Ch.13Kids

# The Money I Earned This Time Is All for Eating Premium Meat to My Heart’s Content

The money I earned this time is all for eating premium-grade meat to my heart’s content.

I decided that to maximize the amount of premium-grade meat I could grill with my money, an outdoor barbecue would be better than an expensive restaurant.

Having diligently saved while spending on daily meals, I swept up all the meat at the supermarket.

Premium-grade costs three times the price of regular meat, but I have money.

Plus a portable gas burner, tongs, disposable plates, grill pan, salt, and even disposable rice.

“I’ll… I’ll help you check out…”

After purchasing about 20 servings, I happily left the supermarket, having immediately spent most of my hard-earned savings.

With both hands full of meat and rice, I found a spot at a nearby park and prepared to grill the meat.

Just looking at the raw meat made my mouth water.

This pure white marbling… they call it marbling, it’s like appreciating the taste of meat visually… truly fantastic.

“Gulp…”

Click-click-click, I lit the portable gas burner and waited for the grill pan to heat up sufficiently before placing the meat on it.

Sizzle… ah… that pleasant sound… just hearing it makes me feel fulfilled.

Wasn’t beef supposed to taste better when slightly undercooked?

I couldn’t wait any longer.

Taking one bite, I put a large piece of salted meat in my mouth without cutting it and chewed with my mouth full.

“Mmmmm…!”

Delicious…!

Deep, rich umami flavor, the taste of meat juices, tender texture, a simple yet definitive culinary experience.

This is premium-grade beef… ah… I feel alive right now… I feel alive.

And with rice too. After opening the instant rice container lid and pouring water in, the fuel attached to the corner started boiling the water.

If I slightly open the plastic-sealed top and place it there, the rice heats up by itself.

Next, just as I was about to place another piece of meat on the grill…

“…Gulp.”

“Hm?”

In the park bushes, dirty children in dirty clothes were looking at me and swallowing their saliva.

More precisely, they were looking at the meat sizzling on my grill.

“…It’s mine.”

I looked at the children and gestured for them to go away.

But instead of leaving, the children carefully emerged from the bushes and approached me.

“Mis…Mister…”

“J-just… just one bite… please…”

“Go away, this is mine.”

Looking coldly at the children, I hugged the bag full of meat closer.

The children seemed extremely hungry, even drooling from their mouths.

Sunken cheeks, wrists so thin you could see the bones, protruding elbows.

They seemed like they hadn’t had a proper meal for days… no, weeks.

“…Sigh.”

Having thought I wouldn’t need to cut the meat, I hadn’t brought scissors. With a sigh, I picked up a disposable plate.

Using the sharp edge of the plate, I quickly sliced the meat on the grill.

I placed the meat on the plate with tongs and held it out toward the children, who rushed over in a swarm.

“Just one bite.”

“Mmm…! Mmph…!”

“Huk…! Huhk..! Haah…!”

“Gulp, gulp…!”

The children ate the meat greedily… no, desperately.

Though struggling with the heat, they ate frantically, afraid someone might take it away, snatching from each other.

Seeing their animal-like behavior, I glanced at the now-heated rice and handed the rice bowl to the children.

They grabbed handfuls of rice and stuffed it into their mouths.

“Keh! Kak! Kuhuk!”

When one child choked and spat out some meat, another picked it up and ate it.

Still hungry, they scraped the plates with their fingers and licked up the meat juices. Silently, I placed new meat on the grill.

“Eat slowly.”

Seeing their condition, they seemed genuinely starving. I didn’t feel right eating meat alone in front of hungry children.

Planning to feed them adequately before sending them away, I hoped they would fill up more on rice than meat, so I took out and heated several more instant rice containers.

Then, more children rushed out from the bushes.

“M-me too, just one bite please…! Mister! Just one bite for me too!”

“Please! Please!”

I hadn’t expected this…

I nervously cut the meat in front of about ten children.

As soon as I cut it, the meat disappeared, and when I put new meat on the grill, that disappeared too.

My meat… my premium-grade beef…

“Just one more bite… mister… just one more bite please…”

“Just one bite… just one bite…”

“That’s quite a lot of ‘one bites.'”

In the end, the children ate all my meat and rice.

While I didn’t feel bad about it, I was still disappointed as I looked around at the now full children and sighed.

I’m hungry.

“You ate all my meat…”

“We’re… we’re sorry…”

Then, the oldest-looking girl among the children stepped forward and bowed her head.

Perhaps due to hunger, saliva suddenly dripped from my mouth, and I wiped my lips as I spoke.

“Bring your parents.”

“We don’t… have parents…”

“I guess children with parents wouldn’t do this.”

I had somewhat expected this.

Having confirmed that it would be impossible to get the cost of the meat from their parents, I spoke coldly, causing the girl to bow her head so deeply her face was completely hidden in shame.

“Don’t misunderstand. I don’t have parents either.”

I was just asking in case they did have parents, so I could give them some of my remaining money and introduce them to day labor jobs so they could feed their children properly.

Feeling disappointed, I picked up a small piece of meat left on the grill and ate it.

Then, the girl hesitantly spoke to me.

“Are you… an orphan too, mister?”

“Orphan?”

“Did your parents… die because of monsters?”

“Mm.”

So they’re orphans from monster attacks, as I thought.

It’s a common enough occurrence these days, so I wasn’t particularly surprised.

“I’m sorry.”

When I kept quiet, not wanting to engage in conversation that wouldn’t make anyone feel better, the girl apologized, seeming to realize her mistake.

Then, as if remembering something she’d forgotten, she startled and trembled.

“Um… mister… what time is it now?”

I checked the position of the sun, then placed my fingers on my palm.

With my thumb pointing south and middle finger pointing east at this angle, the time indicated by the shadow is…

“5:48 PM.”

“…Is that really right?”

“I’m certain.”

When I confirmed the exact time indicated by the shadow using my monster senses, the girl frowned as if finding it hard to believe.

But soon after, she clapped her hands and roused the children sitting around.

“Everyone get up quickly! We don’t have much time! Hurry!”

The girl gathered all the children and quickly left the park.

Whether they had some urgent business or not, they left without even saying thank you for the meal.

After eating my premium-grade beef, they dare to…

I watched their retreating figures with some displeasure as I cleaned up the dirty plates and gas stove.

“Hmm.”

Really, kids these days have no manners…

Is it because they have no parents? Haven’t they been taught to at least say “thank you for the meal” after eating well?

After cleaning the area thoroughly and neatly placing the awkward-to-carry items like the gas burner and grill pan next to the trash can, I looked once more in the direction the children had disappeared.

I guess I should teach them to at least say thank you for the meal.

Whoosh, having become skilled at controlling my strength, I could jump high without damaging the ground. I landed on the rooftop of a nearby building and spread out my senses.

The monster core activated ever so slightly, not even reaching homicide-rank level, and low-frequency waves spread out.

Using the reflected sounds in my senses—echolocation that all monsters can use to find prey—I ran across the rooftop and stopped above the children.

The children were stealing items from a truck parked near a restaurant.

“So I fed a bunch of little thieves.”

That truck was a government vehicle collecting special items from the ruins of a neighboring town.

What was loaded on the truck were damaged monster alarm devices.

The children’s thin arms reached through the iron bars surrounding the truck to prevent items from falling during transport, gradually picking apart components of the devices.

“Hmm…”

As I quietly observed this scene, I felt a subtle sense of unease.

#

There are countless orphans in this world due to monster attacks.

The number of orphans is similar to the number of children living normally under parental protection, and even the government couldn’t handle them all.

But someone has to protect these children.

Eventually, the government pushed policies to support private orphanages.

Tax breaks, government subsidies, preferential monster damage insurance rates, and even partial immunity clauses for problems that might arise while raising children.

Many people chose the orphanage business to make money, and the vacant positions of guardians for these children seemed to be filled.

“How many times do I have to tell you! Orange! Don’t just pick out other parts, make sure to get the orange glass bottles!”

“Ugh… ugh…”

Na Hye-ri, who had returned to the orphanage, was struck in the stomach by the orphanage director and collapsed on the floor.

Being forced to take charge because she was the oldest among the children, she was often beaten in front of the others when she made mistakes.

The reason was to make the children listen to her.

The orphanage director, who didn’t want to spend money hiring someone to care for the children, also assigned Hye-ri the role of teacher, believing she needed to be taught properly to make the children listen to her.

“These stupid brats… ha! You don’t know who to thank for keeping you alive all this time! You should repay the favor~repay it!”

“Don’t… don’t hit the children… ugh…! Ugh…!”

When the orphanage director swung his arm threateningly at the children huddled in the corner and trembling, Hye-ri grabbed his pants and clung to him.

The orphanage director kicked Hye-ri in the stomach for daring to interrupt him while he was speaking.

Fallen to the floor, Hye-ri, seemingly accustomed to this, placed both hands on her stomach to minimize the impact.

The orphanage director looked around at the children while stomping on Hye-ri, whose hands were stained blue.

“Hoo… hoo… Hye-ri gets beaten like this because you don’t listen to me… understand! You stupid brats, don’t you feel sorry for Hye-ri?”

The orphanage director made exaggerated crying sounds as he stomped on Hye-ri’s head—thump, thump.

Under his heavy weight, Hye-ri’s nose began to bleed, and she curled up into a ball.

At the terrifying sound that shook the floor—thud, thud—the children were too terrified to even cry, just trembling violently.

When the out-of-breath orphanage director stopped stomping and gave them a look, the children shrank further and avoided his gaze.

“Hye-ri’s going to die at this rate~huh? If Hye-ri dies, who will be the next teacher…? You? Or you?”

“Hee… heek… heek…”

“Huuuu… uuuuu…”

“Are you going to kill Hye-ri? Won’t you do things properly?”

“I’ll do it properly… please don’t kill big sister Hye-ri…”

“Please don’t kill big sister Hye-ri… we’re sorry…”

Figuring they’d understood by now, the orphanage director kicked Hye-ri toward the children.

Sliding across the floor, Hye-ri’s entire body was a mess.

The children grabbed Hye-ri while crying.

“Uugh… huuuu… big sister… big sister…”

“Hye-ri noona… noona… sob… huuk…”

“Shut up! Stop crying and get to work right now! If it’s not all done by tomorrow, you’ll be the ones killing Hye-ri!”

“Huuk… sniff…”

The children immediately embraced Hye-ri with their small hands and left the room, trembling with fear.

They went straight to the basement to assemble machine parts.

The orphanage director, who had exerted himself with the heavy exercise, plopped down on a soft chair.

“Hoo… disobedient brats… hoo…”