A familiar older sister exudes an uncanny talent for crime.
On weekends, with nowhere to go, my days consist of just lying on the floor at home, fiddling with my smartphone.
It’s been two years since the magical girl meet-up hasn’t happened.
Since the mid-point of the pandemic, the “no gatherings of five or more” rule emerged, leaving me with nothing akin to a recent social interaction labeled as “exchange.”
In the world, vaccines are said to be utterly useless, and some countries claim collective immunity and such.
As this ambiguous state continues, even mask changes have become a mere formality…
If I get sick, so be it, or maybe I won’t…
Given that the majority of society thinks this way, it naturally turned the gathering ban and social distancing into little more than nominal policies.
“Siyeon, what do you want for lunch?”
“Hmm… Gimbap!”
Siyeon, who was sitting in front of the computer, answered without taking her eyes off the screen.
These days, Siyeon is all about computer games.
Among them, she enjoys playing a few casual mobile games on her computer.
Why exactly play games that could just as easily be on a smartphone on a computer?
It’s a sentiment an old man like me can’t quite grasp.
On the flip side, I prefer calming farm management games over the usual competitive RPGs.
Having filtered out collection-based and RPG games, I didn’t need to be glued to the computer, so it naturally became Siyeon’s domain.
I couldn’t help but wonder why games that were so much fun suddenly became so boring, and it seemed I started distancing myself without realizing it.
“I’m back-”
With the ding-dong sound of the door lock, Ji-eun entered our home.
Whether it’s a weekday or a weekend, Ji-eun’s workplace is our house.
As if she had been waiting, she spoke while rolling around the living room carpet in the long hallway where Ji-eun entered.
“I was thinking of ordering gimbap, what do you want?”
“Just eat with you guys, I’m on a diet…”
However, the response I received from my sister was the usual diet talk along with a small container popping out from her handbag.
Inside was nothing but greens that seemed utterly tasteless and cherry tomatoes.
Calories equal the power of flavor, yet she chooses a life limiting that.
Staring at that plastic container with a sympathetic look, Ji-eun began crunching on cabbage as if she had reached enlightenment.
“Since I quit being a magical girl, I’ve been gaining weight, so be careful too…”
“…Yes.”
Ji-eun’s dejected expression.
For some reason, it didn’t feel like it was someone else’s problem, so I touched my still-normal belly and replied.
Just a pinch between my thumb and index, a bit over the finger line.
I’d seen somewhere online that women are more prone to gaining weight than men.
‘…Am I still okay?’
Just as I was concerned about my own endowment, Ji-eun, crunching away, posed a question to me.
“Oh right, you know the magical girl meet-up is starting again this year, right?”
“Excuse me?”
‘What in the world is this now?’
I let out a bewildered moan at the sudden news of a meet-up revival.
I glanced toward Gomteng, who should have informed us about this earlier.
“Oh, I totally forgot.”
When my eyes met with the one munching on potato chips, the distracted creature finally stopped chewing and spoke.
Immediately getting up, I grabbed Gomteng by the head.
With the sound of snack crumbs and the doll’s screams flying around.
“Uwahh!”
“When will you stop screwing around and do your job, huh?”
After tossing Gomteng into the air like a soccer ball, I gave a rough soccer kick that made a loud thud against the wall.
Now, even this has become part of daily life.
When Siyeon was in first year, I’d discouraged her, but now she’s completely unbothered, engrossed in her computer.
Ji-eun, who once worried about whether it was okay to beat up a mascot, nonchalantly fiddled with her smartphone and continued eating her salad.
Well, both know that this guy deserves to be hit.
After thoroughly bashing the chips Gomteng had devoured, I posed a late question.
“What’s the date?”
“Uh, next Saturday… it is.”
Gomteng, who had dumped out a mountain of chips, gave a brief announcement while holding its belly.
After hearing the response, I picked up a vacuum cleaner to sweep the crumbs scattered on the floor.
The vacuum roared to life.
The two sounds of the chips being sucked in and the loud vacuum overlapping.
As the vacuum, now making a huge noise, cleared the floor’s dust and then rested against the wall, the doorbell rang, right on cue.
The delivery guy must have arrived with the snacks ordered via the app.
Now I can reach the doorknob without tiptoeing; I suddenly realize how much I’ve grown.
“Enjoy your meal-”
“Thank you!”
For some reason, I took the bag from the delivery man waiting at the door with gratitude, stepping inside the house.
As soon as I took the bag, the rich aroma of tteokbokki and fried foods hit me.
Gimbap means snacks, snacks mean tteokbokki, and tteokbokki means fried foods.
I omitted sundae since Siyeon doesn’t like it.
In our house, there’s only the computer desk and a low table cum desk.
“Ugh…!”
As I set the bag filled with delivery food in front of the salad, Ji-eun’s expression morphed into a tortured one, swayed by the aroma.
But this was the only place in our house to eat something.
Feeling sorry for her, I offered her a perfectly wrapped gimbap in foil.
“Isn’t gimbap at least okay?”
If we exclude ham and eggs from the gimbap, it can even be a health-food that vegans can eat.
Korean food can be easily adapted to include pancake, noodles, and tofu among others without seafood or meat, so they can be flavorful with just a bit of modification.
However, Ji-eun firmly rejected.
“Carbohydrates, I can’t have carbohydrates…”
With her tightly pursed lips and pitiful chopstick skills, it was almost heartbreaking.
Meanwhile, Siyeon was still far from worrying about diets.
Finishing her game at the computer, she pulled her chair, as the dieting Ji-eun didn’t hesitate to flop down in front of the delivery food.
As the bag opened, the strong smell of tteokbokki and the scent of fried food filled the air.
Meanwhile, even if it didn’t specifically smell, the gimbap was stuffed with colorful ingredients.
“……”
Eventually, Ji-eun got up silently, taking the salad container and dashed upstairs.
Siyeon, perplexed by her actions, innocently asked with no malice.
“Why isn’t unnie eating?”
“She’s on a diet; let’s eat before she does.”
“Okay.”
Still too young to worry about diets or gaining weight.
Will there ever come a day when Siyeon or I, too, can empathize with that struggle?
I thought about it while picking up a neatly cut piece of gimbap with my chopsticks, watching Ji-eun chew on salad upstairs.
It seems like we eat a lot more now in fourth grade compared to first grade when just ordering one or two delivery meals used to leave us with leftovers.
The ominous shadow of potentially not having enough for ourselves is creeping in.
Even our mascots, who used to be responsible for cleaning up leftovers, now complain about there being nothing left even when delivery food comes.
“Is there anything left over?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Aww…”
I proclaimed firmly while watching the appropriate amount of food.
Of course, Siyeon’s mascot is well-behaved without complaints, while it’s only Gomteng who grumbles.
Given that it could survive without eating, it wants to join in even on non-special occasions now.
These days, it feels like even hitting it might be futile.
“I bought you snacks; what are you so upset about?”
A pile of snacks adorning the vicinity of the cushion.
A kindness I had extended to mascots that literally have no necessity to eat.
But Gomteng waved its hands and replied nonchalantly.
“I just threw it all up, and how can a person just live on snacks?”
“Talking like a person, huh?”
Seeing this animated doll assert that you can’t just live on snacks, I almost considered giving it a good whack, but I ended up arguing instead.
The saying that favors become rights applies perfectly to this scenario.
Rather, the audacity of its boldness was so outrageous, I turned my gaze upwards and shouted.
“Sis, isn’t there a mascot replacement system?!”
“Sadly, no.”
Yet the reply came back as “there isn’t such a thing.”
Hearing those words only made Gomteng puff its chest proudly, placing hands on its waist.
“No way, nope! Ahahaa!”
Gomteng shouting out some strange internet meme it picked up from who knows where.
Eventually, I decided to prove my anger by tearing its head off after years of deliberation.
Even though I had vowed never to pull another out… wail, oh grasp of hell!
“Graaaah!!!”
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