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“Lunchtime was short.”

The kids were more interested in quickly finishing their meals than chatting, wanting to rush off to enjoy the next amusement ride or attraction.

Minho’s particularly sour expression might’ve had something to do with it, but even Alice, instead of compensating him monetarily, just mumbled, “Sorry.”

It seemed like everyone prioritized hurrying through their food to continue having fun rather than comforting Minho about his financial losses.

Feeling guilty, I figured they were trying to rush things even faster.

I wasn’t sure exactly how much he lost, but it seemed like it was about six digits. Definitely not the kind of amount he could just toss around for a meal casually.

Minho wasn’t exactly rolling in cash like Ageha or Lapiz. If anything, he was a bit tight on funds.

Thinking I might be crossing a line by taking that much money from him, on the other hand, it felt just enough for a punishment.

So, no. I don’t regret it. Honestly, I should be thankful it ended here. In my mind, I justified it and devoured the strange hot dog I’d never seen before.

They were promoting it vigorously, claiming it was mixed with some bizarre cultured flesh and experimental seasoning, saying it was good not just for taste but for abilities too.

Maybe it was good for abilities, but taste-wise, it left a lot to be desired. If I hadn’t had extra ketchup, I might’ve thought about tossing it aside mid-bite.

“I, I’ll pay you back for what I ate…”

“No way, Lapiz. Then you’ll just be borrowing from me every time you need money.”

As I stopped Lapiz from trying to reimburse Minho after lunch, I led them to another ride.

As they rode a few attractions, Minho’s gloomy face quickly brightened up.

During our wandering, I noticed an unexpected fact: we were actually enjoying the amusement park quite frugally.

Of course, not everything was new and exhilarating.

Minho, myself, and Jinhyeon, who could fly or nearly fly, didn’t find much fun in rides that focused on speed or drops.

While riding things like the Viking or the Gyro Drop, we casually remarked on the beautiful scenery, or maybe because we’d experienced faster things before, they didn’t seem that exciting.

But, even the hard-to-please kids found some entertainment in others’ reactions.

Yeonhwa especially stood out. Despite claiming, “We’re abilities users, won’t we not enjoy it fully?” she was enjoying herself 200%.

She got scared on the Viking and the Gyro Drop, freaking out and exclaiming how we seemed unfazed.

Lucia and Alice, who didn’t possess particularly strong flight abilities or abnormal experiences, didn’t react quite like Yeonhwa.

Alice just let out a normal squeal, while Lucia simply shut her eyes tight and covered her ears, without much more reaction.

“Ugh… how can you not be scared at all, riding this?”

Yeonhwa trembled on a kids’ roller coaster, asking us that.

No, if anything, we were the ones curious. How could anyone be scared of this? Riding through flames and flying while trusting in others’ abilities was fine.

But how to respond to someone who fears a ride that’s been safety tested—that was tricky.

“Yeonhwa, I didn’t know you were such a scaredy-cat!”

“Yeah, looking from afar, you seemed lively, so I thought you wouldn’t be scared at all!”

Ageha and Alice really clicked over this. Seeing their reactions, Yeonhwa seemed a bit miffed, launching a counterattack saying we were the odd ones.

Of course, no one really took it to heart. Probably Yeonhwa didn’t either.

“How about we switch things up… and test your courage at the haunted house? We’ll see if Yeonhwa is a scaredy-cat or not.”

I suggested testing her bravery at the haunted house.

“The, the haunted house…? Ugh, it sounds scary…”

“I doubt Lapiz would be very scared though, right? Yeah, the haunted house sounds good.”

“I want to go, but what if I accidentally freak out and lose control of my abilities.”

“That’s something you’ll have to control, right, Seolhwa?”

Most of the reactions were positive. Minho was just a bit shaky, saying he wasn’t great with that stuff…

But that didn’t mean I’d back down. If anything, my determination to go skyrocketed.

“By majority rule, next up is the haunted house.”

“Ghosts… I can’t stand them.”

Minho glanced at the sky again, expressing the same look he had at lunchtime. Not that it was going to help him.

With my arm around his shoulder, I dragged him toward the haunted house.

Along the way, Lapiz looked a bit displeased, so I held her tail in a playful way instead.

It seemed like Lapiz was not quite generous enough to wrap her arm around me.

“So, without a fuss, let’s send Yeonhwa in first. Jinhyeon, you’re not planning to send her in alone, right?”

Before arriving at the haunted house, we quickly sorted out our order. Naturally, Yeonhwa was first.

“Oh, why do I have to go first?!”

“Well, you’ve been the one showing the best reactions so far, so we figured you’d have the most fun and we could see how scary it is.”

“I can’t agree with the second reason… yes, I think Yeonhwa will make a great scout. Don’t you agree, Alice?”

“…Sorry, Yeonhwa. Honestly, I think so too!”

“That’s so unfair!!”

“What can you do? But don’t feel too bad, Jinhyeon will be right there with you.”

Though Jinhyeon never confirmed he was going, he was clearly planning to accompany her.

Next up were Seolhwa, Alice, and Lucia. The three of them initially said they’d go with Minho, but after exchanging looks, they all agreed to stick together.

Whatever their psychology was, it almost seemed as though they’d rather nobody go than risk sharing Minho with any one of them.

With no reason to refuse, it was accepted, and Ageha decided to go with Lapiz, so my partner ended up being Minho.

Lapiz wanted to be with me, but after Ageha whispered something in her ear, she quickly changed her mind.

“Fine, I guess.”

It didn’t matter who I went with, but I didn’t mind sharing a spot with Minho to see his panic.

“Kyahhhhh!!!!!”

Yeonhwa, who entered first, screamed so loudly that everyone outside could clearly hear her, shocking us all.

A banshee couldn’t even scream that loud.

Impressed by her volume, we watched as the others went in and out of the haunted house.

Except for Yeonhwa, everyone else didn’t show much difference in their reactions whether entering or exiting.

Even Lapiz, who was nervous, complained about not being able to enjoy it due to the vibrations—turns out it really wasn’t that scary.

“No way, you weren’t more scared than Yeonhwa, right?”

Even Minho seemed to take a hit to his pride at that question, quickly replying.

“No way!”

Yeonhwa flared up a bit at that, but she couldn’t deny she was scared as she grumbled about getting teased for it forever.

Well, at least Minho would have that ammunition.

“Shall we go?”

Filled with anticipation, we stepped inside the haunted house.

Immediately, everything went dark, to the point where I could barely see Minho’s face next to me.

Just like Heros Company, they’d gone all out even with an amusement park.

Though I couldn’t complain about how much fun we were having, I hated that it made me wonder if they ever thought of solving inequality or discrimination with all that cash.

Trying to shove aside those bitter thoughts, I asked Minho.

“You scared?”

“No way. Nothing’s even shown up yet… um.”

Minho replied in disbelief, but suddenly, a holographic ghost appeared right in front of our faces, causing him to grip my hand tightly.

It hurt just a little, but I really didn’t mind.

“You are scared!”

Now I had some teasing material.

The haunted house mostly followed that pattern. It would get dark, a spooky background formed, and the tension would rise until a ghost popped up.

Since they relied on holograms instead of real actors, it was great for cutting labor costs.

But despite the quality, it really wasn’t that frightening.

What can I say, the repertoire was way too simple.

It felt like there were no variations, so it almost lost all its impact.

Minho also started to openly express that it wasn’t scary around the fourth jump scare.

But that didn’t erase the fact he was startled the first three times.

Remembering just how shocked he was, I planned to spill the beans to Yeonhwa once we were outside.

We cleared through the rather unscary yet gross haunted house and were heading to the exit.

“Whoa!!!”

At the exit, creatures draped in black cloth attacked us.

“Meow?!”

Completely caught off guard, I couldn’t help but scream. However, I also prepared to defend, my fingers slick with slime ready to hurl down.

“Wait a sec! It’s me!”

Startled, the cloaked creature removed their disguise to reveal Yeonhwa.

…Ah.

 

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