Morning dawned.
Yesterday, feeling mellow after eating Satin’s sugar toast, he had fallen asleep. Kang Gyeol looked at the corner of the room where Satin’s bed had been for the past ten years.
Yesterday, he had driven alone for the first time.
Satin would now be staying in the room downstairs with Audrey. This change affected him as much as it did her.
Even in a world swarming with monsters, humans lived their lives. They went to work, fell in love, and started families. His twenties had been spent raising Satin. They were never apart for a moment. He had no time for himself.
Even while regressing twelve times and fighting the Devil King, he had a daily routine. Raising a baby alone required more effort than he could have imagined.
‘Was this room always this big?’
Only a small bed had disappeared.
Kang Gyeol got up and stretched his neck with a crack.
He would kill the monsters as soon as a dungeon appeared and destroy the dungeon heart. Portals only opened inside dungeons.
If he destroyed the dungeons, he could also block the portals.
If he could achieve a brief peace by doing so, he could head to the Sahara. He would gather the power of all the hunters in the world and conquer the largest and worst gate on Earth.
The Sahara Gate, which had opened in the middle of the African desert, had destroyed half the continent. It was the appearance of the First Wave, which had horrified the world.
The UN had stopped the gate’s activity by sacrificing 80 A-rank hunters. The world had come together to build a huge barrier around the Sahara Desert.
Since the heart was still alive, it wouldn’t be strange if another wave started at any time.
If he could close the Sahara Gate, he could temporarily stop the clock of human extinction. Of course, this was a dream he could only have if the Devil King didn’t come.
And the Devil King wouldn’t come.
As long as he held Satin.
A hungry heart leads to a hungry body.
Kang Gyeol went straight to the kitchen as he went downstairs.
The customers loved Satin’s rice so much that he didn’t need to develop a menu. They were satisfied with just rice and water.
Healer Awakened were too rare.
Treating injuries from dungeons at the hospital wasn’t perfect. Internal injuries were left untreated, and only the skin was stitched up.
Eating Satin’s rice made the fear of injury disappear. That was the most precious healing for the hunters. But there was a problem. Their dependence on the rice was too strong.
It’s because they only filled their hunger with rice. It might be solved if they ate it with other food.
Let’s try adding a dish today.
The first menu item that goes well with rice and can tempt the chopsticks.
Spicy stir-fried pork.
It was a dish that suited the hunters who used their strength in the dungeons.
And it was simple to make.
He put oil in a frying pan and added green onions to release their fragrance. He used pork shoulder for the meat.
Onions and peppers were enough for vegetables. The seasoning wasn’t complicated either. You just had to mix gochujang, soy sauce, and sugar to your liking. It was better to sprinkle chili powder and pepper a little generously.
Spicy food was a necessary sedative for hunters who had been rolling around in a dungeon.
The smell of scallion oil spread through the restaurant. It was a pleasant combination.
The smooth texture of the oil met the green onions, and the taste and aroma blossomed. As the pork turned brown, it released its unique savory aroma.
It was delicious enough to eat as it was.
But the destination was spicy stir-fried pork.
He poured the seasoning over the meat, covered it, and put a lid on it. The flavor of the scallion oil and seasoning needed time to seep into the meat.
“Mister?”
Satin came out, rubbing her eyes. She sneezed at the strong pepper smell and entered the kitchen.
“Wow, spicy stir-fried pork.”
When he ate with Satin, he didn’t add pepper. He just added a moderate amount of chili powder.
“Are you making it for Audrey unnie?”
“I’m adding it to the menu.”
“Really? The customers will love it!”
Once, the customers had seen Satin mixing leftover spicy stir-fried pork with rice.
Are you the only one who gets to eat the delicious food? And we get plain rice? They had grumbled something like that.
There was a reason why he hadn’t added it to the menu. The restaurant was open from 10 am for three hours and from 6 pm for three hours.
Satin couldn’t be in the kitchen for six hours every day.
That’s why rice was good.
If he made it in between, he could sell it for a few hours. Meanwhile, Satin would play on the second floor, read a book, or roll around.
That rolling around wasn’t a joke, she really did roll around in a ball. He didn’t know why. He had never asked.
He just thought it was a habit that came with the Devil King’s blood.
He planned to use the spicy stir-fried pork in the same way.
He would make a lot, put it in a container, and then stir-fry it in a pot and serve it in the pot.
He had once checked to see how much Satin had to be involved in the cooking for her demonic energy to be infused. The finishing touch was important.
“Satin. Want to stir this?”
“Yes!”
Kang Gyeol made all the food they ate at home.
He only infused Satin’s demonic energy into the food he served at the restaurant.
Satin grinned and picked up a spatula.
“I can stay in the kitchen all the time!”
“No.”
“Yes!”
Satin loved to cook.
If he had let her, she would have spent all day in the kitchen. But she had other things to do. Things she had to learn and master.
Sizzle!
A delicious sound filled the restaurant. Audrey, who must have smelled it, also got up and came to the kitchen.
“It sounds delicious.”
Satin looked at Audrey as she stirred.
“Do you have spicy stir-fried pork in your country, unnie?”
Audrey sneezed as she walked next to Satin.
“This is the first time I’ve smelled something like this. Why, from a dish, achoo!”
Most otherworld kingdoms didn’t know about spices. Salt and sugar were all they sprinkled on food. Peppers and pepper would be a huge shock to Audrey.
Satin sprinkled sesame seeds on the spicy stir-fried pork and put it on a plate. She also scooped a bowl of freshly cooked rice.
Audrey, who was sitting at the table, cautiously picked up the spicy stir-fried pork.
Her handling of the fork was elegant.
The tip of her nose had been red since before. She even had a slight runny nose.
“The food smells scary.”
“It’s not scary! It’s very delicious.”
Satin liked spicy food.
If he didn’t control her, she would put several spoonfuls of pepper in every soup.
“I’ll trust you and try it.”
“Yeah! Eat the big one, unnie.”
Audrey picked up the piece of meat Satin had chosen and looked at it slowly. The tickling sensation had subsided a lot.
It had been painful at first, but now saliva was pooling in her mouth. She put the meat in her mouth.
Audrey’s eyes widened. Could meat taste like this?
She looked at Satin.
Her lips were moving as she continued to chew the meat. The royal rule of not talking while eating was calming her down.
Gulp.
Audrey swallowed the meat and opened her mouth.
“It’s an incredible taste. But my tongue hurts.”
Kang Gyeol pushed the rice towards her.
Audrey scooped a large spoonful of rice and put it in her mouth.
“It’s a great harmony. The intense flavor of the meat meets the rice and creates a lake. It tastes like a big fish jumping in a calm lake.”
Along with the incomprehensible words, Audrey picked up a second piece of meat. She finished a bowl of rice and half of the spicy stir-fried pork. If she ate like this, her treatment might end sooner than expected.
“Mister, you’re a really good cook. Our royal chef is the best in the empire. But this is much more delicious.”
“It’s because you’re eating it for the first time.”
“I’m a very picky eater. The royal chef always had a hard time. Wow, this is a really amazing taste.”
It was a sincere compliment about the taste. It was the first time he had felt this way.
‘Who’s making it? If it’s the boss, I’m not eating.’
It was just an ordinary fried egg.
‘I’ll eat if Satin makes it.’
Of course, he could understand.
What the customers were looking for wasn’t the food itself, but the demonic energy Satin infused. But taste was another matter.
‘The boss’s food is tasteless and gives me no energy.’
That would change from today.
He would open the door to true gastronomy for the customers who had been eating plain rice with water.
Kang Gyeol rolled up his sleeves and entered the kitchen.
Satin, who had finished her meal with Audrey, stretched languidly. It was a pleasant morning.
Mister had been generous with the pepper today. It was exactly to her taste.
Satin picked up a broom and went out of the restaurant door.
She was already looking forward to the customers’ faces.
They were customers who were happy with just rice. Today’s spicy stir-fried pork might make them float in the air.
Satin smiled brightly and swept the area around the restaurant.
A broom as tall as her pushed away the dust.
Next to the restaurant was an alley. It was a dead end, so people didn’t go in.
There was someone inside.
Satin stopped sweeping and looked into the alley.
A woman.
A woman, so thin that she looked fragile, was wearing a beige dress and leaning against the alley wall.
Her face was blurry.
Satin slowly approached her.
The woman, sensing someone’s presence, turned around.
A girl with a pale face and sharp nose was looking at her.
“Hello?”
Satin spoke first.
Tears welled up in the woman’s eyes for no reason. A large tear slid down her face.
Satin stood in front of her.
“Are you going to die?”
The woman was startled and looked at her.
How did she know? She was just sitting there.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Satin.”
Satin sat down next to her with a thud.
“What did you just say to me?”
“Why are you killing yourself?”
The woman choked.
And then she burst into tears.
It was the first time someone had asked her so directly if she was going to die.
Cheer up.
You look like you’re about to die. People who passed by would say that.
You have to endure it. That’s how the world is.
What can you do but endure? She had lived her whole life hearing those words.
“My mom stuck a straw in my back and is sucking me dry until I wither away.”
The woman didn’t wipe her tears. She let them flow, even if her chest was tight. She let out sobs.
“She wants to see me wither and die.”
This morning, even though she was sick, she was taken to a photo studio in her mom’s car. And she took pictures all day while taking painkillers.
“After the shoot, the photographer said I should lose more weight and get waxed. When I asked what that meant, he said he had a contract with my mom. To shoot a nude pictorial. Without my permission. And my mom had already taken all the money.”
The woman’s hands clenched her skirt.
“When I asked her what she was going to use the money for, she said she was going to help my brother’s business. The brother who just lazes around at home, drinks, and gets into fights and pays fines.”
The woman’s hands trembled slightly.
“A new dad came in a month after my dad died. He was in a car accident a while ago, and I paid for all his hospital bills. I went to take care of him, and he touched me. I screamed and ran away, and when I told my mom, she told me to endure it. She said he was just confused and made a mistake.”
“That’s mean.”
“No one is on my side. You know? I’m so tired, I don’t think I can live anymore.”
“Then kill them.”
“Huh?”
“You should kill them. They’re the ones hurting you.”
“But how can I… They’re not just anyone.”
“You should kill them even faster. Because…”
Satin’s eyes sparkled as she looked at the woman’s face.
