Ding dong!
After Claire and Alice learned Hangul, they were given permission to play with anything they wanted in the room.
Woohoo!
There weren’t many options, but there were books and, since they loved watching movies, they happened to have a console that played Blu-ray discs, so they had a decent collection of movie Blu-rays too.
Flick flick!
In fact, they didn’t have to study English separately because they could understand it to some extent. They just needed to memorize some irregular words. To them, it seemed more like a dialect than a foreign language.
Pop pop!
Well, they didn’t really need subtitles, since the sounds would get translated into our ears anyway.
Whoosh!
And both of them got smartphones! Like my resident registration card, theirs wasn’t fake, so getting them connected wasn’t that difficult. We had a Wi-Fi device in the room, so there were no extra internet costs. After all, the three of us were almost always together!
Ding!
But the price of the devices was a problem.
Gulp!
I didn’t want to buy them a cheap model that’s confusing to use. You know, that saying? Sometimes you see companies offering low-performance smartphones as “parental phones” and think, “Parents want to use good stuff too!”
Hmm…
I didn’t want to get them something underperforming just because they were only starting with electronics, but buying the latest models felt a bit… too much. While our broadcasting was going well and sponsorships were coming in more frequently, I wanted to avoid splurging hundreds of thousands on smartphones for both of them at once or getting stuck with an expensive plan.
Bing!
In the end, I opted for used ones.
Wiggle wiggle!
Even though the other person was taken aback by my appearance, I was still able to find a very good smartphone in excellent condition for a nice price after about two years.
Cha-ching!
“If the broadcasting gets even better, I might consider selling this and getting you a new one,” I said.
“Hmm? No, this is more than enough!”
“Right. No need to overdo it. Anyway, the ones needing help here are the two of us.”
Hearing Claire and Alice respond like that made me feel like the eldest son of a family in poverty—but hey, it wasn’t bad either.
Bloop!
They had always been interested in smartphones and would often borrow mine to play, so to be honest, I was worried they’d just get absorbed by them—
“But I don’t want my conversation with my sister to get cut off because of a smartphone.”
“There are plenty of other things to learn here too. Besides… if we just keep watching videos, it feels like a waste of time.”
After spending about three days absorbed in their smartphones, that’s how they felt.
Yay!
It was kind of impressive.
Cheer!
Despite that, Claire had started staying up late at night, and Alice seemed to be interested in mobile games, but I decided to just take it as a good thing. At least they weren’t skipping meals just to watch TV like I did when I was in elementary school!
Nom nom!
Since we’re on the subject of meals, let’s talk a bit about food. The two of them were gradually getting used to the food here.
Yum yum!
It’s not like it was inspired by England or anything, but they were absolutely loving the three-minute curry.
Bloop!
…Although it was kind of a food I got sick of since I ate it too much as a student. Still, I was relieved they were okay with just three-minute curry rather than something really expensive.
Phew!
As long as it wasn’t too spicy, they enjoyed eating a variety of things, which was a relief.
Yay!
Among the three of us, I’d say I was the best cook, so I usually did the cooking.
Stir stir!
But no matter how much I wanted them to eat healthily, sometimes I was just too lazy to cook. During those times, we chose cup ramen or ready-made meals instead.
Slurp slurp!
That’s right. Even after they started living together, my cooking hadn’t changed much from the home-cooked meals I made in this world.
Whew!
I was glad I still remembered at least that much. I thought I’d forgotten everything since I hadn’t cooked in a while.
Bing!
It was the morning of our day off from the broadcast when Claire brought up the movie topic.
Ding ding!
We had just been to a hotel last week, and while it wasn’t as expensive as I thought, we also couldn’t afford to go every week, so this week we decided to stay home and think about what to do for fun.
“Hey, sis,”
At lunchtime, while I was considering whether we should head back to the Han River, Claire spoke up, grabbing my attention.
Look!
Since I still had food in my mouth, I didn’t respond verbally, but it didn’t seem like her hesitation was due to that.
“Um… there’s something I’d like to ask…”
Claire? Asking for a favor?
GASP!
Amidst our somewhat routine life, it was a bit surprising to hear Claire say that.
Hmm…
Now that I think about it, Claire had never asked me for anything like that before. Probably because we never lived together. Claire thought of me as an older sister, and I did consider her somewhat as my younger sister, but we still had different surnames.
Whoa!
Moreover, I was a crown princess and Claire was a noble, so there was really no reason for her to ask me for anything. If she needed something, she could just ask Grace’s estate. In fact, it would feel more natural for Alice to be the one asking.
Sigh…
And, oddly enough, I was a bit happy about it.
Yay!
I wasn’t quite sure how to word that feeling. If I had to compare it, it felt like when my adopted daughter asked me for help for the first time saying, “Daddy, I have a favor to ask,” but of course, Claire wasn’t my daughter.
Hmm…
Besides, Claire was already calling me “sister” without hesitation… so, I guess it didn’t matter.
“Whatever you want, just say it. If it’s something I can help with, I’ll be happy to do it.”
But rather than showing immediate delight, Claire’s expression showed more hesitation.
Ugh…
Alice, who was also eating, put down her chopsticks with a serious look, as if she thought Claire’s favor was quite significant.
Whoa!
However, what came out of Claire’s mouth was far lighter than I expected.
“Um, I want to watch a movie…”
Oh, I see.
Bum bum!
Claire and Alice liked movies.
But it wasn’t the story from Azernar; it was the story from Earth.
Woosh!
Since Azernar’s movies were just starting to emerge, they were barely on the level of black-and-white silent films.
Ugh…
Of course, there are many masterpieces among black and white silent films. No matter how good the technology in the movies from the 21st century gets, there are still many timeless masterpieces that won’t be overshadowed by that.
Oh wow!
But that’s that, and this is this. There’s nothing like “new movies” in terms of entertainment.
Bam!
And I already had quite a few Blu-ray discs in my room, plus I was subscribed to a streaming service, so Claire wasn’t talking about watching movies on that small monitor.
“Ah, you want to go to the cinema.”
“Yep!”
Claire’s response made Alice let out a sigh of relief as she picked up her chopsticks again.
“Hmm… by the way, it’s only been a few weeks since we got here, and you’re already using chopsticks quite well. I wonder if that’s a result of effort?”
Hmm!
After that thought crossed my mind, I answered Claire.
“Well, there’s a way to watch it for free.”
I still needed to think a bit about whether to do 4DX or whatever, but I’d been able to watch regular movies that way multiple times since college.
“Really?”
“Yes. However, it takes a little time. And it might hurt a bit.”
Claire looked shocked at my words, and Alice froze. Both of them were looking at me with somewhat horrified expressions.
Whoa, what?
“…If you’re thinking of something inappropriate, you have nothing to worry about. It’s all totally legal and not sexual at all.”
Hearing that, both of them seemed a bit relieved, but now their expressions were filled with doubt.
Uh?
“It’s something done by a public institution, so you don’t need to worry too much.”
I said once again, but both of them still just tilted their heads.
Huh?
Ding!
“Oh, I see now.”
It was only when I brought the two to the blood donation center that Alice nodded.
Woop woop!
That’s right. If you donate blood at the blood donation center, you can get free movie tickets!
Woohoo!
Coincidentally, all three of us had just turned 16. Of course, on the registration card, it said 18.
Hmm!
“Donate blood?”
After seeing Claire tilt her head in confusion, Alice explained.
“It’s for people who have lost blood due to an accident or are low on blood during surgery. It’s to make sure they don’t die from excessive bleeding. But if you ask someone for blood for free, hardly anyone would do it, so they give away prizes.”
Prize prize!
“You can’t just buy it with money?”
“That would definitely be a problem too.”
Alice seemed to have read about it online.
Buzz!
After finishing the explanation, Alice pondered for a moment and then looked at me.
“By the way… since we came from another world, is it really okay for us to donate our blood?”
…Huh?
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