Part 2 Chapter 17: Welcome to the Kindergarten of Destruction! (17) / 741

TL: Hanguk

PR: MiniPixelZ

A few hours into practicing ‘The Sun and the Moon’.

“Roar, meow! If you give me one Churu, I won’t eat you, meow!”

“Oh dear. I’m out of Churu now…”

Sejun and his companions were still diligently rehearsing. The rice cake had been swapped for Churu at Theo’s strong insistence. Apparently, he couldn’t do method acting with rice cake?

“Roar, meow! Since there’s no Churu, I’ll have to eat you, meow!”

“The tiger ate Dad.”

When Sejun spoke,

“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Power of magic…”

Swoosh.

Stage manager Iona floated a white sheet of paper into the air with magic and unfolded it,

“Roar, meow!”

"Ahhh!"

making it look as if the enormous Theo’s shadow was swallowing up Sejun’s shadow.

With his role seemingly ended, Sejun moved to the edge of the stage to begin narrating.

At that moment,

Kueng! Kueng!

[Tiger! I'll avenge Dad! When I go to the black tower, I'll scold all the tigers!]

Cuengi, overly immersed in the fairy tale, clenched his fists in anger. He looked like he might rush into the Tower and scold every tiger himself.

“Cuengi, calm down. Dad’s right here.”

Sejun poked his face out from behind the paper to calm Cuengi,

Kueng?

[Dad, are you really okay?]

“Yeah. Don’t worry.”

After gently patting Cuengi’s head for a while,

“Iona.”

He gave a signal to Iona.

“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Okay. Cancel.”

Iona dispelled the magic, and the floating paper dropped to the floor, revealing Theo again.

“Roar, meow! I, Lion Theo, am still hungry, meow! I’ll eat the siblings too, meow!”

“Vice Chairman Theo, that’s not right. You’re not a lion, you’re a tiger.”

“Meow! That’s right, meow! Roar, meow! I, Tiger Theo, am still hungry, meow! I’ll eat the siblings too, meow!”

“The tiger, still not full, changed into Dad’s clothes and headed to the siblings’ house.”

Tap.

Following Sejun’s narration, Theo put on the straw hat he had prepared. Since he had already swapped rice cake for Churu, he decided to go all in and changed ‘Mom’ to ‘Dad’ for better immersion.

And then,

[Hehe. It’s our turn now.]

(Pip-pip. I’m nervous.)

[Paespaes, don’t worry. You’ll do great!]

(Pip-pip! Okay!)

As Flamie and Paespaes, playing the sibling roles, climbed onto the stage for the next scene,

Kking… kking… kking…

[Stupid butler… Great Blackie could do well too… I’m not gonna play with the butler anymore…]

Right next to Sejun, Blackie was muttering loud enough for him to hear.

Guess I better give him a role.

If this ended without him doing anything, he’d sulk badly.

“On the dark night path to the siblings’ house, a wolf howled ominously. Now, Blackie, do the howling.”

Sejun assigned Blackie the extra role of Wolf 1, who only made sounds,

Kking?! Kihihit. Kking! Kiuuu~ Kiuuu~

[Butler! Great Blackie is doing it too?! Hehe. Got it! Awooo~ Awooo~]

Assigned as Wolf 1, Blackie excitedly howled. It was a cheerful howl, contrary to Sejun’s narration of it being ‘ominous’, but it wasn’t important, so he let it pass.

Thus, after pacifying Blackie, the fairy tale continued smoothly again.

“The tiger arrived at the siblings’ house and called them with Dad’s voice.”

“Puh… Kids, Daddy’s home, meow! Open the door, meow!”

At last, the tiger and the siblings faced each other.

“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Power of magic…”

Swoosh.

This time, Iona created a white paper wall between Theo and Flamie and Paespaes.

(Pip-pip. I think Daddy’s home! Noona, let’s open the door quickly!)

[No! This is super suspicious! Daddy, why are you ending every sentence with ‘meow’?]

Paespaes played the innocent younger brother perfectly, and Flamie nailed her role as the sharp older sister.

“This is the latest trendy way of speaking in the city these days, meow!”

[Really? But I’m still suspicious if you're daddy, so show me your hand.]

“Got it, meow!”

“The tiger poked his paw through the door seal to show the siblings.”

Poke.

Theo poked his paw through the paper wall,

[Daddy’s hand has way too much fur!]

(Pip-pip. That’s right! Daddy’s hand looks weird! It has too much fur!)

Flamie and Paespaes touched Theo’s front paw as they delivered their lines. Paespaes, who seemed to be a natural on stage, gave an impressive performance, showing a completely different side from earlier.

“Puhuhut. My hands are cold, so I’m wearing gloves, meow! Now that you’ve checked, open the door, meow!”

[Just a moment. I’ll talk to my little brother.]

“Understood, meow!”

“Since older sister Sun was still suspicious, she told the tiger to wait and cautiously peeked out through the hole. And then the tiger outside the door…”

While Sejun was narrating the tense scene of Flamie carefully peeking through the hole,

[A quest has appeared.]

[Quest: Please find the [Child of Creation Tainted by Destruction] stranded in <Cuiri> and bring them to the Kindergarten of Destruction.]

Reward: Increases the stored capacity of [Brilliant Darkness Earrings] by 5%, <Earth Lv. 3> Evolution Experience 5%

A quest had appeared.

Just when the momentum was going well.

I’ll finish this up and head out.

Sejun tried to ignore it and continue the story.

However,

[Sejun-nim, you must hurry.]

[Only 3 hours remain until <Cuiri>'s destruction.]

[System Eok-Samchiri] urged Sejun.

Can’t be helped.

“Everyone, let’s stop here for today.”

“Roar, meow! What are you talking about, meow?!”

Theo, still immersed in his method acting, roared like a tiger, but

“It’s a quest. Vice Chairman Theo, let’s go.”

Tap.

As Sejun patted his knee,

“Puhuhut. Got it, meow!”

Snap.

Theo quickly snapped out of his method acting and returned to his usual knee-cat self.

Thus, Sejun and his group re-entered the Tower.

Heeheehee. Next time, I’m going to join too.

Aileen, wanting to do a storytelling performance with Sejun, browsed through some books to pick one.

And,

The Snail Bride?

Aileen found a book she was drawn to and began reading.

[Hehe. This one has lots of trees.]

Next to her, Flamie also opened a book and started reading.

***

Black Tower, 75th floor.

Wandering Merchant Guild Headquarters.

Scratch, scratch.

Jeras was diligently writing something in his office.

[Jeras’s Case Log]

<Sejun Company Warehouse Honey Theft Case>

April 29th

-Over the past few months, honey has been stolen from Sejun Company’s warehouse five times. And it’s 10,000 bottles in total. This must be resolved before the great Black Dragon Sejun-nim finds out.

May 2nd

-Today again, honey was stolen from Sejun Company’s warehouse. Aside from a strong stench, no clue was found. This guy is very cunning. If this continues, it will reach Vice Chairman Theo-nim’s ears… and then Sejun-nim will know immediately.

May 7th

-Finally, there was a witness. Poisonous Bee No. 2123, who was guarding the warehouse, spotted the intruder and fired a stinger, but the target vanished even after being hit. According to Poisonous Bee No. 2123’s description, the intruder had black fur all over the body with only the head and back covered in white fur. Who could it be? For now, a sketch was made based on the bee’s description and distributed to the Secret Inspection Bureau agents. I hope the culprit is caught soon.

“Hmm? It’s already time for patrol.”

After checking the time, Jeras put the case log into his jacket pocket and stepped out of his office to begin his patrol.

***

When Sejun crossed the dimensional gate made by Paespaes,

[You have arrived at the Level 6 world <Cuiri>.]

A message appeared.

Then,

“Ugh. Why is it so hot here?”

Sejun’s breath became heavy from the stifling heat. Even Sejun, who had the <Title: Reborn from Flames> and the talent: Friend of Fire, found it difficult to endure the heat.

Meanwhile,

“Puhuhut. What is this place, meow? It’s warm, meow!”

“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. The air is a bit stuffy. Power of magic…”

Kueng!

[It feels like a bathhouse!]

(Pip-pip. It’s hot.)

Kking! Kking!

[Ah! Hot! Butler! Hold me!]

Everyone who followed Sejun through the dimensional gate gave their remarks one by one.

“Phew. Now that’s refreshing. Iona, thank you.”

Thanks to Iona’s magic, breathing became easier, and Sejun looked around, spotting a mountain in the distance spewing lava.

“Looks like it’s over there. Cuengi, let’s go!”

Kueng!

Sejun and his companions climbed onto the enlarged Cuengi’s back and flew toward the lava-covered peak.

And then,

“Eek! I’m angry! I'm so angry!"

They found a seven-year-old child throwing a tantrum for some unknown reason. Each time the child got angry, lava kept forming beneath his feet.

The heat emitted from the child’s body was melting the ground and creating lava.

‘The heat this kid is emitting must be what’s causing the world’s destruction.’

Is he crying because he’s hungry?

No. That doesn’t seem to be it.

While analyzing the reason behind the child’s anger,

You’ve got a lot of anger, so let’s name you something to help reduce it, Mulmul it is. (TL: 물 in 물물 (Mulmul) means water, so the literal translation would be 'water water'. Since water counteracts fire, where fire represented here as anger both literally and metaphorically, this is the reasoning why Sejun said it will help reduce it.)

Sejun even named the child.

And then,

“Vice Chairman Theo, knock him out.”

“Puhuhut. Got it, meow!”

Thwack.

“I’m… ang…”

Plop.

He knocked the child out for now. With less than three hours left until the world’s destruction, he couldn’t leisurely take time to find out why the child was crying.

Once the child fainted,

[A quest has appeared.]

[Quest: <Cuiri>'s temperature has risen too high and lost the ability to return to its original temperature. Please lower <Cuiri>'s temperature to a level where <Cuiri> can recover on its own.]

Reward: <Cuiri>'s peace, <Earth Lv. 3> evolution experience 10%

A new quest appeared.

That’s not hard.

Hehehe. Just wait, Sejun of Level 4 World.

“Iona, get rid of the lava.”

To cool the world’s heat, Sejun asked Iona to remove the lava.

“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Okay! Power of gravity. At my command, suck in everything. Black Hole.”

Iona began sucking up the lava using a black hole spell.

“Create Thundercloud. Rainfall.”

Sejun also caused it to rain to lower ’s temperature.

Ppiak!

Shari helped by energetically releasing cold air.

After about an hour had passed,

[The temperature has dropped to a level where <Cuiri> can recover on its own.]

[You have completed the quest.]

[As a quest completion reward, <Earth Lv. 3> evolution experience has increased by 10%.]

With the quest completed, peace returned to <Cuiri>.

“Guys, let’s go.”

“Puhuhut. Okay, meow!”

“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Yes.”

Kueng!

(Pip-pip. Yes.)

Kking!

The group crossed the dimensional gate to return to the first floor of the Black Tower.

And just as Sejun and the group were about to return to Earth,

“Hm? Aren’t these the honey jars we sell?”

He discovered many empty honey jars bearing the SJ logo of Sejun Company scattered across the ground.

Why are these in a place like this?

While Sejun was puzzled,

Sniff. Sniff. Sniff.

Kueng!

[There's a suspicious smell!]

Cuengi, sniffing the surroundings, transformed into Detective Cunane and spoke.

“Puhuhut. Time for Great Detective Sherlock Sejun and his brilliant assistant Theoson to step up, meow!”

Kihihit. Kking!

[Hehe. Great Detective Kapang too!]

It was time for the Sejun Detective Squad to mobilize.

Then,

“Kyung… What about me?”

Iona, who had no role, asked in a gloomy voice.

“Hmm. Iona, you’ll be Detective Iple.”

Sejun created Iona's detective name by taking it from the female detective Jane Marple from Agatha Christie's crime novels.

“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Nice! I’m Detective Iple now!”

Thanks to this, Iona's mood improved too.

“Alright then, shall we go catch the culprit?”

Just as the Sejun Detective Squad was about to begin their deduction,

“I’m ang…!”

Mulmul, riding on Sejun’s back, woke up.

“Don’t interrupt the investigation, meow!”

Thud.

Theo knocked him out again.

It looked like he’d need to drop Mulmul off at the kindergarten before heading out.

"First, we need to preserve the evidence. Detective Iple, please transfer it without damaging anything.”

“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Okay.”

Whoosh.

Using magic, Iona stored the jars and the ground beneath them into the Void Storage.

With the evidence secured, Sejun and his group returned to Earth, dropped Mulmul off at the Kindergarten of Destruction,

“Guys, say hello. This is Mulmul.”

and helped him get settled in by introducing him to the other kids. Before he knew it, the day had ended.

“Everyone, let’s solve the case tomorrow.”

“Puhuhut. Got it, meow!”

Sejun, who had saved another world today, lay down on his bed.