Hmph. After all the trouble of bringing me to Earth, how could you just leave me alone like this?
Kasia grumbled in a sulky tone.
For some reason, she’s been like this for days now.
Did it start after Sunwoo left?
Sure enough, nothing soothes like a delicious meal.
As I pondered what to cook, Kasia’s appearance looked a little different from before.
I had worked hard to feed her until she looked healthy and radiant, but now she’d returned to the slender figure she had when we first met.
“Come to think of it, I didn’t notice before since you were always with those skinny elves, but now that I see you, you’ve lost all your muscle too?”
It must be from staying with those vegetarian elves and not getting enough protein.
- Well, during those two years in Eliya, I didn’t have any strength… Now, I’ve become someone who can’t live without beef. You’re responsible for that!
“Hahaha. Protein isn’t only found in beef. Then I’ll make you a healthy and delicious protein dish.”
What came to mind was chicken breast curry!
Curry is basically made with turmeric, which contains curcumin, a beneficial substance known worldwide as a health food.
To get good chicken breast, I thought of catching a chicken wandering outside…
‘No, I can’t do that. I can’t cut open the bellies of my family just to eat chicken breast.’
For a moment, I involuntarily imagined something cruel.
Sorry, chickens.
Heh heh heh.
Even without fresh chicken, using cooked chicken breast bought from the local supermarket makes it easy to prepare a tasty, protein-rich dish.
These days, with the fitness craze, even the countryside sells protein products?
I called Kasia over, who was loitering nearby, to watch.
If Kasia, who just lazes around at home, gets interested in cooking, maybe I can reduce my workload.
I decided to explain enthusiastically to capture Kasia’s interest.
“Dishes like curry rice bowls are best eaten by scooping with a spoon and putting a whole bite in your mouth. To do that, you have to—”
Tap, tap, tap, tap,
Sizzle~
First, boil water in advance and prepare the ingredients to save time.
Then I diced potatoes, onions, and carrots into bite-sized pieces.
Ah, can’t forget the broccoli.
Adding broccoli to curry not only tastes better, but it’s also one of the world’s top ten foods for protein content among vegetables!
Broccoli is a bit hard to clean, so soak it in clean water with a little vinegar.
Five minutes like this, and the broccoli is disinfected and ready!
While disinfecting the broccoli, I started stir-frying the prepared vegetables in cooking oil.
It already smells delicious.
After rinsing the disinfected broccoli well, blanching it in boiling water makes the color even prettier.
I cut the blanched broccoli into bite-sized pieces and stir-fried it together with the other vegetables.
“Kasia, you like vegetables, right? It’s good since most people are picky eaters.”
I cut the pale chicken breast into bite-sized pieces and seasoned them with salt and pepper.
“Pepper is a spice Koreans like. Want to smell it?”
- Hngh! cough! cough! It went up my nose… ugh!
Kasia inhaled deeply through her nose the powdered spice and immediately clutched her nose, tears streaming down.
“Heh heh heh. You have to be careful smelling powder like that.”
I poured Kasia a glass of water and waited for her to calm down.
“Okay, calm now? This part is important.”
- Ahem! I’m better now.
After Kasia blew her nose loudly, I took out a yellow packet from the cupboard.
“This is the secret curry sauce. With just this ‘180-second curry,’ you can easily and deliciously make curry.”
I tore open the packet and poured its contents into the pot, then dumped in all the prepared vegetables.
“The more ingredients, the better the taste. So it’s good to put in a lot of different things. But of course, not too much, you know?”
- I know that much too.
Before I knew it, Kasia was focusing intently.
A good sign.
Bubble bubble~
While the curry boiled, I added the chicken breast and turned off the heat, letting the residual warmth finish warming it through.
Since the chicken breast was already cooked when bought, it didn’t need additional cooking.
“All done! Super simple, right?”
- Hoh. I think I can do this.
“If I’m not around, don’t starve—just make this.”
- Got it. sniff sniff But it smells unusual. Do I just eat it as is?
It must be a scent she’d never smelled before.
A rich spice aroma not found in Eliya.
“No! The curry is done, but it tastes way better if you add rice to it.”
Of course, the rice must be plain white rice.
Mixing curry with multigrain or bean rice is bad manners.
Ugh!
Just thinking about it is unpleasant.
Kasia and I sat facing each other at the table.
I scooped a little curry with the ladle and poured it onto one side of Kasia’s rice bowl.
Steam rose in waves from how hot it was.
“Let’s eat!”
Her high-pitched voice showed she was excited to try a new food.
Her sulky, prickly tone had completely disappeared.
“Don’t eat it right away since it’s hot; mix only the part you’ll eat first. Just the front part like this.”
I mixed the sauce only in the part where it was poured and scooped it up with the spoon.
Ohoh~ ohoh~
The moderately cooled curry went into my mouth.
The varied colors and textures made it fun.
Softened potatoes and carrots that were firm but tender.
Raw onion is spicy, but cooked onion softens and brings only sweetness.
“Yeah, this is it. The always consistently delicious taste. Kasia, try it.”
Kasia carefully watched me eating and then copied exactly.
Seeing her enjoy it made me feel proud.
I showed her another way to eat it.
I put kimchi on top of the curry rice I’d mixed with my spoon.
She copied that too.
From her expression, she seemed to like it.
- Kimchi really tastes good with everything. Beef, curry, and any side dish for rice.
“That’s the charm of kimchi. Now that you realize that, Kasia, you’re practically Korean.”
While eating curry, Kasia told me about life in Eliya.
The boring, repetitive tasks she did as the next tribe chief.
The weather, where to gather resources depending on the sun’s position.
What to collect on that day.
Whether to visit to congratulate someone’s daughter who turned a certain age.
Because they weren’t civilized and lived in tribes of about a thousand people, many issues were brought to the chief for resolution.
- I’m really glad I escaped. Here there’s meat, TV, and… you.
Kasia’s voice trailed off, making it hard to hear.
“Hm? What do you like about it?”
- The T-T-V! I like that there’s a TV!
“Oh, right, TV’s fun. Time flies watching it.”
- …Hmph! Fine. I’m going to watch some interesting dramas then.
Kasia huffed and disappeared.
Why all of a sudden?
‘Could it be she’s running away to avoid doing the dishes? No way. Probably not. Next time I’ll teach her how to do the dishes. Cooking and washing dishes—am I supposed to be the housekeeper? I can’t do all the housework alone!’
Just as I resolved to wait for the next chance and started the dishes, Kasia urgently called me.
- Minho! Come quickly! It’s urgent!
“Why? What happened? TV’s not turning on?”
I hurriedly took off my rubber gloves, hung them on the sink, and headed to the living room.
- Look at that! Isn’t that about our tribe?
Following Kasia’s finger, I checked the TV; the news was reporting about elves.
And it was breaking news.
[Elves: creatures from imagination that actually exist.]
“Eh?!”
I pulled out my smartphone to check the real-time trending search terms.
Elves ▲
Different species elves ▲
Elf AI ▲
Elf Girl Instagram ▲
Elf beauty ▲
Russia ▲
Belarus ▲
Ukraine ▲
Within moments, it dominated the top five.
Wasn’t this supposed to be a secret kept by the Association?
The news kept updating nonstop.
[The unmatched beauty of elves]
[How to meet an elf?]
[Imagined appearance of elves who surpassed the world beauty rankings?]
[Newly emerged species: elves. Legislation proposed for them?]
[Special bills proposed to enliven mundane daily life]
Two articles caught my eye.
“Bills for elves?”
Both had similar content.
[Han Sangsoo: “About 1,000 elves with unclear residency… scheduled to live somewhere in Korea. Details confidential.”]
Han Sangsoo.
Sure enough, the Superhuman Association President was Han Sangsoo.
I had asked him to help the elves live in Korea, and this must be the bill he proposed.
Buzz~ Buzz~
[Caller: Han Sangsoo]
“Hello. Yes, I just saw the news. Really? Thank you for your concern.”
Just as the news aired, Han Sangsoo called, and as expected, he immediately brought up the Elf Immigration Act.
He said that having different species, especially elves, living in our country brings many national benefits.
So it would be adopted as an official agenda; just wait a few days.
“Wow, your efficiency is amazing. Is this the power of being the Association President…?”
- Minho, you did this, didn’t you? Amazing. As expected…
Is this why people crave power?
Having power on your side makes things go smoothly.
Kasia is happy, too.
Inside a sealed building with not a single window,
in a dark and quiet room, only the glowing TV news anchor’s voice could be heard.
- Fantasy novels feature many different species, and among them, elves are reportedly seeking to immigrate to Korea.
Accordingly, Superhuman Association President Han Sangsoo has proposed legislation to help them immigrate.
The Superhuman Association headquarters in Seoul is crowded with people wanting to meet them.
On the scene is reporter Ahn Hyeyeon…
Bang!
A typical middle-aged man with a potbelly, sitting on the sofa, slammed his fist hard on the table in front of him.
“Boss… that’s probably about that dungeon back then—”
“Shut up. I know about it too. How could they get through? When we were looking for them, not a trace was found.”
Yeongjin Jeon’s scolding made Junhyeok Lee pout, sinking deep into the sofa and glaring at Jeon.
Kanghun, disapproving of Junhyeok’s expression, spoke up.
“It seems a new dungeon connected to the Elf World has opened recently.”
“Of course! But why wasn’t it reported to us?”
Jeongjin’s discomfort with Kanghun’s obvious statement led him to take it out on Junhyeok’s head.
Whack!!
“Find out where it is. Where are they trying to immigrate?”
“It won’t be easy. The Association won’t want to reveal it.”
“Then find out by any means necessary!”
Jeongjin isn’t always this angry and irritable.
He was still upset because a recent task he assigned hadn’t gone well.
‘Damn bald guy. What a temper.’
Kanghun swallowed his anger and passed the job to Junhyeok.
“Hey, Junhyeok. You go find out. I’ll finish what you were working on.”
I’d quietly kept out of it, afraid the trouble would spread, but now they wanted to switch tasks.
The original task was already exhausted; nothing more to do, yet they wanted to take it away.
But if I argued, I’d surely get hit by Kanghun too, so I had no choice but to comply.
“Okay. But you have to help me when I’m done.”
“Hmph. Fine… just get going!”
Jeongjin closed his eyes, leaning his neck on the sofa back to calm down.
Seeing this, Kanghun hurried Junhyeok out.
If Jeongjin got angrier, nothing would survive in this room.
Same for Kanghun himself.
Kanghun quickly got up and headed to the basement floor 2, where auction staff were being tortured.
“You don’t seem to be in much pain? You can even sleep.”
A man sat tied to a chair with limbs bound, head hanging low.
Bloodstains scattered around showed the cruelty of the torture.
It was doubtful if he was even alive.
Still, Kanghun picked up a bloodstained glove without hesitation.
“You bastard, stop pretending to sleep. How much more do you have to get hit before you stop this crap?”
It seemed Junhyeok had been gently torturing him.
Trying to be clever.
Smack!
Kanghun slapped the man’s cheek hard.
It was strong enough to turn his head, but he didn’t flinch.
Smack!
Slapping the other cheek, the man twitched and groaned softly, opening his eyes.
“Now, let’s see who wins. Who sold eggs and peanuts at the Auction House?”
The kidnapped, imprisoned, and tortured man was none other than the Superhuman Auction House Gangwon Branch Manager.
Jeongjin and his men had bid on eggs and peanuts at the auction but lost.
So they kidnapped the Gangwon Branch Manager to find the seller themselves.
The man pressed his lips shut, refusing to answer, and Kanghun chuckled.
“What’s so important about that? Is it more important than your daughter?”
“Daughter? What are you talking about?!”
The man raised his head in surprise, and Kanghun thrust his smartphone before his eyes.
On the screen was a young girl’s smiling face.
“She just started middle school this year. This uncle’s gotta go see her at least once.”
“Huh… uh. My daughter… my daughter can’t… That guy’s name is… Do, Do Minho…”
“What?”
Slap!
At the Gangwon Branch Manager’s trembling voice, Kanghun swung the blood-soaked whip used for torture.
Overcome with fear, the manager squeezed out the answer with all his strength.
“Do, Min, Hoo…”
Eventually, the manager fainted.
Kanghun left him there and went back upstairs to Jeongjin.
“Boss, I finally found out.”
“Yeah? That idiot Junhyeok took so long for such an easy task! Hmph. Whatever. Stop stalling and spill it. It’s already taken too long.”
“His name is Do Minho.”
“Do Minho? Who’s that? Someone I know?”
“Isn’t he that annoying A-Grade Hunter?”
“A-Grade Hunter? Ah, that one? The Greatest Shield guy?”
Though he was known as the Greatest Shield, Kanghun didn’t bother correcting him.
There was no way he’d stay quiet with that temper.
Jeongjin, frustrated, reached to tear out the few strands of hair left on his head but relaxed his grip.
He looked weak, but he was an A-Grade Hunter.
One aiming for S-Rank.
“You want to go after an A-Grade Hunter? Hmph. Where did that guy get all those monstrous agricultural products?”
“First, I’ll gather information on him.”
Jeongjin nodded, and Kanghun hurriedly left to avoid more trouble.
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