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“Ji-ho, Ji-ho-nim! Is this enough?!”
In the outdoor barbecue area behind the pension, enclosed by simple plastic walls.
Yeon Ji-ho, who had been busily preparing inside the barbecue area, paused momentarily when he saw Isquis running from outside. Isquis’s arms were full of cabbages, which he held out to Ji-ho with a somewhat proud expression.
“…Did you pull all of these?”
“Yes! The more we eat, the better, right?”
At Isquis’s cheerful response, Ji-ho silently rubbed his face.
On this momentous day when all the beasts of Gorgon had come to Ji-ho’s pension, the evening menu was samgyeopsal (pork belly). Not only was Apophis’s strong opinion factored into the menu selection, but samgyeopsal was also the best option for everyone to eat a lot together.
However, preparing a meal for 8 people alone was no easy task, so Ji-ho had just divided tasks among them.
Among them, Isquis was tasked with pulling cabbages planted in the vegetable garden. As they had just entered early winter, Ji-ho thought it would be good to wrap the meat with cabbage instead of lettuce.
“The cabbage, all of it that was there…”
“Of course! Is it too much?! Should I bury some back?”
“…No, let’s just store it in the warehouse and make kimchi later.”
Ji-ho swallowed a sigh and ordered Apophis to move all but one head of cabbage to the warehouse. Apophis left again to move the ten cabbages he had easily carried to the warehouse.
The next to approach Ji-ho was Shango. Shango’s task was to chop firewood for the barbecue brazier.
“…Ji-ho-nim.”
“Yes? Did you call… Oh.”
Ji-ho turned his head at Shango’s quiet call, but swallowed a groan when he saw the mountain of firewood. Shango was just as generous as Isquis.
The firewood he had chopped seemed enough to last all winter without running out. Ji-ho had asked him to split a few large logs stacked behind the pension into smaller pieces, but it seemed he had gone into the mountain behind the pension and cut down trees on his own.
This time, even Ji-ho couldn’t laugh it off. Cutting trees from the mountain that didn’t belong to him would surely result in a call from the Forest Service. The thought of the impending fine already gave him a headache.
But when he tried to scold Shango, he saw a subtle smile on his dark face. It was clearly a proud expression, making it impossible for Ji-ho to say everything on his mind.
“Yes… Good job. Could you leave a few pieces of firewood and move the rest to the warehouse?”
For now, let’s just let it slide today.
And if there’s ever a need to chop firewood again, never ask Shango. He had asked him because Shango usually used an axe as his main weapon, but now he realized that was a mistake.
Eventually, Ji-ho approached Apophis, who seemed the most reliable.
Apophis’s task was to light the fire in the brazier. He was the most sensible among the Gorgon knights, so Ji-ho had entrusted him with the most troublesome task.
“Hahaha! Ji-ho-nim, how is it?! With this much fire, we can grill plenty of samgyeopsal, right?”
And Ji-ho had to face a massive pillar of fire that towered over his own height.
If there was something Ji-ho had overlooked, it was that no matter how sensible Apophis was, he was still a Gorgon knight, and above all, the prospect of eating ‘samgyeopsal’ again after so long had excited him. Apophis was standing with his hands on his hips, laughing while a column of fire rose above the brazier.
“Haah…”
A throbbing pain shot through Ji-ho’s head. Not only that, but he also felt a subtle pain in his stomach along with the baby kicking. Ji-ho wrapped his hands around his lower abdomen, whispering to the baby not to cause trouble.
Still, the sighs didn’t stop. If the three people he had personally assigned tasks to were like this, then Baal and Ganesha…
“Hehehehe! Baal! Try to catch me!”
“If I catch you, I’ll chew you alive.”
Ganesha was running back and forth under the dining bench, teasing and fleeing from Baal. Angered by Ganesha’s antics, Baal chased after him and even jumped onto the bench, when suddenly…
Crack.
“…”
“…”
An ominous sound came from the wooden bench Baal had jumped on, and then it split in two with a crunch. Baal, who had slipped to the side just before the bench collapsed, also stared at the crumbled chair.
“Tsk. So weak.”
That cost over 500,000 won…
Unable to overcome his headache, Ji-ho finally slumped down onto the camping chair that Set had brought earlier. It was the first time in over twenty years of his life that he realized eating samgyeopsal could be such a difficult task.
Just then, Set and Chronos returned to the barbecue tent. Set, who was holding large black plastic bags in both hands, saw Ji-ho collapsed in the chair and threw down the bags to rush over.
Kneeling on the ground next to Ji-ho’s chair without regard for the dirt, Set spoke hurriedly.
“Ji-ho?! Ji-ho, what’s wrong? Should we go to the hospital? Is your stomach hurting? Did the baby kick again?”
“…Set.”
“Yes?”
“I think your children are giving me a hard time.”
Set was taken aback by Ji-ho’s uncharacteristic complaint. Yes, it didn’t make sense for a pregnant person to move around this much. Now that there was a baby, he wasn’t alone anymore… Wait, ‘children’? Not child?
“Ji-ho, what do you mean by that?”
“There, your children.”
Ji-ho raised his index finger to point to one side. There was Apophis still creating a pillar of fire, Shango continuously adding firewood next to him, Isquis secretly taking a bite of a baby cabbage without washing it, Ganesha biting Baal and running away, and Baal grabbing Ganesha’s tail and swinging him in the air.
It was a total disaster right there. Set quickly grasped the situation and stood up, closing his mouth.
“All knights, assemble.”
“Hahaha… What? Yes!”
“Yes!”
The knights, who had been busy laughing and chattering, all assembled. Baal didn’t seem particularly inclined to follow the order, but he ended up joining as he chased after Ganesha, who had run to assemble.
“From now on, those who fail to complete Ji-ho’s orders will not get any food.”
“What?!”
“Aaack!”
Apophis was the first to scream, followed by Isquis and Shango who covered their mouths with shocked expressions. Ganesha just tilted his head, but Baal next to him had a deeply furrowed brow.
“Ji-ho-nim, just say the word. I, Apophis, will solve everything with magic.”
“Me too, me too! I’ll fly… No, I’ll run faster than flying!”
As the arrow of blame turned towards him, Ji-ho smiled calmly. Then he slowly opened his mouth.
“Then listen carefully from now on.”
“Yes!”
“Sit in the chair and don’t move an inch.”
“Yes…?”
Ji-ho pointed to the bench with a face that suggested he wouldn’t repeat himself. There stood the only intact picnic table that Baal hadn’t destroyed.
“And from now on, only Chronos, Set, and I will move. Understand?”
The beasts, though bewildered, obediently went to the picnic table Ji-ho had pointed to and sat down. Surprisingly, the barbecue that had been progressing slowly suddenly started moving along smoothly.
Set grilled the meat, Chronos moved the ingredients Ji-ho had prepared earlier, and Ji-ho taught them how to eat.
Soon, the meat Set had grilled began to come out on large plates all at once. Everyone was just swallowing their saliva and staring when Ji-ho spoke.
“Now, everyone listened well, right? You must use chopsticks, and no hands allowed. Especially you, Mr. Baal.”
“…?”
“If you use your hands, there will be no more meat.”
Unlike the others who had already picked up their chopsticks, Baal frowned when Ji-ho singled him out. However, when the meal started and he still tried to eat with his hands, he flinched as Ji-ho slapped the back of his hand.
“You don’t want to eat more meat?”
“…Don’t know how.”
“If you don’t know, you can learn.”
If it had been anyone else, Baal would have ignored them, strangled them, and continued eating with his hands. But the problem was that the person in question was Yeon Ji-ho. He looked like he might die if Baal so much as raised a hand.
As Baal sat there frowning, unable to eat, Ji-ho demonstrated how to wrap the meat. He placed cabbage, pickled radish, meat, a pinch of salt, ssamjang (dipping sauce), and scallion kimchi on top, then rolled it into a wrap and brought it to Baal’s mouth.
“Ah.”
“What is this… Oomph.”
Ji-ho didn’t miss the opportunity to stuff the wrap into Baal’s open mouth. It was quite interesting to see Baal’s furrowed brow gradually relax as he chewed, despite initially grimacing and mumbling.
As Ji-ho was about to wrap a second serving, Set, who had been grilling meat, called out to him in a loud voice.
“Ji-ho!”
“Yes?”
“Is this how I should grill this?”
“No, no! I’ll come and show you right now!”
At Set’s call, Ji-ho naturally stood up and went to him. Baal watched Ji-ho’s retreating back as he left his side, then abruptly turned his head away.
And then he picked up the chopsticks. His handling was very clumsy and crude, but he was trying.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
Baal trying his best to use chopsticks is kinda adorable