Sleeping Off the Hangover is the Best
Late afternoon. Ra-yoon and I, fresh from our naps, decided on an early dinner. Tonight's menu was the sweet-and-spicy chicken we'd bought from the market and some frozen fried rice. Items in my subspace stay perfectly preserved forever, so the chicken was still piping hot without any extra prep.
"Unnie, you never cook?"
"...Huh? Cook?"
Ra-yoon suddenly brought up cooking in the middle of our meal.
"You always eat instant stuff or frozen food. Even for an Awakener, won't you gain weight eating like that all the time?"
"Nah? I can eat as much as I want and never gain a pound."
No joke, it's true. Call it the curse of being born a witch. My body is so mana-affine that anything I eat gets instantly converted to mana. That's why most witches can munch on sugar-loaded desserts all day and never show a change on the outside.
Honestly, though, compared to other witches, I ate way too much.
"Still, you gotta think about your health. They say it's sad getting sick when you live alone."
"Well... yeah?"
Truth be told, I never get sick unless cursed or poisoned, but Ra-yoon was worrying about me for once, so I let it slide.
She had a point, though. Lately, I'd been living way too slothfully.
"Hmm... Maybe I'll whip something up tomorrow...?"
"Really? What're you gonna make?"
"Dunno... I've been eating spicy stuff lately, so something healthy-tasting would be nice... Ra-yoon, anything you wanna eat?"
"I wanna try 'Eggs Benedict'!"
"Eggs... what now?"
"Eggs Benedict. It's a popular brunch thing in America."
Ra-yoon frantically searched her phone and showed me a video from MyTube. Some weird British chef was cursing up a storm between steps, cooking on an English muffin topped with bacon, spinach, poached egg, and a sunny lemon-yellow sauce. It looked delicious.
"Ooh... Seems simple but tasty."
"Right?"
"But that sauce looks like a pain to make... They don't sell it pre-made?"
"Unnie, then what's the point of cooking for once? Might as well make everything from scratch!"
"Tch, fine, whatever. Tomorrow's lunch is Eggs Benedict then. You better not eat before coming over, Ra-yoon."
"Roger that!"
Ra-yoon saluted big and finished her meal. Guess I'd hit the market early tomorrow morning. We didn't have English muffins or spinach at home—not even eggs, the most basic thing.
It's not that I couldn't cook; I just never felt the need. Back in Nihilum, I had to do it often out of necessity, but here? Just press a button and hot food appears. Delivery would make it perfect, but that's the sad reality of country life.
As I watched the video Ra-yoon had on, I noticed a Twitch stream notification lingering on her phone.
"Ra-yoon, you watch streams?"
"Huh?"
Ra-yoon, who'd scraped every last grain of rice, finally checked her phone.
"Oh? Na Hyun-unnie's streaming!"
"What? For real?"
Na Hyun streaming? I'd meant to check it out someday but totally forgot.
Ra-yoon was already in the stream, and moments later, a cute avatar resembling Na Hyun appeared holding a beer mug.
"Ooh... This the hot 'VTuber' thing lately?"
"What? VTubers have been big for over five years now."
"Has it?"
Hard to keep up with trends...
"So what’s Na Hyun doing?"
Her avatar had been sitting there with eyes closed and mouth open since we tuned in.
"Dunno... Maybe unnie fell asleep again?"
"Asleep?"
"She sometimes nods off mid-drinking mukbang. I went over to wake her once before."
Listening closely, I could hear faint breathing sounds. If sleeping is the best hangover cure, how much did she drink?
"Shouldn't we go wake her?"
"Yeah, probably."
"..."
"..."
Ra-yoon and I quietly cleared our empty plates.
Exactly 30 minutes from my house.
Ra-yoon's neighborhood backed onto a mountain. Unlike my place with no neighbors or even a convenience store nearby, hers was lively—complete with a small supermarket and salon. Perfect baesanimsu geography, minus the water, filled instead with fields.
"So, 'baesanim fields'?"
"Huh? What?"
"Nothing, just mumbling to myself."
With nothing better to do at home, I tagged along with Ra-yoon to wake Na Hyun. Just a walk, so I'd say hi and head back.
"How much farther to Na Hyun's?"
"Almost there. See that red brick house?"
The lone house Ra-yoon pointed to had Na Hyun's boxy little car parked in the yard from our last meeting.
We crossed the yard to the front door. Ding-dong—
She was probably asleep and wouldn't hear, but politeness first.
No response, as expected. House dead silent.
"How'd you get in to wake her before?"
"Huh? Just opened the door and went in?"
Oof...
"Ra-yoon, that's breaking and entering..."
"What else can I do if she won't wake up? And she thanked me last time."
"Really?"
Legal then. I opened the door without hesitation and stepped inside.
The exterior hinted at it, but the interior had some age—walls fully paneled in finished wood, straight out of the '80s or '90s vibe.
"Isn't this too big for Na Hyun living alone?"
Bigger houses are nice, but picturing tiny Na Hyun padding around in here felt kinda pitiful.
"Unnie...! Over here...!"
Ra-yoon, who'd reached the streaming room, whispered for me.
I hurried over and cracked the door. There was Na Hyun, face-planted asleep on her desk by the computer.
Ra-yoon whispered, "You streamed once too, right unnie? Know how to end it?"
Only did it for a day, but yeah, I remembered.
I nodded, slipped in, and grabbed the mouse behind sleeping Na Hyun. Clicked end stream. Done.
"Ra-yoon, all good now."
She grinned and approached, checked Na Hyun, then sniffed and wrinkled her nose.
"Eww, booze smell..."
Checking the floor, four empty bottles—1.6-liter PET beer ones. And the dried squid she'd craved when we met? Barely two bites left.
"Na Hyun-unnie! Wake up! Na Hyun-unnie!"
No matter how much Ra-yoon shook or called, Na Hyun stayed out cold. Total shutdown mode.
"No good. Ra-yoon, carry her to bed."
"Got it."
Ra-yoon scooped her up princess-style like it was nothing. Na Hyun was light, and Ra-yoon trained daily.
I sat in Na Hyun's chair to shut down the PC.
"Close everything and power off... Huh?"
Stream Title: Part 1 - Birthday Drinking Mukbang
"Today's Na Hyun's birthday?"
I had no clue. She never mentioned it, and we'd only known each other less than a week. But now that I knew... I wanted to do something. Drinking alone on her birthday? Even this ex-loner felt bad for her.
Powered off the PC, tidied the desk, and left the room. Bumped into Ra-yoon coming back from the bedroom.
"Tucked her in okay?"
"Yeah, but her blanket's so thin. Worried she'll catch a cold..."
Ra-yoon pouted, fretting over her older unnie despite being tinier herself. Couldn't help but smile.
"Yeah? Then cover her with something thicker. No winter blanket in the wardrobe?"
"I wanted to, but... we can't just rummage through someone else's stuff."
"Says the girl who broke in uninvited..."
Stealing's only a crime if you unwrap it? Ra-yoon's moral compass was a mystery...
Anyway, she didn't wanna snoop. Fine, I'd grab the blankets I'd stashed for northern expeditions.
I cast space magic, pulling thick blankets from thin air one after another. Ra-yoon watched in awe.
"This enough?"
I offered the pile. She inspected and thumbs-upped.
I followed her to the bedroom where Na Hyun lay. Smaller than my bed, but her petite frame made it look spacious.
Ra-yoon leaned in to tuck a blanket around her—
Pop—!
Na Hyun bolted upright like a mummy rising from its coffin.
"Whoa! Scary!"
Ra-yoon, closest, flung the blanket and tumbled off the bed.
Na Hyun stared blankly into space with unfocused green eyes. A chill ran down my spine.
No way...
Sure enough, as if to meet my dread—urp— her cheeks ballooned like a hamster's.
"Bleeeeurgh!"
And she proudly regurgitated everything she'd eaten today.