City ​​of Witches 195

Chapter 195 – #43_Festival

#193

1.
This massive building wasn’t entirely an aquarium.
It was primarily a complex of exhibition halls, but it also housed various department stores, restaurants, movie theaters, and other convenience and entertainment facilities.
Since Siwoo had decided to make the most of his time here today, he immediately went to a restaurant for lunch.

“Whew… that was delicious.”
“Assistant, I’m too full to walk. Can you carry me on your back?”
“I’ll carry you when we get home, so let’s walk for now.”
“What? Then me too!”
“Yes, Odile, please take a number.”

Today’s lunch was kimchi-jjim.
It was chosen because the twins had been clamoring to eat the assistant’s hometown food.
Even though he had picked it without much thought, he was worried if it would suit the twins’ tastes, but it was all for naught.
The three of them went in and ate almost eight servings.

“Wasn’t it too spicy?”
“Not at all? It was a bit salty, but it was fine with the dongchimi.”
“I really liked the soft boiled pork. Oh, and the kimchi with oysters too!”
“I was a little worried it wouldn’t suit your tastes, but I’m glad it did.”

Indeed, kimchi, an international Korean traditional food.
Seeing that it had captured the refined tastes of the twins at once, Siwoo felt a surge of national pride.
He tore the kimchi for the twins, who were clumsy with chopsticks, and they ate it so well that it felt like feeding baby birds constantly begging for food.

Next, with ice cream from Baskin-Robbins in hand, they headed to the arcade, which was bustling with the loud sounds of games and music.
For the twins, who were experiencing this kind of atmosphere for the first time, the arcade was a wonderland in a different sense than the aquarium.

“Wow, wow, wow… what is all this?”
“Ah, so many artifacts…!”

The twins shoved the remaining ice cream into their mouths (the ice cream, by the way, received a lukewarm review) and scurried off.
They were busy looking around at the game videos on the screens and the various game machines equipped with all sorts of bizarre gimmicks.

“Assistant! Look at this! Something’s spinning around!”
“Assistant, look at this! It’s sparkling! Dolls? Are there this many dolls?”

It seemed like they liked it even more than the aquarium…
The twins couldn’t hide their excitement, jumping up and down and bouncing around.
They were moving so frantically that it felt like they would disappear if he took his eyes off them for even a moment.
Siwoo exchanged three ten-thousand won bills for game cards.

“Is there anything you’d like to do?”
“What are all these? What can we do with these?”
“It’s a kind of entertainment.”
“Like, chess or duck hunting?”
“Uh…”

Siwoo had no idea how to explain video games to the twins, who didn’t even understand electricity.
Fortunately, the twins’ interest quickly shifted to the game machines.
Odile was drawn to a western-themed gun shooting game with a long rifle-shaped controller, while Odette was drawn to the pink, pink claw machine.

“I want to try this. Tell me how to do it.”
“Ah, would you like to try? You can take cover by stepping on this pedal, and you can shoot by aiming at the target on the screen. Pulling the trigger is the same as firing… let’s see, you can reload by shaking the gun.”
“I’ll try. I think I can do it.”

Odile listened to the explanation with a serious expression and then aimed the gun at the screen.
While Odile was doing the tutorial, Odette, who had scurried over, grabbed Siwoo’s wrist.

“Assistant, Assistant! I want to try this. How do you get the dolls?”

They stood in front of a claw machine piled high with dolls.
It seemed faster to show her how to do it, so he gave a rough demonstration.

“This one, you operate this lever and press the button, and then the crane comes down and picks up the doll.”
“Ah! That was close! It almost worked…”

It was clear that both of them were either young or very smart because they learned so quickly.
Odette immediately grabbed the lever and stared intently at the rabbit doll she had been eyeing since earlier.
She had been particularly fond of the rabbits at the aquarium earlier, and she had even bought rabbit pajamas…
He wondered if she knew that rabbit meat was delicious.
His train of thought led him to think about the rabbit stew he had eaten with his father when he went to the countryside a long time ago.

“…Siwoo, older brother.”

Siwoo, who was keeping an eye on Odile to make sure he didn’t get lost, was standing next to Odette.
Odette, who had been aiming for the rabbit doll that seemed impossible to pick up with the wickedly set crane, suddenly called out to him.
It was the first time she had called him “older brother” in a while, probably thinking that Odile wouldn’t hear.
Her honorifics changed when they were alone.
This felt like a secret affair between a cheating couple.

“Yes, Miss Odette.”
“I just wanted to call you that. I was upset that I couldn’t use the new title I made yesterday.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, I think I’m experiencing so many fun things thanks to you, older brother. Thank you.”
“Well, I’m living comfortably thanks to the Jemenae Count, so I should at least do this much for you.”
“That’s just the result of your good deeds, Assistant.”

Siwoo found Odette’s behavior quite cute and stroked her head.
Odette, who was so focused on the rabbit doll that she didn’t expect the touch at all, was startled and lowered the crane to a strange spot.

Soon, the number of attempts, which had been marked as 50, changed to 0, and the last crane hung hopelessly above the prize chute.
Unfortunately, Odette didn’t manage to pick up a single doll even after using all the money on the game card that Siwoo had charged.

-Ding-a-ling!

The electronic sound signaling game over.
Odette trembled and protested to Siwoo.
Odette, who had started purely for fun, seemed to be getting competitive.

“This is really unfair! I definitely grabbed it properly! I even calculated the five possible ways the crane could rotate as it came down! I grabbed the head perfectly, but it didn’t even lift the rabbit, let alone pick it up! This is a scam!”
“Haha…”

Even Siwoo thought it was strange.
He had thought it wouldn’t be easy in the first place because the dolls were buried among each other, but this was too much.
Odette, swallowing her anger, asked Siwoo.

“Can I use magic? I’ll just use a little telekinesis.”
“Of course not. That’s not how this game works. Should I try to pick one?”
“No! This is my fight!”
“Hmm, then I’ll go recharge the card. Please wait a moment.”
“Yes, I need to review a few more possibilities.”

Odette pursed her lips firmly and huffed, while Siwoo moved to recharge the game card and found Odile still standing in front of the game machine.

“Huh?”

Come to think of it, quite a bit of time had already passed?
Siwoo glanced at the screen, which was constantly filled with screams and explosions.

In the game, Odile was the very image of a western outlaw.
The gun barrel moved like a ray of light to chase the enemy, and the trigger was pulled relentlessly.
The tracking that followed the enemy, and the flick shots that were pulled instantly, all 10 shots cleanly hit the enemy.

The obstacles that suddenly appeared on the screen were no exception.
With a practiced stance and aim, Odile instantly detonated five grenades in the air.
Even when multiple enemies appeared from all directions, he clicked the pedal, shook the gun to reload, and then cleaned them up in an instant.

“What is this…”

Siwoo, being a man, had played these kinds of gun shooting games before.
Most of the games were made for two players, and he didn’t even remember beating the first boss when he played alone.
While Siwoo was watching the highlight reel, Odile, who had finished the last hidden boss with one coin, tilted his head and noticed Siwoo.

“Oh? Assistant, how long have you been watching?”
“Wow, you’re amazing.”
“Huh? What?”
“This is your first time playing this kind of game, right? I can’t even get past the second stage no matter how hard I try.”
“I’ve always been good at shooting. Odette can probably do this much too? But it’s not very fun. It’s not realistic when they break when I hit them, and the gun sounds are just unrealistically loud. Still, it was a good experience! Is there anything else? I think I can do something more difficult at once.”

Even though he said that, Odile puffed out his chest as if his pride had been boosted by Siwoo’s praise.
The original Odile wouldn’t have complained about the game, considering the effort Siwoo had put into bringing him here, so it wasn’t hard to notice that all of his words were contrived.
In other words, he was trying his best to act like he didn’t care.

Siwoo, suppressing a laugh, took care of Odile and suggested a game that they could all play together since they had come all this way.

“That’s a good idea, but let’s look around at a few more things. That one’s pretty fun.”
“Really?”
“Assistant! I got it!!!”

Just then, Odette, holding up a rabbit doll with both hands, came running with a bright smile.
The next game Siwoo chose was air pong.
It was a game that occupied a spot even in the most run-down arcades for couples.

As a result of a lively league match.
Odette didn’t win even once and became today’s baggage carrier.

2.
“………”
“Odette, why are you so sulky?”
“……..”
“It’s nothing new, is it? I’m always better than you at games we play for the first time.”
“………”
“You’re not going to tell me you can’t accept the result, are you?”

Crinkle.
As they were going up the department store escalator side by side, the rabbit doll that Odette was holding was slightly crumpled.
Siwoo, unable to watch any longer, stepped in.

“Odile, stop teasing her. Miss Odette, don’t be too upset. Your opponent was me, after all?”

Odette’s patience reached its limit when even Siwoo, who she had expected to take her side, joined in.

“Eeeeeeek! You’re all mean! Don’t talk to me, sister! I want to go home! Take me home!”
“I’m just kidding, just kidding.”

Siwoo coaxed and soothed Odette, who was about to cause a ruckus.
They were on their way to the women’s clothing section to buy clothes to mark the end of today’s activities.
The twins were definitely adaptable.
The twins, who had been amazed by the elevator at first, were now standing calmly on the escalator as if it were a matter of course.

After buying as many clothes as the twins wanted with the black card given by Count Jemenae, they went home.
After that, they were planning to showcase the famous ‘Miss Sharon’s favorite delivery food parade’ at Siwoo’s officetel.
It seemed that the twins liked the local food quite a bit, except for desserts.

“By the way, this is amazing. It’s a moving staircase even when you’re standing still, so it must be using space magic, right?”
“No, it’s like a kind of belt. It goes down and up the lower space while spinning around. There’s no magic involved.”
“Oh, I see.”

They could have taken the elevator, but while they were going up the escalator to show them the entire department store, Siwoo heard a commotion.
It wasn’t as if the department store was usually quiet, but it was particularly noisy.
It sounded like they were surprised, excited, and overall, it was a murmur of the crowd that couldn’t be classified into a specific atmosphere.

And as the escalator was going up.
Something strange near the opposite ceiling caught the twins’ curiosity sensors.
Odile and Odette, clinging to the handrail of the escalator, pointed at an object floating leisurely in the air.

“Assistant, what’s that?”
“Oh! I think I saw that at the aquarium! Piranha? Piranha? I think that’s what it was.”
“It’s huge! It’s as big as a taxi!”

Siwoo followed the twins’ fingers and widened his eyes.

“Huh?”

There, a bizarre creature was flapping its fins leisurely as if the air were water.
A thin, flat body.
Sharp, spear-like teeth that protruded so much that its mouth couldn’t close.
Eyes that rolled around, not knowing where they were looking.

The source of the murmuring from the lower floor was the sound of people taking out their phones to take pictures and whispering after seeing the piranha.
Of course, that would be the case, since there was no way something like that could exist in a normal department store.

The piranha, which had been floating leisurely, slowly flapped its fins and went down, approaching the people who were taking pictures of it.

“Eek! What is that? It’s so gross.”
“Is it some kind of event?”
“Isn’t it a hologram? Hey, take a picture, take a picture. Take a picture first.”
“Hey, Kyungseong! Are you still in the bathroom? Come here quickly, there’s something really amazing here.”

Was it because they had only been protected by civilization and social order that their instinctive ability to sense danger had deteriorated?
People didn’t run away or scream and flee as soon as they saw the monster, like in a monster movie.
They were just observing and condoning the phenomenon within the boundaries of their own common sense and daily lives, as if it were something amazing.

“Run away!”

Siwoo’s loud shout.

“Huh?”

At the same time, the piranha’s gaping mouth crunched down on the upper body of a student who was holding his camera close.

The festival had begun.