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Yang Seon-jae readily nodded at Yeon Ji-ho’s suggestion. He glanced at Isquis in his sweatsuit, asked how old he was, and then excitedly dragged him away upon learning they were the same age.
Isquis, who had barely taken off his rubber gloves, was pulled along by Seon-jae, looking back at the knights before leaving the pension. However, as they all looked at him with faces telling him to go ahead, Isquis ended up leaving with Seon-jae in a daze.
With Isquis gone, the real kimchi-making began.
While Ji-ho went to make the boiled pork, the remaining three people made kimchi quite quickly. With just Isquis gone, everything went smoothly. Of course, Isquis would have fumed if he had heard this.
“Are you almost finished?”
Ji-ho asked, poking his head out of the slightly opened living room window. Set straightened his back, which had been bent all morning. He took off his rubber gloves with a proud face and said:
“It’s all done now.”
His tone and expression made it seem like he had just finished a war. Ji-ho chuckled and said:
“Then we can eat the boiled pork right away.”
“Boiled pork?! What’s that? You bought ‘pork’ yesterday! Is it ‘samgyeopsal’?!”
“…Samgyeopsal?”
Apophis, who hadn’t even taken off his rubber gloves yet, jumped up and asked Ji-ho. Shango was still squatting, just lifting his head to look, but his face was already filled with anticipation for the delicious meal Ji-ho would serve.
“Yes, I’ll bring it out right away. Just a moment!”
Ji-ho closed the window with a rattle, briefly stopped by the kitchen, and quickly came out with a large plate. Steam was rising from the plate.
The meal started with everyone gathered sitting on the plastic sheet spread out on the ground, without even a proper table. Ji-ho put down the plate of boiled pork and added a bit of freshly made kimchi, cut with scissors, as a side dish.
A very appetizing spread of boiled pork was prepared. Apophis and Shango quickly began using their chopsticks.
“…!”
“Is this really what I just made…?”
As soon as Apophis ate the boiled pork and kimchi, he was surprised, covering his mouth with the kimchi he had made. Of course, the kimchi seasoning was made with Ji-ho’s touch, but that wasn’t what mattered to Apophis.
Apophis, who had made food for himself for the first time in his life, was overwhelmed with emotion for a while. Beside him, Shango was silently inhaling the boiled pork like mad.
“Ji-ho, how’s the morning sickness? Can you bear the smell?”
“Yes, it’s really fine these days.”
Whether it was because he had met Set again, or because the time for morning sickness had passed as the months progressed, even the smell of pork or salted seafood didn’t bother him now. As Ji-ho answered with a grin, Set let out a small sigh and gently caressed his belly.
As the four were gathering, chatting, and eating, a notification sounded from Ji-ho’s phone in his cardigan pocket.
Ji-ho took out his phone, thinking it might be Seon-rok or Soo-cheol, but an unexpected icon appeared on the phone.
“…An email?”
Ji-ho mainly used messages or app chat, and rarely received emails unless they were spam. However, the preview of the email subject on the phone screen was impossible to ignore.
ishkur rainthunder@history.com
Hello, dear reader! This is the author of . :3
***
A heavy silence settled in the living room. On the sofa sat Isquis, who had returned from the internet cafe, as well as Apophis and Shango, who had finished kimchi-making and cleaned up everything.
Set and Ji-ho opened the phone screen and showed them the email that had arrived earlier.
Hello, dear reader! This is the author of . :3
│ ishkur rainthunder@history.com
Hello~^^ Dear reader of !
This is author Ishkur.
I really enjoyed reading your fan mail~!
I’m so happy that there are readers who love my novel!╰(*°▽°*)╯
Actually, this is the first time I’ve received fan mail…(´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)
If you don’t mind, I’d like to have a simple conversation with you offline~ (～￣▽￣)～
Please come through the link below when you have time!(/≧▽≦)/
I’m always here.
https://temple.us/godverse/138billion
Sincerely, Ishkur.
“…Do we really have to go?”
Isquis was the first to give his opinion. Wearing an unfamiliar windbreaker and sweatpants, possibly belonging to Seon-jae, Isquis now looked just like a high school boy. He looked anxiously back and forth between Ji-ho and Set as he spoke.
“It’s all over now, isn’t it? Is there any need to go?”
Isquis struggled, not wanting to lose the peace he had found with difficulty. Hadad was gone, and now Isquis had a place to return to. It was natural that he didn’t want to create unnecessary conflict.
However, Apophis, who was watching from the side, had a different opinion.
“I think it would be good to go.”
Apophis also didn’t want to lose the peace he had just regained. But Apophis felt there was still a lot of unresolved uneasiness even after sending Hadad back to that world. For example, Hadad’s too artificial evil deeds.
If they went to meet the god, they might be able to solve problems they hadn’t yet resolved. It would be right to resolve it now to prevent future problems from arising.
“…”
Shango also agreed with Apophis. However, he looked at Ji-ho’s belly with a worried face. Wasn’t it too dangerous for Ji-ho, who had become heavy with child, to go meet the god?
Set had similar thoughts to Shango. As Apophis said, it would be good to accept the god’s contact to eliminate variables, but it was out of the question for Ji-ho to go.
Set spoke firmly with a heavy face.
“I will go there.”
“What? Your Excellency! That’s out of the question. You have Ji-ho-nim. Let me go instead.”
“No! Appo, you stay out of this too. I’m the fastest here, so I’ll go as the fastest wings of Gorgon!”
“…I’ll just…”
Ji-ho, who had been silent with a serious expression, looked around at the knights who had started chattering among themselves. It was then that Ji-ho raised his hand and gathered everyone’s attention.
Even without saying anything, the beasts naturally focused on Ji-ho’s movement. When they concentrated on him, Ji-ho revealed the most important fact that they didn’t know.
“I’m sorry, but this is a metaverse link.”
“What?”
“…Pardon?”
“Huh?”
“…?”
At Ji-ho’s words, even Set, who prided himself on adapting to this world the fastest, and Apophis, known as the smartest among the beasts, showed dumbfounded expressions. Meta… what? Everyone looked at Ji-ho with similar faces.
Ji-ho burst into laughter at the fact that they had been having such a serious conversation without knowing anything. Well, sure. Even in this world, unless you’re interested in it, most people don’t know much about the metaverse.
“So, the metaverse is where you create something like an avatar called a ‘character’ and enter a virtual world. You can enter right away just by clicking this link once.”
A simple explanation followed. Ji-ho then slowly answered all the questions that came flooding in afterward.
“Then, don’t we need a separate carriage?”
“No, you just need a phone or laptop.”
“I don’t understand well… So, it’s not us going, but something goes in our place? What happens if that person dies?”
“First of all, they don’t die. Even if the character is deleted, you can just create a new one.”
“…What about food?”
“Usually, characters don’t eat.”
The answers were finished. Although everyone didn’t look like they completely understood, it seemed the main points were conveyed. The beasts’ faces lightened up.
On the other hand, unlike the others, Set remained silent, listening to the conversations, and only at the end did he cautiously ask Ji-ho:
“Ji-ho, there won’t be any impact on you, right?”
“No… At worst, the character might be deleted, I guess?”
“Character… deleted…”
Set flinched at the word ‘deleted’. However, Ji-ho left Set behind and went to the bedroom to get his laptop.
“Well, as they say, strike while the iron is hot. Shall we log in right now?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
