episode_0059

“You’re back! Oh, did you meet the delivery man on the way here? It smells so good!”

“It’s delicious, it’s delicious! Sister Narin, it’s delicious!”

“Ahaha, you’re in the elevator together. But when did you pay the bill?”

“Jihyun taught me how to use the delivery app!”

We greeted Narin with a farewell that was now a commonplace affair.

Ji-hyeon, who is still shy, greets them hesitantly from behind, and Saek-mu-sae flaps her wings.

Meanwhile, Hamshik was crawling up Narin’s legs. Pizza waited until Narin put the box down, but the smell of chicken was quite stimulating.

He climbed up Narin’s shins, thighs, and waist, and like an airborne unit, he went upside down and followed her arms into the bag. Hamshik started rustling inside.

“Ahaha, I see. Namin is amazing.”

“Ahem. We all said you were amazing anyway.”

“Now, I guess you don’t have to worry about me, Unnie. Oh, when did Hamshik come in here again?”

Narindo Hamshik heard a rustling sound there and hurriedly put the bag of chicken on the floor.

First, take out the chicken breast, seasoning, green onions, etc. from inside. Then, take out the ham that comes out on top of the chicken box.

Perhaps unable to resist the delicious smell of fried food, Hamshik was already gnawing on the batter of a crispy chicken.

They have such troubles because their sense of smell is more developed than ours. They become more impulsive.

“Oh, Hamshik-ah. We should eat together. What if you go in first?”

So I was the first to scold Hamshik. This is something my older sister should be scolding me for.

Fortunately, Narin, Jihyun, and Saekmusae understood that kind of ham diet.

“It’s okay, Hamshik was probably really hungry.”

“I guess there’s nothing we can do because hamsters are true to their instincts.”

“The crunchy sound is fun!”

Ah, it seems that the color order doesn’t matter to the color bird, but anyway. It’s convenient to have a dumb beast in times like this.

While Hamsik was eating the batter of the fried chicken, we all prepared to eat together.

Narin stood up, saying she was going to throw away the chicken broth, while Jihyun and I opened the package, unwrapped the bag of green onions, and sprinkled them on the chicken covered in mustard sauce.

“Etchu!”

As the smell became so strong, we all sneezed. Then our eyes met again and we laughed bashfully.

Jihyun was also taken aback by my laughter for a moment, but then laughed along with me. Laughter is indeed a contagious good thing.

Narin, who brought forks and appetizer plates so that we could eat the chicken easily, asked us while tearing off a chicken leg each.

“You don’t know how surprised my sister was when I told her that Na-min had gone out and come back. It’s fortunate that she came back safely, but something big could have happened. Weren’t you scared?”

Ah. It was an understandable concern. I would have been worried if someone this small had gone somewhere.

If Hamshik went somewhere alone right now, he would have been extremely worried that a cat would take him away, someone who didn’t see him would step on him, or that he would get hit by a car.

Even those worries are done out of love. My heart warmed up at that and I smiled.

“Hehehe, it wasn’t scary. It was right in front of me. And everyone was friendly so it was fun.”

“Yeah, that’s fortunate. But just in case someone who hasn’t seen Na-min makes a mistake. Would it be okay if I install an app on my phone for a moment?”

“App? Yes, anything would be great!”

If something happens, you can call 112 or 119, and if you need anything, you can turn on the map, and there are other ways, too.

Is there something different from what I know? If so, it wouldn’t hurt to install it on my phone.

So I handed Narin my phone and started to dismantle the chicken leg in front of me.

It was hard to grab it with both hands and bite it barbarically like a hamster. I am a civilized person who knows how to use tools.

So, you have to use a fruit fork, hold the bone in place with one, and scoop out the flesh with the other.

The chicken was cooked to perfection, and the soft meat fell off the bone as I pushed. The sound of the batter crackling and breaking apart was enjoyable.

Jihyun, who had been hesitating after seeing the ham, followed suit and started separating the meat from the bones with a fork.

“Chicken! This is a chicken! Big, big!”

“Ahaha, yeah. Usually chickens are bigger than squirrels.”

“I see. I am a top predator that preys on animals larger than me.”

“Oh, I see.”

The color bird looked at the chicken parts that were cut up here and there and started making strange sounds. Well, that’s just how he was.

I thought that maybe Narin wasn’t eating the chicken because she was looking at my phone for no reason, so I tried to feed her some. Fortunately, she was steadily eating her share without any time for her mouth to get empty.

One hand was enough to play on the phone, and the other was used to pick up and bite into the spicy sauce-covered fried chicken and eat a handful of green onions.

I also have to eat what’s in front of us now, and then I have to try the green onion chicken. The strong scent of green onion vibrates from here, and it looks so delicious when mixed with the smell of oil.

But when I tried the fried chicken, wow. The juicy chicken filling my mouth after going through the crispy coating like a cookie felt like fireworks going off in my head.

If fried chicken is this delicious, how much more delicious would fried chicken be? It’s a taste that can be said to be truly impressive.

“Sob sob… … . So delicious… … .”

Look, I’m not exaggerating. Look at Jihyun crying while eating next to me.

“Oh, the app is installed? It comes pre-installed these days… … ?”

“What app is it?”

“Protective shield and life-sustaining foam.”

“Eng.”

At best, I thought it was a security buzzer or some kind of route-finding app. I tilted my head at the strange terms that suddenly appeared.

I don’t know what life-sustaining foam is, but it sounds scientific, so it makes sense. A protective barrier.

Of course, there are crocodile people, and ghosts are visible in this world, so there could be something like magic. But I didn’t understand the concept of downloading that to a cell phone.

So I tilted my head, and Narin answered with a faint smile.

“Nam-in might not know. These days, cell phones have magic stones. They use those to run apps.”

“Is that a magic stone?”

“A stone filled with mana. You can use it to activate something like a shield. Hmm, I don’t think there’s anything else you can put down. Should I just install a hologram app for Namin?”

Ah, I see. This place has definitely changed a lot from the world I used to live in.

I died at the beginning of the Gate incident, and now it’s become a common thing in the world. Technology and such must have advanced a lot.

After realizing that, I felt for a moment that this world was unfamiliar. But it was okay because I hadn’t fallen into a completely unfamiliar world.

It’s the same world, except there’s a gap between my death and my resurrection. My mother still exists.

And so what if it feels unfamiliar? Living with family like this, it becomes more fun when you think about it as adapting to a new world.

“Oh. Then can I search for the app later?”

“Yeah, that’s okay. Let’s eat chicken and look for it together?”

“sigh.”

“Okay! Hey, Hamshik?”

For a moment, was it because we were too focused on our phones? Suddenly, a strange sound came from Hamshik.

Hamsik, who hurriedly looked around the place where the sound came from, found that he had already finished all the fried chicken and was looking at the green onion chicken.

So I had one of the pieces of fried chicken on my plate, and for some reason my face was all wrinkled up and I was shaking.

Could it be that I have a mustard allergy or a green onion allergy?

“Hey, Hamshik-ah! You must have eaten something inedible… … . How do I make you spit it out… … ?”

Narin seemed to be considering pressing Hamshik’s stomach to make him vomit. However, she seemed to be hesitating because she thought it would hurt if she pressed Hamshik with her large hands.

I’m the same way. It’s common sense that if you eat something bad, you should throw it up. But if it’s for the sake of saving Hamshik, then that’s okay… … !

“sigh.”

But before I could even step forward, Hamshik took another bite of the chicken and made the same expression. Looking at it again, it was exactly the kind of expression you make when you eat something that makes your nose tingle.

If that’s painful, you might want to stop eating. Is it because of your greed? Or do you enjoy that kind of taste?

Hamshik ate the chicken covered in mustard sauce without eating the green onions. Then, Hamshik picked up the chicken breast.

Only then could Narin and I relax.

“… … Is this what Hamshik is enjoying?”

“Maybe?”

“Oh, wait a minute. Did he finish eating the fried chicken and now he’s eating the green onion chicken?”

“Hehehe. The ham diet is a bit much.”

“Ouch, I need to eat quickly too.”

I put my phone down and started to concentrate on eating the chicken.

Hmm. I haven’t even finished one leg yet, but Hamshik has already finished the rest of the fried chicken.

I can’t help it. Just one leg is too much for me. So if I want to taste the chicken, I have to dip it in sauce and eat it with the green onions.

With that thought in mind, I ate the well-seasoned chicken with a fork, mixing it with the sauce that had pooled at the bottom of the fried chicken box.

I realized the meaning of the expression Hamshik had been making.

“Eww!”

My face wrinkled up without me realizing it. Was the mustard scent really that strong?

In particular, my nose was so stuffy that it was hard to open my eyes. When Narin saw me like that, she burst into laughter.

“Ahahaha, this was a bit spicy for Namin and Hamshik.”

“Hmm. That’s neat.”

I was annoyed that Jihyun was eating the green onion salad with the chicken sauce.