please accept them. We would have really died without these friends."

"Hmm..."

After thinking for a moment, I took the mana stones.

But more than the free mana stones, I was concerned about the fact that the divine beasts had saved the adventurers.

"Were Chikchi and Gubuki a big help?"

"Yeah. Dozens of monsters were attacking, but their shield didn't even crack."

"Aha."

Our Gubuki's shield is amazing.

It was strong enough to withstand even Saebyeok's punches several times.

Gubuki and Chikchi are incredible.

As I patted their heads, the adventurer made a proposal.

"Would it be possible to go hunting with Gu... Gubuki and Chikchi again sometime?"

It was an invitation to form a party with the divine beasts.