Side Story 19
The tteokbokki, or more precisely, the rabokki, was prepared less than 30 minutes after starting to cook. Since rabokki wasn’t a time-consuming dish to begin with, Yeon Ji-ho was excited to quickly return and let them taste it.
And just as Soo-cheol and Yeon Ji-ho finished preparing to leave, Seon-rok returned. Soo-cheol, carrying the pot of rabokki, and Seon-rok, standing next to him, looked at Yeon Ji-ho with curiously tense expressions.
“Are we really going?”
“Yes, we’re going now.”
“This is crazy… Thanks to Ji-ho, the day has finally come for us to travel to another world.”
In truth, he could have taken them anytime before, but it was a place even Yeon Ji-ho himself hadn’t been able to visit because he’d been too busy. Though Soo-cheol didn’t say so, he must have wanted to go at least once, judging by the excited look on his face as he gazed at Yeon Ji-ho.
Receiving their burdensome stares head-on, Yeon Ji-ho slowly walked to the bathroom door. Behind him, Seon-rok tilted his head and asked:
“Why the bathroom? Ji-ho, do you need to go urgently?”
“No, we’ll go through here.”
“…The, bathroom?”
Crossing to another world through the bathroom door seemed far from the otherworldly journey they had imagined. However, Yeon Ji-ho, unconcerned, flung the door open with a bang. As Yeon Ji-ho first stepped into the doorway, the two behind him followed.
Unlike the room filled with warm air, cool and fresh air brushed past their cheeks. Seon-rok and Soo-cheol slightly opened their mouths at the atmosphere that was similar to Korea but subtly different. Yeon Ji-ho opened his mouth for those visiting for the first time:
“This is a garden inside the Hwangseong of the ‘Asterra’ Empire. There are people waiting here…”
“Ji-ho!”
Before Yeon Ji-ho could finish his sentence, a voice like a roar was heard. Thud, thud—the sound of footsteps rushing toward him was extremely urgent.
Surprised, Yeon Ji-ho turned his head and stared blankly at Set who was running toward him. How could Set be here? It was too far for him to come through Apophis.
“How did Set-ssi get here…”
“Why!”
“…Pardon?”
“Why did you say you were ‘sorry’!”
Set unleashed the words he had been holding in his heart all the way here in a bitter voice.
If only his last message had been “Please wait a moment” or “I’ll be back,” Set would have waited patiently. …No, he couldn’t guarantee he would have waited, but at least he wouldn’t have followed in such anxiety.
Set was going crazy with curiosity about what could possibly be so regrettable that Yeon Ji-ho left that message and disappeared. Grabbing Yeon Ji-ho’s shoulders, Set urged an answer with bloodshot eyes.
“Well, because I got angry yesterday morning…?”
“…”
“And I came all the way here without apologizing, so that’s what I meant by sorry.”
“…”
Set closed his mouth at the refreshingly straightforward answer. Actually, perhaps it was a perfectly normal answer from a general perspective. It was just that all sorts of delusions had invaded Set’s mind, preventing him from coming up with that obvious thought.
“Set-ssi…?”
When Set didn’t respond as if his soul had left him, Yeon Ji-ho looked at him with concerned eyes. He didn’t know exactly how Set had gotten here, but his condition didn’t look good at all. His eyes were bloodshot, and even though they’d only been apart for a day, it seemed like he had already lost significant weight in that time.
“…Ji-ho, where are you hurt?”
“I’m fine, but you don’t look well, Set-ssi. …Are you really okay?”
In reality, though Yeon Ji-ho had been captured by the knights and brought to Hwangseong, he looked much better than Set who had come here on his own feet. That was largely thanks to Shango’s overprotection.
Having heard directly from Yeon Ji-ho that he was fine, Set let out a sigh filled with all sorts of meanings. He comforted himself inwardly, saying that as long as Yeon Ji-ho was okay, that was all that mattered.
“I’m fine. …No, I might be a bit tired.”
Even while saying this, he subtly emphasized his own exhaustion. At the same time, he was about to naturally suggest to Yeon Ji-ho that they should return home now. Set needed nothing now; he just wanted to go home, lie in bed with Seho and Ji-ho, and sleep for about two days.
“Oh dear, it must be because of the imprinting. Set-ssi, you seem to struggle strangely even when we’re apart for just a little while.”
Even if they had imprinted, a typical imprinted couple wouldn’t suffer this much from being apart for just two days. While Set was pretending to be pitiful and Yeon Ji-ho was knowingly falling for his fox-like behavior as they continued their conversation:
“…Are these the people you were waiting for?”
Soo-cheol, still holding the pot, glanced at Set and Apophis and Isquis standing behind him as he spoke. Yeon Ji-ho, who briefly exchanged eye greetings with Apophis whom he hadn’t seen in a long time and Isquis who had come all this way, shook his head at Soo-cheol and Seon-rok.
“No, the people waiting are over there.”
In the direction Yeon Ji-ho gestured, Gliese and Shango were standing at a distance, looking only at Soo-cheol and swallowing their saliva. Having already smelled the aroma it seemed, the two rushed over at Yeon Ji-ho’s gesture.
“Oh, it’s a princess?”
“…Pri, princess? Hmm, uh… Ah, hello?”
“Yes, yes. Nice to meet you.”
Seeing Gliese for the first time, Seon-rok greeted her with a hearty laugh and began to spread out the mat he had brought. Fortunately, not only was the mat spacious, but thanks to Shango and Gliese bringing out some chairs from inside the greenhouse, the impromptu picnic was more elaborate than expected.
Soo-cheol placed the pot on a cut tree stump and began serving rabokki onto disposable plates for everyone. Those seated on mats and chairs were all equally hungry and picked up their spoons with happy faces.
“This, this is the taste. This taste…! No, is it a bit more refreshing? What is this? Ji-ho nim, the taste is different from what I had before!”
Gliese spoke with a look of excitement while beginning to eat the rabokki almost like she was drinking it. Unlike last time, the noodles she was tasting this time seemed to have hit her sweet spot and disappeared instantly. It was then, as everyone was happily eating rabokki:
“Spicy! Spicy, spicy, spicyyy!”
“Be quiet, you’re supposed to eat this for the spicy flavor!”
Ganesha, who had been awkwardly eating tteokbokki while sitting alone on the grass, suddenly stood up and stuck out his tongue. Soo-cheol’s food wasn’t originally very stimulating, and everyone else was enjoying what they considered a deliciously spicy flavor, but it seemed even that was too much for Ganesha, who wasn’t used to eating human food.
Watching Ganesha, Soo-cheol took something out.
“Oh, mister, isn’t that cheese?”
Silently tearing off a strip of mozzarella cheese, Soo-cheol poured it over Ganesha’s bowl of tteokbokki. Then he even briefly melted the cheese with a torch that no one knew when he had prepared.
Faced with a torch, Ganesha finally couldn’t resist his curiosity and tasted the cheese rabokki again. From then on, Ganesha also inhaled the rabokki, sitting close beside Shango.
“Ca-Can I hire you as the Hwangseong chef…?”
Learning that Soo-cheol was the cook of this rabokki, Gliese made a very desperate request. However, Soo-cheol had a tendency to become even more taciturn with strangers, so he hid behind Seon-rok. Sensing the atmosphere might become awkward, Yeon Ji-ho quickly stepped in.
“By the way, Gliese-ssi. May I ask you one thing?”
Gliese, who had been eating with waterfalls of cheese stretching from her mouth, swallowed the food in her mouth at Yeon Ji-ho’s words and looked at him.
“What is it? Ask me anything.”
With her heart expanded from eating delicious rabokki, Gliese showed her willingness to answer anything. Yeon Ji-ho hesitated, then said:
“…How can I meet a god?”
“Pardon? A god?”
Gliese tilted her head as if she had misheard. To ask about how to meet a god, of all things. Even though she was a girl chosen by the gods, it was a difficult question.
“I’m sorry, I don’t think I can help with that.”
“I see…”
“But why a god? What do you intend to do when you meet one?”
“Hmm.”
Yeon Ji-ho glanced slightly at Set beside him. It looked like he wanted to ask Yeon Ji-ho what was going on right now. Afraid that if the conversation broke off here, Set would bombard him with questions, Yeon Ji-ho spoke honestly:
“…I want to ask the god to take back my power.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
No??!! Whyyyy
I know the reason but still…( ＞Д＜；)