Side Story 10
Isquis kept his mouth shut at the sight of Set’s anger, which he hadn’t seen in a long time. The bloodshot eyes and protruding veins on his forehead made it seem like Set might blow away not only Isquis but the entire house without much surprise.
Unable to lie to such a Set, Isquis scratched his head and spoke honestly.
“I just got back myself due to some circumstances… But he probably just stepped out somewhere. Don’t worry too much, ack!”
“At ten in the evening? Where would he go when both Seho and I are gone, and the sun has already set?”
Set, who had approached Isquis in the blink of an eye, glared at him with bloodshot eyes. Realizing that a dark energy like heat waves was rippling around Set’s body, Isquis kept his mouth shut for fear of being caught in the crossfire.
Of course, inwardly he was scolding Set, thinking this kind of obsession must be why Master Ji-ho had left. Suppressing a sigh, Isquis said:
“He probably just went for a short walk.”
“In this mountain village at night, where wild animals might appear?”
“…Won’t he be back soon if we wait? Where could Master Ji-ho go without Your Excellency?”
Isquis tried to calm the anxious-looking Set. But since Set showed no signs of being reassured no matter how much Isquis told him that Yeon Ji-ho would return soon, he decided to change the direction of the conversation.
It was then that Isquis, standing at the door, suddenly took a step back. He glanced behind him once and said to Set:
“Actually, we have a visitor.”
“…A visitor?”
Isquis made a brief gesture behind him. Then, horns that had been hidden in the darkness were revealed by the sensor light at the entrance. Baal stood in front of the entrance, hunching his enormous body.
“Baal? Why is Baal here?”
“I don’t know either. I was surprised to find him in front of the school earlier, so I brought him along… He’s not one to answer when asked.”
Isquis scratched his head with a very troubled expression. If this were Asterra, he would have just left Baal there, but unfortunately, this was Korea. Especially in a mountain village like this, if a timid ordinary person encountered Baal, they might collapse on the spot.
So Isquis, who could neither abandon Baal nor force him to move, had stayed by Baal’s side all day to monitor him and prevent any incidents. The reason he had returned to the pension so late was to ask Yeon Ji-ho to open a gate for Baal to return.
“…This is a problem, we can’t send him back without Master Ji-ho.”
Isquis patted Baal’s shoulders, which were larger than his own height of over 180 cm, and spoke to Set. While Set frowned at Baal, Baal was quietly turning his head and moving his nose at the entrance.
“Isquis, do you know why there are no guests at the pension today?”
“What? Oh, now that you mention it, the pension is quiet. That’s strange, Master Ji-ho said it was fully booked for this month…”
“…So you don’t know either.”
Isquis wasn’t much different from himself. The furrow between Set’s brows deepened.
Baal, who had been standing quietly at the entrance, suddenly started moving his feet. As Baal entered the living room with his shoes still on, Isquis panicked and clung to him.
“Baal, this is Korea! Take off your shoes!”
Baal looked at Isquis with annoyed eyes. Finally, he grabbed Isquis’s head and flung him far away. Set, who had been standing nearby, quietly approached and said:
“Baal. Take off your shoes.”
“…Don’t want to.”
“Is that so?”
Set responded in a flat tone. Judging by his tone alone, it seemed like he might allow Baal to wear shoes inside the house.
However, knowing how much Yeon Ji-ho cherished this house inherited from his parents, Set wouldn’t let him off. Set raised his finger and created a sword with dark energy for the first time in a long while.
The sword floating in the air fell and touched Baal’s feet. Naturally, the shoes Baal was wearing were completely cut into pieces. Only the shoes were precisely cut without a single scratch on his feet—still excellent swordsmanship.
“Tsk.”
Baal briefly clicked his tongue, looking at what had been his shoes now lying on the floor. But he continued to stride forward without concern. His nose was still twitching.
Set and Isquis watched to see where Baal was going. Baal, who kept sniffing, arrived at the kitchen connected to the living room. After wandering around the kitchen, Baal finally reached the refrigerator.
Baal began exploring how to open it, touching various parts of the refrigerator with his thick hands. When he accidentally opened the refrigerator door, Baal stretched his lips into a smile at the delicious smells that poured out with the cold air.
But that only lasted for a moment.
“Baal. Are you hungry?”
Thud.
Set, who had approached before Baal realized, blocked his way and harshly closed the refrigerator door. Seeing the feast of delicious foods that had disappeared before his eyes, Baal alternately looked at Set and the refrigerator. He seemed to be considering whether he could kill Set and take over the refrigerator.
Apparently judging that he couldn’t beat Set yet, Baal nodded reluctantly with an annoyed face. Set quietly admonished Baal:
“Then answer me. How did you cross over from Asterra?”
“…If I answer?”
“I’ll give you food.”
Baal lowered his eyes and fell into thought for a moment. Meanwhile, Set opened the refrigerator door and took out bread that had been stored inside. Then, with familiar movements, he approached the toaster that was equipped on one side of the kitchen.
He put two slices of bread in the toaster and pressed the button, starting the timer. By the time Set had done all that, Baal’s answer came:
“Don’t remember.”
“Try to remember.”
“…I crossed through a door and found myself here.”
Baal, who didn’t like thinking in the first place, seemed to have a headache from trying to recall how he had crossed over to this place. On the other hand, Set squinted one eye at the mention of crossing through a “door.”
As the two were in a subtle standoff, ding… With a light spring sound, the freshly toasted bread popped up. Naturally, the eyes of both Baal and Isquis turned in that direction.
Set let out a short sigh and ended the standoff with Baal, taking out the two pieces of toast. Then he brought chocolate jam from the upper cabinet and placed everything on the table. Set handed the spreader and toast to Baal and said:
“Eat it yourself.”
At those words, Baal didn’t hesitate to snatch the hot toast. Just as he was about to force the toast into his mouth, Isquis hurriedly approached and stopped him.
“You stupid oaf, that’s not how you eat it!”
Isquis, as a senior immigrant to this world, decided to teach Baal, who was still a newcomer, the proper way to eat this delicious toast. He scooped up a generous amount of chocolate jam—what was known in the world as “devil’s chocolate jam”—with the spreader and thickly spread it on the toast.
Even while spreading the jam himself, Isquis couldn’t help but swallow his saliva. This was understandable since he hadn’t eaten properly all day except for the hamburger he had hurriedly eaten for lunch, having been dragged around by Baal.
“Here. Eat it like this. You too, feel the taste of this insane calorie bomb!”
Chuckling, Isquis handed the jam-spread toast to Baal. Again, without any particular reaction, Baal grabbed the toast and squinted one eye at the sticky chocolate on his fingers.
Finally, Baal shoved it whole into his mouth.
“…”
“How is it? Delicious, right? Totally epic?”
“…Isquis. What exactly are you learning at school?”
“Your Excellency, this is all about trends, trends. You can’t survive in a Korean high school without using words like these.”
While Isquis and Set exchanged words, Baal moved his cheeks to chew the toast. Crunch. An overwhelming sweetness that could melt his brain, combined with the crispy and warm texture of the toast, exploded in his mouth.
That’s when Baal’s jaw began to move like crazy.
Watching this, Isquis laughed so hard he almost lost his breath and said to Baal:
“This is totally like a beast tasting civilization for the first time.”
“…”
Baal didn’t care about Isquis’s teasing. He was solely focused on chewing and enjoying the toast; his mouth moved only for eating. Finally, gulp, when he swallowed the last bit of bread down his throat:
Baal spoke in a quietly enraged voice:
“I can’t believe… I didn’t know about this.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
That’s the same reaction as Ganesha 🤣🤣