A Soda in the Dead of Night
A cold, fizzy drink in the dead of night is always the right call.
Beads of sweat trickled down Gawol’s face as he crouched before the campfire. From the bubbling pot rose the fragrant aroma of mugwort, mingling with a faint hint of earthy dampness. He had tossed in a small mountain of young leaves, insisting tender greens were best. That was all well and good, but one burning question remained.
Snip.
“Munch—”
Raw mugwort tasted surprisingly decent, actually...
“Hey, are you sure it’s alright to cram that much in there?”
No matter how I looked at it, the pot was practically half water and half weeds.
“Ah, about that...”
Gawol lifted the lid, gave the broth a gentle stir with his chopsticks, and gestured for me to come closer.
“Hm? You want me to look?”
“Yes.”
“Why all of a sudden?”
Let’s see here... Peeking over the rim, I found that the mountain of greens had vanished entirely. In its place remained a rich, milky-white broth, accented by just a modest scattering of wilted green garnish.
Ah, so it shrinks right down once it wilts, huh?
“Sniff—”
Leaning closer, I took a deep breath. Instead of the sharp, pungent bite of raw leaves, it carried a much richer, savory warmth that tickled the back of my nose. Back in my past life, I’d heard of boiling mugwort soup with sea fish, but using semi-dried freshwater fish was completely foreign to me. Even so, it looked remarkably appetizing.
Gawol set the lid aside and asked, “Well? Smells rather fine, doesn’t it?”
At that, I nodded vigorously.
“Yeah, totally! One whiff and my stomach’s growling like crazy. Looks delicious.”
“I’m not sure it warrants quite that much praise, but in that case...”
He produced a ladle from somewhere, scooped a small measure of broth, and swirled it slowly in midair.
“What are you doing? An offering to the spirits?”
“What kind of ancient superstition are you on about...? I’m just letting it cool.”
Aha. Checking the seasoning, are we?
Deciding it had cooled enough, Gawol stopped swirling and held the ladle toward me.
“Give it a taste.”
“...You were cooling that for me?”
Aren’t you the cook?
“Yes. There are only two of us anyway, and since you... that is, since you eat far more than I do, Siun, it only seemed right that the person doing the heavy lifting should dictate the seasoning.”
“Aha.”
Kid was always more thoughtful than he looked.
“Well, out of respect for your hard work, I suppose I can oblige.”
I reached out toward the ladle in his hand.
Except Gawol promptly pulled it back.
“Hey! What’d you pull back for?”
“Your smug tone rubs me the wrong way.”
Petty jerk. Doesn’t he know teasing someone with food is the lowest crime in the book?
“I won’t say another word! Just hurry up and give it here.”
“Hmph... well, it would be unseemly to ladle it out only to refuse you.”
Gawol brought the ladle back to my lips and tipped it slightly.
Should’ve done that in the first place...
Slurp—
“Mmm... hmm...”
“Well? Is it passable?”
“Passable, you say...?”
To put it plainly, it was astonishingly good. A clean, clear broth infused with the crisp aroma of early spring. The mugwort thoroughly masked whatever muddy aftertaste freshwater fish usually had, leaving behind pure, deep umami.
“It’s way past ‘passable.’ Honestly, this might be the best fish dish I’ve ever had in my life...?”
For real.
At that, Gawol looked momentarily flustered, his pupils wavering for a fraction of a second before regaining composure.
“Well, surely that’s a bit of an exaggeration...”
Humble in the most useless ways, this guy. And did his tone just soften up?
“No, seriously! I’m not kidding—you could open a tavern and sell this!”
As if to prove my point, my mouth flooded with saliva.
“Hmm...” Gawol nodded slowly. “It really must be decent, then.”
“Huh? What makes you say that all of a sudden?”
In response to my question, Gawol raised an index finger and pointed.
“Your tail. It’s wagging quite vigorously. Were you unaware?”
Ah. The tail...
Without realizing it, my ears had shot straight up, and my tail was swishing back and forth like a metronome.
“Er...”
Once the damn thing got going, it was nearly impossible to rein in.
“I-it’s fine! It’ll calm down in a second!”
Stop wagging, you stupid tail...!
“Well... doesn't bother me either way.”
Is he smirking?
“Easy for you to say when it’s not your tail!”
“No... genuinely, I think it’s charming. Natural.”
“......?”
And so, the tail I had barely managed to quiet ended up swishing merrily through the rest of dinner.
As the meal drew to a close, I asked Gawol,
“Hey, did you know?”
“Know what this time?”
“They say eating mugwort turns you into a human.”
The myth probably didn’t exist in this world, but... hey, close enough, right?
Gawol tilted his head slightly and asked, “In that case, have you eaten plenty of mugwort yourself, Siun?”
Oh, he actually bought it? How naive.
“Well, no... just some mugwort rice cakes here and there...?”
Those mugwort rice cakes I had last year were incredible. But why ask? What, was he planning to make me some...?
“Aha... Yes, thank you for letting me know.”
“Why are you thanking—wait. You were just taking a jab at me for being uncivilized, weren’t you?!”
“Perish the thought.”
A faint smirk played across Gawol’s face as he feigned complete innocence.
“Haaah...”
There he went again. If not for me, how would this guy have survived the boredom of traveling this far?
“Ahem.” Gawol cleared his throat, evidently trying to change the subject. “At any rate, was it to your liking?”
I’ll let it slide this once.
“The soup...? Yeah. Honestly, I think you should just ditch the peddler life and open an eatery.”
We hadn’t traveled together for all that long, but to me, Gawol felt less like a cutthroat merchant and more like the owner of a neighborhood general store.
“Or what about selling taffy? Sweet, sticky, everyone loves it.”
At that, Gawol raised his right hand and replied, “Well... I could certainly tell you to stick it right this second if you’d like.”
“Whoa, whoa. That is definitely not what I meant.”
He lowered his hand smoothly. “A pity.”
“......”
What’s so pitiful about not cursing me out?!
I glared daggers at Gawol before tipping the bowl and gulping down the rest of the broth.
“Phaaa—”
Even cold, it was delicious. Seriously, he should just open a restaurant. I’d be his number one regular.
“If you’re finished, hand over the bowls. I’ll go wash them.”
Oblivious to my internal monologue, he had already neatly stacked his own bowl inside the pot.
“Do you even have water to wash them with?”
I hadn’t heard so much as a trickle nearby. As Gawol had mentioned earlier, the main river cut straight through the heart of the forest. Out here on the winding detour, finding even a modest brook looked nearly impossible.
Plop.
“Eep— Huh...?”
He rested a heavy hand on my shoulder and said, “That... is for you to find.”
“Who?”
Gawol stared at my face in utter silence.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“......”
Now you’re treating me like a human dowsing rod?
Deep within the pitch-black forest, we trudged forward—or rather, Gawol did, relying on the flickering light of the torch in his hand.
Hmm...
I rubbed my nose and turned back toward Gawol.
“...Nothing. I told you before, didn’t I? When the air is this humid, it’s almost impossible to smell out water.”
We had circled in a wide arc around the wagon in search of a water source, but aside from that palm-sized trickle we’d spotted seeping from a rock cleft earlier, we hadn’t come across a single drop.
Gawol rubbed his chin. “Then... let us head back to that trickle from before. Our drinking water is running low anyway, and we ought to wet our throats. Wandering about aimlessly in the dark isn’t wise either.”
“S-shall we...?”
Truth be told, I was parched too. Trudging around with my mouth hanging open trying to scent the air had left my throat as dry as parchment.
“Ah, did you bring the water casks?”
“Yes, right here...”
A wooden water cask half the size of my torso, along with two ceramic flasks. The flasks hung from our respective waists, while Gawol was hauling the cask behind him.
“Hmm... Then let’s fill the flasks first, leave the cask under the trickle overnight, and come collect it tomorrow. How’s that sound?”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Decisive. I like it. Well then...
I pointed toward our left. “This way. Considering the big loop we just made, if we cut straight to the left, we’ll hit it.”
“Your sense of direction truly is something else... You’re practically a living compass.”
“Right? If not for this—”
Shudder—
Ugh, dammit. Just thinking about it sent goosebumps rippling across my skin.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing... It’s just, I got lost climbing a mountain last month.”
That really had been a close shave.
“Do you happen to remember which mountain?”
“Huh? Yeah, it’s pretty famous.” What was the name again...? “Ah, right. Mount Ga-am.”
The moment those three syllables left my mouth, Gawol froze solid.
“...You mean the one in Churyeong...?”
“Yup. That’s the one.”
Feels like a fond memory already...
Gawol stared at me in sheer disbelief. “Why on earth would you go there of all places? It has the highest rate of missing persons on the entire peninsula!”
“Well, you know.”
Did I really have a choice? It was the absolute shortest route from Geumwon to Jungno.
Haah... I really want to dodge this topic, though...
I glanced around hurriedly. “Uh... look! We’re, uh, already at the spring! I’ll tell you about it later.”
“...? Well, if you say so.”
Phew...
Conveniently enough, we had arrived back at the rocky cleft just in time to save me from digging my own grave.
Trickle, trickle—
While I held the torch, Gawol moved in first to fill his flask.
Ugh, the muddy ground made it a bit uncomfortable to stand, but what could you do? Still, creeping through the woods like this felt like a test of courage, which wasn’t half bad. Definitely a spooky dare, absolutely not night reconnaissance.
“Whew... Let’s fill the flasks first.”
“Got it.”
Fills up faster than I thought.
“Let’s see here...”
Just as Gawol stepped back and I was about to hold my flask to the stream,
“Huh—?”
A bewildered sound came from behind me.
“Hm? What is it?”
What, is the water foul? Looked crystal clear to me, though...
Gawol stared intently at his flask for a moment, then thrust it out toward me.
“I think... you ought to take a sip of this.”
“Eh? The water?”
“...Yes.”
“Well... alright then.”
If he was insisting this much, I might as well indulge him.
Hmm...
I took a small gulp of the spring water.
“...Huh?”
For some reason, the exact same exclamation tumbled from my lips.
“Whoa, no way...”
Just one more sip.
With a clean gulp, the water slid over my tongue and down my throat, delivering an icy chill accompanied by a prickling, stinging fizz.
Yep, no mistaking it.
Handing the flask back, I gasped, “Khaaah—! Man... this is that, isn’t it? Carbonated water—er, I mean, sparkling mineral spring water!”
Didn’t the old name literally mean 'pepper-tasting water' or something...?
Gawol nodded in agreement. “Yes. Though it is my first time encountering it in person... it certainly seems to be.”
“I knew it!”
Tuning my ears, I could finally hear the faint, continuous pop and crackle of tiny bubbles, previously drowned out by the splash of the falling water.
“Whoa...”
Talk about an unexpected windfall!
If we mixed in some honey or syrup, wouldn’t that make an honest-to-goodness soda?
Perking my ears straight up, I blurted out to Gawol,
“When we get back to the wagon, let’s mix in some of that plum extract!”
“Into... this? Would that even taste good?”
“Come on, I guarantee it! It’ll be amazing!”
How could fizzy water mixed with something sweet ever taste bad? Can’t a guy trust his traveling companion?
Gawol still looked deeply skeptical. “Hearing you guarantee it makes me trust it even less, to be frank...”
“Hey, have a little faith! I know my food, okay?”
I don’t eat gross stuff!
“Hmm... Put that way, perhaps you have a point.”
What’s that supposed to mean?
“Whatever... If you don’t believe me, you don’t have to drink any. Come on, let’s set down the cask and get moving.”
Always so chatty.
“Well... very well. Then—”
Gawol hoisted the wooden cask.
CLANG—!
“Eep—!”
Ah.
The hollow wooden cask struck the rock with an echoing crash.
Startled out of my skin by the sudden racket, my fingers slipped, and the torch tumbled from my grip.
Splat—
Plunging headfirst into the muck, the flame was extinguished in an instant.
“...Sorry.”
Behind me, rustling sounds cut through the pitch-black darkness, followed by a heavy, defeated sigh from Gawol.
“Haaah... Are we stranded?”