After the hobby story about whether it was poker or something else ended as a mere incident.
As May, the so-called month of family, passed by, we began to step into June, gradually welcoming summer.
As if to subtly announce that summer was nearing, the rain fell endlessly in a relentless drizzle.
Rather than the refreshing sound of “swish,” the air, now filled with maximum humidity, brought sticky discomfort.
Siyeon and I emerged from the side gate of the school to return home.
Taking shelter under an umbrella temporarily, we loosened one of the bag straps from our shoulders and moved it to the front.
With my hand delving into the front of the bag, I rummaged around and pulled out the umbrella.
You never know when it might rain, so the umbrella is always kept deep in the bag.
Pressing the button on the umbrella’s handle, a pop sounded, and the inside of the umbrella revealed its fully exposed frame.
It wasn’t perfect, but at least it provided some protection from the rain.
“Waaaah!”
Students who had forgotten to bring their umbrellas were left with no good options, so they dashed through the rain-soaked road, shouting.
The crazy sprint of male students charging down the drenched asphalt, it’s a wonder they won’t fall and get carted off in an ambulance to get a cast.
As we continued to walk, we approached the path leading to Siyeon’s academy.
Naturally, our paths began to diverge, and we exchanged farewells as we promised to meet again in the evening.
“See you later!”
“What do you want for dinner?”
In my parting words to the distancing Siyeon instead of saying “See you later,” Siyeon turned back after hearing my voice and pondered for a moment as our eyes met.
She then slowly rotated the umbrella in her hand, before finally blurting out the name of a dish.
“Um, budae jjigae?!”
Budae jjigae, a stew where you can just pick out the ingredients and mix with rice for a quick meal—it’s exactly the kind of dish kids love.
Given the pouring rain, it felt like an excellent idea to whip up a hot bowl of budae jjigae at home while turning on the air conditioner’s dehumidifier mode.
I memorized the ingredients I needed to buy while waving goodbye to Siyeon as she walked further away.
“Got it, have a good time!”
“Okay!”
For the first time in a while, I enjoyed the relaxing journey home alone.
Among the usual hopeless trio that I walked with, two had already parted ways, insisting on going to a PC café even in this rainy weather.
The last one, Taehyun, had decided to start going to an academy from June.
Could it be that, with other parents one by one sending their children to academies, even Taehyun’s mom, who usually seemed uninterested, felt a sense of urgency and sent him to the academy…?
So it seemed that as soon as school ended, a shuttle bus was waiting at the main gate.
Well, other people’s after-school academy schedules weren’t my business…
I thought I might go to the market on my way back to grab some ground meat and some front leg meat for the stew.
“One kilogram of front leg meat for stew, and one pack of ground meat, please.”
As I stepped into the market, the pink lights signaled the butcher shop, visible right away.
I stood there, impassively giving my order as if glued to the showcase, while a large piece of meat emerged from the commercial refrigerator at the back.
“Do you want the fatty side or the lean side?”
“The fatty side, please.”
The key to good stew meat lies in the fatty bits that simmer down tenderly and tastefully, so I asked for that instead of just the lean portion and waited for the meat to be cut.
The butcher ground the sharp knife along a metal rod a few times before cutting into the plastic wrap of the meat without hesitation.
While regular kitchen knives might stick to raw meat and struggle, the long butcher’s knife sliced through effortlessly.
Once it was securely wrapped in two layers of plastic, I held the pack of ground meat in one hand and paid a total of 8,000 won, satisfied with my purchase.
Just as I was thinking the remaining ingredients could be bought at a supermarket near the apartment…
“Oh my, isn’t that Mari?”
“Ah? Hello!”
I ran into Taehyun’s aunt, who was just entering the market.
As soon as she saw me, she pointed to the bag in my hand, curious about what I was carrying.
“What’s that?”
“Ingredients for budae jjigae.”
“Oh, I see! How’s Siyeon doing? Is she at home?”
Holding up the bag in my right hand, I revealed its contents while adding a few remarks, and the aunt continued the conversation with some curiosity about what Siyeon was doing.
“She went to the academy.”
“Oh, really? What about you, Mari? Aren’t you going?”
“No, I’m not going.”
Siyeon went to the academy, and I didn’t.
While I answered each question thrown my way, my mind and focus remained entirely on the bag in my hand.
I really wanted to get the meat into the fridge as quickly as possible, but the ongoing conversation made my feet fidget with impatience.
“How about you try going to the academy with Taehyun? He’s taking math, English, and science…”
“Oh, I’m not really into academies.”
“From 2nd year middle school, won’t you have midterms and finals? Preparing early would be a good idea.”
“Ah, okay, I’ll think about it…”
She kept bringing up various realistic academic topics as if trying to persuade me, perhaps because she thought it would be nice for Taehyun and me to have more chances to interact since we live so close to each other.
I understood it was her way of caring for me, but I just left noncommittal words thinking about it and took my leave.
After moving from the market, I arrived at the underground supermarket near the apartment.
Although it’s cheaper to buy fresh meat or seafood at the market, for some unknown reason, processed products tend to be more expensive at the market’s supermarket.
I don’t know why.
“Did they agree on that or what…?”
Thinking to myself while pointing at the display and sorting out what I had at home against what I needed, I carried a handful of ingredients with no basket.
I remembered canned ham was sufficiently stocked on the shelf, and the things I needed included baked beans and some kimchi and sausage varieties.
One pack of long sausages, one can of baked beans, and two packs of packaged napa cabbage kimchi.
Once I slipped the packs onto my fingers and placed the can in my palm, my hands were already filled along with the meat bag hanging from my wrist.
Adding to the awkward predicament of being a middle school girl, it was simply that my small hands couldn’t grasp many things.
“Total is 14,700 won. Would you like a bag?”
The supermarket clerk mentioned the bag right after seeing me struggling to hold everything in my hands after checking out.
The bag I had for the meat was just right for the meat, so there wasn’t much room for anything else.
“Yes…”
I thought I could manage without a bag, but considering I’d have to hold the umbrella, it was going to be impossible, so I let out a helpless agreement.
After checking out and returning to the shaded house, I headed straight for the kitchen and dumped everything I had gathered onto the counter.
With the spread out ingredients, I began preparing the budae jjigae without much fuss.
I took out the canned ham meant for the holidays and sliced it beautifully into a rectangular shape.
After tearing open the pack of kimchi, I immediately threw it into the large pot.
I took a lump of minced garlic from the freezer and diluted it in water, adding just a spoonful of red pepper flakes.
The salty flavor would be taken care of by the kimchi and ham, so I added just a spoonful of gochujang for caution.
I opened the can of baked beans and tossed in about half, storing the rest in a glass container for the fridge…
While I was in the middle of cooking, Gomteng interrupted the flow.
“Mari, I think a monster is about to appear.”
“Again? Do these guys only show up when I’m preparing food?”
At this point, the appearance of monsters wasn’t even surprising anymore.
Though we did negotiate around mealtimes, it was rather strange they only showed up when I was in the middle of something.
Moreover, being calm about it without a hint of anger was quite a funny situation in itself.
I pulled off the apron I had hanging to keep the broth from splattering and tossed it onto the chair, quickly donning the tracksuit that had been carelessly thrown on the wall.
Then came a strange smell wafting up.
‘Is it this outfit…?”
It was the scent I could catch from the tracksuit, which I usually only wore when heading out to deal with monsters.
Even though I had only worn it briefly, my unique scent had already absorbed into the fabric.
Sniffing the air and detecting a faint stench around my neck made me think I’d need to toss it into the washing machine after returning.
I decided to leave the bubbling pot for later enjoyment after returning from fighting the monsters, turning the induction to zero.
With Gomteng waiting at the table, I stuffed him into my pocket, slipped on only my sneakers, and ambled outside.
Since I couldn’t fly from the same place every time, I figured I’d change points and soar into the sky again.
This time, the monster had a familiar face, a fish head I had seen near Gangwon-do before.
“Hey, aren’t you that guy from before?”
“Oh, oh! You remember me! I actually wanted to ask the great magical girl, Sun, something!”
“Hmm?”
What it wanted to ask was already something fully discussed with the Medic Tentacle or whatever higher-up.
Apparently, the details shared among the higher-ups hadn’t reached the regular combat monsters, and those who had delved into black areas during the agreement believed firmly that they would be ‘gently allowed to die.’
However, since that day, some monsters claimed to be trembling in fear or whatever.
“First of all… if the last numbers on the calendar are 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8, you can consider me confirmed. Just don’t come on even days, okay?”
“Oh, oh! I’m infinitely grateful for your kindness! Please end my suffering quickly! This Kyupelet has already braced his heart for this!”
“Yeah, yeah, you did good.”
With the sky dyed by the setting sun, the red rays mixed with the scent of burning fish began to fill the street.
And just like that, my words of “don’t come on even days” went utterly unheard.
Worried about putting Siyeon through unnecessary trouble, those clever monsters began to show up only on even days.
‘Bastards.’
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