Ch.336331 – Korean Food

I prepared the simple formation array like a calligraphy brush and charged it with black mana.

While Adella leaned against the wall, I drew the catalyst reduction tower formation on her white back using mana ink.

I paused the brush briefly at the 7th thoracic vertebra.

“Why?”

“Sorry, I’ll redraw it.”

Adella’s waist was too thin, leaving insufficient space to draw using Cartesian coordinates.

I ended up erasing it once and redrawing it using cylindrical coordinates.

“Now spread your arms.”

“Ah, this is so embarrassing. This won’t hurt, right?”

“Has this girl been deceived her whole life? You won’t feel a thing.”

I trapped the aura inside the Aura Heart and rotated it to the extreme.

[Formation: Thalma Catalyst]

After maximizing the reactivity of my innate aura, I infused it into the formation.

Golden aura penetrated every corner of Adella’s body, pushing black impurities out through her pores.

Medieval Chinese called this “bee face washing,” but despite the grand name, it didn’t actually purify the body of accumulated impurities.

‘The concept of impurities itself is nothing but an ill-defined illusion anyway.’

The identity of this substance—neither gas nor liquid—was residue.

Not everything black should be viewed negatively, but having too much accumulated in the body was problematic, so it was better to remove it in advance.

“Do humans produce this stuff after just one day without washing? So that’s why you told me to wash every day, sis.”

“Want to say something weird again? This is a procedure to remove impurities generated from high-circle magic. Come to think of it, you were exposed to 7th circle magic twice.”

“Ah, I see.”

Dragonia Nascientia doesn’t completely change every cell.

While it may be a complete casting on a macroscopic level, locally it’s an incomplete casting that leaves residue as a byproduct.

[Casting: Samadhi Flame]

I melted the residue stuck in her pores with a fire that burns mana particles.

Swoosh—

“Hiss! That’s cold!”

I turned up the shower pressure and washed away the black grime with a refreshing stream of water.

Adella slightly turned her head to look back.

“Is it over now?”

“Yes. Take a bath if you want.”

“Bath? Oh, that sounds goo—KYAAA! Blub blub…”

I sprayed water on Adella’s face once more and pulled down the lever.

“Towels are in the drawer, and I’ll hang your clothes here.”

“Sis! NoName sis!”

“What?”

Adella grinned widely and waved a green scrubber.

“Want to take a bath together? I’ll scrub your back.”

“Dream on.”

I blessed her face with another splash of water to bring her back to reality.

* * *

It truly was an exhausting day.

I hadn’t stayed up all night at the power plant, but I couldn’t get proper sleep in the unfamiliar bed.

I hugged a fluffy cotton blanket in a room with warm heating.

My heavy eyelids were closing by themselves.

Is there anything happier than falling into a deep sleep in peaceful darkness?

But suddenly a loud noise pulled my consciousness back to the surface.

Whirrrrr—!

“Mmmmm… what is that?”

I frowned and squinted to check the source of the sound.

Adella was drying her hair with a hairdryer in the corner of the room.

I pulled the blanket all the way over my head.

“Sorry, sis. There was no dryer in the bathroom.”

Adella made excuses at the rustling sound.

“You could have taken it to the living room.”

I grumbled irritably.

“Oh! Why didn’t I think of that? I’m really sorry for waking you!”

“Just finish quickly here.”

“Okay, okay.”

She must have finished drying her hair, as peaceful quiet returned to the bedroom.

Suddenly, a subtle scent of violets wafted up from behind me.

I turned halfway to face her.

The soft mood lighting illuminated Adella’s green eyes, making them sparkle.

“Did you enjoy your bath?”

“Yes. It was fascinating. How skin turns red when you stay in hot water too long. How you sweat naturally. Everything.”

“Good job.”

Adella’s expression softened as she stole half of my blanket.

“You’re sleeping here?”

I barely managed to ask through my increasingly drowsy consciousness.

“There’s no bed in the other room.”

“There’s a sofa.”

“There’s no blanket, so it’s cold.”

“Turn on the heating in the living room too.”

“Just let me sleep with you, sis!”

Adella’s arm wedged between my armpits.

My body was helplessly pulled toward her.

“Wow, so warm. Nyum nyum.”

Looking at her now, this girl doesn’t seem sleepy at all.

“Adjust to the time difference first.”

“I always think NoName sis is perfect, but you nag too much. How can I sleep on such a happy day? Go ahead and sleep first if you’re tired. This Adella will protect you from ghosts.”

She pushed her soft chest toward my head.

It was a bit suffocating and uncomfortable.

The gentle breath she exhaled kept tickling my cheek annoyingly.

It was noisy, the space was cramped, and she was heavy, but…

Somehow, drowsiness began to creep in.

“Good night, NoName sis.”

Whether I answered her or not, I don’t remember clearly.

* * *

‘I knew this would happen.’

I gathered the hair scattered all over the bed and neatly tied it into two braids.

I had slept through the alarm, completely oblivious to the world.

Forget breakfast—it was already approaching lunchtime.

“Snooooore.”

Adella was still deep in sleep, breathing in and out.

Her top had ridden up to below her chest, exposing her navel.

I pulled down her pajamas properly and gently shook her shoulders.

“It’s already 11 AM. Wake up, Adella.”

“Mmmm…”

No matter how much I tried to wake her, Adella wouldn’t get up.

She was drooling, with droplets falling onto the pillow case.

After wiping the drool with the back of my hand,

‘Ugh, gross.’

I wiped my hand on her cheek.

I forcibly sat up Adella’s upper body and leaned her against the wall as she continued to be unresponsive.

Thud—

She collapsed limply onto the bed like a wet paper straw.

“Hey, are you not going to get up?”

Adella can no longer be handled carelessly like in virtual reality.

Although somewhat strict, I needed to firmly establish her living habits.

I tried forcing her eyes open and even slapped her cheeks.

She surrendered and trembled.

“What time did you go to sleep yesterday?”

“Five AM? Six AM? What’s unfair is that my lack of sleep is partly your fault.”

“Why?”

“You kept putting your leg on my stomach, kicking off the blanket, and mumbling strange things. At least you weren’t snoring…”

“I don’t usually talk in my sleep, but I must have been too tired yesterday.”

“Urrrgh! I’m dying of exhaustion! Makes me want to go back to living in virtual reality!”

“What did you say?”

A surge of anger welled up inside me.

“Eek?”

“After all the months of hard work I put in to create a body for you!”

I put her in a guillotine choke and smacked her temple hard with my other hand.

“AAAACK! I’m joking, joking! Of course I was kidding…! Hrrk—sis, I can’t, can’t breathe!”

“Even as a joke, saying things like that might get your head smashed. Understand?”

“Yes, yes!”

I opened the door and went to the living room, awakening my mind in the warm spring sunshine.

‘Is Professor Cheon in his study?’

Knock knock—

I peeked in through the door to give him a morning greeting.

Professor Cheon was busily writing something on a mobile whiteboard, talking in a low voice.

“If you look closely at the Nernst-Einstein equation, it explains how the ion drift log occurs and self-diffuses.”

Then our eyes met—Professor Cheon wearing his half-rimmed glasses.

I finally understood the situation.

‘Ah, he’s in the middle of a remote graduate class!’

When Professor Cheon gave me a slight smile, I bowed my head and quickly closed the door. He’s busy even on Saturdays.

Though lunch was approaching, oral hygiene was important.

I brought Adella’s toothbrush from the sink and put mint chocolate toothpaste on it.

I shoved the toothbrush into Adella’s mouth as she was still nodding off in the bedroom.

“Mmph!”

“Let’s brush your teeth before it gets any later.”

“The more I see you, the more diligent you are, sis. But I like this kind of romance, hehe.”

We went to the sink together and stared blankly at our reflections in the mirror.

Adella’s face definitely looked a bit younger.

Since the concept of age wasn’t included in ASI, it seemed her physical body was partially influenced by the Akashic Record.

‘So her physical age is around 16 now.’

Right, 19 years old doesn’t make sense for Adella’s level. This suits her better.

“Arrrr ptoo.”

I rinsed my mouth with water and asked her:

“Adella, don’t you think your chest got bigger too?”

“Huh?”

“Your chest. I don’t think it had this much volume before.”

“Don’t slander me! I was always this size!”

“Hmm, that’s strange…”

Adella vehemently objected, splashing toothpaste water everywhere.

Sensing this conversation would drag on, I wiped my mouth with a towel and went to the kitchen.

Professor Cheon also came out of his study, having finished his class at just the right time.

“Did we oversleep? Did you have breakfast alone?”

“No, I skipped breakfast too.”

“You taught for three hours without eating anything? Let’s have lunch quickly then.”

Lunch preparation was moved up.

I put on an apron that fit me perfectly and pulled a chair up to the kitchen table.

I took eggs from the refrigerator, whisked the yolks, and added the right amount of salt and sesame oil.

I dipped my pinky finger into the egg mixture and had Adella check the seasoning.

“Nom. Mmm mmm. It’s a bit bland?”

“Eat it bland.”

“Why ask me then?”

“You go do the dishes over there. Dad, the steamed eggs are ready. I’ll put them in the microwave when we’re grilling the meat.”

“Alright. With four helping hands, lunch preparation is quick.”

Is this really helping?

In reality, Professor Cheon did all the cooking by himself.

Eventually, with nothing left to help with, we sat at the table like baby birds waiting for food.

“Enjoy your meal, Adella and friend.”

“Thank you for the food.”

“Yes! Wow, I’ll enjoy it too!”

The enticing aroma of pork jowl and five-layer pork stimulated my salivary glands.

I picked up a piece of meat and placed it on top of my steaming rice.

“I’ve also prepared squid jeotgal and grilled croaker. And the steamed eggs are ready too.”

“The meat is cooked perfectly. It’s crispy and delicious.”

The meat juice burst in my mouth, spreading a rich, savory flavor.

The crispy skin and tender meat blended well together, making me smile.

Suddenly, Adella started sobbing with food in her mouth.

“It’s sho delicious, really. Sniff…”

“What’s wrong? Are you crying?”

“This is on a completely different level from anything I’ve eaten before… Thank you so much for making me a body, sis! Waaah! And thank you, father, for cooking such delicious food!”

She looked quite adorable, forcibly stuffing her tear-soaked ssambap into her mouth.

Pleased by Adella’s enthusiastic reaction, Professor Cheon offered her various side dishes.

I wondered if she’d struggle with traditional Korean side dishes, unlike grilled croaker.

“This is muchae and myeongi namul.”

“It really cuts through the richness!”

“It’s even more delicious if you put meat, mushrooms, chive muchim, and ssamjang on lettuce and perilla leaves.”

“Wow! Amazing! This ssam omakase is incredible!”

“Noname doesn’t eat these, but would you like to try kimchi and doenjang soup?”

“Slurp. Oh, this is so delicious! Why is sis so picky about this?”

“Haha, indeed. This is called mugeun-ji, kimchi that’s been fermented at low temperature for a long time. It’s absolutely delicious when wrapped with meat.”

“Ahh, so this is heaven!”

Professor Cheon seemed excited to see Adella enjoying Korean food so much, as if he’d been deprived of serving it.

Have I been requesting too much Western food lately?

‘Pasta, steak, meunière, confit, lasagna. I guess I have been eating a lot of those recently.’

“Della, it’s also delicious dipped in anchovy sauce instead of ssamjang. Shall I give you some?”

“So many variations! Yes, yes, yes!”

While Adella praised the food and Professor Cheon clapped happily, I quietly put coarse salt on my pork jowl and ate it.

It’s plenty delicious just like this.