Runny Batter and Wraith Whiskers
“Nyorurung…?”
‘This is bad.’
I stared down at the nearly empty flour sack and muttered to myself. The batter was far too thin, more like soup than anything resembling bread dough. To fix the consistency, I needed more flour. ‘Even if I scrape out every last bit, it probably won’t be enough to save this…’
I racked my brain, trying to salvage the situation. No matter how I looked at it, fluffy bread was off the table. Who would have thought we’d run out of flour right at the start? This had never happened before.
What now? Dark clouds rolled over the perfect blueprint I’d drawn in my mind. A fatal, unexpected snag had ruined an otherwise flawless recipe.
‘Maybe I should have used Dragon’s Allure on the shaved ice after all. If I’d known it would come to this, I would’ve calmed Sofia down first…’
Regret was all that remained.
“……”
Derke watched me in silence, her green eyes trembling. She clearly knew she had made a serious mistake.
“Haa…”
Late regret wouldn’t change anything. Besides, I couldn’t blame her. I was the one who had dumped the task on her without proper measurements and told her to figure it out. And more than anything, she had volunteered to help. How could I scold her?
I had to find another way.
“I-I’m sorry-desuyong…… I was trying to get the ratio right, but it ended up like this-eeyap……”
When I paused, Derke offered a timid apology, her voice shrinking. She kept glancing at me while adding things like “Derke only wanted to help Oppa……”
Seeing her like that only made my heart soften further.
“It’s okay. You were just trying your best, right? No need to apologize.”
“B-But…… Derke ruined everything-desuyong……”
Even after my reassurance, Derke’s expression stayed gloomy. Her shoulders slumped dejectedly.
—Sob, sob…!
Big tears welled up in her eyes, threatening to spill at any moment. She looked as though the guilt of causing me trouble was crushing her.
“Derke? Don’t cry over something this small.”
“Hic—! B-But still……!”
“I’m fine. So stop—!”
If she cried over this, I would feel even worse. I was the one who had made the bigger mistake, even if it had been an accident. In truth, this whole snack was my desperate attempt to cover up my own error. I had no right to scold Derke.
“B-But Derke messed everything up-desuyong…… I’m really sorry-eeyap……”
“No, we can still save this batter. We’ll just have to change the plan a little.”
“Haat…? Y-You can really do that-desuyong—?!”
“Yeah. It’s just too runny, not completely unusable. We can still work with it.”
“Is that true-eeyap…?!”
Derke’s face brightened instantly. The tears that had been about to fall stopped. My last words had clearly relieved her.
“That’s right. I was planning to make bread, but…… wait. We can still make bread with this, can’t we?”
Originally, I had wanted to make red-bean-filled bread—either baked danpatppang or steamed steamed buns suited for cold weather. Bake the dough and you get danpatppang; steam it and you get jjimppang. “Hopppang” was just a marketing name meaning “hot-hot, blow-on-it bread.” I had hoped to create two different textures and flavors from one recipe, but Derke’s overflowing enthusiasm had steered us toward something else entirely.
“Can we really make dessert with such runny batter-desuyong—? And bread too……?”
“Of course. Think of it as pancake batter.”
“Aat, now that you mention it, it does look similar-desuyong…!”
“Right? And I just thought of something even tastier than pancakes—something perfect for this cold weather.”
“What is it-eeyap?! Derke’s curious-desuyong—!”
I smoothly changed the subject, steering things toward hope and positivity. Thanks to that, Derke’s tears vanished completely.
“Heh, it’s a secret.”
With those words, I took the bowl of batter from her. It still looked salvageable. With a little adjustment, it might turn out quite nice.
“Derke wants to know……”
“You’ll definitely like it, Derke. I can promise you that.”
“Ah! Don’t tell me it uses that black lump-eeyap?”
Derke pointed at the red-bean paste I had made earlier while wiping the batter from her hands. As always, she was the youngest yet the quickest to catch on. Come to think of it, Derke and Raylin still hadn’t tried the red beans.
“That’s right. Want to taste it?”
“Eh…? Th-That……?”
“First time seeing it, so it looks weird, huh?”
“N-No, that’s not it…! I-It’s something Oppa made, so…… even if it looks strange…… i-it’ll probably taste good……?”
“Hmm?”
Derke stammered, even switching to the common tongue. It was the first time I had heard her speak so awkwardly. She must have been intimidated by the red-bean paste’s appearance.
—Swoosh…!
Still, she couldn’t bring herself to refuse something I had made. With an expression she could no longer control, she brought a spoon toward the paste, her hand trembling as though she had the shakes.
It really didn’t look very appetizing at first glance. The color wasn’t great either.
‘Cute. There really isn’t another dragon who thinks of me as much as Derke does.’
Since things had turned out this way, I decided to let both Derke and Raylin try the red-bean shaved ice while I worked on the real snack. I no longer needed their help anyway.
“Derke? You don’t have to eat it by itself. It tastes much better with other ingredients.”
“Hueet…?! Th-Thank goodness—!”
Derke, who had been lifting a spoonful of red-bean paste toward her mouth, quickly set the spoon down at my words and let out a relieved sigh.
“I’ll make you something similar to what I gave Sofia. So, Derke? Could you go outside and scoop up some snow for me?”
“Aat? Instead of frozen milk, we’re using ice-eeyap—?”
She really was sharp when it counted. A little clumsy at times, but usually quick on the uptake.
“Exactly. I’m about to start for real, so I’d appreciate the help. Oh, and bring enough for Raylin as well.”
“Got it-eeyap—! Derke will be right back-desuyong…!”
—Tap-tap-tap…!
Derke’s mood had completely recovered. She grabbed two wide plates and dashed outside. It was a relief she was so simple-hearted. If she had stayed downcast, I would have spent all my time cheering her up.
‘Anyway, time to get started.’
—Swish, swish…!
I picked up the whisk and began stirring the batter. It offered almost no resistance. My arm felt light, as though I were simply stirring liquid. The batter was even runnier than I had expected. We must have used far more milk than flour.
—Crack, sizzle…!
—Plop…!
I added eggs and butter to adjust the consistency and kept whisking, tossing in the last bit of flour as well.
—Squish-squish-squish…!
After several rounds of stirring, something unexpected happened.
“Nyororong……”
“Huh? Wh-What was that sound……?”
A chilling yet strangely familiar voice echoed from inside my chest.
Dragon Heart (No Attribute) has been activated.
The Wraith Legion is ready to move for you at any time (Duration: Unlimited).
Derke’s ability had suddenly triggered. Even more surprising, a wraith emerged—right out of my chest—taking the translucent form of a ghost.
“What the— you……?”
“Nyorurung……?”
Our eyes met, and an awkward silence fell. I was dumbfounded. I hadn’t even called for it. What was going on?
Of course, I had unconsciously thought it would be nice if someone else could stir for me……
—Snatch!
Perhaps because of that unspoken wish, the wraith grabbed the whisk without being told. Before I could even think of stopping it—
—Swish, swish, swish…!
The wraith began stirring the batter for free, devoting itself to the task without hesitation. Unlike Dragon’s Allure or Light’s Purification, the Wraith Legion had no cooldown.
‘Is it reading my thoughts and acting on them? So this is the power of a Death Dragon……?’
Yesterday I had briefly received permission to command Derke’s wraiths, but now that I possessed her Dragon Heart, such formalities were unnecessary. Some of the wraiths had apparently become my subordinates the moment the heart transferred to me.
‘This works out perfectly. I was just thinking I needed molds for the runny batter…… Maybe the wraiths can help with that too?’
The batter had already regained a decent consistency. I planned to bake it together with the red-bean paste on an iron plate—in the shape of bungeoppang, the perfect cold-weather snack. With the wraiths’ help, even the fish-shaped molds should be manageable.
Nothing beat this kind of treat on a freezing day like today.
‘Ah, while I’m at it, should I try making some cream-filled bungeoppang too……?’