episode_0006

In my previous life, I couldn’t eat things like sweets after I got cancer. My parents told me not to because they said it was bad for your health.

Sweet, salty, savory, and crunchy. Sometimes I crave those things, and when my friends eat them, I look at them with envy.

But since they were all saying it for my own good, I didn’t eat the snacks as my parents said. I drooled and joked with my friends to just smell them.

So the snacks I was able to eat already made my heart flutter.

It’s not just any candy. It’s a candy big enough for me to sit on as a cushion. Of course, it’s flat, but that’s it.

I’m not a pig like Hamshik, so I can’t eat all of that because I get full if I eat moderately.

But doesn’t it feel like we’re siblings visiting the witch’s candy shop in a fairy tale?

Oh, here they are sisters. Hamshik is a female.

So I had an idea. I could already smell the delicious smell of crackers, and when I bit into them, I could definitely feel the satisfying crunch that would fill my mouth.

That’s something I can do anytime. This time, I felt like trying something a little different.

Narin is filling out documents under the guidance of the office staff, and is also talking with a serious expression.

It’ll take some time, so I’ll let you eat snacks and play like this, so I can do whatever I want.

What that means is, we’re going to build a house out of cookies.

It’s the perfect material for building a house. Square crackers. If you just put them up alone, they won’t stand up well, but if you lean them against each other or make a shape, they’ll fit together and won’t fall over.

I glanced at the waiter who had brought Hamsik and me to the table, then took two crackers from the plate and stood them upright.

“Hey, little girl, what are you going to make with those stacked crackers?”

The office worker recognized it right away. After all, he had done it himself.

But doing something like this with snacks that I couldn’t even eat was a luxury I would never have dreamed of in my previous life. This was my first time doing something like this.

“Hehe, I’m going to build a house!”

“Oh. But if you just stack them, they won’t stack well. I’ll bring some jam.”

“Is it fun? Ah!”

You’re smart. You have to be at least that good to be a civil servant. Not just anyone can be a civil servant, you know.

No matter how well you angle them and stack them, the crackers are structurally prone to collapse. Jam is sticky, so if you use it like cement, the crackers will stick together and stack well.

Meanwhile, Hamshik started eating the crackers. I quickly distributed the crackers to Hamshik before he finished them.

“You always eat half, so take half of this. I’ll save the rest.”

As soon as I finished speaking, I heard a series of crunching sounds coming from the snacks I had pushed aside. Hamshik’s predation had begun.

If you just look at the crackers, they’re just salty and savory, but Hamshik-yi found them so delicious that he started to eat the snacks in front of him with his mouth open.

Was he hungry because he didn’t eat breakfast? No, Hamshik is always hungry, so he just eats. If I feel bad about it here, I’ll have to donate the materials I use to build my house as food for Hamshik.

“Okay, here’s the jam. Hmm… … . If I try to spread this jam with a teaspoon, will it be too heavy?”

“I’m strong! I can lift this much!”

Just as I was about to lay out four crackers on my desk to use as a base, an office worker brought over a small plate of jam.

I’d like to jump in there, but if I do, my whole body will get sticky and it’ll be difficult to pick up Narin later.

Washing up with just water won’t be enough. Just like I did at the other house, I’ll have to put some toothpaste on my toothbrush and scrub my whole body, even if it stings a little.

Anyway, as the body size decreases, the efficiency of the force that can be exerted relative to one’s own weight increases. In my previous life, I couldn’t even lift weight that was as heavy as my own body, but now I can easily lift objects that are dozens of times my body weight.

Of course, you can’t move things like desks, but you can pick up and move things like brooms.

How heavy can a spoon be? Just swing it like you’re lifting a long spear.

I remember a performance artist I saw on the street. He was waving a brush as tall as himself and writing Chinese characters on the floor.

As such, I began to spread jam on the edges of the crackers. According to my design, if I spread jam on the edges where the crackers will touch each other in advance and stick them together before the crackers fall apart, I can quickly build a house.

Some on just one edge. Some on both edges. Some on all three. According to my perfect design, the jam will stick to the crackers without wasting an inch.

However, the adhesive power of the jam was not that good. I tried to make it from the corner and stuck it firmly, but it fell over before I could get anything else.

“Um… … .”

I was already in trouble. I thought about asking the office staff, but they just kept their mouths shut, as if they couldn’t think of a solution, even though they were just smiling at me.

“Huh? You’re saying there’s a subsidy?”

“Yes. I guess you really didn’t know. However, there are certain items for which you can use the subsidy, and you need to collect receipts and receive proof of expenditure every month. The process is cumbersome, but it’s better than nothing.”

“Wow, that’s lucky. Hamsik eats a lot.”

“Hmm… … . It looks like that.”

It seems like Narin’s consultation is going well behind the scenes. After hearing that, I suddenly thought that maybe it would be okay to write a little more here.

The reason I’m playing around with crackers now is because I think I can eat them all with the ham.

If there are more people who would like to eat this, I can make it on a larger scale.

It’s hard to stand a cracker upright with just one cracker, but what if you glue two together to make a sandwich? Then it will stand up just fine.

It’ll cost twice as much crackers as I designed, but if my staff and Narin eat them, we’ll have enough to build a house.

As I continued to look at Narin and the counselor with that thought in mind, I guess they noticed my gaze and our eyes met.

The topic of conversation suddenly changes.

“Oh, and is there a place where our Nami can buy clothes and such?”

“It has to be specially made, so it’s hard to find it at a clothing store, and you’ll have to order it online like doll clothes. The clothes you’re wearing now are also doll clothes, right? They’re so pretty.”

“Oh, this, it’s a doll’s clothes. Yes, that’s right. I didn’t buy it, I just won it in an event and got the doll… … .”

The tone of my voice also got a little higher. I guess it’s because I’m so curious about wearing doll clothes.

Maybe he suddenly remembered me when our eyes met and that’s why he did that. I know I’m cute, too, so I smiled and waved.

“Can I share this with other people?”

“Of course. Are you going to make it and share it? You’re a good girl.”

Okay. You got permission, now you don’t have to worry about getting scolded for opening the packaging and making a mess of food you weren’t even going to eat.

I still opened the crackers in their packaging and layered them with jam, drying them between two layers.

We made a wall out of it. Unfortunately, we couldn’t make the roof slope into a triangle, but we were able to make a wide slab to raise it.

Originally, they said that the foundation work was important in construction. Once the materials for building the walls were prepared, the building was built in an instant.

It was a square building built over a vast space that was 3 crackers wide, 3 crackers long, and 3 crackers high. It was a house large enough for Hamsik and I to go in and sleep.

I proudly looked at it and bragged to Hamshik.

“Hamshik-ah, look at this! I made a house out of candy… …, eww, the house is shaking!”

I called out to him because I was wondering where he had gone. He had gone back to the other side of the building and was already gnawing on it from below.

Even if one or two crackers were missing, the building materials that were cemented together with jam would stick together and not collapse.

Looking at the cruel sight of Hamshik eating strawberry jam with red jam smeared on the corner of his mouth, it was impossible not to know that the building would collapse soon.

“Ugh, I can’t say anything because this was made to be eaten… ! This can’t be done, you too, sir! If this keeps up, Hamshikki will eat it all!”

“Oh, thank you. I’ll enjoy it.”

“Narin-ee unnie too! Those who are with Narin-ee unnie, please eat quickly!”

I put a lot of effort into making this. I can’t let Hamshik take it all away.

Still, I made a Hansel and Gretel-like candy house and shared it with other people, so I have no regrets.

I was also happy when people who were waiting for their turn took one piece each and ate it deliciously while expressing their gratitude.

By then, the conversation between Narin and the office staff seemed to have come to an end.

“The petitioner and the little girl look so close. I believe you will raise the little girl well. Here is the issued ID card. You can use it as the card to which the subsidy will be deposited.”

“Thank you. Thank you for your hard work.”

“Please buy me lots of delicious food.”

After the consultation, when Narin showed me her ID and said that I was her younger sister, Hamshik licked the strawberry jam off the corner of his mouth with his tongue.

I was anxious because it seemed like he was coveting the grant that he was supposed to give me.