The Underground Adventure
The subway station was closer than I’d expected. It was only about a five-minute walk away.
“Are you sure you don’t need me to come with you?” Han Yeoreum asked from the top of the stairs leading underground, her eyes full of worry. She looked ready to drop everything and follow us at any moment.
“It’s fine. The children need to try doing things on their own, don’t you think?” Sofia replied.
“…All right. Then please take good care of them.”
“Of course.”
After seeing us off, Han Yeoreum waved and disappeared into the distance. We watched until she was out of sight, then turned our attention to the stairs leading down.
“Whoa…” Levinas’s eyes sparkled with the excitement of a grand adventure. She stared down the stairs for a long moment before pulling a doll out of her bag—a shark plush with a tail just like Sofia’s.
“King, if anything happens, throw this and run away.”
She pressed the shark doll into my arms. Sofia’s brow furrowed slightly, as if offended that her likeness was being used as an escape tool.
“Why must it be the shark doll?”
“Because sharks protect everyone!”
Levinas’s words made it clear just how much she trusted Sofia. And honestly, among us, Sofia really was the most reliable.
“Hmph… Well, if that’s the case, I suppose there’s no helping it.”
“Yeah! Even if you throw it, the shark will beat up the bad guys and come back!”
“Ahem…”
Sofia’s face turned red at Levinas’s boundless trust. She quickly turned away and descended the stairs so no one would see.
“Sharky! Wait for me!”
Levinas hurried after her, and Saebyeok and I followed close behind.
Once we reached the bottom, we had to stop and look around. The underground was far larger than we’d imagined.
“Whoa…”
It was like someone had taken the shops from above ground and moved them all down here. Even I felt a spark of interest at the sight of an underground shopping area I hadn’t seen in ages.
“King! We’ve arrived in the underground world! Have you ever been somewhere like this before?”
“No, this is my first time too.”
“Really…!”
Levinas looked around with curious eyes before spotting a young woman nearby and trotting over. Tap, tap, tap. She knocked on the woman’s backside with her little fists.
The woman spun around in alarm, thinking someone was harassing her—only to freeze when she saw Levinas.
“Eek…? Oh…”
Her startled expression softened into a gentle smile once she realized who had touched her.
“Did you knock on big sister’s butt?”
“Yeah! Levinas has something she’s curious about!”
“What does the little horned rabbit want to know?”
The woman crouched down to Levinas’s eye level, her tone warm and inviting.
“Is this where the underground people live?!”
The woman smiled at the innocent question and gently patted Levinas’s head.
“That’s right. This is the land of the underground people.”
“Huk…! But Levinas is from the surface…!”
“Wow, really?”
“Yep!”
Thrilled by the encounter, Levinas bounced on the spot. After chatting a bit more with the woman, she came running back to us.
“Sharky! Kings! Big news! This is the land of the underground people!”
“Amazing. I’ve never seen underground people before in my life.”
“Me neither.”
We all played along for Levinas’s sake. The people around us chuckled at our little act.
“They must be from the Yeomyeong Guild. So cute.”
“Yeah, they called us underground people.”
My tail perked up at the compliment. Our kids really were adorable.
“King! But where do we ride the subway?!”
“Hmm… I guess we need to buy tickets first…?”
I glanced at Sofia as I spoke. She was the only one among us who actually knew how to use the subway.
“Hmph… This lady will simply observe. You children try purchasing the tickets yourselves.”
“J-just us…?”
“Indeed. If you truly don’t know, asking a station attendant is also an option.”
I wondered why Sofia wasn’t helping until it clicked—she wanted the children to build independence. If that was her intention, I had no choice but to go along with it. I wanted them to grow self-reliant too.
“Then should I just stand here as well?”
“…Winter, shouldn’t you be the one doing it?”
“Huh?”
With little Levinas and Saebyeok right here, why me? It felt odd, but I decided to follow Sofia’s lead anyway. I needed the practice too.
To Sofia, I’m probably just another child.
With that massive age gap, it made sense. For now, I decided to look for the ticket machines.
The ticket vending machines stood right beside the subway entrance, and a crowd had gathered around them. What on earth was going on?
Song Jin-seok, a station attendant on duty, made his way toward the commotion.
“King, the letters suddenly got all squiggly.”
“Yeah. You picked the wrong language.”
“This is English.”
Three beastkin children huddled in front of the large screen. A short distance away, a girl with a shark tail stood with her arms crossed.
“Whoa, what’s that?”
“Look at their tails standing up.”
The children’s adorable backs caught someone’s attention, and a camera shutter clicked somewhere nearby.
I hope nothing goes wrong.
Song Jin-seok hurried over to the kids.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
He pushed through the crowd and approached the machine. The three children looked up at him in unison. Their eyes were so pure and innocent it was almost heartbreaking.
“Ah! It’s the police!”
“I’m not a police officer, I’m a station attendant. Do you need any help?”
At his question, the two children’s gazes shifted toward one side—toward the girl with white ears and tail standing tall. Winter.
“We want to ride the subway…”
“I see. Where are you headed?”
“Well… we don’t have a destination.”
“You don’t?”
They came to ride the subway but had no destination? Song Jin-seok’s eyebrows rose in confusion.
“Actually, this is our first time riding the subway.”
“It is?”
“Yes. We wanted to try it today, but we don’t really know how.”
“Ah…”
So they weren’t going anywhere in particular—they just wanted to experience riding the subway itself. Their determination was oddly admirable.
“Do you attend school by any chance?”
“Why school…?”
“No reason. Elementary students ride for free.”
They looked about the right age to have just started elementary school. He was about to explain they didn’t need to pay when the child’s expression darkened.
“I don’t go to school…”
“You don’t?”
“No… I’ll just pay.”
“Uh…”
Song Jin-seok looked the children over. Only then did he notice their worn, dirty clothes, and he pressed his lips together.
They can’t afford to go to school?
Children who should be learning and playing at school weren’t attending. Elementary education was supposed to be mandatory—why weren’t they? Was the law different for beastkin?
Having little knowledge of the Yeomyeong Guild or beastkin, Song Jin-seok felt a wave of guilt.
I said something unnecessary.
Elementary students ride free. And he’d brought it up to a child who couldn’t even go to school because of their circumstances. How heartbreaking that must have been for them.
I should’ve just said the age range directly.
They’d said it was their first time on the subway. Maybe it wasn’t because they had nowhere to go—maybe they simply couldn’t afford it until now.
Letting out a quiet sigh, Song Jin-seok forced a cheerful smile.
“You don’t actually need to pay.”
“Even though I’m not an elementary student…?”
“Yes. You don’t have to be an elementary student to ride for free.”
“Eh?”
Winter tilted her head, clearly confused why an adult like her wouldn’t need to pay. Misreading her reaction, Song Jin-seok bit his lip.
She doesn’t go to “elementary school,” so she doesn’t understand why she can ride for free.
It was simply because she was young. He regretted his words all over again.
“You can ride the subway for free anytime. Since your goal is just to ride it and not go anywhere specific, right?”
“Yeah…”
“Then take this train, get off at the next stop, and ride the one coming from the opposite direction. You’ll be back here in about thirty minutes round trip.”
“Ah…!”
Winter’s ears perked up. Her tail, which had been drooping in confusion, began to sway gently again. Song Jin-seok relaxed, thinking the child’s mood had improved.
“If riding the subway itself is the goal, there’s no need to go far, right?”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
“Then just go a short distance and come back from the other side. Think you can manage that?”
He didn’t want the children wandering too far and getting lost. Fortunately, they didn’t seem interested in going far anyway.
“Yes. We can do that much.”
“Great. Then I’ll wait here for you to return.”
“You’ll wait…?”
“Of course. Since it’s your first time. If you don’t come back, I’ll assume you’re lost and contact the other stations.”
“Um… okay…”
It was almost funny how seriously they were taking their first subway ride, but the attendant’s kindness was touching. Winter felt a quiet respect for the man doing his job so diligently.
“Then have a good trip.”
“Okay!”
Finally, their first subway ride. Feeling a strange sense of responsibility, Winter led the children toward the turnstiles.
But she had to stop right in front of them. The long metal bars stood firmly in their way, as if refusing to let anyone pass without paying.
Winter stared blankly. She had no idea how to get through without a ticket.