episode_0283

***

Unlike her pale face, Kim Seong-ah, who was walking ahead, seemed to be in a much better mood.

The steps he walked were light, and he hummed occasionally.

“Are you feeling a little relieved?”

Seongah Kim did not answer the question. He just showed off his bouncy steps.

Even he, who was often criticized in the world for his lack of delicacy, did not fail to recognize this level of signal.

“What brought you here? I thought you would stay at home.”

“There was an attack. Near the place where the uncle meets the homeroom teacher.”

Softly, she shook her red hair.

“What?”

When he raised his voice, Kim Seong-ah spun around.

“Don’t worry, I got it done.”

“Why couldn’t I hear you? It must have been noisy.”

“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.

The posture of leaning back and leaning 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 the weekend after a long time, but I can’t even rest properly.”

It is a life of being 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 have to go home and rest. Make me something delicious.”

“Something delicious? I want to eat something.”

“I don’t know, just something delicious. It doesn’t matter if it’s what you like. Instead, don’t eat delivery food.”

Frowning, she closed one eye and smiled.

“Then let’s go to the mart. I don’t think what I have at home is enough.”

“What can you do for me?”

“I will tell you the magic combination.”

When he showed a cool 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 skeptical look on his face.

“Hey, really believe it. This is really delicious.”

He raised his thumb with a more serious expression than ever.

“No, I don’t think it’s bad… It’s meat and carbohydrates in the first place, so I don’t think it will 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 the main ingredients and then spoke to her.

“You have nothing to buy?”

“Me? Um…”

After contemplating for a moment, her eyes focus on something.

Kang In-ho turned his head to follow the line of sight. It was a liquor corner.

“Student, what are you drinking?”

He glanced at her with a look of ‘Are you that kind of girl?’, but the magical girl was not intimidated.

“I didn’t hear it from my homeroom teacher. I kneeled for a year. Actually, I’m old enough to drink, right? I also have ID.”

“…Uh, is that possible?”

He knew that 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 either. I drink it often.”

She casually put a can of beer into the basket. His arms went down.

“That’s right, hand me your card.”

Seongah Kim said as she headed to the checkout counter.

Kang In-ho took out a card from his pocket and handed it to her.

***

The pork belly was grilling golden brown on the grill, and the kimchi was frying in the oil that flowed from the area in contact with the fire.

Everyone’s mouth was watering at the spicy, appetizing smell.

“You cook the meat well.”

“If you go to a pension, I will bake everything.”

He said 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, putting a piece of meat in her mouth.

“I often went there when I traveled.”

“I see.”

As I continued to speak and added one more piece of meat, Kang In-ho narrowed his eyes.

“Don’t eat everything now. Eat it with bibim noodles. Because I boiled it all.”

He scooped up 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 his noodles diligently, opened his 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. Come on, let’s eat.”

As soon as he spoke of shredded perilla leaves and sesame seeds sprinkled 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.

“Really delicious!!”

She continued to hum her puffy cheeks and let out a single exclamation.

Seeing the customer’s satisfied response, Kang In-ho also smiled and put the bibim noodles into his mouth.

The sweet and spicy taste started at 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’s been a long time since I drank alcohol.

With the refreshing sound of carbonation being released, the liquor was opened, and the two toasted by lightly clashing cans with each other.

There was no toast or anything.

“Keu~”

I felt like stinging 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 then, wondering 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.

“Uncle, don’t you ask me?”

“What?”

“I shouldn’t have talked to my homeroom teacher. I didn’t come to school, what did you talk about?”

“What….”

“Did you also tell them that your dad and mom died in an accident? Probably, my aunt would have told my homeroom teacher.”

She picked up the can and drank beer. Just like him who drank non-stop, she also did not put down the can of beer she held.

“…….”

He couldn’t think of anything to say.

If you add up the life in the original world and the life you experienced while moving between dimensions, you lived a long time,

Skillful 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. Because I can’t understand that feeling.”

“…It’s surprising. All the teachers I’ve met so far have comforted me by saying they know how I feel and how hard it must have been.”

She chuckled.

“That must be their way.”

“Is that so?”

“Because I don’t know your heart. …Oh, of course I guess I was lonely.”

“Living alone at a young age?”

She brought a new can of beer.

The meat was sizzling and cooking on the grill.

“No.”

Kang In-ho turned them over with tongs and denied her words.

He silently turned the meat over and placed a new piece of meat on top.

The newly added pork belly made a crunching sound. Meanwhile, Seongah Kim opened a can of beer and brought it to her mouth.

“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 the 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 I didn’t ask you? Whether you go to school or not, it’s your choice anyway. I can’t say anything. You are a fake guardian who pretends to be a guardian.”

Kang In-ho put a few pieces of meat into his mouth. After that, I picked up the bibim noodles and put it in my mouth.

Kim Seong-ah admired him for eating food in a somewhat unhygienic way.

“Then, if you ask me to be your real guardian… will you do it?”

“Um….”

He still lowers his head and inhales the noodles, thinking.

“Would you care more about me, understand me… and be that kind of guardian?

A more specific picture is presented to him.

“If you want? But I might regret it, because I’m holding back a lot of nagging right now.”

“Haha, you only live for a few days?”

She smiled brightly and took another sip of her drink.

She swiped the beer that had flowed from her mouth with the back of her hand and looked at him with a slightly dazed expression.

“What I gave up was quite big. Because I gave up Kim Seong-ah’s life for the life of a magical girl. But, no one knows about the magical girl’s life. So I 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 grinned.

“I don’t feel lonely anymore because I have you. Thank you.”

he laughed.

“I’m glad it helped.”

I took her words in stride.

“So, can I lean on you a little more?”

She became upset and rested her chin on the table.

“Uncle.”

she called him

“Yes.”

“Will you be my guardian?”