283 – EP.11 What I gave up-4
***
Unlike her pale face, Kim Seong-ah, who was walking in front of her, seemed to be in a much relieved mood.
Her walking steps were light, and sometimes she hummed.
“Are you feeling a little better?”
Seongah Kim did not answer her question. She just showed off her bouncy steps.
In the original world, she was criticized a lot for her lack of delicacy, but even she didn’t fail to notice this level of signal.
“What brought you out? I thought she would stay home.”
“There was an attack. Near the place where you met your homeroom teacher.”
Her rustling, she shook her red hair.
“What?”
When he raised his voice, Kim Seong-ah spun around.
“Don’t worry, I did it.”
“Why couldn’t I hear the sound? It must have been loud.”
“It appeared high in the sky, so you probably didn’t notice it.”
She bent her back so that her body was slightly exposed to him.
Her posture, with her back turned and her body forward, was quite desirable, but Kang In-ho did not react to it.
In reality, the children are several years older than each other. To be conscious itself is to lose.
“So you look tired? It’s been a long time since it was the weekend, but I haven’t been able to rest properly.”
This is a life where we live on standby 24 hours a day to prepare for events that may occur at any time or place.
Kang In-ho felt miserable living a life without holidays, annual leave, or time off from work.
“Now I should go home and rest. Make me something delicious.”
“Something delicious? What do you want to eat?”
“I don’t know, just something delicious. It doesn’t matter if it’s something you like. Don’t get delivery food instead.”
Frowning, she closed one of her eyes and smiled.
“Then let’s go to the supermarket. I don’t think what we have at home will be enough.”
“What will you do?”
“I’ll tell you the magic combination.”
When he showed a refreshing smile, Kim Seong-ah also laughed along.
I felt much better after feeling sluggish since yesterday.
I’m not sure why.
***
“So is this a magic combination?”
As he put pork belly and then bibim noodles into the basket, Kim Seong-ah asked with a face full of doubt.
“Hey, really believe me. This is really delicious.”
He raised his thumb with a more serious expression than ever.
“No, I don’t think it’ll be bad… Since it’s meat and carbohydrates in the first place, I don’t think it’ll fail.”
“It tastes better if you add the cut perilla leaves you have at home here.”
“Okay. So you don’t have to look so serious.”
Kim Seong-ah walked away in frustration as he spat at how great the combination of pork belly and bibim noodles was.
He put some food into the basket in addition to her main ingredients and then spoke to her.
“Don’t you have anything to buy?”
“Me? Um….”
After thinking for a moment, her eyes focus on somewhere.
Kang In-ho followed the end of her gaze and turned her head. She was in the mainstream corner.
“What kind of alcohol is a student?”
Although she glanced at her with a look of ‘Are you that kind of girl?’, The magical girl in her was not intimidated.
“You probably heard it from your homeroom teacher. I’ve been drinking for a year. Actually, I’m old enough to drink, right? I have a ID card.”
“…Uh, is that possible?”
He knew he had repeated a grade, but he couldn’t connect it with drinking, so he opened his mouth like a goldfish.
“It works. This isn’t the first time. I drink it often.”
She casually put her can of beer into her basket. She had his arms down.
“That’s right, hand me the card.”
Seongah Kim said as she headed to the checkout counter.
Kang In-ho took out a card from her pocket and handed it to her.
***
The pork belly on the grill was grilling until golden brown, and the kimchi was frying in the oil that flowed from the area in contact with the fire.
Her mouth was watering at that appetizing spicy smell.
“You’re good at grilling meat.”
“If you go to a pension, I’ll bake everything.”
He spoke as he skillfully flipped and cut the meat.
“Hmm… I see. Did you have a lot to go to the pension?”
Kim Seong-ah asked after putting a piece of meat in her mouth.
“I often go there when I travel.”
“I see.”
As I continued speaking and added one more piece of meat, Kang In-ho narrowed his eyes.
“Don’t eat it all now. Eat it with bibim noodles. It’s all boiled.”
He took out the noodles that had been soaked in cold water.
After putting them in a sieve to drain the water, I added the noodles and sauce to the prepared spoon and mixed them together.
Kim Seong-ah, who was staring at him wearing an apron and rubbing noodles diligently, opened her mouth.
“It feels something like that.”
“What does it feel like?”
“It’s very rough and primitive, but it seems very delicious.”
“Some things are delicious without plating. Now, let’s eat.”
As soon as he finished speaking about sprinkling shredded perilla leaves and sesame seeds on top, Kim Seong-ah’s chopsticks rushed into the bibim noodles.
She picked up a large piece of it, moved the noodles to the plate in front of her, and put them in her mouth along with a piece of pork belly.
“Great taste!!”
She continued to mumble her plump cheeks and let out a single exclamation.
At the customer’s satisfactory response, Kang In-ho also smiled and put the bibim noodles into his mouth.
The sweet and spicy taste started from the tip of my tongue and spread throughout my mouth.
“I have to have beer~ You want to drink it too?”
I put it in the freezer and took out the cold beer.
“Okay, let’s eat too.”
It was a long time since I had a drink.
With the refreshing sound of carbonation being released, the liquor was opened, and the two made a toast by gently clashing can with can.
There was no toast.
“Big~”
I felt like tingling particles were scratching my throat and going down.
After taking a sip of beer, he picked up a piece of pork belly with chopsticks and put it in his mouth.
“…….”
And what came to mind, I stared blankly at the meat cooking on the grill.
“Mister, aren’t you eating?”
Kim Seong-ah asked as she put two pieces of meat and noodles into her mouth.
“Oh, I have to eat.”
He answered like a voice recorded on an answering machine.
[Oppa, put up the meat quickly. I’m hungry!]
It was as if someone was speaking into my ear, and I could hear the voice vividly.
“True.”
He chuckled and took another sip of his beer.
Kim Seong-ah looked at him in amazement as he drank beer without stopping.
“…….”
She traced the rim of the can with her index finger.
“Mister, aren’t you asking me?”
“What?”
“You didn’t talk to your homeroom teacher. What did you talk about when I didn’t come to school?”
“What….”
“Did you also tell them that your dad and mom died in an accident? Your aunt probably told your homeroom teacher about it.”
She lifted her can and drank her beer. She drank non-stop and, like him, did not down the can of beer she once held.
“…….”
He couldn’t think of anything to say.
Although he lived a long time when adding up his life in the original world and the life he experienced while traveling through dimensions,
Skilled consolation was still difficult for him.
“Because I didn’t hear it directly from the person concerned, and since I can’t comfort him, it’s right to pretend not to know.”
He cleared his throat.
“Why can’t I comfort you?”
“Because I never lost my parents in an accident. I don’t know how they feel.”
“…It’s surprising. Every teacher I’ve met so far has comforted me by saying they know how I feel and how hard it must have been.”
She chuckled.
“I guess that’s their way.”
“Is that so?”
From Noble mtl dot com
“Because I don’t know your heart. …Oh, of course I think you must have been lonely.”
“Because you live alone at such a young age?”
She brought a new can of beer.
Sizzling, the meat was cooking on the grill.
“No.”
Kang In-ho denied her words by turning them over with her tongs.
He silently turned the meat over and placed a new piece of meat on top.
A sound was heard from the newly prepared pork belly. Meanwhile, Seongah Kim opened her beer can and held it to her mouth.
“A magical girl.”
“…Why a magical girl?”
“I sacrifice my life to protect people, but I think it would be lonely if no one recognized me.”
She stopped, holding her can to her lips.
There was a long silence, and the sound of grilling meat was the only thing that filled the silence.
“…Yes, it’s lonely too.”
“I asked why they didn’t ask you? Whether you go to school or not, it’s your choice anyway. I can’t say anything. You’re just a fake guardian pretending to be a guardian.”
Kang In-ho put several pieces of her meat in his mouth. After that, she picked up the bibim noodles and put it in her mouth.
Kim Seong-ah admired him for eating food in a somewhat unhygienic way.
“Then, if I ask you to be my real guardian… Will you do it?”
“Hmm….”
He is still thinking as he lowers his head and inhales the noodles.
“Will you care more about me, understand me… And be that kind of guardian?
A more concrete picture is presented to him.
“If you want? But you might regret it, because I’m holding back a lot of nagging right now.”
“hahahaha, you’ve only been alive for a few days?”
She smiled brightly and took another sip of her drink.
She stole the beer that had flowed from the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand and looked at him with her slightly dazed face.
“What she gave up was quite a lot. She gave up Kim Seong-ah’s life for the life of a magical girl. But, no one knows about that magical girl’s life. So she was lonely.”
“I guess so.”
“But, it’s okay these days.”
“Really?”
“Yes. There are people I can eat and talk with at home, and there are people who remember that I am a magical girl.”
She smiled.
“I don’t feel lonely anymore because I have you. Thank you.”
He laughed.
“I’m glad it was helpful.”
I accepted what she said appropriately.
“So, can I lean on you a little more?”
She got upset and rested her chin on the table.
“Mister.”
She called him.
“Yes.”
“Will you be my guardian?”