5
# Chapter 5
I threw down the dishes I had been washing and hurriedly moved to pick Noran up, but then I stopped.
I had heard about situations like this during the company's safety training.
They said you shouldn't carelessly lift someone up or touch their head. In that case, what you were supposed to do was...
“Noran, Noran?”
I patted Noran's shoulder and checked whether she was conscious.
First, I should call 119...
“Mister....”
“Yeah, Noran. Are you okay? Where does it hurt?”
“My tummy....”
“Your tummy? Does your stomach hurt? Where does it hurt?”
“I'm hungry....”
“...Huh?”
Grrrrrr.
...That was quite a loud stomach growl.
All the worry I'd felt moments ago disappeared, replaced by an incredulous laugh.
This adorable little brat.
I ruffled Noran's hair before picking her up.
She was still young enough to be light enough for me to carry.
I wondered if she was eating properly.
“Here, sit up straight.”
“Misteeer.”
“Wait just a little. I'll make you something to eat.”
I'd gone grocery shopping yesterday while buying the other things I needed.
Since I planned to spend a lot of time at the teahouse, I'd bought food so I could have simple lunches and dinners here.
Looks like it was going to come in handy.
“Noran, do you like sausages?”
“Sausages?”
“You've never had them? Well, then, Noran shouldn't eat these. If you eat them, one of the two of you dies.”
“Eek! You die if you eat them?”
“That's right. They're that delicious.”
Noran shrank back as though frightened, but she was still curious.
Well, if it was food that could kill you when you ate it, naturally she'd be curious.
Thanks to that curiosity, Noran forgot about her hunger and stretched her neck out to watch me in the kitchen.
I smiled warmly at the sight and turned on the gas stove.
I put in the sausages and onions I'd bought, chopped some bell peppers into large pieces, then added a generous amount of ketchup.
This was the kind of food that could wake you from a dead sleep.
“All right. This is the legendary Ssoya, so delicious that if two people eat it, one of them dies.”
If I served this with freshly cooked hot rice and kimchi, it would make a meal so satisfying that there'd be nothing else in the world to envy.
But rice would take time to cook, so I quickly made just the Ssoya and set it down.
I placed a small fork in front of Noran.
She cautiously speared a sausage.
Then took a bite.
“Mmm!”
For a moment, I imagined the two characters meaning delicious, 美味, floating before Noran's eyes.
Happiness spread across her face, and even a halo seemed to shine behind her.
Or so I thought.
“That's not just a feeling, is it?”
A brilliant yellow halo really was shimmering behind Noran's head.
And that wasn't all.
The yellow light scattered like tiny particles, almost like pollen.
I cautiously reached out and touched one.
A warm energy flowed into my hand.
How should I describe it?
It was some sort of energy that made you feel immersed in nostalgia.
“Noran, this....”
“Hm?”
Noran didn't care one bit about the yellow particles.
She was too busy eating Ssoya, ketchup smeared all around her mouth.
Her pure eyes contained nothing but Ssoya.
The Noran who had looked like she was dying just moments ago was gone.
What remained was the very incarnation of Ssoya.
“Heh.”
“Why?”
“Nothing.”
I stared at the fragment of light remaining on my hand before brushing it away.
Why should something like this matter?
I'd already regressed, and a house that hadn't existed before had appeared too.
It wasn't particularly threatening.
If anything, I felt more energetic with this light around.
Maybe it really was giving me energy.
“Eat slowly, Noran.”
“It's yummy!”
“I'll give you as much as you want. Don't make yourself sick.”
I wiped the ketchup from around Noran's mouth and stroked her hair.
As her hair fluttered, even more yellow particles naturally poured out.
The yellow light scattered through the air and spread everywhere.
Some settled on the table before disappearing.
Others were absorbed by the plants sitting in the corners.
And then—
“...Good heavens.”
The nameless plant in the flowerpot suddenly overflowed with vitality.
A plant that had been sitting in the corner of the shop, surviving on nothing but dust, came back to life with lush green leaves.
It was practically a miracle.
“Incredible.”
After touching the plant a few times, an idea came to me.
But this idea couldn't be carried out alone.
I needed Noran's help.
“Noran.”
“Hmm?”
“Will you help me? I'll give you something delicious.”
“The kind where one of two people dies if they eat it?”
“Exactly.”
Noran's elementary-school palate had officially been proven.
And I was certain cookies would hit that palate perfectly too.
Noran raised her hand without the slightest hesitation.
Thanks to that, the sausage on her fork went flying through the air, and ketchup splattered everywhere.
“I'll do it!”
Hearing Noran's energetic answer was all that mattered.
---
The morning was relatively quiet.
Yangjibareun Teahouse was still in its soft opening stage, and word hadn't spread yet that the place had been renovated.
Once I had the dessert lineup properly established, that would be when the official opening would happen.
Until then, I decided to take it easy, experimenting with different teas while focusing on desserts.
“Mister, I'm bored.”
I'd been holed up in the kitchen researching desserts, so Noran was rolling around on the floor.
And I mean that literally.
She was actually rolling around on the floor.
“Noran, that's dirty. Sit up properly.”
“No! It's clean!”
“It's dirty. Yuck, yuck. Come sit here.”
Noran immediately jumped up and sat at the bar table, but she soon became bored again.
This was exactly what you'd expect from a little kid.
But then there were things like her wandering around at dawn and those yellow particles.
There were so many things I didn't understand.
Maybe the Hyeon siblings would know something?
Noran seemed to have spent quite a lot of time around here.
“Misteeer.”
“All right, all right. I was already finished anyway.”
I packed the cookies and rusks I'd made into a small bag.
I'd deliberately packed them with plenty of sugar, so they'd help give her a quick dopamine boost.
I wondered if Hyeon-seo would shed tears of emotion the moment she ate them.
I picked up the bag and walked over to Noran.
Despite rolling around on the floor, there wasn't a single speck of dust on Noran's clothes.
Was it because the shop was clean, or were her clothes special?
“All right, give me your hand.”
Knowing Noran's personality, if we walked side by side and she saw something interesting, she'd undoubtedly disappear toward it.
It was better to hold her hand than lose sight of her.
Fortunately, Noran obediently reached out and took my hand.
“Mister, where are we going?”
“We're going to visit the watermelon field.”
“The watermelon field! Are we going to eat watermelon?”
“Maybe we'll get to eat some later.”
“Yay!”
Another puff of yellow particles rose from Noran's head.
Not as much as before, but enough to tell me she was excited.
“Hehe, hehehe! Watermelon, watermelon. Let's clap our hands and make a watermelon!”
I laughed as I listened to her add another self-made tune to her singing.
Thinking about it, I hadn't traveled much with children in my previous life.
I had always been busy working, so I'd left that role to my wife.
And my wife had passed that role on to someone else.
In the end, it was only natural that I hadn't developed a deep attachment to my children.
It was my own fault.
Still, they had been children I loved.
Even if I hated them sometimes, they were still my children, and I had wanted to keep seeing them.
But now, I couldn't anymore.
I didn't regret much else.
But that...
That was a little—no, quite a bit—sad.
“Mister.”
“Hmm?”
“Are you crying?”
“...No.”
“Don't cry.”
Noran stretched out her hand and gently patted the back of mine.
It was almost like the way someone would pat another person's head.
After doing it a few times, she smiled brightly.
“They say if you cry, a horn grows out of your butt.”
“Who told you that?”
“Grandpa.”
“Grandpa got that wrong.”
“Really?”
“A horn grows out of your chest, not your butt.”
“Scary!”
As I talked with Noran, feelings of regret, lingering attachment, guilt, and the like gradually faded.
Since I couldn't see my own children in this life, I would give even more affection to other children.
I silently repeated that to myself, almost as an act of atonement.
“We're here.”
By the time I finished talking with Noran, we'd arrived at the Hyeon siblings' watermelon field.
Day laborers, including foreign workers, were gathered there, working busily.
Everyone was cutting watermelon stems, carrying the watermelons, and packing them.
It almost felt like watching a highly precise smart factory.
The Hyeon siblings were among those people moving like machines.
“I'm here.”
“Oh, you're here. Wait a little. We're almost done.”
“We just need to finish this batch. Go rest over there.”
The two said that in unison before returning to their work.
Seeing them work made me feel a little guilty about simply standing around watching.
Beside me, Noran's eyes sparkled as she approached the pile of watermelons.
She tapped the watermelons with her little hands and giggled.
“Watermelon.”
“Noran, do you like watermelon?”
“Yeah! I like it.”
“Really?”
The watermelons that had already been harvested were covered in green, but there was something strangely dark about them.
Even the stems seemed limp.
It was just a feeling, but perhaps this was what the Hyeon siblings meant when they said the quality had been declining.
I watched Noran gently touch the watermelons before looking around.
Everyone was busy with their own work and paid no attention to us.
Should I try it now?
“Noran.”
“Hmm?”
“Here. This is the delicious thing I told you about earlier.”
I took the cookies I'd prepared from the bag and handed them to Noran.
They were chocolate cookies loaded with chocolate chips, made deliberately sweet.
Noran initially eyed the dark cookie suspiciously.
Only after smelling it did her wariness slowly disappear.
“It smells sweet.”
“It's delicious. Here, eat it slowly.”
Noran broke off a small piece of the cookie and put it in her mouth.
Her eyes immediately widened.
I didn't know how Noran had lived until now.
But I could tell that she'd grown up far removed from modern civilization.
Which meant—
This was probably her first time eating a chocolate cookie.
“Wow! Wow! Wooooow!”
A dangerously intense burst of sweetness!
Noran's dopamine exploded, and brilliant yellow light burst from above her head.
The yellow light exploded like fireworks, and the particles that branched off from it scattered down onto the watermelons.
So far, everything had gone according to plan.
“Whoa....”
The watermelons that had looked almost dark moments ago were now surrounded by vivid green.
The moment I saw them, I immediately thought of them as fresh and substantial.
White powder also began forming across their surfaces.
I didn't know why this was appearing, but surely it was a good sign.
Around the time the watermelons piled nearby began changing, Noran finished eating the entire cookie.
It must have been delicious enough for her to devour it despite her tiny mouth.
“Mister!”
“Yeah. Here you go.”
I took out another cookie and handed it to her.
Once again, light burst from Noran's head.
Watching the glowing particles scatter across the surrounding watermelons brought a smile to my face.
“Aww, what a good girl.”
“Hmm? I'm good?”
“Of course.”
Noran grinned and reached out her hand.
A good girl deserved another cookie.
Understanding that unspoken request, I took another cookie from the bag and held it out.
As I watched Noran nibble away at the cookie, the Hyeon siblings approached after roughly finishing their work.
“Whew, I'm exhausted.”
“I worked without even being able to straighten my back.”
“I'm seriously going to make a lot of money and quit watermelon farming next year.”
“Didn't you say that last year too?”
“I think that every year.”
The two bickered as they shook off the fatigue from the day's work.
I couldn't fully understand how difficult their lives were.
Even if I claimed to understand, it would only be a superficial understanding.
So what I could give them was quiet support.
“Here. I made some rusks for you, along with some of the food left over from making the Ssoya.”
“Thanks, Chan-seong. I'll enjoy it.”
“Oh, right. We said we'd give you some watermelons earlier. We picked out some top-grade ones.”
“Oh, can I take a few of the ones over there?”
“Those? No, you can't.”
Hyeon-ung firmly shook his head when I pointed at the watermelons piled beside us.
“Those are the ones we're throwing away. They're below the ordinary grade. We're just going to give them to livestock in the neighboring village.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. They're too tasteless for anyone to take....”
What's going on?
Why did he stop talking?
The eyes of both siblings had gone rigid, fixed on one particular spot like broken machines.
Specifically, on the watermelons behind me.
“Holy crap....”
“What is this?!”