Training and the Taste of Redemption
Training.
A rubber dagger traced a fluid arc through the air.
Sion parried Garam’s blade with a light flick of his wrist, his brows twitching almost imperceptibly. His expression remained as indifferent as ever, but inside, he was genuinely impressed.
‘A genius is a genius, I suppose.’
Most killers her age would have had their form collapse the moment they swung a blade. Yet, Garam never once lost her center, transitioning naturally from the second movement into the third.
And she was doing it despite having never practiced that specific stance before.
‘With a little more polish, she’ll be ready for real-world application.’
Thinking this, Sion deflected her dagger with a sharp, forceful strike.
“Ugh!?”
“There’s one mistake you’ve been making repeatedly.”
“A mistake?”
“Exactly.”
As if to show her rather than just tell her, Sion mimicked the exact movement Garam had just performed.
“What do you think the problem is?”
“…I’m not sure.”
“You’re unconsciously repeating the same pattern. If you keep this up, even an A-class killer would have enough time to read your movements and predict your next attack.”
Garam’s face flushed with embarrassment.
She had lived her whole life being called a genius among her peers, but in front of Sion, she felt like a killer riddled with flaws.
“Your speed and precision are good. But keep in mind, the moment an attack becomes predictable, it becomes completely useless.”
“……I understand.”
“Don’t look so down. These things usually improve with experience.”
Sion reached out and ruffled Garam’s hair.
“You don’t have to give me a slap and then a caress.”
“I was just stating the facts.”
Garam pouted, but she didn’t pull away from his touch. She felt frustrated, but she knew there wasn’t a single word of Sion’s advice that was wrong.
“Try it again, keeping my advice in mind.”
“Fine. Let’s do it again.”
Garam steadied her breathing and took her stance once more. Sweat was pouring down her body like rain, but her spirit remained unbroken.
Once again, the dagger traced a fluid line as she aimed sharply at Sion.
The subsequent movements weren’t perfectly corrected yet, but… it seemed she was improving, as if she were keeping his words at the forefront of her mind.
‘If she keeps holding a dagger for another two years, she’ll be better than me.’
Sion thought to himself as he swatted her blade away once more.
“Ugh! Why again!”
“You were repeating the same motion just now. Again.”
“Ugh…! But wasn’t that better?”
“It’s not enough yet. Do it again.”
Sion tossed the dagger that had fallen to the floor back to Garam.
Garam gritted her teeth, gripped the dagger tightly, and lunged. She was determined to make Sion say that she had done enough.
“Hup!!”
But because she kept repeating the same unconscious habits, Sion told her to go again, and again, and again.
“Do it again.”
“Augh…!!!”
How many hours had passed since then?
Garam, her legs completely drained of strength, collapsed to the floor.
“Mister, I really can’t do any more…!”
Her hair, soaked in sweat, hung limply like seaweed, and her hands were flushed red from the friction against the dagger’s handle. Sion watched her for a moment before handing her a bottle of water.
“Good work. Let’s call it for the morning.”
“Huuuh… I thought I was going to die…”
Watching Garam gulp down the water as if she were truly exhausted, Sion felt a sense of admiration.
Most kids would have collapsed and cried that they couldn’t go on, but Garam had endured the training without a single major complaint.
‘They say there’s nothing more terrifying than a genius who works hard.’
As Sion thought this to himself, Garam, who had been sprawled out on the floor like a starfish, tilted her head back and rubbed her stomach.
“Mister… I’m starving to death.”
“…….”
“I’m serious. The training is hard enough, but if I don’t eat, I’m definitely going to die.”
Garam said this with a completely serious expression. Sion chuckled and asked,
“Are you that hungry?”
“Of course! I moved this much, wouldn’t I be hungry?”
“…I suppose, children in their growth phase do eat a lot.”
“So give me some food, Mister. Fooood…”
Garam clasped her hands together, emphasizing her desperation.
“Alright. Let’s eat then.”
“You’re the one making it again, right?”
“Yeah. I can’t exactly ask a kid to cook for me.”
Sion returned the dagger to its place and opened the door to the training room, with Garam trailing closely behind him. Her expression was filled with unmistakable joy.
“What are we having for lunch? It’s not toast again, is it? Even Obelisk didn’t serve the same menu twice in a row.”
“…You’re quick to adapt, aren’t you? You’ve only been in my house for a day, and you’re already asking about the menu.”
“Meals are a matter of survival. I have to adapt quickly.”
“That’s a fair point, I suppose.”
As Sion nodded in agreement, Garam asked with even more excitement and anticipation in her eyes.
“So, what are you going to make?”
“I was thinking of making some ramen. What do you think?”
At the mention of ramen, Garam’s face contorted.
“…You’re going to make that tasteless food?”
“Ramen is delicious, though. It’s an essential food for anyone living alone.”
“Why? It just smells weird, and it tastes absolutely terrible.”
“What kind of food have you been eating, exactly?”
Sion asked, narrowing his eyes. Garam tilted her head, then grimaced as if recalling a traumatic experience.
“They gave it to us at Obelisk sometimes instead of a meal. They’d put some weird powder in a cup, pour cold water in, and just stir it. The broth was strangely murky, and the noodles were either undercooked or soggy… anyway, it was horrific.”
“…You ate that and called it ramen?”
“Yeah. It tasted awful. My stomach still turns just thinking about the smell.”
Garam shuddered and shook her head.
Sion was momentarily speechless.
‘I knew the quality of food at the training center was quite poor, but…’
To prepare ramen in such a horrific way. Anyone who had tasted real ramen would call that method torture, not cooking.
“…What you ate wasn’t ramen. That was a terrorist attack on food.”
“Then you mean real ramen is different?”
“That goes without saying.”
Sion climbed the stairs and entered the house, pulling a pot out from the kitchen as he spoke.
“Forget the ramen you’ve had until now. What you ate was an insult to ramen.”
“…Mister, are you really going to make ramen?”
“Yeah. I’m planning on feeding you a proper meal for once.”
Garam looked at Sion with suspicious eyes, then muttered as if grumbling.
“Hmm… well, if you’re that confident, Mister. But if it’s really tasteless, I’m going to have something to say about it.”
“If it is, I’ll take whatever you have to say. But if you say it’s delicious, no more bad-mouthing ramen from now on.”
“Hmph. I’ll only know that after I taste it.”
Even as she said that, Garam’s expression seemed to hold a hint of curiosity. Sion filled the pot with water, determined to let her taste what real ramen was like.
“Go wash up quickly. Your hair is short, so you’ll be done with your shower fast, right?”
“Of course. I’ll be back in a flash, so have it ready by then.”
“Just go wash up.”
When Garam opened the bathroom door after her shower, a warm, unfamiliar scent hit her nose along with the steam.
It was a delicious smell that made her feel better just by breathing it in.
“……What is this smell?”
Garam swallowed involuntarily.
He had definitely said it was ramen, but it was completely different from the strange, horrific scent she had known.
It was a smell that guaranteed it would be delicious.
As her heart began to race with an inexplicable sense of anticipation, Garam’s feet naturally carried her toward the dining table.
“Are you done washing?”
When Garam entered the kitchen, she saw two bowls of ramen steaming on the table.
A red broth with firm, springy noodles. And even an egg floating on top.
Just looking at it made her mouth water, to the point where she felt like she couldn’t hold it back.
“This… is ramen?”
Garam stirred the noodles gently with her chopsticks, as if she couldn’t believe it.
“Yeah. That bizarre food you knew wasn’t ramen. This is the real thing.”
While Sion placed the pot in the sink, Garam sat at the table and inhaled the scent of the broth again.
Was it because she was so hungry? Or was the scent just that stimulating?
Garam’s eyes began to sparkle like stars.
“Mister, I can eat it right away, right?”
“Yeah. Just be careful not to burn yourself since it’s hot.”
As soon as she got the go-ahead, Garam grabbed the noodles with her chopsticks and carefully put them into her mouth.
“……!!”
The taste of the real ramen she was experiencing for the first time came as a huge shock to Garam.
After the springy texture of the noodles hit her first, the deep, rich flavor of the broth spread throughout her mouth.
It was truly the definition of deliciously spicy.
The taste made the ramen she had eaten until now seem like a bizarre concoction, and Garam’s eyes widened in amazement.
“U-um…! What is this…?”
Garam instinctively slurped up the hot broth. Her tongue and throat burned with the heat, but strangely, she couldn’t put her chopsticks down.
“No way… It’s so delicious…!”
Her head spun from the flavor spreading in her mouth. It was refreshing, as if all the fatigue from her training was being washed away at once, and at the same time, it was filling enough to make her forget her hunger.
Garam began to inhale the noodles, moving her chopsticks frantically.
“Slurp! Ugh, hot! But… I can’t stop!”
Sion watched her quietly from across the table with his arms crossed. A faint smile played on his lips.
“See? This is real ramen, so don’t go bad-mouthing it so easily from now on.”
But Garam seemed unable to even hear him properly, alternating between the broth and the noodles, her chopsticks and spoon moving without pause.
Her face was glistening with sweat, and her eyes were slightly watery from the spicy broth, but her expression was filled with genuine happiness.
“Mister…! This is… the best food of my life…!”
“Eat slowly. There’s plenty more.”