Chapter 10: fishing 2

—…If Seol-ah gets hurt even a little, I will never forgive you.

Polar Bear, hereinafter referred to as Polar Bear, scratched his cheek as he recalled Seolyeon’s murderous threat.

It wasn’t like he was going to catch something strange, just going fishing, so he found it hard to understand why she had to extract such a grand promise.

“Eit, eit.”

“Hey, don’t pull on my ears.”

Polar Bear smacked Seol-ah on the head, who was riding on his shoulders.
A clear, cheerful sound rang out, and Seol-ah made a whining sound, her strength draining, as she smacked Polar Bear’s back with her tail.

Polar Bear, who was still walking, said.

“Why does your sister coddle you so much?”

“What?”

“No, think about it, you’re a wolf too. Even though you’re still young, you’ll grow up soon, so why does she only protect you?”

A child can’t stay a child forever.
Eventually, they have to grow up and become an adult.

Even if they receive the protection of adults for now, eventually they have to leave the nest and become a proper adult, so why only protect them?

Even if they get hurt while trying to do something, that would also be another experience, and it would be better to teach them more things rather than keeping them in a greenhouse, at least that’s what Polar Bear thought.

“I’m not taking you to a dragon’s lair or anything, just going fishing, but she’s just growling at me, oh dear….”

Polar Bear, feeling wronged anew, started muttering to himself.
Seol-ah held her large tail high in the air and said.

“Because if I get hurt, it’s a huge loss for our wolf tribe!”

“Huh?”

“I’m going to become a super cool, big, strong, and powerful wolf, so if I get hurt and can’t use my strength properly when I grow up, the future wolf tribe will suffer a huuuuuuge loss! That’s why Eonni is protecting me!”

‘Of course, the biggest reason is that Eonni loves me—’

Seol-ah put her hands on her hips and grinned.
Polar Bear, for some reason finding that overflowing confidence and elation annoying, smacked Seol-ah on the head again.

“Keng!”

“But why does a wolf cry like that? Is that normal for a kid?”

“Why, it’s a totally cool cry! Eonni even praised it for being unique!”

“Ah, right.”

Polar Bear turned his head and walked forward again.
Seol-ah, who was riding on his shoulders and wagging her tail endlessly, suddenly saw the fishing rod Polar Bear was holding and asked.

“Mister, where did you get this fishing rod?”

“Where did I get it?”

“I mean, you didn’t make it yourself, did you? It’s too small for you to have made it!”

Seol-ah snatched the fishing rod and held it horizontally high in the air.
The modern-designed fishing rod was too big and heavy for Seol-ah’s body, but in Polar Bear’s hand, it felt as small as a miniature.

“All of Mister’s things are super big. It’s weird that only that one is small.”

“Well, that’s because I don’t use it. I just go in the water and catch them, I don’t really use a fishing rod. This is something I got for you guys to use….”

Polar Bear paused for a moment before continuing.

“So… its name was Madomwosigi. Anyway, I bought it from there.”

“Madomwosigi?”

“Mado… I think so? I can’t remember the rest.”

Polar Bear, with Seol-ah on his neck, walked and walked into the forest.
Seol-ah, seeing the familiar scenery of trees, tilted her head and asked.

“Why are we going in here?”

“We’re going fishing?”

“We’re fishing in the forest?”

“There’s a lake in the forest. Haven’t you been here a few times?”

Seol-ah closed her eyes tightly and tried to remember.
Snow, trees, snow, snow, and occasionally delicious ice treats.
Among them, there was not a single thing that could be presumed to be a lake.
Even when she closed her eyes tighter and tried to remember, not even a single drop of water could be seen in her memory.

Seol-ah grinned and shouted.

“I don’t know!”

“Well, you’ll know when we get there.”

Polar Bear pushed his way through the trees that stood firmly even in the cold.
The leaves, helplessly pushed aside by his huge frame, instead tormented the weak Seol-ah by slapping her face.

After a while, an empty space appeared.

A circular clearing, completely empty as if someone had pulled out the trees from the middle of the forest.
On the snowfield where only snow was piled up, Seol-ah got off Polar Bear’s head and stood on her own two feet.

Polar Bear said.

“This is it.”

“Here?”

Seol-ah looked around.
All she could see was the snow piled up on the ground and the snow that had started to fall lightly from the sky.
There was snow, but not a single drop of water was to be seen.

“Where’s the lake? There isn’t one.”

“This is the lake.”

Polar Bear stomped his foot on the ground a few times, then clenched his fist and punched.

Kwaang! A deafening roar that shook the heavens and the earth echoed all around, and Seol-ah, startled, flattened her ears and curled her tail, her eyes wide.

Where Polar Bear had punched, a large hole was pierced.
Water gushed out from it.

“Huk….”

“What are you doing over there? Pick up the fishing rod.”

“Yes!”

Seol-ah straightened her hunched body and ran over to stand next to the artificially created waterside.
Inside, along with the debris of ice, an immense amount of water of unfathomable depth was sloshing around.

“I thought this was just a snowfield!”

“The trees are completely empty only here, so there must be something under the ground.”

Seol-ah gently tilted her triangular ears towards the water.
Twitching her ears and wagging her tail, Seol-ah soon heard the sound of something swimming in the water.

“Oh….”

The sound was like that of an arctic mouse or arctic hamster digging through the snow.

There was no way a hamster would be in the water, unless it was a fish, but Seol-ah, consumed by instinct, didn’t think that far and, as she usually did, raised her tail and jumped high into the air.

“Ah.”

But in front of her was not snow, but cold water.

A kaleidoscope of images flashed through Seol-ah’s mind.

“Heng!”

At that moment, Polar Bear snatched Seol-ah’s large tail.
Just one centimeter from entering the water, Seol-ah dangled in the air, trembling.

Polar Bear said.

“What are you doing!”

“I-it’s a habit….”

“What kind of wolf just throws its body into a hole?!”

“Ehehehe… th-thank you for catching me!”

‘Kids are just impossible to understand.’
Polar Bear calmed his momentarily startled heart and unfolded the folding chair he had brought onto the snowfield.
This, too, was an item bought from the same Madomwosigi as the fishing rod.

Seol-ah wiggled her butt to pull her large tail out of the gap in the folding chair and lifted the fishing rod, which was much larger than her body.
It was heavy, but with Polar Bear’s help, she could hold it upright.

“This is how you fish….”

“I know!”

“Huh? You do?”

‘This is when past life experience really shines,’ Seol-ah said with a very confident expression.

“I’m going to catch something huge, so look forward to it!”

“Uh, sure.”

“Hueeeeng.”

“There she goes again.”

“I’m bored….”
“Fishing is all about waiting.”

Seol-ah shook her body to brush off the snow that had accumulated on her.
The snow that had started to fall lightly when they arrived at the lake had covered her body.

Even after Seol-ah held the fishing rod still for a long time, there was no bite.
If at least a rock got caught, that would be something, but there was really no reaction at all.
At this rate, she felt like she would die of boredom.

In the meantime, Polar Bear, who had gone into the lake and come back out, had already caught several fish and put them in a container.
Seeing that, it didn’t seem like there were no fish, so why was only her fishing rod being ignored.
Seol-ah, in her frustration, stomped her feet, and almost dropped the fishing rod, catching it again with a start.

“Aeeeng.”

“Aww….”

Polar Bear, fed up with the sound of the whining wolf…?, took off his shirt and threw himself into the hole he had dug elsewhere.
Water splashed, and bubbles rose.

The icy cold water.
Fish can be seen.
There are definitely not a few.

But they all moved, avoiding the fishing rod like it was a ghost.
At this point, it was enough to suspect that the fishing rod was cursed.

Polar Bear swam expertly and grabbed a fish roughly.
Then, he swam back towards the hole where Seol-ah was fishing.

The swaying fishing hook.
The bait had already dissolved and melted in the water.

‘Sigh….’

Polar Bear hung the fish he was holding on the fishing hook.
The fish, which had been struggling to escape, got its palate caught on the hook, and at the same time, the fishing line began to be pulled by the fish’s strength.

Twitch, twitch, zzzzzip.

Perhaps Seol-ah noticed the moving line, as the fishing line came to a sudden stop.
Then, the fishing rod and the fish began a power struggle.

Moving away, getting closer, moving, stopping….

Polar Bear watched only up to that point and then swam out of the hole.
As soon as he got out of the water, a cold wind brushed his face, and after exhaling and wiping off the water appropriately, Polar Bear saw Seol-ah holding the fishing rod and pulling hard.

“Ah, Mister!! I caught something!!”

“You did?”

“Yes!! I think it’s huge!!”

Polar Bear helped Seol-ah by grabbing the fishing rod with her.
Seol-ah, unaware that Polar Bear was holding it next to her, repeatedly pulled the fishing rod with all her might, and finally, she was able to reel in a flopping fish.

“Wow!!!!”

“Congratulations.”

“I really am a cool wolf!”

‘A strong, big, powerful, cool wolf who’s also good at drawing and fishing—’ Seol-ah thought, grinning as she carefully stored the fish in the container.
She planned to show this super big fish to Eonni for sure.

That container was being watched intently by two small eyes.