Alchemy

Alchemy

 

I was gaping at Yuna, who had really brought a blanket to marinate the meat, then

quickly shook my head and explained what ‘marinating the meat’ actually means.

“It doesn’t really mean sleeping, it means we have to leave it alone for a while.”

“Then why do you say it’s sleeping?”

At those words, I was momentarily at a loss for words.

The meat is marinating, which I hadn’t really thought deeply about before.

‘Why, really?’

Isn’t it more appropriate to say “leave it alone” as Yuna said?

Or is there another meaning that I don’t know?

As I feel my head becoming filled with questions and getting dizzy.

Chae-a, who was next to me, speaks to us with a triumphant smile.

“Just like Chae-a slept for 7 seconds earlier… meat also gets stronger when it sleeps. It’s sleeping soundly to become delicious.”

Hearing this, Yuna, who was next to me, nods as if she understands.

Listening to this, I hesitated for a moment, as it seemed like an incredibly cruel statement if you think about it.

Feeling like I shouldn’t think too deeply about it, I gave up on the thought and nodded.

*

I wanted to marinate the meat for at least 30 minutes, but if I did that, all the kids would collapse from hunger.

Deciding to compromise at 10 minutes, I squat down near the meat and wait for time to pass.

Chae-a, who had been busy moving around, seems to have become interested in my actions and squats down next to me, staring at me intently.

Feeling awkward under her gaze, I hesitate before asking why she’s looking at me.

“I’m watching to make sure Ha-eun doesn’t eat anything strange…”

A somewhat bizarre answer came back.

As I’m feeling dejected, wondering if I’m really that untrustworthy.

From behind, several soft tails start to gently stroke my cheeks and head.

“It’s because Ha-eun is a baby. It can’t be helped.”

And then comes Yuna’s follow-up statement.

I continued to sulk at those words while staring at the meat.

This time, even Blackie and Fluffy started whimpering and chirping, trying to comfort me.

“……”

By this point, I felt a little… no, extremely wronged.

But since all I could do was sulk and sprawl on the floor, I was just crouching there when.

The timer alarm started ringing, indicating that 10 minutes had passed.

Beep beep beep

The first to react to the beeping sound was Fluffy.

Fluffy was startled by the beeping noise, puffed up all its fur, and.

Started growling (snarling) at the phone, becoming completely alert.

Wondering why, I looked at Fluffy curiously.

Fluffy, still with an expression full of wariness, told me.

“Peep! Peeep! Peeeep!”

(It said something strange! I think it’s a monster!)

To me, it was just an alarm sound, but to Fluffy, it seemed extremely strange.

I imagine it’s like how a cat would find it very odd if a human meowed, Fluffy seemed to hear the beeping alarm as a very strange sound.

Before Fluffy could start crying, I quickly turned off the phone, gently patted its head to comfort it, and then.

I told Yuna and Chae-a, who were watching me and Fluffy, that we should start grilling the meat now.

Just as I was about to use the fire with renewed determination.

We heard someone’s voice urgently calling for us from the kitchen.

“Ha-eun! Chae-a! Yuna!”

Seo-rin’s voice made me wag my tail gently as I quickly called out to her.

“Seo-rin!”

As I called, Seo-rin immediately approached me and spoke to us with a voice full of surprise.

“What are you doing here? Aren’t you hungry? I’ll buy you something delicious right away… huh?”

Seo-rin looks at the meat I prepared and shows an extremely surprised expression.

I guess she must think I’m incredibly amazing after seeing my cooking skills.

As this thought continues, I’m grinning proudly, but Seo-rin points at the meat with a bewildered look.

“Don’t tell me Ha-eun made this?”

When I nod, Seo-rin exclaims in amazement as she examines it.

“Oh my… isn’t Ha-eun a genius? How can she make this? No, she must be a genius to have made something like this, right? Oh, what should I do? Should I post this on social media?”

Leaving Seo-rin to her strange contemplations.

Just as I was about to lift the meat to cook it, Seo-rin stopped me, took the meat instead, and said.

“You were going to grill this, right? I’ll do that.”

I was about to say that I would grill it too.

But to grill the meat, I would inevitably have to climb onto the counter, which meant stepping on the little black ones again.

I didn’t want to step on them anymore, so I had no choice but to nod.

‘It would probably hurt a lot, you know.’

Even now I feel terribly sorry, and thinking that I don’t want to cause any more trouble, I look up at Seo-rin.

Seo-rin raised her snow-white arm and said confidently.

“Just trust your big sister!”

Seo-rin showed her determined will by throwing the meat into the frying pan as if she were tossing it.

*

I’m not sure if alchemy has advanced in this world.

But one thing is certain, if alchemy exists in this world.

It would be the fact that Seo-rin has discovered an achievement significant enough to advance alchemy technology one step further through this incident.

I gaped at Seo-rin’s alchemy that turned food into coal.

It wasn’t just burnt, but completely blackened to a pitch-dark color, making me think it might be some kind of dark alien coal rather than ordinary coal.

I was shocked to see someone make meat like this for the first time, when Seo-rin spoke to me in an awkward voice.

“I, I think I overcooked it a bit to give it a charred flavor.”

“There’s nothing but charred flavor.”

“……”

Seo-rin, seemingly at a loss for words, smiled awkwardly and avoided my gaze.

Then, clearing her throat, she called out to me, Chae-a, and Yuna, saying,

“Anyway, the important thing is that I knew this would happen, so I ordered pizza.”

Knowing this would happen… I was poking the coal-like meat with my finger, wondering if this was right.

Yuna, who was watching this from the side, pulled my hand away and said,

“It’s hot. Hot. It’ll hurt if you touch it.”

Yuna said this while wiping my hand with her clothes.

I thought this might make Yuna’s clothes dirty and make things worse.

But Yuna seemed to think cleaning my fingers was more important, and said with a proud expression,

“All done.”

I was wagging my tail gratefully to Yuna for cleaning my hand, when.

Someone knocks on the kitchen door from outside.

“Delivery!”

 

As soon as I hear those words, I quickly go outside to find no one there, just a pizza box sitting alone.

Thinking how impressive it is that they’re so fast, I try to lift the pizza box that’s even bigger than my body.

 

“It’s hot, so I’ll do it, sis.”

Seo-rin takes it instead and says,

 

“Ha-eun, go tell the older sisters to wash their hands and come, okay?”

“……”

 

My lips pout slightly at being told to bring the older sisters, but they quickly unpout at the thought of soon being able to eat pizza.

Thinking that eating pizza is a very happy thing, I quickly head towards where Chae-a and Yu-na are.

 

Chae-a speaks to me with a gloomy expression.

“Ha-eun, don’t worry…! Chae-a won’t let Ha-eun go hungry. I knew this might happen, so I stuffed my pockets with lots of food…!”

 

Thinking I need to clarify before Chae-a misunderstands further, I hastily say,

“… No need to starve!”

 

At those words, Chae-a’s expression visibly brightens.

She smiles truly happily and says to me,

 

“Really!?”

I nod, raise my hand, point to the wet wipes, and say,

 

“Yeah. So we need to wash hands.”

As much as I wanted to wash with water, the faucet was too high, so I decided to compromise with wet wipes.

 

Ha-eun, Seo-rin, and I were huddled together, diligently washing our hands after finishing that conversation.

Seo-rin came over with a pizza box and said to us.

“Girls, let’s eat. I’m sorry for preparing the meal so late.”

In response, I shook my head and carefully said.

“No, it’s okay. I’m so grateful just for you giving us this…!”

I meant it sincerely, but Seo-rin seemed unable to take my words at face value. She blinked with a very shocked expression.

She shook her head urgently and said to me.

“No, it’s natural for me to prepare meals for Ha-eun. After all, Ha-eun is my little sister, right?”

The idea that she should prepare meals just because I’m her sister seemed too much.

I was about to tell her that she doesn’t have to do this next time, thinking it might be too burdensome for Seo-rin.

“Wow, it smells so good over there…! Oh, I think I’ve seen that before, Chae-a. It was under the trash can before!”

“What’s that? It’s my first time seeing it, so it’s fascinating.”

Remembering the little ones behind me, I had to keep my mouth shut.

That’s because the category of siblings Seo-rin mentioned included not only me but also Chae-a and Yuna.

‘Even if they’re troublemakers without conscience.’

Deciding to endure it for the kids’ sake, I hid my blushing face behind my tail.

Seo-rin placed the pizza in the center and said to us.

“Let me know if it’s not enough, okay?”

“Yeah! But I don’t think it’ll be not enough with this much! It’s like a big moon!”

“Is that so? Then that’s good. Well, shall we start eating?”

Seo-rin distributed bowls from the kitchen and served slices of pizza to each person.

Then, just as they were about to eat.

“Hiyak!”

Yuna puffed up her nine tails and made a cat-like sound.

Then, with a gloomy expression, she told us.

“It’s too hot. My hands hurt. Ha-eun shouldn’t touch it. You’ll get hurt if you do.”

Then she grabbed me from behind and dragged me backward.

As I was flailing my hands, watching the pizza get further away.

Seo-rin, who was watching this, seemed to think there was no other choice after pondering for a moment, and said while taking out scissors and plastic forks.

“Then I’ll cut it for you. You can eat it with a fork, okay?”

Thinking that might be fine, I looked up.

Yuna nodded and dragged me back towards the pizza.