episode_0350

After doing a final check on what was to come at Ji Cheon-hyang’s house, I returned to the pension.

On the way back, I briefly collected information and data about Ji Cheon-hyang that I could not find in the original work, and I was able to fully understand the background of her twisted eating habits.

“Why are you so pale, brother?”

As soon as I returned to the pension, I met Ymir, who was cooking.

She was preparing some fried rice in the kitchen, and among the vegetables in it, there was nothing that could be called ‘fruit’.

“I talked to someone who had really terrible eating habits.”

“Terrible appetite…? Who are you talking about? Sister Serin?”

“Eating mint chocolate isn’t a terrible thing.”

He immediately tried to attack someone’s personal taste just because he was away, but Ymir would definitely be horrified if he heard that.

“Ji Cheon-hyang, she put tangerines on top of the ramen and then ate them with a large chopstick.”

“…Oysters?”

“Tangerine.”

Even Ymir answered through a filter in her brain to see if she had misheard, but she clearly had heard correctly.

“Orange? Mandarin? Those tangerines?”

“Okay. Even later, when I ate ramen with rice, I mixed tangerines in it too.”

“Oppa. Does that person, by any chance, have some kind of restriction to maintain S rank?”

After Ymir had finished frying the rice and turned off the fire, he asked me with a serious expression.

“This ability can only be maintained by mixing tangerines with rice… Oh my goodness, if that’s the reward for protecting the entire Jeju Island with tangerines, then ah, really… It’s a pity.”

This ability in this world is the fulfillment of imagination.

However, among the various abilities in creative works, there are cases where this ability poses a ‘risk’.

Every time you use an ability, you have to pay a price.

Because you produce excessive output, your body becomes younger as you deal with it.

If it’s a fantasy related to this ability, it’s bound to set up a reward for this ability.

“To protect the region, as a hero, you have to eat tangerine rice three times a day. That’s too much.”

If you think about it that way, is Ji Cheon-hyang mixing tangerines with rice a reward for her ability?

Half are right, half are wrong.

“Ymir. Just because you control tangerines, there is no condition that you have to put tangerines in all your food.”

“Yeah, right?”

Ymir was very nervous as he carefully touched the peeled hallabong in front of him.

“Oh, brother. It’s not like the kernels explode like buckshot or anything like that, right?”

“As for the pension area, Serin and I have already taken control of the area, so that won’t happen. And the magical connection was removed from all Hallabongs brought here.”

“Is there a magic connection to all tangerines?”

“It’s connected by incense. It’s kind of like a color…”

“Color? Orange?”

“You can think of it as something like a network. Tangerine Network. I’ll say it again, it’s just that the target is tangerines. If each electric object has its own magnetic field, it spreads out as waves around it.”

I peeled the hallabong and placed the kernels in front of Ymir.

“If an electric object has a magnetic field, these tangerines expand their territory based on their unique scent. Jicheonhyang controls tangerines throughout Jeju Island through its scent. You definitely saw that power, right?”

“Yes. I clearly realized how strong the region-dominated hero is.”

Although it hasn’t been long since he became Platinum Sun, Ymir witnessed Jicheonhyang’s dominance in Jeju Island, albeit briefly.

“Even though the Hero Association announced that Seon Ga-eul was officially exterminated, all of those bone suckers who landed on Jeju Island were locked up in Tangerine Prison. And some of it is from rotten tangerines.”

“Okay. She has such great control over tangerines that she can select and attack tangerines according to their freshness. Also about this entire area of Jeju Island. But that doesn’t mean that the trade-off for that ability is a maniacal appetite for tangerines.”

I took a big bite of the Hallabong kernels and stuffed them into my mouth.

“He’s just a weirdo. That’s how much I love tangerines.”

“Tangerines….”

“You know what I said in passing last time? It is said that each person with this ability manifests it differently, and that this ability has the greatest psychological impact.”

“Yes. Magical power is something you are born with, but this ability is something you develop with your brain. You taught me this last time when I was having dinner at home.”

Perhaps because he had calmed down a bit, Ymir started cooking again and continued his conversation with me.

“In cases where this ability is awakened as a baby, it is because the brain activity that strongly requests something takes place even though the child is still a child. In most cases, it involves manipulating specific objects or using magic power as an energy source.”

“It is said that Ji Cheon-hyang has been handling tangerines since she was a baby. Do you know the background?”

“…It wasn’t on the hero wiki.”

“It was the baby’s survival instinct.”

I bit into the peel of the tangerine and squeezed out the juice from the fruit.

“An abandoned child who could not drink his mother’s milk was trying to drink the juice from the tangerines that were scattered all over Jeju Island. Instinctively.”

“Baby, are you going?”

“Okay. Baby. Most people with special abilities who awaken as babies often do so in such extreme environments.”

It’s one of those bittersweet stories.

It is not that they were abandoned because they had supernatural abilities, but it is a very common story in this world that a child who was abandoned in the world of supernatural abilities without knowing that he or she was born with magical powers awakened this ability as a baby and ended up growing up in an orphanage.

“So now in this world, above all else, we are doing our best to raise children. Giving birth out of patriotism is giving birth, but the child-rearing and education that goes into raising a child afterwards is also a dedication to the country and the world.”

“So…if you don’t take good care of him when he’s young, he’ll grow up to be a child who eats tangerines wrapped in ramen noodles?”

“Well, if you want to joke, that’s right.”

I had to control tangerines to survive.

Because tangerines were all over the place.

“Before she was found abandoned, she survived by eating only tangerines until an adult found her. For her, tangerines were baby food, water of life, and rice. So, Ymir, if you have children later, you will have to focus on raising children.”

“Someone must take care of the child…”

“That’s natural.”

Even if it is not a world of special abilities, there must always be someone to take care of the child.

In the world of special abilities, the difficulty level of taking care of a child goes up even further.

“Anyway, there are times when I really feel that way as I live in this world. There are so many dirty and obscene things in this world.”

“…….”

“You too?”

“Yes….”

Ymir did not deny it.

“Really, sometimes I wonder if this is true. There are times when I wonder what it would be like if we just blow it all up.”

Meteorite ending.

“But every time I did that, someone kept appearing before my eyes. A person who has probably seen more things like that than me, but is still trying to get rid of those dirty things.”

“Who?”

“Oppa.”

Ymir placed the food he cooked on the table and sat across from me.

“You should not burn down your house just because there is trash lying around, but even if there is a lot of trash, you should organize and remove only that trash. My brother taught me that more clearly than anyone else, and he shows it to me himself.”

Sreuk, sreuk.

“Just like a fish doesn’t have thorns that doesn’t mean it can’t be eaten.”

Ymir extended his chopsticks towards the fish he had grilled himself, and in one go, gently removed only the bones from the fish and selected only the meat, placing it in front of me.

“If we just polish off and discard the unhelpful parts, the world will definitely become more beautiful. Right?”

“…Okay. That is the ideology and method of association.”

So, I am also loyal to the association.

As a ‘reader’ who once loved a world that I loved more than anyone else, a world that even the author threw away with a meteorite, I am working in an association because I want to protect this world that I loved and cherished so much.

That is unmistakable love.

“We ended up here while talking about tangerine rice. Anyway, if you have children later, you have to raise them well. Otherwise, you’ll grow up and eat tangerine rice. Do you understand?”

“Are you dissing me?”

“The background to eating tangerine rice is unfortunate, but it is separate from that. Do you want your child to grow up and be a picky eater and eat tangerines instead of meat with rice?”

“Of course not.”

Ymir clenched both fists towards me.

“Your son is so precious, how could you do that?”

“…Have you already decided on your son?”

“Hihi, oppa.”

Ymir grinned as he placed the fish fillet on top of the spoonful of rice I scooped out.

“You don’t deny that you are your child?”

“…….”

I just lightly shrugged my shoulders.

* * *

That time.

Somewhere along Jeju Island’s Olle Trail, covered only in darkness, a white-haired woman – Hyun Se-rin – was silently waiting for someone.

Grumble, rumble.

The wheels are rolling roughly on the gravel of the Olle Trail, and a woman in a suit with orange hair is walking from afar, dragging a large suitcase.

“Lina!! Sister is here!!”

“……It’s late.”

Hyun Se-rin covered her face with her hands as she looked at the woman with a bright smile.

“What did you do to come here so late?”

“A long journey across the country?”

“What?”

“I walked from Seoul to here without getting caught.”

“…I walked?”

“Yes! It’s a waste of horsepower.”

“Ah, ha. No.”

Hyeon Se-rin tried to say something, but pressed her hand to her temple and silenced her mouth.

“…So did you bring the goods?”

“Yes. of course. This is a request from our provincial manager, and I brought it myself.”

Bang bang.

The woman-chaos twitched the corner of her mouth, tapping her hand on the carrier.

“An auction item that will draw attention from all over the world. An item that all S-class people will drool over and can be sold through legal routes.”

Click.

The suitcase was opened, and the moonlight removed the darkness inside the suitcase and slowly revealed the items inside.

“Phoenix’s feather.”

Inside the carrier, there was a feather that looked like a glowing blue flame.

“It is a one-time consumable item, but anyone would drool over something that would return the body to the way it was 10 seconds ago.”

It is a keepsake of a hero that contains the ability to travel back in time (10 seconds).

“Auction, how high do you think the asking price will go up?”