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“This?”
The smartphone displayed an image of an animal resembling the one depicted in the drawing.
“Where was it taken?”
“My friend who works nearby sent it to me. She said she saw it outside the store where she works.”
Ashmir and Urki also leaned in to examine the photo.
“That’s it! It’s the Divine beast,”
Urki exclaimed with excitement and a bright expression.
Ashmir also appeared convinced that the creature in the picture was indeed the Divine beast.
I couldn’t believe my luck in finding a clue so easily after having no leads.
I couldn’t help but laugh in relief.
“Sehe, can you take me to where the picture was taken?” I asked.
“Sure, Uncle,” she replied.
“Thank you so much, I’ll make sure to repay you for this,” I added.
“It’s nothing,” Sehe said as she smiled and waved her hand dismissively.
Without hesitation, we made the decision to set out to find the Divine beast immediately.
The two Angels came along, and Sehe, who would be our guide to the store where her friend worked, also joined us.
Taeho, Jin, and Ryan were also ready to come along.
Even though our group was quite large and included two Angels, which drew attention, we didn’t have time to worry about that.
We needed to find the Divine beast in the picture as quickly as possible before anyone else had a chance to take another picture of it.
We quickly left the office and began our search.
As we made our way to the location where the picture was taken, I turned to Urki to ask for more information about the Divine beast.
“Urki, you’re in charge of taking care of the Divine beast, correct?” I asked.
“Yes, that’s correct,” he replied.
“Is the Divine beast dangerous or aggressive?” I inquired further.
“No, not at all. It’s usually very calm, but it can be a bit sensitive to strangers,” he reassured me.
I was relieved to hear that the Divine beast wasn’t dangerous, but it was still important to be cautious.
If it had a sensitive side, it could still become aggressive if approached too closely or casually, especially if someone was drawn to its cute appearance.
“But how did the Divine beast disappear? If it had a calm and sensitive personality, I don’t think it would have ventured into an unfamiliar environment on its own,” I asked, still unsure.
Urki hesitated to answer, looking troubled.
“Well, I’ve only been in charge for a short while and I followed the guidelines given by my predecessor as much as I could. I must have done something wrong,” he said, blaming himself and with a tearful expression on his face.
I couldn’t help but feel remorse for asking the question, especially when I saw Ashmir looking at him sympathetically.
“Well, it’s good that the Divine beast isn’t aggressive. If we find it quickly, there won’t be any problems,” I said, trying to comfort him.
Urki’s expression lightened a bit.
“That’s the store where my friend works,” Sehe said, pointing to a bakery.
The background of the store matched the one in the picture we had seen earlier.
We searched around the store but unfortunately couldn’t find any sign of the Divine beast.
“I don’t think it’s here, Uncle Si,” Taeho said.
“I couldn’t find it either,” Jin added.
“It probably went somewhere else,” Ryan suggested.
Sehe, who had gone inside the bakery, also came out shaking her head.
“My friend said that the animal in the picture appeared in front of the store and ran away when more people showed up. It happened half an hour ago,” Sehe informed us.
Since it had only been 30 minutes, it was likely that the Divine beast hadn’t gone far.
Also, even though it was a quiet weekday, there were still many people passing by on the street, so it seemed that there would be quite a few people who had seen the Divine beast.
We decided to split up and search for the Divine beast.
I decided to go with the two Angels while Jin and Sehe teamed up and Ryan and Taeho also paired up.
“We’ll go this way,” Jin said, and Ryan added,
“I’ll call you as soon as I find it.”
Taeho said to Ryan, “Let’s go, Demon Uncle!” and Ryan replied,
“Haha, I’d prefer you call me ‘brother’ instead of ‘uncle’.”
The two teams set off in different directions.
“Let’s move too. We might be able to find it quickly by asking people around,” I said.
“Yes!” the Angels agreed.
We walked along the left side of the bakery where the Divine beast was last seen, showing the picture Urki drew to every passing person and asking if they had seen the Divine beast.
“Excuse me, have you seen an animal like this?” we asked, but most people hadn’t seen it or didn’t know anything about it.
Some even commented on the Angels’ presence, “Isn’t that Angels behind you?”
As it was more difficult to gather information on the Divine beast than we had hoped, I thought about asking the police for help and checking nearby CCTV cameras.
And then, a woman in her 20s raised her hand and said,
“Oh! I saw the animal in that picture.”
I asked, “Where did you see it?”
She replied, “If you go straight to the left of the cosmetics store over there, there is a hot dog place. I saw it near there. I took a picture because it was cute. Is this the one?”
And she showed a picture of the Divine beast.
The picture she showed us was much clearer and showed the Divine beast looking at the hot dog store.
Urki, who was excited after seeing the picture, exclaimed, “Mr. Sihyeon! That’s the Divine beast!”
I thanked the woman profusely and we quickly headed to the hot dog shop.
I was in a hurry in case the Divine beast had moved on.
As we turned left at the cosmetics store and ran down the road, I could see the hot dog shop in the distance.
However, there were a lot of people gathered in front of the store, which was not typical for its size.
I approached the crowd to see what was happening and was momentarily speechless at what I saw.
“Do you want to eat this? Do you want a bite of the hot dog?”
Kkyuu Kkyuu.
“Here you go! Have a bite. Is it good?”
– Munch
  Kkyuuu!
I heard people saying, as the Divine beast was eating food given by people, acting cute.
The tension was relieved by the peaceful appearance, but a feeling of disappointment also set in.
However, this feeling was short-lived.
Realizing that the situation was under control, my mood brightened.
I thought capturing the Divine beast would be a breeze.
“Can you please make way? These are the guardians of that animal. Thank you,”
I said, as I made my way to the Divine beast with the two Angels.
Those who were giving food to the Divine beast recognized the Angels and moved away.
The Divine beast, who was happily eating a hot dog, soon spotted us and
-
 Kkyuu? Kkyuuuuu!
It got startled and quickly got up and began to flee between people’s legs.
I was surprised by the unexpected reaction of the Divine beast.
“Wait a minute! Stop there!” I shouted, but it quickly ran away from us. We chased it through the crowd.
“What’s wrong? Wasn’t Urki taking care of it?” I asked.
“Yeah, that’s right,” Urki replied.
“Then why is it surprised and running away as soon as it saw you?”
“I don’t know,” he said, confused by the strange turn of events.
It seemed that the Divine beast had more of a bond with the people who were feeding it hot dogs than with Urki, who was supposed to be its caretaker.
I decided to put aside all the confusing questions for now and focus on chasing the Divine beast.
Just as we were about to catch up to the Divine beast, Ashmir flew forward, quickly overtook it and blocked its path with her large wings.
The Divine beast, which was blocked by Ashmir, stood still and looked around. Its eyes were wide with fear as we slowly stepped closer, surrounding it.
Just as I thought we had caught it, the Divine beast spread its wings and started to move. Its small body rose into the air, flapping its wings.
‘Can it fly?’
I was flustered for a moment because I thought the Divine beast was flying away. However, I was relieved immediately after seeing the Divine beast’s actions.
FLAP FLAP!
Kkyuu. Kkyuu.
It’s wings were so cute, and it seemed a little too much to even put its small body in the air. A smile came out as if I was watching a cute talent.
“SIHYEON! Don’t let your guard down!” Ashmir shouted.
“What?”
– Kkyuuuuuuuu!
Suddenly, a white light began to flow out of the Divine beast’s body, and it let out a powerful cry.
The white light gathered in one point and formed a small dimensional door.
Ashmir quickly jumped in and tried to grab the Divine beast, but it narrowly dodged her hand and slipped into the dimensional door.
The dimensional door disappeared without a trace, leaving us staring at the empty space.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“It’s one of the abilities of the Divine beast,” Ashmir explained.
“It seems to have fled far through the dimensional door that only it could pass through.”
“The ability to open the dimensional door and run away? Then how do you want me to catch it?”
I asked, feeling the absurdity of the situation.
Ashmir replied calmly, “If it was easy, I wouldn’t have asked Sihyeon for help.”
I remembered the curse Yerin made on her way to work that morning.
‘Damn you Yerin
’
I realized it was going to be a busier day than I thought.