Chapter 43 – Chapter 43

Will I use this next time?

[Which one?]

I thought it wouldn’t be bad for you to have an honest, naked conversation like this even when you bring a new child.

[It is not for me to decide whether I will bring you more children here, or whether it will end here.]
[But I don’t think the method itself is bad.]

Right?

[Yes.]

The voice readily agreed.

[Who can think that this method is bad after seeing how the kids became friends in an instant.]

I was the same.

“Noah!”
“Yes, uh, sister…”
“Kyaaaaang!”

It felt like Miho was dragging Noah around one-sidedly, but it’s because kids are the ones who become close friends while doing that.

‘Where shall I prepare a meal soon?’

I wonder what else I should do today.
At first, I didn’t think it was difficult because I just had to make it while thinking of the foods I knew.
As I did it one by one, it was an instant to consume the recipe I knew.

‘Somehow, it feels like everything was done a while ago, so it’s a bit like that.’

If possible, this for today, this for tomorrow…
I wanted to make the children more happy by preparing them slightly differently, including Noah, who became a new family today.
But I also knew that it wasn’t that easy.

‘Looking at things like this, mothers who take care of breakfast and dinner for their children every time are amazing.’

Of course, delivery has improved so much these days, so there is a feeling that it has deteriorated a little less than before.
Nevertheless, delivery was delivery.
No matter how much I order from this store or that store, there was a moment when I deeply missed warm and delicious home-cooked meals.

‘Today is… Let’s make it simple with a fried egg.’

It seems that egg dishes go in almost every day.
Meat too…

‘I need to learn a lot about cooking with some vegetables.’

Because it’s still in the middle of growing up.
While thinking that, it’s the moment I’m about to take the vegetables out of the refrigerator. Noah, who was caught by Miho and answered endlessly, was startled and ran towards me.

“Oh, Dad… No, Noah will do it!”
“Yes? No, that’s okay. I have to do this. Noah can wait patiently.”

No matter how far and far away I was, I couldn’t force young children who had just entered elementary school to hold onto a dangerous kitchen knife.

“Ha, let me do it… Dad, no, noah, you can…”

However, it seemed that Noah was also far away.

“…”

With shaking and trembling hands, he put his hands together and begged, please let him do it, and if that doesn’t work, at least help him.
How many kids in the world can say that?
At least, at least in this narrow world I know, Noah was the only one.

I was crying.

Even though I knew that this child hadn’t done anything wrong, and even though I knew that getting angry here would have the opposite effect, something bubbled up inside me.

[… ] …]

Fuck.
Cursing comes out of nowhere.

What kind of bastards, what kind of scumbags, twisted this poor child’s life itself so much?
Looking at this, I can really feel that there are many things in the world that are beyond imagination, or that have mental problems.

“Dad, please…”
“Then can you help me out a little?”

You are not a slave
Even if we’ve only just met, I’m confident that I’ll cherish you even if you don’t do anything.

Rather than saying these things now, I’d rather help Noah adjust little by little.
I thought that the best way would be to help her by the side so that she can gradually come to know that she is also a very pretty and precious being.

“Go, thank you!”
“I would really appreciate it if you could help me. Noah is good.”
“Oh, no, no!”

When I saw Noah, who was so happy and grateful even though he only gave permission to help, or Noah, who reflexively denied it even when he was said to be nice, I felt bitter.

“Tongue.”
“Yes?”

At that time, Miho pulled my pants and said.

“Miho, for some reason, I felt stuffy here.”
“…”

Did he feel similar feelings to me while watching Noah?
I said while patting Miho’s head lightly.

“It’s proof that you’re really becoming Noah’s older sister.”
“Ugh! Miho, aren’t you a real older sister yet?!”
“It’s still a long way, you bastard. Try a little harder but what… Looking at what you’re doing now, I think you’ll be able to do it soon.”
“Oh oh! Alright, Miho, I’ll try harder!”

Although she didn’t want Noah to resemble Miho too much, she still wanted her to be a bit like Miho.

“Now, let’s see. Then Noah, will you chop the vegetables next to her?”
“Yes, Dad! No, leave it to me! Noah, come on, you can do well.”
“You don’t have to do well.”
“That, it is not. Noah, I will work hard.”
“Noah.”
“… !”

I wasn’t trying to scold or say something out of frustration. I just quietly looked at Noah and said.

“Because it’s okay.”
“…”
“Whatever you do, let’s have fun with me.”
“… Yes, Dad!”

Only then did the trembling subside, and I barely smiled as I saw Noah smiling faintly.
Because today is our first meeting.
Don’t be too quick to flip the two sides of a coin. Slowly, very slowly… And yet, with careful and hard work, it was clear that both children would become very pretty and wonderful adults.
Even a scumbag like me could guarantee this.
Even if I put my all on it.

“The kitchen knife is big. Next time you go to the mart, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to buy some cooking utensils for children…”

I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut.

“Tadadadadadadak!”

Before I had time to tell him to be careful, Noah’s hand holding the cleaver started to move, and it was no lie, the evenly cut vegetables flew through the air and were placed on the plate in front of my eyes, without a single millimeter of error.
This was truly a god’s skill that could only be praised even when Golden Ramji came.

“Oooooh! Great, Noah! Awesome!”
“Oh, sister. It’s not like that. No, Noah is really insignificant. I’m sorry. Because I’m such an insignificant person… No, Dad would be better than Noah!”

I had to gulp and swallow for a moment.
It felt as if the weight of the thick knife in my hand had suddenly increased 100 times. Noah next to me shows me things like that and says things like that…

“Tonguenu, jjon stopped. What’s up? Miho has less meat than Yajae.”

… Bad year.

In an instant, without realizing it, I almost sent a nutmeg to Miho.
You motherfucking son of a bitch, are you on purpose?

“Huh, it’s not something to hide or lie about.”

I was relaxed, so I cut the pork into the right size. It was the skill of an ordinary person who knows how to cook a little, without anything special like Noah.
It would be a lie if I wasn’t embarrassed in the slightest, but I didn’t want to bluff in front of Noah or get out of this situation with lies.

“Noah.”
“Yes, yes, oh, Dad…”
“You’re good. Awesome.”

At my words, rather than liking it, Noah looked at me and didn’t know what to do. Do you think it made me feel bad?
Really, poor kid.

It was then.

“Tuk!”

A small hand blade went up on Noah’s head his.

“Noah.”
“Uh, sister?”
“It’s a jjaram who’s not good at tongue-in-cheek. It’s good to be overjoyed when someone with such a tongue frowns. Got it?”
“… !”

It looks like your tongue is shorter than usual today, is Miho nervous too?

“Yes, sister! Dad, thank you. Noah, I’m glad!”
“Yes, doing well is doing well.”
“Kyaaaaang! Just like Miho is Miho!”

And then I had to say something.

“Still, you always have to be careful when you wield a knife. Understand? I don’t know anything else, but the most important thing is your safety and Noah’s safety. If you get cut or injured even a little, I think it will be more shocking and sad.”

At my words, Noah held back a few tears, then wiped them away with a nod of her head.

“Yes, Dad… Noah, I will cook more carefully from now on.”

Even in the process of cooking like that, we got to know each other, and we still had a lot to learn, and we completed the kimchi roll with a smile.

The meat was cut a little crudely, and the seasoning was a little less neat, so it worked.
On top of that, there were vegetables cut so beautifully that it was hard to see in any restaurant in the world, so it looked so pretty.

And…

“Oh, oh my. Mi, Miho likes meat… That, so I’m going to give Miho’s egg to Tongunu today!”

I’ll be watching quietly from the side.
Miho’s fried egg, which he dared to intervene at the end, had very large eggshells on it.
At this point, people with poor eyesight will be able to see even if they take off their glasses.
Anyway.

“I will enjoy this food.”
“I’m eating well!”
“Okay, I’ll eat well…”

We huddled around a small desk that was now really about to explode, said good-bye, and began to eat slowly.

“Crunchy, crunchy!”

“… Great, great!”
“Awesome!”

After eating Noah’s cut vegetables, Miho and I couldn’t help but burst out in admiration. Can the taste change so much just with the difference in the quality of the knife?
While the crispness of the vegetables was still alive, it was properly mixed with the seasoning of duruchigi to create a fantastic taste.

“It’s delicious, Noah.”
“It’s delicious!”

When the two put their thumbs together and lifted them up, Noah, who heard this, felt awkward again, but this time rather than shed tears.

“Thank you, Dad, sister.”
“…”
“…”

She showed off a radiant smile.
Thanks to this, I felt so cozy and warm even though I gathered at this narrow, cheap desk and ate.

“Hey, Pig. Leave something for her sister to eat.”
“The first one to eat is Imjarajjim.”

Crack-crack…
Noah, who made the biggest contribution to cooking, was only putting vegetables in her mouth her little by little, but she looked more full than ever.
It was a warm time.

“I really enjoyed the meal.”
“Oh, Dad… Noah will clean up after you.”
“Let’s do it together.”
“Okay, I’m fine…”
“It’s okay, so let’s do it together.”
“Yes.”

In the end, I put the finished dishes in the sink and washed the dishes standing side by side with Noah, who was laughing all the time.
Although in Noah’s case he needed a pedestal.

‘A lot of plates come out at every meal.’

Even if one mouth increased, I could feel that the distance to wash dishes increased, but it definitely increased as one more increased there.
At this rate, there was not enough plates.

Having a lot of things to live for meant that I needed money as well.

‘But today…’

It’s Noah’s first day here, is it the right thing for her to go to work?
Come to think of it, even on the first day Miho came, I only fed her a little bit of cup noodles and went to work without paying attention.
Thinking of that, I felt sorry for nothing, but I wanted to be by Noah’s side today.
But.

[Ahn Gi-pyo: I think I must come today. I have work. Please go to work a little early.]

He is considerate in many ways, and I know that he is not the kind of person who says things like this for nothing.
It was impossible to ignore this message.

Really, nothing was easy.