What Was Given Up – 4

Unlike her pale face, Kim Sung-ah, who was walking ahead, seemed to be in a much better mood.

Her steps were light, and she occasionally hummed.

“Are you feeling better?”

Kim Sung-ah didn’t answer the question. She just showed off her bouncy steps.

Even he, who had been often criticized for lacking sensitivity in his original world, couldn’t miss a signal like this.

“What brought you out? I thought you’d stay home.”

“There was an attack. Near where you were meeting with the homeroom teacher.”

She gently shook her red hair.

“What?”

As he raised his voice, Kim Sung-ah twirled around.

“Don’t worry, I took care of it.”

“Why didn’t I hear it? It must have been loud.”

“It appeared high in the sky, so you probably didn’t notice.”

She leaned her body slightly towards him, bending her waist.

Her posture, with her hands behind her back and leaning forward, was subtly seductive, but Kang In-ho didn’t react to it.

She was actually several years younger. Being conscious of it meant losing.

“So that’s why you look tired? It’s the weekend, and you couldn’t even rest properly.”

Living a life on 24-hour standby, ready to respond to incidents that could happen anytime, anywhere.

Kang In-ho felt sorry for her life without holidays, annual leave, or even a proper end to the day.

“I should go home and rest now. Make me something delicious.”

“Something delicious? What do you want to eat?”

“I don’t know, just something delicious. It can be something you like. But no delivery food.”

She winked and smiled brightly.

“Then let’s go to the mart. I don’t think there’s enough at home.”

“What are you going to make?”

“I’ll show you the magic combination.”

As he showed a cool smile, Kim Sung-ah smiled along.

Her mood, which had been down since yesterday, had improved considerably.

She didn’t know why, though.

“So, this is the magic combination?”

As he put pork belly followed by bibim-myeon (spicy mixed noodles) into the basket, Kim Sung-ah asked with a suspicious look.

“Hey, trust me. This is really good.”

He gave a thumbs up with a more serious face than ever.

“Well, it doesn’t look like it’ll taste bad… It’s meat and carbs, so it’s unlikely to fail.”

“If you chop up some perilla leaves at home and add them, it’ll be even better.”

“Okay, okay. You don’t have to make such a serious face.”

Kim Sung-ah, fed up with him spitting about how great the pork belly and bibim-myeon combination was, moved away.

He put a few more items into the basket besides the main ingredients and said to her.

“Don’t you have anything to buy?”

“Me? Hmm….”

After a moment of thought, her eyes landed on something.

Kang In-ho turned his head, following her gaze. It was the liquor section.

“What’s a student doing with alcohol?”

He glanced at her as if saying, “So, you’re that kind of kid?” but the Magical Girl wasn’t intimidated.

“You probably heard from the homeroom teacher. I repeated a year. I’m actually old enough to drink, you know? I even have an ID.”

“…Oh, is that allowed?”

He knew she had repeated a year, but he hadn’t connected that to drinking, and he gaped like a goldfish.

“It’s allowed. It’s not my first time. I drink sometimes.”

She casually put a can of beer in the basket. His arm went down.

“Oh, right, give me your card.”

Kim Sung-ah said as they headed to the checkout.

Kang In-ho took out the card from his pocket and handed it to her.

The pork belly on the grill was browning nicely, and the kimchi was being fried in the oil that flowed out from the parts touching the heat.

The spicy smell that stimulated the appetite made both of them salivate.

“You’re good at grilling meat, Inho.”

“I always grilled at places like pensions.”

He said, skillfully flipping and cutting the meat.

“Hmm… I see. Did you go to pensions often?”

Kim Sung-ah asked, popping a piece of meat into her mouth.

“I went sometimes when I traveled.”

“I seeee.”

As she drew out the words and put another piece of meat in her mouth, Kang In-ho narrowed his eyes.

“Don’t eat it all now. Eat it with the bibim-myeon. I’ve already made it.”

He scooped up the noodles that had been soaked in cold water.

After draining the water from them on a sieve, he put the noodles and sauce in a prepared stainless-steel bowl and mixed them.

Kim Sung-ah, who had been staring intently at him wearing an apron and diligently mixing the noodles, opened her mouth.

“It feels like…”

“Like what?”

“It feels very rough and primal, but like it’ll taste amazing.”

“There are things that taste better when you don’t plate them. Okay, let’s eat.”

As soon as he finished speaking, sprinkling chopped perilla leaves and sesame seeds on top, Kim Sung-ah’s chopsticks rushed fiercely towards the bibim-myeon.

She grabbed a large portion of it, moved the noodles to her plate, and put them in her mouth with a piece of pork belly.

“So good!!”

She exclaimed, stuffing her cheeks full.

Kang In-ho smiled at the customer’s satisfied reaction and put the bibim-myeon in his mouth.

The sweet and spicy taste spread from the tip of his tongue to his entire mouth.

“Time for beer~ You’re drinking too, right?”

She took out the beer that had been chilled in the freezer.

“Yeah, let’s drink.”

It was his first time drinking in a while.

With the refreshing sound of the carbonation escaping, the beer was opened, and the two clinked their cans lightly.

There was no toast.

“Ahhh~”

It felt like prickly grains were scratching his throat as they went down.

He took a sip of beer and then picked up a piece of pork belly with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth.

“……..”

And then, as if remembering something, he stared blankly at the meat cooking on the grill.

“Inho, aren’t you eating?”

Kim Sung-ah asked, putting two pieces of meat and noodles in her mouth.

“Ah, I should eat.”

He answered like a voice recorded on an answering machine.

[Oppa, put the meat on quickly. I’m hungry!]

It was as if someone was whispering in his ear, the voice sounding so vivid.

“Geez.”

He chuckled and took another swig of beer.

Kim Sung-ah watched him drink the beer non-stop with a curious look.

“……..”

She ran her index finger along the rim of the can.

“Inho, aren’t you going to ask me?”

“Ask you what?”

“You talked to the homeroom teacher, right? About me not going to school, what did you talk about?”

“Well….”

“Did you talk about my mom and dad dying in an accident too? My aunt probably told the homeroom teacher.”

She lifted the can and drank the beer. As if imitating him, who had been drinking non-stop, she didn’t lower the can of beer once she lifted it.

“……..”

He couldn’t think of anything to say.

Adding up his life in the original world and the life he had experienced while Dimensional Shifting, he had lived a long time, but

Comforting someone skillfully was still difficult for him.

“Since I didn’t hear it directly from you, and I can’t comfort you, it’s right to pretend I don’t know.”

He cleared his throat.

“Why can’t you comfort me?”

“Because I haven’t lost my parents in an accident. I can’t know how you feel.”

“…That’s unexpected. All the teachers I’ve met so far have comforted me, saying they know how I feel and how hard it must have been.”

She chuckled.

“That’s probably their way.”

“Is that so?”

“I don’t know how you feel. …Well, I guess you must have been lonely.”

“Living alone at a young age?”

She brought a new can of beer.

Sizzle, sizzle, the meat was cooking on the grill.

“No.”

Kang In-ho flipped them with tongs, denying her words.

He silently flipped the meat and put new meat on.

The newly added pork belly made a sizzling sound. Meanwhile, Kim Sung-ah opened the can of beer and brought it to her mouth.

“Magical Girl.”

“…What about the Magical Girl?”

“You dedicate your life to protecting people, but if no one recognizes it, it must be lonely.”

With the can to her lips, she froze.

A long silence flowed, and the sound of grilling meat was the only thing that filled the silence.

“…Yeah, that’s lonely too.”

“You asked why I didn’t ask you? Whether you go to school or not, it’s your choice anyway. I can’t say anything. I’m just a fake guardian pretending to be a guardian.”

Kang In-ho put a few pieces of meat in his mouth. Then, he picked up the bibim-myeon and put it in his mouth.

Kim Sung-ah admired him eating somewhat unhygienically.

“Then, if I ask you to be a real guardian… would you do it?”

“Hmm….”

He was still looking down and slurping noodles, thinking.

“Could you be a guardian who cares about me more and understands me… like that?”

She presented him with a more specific image.

“If you want? But you might regret it, I’m holding back a lot of nagging right now.”

“Haha, and you’ve only lived with me for a few days?”

She smiled coolly and took another drink.

She wiped the beer that had flowed to her mouth with the back of her hand and looked at him with a slightly dazed face.

“I gave up quite a lot. I gave up Kim Sung-ah’s life for the life of a Magical Girl. But no one knows about that Magical Girl’s life. So, I was lonely.”

“I guess so.”

“But, I’m okay these days.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Because there’s someone to eat and talk with at home, and there’s someone who remembers that I’m a Magical Girl.”

She smiled brightly.

“I don’t feel lonely anymore because you’re here. Thank you.”

He smiled.

“I’m glad I could help.”

He accepted her words appropriately.

“So, can I rely on you a little more?”

She rested her chin on the table, feeling tipsy.

“Inho.”

She called him.

“Yeah.”

“Will you be my guardian?”