Chapter 76
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: Please Take Care of the Fridge
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"So last week, I made sandwiches myself!"
Su-hyeon, who had been desperately trying to coax stories out of herself, had vanished somewhere. In her place was just the kid, chattering away excitedly.
Mom and Grandma sat quietly...
They listened to the end without interrupting her rambling excitement, as if urging her to tell even more.
And when the story wrapped up, they simply nodded along without a word.
"She said she wanted to live alone, and now she's even learned to cook?"
Grandma, who was peeling an apple, sounded genuinely amazed.
It was pure, heartfelt pride.
Of course, by the third year of solo living, anyone would realize the harsh reality of cooking and revert to delivery food—but that didn't matter. To Grandma, the mere fact that Su-hyeon was walking on her own two feet was a miracle.
By Dryad sensibilities, this was the abnormal part.
"I wish I could try something our Su-hyeon made, too?"
Mom eyed the elves with envy.
It was understandable, really. They'd stolen her chance to savor her child's first home-cooked meal.
'Come to think of it, I forgot to bring the food from the rest stop.'
She'd meant to grab those snacks they'd bought.
They'd figure something out, right?
"Shall we make dinner together, Mom?"
There was no reason for Su-hyeon to refuse.
It was still a ways off from dinnertime, but mother and daughter clasped hands and headed to the kitchen.
**
"...Stop, both of you. Just stop."
When her daughter gripped the kitchen knife in a perilously unsafe stance, Grandma finally couldn't take it anymore.
"Huh? Why?"
"Haa..."
The kitchen, which had once been charming despite its age, had long since been utterly wrecked by the verdant hands of the mother-daughter duo.
Ji-hyeon hadn't suggested cooking together because she fancied herself a chef or anything.
She'd simply wanted to cook with her daughter, that was all.
Su-hyeon's situation wasn't much different.
She'd heard Su-hyeon made sandwiches for twenty-two elves and one Dryad, so of course things would get weird.
"What exactly are you two trying to make right now?"
Grandma brushed a long strand of potato peel from Su-hyeon's hair as she asked.
It was so thick, it was impossible to tell if it was a peel or a chunk.
"Huh?"
Su-hyeon and Ji-hyeon looked at each other and tilted their heads.
Ji-hyeon wasn't particularly tall, so her eye level was just a smidge higher than Su-hyeon's, who was perched on the table.
"You don't know?"
"Who in the world starts slashing away with knives before even deciding on a menu?"
Grandma snatched the knife from her daughter's hand.
They'd cracked open every last egg—why hold the knife backward like that?
She dreaded what might happen next.
"Su-hyeon, what should we make?"
"Uh."
A purely innocent question.
Su-hyeon blinked rapidly and glanced around.
A plastic tub overflowing with vegetables.
Su-hyeon, want to chop some carrots? Sure!
All done? How about potatoes next? Sure!
Cucumbers too? Radish? Sweet potatoes?
Of course, Ji-hyeon had been genuinely asking, while Su-hyeon had interpreted it as suggestions to do together—resulting in total disaster.
The floor was littered with chunks of torn cabbage, looking for all the world like a pig trough.
Vegetables submerged in water, awaiting their execution like condemned prisoners.
Eggshells piled high from reckless use, and mysterious heaps of frying powder that had no business being out.
"Um... curry?"
"Curry sounds good!"
"Good? What's good about it!"
Pong—
For the record, there was no curry powder in the house.
Su-hyeon scratched the back of her head.
"Go wash up and come back."
"Okay."
"Yes, ma'am..."
Grandma sighed and shooed them out of the kitchen.
"Wanna take a bath together, Mom?"
"Uh... let's just shower."
"Yeah?"
"Sure."
Their bathroom didn't have a proper tub.
To bathe, they'd have to set up a giant rubber basin in the yard and fill it with water...
She herself might not mind, but Mom bathing in the yard? A bit much.
Even if the mountains blocked all views and no one could see.
***
Sarrruk— sarrruk—
The accident-prone mother and daughter had finished a quick shower and now sat side by side in front of the mirror.
In light clothes and barefoot on the floor, they looked strikingly identical.
"There."
As Mom pulled her hands away, lush ponytails sprouted from both sides of Su-hyeon's head.
Neatly parted from the nape and tied—it suited her perfectly.
"Okay, my turn now. You do mine, Su-hyeon."
At those words, Su-hyeon pushed up from the floor and circled behind her mom.
She began earnestly combing through the hair with her small hands.
It felt like being buried in wooden vines longer than she was tall.
Deep in concentration, Su-hyeon cautiously stepped back.
"Done...?"
In the mirror, Su-hyeon's face peeked out from behind Mom.
The hair Su-hyeon had tied was uneven in height on both sides, with strands sticking out everywhere—a total mess.
She'd tried her best to match Mom's, but it wasn't easy.
"So pretty. Just like mine, right?"
It wasn't even close, really, but Mom's happy smile had Su-hyeon giggling anyway.
"Let's take a picture together."
Sitting in front of Mom's cross-legged form, facing the mirror—click.
The photo was sent straight to Brüel.
As they admired the shot, a savory oily aroma began wafting through the house.
Sniff sniff—
"Smells delicious."
"Grandma must've made food."
"Huh? But it's not even 5 yet?"
Su-hyeon looked puzzled.
In truth, Grandma had started early because of the mess they'd made—but Su-hyeon had long forgotten that.
Food wasn't strictly necessary for them, so they didn't pay it much mind.
Skipping meals entirely or eating an hour or two early was no big deal.
When idle and bored with nothing to do, it just felt right to put something in their mouths.
Su-hyeon, who made a point of eating at least one meal a day, was the odd one out.
Maybe from living so long in a human body?
Pushing open the wooden door, the sizzle of frying oil tickled her ears.
In the yard, Grandma sat on the platform, dumping flour batter into a massive frying pan.
It was jeon—Korean pancakes.
"Mom, making jeon? What about curry?"
"You little fool, how could we make curry without curry powder?"
"Oh? Really?"
So that's how it was.
They'd been too busy washing up and chopping to notice.
"You two cracked every egg we had, so this was the only option."
As batter coated in egg hit the pan, another hiss rose up.
"Need any help?"
As Su-hyeon and Mom slipped on their flip-flops and approached the platform, Grandma waved them off.
"Stay back there—oil splatters."
But Mom ignored her, crawling on her knees across the platform to snatch a freshly made pancake.
"Here, Su-hyeon, ahh~."
"Ahm..."
"Good grief. Anyone would think you made it yourself."
Finally, Grandma couldn't stand the spectacle.
Mom tore off a fresh piece.
"Okay, okay. Here, Mom—ahh~."
"......Get that away. I have hands."
Grandma hesitated briefly before turning her head.
"No hands free while flipping these? Come on, ahh~."
"I said it's dangerous."
"Ugh, all pride and no give!"
Mom retreated in the face of staunch resistance.
But she didn't give up, whispering something to Su-hyeon.
Su-hyeon nodded at the secret and clambered onto the platform.
"Grandma...?"
Su-hyeon lifted a pancake with her delicate little hand.
"...Grabbing it bare-handed gets it all oily."
But Su-hyeon pressed on.
She held it even higher, bringing it closer to Grandma.
Feigning defeat, Grandma accepted and ate it.
"Heehee."
Grandma set down her chopsticks for a moment, tore off a sheet of kitchen towel, and wiped Su-hyeon's hand.
"Never thought I'd be fed by someone else's hand at my age."
Grandma grumbled awkwardly, embarrassed.
Mom's eyes widened.
"Mom, is your granddaughter 'someone else'?"
"It's just a figure of speech."
Su-hyeon, chopsticks in hand, grabbed a pancake amid their bickering.
"Here, Mom..."
"Nyam. Tastes even better when my girl feeds it to me!"
"Lordy, putting on quite the show."
"See? Grandma's embarrassed."
"More nonsense!"
***
Mountains see the sun set early.
After devouring pancakes and playing around, dusk had already fallen.
'Oh yeah, I meant to ask about falling asleep.'
Su-hyeon remembered what she'd forgotten.
"Grandma, do we normally fall asleep right when the sun sets?"
Grandma, tidying up, replied.
"No. Why, do you?"
"Yeah. It wasn't this bad at first, but now I just drop like a rock. I don't even remember it."
She recounted her past experiences:
Falling asleep at Ga-eun's place, and at the cherry blossom festival.
Grandma, listening quietly, clicked her tongue.
"It's 'cause you're so young. At your age, you should be rooted motionless without a thought—walking around means anything can happen."
Plus, living over a hundred years in a human body was unheard of.
"You need at least a few hundred years soaking up energy to stabilize. Without that, your body auto-switches to power-saving mode at night when energy runs low."
Normally, that meant shifting to tree form like Mom.
Falling asleep in human shape was unusual.
"Looks like you're more that side than anything, Su-hyeon. I thought it'd be half-and-half, but maybe not."
Closer to human than Dryad, yet too Dryad-strong to be purely human—an odd state.
"I see..."
So staying awake at night would be tough from now on, too...
It sounded like she wasn't fully human or Dryad, leaving her a bit lonely.
"But Mom, you know about power-saving mode?"
Mom, who'd been listening, piped up.
She spent most of the year as a tree and fumbled with tech—where'd she pick up fancy terms like that?
"Think I wouldn't know? Phone battery dies, screen goes black, power-saving mode kicks in."
Doesn't turn on no matter what you do—same as her sleeping, right? Grandma declared proudly.
But... isn't that kinda different...?
"Grandma, that's not power-saving. That's just dead battery. Power-saving is when it uses less energy."
"...Is it?"
Still, Su-hyeon got the point.
Maybe if she stayed under solar lights all day, she could stay awake at night?