Chapter 6: The Temple (2)

The girl who had briefly lost consciousness regained her senses a few minutes later.

“Heretics…”

Mumbling.

Her eyes opened slowly, still groggy from sleep.

Her gaze, an unnatural bright yellow, swept around the room. Monk Jamyeong immediately held out a spoon.

Now was his chance, while the girl hadn’t fully come to her senses.

The smell of food wafted back and forth in front of her small nose.

“Food…”

The savory aroma of hot white rice, topped with the salty smell of white fish.

Growl-!

The girl’s stomach rumbled.

Had she ever eaten a proper meal before?

No.

She’d often eaten poisonous mushrooms and spoiled food, leading to vomiting and upset stomachs.

Swoosh-

The girl sat up and instinctively opened her mouth wide, swallowing the spoonful.

“That’s right. Eat slowly.”

At Monk Jamyeong’s gentle, lullaby-like voice, the girl began to chew slowly.

Then, gulp.

“Huh…?”

It was sweet.

So sweet and delicious that tears welled up and her mouth filled with saliva.

The girl only came to her senses after the hot rice went down her throat.

“Poison! I-I won’t do what you want even if you use this!”

This was bad!

In the basement, delicious food always meant unreasonable requests.

Requests so difficult that even the girl’s ability couldn’t easily handle them.

At such times, she often had to sacrifice organs or entire body parts as payment for wishes.

She had no intention of accepting such unreasonable requests with Mia’s body!

Just as the girl was about to back away cautiously-

“This isn’t enough. Get up. Let’s go eat together.”

As Monk Jamyeong spoke, the door swung open as if on cue.

An irresistible smell began to flow in from beyond.

Huh… what?

Had the air always been this sweet and delicious?

She’d never smelled anything like this before.

Sniff sniff, sniff.

Without realizing it, she raised her head slightly and moved her nose, following the scent.

Gulp.

Her salivary glands seemed broken, producing so much saliva she didn’t need to drink water separately.

Unable to resist any longer, the girl glanced at Monk Jamyeong.

“…What do I need to do?”

Her resolve had crumbled.

If she could eat that food, maybe granting a small wish wouldn’t be so bad…?

Yeah.

Mia had told her to eat properly and until she was full, right?

Monk Jamyeong let out a gentle laugh at her question, which showed less wariness than before.

“Child. My request is for you to eat.”

“…Pardon?”

Eating is the request?

The girl gaped blankly.

This, too, was a request she’d never heard before.

“Let’s go. My stomach is sticking to my back too. Let’s go eat together.”

Could it be true?

She wouldn’t be dragged back to the basement, right?

Though doubts kept creeping in, the girl’s reaction was honest.

She wanted to feel that warm comfort, that savory and salty taste once more.

The girl got up slowly and followed behind Monk Jamyeong.

She still seemed wary, keeping her distance as she followed.

But even this much pleased Monk Jamyeong.

Worried the child might faint again, they’d kept the dining hall empty for a while.

The monks had to change their meal times, but no one complained.

After all, it was only natural for adults to be considerate when such a small child couldn’t even eat proper meals.

“Here, this is your food.”

At the low table.

Monk Jamyeong pulled several dishes in front of the girl.

“…Is, is this all for me?!”

The girl was shocked.

Isn’t this, isn’t this too much…?

“Ho ho ho, growing children need to eat a lot.”

It seemed oddly unbalanced.

In front of Monk Jamyeong were just soup, rice, and some green, yellow, and white vegetables.

But in front of the girl were a bowl of soup and rice twice the size, and a neatly filleted white fish with no fat.

That’s right.

The monks had even put on reading glasses to carefully remove every single bone from the fish they couldn’t eat themselves.

Can I really eat this?

The table was clearly set with great care.

Compared to the meals always mixed in dog bowls before, it felt wrong to even make a comparison.

“Come now, why aren’t you eating? Are you waiting for this old man to starve to death?”

“Ah! No! I’ll eat!”

No matter what, she couldn’t let an old man starve to death!

Finally, the girl who had been cautiously watching began to eat carefully.

Though her eyes were drawn to the fish, she felt too guilty and took her first spoonful of plain rice.

But even that was more than she could ask for.

The warmth filling her mouth, the chewy texture and savory aroma made it impossible to stop spooning rice.

Th-these heretics lived eating such delicious things!

No wonder so many people fell into heresy!

Sniff-

She sipped the brown soup, sniffling a bit.

It was slightly spicy, but also sweet and savory.

“Eat happily. How can you taste anything sipping soybean paste soup like that?”

In the end, Monk Jamyeong couldn’t just sit and watch.

Scoop-

He placed a piece of white fish as big as his finger on top of a spoonful of rice so full the spoon couldn’t be seen.

“Say ah-“

“Ah?”

He stuffed the rice into the girl’s mouth, making her cheeks puff out.

“Ho ho, now. Isn’t your throat blocked? Then you should drink the soup like this.”

Monk Jamyeong immediately demonstrated, gulping down the soybean paste soup like rice water.

“Mmm, mm-“

Unable to swallow the unchewed rice, the girl followed Monk Jamyeong and gulped down the soybean paste soup.

Gulp-

“Ah…!”

It was hot.

But… delicious.

This soup cut through the richness of the meat.

Is this… food?!

These heretics… amazing…!

The girl’s spooning gradually sped up.

She scooped rice and picked up meat hurriedly.

Her mechanical, repetitive eating continued.

Then suddenly-

“Poison!”

The girl had a fit.

“Poison? Child?”

It wasn’t because the crazy monk had mixed poison into the food.

It was simply because the girl noticed the enoki mushrooms Monk Jamyeong had picked up.

“It’s a poisonous mushroom! You can’t eat it!”

How much pain had she endured from eating those white mushrooms!

Even if he was a suspicious old man from a heretical group, she couldn’t let him eat poison!

The girl urgently stretched out her chopsticks and snatched Monk Jamyeong’s enoki mushrooms, throwing them onto the table with a thud.

She even gave them a disgusted look, as if looking at cockroaches.

“Huh… ho ho ho ho…”

It was such a surprising, unprecedented situation.

Monk Jamyeong burst into laughter.

My, how could such a cute and innocent child have been in that state?

“Were you worried about me?”

“If you eat it, you’ll be in a lot of pain! You might even die!”

He laughed so hard tears formed in his eyes.

It wasn’t just Monk Jamyeong.

“Cough, hikk…! P-poisonous mushrooms? Q-quick, to the emergency room…”

“C-calm down! Monk Muae! Your blood pressure’s rising!”

The monks who had been eavesdropping at the door out of curiosity about the girl’s meal were so startled they fell backwards.

Some were shocked that the girl had eaten poisonous mushrooms.

Others were moved by her innocence in not even being able to distinguish mushrooms.

The girl herself didn’t understand why everyone around her was coughing and gasping for air.

Surely… they hadn’t all eaten the poisonous mushrooms without knowing…?!

The girl fidgeted restlessly, moving her hands and feet.

She looked ready to bolt at any moment.

Monk Jamyeong finally stopped laughing and picked up his chopsticks.

“Child. This isn’t a poisonous mushroom.”

As if to demonstrate, he picked up the enoki mushroom lying sadly on the table and swallowed it in one bite.

“!”

The girl froze with her hands outstretched, as if trying to stop him.

But it was too late.

The crunching sound of Monk Jamyeong chewing the mushroom continued.

Now she’d have to make a wish to remove the poison…!

The girl’s shoulders trembled, looking like she might jump up at any moment.

“You see? This is an edible mushroom, so it’s fine to eat. And you shouldn’t carelessly throw away or waste food that everyone worked hard to get.”

Unfortunately, Monk Jamyeong didn’t notice the girl’s inner thoughts.

He thought this explanation would be enough for the child to understand.

He smiled proudly and began eating another enoki mushroom to demonstrate.

At this point, instead of believing that enoki mushrooms weren’t poisonous, the girl thought Monk Jamyeong must have some special ability.

“As expected of heretics…”

They must be no ordinary wicked group.

To be fine after eating poison!

Thinking this, she only raised her guard further, growling.

Proving that she had ignored Monk Jamyeong’s words, there was still a lot of soup and rice left in the girl’s bowl after the meal ended.

“Hmm.”

Monk Jamyeong felt both uneasy and pleased about this fact.

Wasting food was a sin, but at least the girl had eaten her fill.

“Child, if you’re done eating, shall we go for a walk?”

He had prepared too much food in the first place, so he couldn’t blame the child.

Instead of saying anything, Monk Jamyeong helped the girl up, her belly now round and full.

He would use his healing ability to prevent indigestion or stomach problems, but that was a second-best solution.

After eating a full meal, it would be good for the girl’s digestion to move around.

“…Together?”

“Yes. The scenery nearby is quite nice.”

“Is it a request?”

It was a question full of wariness, but it wasn’t exactly an order either.

“Yes.”

Only after Monk Jamyeong answered did the girl slowly get up.

“Wait by the door for a moment. I’ll clean up the table and come.”

“Okay.”

If the girl had any problems, they could solve them together while living here.

After confirming the child had disappeared beyond the door, Monk Jamyeong called in the monks lacking in discipline.

“D-did you know we were here?”

“Tsk tsk, with all that commotion outside, it would be stranger not to know.”

Normally, even though Monk Jamyeong was elderly, he would have cleared the table and washed the dishes himself.

But after taking in the girl, he judged that the monks needed some education for behaving too rashly.

“Perhaps you’d like to eat the food the child left…”

Before Monk Jamyeong could finish-

“I will! I’ll eat the leftover food.”

The skinny Monk Doyun stepped forward eagerly.

His two children who had passed away were picky eaters and always left side dishes.

Seeing the same result with a different child, he found it hard to hold back tears, his nose stinging.

“I’ll… clean up the rest of the table.”

Seeing his reddened eyes, it was clear he couldn’t control his emotions.

“Oh my…”

Monk Jamyeong knew he had been struggling after losing his children.

He thought time and cultivation would help, but it seemed meeting the girl had caused some change in his emotional state.

Normally, Monk Jamyeong would have scolded him to separate public and private matters, but he silently nodded.

It meant he was entrusting the cleanup to him.

*

After the happy mealtime.

As Monk Jamyeong followed the girl out, he felt an inexplicable emptiness at the darkened mountain scenery.

“…I too am still lacking in cultivation, it seems.”

The meal they had shared, laughing as if he’d gained a granddaughter, made him realize the reality he’d been trying so hard to forget.

How many children like her must have died due to his incompetence over the years?

They could have lived happily like this.

Perhaps he should have found some way to use this ability, even if it meant leaving the temple.

Having an ability but not using it properly was ultimately due to selfishness and complacency for his own comfort.

“Haah…”

Monk Jamyeong stopped walking and looked up at the lonely moon in the night sky.

Noticing something was off, the girl who had been walking ahead at a distance also quickly stopped.

That sigh…

And that expression.

It was the same reaction shown by people who came to ask her for wishes.

“…Do you have something on your mind?”

It must mean he had some worry.

—