Nam Dayun (3)
Nam Dayun (3)
"Oops, is the timing a bit off?"
"No, I was training until just a moment ago, so I was actually quite hungry."
"I see. Then Noona will cook for you. Ah, Siwoo, you like meat, right? Should I make you some meat?"
"Yes."
I was actually hungry, too. Ever since I fell from my original world's body into this game world and switched bodies, it had always been like this. I'd get hungry even after moving just a little, and when I trained, I ate three times more than the average adult.
'...Is this the power of the Thousand-Hand?'
I looked into Nam Da-yoon's eyes. Her gaze toward me had changed. It shifted from the look one gives a cute younger brother to the look one gives a man. Ever since I started touching her body here and there, it had changed like that.
Just how intense is it for her to be like this? I activated the Thousand-Hand and lightly touched her ear.
'Hup.'
I staggered for a moment. It was pleasure beyond my imagination. I had only touched it lightly, yet the strength left my legs.
It's way more intense than I thought...?
For a second, I thought my erogenous zone was my ear.
It was strange that Nam Da-yoon had managed to keep her reason even after I touched her with this a few times. Since I had touched her at maximum output with something like this, it was no wonder Im Na-yeon had fainted.
I followed Nam Da-yoon's lead toward the dining table. When I got there, I saw a table large enough that it wouldn't be a problem for ten people to sit at.
"I bought a spacious one because of the kids who come over sometimes."
"The kids?"
"Yeah. The kids. There's a group I formed with some like-minded friends, and they come over to hang out sometimes."
Then, she said, glancing at me.
"I'm just telling you in case, but there are no men. It's just women."
"Ah, right."
I gave an awkward smile at Nam Da-yoon's subtle remark.
I sat at the table and looked around.
Then, a poster caught my eye. I saw a poster of Nam Da-yoon wearing Chinese-style clothing, about to swing a sword. Taking a quick look, it seemed to be a game poster. Come to think of it, Nam Da-yoon was popular in China, too.
"What kind of meat do you like? Duck, beef, pork, lamb... I also have some snake meat I received as a gift."
Snake meat? That was a subtle ingredient. I heard the fact that it's good for stamina is just a superstition.
"I'll go with beef and pork..."
"I wanted beef and pork, too. We're on the same page. You like grilled meat, right?"
"Yes, Koreans love grilled meat."
Nam Da-yoon gave a slight eye-smile and spoke. She walked over to a long white rod and tapped it, and the space distorted as if black ink were spreading. It was a product advertised as a refrigerator developed using subspace.
The storage space is a whopping 50 pyeong. Since it's subspace, you can store food for an almost infinite amount of time.
The developer is a company founded by Im Na-yeon's father. I think one of those cost tens of millions of won. The reason I know this in such detail is because a few people had praised it to suck up to Im Na-yeon.
Nam Da-yoon took out a few chunks of meat and some vegetables from the space.
Thud!
She set them down on the cutting board. It was a chunk of meat the size you'd see in cartoons. With a bit of exaggeration, it was big enough to fit two of my heads. Is that Hanwoo? It must be Hanwoo, right? Just that chunk alone would cost hundreds of thousands of won...
"Th-the meat is huge."
"Yeah. I don't know the details, but they said it's a cow raised on mana from Mount Baekdu."
Naturally, the price would skyrocket for something like that. Hanwoo is expensive enough as it is, so if it's raised on mana from Mount Baekdu, just how expensive is it? It's too expensive an item to get a free meal out of.
Slice-
Unaware of my feelings, Nam Da-yoon took out a kitchen knife and sliced the chunk of meat. I saw her slice it once, and the meat was cut into three equal pieces as if measured with a ruler.
"Wow."
When I exclaimed in a low voice, Nam Da-yoon looked smug.
"You're good at cooking."
When I gave her a moderate compliment, Nam Da-yoon spoke as if she felt embarrassed.
"Heroes who wield swords are better at it than most chefs. But cooking is a hassle, so I usually just order out."
Saying that, Nam Da-yoon poured cooking oil into the pan.
'...?'
And then, she put one chunk of meat in as is...
"No-Noona! Wait a second!"
"Uh, uh? What is it, Siwoo?"
"Noona, by any chance... is this your first time making steak?"
I held back from asking if it was her first time cooking and changed my answer.
"Uh, uh?"
Nam Da-yoon looked very flustered at my question. I've seen that expression before.
It was the expression my younger sister made when I got my first paycheck and bought Hanwoo home; she said she was confident in her cooking, but then burned the Hanwoo to a crisp, and when I asked her what she was doing, that was the look she gave.
I stood up slightly and grabbed Nam Da-yoon's shoulders with both hands.
"Si-Siwoo? Al-already?"
"Actually, I wanted to repay you, Noona. You always help me a lot and give me so much. Today, I'll cook for you. Just for you, Noona."
"..."
Nam Da-yoon's ears turned bright red. I couldn't see her face because it was covered. That wasn't very important. What was more important was the meat.
I moved Nam Da-yoon to the table and grabbed the knife. I took a quick look around the kitchen; it had all the basics, and I could see high-end ingredients and herbs as well.
'These aren't things someone who knows nothing about cooking would have.'
It seems like there's someone around who takes care of her.
First, I used the knife to remove the fat from the meat. Then, I pressed the chunks of meat with paper towels to remove the blood and moisture.
"Oh..."
Nam Da-yoon looked at me with eyes full of anticipation.
I sprinkled coarse salt over the chunks of meat. I also ground and sprinkled whole black pepper. For flavor, I poured more olive oil than usual and massaged it all in.
"Si-Siwoo, you're good at cooking."
"Yes. Because of my younger sister."
"Younger sister? You have a younger sister too, Siwoo?"
"Yes. A younger sister. I have one troublemaker. My parents are busy, and my sister has no talent for cooking, so I do it sometimes."
"She must be cute."
"Please don't say such a terrible thing..."
There are things that even Nam Da-yoon cannot be forgiven for.
I massaged the meat and grabbed garlic and butter from the refrigerator. Garlic is essential for Koreans.
Sizzle.
The meat made contact with a beautiful sound.
"Isn't it supposed to be high heat at first?"
"Because of locking in the juices? That's just something that appears in cartoons or anime for dramatic effect. Or for people who have learned cooking magic."
Even if it doesn't look cool, flipping it multiple times is the right way. I flipped the meat about five times and added garlic that I had roughly crushed by hand. After flipping it twice more, I added butter and rosemary.
"Ohh."
Nam Da-yoon was impressed watching me grill the meat. While grilling the meat, I used a spoon to baste the steak with the butter bath. It's a process to enhance the meat's flavor. And finally, I let it rest. Locking in the juices. I placed the meat on a plate and covered it with aluminum foil.
The only thing left was making the sauce.
'It's convenient that there's A1 sauce.'
I added the sauce to the pan with the remaining oil. I added a spoonful of sugar and stirred it to reduce.
The doneness was medium-well. Even though it had shrunk, the size was no joke.
Slice.
I sliced the meat along the grain into bite-sized pieces, garnished it with garlic on the side, and poured the sauce over it.
Decoration utilizing the Thousand-Hand. With exquisite dexterity, it was decorated so beautifully that it was a waste to eat.
"It's all done, Noona. Here, say ah."
"Ah, ah."
When I gave her a piece of meat, Nam Da-yoon opened her mouth, blushing. Then, she ate it with a 'yam' and widened her eyes.
"It, it's delicious."
And that day, Nam Da-yoon devoured all three chunks of meat.
...What about my share?
After she devoured two more chunks of meat the same size as before.
Nam Da-yoon was smiling contentedly and rubbing her belly. Perhaps because she was wearing a crop top, her cute belly button was visible. White skin and a slim-looking belly. I felt the urge to press and touch it with my hands.
While looking at that, I suddenly felt a playful urge.
"Come to think of it, you said the Demon-humans attacked this time, right?"
"Yeah. But why?"
"That was the professor. I got something while catching the Demon-human back then, would you like to take a look?"
"...What is it?"
The satisfied expression disappeared and changed to a sharp one.
Sword Mistress Nam Da-yoon. It was the expression of the one called the Queen of Massacre among villains.
"It's called a Hypnosis App."
"...Hypnosis App?"
Nam Da-yoon's expression changed at my words. From a sharp expression to one of absurdity.
"Yes. They actually used this to offer students as sacrifices..."
As I explained about Ash and Dust, she looked at Ash's phone with a serious expression.
"So you're saying this is real. I can definitely feel magic power from it, but..."
She looked at the phone with a skeptical expression.
I turned on Ash's phone.
I showed her the app in the shape of a vortex with intersecting purple and pink colors.
"This is what's called the Hypnosis App."
"Hypnosis... I'm not really into that kind of..."
Nam Da-yoon stopped mid-sentence. Then, she looked at my face for a moment.
"Si-Siwoo."
"Yes?"
"D-don't misunderstand, will you listen? That Hypnosis App thing, why don't you try using it on me once?"
"On you, Noona?"
I made a reluctant expression.
"J-just in case... if it's strong enough to work on someone like me, that's a big problem, right?"
It wouldn't work on Nam Da-yoon even if I sacrificed my life. I put on a thoughtful expression for a moment.
However, it wasn't a problem to worry about. I need to live a long, healthy life to smash the Demon God's head. So, I turned on the fake Hypnosis App I had installed beforehand.
The screen, swirling with pink and purple, filled the entire phone. As I showed it to her, the focus in Nam Da-yoon's eyes disappeared.
'Uh...?'