Fried, seasoned, soy sauce.
The chicken includes four pieces, including boneless.
Aside from Juwon, who is eating the chopped boneless chicken, everyone is picking at a leg each, leaving two pieces remaining.
As we sit down tearing into the chicken, Uncle Dae-han tosses a question to me and Siyeon.
“How are your studies at school? It must be a bit different now that you’re in middle school.”
If Ji-eun asked about school life, the uncle is asking about studies.
It seems adults really ask the same things of students.
For now, I’m managing to stay in the upper-middle range.
I scratched the back of my head with the wooden chopsticks and gave a vague answer.
“It’s okay, I guess…”
“It’s hard.”
“Yeah, you have to really focus from middle school.”
“Ugh, come on! We’re eating, why talk about studying?”
Smack! Ji-eun’s sharp slap landed on Uncle Dae-han’s back.
With a yelp, the uncle straightened up, his previously bent figure standing tall.
‘That sure packs a punch.’
After that little moment, dinner continued.
Anyway, it was too much for two middle school girls and one baby to each have a whole chicken.
After somehow eating about half a chicken, I leaned back against the sofa and let out a heavy breath.
While catching my breath, Juwon arrived waddling over, having finished his share of chicken in no time.
“Unna…!”
“Yeah, yeah, you don’t call me sister anymore, do you?”
I scooped Juwon up under his arms and plopped him onto my lap, bouncing him up and down.
It feels like just yesterday he was a tiny thing sticking his tongue out on the mat with only his weed-like hair. Now, simply resting him on my thigh, I can feel his weight.
Seeing that, you really get to feel how quickly kids grow up.
“Come to think of it, isn’t Juwon’s birthday coming up around this time?”
“Wasn’t it just yesterday?”
Upon hearing “yesterday,” I mentally slapped myself.
While I hadn’t realized we had missed celebrating his birthday, Juwon was joyfully bouncing around on my thigh.
“Oh no, I totally forgot… ack.”
No matter how young he is, having Juwon bounce powerfully on my thigh starts to hurt after a while.
I grabbed him under his arms again, lifting him high into the air, then sat him down on the rubber puzzle mat and said to Ji-eun,
“We’ll cover the meal cost today.”
My fingers rummaged through my wallet to find two 50,000 won bills.
But for some reason, Ji-eun’s hand stopped me.
“No, no! What are you talking about? When Juwon goes to kindergarten, we’ll take care of it then.”
Kindergarten, huh…
Will Juwon be going to kindergarten while we’re still in our second year of high school?
Isn’t it ridiculous how expensive kids’ toys are these days?
It feels like it would be cheaper just to cover the meal costs.
I couldn’t voice that snobby thought, so I tilted my head and rested my hands on my stomach, leaning back into the sofa.
As soon as I put Juwon down, he bolted over to Siyeon.
“Eebu eebu eebu!”
“Puhaha-!”
Siyeon was getting quite into playing with Juwon, bringing her mouth to her shirt and blowing air to entertain him.
Even while sleepy, the kids were tireless, and I was exhausted from playing with them while they yawned.
While we were busy playing with Juwon, Ji-eun was dividing the leftover chicken into boxes.
When I glanced over, we were able to take home some fried, seasoned, and soy sauce chicken, nearly a full chicken’s worth.
“Hmm… For breakfast tomorrow, I guess we can reheat this.”
“Yeah, Gomteng and Baemi will eat too…”
I had nearly forgotten about the mascots while playing with the little one.
They’ll clear it all out by morning, it seems.
Wait, did I just hear that right?
“Baemi?”
“The mascot, that’s what I call her.”
As I repeated back the unusual name, Siyeon explained the meaning satisfactorily.
Not referring to that BaX’s MinX, I guess?
Perhaps because I keep mentioning the Sea Snake, Siyeon decided to stretch the end of the name.
Is it similar to how I call the bear mascot Gomteng?
Though that’s close to a derogatory name, I’ve gotten used to referring to it that way.
Back in room 402 of building 202, my safe space.
After entering the code, I returned to a clean sanctuary with no chores left to do.
Without a smartphone, the two mascots were huddled together, watching TV.
They were hidden behind the sofa, but they were the only two living beings I could see in the darkened house with the TV on.
With a crunching sound, I shook the bag containing the chicken box.
“Hey, you little ones, time to eat chicken!”
“Wahk, Chick-!”
As soon as I entered the house, my hungry Gomteng popped out from behind the sofa first.
I casually dropped the bag with the chicken box on the table, and the Gomteng and the Sea Snake eagerly dug in from the upright bag.
In times like this, everything clicks into place.
Peeking into the bag from which I had pulled out the box, Gomteng, looking somewhat disappointed, asked me,
“Isn’t there chicken radish?”
“You don’t eat greens, right? There’s none left.”
“Bummer.”
As I was about to smack him on the back of the head for being grumpy, I paused mid-swing.
It’s not like he complained, but it seems like my fist often goes up lately.
Eh, I guess he could feel let down.
“Did you not bring any Coke?”
“Ugh!”
“Bukk!”
With Gomteng’s whine, I fell back slightly, then, gathering momentum, swung my fist.
He got squished against the dining table, bouncing back and tumbling onto the floor.
His belly must’ve flopped.
As for the bouncing Gomteng, I preemptively warned him to clean up after eating.
“Just eat reasonably, and dispose of the bones as regular trash.”
“Got it, will do!”
After heading into my room, I closed the door, quickly removed my gray long sleeves and tracksuit, then searched for my dumbbells in just my underwear.
I prefer to find exercises that don’t create noise while at home.
Of course, once I transform into a magical girl, I become literally invincible, but I mustn’t neglect my body before transforming.
Unless one can live as those guys and transform, in Korea, that’s not the case.
To enhance my punching power like last time, I need to maintain regular exercise.
“Phew.”
Letting out a short sigh, I took a break in between exercises.
Lifting and lowering a 10-kilogram dumbbell repeatedly started to make the upper part of my arms shake.
Once again, I realized just how different basic strength can be between guys and girls.
It feels unreasonable how this body needs to work out even to lose weight without moving an inch.
Not moving a single step, yet I felt beads of sweat starting to form.
Even though my hair is already cut short, it still irritates me when it brushes against my bare skin while exercising.
“Mari, what are you doing with the door closed?”
Siyeon peeked her head through the slightly open door.
She stared at me, who was dripping with sweat, while blinking her eyes.
“I’m working out. Why?”
“Ah, it’s nothing!”
Siyeon stood there, seeming lost while looking at me in nothing but my underwear.
After saying it’s nothing, she quickly dashed back to her room.
Why is she being so dramatic? It’s not like I’m a guy.
With that thought in mind, I exhaled a hot breath, grabbed a bundle of underwear, and headed for the bathroom.
As I washed my sticky body under hot water that was even hotter than the sweat, a refreshing sensation enveloped me.
“Ahhh…”
While Mari was engulfed in the revitalizing freshness after exercise, the monster executives gathered for the first time in a while.
Currently, aside from Maker, who is on transfer to another ship, the remaining four executives sat huddled together.
The Recovery Room Executive, Medic Tentacle.
The Ship Repair Room Executive, Asura.
The Training Room Executive, Shield Lion.
The Transmission Room Executive, Gate Keeper.
The rare gathering of them came for a singular reason.
To attend a meeting under the directives of their superiors.
Opening the discussion is Asura, the Ship Repair Room Executive with eight arms.
“Alright, we’ve received an official document from above…”
“Haah…”
Shield Lion, already sighing without even hearing what it’s about.
It’s a clear fact that good news doesn’t come when they all manage to gather like this.
It’s just a matter of severity; what ridiculous business is it this time?
The executives begin to worry first.
The first to speculate on the official document from above is Gate Keeper.
“Is it another bizarre monster coming under the guise of a captain?”
“Uh… no, it’s not that.”
Asura lightly dismissed Gate Keeper’s prediction.
He scratched the back of his head with two upper arms while continuing with nonsensical content he himself didn’t quite understand.
“To summarize a rather long content… they say to stop mindlessly fighting and instead consider planning invasions outside of combat.”
“Huh?”
The one who let out the most bewildered exclamation first was Medic Tentacle.
His surprised tone carried the feeling of ‘Now, really?’
Who has been making them fight all this time?
“They mentioned that our troops need adaptive training and want us to create bases for monsters anywhere on Earth.”
At Asura’s notification, the other monsters scratched their heads.
The survival time of monsters that arrive at Earth averages less than an hour—what?
Create a base on Earth?
It’s an operation that goes beyond absurdity, even eliciting hollow laughter.
“Kehehe… what a load of crap.”
“Another stupid idea come from desk-pushing theorists, huh…”
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