Minjun entered the President’s office and immediately sensed that something was off.
The usually gentle President was nowhere to be seen; in his place sat a man biting his lips, his face flushed a deep red.
The moment Minjun greeted him, the President exploded in fury.
“Why didn’t you report it! All you had to do was make a quick call, yet you ignored such an important matter and holed yourself up in the training room?!”
It was because he hadn’t reported that he’d met Yeongjin Jeon, and that Jeon, who had tried to kidnap Minho, had kidnapped Minjun by mistake instead.
On top of that, Minjun had even let the culprit slip away.
“I… I just had this vague feeling, like I kind of knew, but not really…”
“So! Are you saying your brother should just get ambushed or kidnapped and die?!”
At that, Minjun finally seemed to understand, letting out a light sigh of realization.
Seeing this, the President pounded his chest in frustration.
Was this all the reaction Minjun could muster, when his brother might have been in real danger?
“If I hadn’t sent Jinsu to watch over you, who knows what would’ve happened. Good grief!”
Safety Insensitivity.
It was a symptom that often occurred among Hunters.
Because they constantly faced danger inside Dungeons, they became numb to risks in ordinary situations.
The more they resolved things on their own thanks to their abilities, the worse the symptom got. For Minjun, especially, as a Tank who rarely got hurt, the condition was worse than for most other Hunters.
“After facing him, he didn’t seem that strong anyway. Jinsu should handle him just fine.”
Minjun’s point was valid.
The President couldn’t tell whether Yeongjin Jeon was truly strong, but Jinsu was one of the top Sword Hunters in the country.
There was no way he would go down easily.
And thanks to Minjun bringing the culprit’s car, they at least had a clue to track him down.
The President called his all-purpose Secretary and gave an order.
“Start by investigating the car Minjun drove here, and make sure you find the perpetrator as soon as possible.”
There was no Black Box in the car, but with the nationwide CCTV system, tracking the license plate would reveal its movements and point of origin.
Yeongjin Jeon probably had no car now, so he would either find another borrowed vehicle or use public transport to head for Chilcheon-ri.
Of course, he could just hole up somewhere again.
As a warning, Minho needed to hear the news from Minjun.
“You deliver this news to your brother yourself. You actually fought the guy, and you’re family—it’ll get through to him more seriously that way.”
“Understood. He really wasn’t all that strong. I should get back to training before my senses dull again…”
“What did you say!”
“Ah, nothing.”
‘What’s up with Minjun, I wonder?’
Even after stopping by the Columbarium alone and returning to Chilcheon-ri by taxi, Minho’s mind wouldn’t settle.
He hadn’t seen any wounds on Minjun, but skipping out on a promise to head to the training room meant something was up.
As he arrived home, Hindungi, who’d been lying in the doghouse, sprang up and wagged his tail furiously.
“You little rascal. Did you watch the house well?”
(Mong! Mongmong!)
After giving Hindungi’s head a pat, Minho went inside.
‘I really should call. Coming back like this just leaves me uneasy.’
When he came out after washing up, Kasia was waiting at the door.
- You, you’re back already. But why do you look like that? Did something happen?
“I’m worried about my brother.”
- Minjun? You ought to worry about yourself. Isn’t Minjun a tremendously powerful Hunter? Who’s worrying about who here, honestly.
“Huh? Now that you say it. Haha.”
Well, he was an S-Grade Hunter.
If anything, he’d be the one dishing out hits, not taking them.
“By the way, what did you do all day? Nothing out of the ordinary happened, right?”
- Nothing… happened. But didn’t you bring Jinsu with you?
“Jinsu?”
Now that he thought about it, Jinsu was nowhere to be seen.
Minho hadn’t told Jinsu about his trip to Seoul, for fear Jinsu would insist on tagging along.
But where did he go?
- He said he was going to Seoul after you.
“Huh? But I didn’t run into him. Maybe we missed each other. And he never called me.”
- Ah, he probably didn’t tell you on purpose. He said if you realized he was watching over you, you’d get awkward and end up letting the bad guys know, ‘Hey, I’m being protected!’ So he planned to watch you in secret.
“Oh! That actually makes sense?”
Guess living together for a few days, he really had me figured out.
If I was back home now, shouldn’t he have come back too? Why wasn’t he here?
Turururu.
Turururu.
“Hey, Jinsu. Where are you?”
Thankfully, nothing seemed wrong—he answered the call.
“Still in Seoul? I’m home already. Ah~ really? Then dinner… okay. Come back safe~”
- What’s so funny? Tell me too.
As he barely held back laughter during the call, Kasia looked on curiously.
“He says he’s still in Seoul. Said he was searching for me.”
- Hmm? I saw him get into a taxi and tail yours pretty closely.
“Pffft. He said he got distracted by a restaurant that smelled amazing and lost track of me. So he spent the time looking for me and hasn’t even left yet.”
- Really, Jinsu is kind of a fool, isn’t he?
It was a relatable comment, but Minho didn’t agree out loud.
He might slip up and say something foolish himself later.
Before he knew it, it was dinner time.
Since Jinsu had already eaten after losing Minho, it was just the two of them for dinner tonight.
“What did you eat today?”
As he headed for the kitchen and asked, Kasia hesitated, grabbing Minho’s wrist tightly and refusing to let go.
“Why? Is there something you want to say?”
- No… it’s nothing….
“What, so wishy-washy.”
He could feel the strength leaving Kasia’s hand as she let go of his wrist.
- I-I’ll head to my room first.
Flustered, Kasia hurriedly disappeared into her room.
What’s that about?
As Minho got closer to the kitchen, he detected a suspicious smell of burning.
No way… could it be…?
The kitchen was an absolute disaster.
The area around the stove was charred black, with puddles of water on the floor and surrounding counters.
On the cutting board, various vegetables had been haphazardly chopped and scattered everywhere, splattered about worse than spilled Cola of Pandemonium.
Normally, you’d just burn a pot…
“Geez. How do you even manage to make this kind of mess? It’s like you fought a war in here all by yourself.”
Hungry, Minho wiped up the water and tidied the cutting board as best he could.
‘Not really in the mood to cook anything elaborate right now…’
Of course, for a quick meal, nothing beats ramen.
He thought he’d call Kasia to teach her how to make it, but caught her peeking from her room.
“Kasi—”
Bang!
“…Huh?”
She slammed the door shut without answering.
She’s hopeless.
He filled a pot with water on the charred stove, adding the Flake and Noodle Soup Powder.
He tried to ignore the burnt smell, but it kept stinging his nose.
‘We’ll clean it up together later. It’ll go fast with the two of us.’
Bubble bubble~
The water started to boil.
He tossed in the noodles, lifting and cooling them with chopsticks as they cooked.
Just watching them, the noodles already looked nice and chewy.
‘She must’ve gotten hungry and tried to copy what she’d seen me do, but didn’t really know how.’
He should have taught Kasia how to cook sooner.
Or at least left her with some simple fried rice she could reheat.
He hadn’t been thoughtful enough toward Kasia.
‘Wait. Can’t she just go out and gather plants? Aren’t the other Elves in the mountains doing that?’
It had been long enough living with Kasia that thinking like a Korean felt natural now.
Meanwhile, Kasia’s tastes were getting fussier.
He really should teach her how to cook next time.
“You must be hungry. Come out and eat.”
- Y-you’re not mad, are you?
“I almost got mad for a second, but it’s fine. Come on out.”
Kasia, who’d been peeking through the crack of her door, finally stepped out.
Now’s the chance.
Bonk!
- Ow! What are you doing!
“Got you, you little rascal. You should be grateful you only got a flick on the forehead after trying to run away.”
- How could you! Tempting me with food and then hitting me!
“If you weren’t going to help clean up after, I’d have done a lot worse!”
- Eek! I get it! I’ll clean it!
Sniff sniff.
Now that the smell of ramen reached her, Kasia’s nose twitched.
- Oh! That smells wonderful. What’s for lunch today?
“Really? All I smell is something burnt.”
- Wh-what are you talking about! I-it’s a good smell, really!
Minho decided he’d teased Kasia enough and switched to explaining.
“This is called ramen. You put fried noodles in boiling water with soup powder and it turns into this. It’s really simple to make, so it’s called Instant Food.”
- Instant Food?
“Yeah. You could make this easily too, Kasia.”
- Ohh… Show me how later. Living a life of your scolding! I’m sick of it!
“When did I ever scold you?”
Seeing Minho’s flustered reaction, Kasia grinned with satisfaction, feeling like she’d won this round.
She’d grown up so much.
“Hurry and try it. I’ll serve you a portion.”
He held a plate close to the pot to keep the broth from splattering, carefully picking up the noodles with tongs.
He tried to be careful, but a drop of broth splashed onto Kasia.
- Ouch, hot!
“Ahaha. Sorry, sorry. I’ll be more careful.”
No matter how careful, broth always splashed somewhere.
The curly noodles tangled up, then slipped off and splattered.
“Wait a second. I’ll pour you some broth.”
When Kasia tried to pull her plate away right after he served the noodles, he quickly stopped her.
If you don’t pour the broth right away, the noodles dry up, and you want to keep them moist to enjoy.
- Can I eat now?
“Yeah. But you’re still not good with chopsticks, so it’s easier if you use the spoon.”
- Got it.
She’d gotten used to chopsticks from practicing at meals, but she still struggled with noodles and beans.
- I… I can’t do it.
The noodles kept slipping from her chopsticks, so she used both chopsticks and a spoon to bring them to her mouth.
As long as she ate, it didn’t matter if she used chopsticks well or not.
“Let’s eat Korean Kimchi with it too.”
- Korean Kimchi goes well with this too!
“Of course. Korean Kimchi goes well with almost anything.”
- Truly… Korean Kimchi is an amazing side dish. I hope my cabbages grow quickly.
They’d cooked up two packs of ramen, but the pot was almost empty already.
It seemed eating it with Korean Kimchi suited Kasia’s taste—she kept asking for refills, looking more Korean by the day.
“Kasia, are you full now?”
- I’m full! It was so tasty I ate to my heart’s content! Kuheung.
How could it not be delicious?
Ramen was so bold in flavor, it couldn’t help but taste good.
It was a bit spicy, too, and it seemed to make Kasia’s nose run.
“I’m going to add cold rice now.”
- Cold rice? But I’m already full…
“When you mix rice into ramen broth, it’s delicious. I always leave a little space in my stomach just for this.”
When Minho grinned meaningfully, Kasia puffed her cheeks, realizing what he was planning.
- Why didn’t you say so earlier! Minho, that’s not fair!
Because…
There was only one bowl of cold rice, so splitting it wouldn’t be enough for two.
He dumped the cold rice into the broth without a word.
Pressing it deep into the broth with a ladle and mixing well—there!
Even though they’d just finished ramen, it was mouthwatering all over again.
Apparently Kasia felt the same—her sulky mood vanished as her attitude changed instantly.
Gulp.
- J-just give me one bite. Then I’ll forget you didn’t tell me earlier.
Didn’t she just say she was full?
But now she was swallowing her saliva, asking for a taste…
Well, a spoonful wouldn’t hurt.
“Just one bite, okay?”
- O-of course!
“Here, you take the first bite.”
As he handed over the ladle, Kasia glanced up at him.
Hm?
Why the hesitation?
Surely…
“Kasia!”
She scooped up half the rice with the ladle and moved it to her own bowl.
“You said just one bite!”
- Why are you being stingy over a single ladleful!
“Ugh, seriously…”
In the end, they split the rice half and half before the ramen fiasco was finally over.
- I’m full.
“Of course you are. You took half the rice.”
- Hmph. It wasn’t all of it. But didn’t you just hear something?
“What? Don’t change the subject.”
Kasia looked aggrieved.
- There it is again! Didn’t you hear it? It’s coming from outside.
“Really?”
Minho focused and listened closely, and sure enough, just as Kasia said, there was some sound in the distance.
This area was always quiet, with nobody else living nearby…
- Weapons! It sounds like weapons clashing!
“Now that you mention it… It does sound like those fights in Dungeons. Let’s check it out!”
He and Kasia hurried outside.
The direction of the sound was… over there, to the west.
Squinting, Minho focused his gaze, and saw sparks flickering in the distance.
It looked like flames scattering as they collided with something.
- Jinsu! Jinsu’s fighting someone over there!
“Jinsu? You can see that?”
- For us Elves, something like that is crystal clear. Shouldn’t we hurry?
“Let’s go right now.”
Maybe because Elves lived in the woods, their eyes and ears were sharp.
(Hello there!)
“Let’s go!”
(…Huh! What’s going on!)
Without pausing to explain, Minho scooped up Ddakkongi, who’d come over to greet him, and dashed toward the flickering flames with Kasia.
Ddakkongi was flustered, but explanations could wait.
First, they had to check the situation.