Chapter 20
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 20
“Nice.”
Another successful day’s work.
“A person needs to sweat.”
“Kkoong?”
“He who does not work shall not eat.”
“Kkoong-kkoong-kkoong…?”
The body of Honey, the sweet-colored waterbird, trembled. His cry seemed to ask, Then what about me? I don’t work!
Gio shook his head firmly.
“Why are you worrying when you’re that cute?”
“Kkook.”
“You’re already doing your part just by being cute, so don’t worry about nonsense.”
No matter how carefree his life was, Gio wasn’t the type to shirk responsibility for a creature he had birthed with his own paint. As long as Honey was the son of Gio—a gourmet and a big eater in his own right—the bird would never starve.
“Got it?”
Accepting this, Honey sprawled out comfortably.
“But get out of there.”
“Kkooreu.”
Of all places, he had to sprawl out inside Gio’s basket.
“It’s hard to get the seeds out.”
“Kkooroong.”
“Who do you take after to be this stubborn?”
“Kkook?”
“Me? You ungrateful child.”
Gio bent down and rummaged through the basket. Since Honey’s body was essentially transparent water with only a slight viscosity, it wasn’t a huge problem. Still, the little guy had been playing with the seeds, leaving them completely jumbled.
“Is this…”
“……”
“…I think these were eggplant seeds.”
Fortunately, Seo Gio, who had grown up in a mountain village in Gangwon-do, could identify seeds just by looking at them. This wasn’t a skill everyone from Gangwon-do possessed; it was only possible because Gio himself was genuinely passionate about farming.
Having enjoyed farming since childhood, Gio stood up with the eggplant seeds and dropped them into a pre-dug hole.
“Time to plant the potatoes now.”
“Kkooreuk?”
“Huh?”
There was a brief communication error, but Gio soon realized what Honey was questioning.
“I didn’t mean I was going to plant your dad.”
“Kkoong?”
“Potato is a nickname. Like a second name.”
There was an anecdote behind it. His mother, who loved potatoes, had looked at his fetal ultrasound and given him the prenatal nickname “Potato” because he looked like one. When his grandmother saw the newborn Gio, she had nodded and said, “She ate nothing but potatoes and gave birth to a potato.”
“Since all the adults called me Potato, I thought I actually was a potato until I was four.”
He wondered if that was why he had grown up so healthy and harmless.
“Well, that’s all that matters.”
“Kkooreureu.”
“You grow up healthy, too.”
The Seo family, for generations, had a tradition of respecting the free will of new life.
How many days had passed? Finally, Gio succeeded in planting all the seeds Yoo Seong-un had gifted him. Having planted potatoes, sweet potatoes, and even corn—all famous famine-relief crops—starving to death now seemed like a distant impossibility.
Then again, with this body, starving to death would be harder than living.
“Kkooreureu.”
“No matter how hungry Daddy gets, I won’t eat you, Honey.”
The crops were planted in the vegetable garden behind the cabin.
Actually, at this point, is it still fair to call it a vegetable garden?
It had grown a bit, but it was still a vegetable garden. Since it wasn’t as vast and grand as the fields of a professional farmer, Gio had his excuse. Anyway, it was definitely a vegetable garden.
Gio was an excellent adult who knew how to compromise with reality.
“Let’s go back, then.”
“Kkookkoolook.”
“Right, we should try the fruit syrup I made.”
It was about time for the syrup he had made earlier to have matured.
“I combined the sour and bitter Drought Jars with the sweet and sour Mangdung Fruits, so the combination is bound to be excellent.”
If there was any concern, it was whether the proportions were right, but he didn’t worry too much. With his extensive experience living alone, Gio had somehow acquired the seasoned touch of a grandmother.
It was just rough estimates and eyeballing, but there’s no way I could be wrong when it comes to food.
Befitting such pride, a wonderful aroma was already wafting from the glass jar.
“Mmh.”
Entering the kitchen, Gio blinked as he looked at the cupboard containing the fruit syrup.
“Since I worked up a sweat for the first time in a while, should I have it as a cold tea?”
“Kkooreuk?”
“I sweated in my heart.”
Honey pointed out that Gio’s body didn’t actually excrete waste like sweat, but he had labored, hadn’t he? A person who had labored naturally needed a cool, refreshing tea to boost their work efficiency.
“To do that, I’ll have to get some ice from the storage.”
A pig never hesitates in front of food. Without even a moment to wipe away his non-existent sweat, Gio headed straight down to the storage.
The ice storage was packed with all kinds of foodstuffs, and naturally, it was full of ice. Shards of it could be seen in every corner of the storage, which looked so much like a cave that it was impossible to tell where the ice began or ended.
“Is it a bit cold?”
As he opened the heavy door and stepped inside, Honey stiffened.
“Kkoo, kkoogoolook.”
“If it’s too cold, you can wait outsi—oh.”
“……”
“…Are you frozen?”
Just as Gio, face blank, was stunned by the sight of Honey—who had become a piece of transparent ice—the bird gave a little flutter.
Even though he was frozen solid, Honey shook his body and began preening his new, icy feathers.
“Pooboong.”
“?”
“Kkook.”
“Did you evolve?”
“Kkooreu.”
“Well, I evolved from a human into a haunted portrait, so there’s no law saying a waterbird can’t become an icebird.”
He’d been startled twice in a row: first, thinking the frozen Honey was dead, and second, by how flexibly he moved despite being solid ice. But if there was no problem, what did it matter?
Honey was cute even when frozen, so it was fine.
“A moving icebird is certainly interesting.”
“Kkooreureureureureureuk!”
“Since you’re happy, this father’s heart is pleased.”
Taking after his creator, Honey possessed absolutely no sense of danger and was simply delighted by his transformation. Gio briefly wondered if it was normal for a bird made of water to freeze this quickly, but since he himself had gone from a human to a portrait, he wasn’t particularly surprised.
Since when did we ever follow the laws of physics?
To live a life that ignored the laws of physics—it was truly fascinating.
“First, the ice…”
“Kkookkoolook.”
“Over there? Thanks.”
The frozen Honey’s wings no longer merged seamlessly into his body as they used to. Perhaps because he had gained feathers he didn’t originally have, Honey pointed out the location of the ice, then went back to frantically preening himself. Being unable to leave their feathers alone must be a universal trait among birds.
He was a bit less like this when he was water.
Leaving Honey on his shoulder, Gio slowly walked through the ice storage.
“……”
It was cool.
“Haa…”
His breath fogged in the air, a thick, visible cloud. It must have been that cold, yet for some reason, Gio didn’t feel the chill, and the foodstuffs weren’t frozen solid either. It was unclear whether the ice storage was playing tricks on him or if he and the ingredients were simply hardier than ice.
Probably the latter.
Gio lowered his head and looked at the floor.
“…Hmm…” he muttered. “If this breaks, it’ll be a disaster.”
An abyssal ice floor stretched out below.
It looks like solid ice, but it’s as transparent as a lake.
The floor was incredibly clear. Ice that had frozen very slowly wasn’t opaque but as transparent as glass, and such ice covered the entire floor. Gio couldn’t even begin to fathom its depth. It was slightly slick, with a faint blue tint. Occasionally, deep within, clusters of sparkling light would appear. They glowed for a few seconds like fireflies before vanishing.
“Are they residents similar to the forest butterflies?”
“Kkoong?”
“Or maybe they’re just glowing moss or bacteria.”
They didn’t move. They merely glowed for a moment and then disappeared, resembling faint starlight.
“……”
It was a dreamlike sight.
“The color is similar to a glacier, too.”
Although it lacked the deep scent of the sea, the transparent, blue-tinted ice floor of unfathomable depth brought a glacier to mind. He had never seen a glacier on Earth, but he felt this must be what it looked like.
Gio raised his head and looked around the ice storage.
“Where on earth did all this ice come from? It’s everywhere.”
He wondered every time he saw it.
“You have to go way down from the cabin’s first floor to reach this place. Maybe there was groundwater beneath the cabin.”
But that created a contradiction.
“Right. Common sense can’t explain why groundwater beneath a forest with such a mild climate would be frozen solid like this.”
That only made it more mysterious.
“Nice.”
And amusing.
Because it’s like a fairy tale…
He liked it.
Gio moved his feet, his face still expressionless. Honey, having already adapted to his new body, flew around the cavernous ice storage with pleasant cries. It was a scene straight out of a movie.
After walking through the icy cavern for a while, Gio found what he was looking for.
“Ah, right. It was here.”
It was ice that had grown like stalagmites in a cave.
“This is nice, too.”
“Kkook?”
“It looks just like a real cave.”
Absurdly enough, the ice storage looked like a limestone cave made of ice. Water was dripping here and there, as if flowing from some hidden vein. Due to the low temperature, the drips formed stalagmites and pillars.
“Usually, limestone caves are like this. Water rich in calcium carbonate drips down, slowly building pillars on the cave floor. Water droplets splash around to form coral-like shapes, or…”
“……”
“Here. They remain in the shape of pearls, like this.”
They were actually called cave pearls.
“Of course, it would be more accurate to call these ice pearls…”
Didn’t this make it feel like a real cave? A grand mold created by nature.
“……”
Ice Pearl
A pearl-shaped ice formation that naturally occurs in the ice storage beneath Gio’s cabin. It is a transparent pearl with a faint mother-of-pearl luster and is edible. It melts at hot temperatures just like real ice and is odorless and tasteless.
Alchemy Method: When melted and consumed, it is highly effective in stabilizing mental abnormalities such as depression and madness.
“Should I take some of these?”
Regardless of the effects, it said they tasted just like real ice.
“It’d be a hassle to chop off those giant ice stalagmites anyway.”
“Kkoorook-kkoorook.”
Fluttering over, the icebird Honey swallowed one of the round ice pearls. Gio couldn’t help but marvel at his agility.
“You’re eating it? Are you a pig?”
“Kkooreureureureu!!”
“No, you misunderstand. If that sounded like scolding, it’s a huge misunderstanding. Daddy likes pigs.”
Having been raised by his grandmother for most of his life, Gio had inherited some of her traits, one of which was an inability to stand seeing anyone looking scrawny. In that sense, if Honey, who was practically his child, grew plump, it was a welcome development.
“Kids are supposed to eat a lot and grow big.”
Poof, become a pig.
“Now, let’s go back up.”
“Kkoong-kkoong-kkoong…”
“I’m saying I actually prefer it, you pig.”
“Kkooreureureureu!!!”
“Kids need to be chubby to grow up well.”
Coaxing Honey, Gio came up from the ice storage and headed straight to the kitchen. A wonderful aroma was wafting from the fruit syrup he had taken out of the cupboard, and he was already looking forward to how delicious it would be.
He took out a clean glass and scooped two spoonfuls of the fruit syrup into it.
“It really smells amazing.”
The Mangdung Fruit’s scent, which usually intensified when dried, seemed to have been amplified even further by the aging process alone. Thoroughly soaked in sugar, the fruit gave off a uniquely refreshing, sweet aroma.
It has a citrusy scent, too, probably because the Drought Jar is a citrus fruit.
It was like the characteristically bitter and sour scent of lemon peel.
“I’m looking forward to this.”
The fruit syrup in the glass possessed an artistic value all its own. Having fully absorbed the sugar and generously yielded its juices, the syrup gleamed with a glossy sheen. The flesh of the Mangdung Fruit had transformed into a soft, jelly-like form, while the Drought Jar, whose thin membranes had been peeled off one by one, had hardened slightly, its pulp now clearly visible.
“Now, I’ll add the Ice Pearls…”
“Kkookkoolook.”
“That’s the pearl you ate earlier. Put it back.”
“Kkook?”
“No, thank you.”
Honey, who had turned back into water at some point, tried to perform the bizarre feat of regurgitating the ice pearl he had just swallowed, but Gio stopped him using his parental authority. It wasn’t like penguin milk, and he didn’t want to go that far.
“Now, if I stir it gently…”
Clink, clack.
The glass and the Ice Pearls collided, making a clear, ringing sound.
“Fruit tea, complete.”
“Quack.”
“Are you a chicken?”
“Kkooroong.”
“I have no idea what you are.”
The finished fruit tea was beautiful enough to make him want to paint it. The amber liquid, visible through the glass, was incredibly transparent despite its deep color. Thanks to the Ice Pearls, the sparkling blue light he had seen in the storage repeatedly glowed and vanished like shooting stars. Between them, pieces of fruit flesh shaped like full moons and half-moons were suspended.
Taking a sip…
“……”
An ecstatic flavor washed over him.
“…It’s delicious.”
It was a flavor and depth he had never tasted before. The amber tea was smooth and cool; just when the sweetness threatened to become too intense, a leisurely bitterness stepped in to politely settle it down. The intense sourness of the Drought Jar, upon meeting the Mangdung Fruit and sugar, felt like the cute, endearing tantrum of a child.
I like the fruit pieces, too.
The Mangdung Fruit, which had surrendered all its juice, was like jelly. If he had to compare, it was similar to konjac jelly, but much softer—a texture that felt tender yet strangely elastic, like peeled grape flesh.
The Drought Jar had a popping texture, much like the pulp of a grapefruit or an orange. It seemed to have lost its juice just like the Mangdung Fruit, but it felt slightly firmer. It wasn’t an unpleasant hardness, however. The pulp gently dispersed in his mouth, delivering a pleasant texture.
Though the flavors and aromas are all mixed together, they’re easy to distinguish…
The tea was far from one-dimensional, boasting a rich depth like a well-made soup, while the fruit pieces added fun to what could have been a monotonous drink. And then there was the bizarre sensation of something melting softly on his tongue.
That subtle feeling was likely caused by the clusters of light trapped inside the Ice Pearls.
“…Popping candy?”
It wasn’t exactly a crackling sensation or a firework-like pop, but the blue light dotted throughout the tea added a strange, savory depth. It was a sensory pleasure on the tongue that couldn’t be described simply as sweet or salty.
It was a fruit tea that left him smacking his lips.
“……”
“Kkooreureuk?”
“This would be perfect as a gift.”
Since there was plenty of it, he thought about packaging some.
“I should give some to Mr. Yoo Seong-un.”
Wanting to share his food was a grandmotherly instinct. Having grown up hearing his grandmother—his life mentor—tell him to “live generously,” Gio wanted to fatten Yoo Seong-un up.