episode_0066

“Guys, guys! This is a big problem, this is a big problem!”

“Big things mean big things… … !”

At Namin’s excitement after finishing her phone call with Narin, the Saekmoose also flapped its wings and shouted.

In some ways, you could say that the fuss was too much, but this time, Jihyun nodded with a serious expression.

“That’s right. It’s a big deal when someone else comes to your house. Guys, I think we should clean up first.”

News that Narin was bringing a coworker. In other words, having guests meant that the house needed to be cleaned.

It’s okay if they’re just friends or parents. Since they’re already close to Narin, I don’t think they’ll think much about it if the house is a little messy.

But what if they were coworkers? In Namin’s head, work was a vicious battlefield where even the slightest mistake could get her fired, so she couldn’t do anything that could be criticized.

Jihyun thought the same thing. Wasn’t it true that the research institute where Jihyun worked was actually one where even the slightest nitpick would have made her doctorate impossible?

So, it had to be cleaned. The purifier was running and it was clean, but at the same time, it was a mess.

Feathers from the magpies were scattered all over the floor, and the boxes that had packed the motorcycle and RC car were still lying around, uneaten by the hamsters.

It’ll be quick to clean it up, but the biggest problem is still recycling.

The packaging of the food that Narin and I ate, the general waste volume-based garbage bags, the bags that contained plastic bottles… … .

In the house where I live alone, even if we add in the food we eat, the amount of waste would be equivalent to that of a two-person household.

Last weekend, my mom, Narin’s mom, helped clean the house, so there isn’t that much trash left.

But just having trash taking up space in front of the front door makes it look messy. So you have to clean it up. And there’s something good to use right now.

A motorcycle would be tough, but an RC car has enough power to do so. It only goes as fast as a motorcycle, but that’s why it’s so powerful. An RC car is heavier than a motorcycle.

“Okay, guys! For now, we can only move one at a time. First, we’ll throw away the garbage bags. Then we’ll throw away the plastic. The cardboard boxes… … let’s put them on top of the detergent and fabric softener!”

“Rain, rain!”

“I think that should be clean enough. Na-rin, you do all the basic cleaning anyway. As for the laundry, it’s not uncommon to hang the laundry out in your studio.”

The plan is perfect. And I saw Saekmusae and Jihyun’s willingness to cooperate. Hamshik, isn’t it fortunate that he doesn’t make a mess of the room?

So, we need to move quickly. Tie the garbage bag with the pizza box string that we’ve been using so far and connect it to the RC car.

And a test drive. If my prediction is correct, the RC car should be able to pull the payload envelope, but is it?

“Move, okay! Now open the door!”

It’s all according to plan. Just throw away your trash like this and go back and forth to the recycling center twice.

I don’t know exactly where it is, but there’s a security guard on the first floor, so you can go and ask him.

But here a variable arose.

“Wait a minute, I need a rope to open the door… … ?”

“Ouch!”

A disaster that occurred when I first tried to check if the plan could be executed. But it’s not serious. It’s just a rope, so I can just untie it and tie it again.

So, just as I was about to untie the rope attached to the RC car, Hamshik, who had been spinning his wheel inside, came out to the front door.

“Hey, Hamshik! Are you here to help?”

As expected, it’s Hamshik. He was waiting for the right moment to help us when we were really in trouble. After all, the hero always appears last!

Hamsik can open doors without a rope. If it’s a corner of a wall, he can climb up the 90-degree angle of the wall. He can climb up to the door handle and open the door.

However, Hamshik just stopped in front of the front door and made no move to open the door.

We, who were trying to become strong with the support of the strong Hamsik, were wandering around Hamsik in a puzzled state.

“What’s wrong, the hamster won’t move. It must be broken.”

“Is it because you’re hungry? Hamshik-ah, Na-rin and someone else will be coming soon to eat together, so can you help me out a little?”

“The hamster stopped! The hamster broke! The batteries are dead! But we have batteries!”

At first I thought it was just broken, but then I saw Hamshik looking at the door with his nose twitching, which looked familiar.

When I thought about why he was doing this, I remembered that Hamshik used to come out like this to greet me when he heard footsteps outside the door.

So, because of the sound of footsteps outside, Hamshik came out here and was just staring at the door. He thought it was Narin.

“Ugh, Hamshik came out thinking it was just Nalin’s sister’s footsteps!”

“This can’t be happening… … . Then should we just untie the rope? There’s nothing we can do.”

In the end, we gave up on Hamshik’s help and moved on to what we originally wanted to do. What can we do? There’s a saying that the more urgent it is, the more you should turn back.

Well, there’s still time. It hasn’t been that long since Narin called, and she didn’t say she was leaving work right away.

So the sound of footsteps I can hear outside right now shouldn’t be Narin’s… … but why can I hear the sound of someone pressing the front door password?

We were all startled by the sound of the intruder, and we exchanged glances as we looked at each other. I thought, there’s no way Na-rin could be home already. Saek-mu-sae just stared blankly, and Ham-shik just twitched his nose with an incomprehensible expression.

In the end, Jihyun was the only one who could have a proper exchange of opinions. Maybe it was because her head was still sharp despite her smaller body, but Jihyun, who had already finished assessing the situation, was running towards my cell phone in a hurry.

“It might be a thief! Guys, hide quickly! I’ll report you… … !”

But it was much faster for Jihyun to key in five passwords and open the door than it was for her to reach my phone.

And then a familiar voice was heard through the open door, and a bundle came in before the person.

“Namin, Mom is here. Nalin hasn’t gotten off work yet? I don’t know why she never answers her phone. I sent her a text, but she doesn’t even read it. Oh my, did Namin have a friend? She has a parrot as her friend. Oh my, look at all the trash she’s been piling up again. Nalin, she never does anything even when I tell her to clean up.”

“Oh, Mom! Hello! I was going to separate the trash just now!”

It was Narin’s mother. It seems she contacted Narin, but didn’t know my phone number, so she couldn’t tell us.

While Ji-hyeon was there, blankly frozen like Ham-shik, the Saek-mu-sae folded one wing like an arm and placed it in front of her stomach, bowing her head.

“Hello, Mother. My name is Saekmusae and I live at Nalin’s house. Thanks to you, I am able to spend this cold winter in a warm place. Please take care of me.”

“Oh, hello. I’m Jihyun. I’m staying here for a while thanks to Na-rin.”

Thanks to Saekmusae, Jihyun was able to say hello to her mother. Everyone likes polite people.

Mom opened the bundle with a cheerful laugh.

“Oh ho ho, the parrot is really polite. Jihyun is happy to see you too. Mom came up because it’s almost Lunar New Year. Since Na-rin said she’d be working on Lunar New Year, I brought some rice cake soup and pancakes. At least you have to eat some holiday food to feel like you’re celebrating Lunar New Year.”

“Oh. Are you going to paint them all?”

“Yeah.”

That’s strange. They all hit on New Year’s Day. Was there such a thing?

On New Year’s Day, we eat tteokguk, and on Chuseok, we eat songpyeon. And we can bow to our ancestors and receive pocket money! It was an unfamiliar concept to me, who only remembered that much.

Come to think of it, that was the food they gave us at the hospital. Maybe I don’t remember it because it was a holiday I celebrated when I was too young.

Come to think of it, there might be a culture where everything is beaten, like the culture of burning beans on the first full moon of the lunar year, and eating red bean porridge on the winter solstice. Like in the West, where they tie balloons and hit them with baseball bats.

Hamshik would love the first full moon of the lunar year.

“But it might be dangerous when I’m doing it. Can Na-min and Ji-hyun stay away from Ham-shik and Saek-musae?”

“Yes, just leave it to me!”

“Yes, I will. It is dangerous if the oil splatters.”

How much did they put in that it’s splattering oil? Or is that the name of the food?

It’s a dish made by pounding it here and there, like pork chops.

Since the original names of dishes are often intuitive, it might be the same to type them all.

First, as my mother had ordered, I hugged the hamburger and fell backwards.

Hamshik struggled for a moment at the oily smell coming from the bundle, but he must have understood that it was dangerous and made no move to go in that direction.

Just Hamshik’s saliva dripping down on the floor.

“Oh, Hamshik. Just hold on a little longer. Na-rin will be getting off work soon. Let’s have dinner together then.”

“Kkiii… … .”

For the first time in a while, Hamshik let out a full-blown cry.