episode_0040
by fnovelpiaThis was my first time walking around the neighborhood like this, so I stood on the road and was in a daze for a moment because I didn’t know where to go.
“What are you doing?”
“I’ve never been out and about like this before, so I don’t know what to do first.”
Ina patted my head with a confused expression.
I can’t figure out why.
I don’t know her exact physical age, but in terms of mental age, I am definitely the older sister, and my actions clearly show a noble and adult appearance, but I am always treated like a child.
Could it be that when he told her to take care of herself as Ji-hye’s older sister, he meant it to Ina and not me?
Probably not?
Anyway, as I walked around holding Ina’s hand and flapping my wings, I sometimes saw neighbors that I normally only saw through the fence.
Most of them were scared or avoided me when they saw me, but sometimes they greeted me or greeted me with a casual expression, like a next-door neighbor or an old man.
However, even they sometimes looked at me and made a sad or sad expression, and I couldn’t figure out why.
I wanted to know the reason, so I asked straight, but no one gave me a clear answer.
At that moment of frustration, I found a store that looked just like the memory in my head that did not match the information about this world.
“Wow! Super!”
Unlike today’s unmanned supermarkets or stores run by biobots, the building is clean, but the supermarket has a slightly old and outdated feel that cannot be hidden.
The sign had a rough, old-fashioned feel and the letters were large enough to be easy to read from a distance, but it looked just like the old days. When I was young, places like this had almost disappeared, so I could only see it occasionally, and it had that rustic and friendly feel that was unique to the 20th century. This was alive.
I was not of that generation, but my family was not wealthy, so I lived in a slightly older neighborhood.
There were a lot of old people and some strange people there, but there were still quite a few people who were kind to children, and one of them was one of the few supermarkets left in the world.
At school, children from other neighborhoods had never been to a place like this and had no intention of going, but even so, I felt the affection of the grandmother who ran the supermarket here, who occasionally gave me junk food or drinks full of real old-fashioned taste and told me to come often. It was a place where we lost.
There was also a stationery man who had inherited the building from his father, and once a day he would let me play the lottery game for free or play the arcade game machine in front of the stationery store that was so old that it was covered in white dust.
At that time, one of the two devices broke down and I played the game on the other one, but later that device broke down and I could never play it again.
There were times when I missed the games I played back then.
While I was immersed in those memories, the memories that came to mind suddenly disappeared as if someone had erased them with an eraser, and all that was left was the memory of having just seen this building and a few stationery and supermarket items.
What was it?
The building itself was large, but instead of one supermarket taking up all of the space, it was full of stores that felt similar to the restaurants, PC rooms, or playrooms I remember in Korea.
When I look back on old memories, I don’t remember the details, but they all felt familiar.
Just because it’s an old memory doesn’t mean the stores here are old.
“Ah, those are old shops.”
“I know this!”
“Really? How do you know? Actually, this is my first time coming here, but no one wants to come here. It’s not fun.”
“Is that so?”
It felt like it was fun enough to be here in the few remaining childhood memories, but it seemed a bit… no, very old-fashioned to the people here.
Well, even when I was young, it was considered old-fashioned, but in a world that has developed to this level, isn’t it almost considered a cultural asset?
“It’s just treated as a cultural asset. This is the only building like this left in Korea.”
“Well, actually, I only knew about this place through information.”
Anyway, since they said it was a cultural property, I had a feeling that I shouldn’t go in without permission, so I opened the door and stuck my head in to take a close look inside.
It’s a bit dark. I guess they’re not operating anymore?
“What are you doing when you’re not in?”
“I guess this place is no longer in operation! A little dark!”
“It’s an unmanned store.”
Oh, is that so?
As I was scratching my head feeling a little embarrassed, Doldol entered the store first and left his first review of the supermarket.
“Old smell.”
That’s definitely true.
It looks like it’s being cleaned, but it has a unique smell.
What a fitting place to start our adventure!
As expected, since it was everyone’s first time here, they were all looking at the canned goods and junk food with curious eyes.
“What does this taste like?”
What Ina lifted was a drink called pine cone snow.
Did it contain real pine needles or pine cones?
“Are there still factories that produce this kind of thing? I’ve never seen a drink like this before.”
“The elderly generation enjoys eating it. There is a factory that makes these old drinks and foods.”
hmm.
I don’t remember the taste either, so it’s hard to say anything, but something didn’t feel right, so I quietly looked for another food.
Break it, break it?
What does this taste like?
It just looks like ramen.
In this world, I don’t have any memories of ramen, so when I saw the ramen that Jihye had cooked, I ran away and refused to eat it, saying I don’t eat earthworms, but eventually I took a bite and remembered it as delicious food.
Since they look similar, I don’t think it’s a bad thing.
“Ugh! Why are you drinking this!”
After feeding it to Ina, I said, slightly admiring the cowardice of Doldori, who sneaked off to the side and clung to me.
“Isn’t this a type of old-fashioned ramen?”
“Recommended to try.”
“Why don’t you eat?”
“It’s okay if you don’t eat food because you’re not human.”
That’s true, but when you come here and say this while you’re at home eating everything you can eat, it’s very unconvincing.
When I read the instructions, it seemed like it was a snack that was crushed and eaten as the name suggests.
It looks thinner than ramen.
I suddenly picked up the bag and slammed it on the floor.
I repeated this a few times, and now that it seemed to be broken enough, I opened the bag… opened it…
“Not torn. Tear it open.”
I ate the ramen pieces from the bag that Doldol opened, and it definitely tasted good.
“This tastes boring.”
“It appears that this also needs to be mixed.”
Is it ramen soup?
I tore it up and sprinkled it on, and the stone closed the entrance, and I shook it and opened it again.
Then, a faintly delicious scent emerged and it was definitely appetizing.
Well, would he spend money to buy and eat tasteless snacks just because he was an old man?
I must have eaten it because it was delicious.
“Hey, I tried this and it was okay. Would you like to drink some of this?”
“You said it wasn’t delicious earlier. Eat this.”
I held out a bag of ramen mixed with seasoning to Ina, who was sitting next to me, and she quickly took it and ate it, and Ina kept putting her hand in it to take it out and eat it.
“This is okay.”
“There is something like this. Was it pine cone snow earlier? That was really bad.”
As expected, it wasn’t that good. He just told me it was okay.
Doldori looked at it carefully, then put his hand in and started eating.
“They said they wouldn’t eat it.”
“I knew Korean people well. It’s a statement that causes serious biobot hatred.”
This is a statement that only a biobot can make.
We had no choice but to share it with everyone.
Since it was maintained as a cultural property, there was a sign saying eat as much as you want without paying, so we tried each of the snacks and drinks there.
There were too many, so not everything, just a little bit of the drink that I thought would be delicious.
Among them, the drink called Cider was quite delicious with a sticky sweet taste, but when we shared it and spilled a little on our arm, it felt sticky and I didn’t like it.
“There’s a warning on the cider!”
“Where?”
‘Do not drink too much of this drink as it contains a lot of sugar which can cause serious problems for your body.’
“Then why are you drinking this?”
I couldn’t answer Ina’s question.
There are many delicious foods that don’t have this problem, so there’s no need to eat them.
Since we ate so many snacks and drinks with this written on them, we got scared and decided to stop eating and get out of here and go somewhere else.
As I walked to the side, I saw a place called a photo studio, and it was run by a real person.
Hmm, maybe that’s what it said on the sign, right?
“Is there anyone in there?”
“This guy. Are you inside? I have to say it like this.”
When I went inside, there was an old man with graying hair.
The clothes had an old-fashioned feel, unlike the people seen on the streets these days, but rather than being old-fashioned, with wrinkles that clearly showed the passage of time, it was an old-fashioned outfit that showed how the older generation dressed and decorated themselves.
“What are you doing here?”
“Well, it’s a place to take pictures. We occasionally have customers, but it’s been a while since we’ve had customers this young.”
“Even if I look like this, I’m still an adult.”
“Hehe, I guess so.”
I don’t believe it either.
When Ina opened the door, she immediately saw the old man and bowed her head.
“Hello.”
“Oh? Still, there is a girl here who knows manners. Please follow my sister’s example.”
“I am your older sister?”
“This guy is very picky, right?”
“Yes.”
“Kaboom a lot.”
“I thought so.”
It wasn’t mature to take such pranks seriously, so I fiddled with the pillar supporting the large camera inside and examined it.
“Then you get hurt. No, since you guys are here, take a picture and go.”
Although we are not that old and weak, we got a free group photo taken by a photographer who has worked here all his life.
With me in the center, Ina and Doldoli were posing on either side, and I thought it was worth taking a picture like this.
“But we don’t have any money!”
“Hey..! You’re so spoiled.”
The old man smiled happily, made about 8 pretty pictures of us, and gave them to us.
“If I chat with a customer here and take a picture, that’s all money.”
“Aha! Then I made money for my grandfather.”
“Yes. Hehehe, you too are a worthy guest. Now, shall we give our guest a gift? Hold out both hands.”
What kind of gift is it?
The old man rummaged through his desk and took out something.
I held out my hands and a camera, which was very small for the old man and rather large for me, was held up, filling both hands.
“When you take a picture with this camera, the picture comes out right away. It’s a bit old, but it will be useful.”
“Oh! Thank you!”
I immediately lifted the camera and looked at the world captured in the camera.
“Hey! Give it back! You don’t just get something this expensive!”
“It’s okay, there is no owner anymore. Do you know how to operate it?”
The old man’s tone became much calmer.
It’s clearer than before.
The old man carefully and delicately taught me how to operate the camera and change the film, and I listened carefully and took a picture.
click
“Oh! It really comes out right away!”
I took out the picture from the camera and looked at it slowly.
What was there was an old photographer smiling softly.
This is a good shot.
Maybe I have talent.
“Polaroid prints only one sheet. It’s a one-of-a-kind photo. Now, here is the film.”
When I received the black bag the old man gave me, it was full of film.
“Really? Then I’ll give you this photo, grandpa.”
The old man who received the photo opened his eyes wide, as if he had never imagined that it would be given to him.
He seemed very surprised that he had actually received this photo.
“We’ll go! Thank you for the camera!”
When I opened the door and went out, the old man behind the transparent glass door hung his mouth with a gloomy expression, wondering why he was so sad.
0 Comments