Elin's Day
The time when warm sunlight seeps through the window cracks.
Elin's day begins.
Ttarreureureung—.
"Huuuyaam!"
When the alarm clock rings, she rises, tousling her messy hair.
Jjak jjak.
She lightly taps her cheeks to wake herself up.
"Full of energy for today too!"
She opens her eyes wide and takes a deep breath.
She opens the window to air the room and straightens the bedding.
When she goes down to the kitchen, her mother Marie is cooking breakfast.
"Good morning! Omma!"
"I've set breakfast, so wake Min up too and eat together. Omma will head to the restaurant first!"
"Okay. See you later! And Appa?"
"He came home late from a company dinner last night, so let him sleep a little longer."
"Yes~."
After washing up and finishing her grooming, Elin left her room and stood in front of the next door.
Until recently, it had been a storage room for odds and ends.
But now, a new family member is staying there.
Before knocking, she checks her appearance once more and clears her throat.
"Hm hm. Ahem. Ahh."
No problems.
Knock knock knock.
"Min? You awake?"
Silent....
Just as she's about to knock again,
Kudangtang.
"Uwaaah! $^#^%Elin!"
Min seems to have woken up, causing a small commotion.
The door swings open, and Min peeks his face out.
Roughly combing his bedhead hair with his hand, he mutters something.
"&^*#%^."
"Breakfast is ready. Come out when you're ready."
Min and Elin speak different languages and can't communicate, but it seems they can converse to some extent through context.
Min, catching the nuance of what Elin said, nodded and answered.
"@@$%$!"
Elin smiled, as if she didn't dislike Min's flustered appearance.
After sitting at the table and waiting a bit, Min appeared looking neat.
"Sit down. Let's eat and go to the restaurant together. Omma went ahead."
"$#%#*&."
"Oh, this? It's water. You can drink it. Eat slowly."
"%#$@Elin."
"Hehe."
Elin didn't think the current situation was bad.
Normally, she would have woken up roughly rubbing her eyes, picking at her food and clinking her dishes.
Just by Min's presence, her previous routine was broken, and it felt like a lively day was beginning.
In fact, it wasn't just Elin who wished this kind of life would continue.
Cheol-min, whom Elin called 'Min,' was also originally living a lonely daily life.
Although he had recently been thrown alone into a distant foreign land, he didn't feel lonely at all.
He had saved money while pursuing a free life, and though it wasn't complete freedom, somehow he found himself thinking, 'Isn't this the life I wanted?' Why was that?
Even when going to the workplace—the restaurant—with Elin, Cheol-min was happy.
This place, freed from his terrible past workplace, was heaven.
His colleagues here were kind, and his actions matched his supervisor's intentions.
It was a rare situation where his annoying previous company experience and tact were shining.
Cheol-min thought.
'So my previous job was actually helpful like this.'
When the busy time passed and it became quiet, a little free time was given.
When a day had passed after starting work, Elin approached and spoke to him.
"@@%$$%&^^."
He obviously didn't understand.
Then Elin kindly took out a pen and notebook.
"$%. $%^. ^&*"
She alternated pointing at herself and Cheol-min with the pen and mimed writing something in the notebook.
"Are you going to teach me to write?"
Cheol-min mimicked Elin's action.
From that day on, they had time to learn the other world's language.
Of course Cheol-min, but Elin and Marie also found the language barrier extremely inconvenient.
When tasks got a bit complicated or instructions became long, Cheol-min—that is, Min—couldn't understand, so they couldn't give him any orders except simple chores.
Even though they wanted to have him take orders or handle payments, Min didn't even know how to count in this world, so studying at some point was necessary.
"Okay, Min. Now, follow along from here. One."
"Hua... na?"
"Ah! I'm tired."
While studying the letters Elin assigned as homework, before he knew it, the night had grown deep.
"How long has it been since I ended up here...?"
Seeing the night sky outside the window, he felt somehow sentimental.
"The night sky looks the same as from Earth. But the stars are a bit clearer here."
It seems almost over a month has passed in this other world life.
Working regularly day by day, time flies by.
It felt exactly like when I first got employed.
Come home, drained, and collapse on the bed.
Open my eyes, go back to work.
Clock out, drain again.
Every day like that.
"Should I have taken restaurant work sooner?"
Back on Earth, I was full of thoughts like 'Why am I living like this?' 'Am I even living properly?' But the work I do now is incredibly rewarding.
How peculiar.
Lately, I can manage simple greetings and reading numbers, so I can do easy customer service, which makes it even more enjoyable.
What changed?
Is it a matter of mindset?
Or the environment?
Every day is new and thrilling.
"Hey, Cholmin! Good morning!"
"Thomas! Hi!"
"Haha! You should say 'hello' not 'hi'!"
"This. Help?"
"Will you help? I have a favor to ask."
Cheol-min helped carry the delivered goods.
There were often early morning deliveries, and since not many people were around to carry the load at this hour, and using his body felt refreshing.
And earning Thomas's favor was a bonus.
"This is the last one. Good work, Cholmin."
"It's okay. I. Healthy!"
"Hahaha! That's right. Having a young workforce is really convenient. How about switching jobs from the restaurant to the trading company while you're at it?"
Thomas patted Cheol-min on the back, saying he worked hard.
"Honey, are you soliciting our employee right now?"
Marie, who heard the conversation from behind, glared at Thomas.
"It's a joke. A joke. But borrowing him for a bit when we're busy is fine, right?"
"We're always busy lately too. I brought drinks, so have some. Min, you drink this too."
Cool fruit juice.
"Marie. Thank you. But I not Min. I Cheol-min."
"More? Min?"
"...."
Without adding anything, Cheol-min held out his glass.
He looks used to it.
Time passed, and the other world language lesson came as usual.
Today's method is a bit unusual.
Elin said practice was important and got free time outside of work from Marie-nim.
So the restaurant closed early.
Cheol-min and Elin are out together at the market.
For a situation set up as Cheol-min's practice, Elin is very excited right now.
Whether it's simply that she likes going out,
Or if she has other intentions, Cheol-min thought this kind of leisure might be the first since coming to the other world, so he decided to enjoy the moment.
"Min! Over there, over there!"
Following Elin, they wandered around the market, seeing various sights.
Those who had only heard rumors that the Carter Trading Company brought a strange-looking person showed interest and started conversations.
People who had seen Cheol-min at the Marie Restaurant acknowledged him as a member of the village and exchanged greetings.
"Min. I want to eat that bread. Want to try practicing?"
Under the pretext of practice, Elin induced Cheol-min to talk to the market vendors.
Sometimes, some vendors would tease them.
"Hey, Elin. Did you finally get a boyfriend?"
"N-no, that's not it!"
"Whee~. Looks like a nice date? How about giving this to your girlfriend?"
"Hey! Stop joking!"
Elin blushed and looked flustered, but somehow seemed to be enjoying it.
Miran Village is peaceful today as well.
"Ahem. Min, forget about the vendors' teasing."
"Forgot."
"Anyway, how was it? Today."
"A date with Elin? It was good."
"Ehehe. Yeah? No! Not that! I meant whether you learned!"
"Right. It helped a lot. Thanks."
"Yeah? I'm glad it helped. In that case, I'll buy this."
Elin handed Cheol-min a sweet dessert.
"It's sweet. What's this called?"
"Tasty, right? It's called 'Hai'."
"Hai... I've never had this taste before."
"Hehe. If you want to eat it again, tell me. I know how to make this. I'll make it for you."
"Thank you, Elin. Good day today."
Cheol-min wanted to say it had been an unforgettable day.
"Me too!"
Probably, that feeling was conveyed.
"Ah, right. Speaking of which!"
"?"
"Follow me this way."
Elin led Cheol-min up a high hill.
The sun was setting.
"I wonder if it'll be visible?"
"What?"
"I heard they're having a fireworks display inside the castle today."
Only by climbing the hill could the distant castle walls be seen.
That place is the capital of this kingdom.
Glass.
"Fireworks. Why are they doing it? Celebrating something?"
"I heard, but what was it?"
Piyuuuuung—.
A thick stream of fire soared toward the sky.
Ppeong—!
Pabababak—.
The burst of fire looked like a giant glowing flower.
Is that gunpowder?
Or is it magic since it's another world?
Cheol-min thought.
Either way, it's a beautiful sight.
Who would have thought the fireworks would appear so vivid against the darkening sky as the sunset faded.
As he was admiring, Elin rested her head lightly on Cheol-min's shoulder.
Peong—.
Ppeobeong—.
Is this sound the firecrackers bursting?
Or is it Elin's heartbeat?
Cheol-min showed no reaction, acting as if nothing was wrong.
Elin didn't even have the composure to notice.
In this moment, the two just stayed still.
Just gazing endlessly at the beautiful sky embroidered with fireworks as the sun set.
Even after the fireworks ended, the two didn't move from their positions for a while.
The sound of crickets might break the silence, but
Only the pounding sound echoed in their ears.
How long had passed?
Elin opened her mouth.
"... Pretty, isn't it?"
Cheol-min had a set answer.
"It's pretty...."
With that, they both fell silent again and counted stars for a long time.
There are so many stars.
"Oh, you asked earlier what the fireworks were celebrating, right?"
"Yeah."
"I just remembered. They said those fireworks are to welcome the @^."
"@^? What's that?"
Cheol-min expressed confusion at the word he heard for the first time.
"How should I explain? The @^ defeats bad people, protects people from enemies... and saves everyone?"
What is that?
A police officer?
There's no way something like that exists in this world.
Then a guard? A knight?
Cheol-min fell into thought.
But soon he decided it probably wasn't important and dropped the thought.
"Hero-nim. Did you enjoy the welcome ceremony?"
Sophia addressed the Hero, who was looking out the window.
"It seems too grand. I wonder if it was necessary to go this far."
"Hero-nim, I understand your concerns, but this much is necessary for the people to fully feel the majesty of you and our Glacius Kingdom. On the contrary, if we lower ourselves despite being capable, the people will doubt our strength."
"..."
"... For now, I will convey your opinion. Then please rest comfortably."
Kkik— kung.
The massive room door closed.
The one called the Hero looked down at the crowd enjoying the festival welcoming him.
The people seemed very happy.
"I'm the Hero...."
The Hero let out a snicker.