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Chapter 5
2,400P.
‘Still…….’
This was different from earlier.
“I can finally afford the frozen pork belly.”
Before she even realized it, her hand had already moved.
The space in front of her briefly distorted, and a vacuum-packed piece of meat dropped into her hand.
Anyone could tell it was frozen.
“Wow…….”
The wolf reacted to the sound.
Its ears perked up, and it stared intently at what Se-hee was holding.
“Ah.”
She awkwardly scratched the back of her neck and looked through the list once more.
• [Ssamjang (200g)] … 300P
• [Pack of Lettuce (10 leaves)] … 120P
“This is crazy.”
Adding ssamjang and lettuce to the pork belly was going to eat up quite a lot of points.
‘At this rate, I’ll run out of points in no time.’
Even so, her hands were already moving.
At that moment, Cassian’s gaze turned toward the meat.
“What is that?”
Cassian asked while looking at the meat Se-hee was holding.
“Food.”
“I know that without you telling me.”
“Hmm…….”
Se-hee thought for a moment.
“Have you…… never seen meat before?”
Cassian’s eyebrow moved ever so slightly.
“No.”
“Then why are you looking at it like that?”
Cassian looked at the meat for a moment before answering.
“It has an unusual smell.”
‘Unusual?’
There did not seem to be anything strange about it.
Watching Se-hee’s reaction, Cassian spoke again.
“Monster meat has a strong smell unique to it.”
“This is pork.”
“Pork?”
“Do you…… not eat pork?”
Cassian looked at the meat for a moment before shaking his head.
“I simply don’t seek it out.”
Cassian gestured toward the forest with his chin.
“There is plenty of monster meat in this forest alone.”
After a brief pause, he added,
“There is no reason to hunt an ordinary animal like a pig.”
“Ah…….”
Se-hee casually changed the subject.
“By the way, if you’re going to eat with me, you have to pay in advance. This isn’t a favor. It’s a transaction.”
“Pay in advance?”
“Yes. The cost of the food, plus the fee for using the space.”
The points she was spending now were money she could earn again anyway.
“So don’t feel pressured.”
“How much?”
“I said it’s prepaid, but I can’t be completely heartless.”
He looked at Se-hee once, then at the meat.
Then he took out some gold coins and handed them to Se-hee.
Seven.
“I’ll settle the rest afterward.”
“What? No, that’s already a lot.”
She could not return the gold coins either.
The system had already converted them into points.
Feeling awkward, Se-hee handed Cassian a pair of chopsticks.
“You don’t have to give me any more.”
Cassian did not answer.
Instead, he simply watched Se-hee as she busily prepared everything.
Se-hee tidied up the area and, instead of a grill, found a suitably flat stone and placed it over the fire.
Finally, she put the meat on it.
Sizzle―
The sound spread through the forest.
The meat began sizzling over the fire.
“Wow……. That smell.”
Then it happened.
[Environmental Effect Activated: Meat Aroma Spread]
“What? Again? Here we go.”
Se-hee raised her head.
It was smoke, but it was slightly different from before.
Cassian, who had been sitting across from her, was now gripping the hilt of his sword tightly.
“What’s wrong?”
When Se-hee asked, he answered without taking his eyes off the meat.
“Flames.”
“Huh?”
“It sounds like the crystallization of flame magic.”
Se-hee looked at the meat for a moment before seriously nodding.
“Yes. It’s high-grade magic made from pigs.”
“I see.”
At that answer, Se-hee stopped flipping the meat and looked at him.
‘That was a joke.’
But Cassian’s expression remained completely serious.
Instead, the tension in the hand gripping his sword eased ever so slightly.
At the same time, Cassian’s throat moved subtly.
At this point, Cassian still did not know.
This meal would not end as a simple act of kindness.
Gulp―
As the pork belly cooked, smoke rose once again.
When the sizzling sound began to die down, Se-hee took the meat off the fire and placed it on a flat leaf instead of a plate.
She naturally prepared her own portion first.
She placed a piece of meat on a lettuce leaf and casually put it into her mouth.
Crunch.
As she chewed, the rich aroma of the meat’s savory fat spread through her mouth.
“…….”
At the same time, she felt someone staring at her from across the fire.
It was Cassian.
He silently watched the meat, lettuce, and Se-hee’s hands in turn.
He looked like someone who had no idea where or how to begin eating.
‘Ah.’
Only then did Se-hee realize.
‘He doesn’t know about ssam.’
It felt awkward to simply leave someone who had casually handed over seven gold coins sitting there.
“Wait a moment.”
Cassian instinctively stiffened.
Because Se-hee was approaching him.
And she was doing it quite naturally.
Without realizing how tense Cassian had become, Se-hee placed some meat on a lettuce leaf and spread a little ssamjang on it.
‘This should be enough, right?’
Her hands moved more naturally than she expected.
She never thought six years of living alone would come in handy like this.
Se-hee firmly folded the lettuce into a large wrap and, without giving it another thought, held it out toward Cassian.
“Here.”
“……?”
Cassian stared at the hand in front of him for a moment.
A piece of meat wrapped in lettuce.
His gaze moved from the ssam to Se-hee’s face.
A brief silence passed, impossible to tell whether it was caution or hesitation.
“You eat it like this?”
“Yes. All at once.”
She said it with such a natural expression that there was no doubt in her mind.
Cassian looked at the lettuce wrap for a moment.
Ever since he had been cursed, food had been nothing more than something to chew.
Besides, having someone feed him this way was unfamiliar.
As far as Cassian knew, an action like this could not happen without some degree of intimacy.
“…….”
Cassian briefly looked away before looking at the lettuce wrap again.
Steam was rising from the meat.
The smell had become too difficult to ignore.
If he stayed there any longer, he felt like his reason would break before anything else.
Cassian carefully lowered his head.
Without giving it a second thought, Se-hee placed the wrap directly into his mouth.
“Ah, open wider. Yes, like that.”
The moment her fingertips touched him, Cassian’s shoulders stiffened ever so slightly.
The rich fat from the meat and the salty taste of the ssamjang spread throughout his mouth at the same time.
It was the first time since he had been cursed.
“……!”
Cassian’s eyes widened.
This was beyond simply being delicious.
‘What is this……?’
With every chew, the flavor became deeper.
Cassian unconsciously muttered,
“There’s a taste like this?”
Only after saying it out loud did Cassian feel his face grow hot.
The moment he realized what he had said, he became even more flustered.
His mouth was full, making it difficult to speak properly, yet his heart was beating unnecessarily fast.
It felt as though his sense of taste, which had been numbed by the curse, was coming back to life.
A strange warmth spread through his body.
Cassian’s gaze naturally turned toward Se-hee.
The hand that had just offered him the ssam without any hesitation.
‘……Could it be?’
Cassian could not tell whether his senses had returned because of the food or because of Se-hee, who had given it to him.
Meanwhile, Se-hee was thinking about something completely different.
‘His reaction is a little too strong.’
She glanced at the empty container of ssamjang.
‘Was there not enough ssamjang?’
She also wondered if the piece of meat had been too large.
Or perhaps the lettuce was too big and overwhelming for someone eating it this way for the first time.
“Are you okay?”
Se-hee asked, genuinely concerned.
“Is the ssamjang too strong?”
“I don’t know what that is, but it was delicious.”
Cassian barely swallowed the remaining ssam in his mouth.
After taking a moment to catch his breath, Cassian raised his head.
“……This food.”
“Yes?”
“Is it normally this intense?”
Se-hee tilted her head.
“Intense?”
Cassian hesitated for a moment before speaking.
“I…… can barely taste anything.”
“What?”
“It’s because of the curse.”
Se-hee was briefly startled, but she kept her expression calm and answered carefully.
“Ah……. So that’s why you reacted like that.”
Cassian silently nodded.
“Then was it like that even before you came here?”
“Yes. I collapsed earlier because of the curse as well.”
“Ah…….”
Se-hee searched for something to say, then offered him more pork belly.
“Then have some more.”
“What?”
Cassian’s face turned red, and he could not take his eyes off Se-hee.
Se-hee narrowed her eyes slightly as she watched him.
‘……Is that a symptom of the curse?’
After observing him for a moment, she casually picked up another piece of meat.
“If you eat it again, you might be able to taste it again.”
At that moment,
a familiar window suddenly appeared in the center of Se-hee’s vision without warning.
[Congratulations!]
Se-hee blinked.
She checked the position of the window again.
Right in the center of her vision, appearing with absolutely no shame.
She rubbed her eyes once and even shook her head slightly, but it did not disappear.
‘Why…… is the timing like this?’
She could not say she had done nothing, because the situation just now had been strangely significant.
For a moment, Se-hee could not tell whether this notification was a joke or whether the system had once again made its own judgment.
[With one lettuce wrap, you have fallen into a romance-level misunderstanding.]
