TRUFT 02

Chapter 02

“Zzz….”

I quietly watched my only niece sleeping on the mana separator and took off my mana protection suit.

“She’s even prettier now.”

She was pretty enough to be a kid model. It was amazing she looked like this, considering she came from my brother’s face.

With a smile, I activated my skill Dragon Eye to find where the mana was concentrated and reached out my hand.

As light came from my hand placed on Yun-a’s stomach, the mana spread throughout her body slowly gathered there.

“Ugh… ugh…”

It looked like she was in a little pain as the mana gathered in her stomach.

I placed my other hand on her head and used a healing spell to remove the pain.

When her stomach became full of gathered mana and her expression calmed again, I raised my left palm.

When I lifted my hand, dark mana rose up.

I planned to purify this mana and put it into Yun-a.

That way, it would exist in her blood and be released if she were in danger.

It was like insurance. I couldn’t let anything happen to my precious niece.

“Everything is just right.”

I wanted to put my own mana into her, but if I did, it might be too dense for her body to handle and cause serious problems.

However, the mana already inside Yun-a’s body was the mana of an A-rank awakened person.

Since it was A-rank, the concentration was strong, but because the owner was a child, if I purified and diluted it slightly, it would become the best protective shield for her.

‘Let’s purify it as much as possible.’

I prepared a mana treatment by adjusting and purifying the mana flowing through the blood, so it could exist safely in Yun-a’s body, then slightly diluted it and placed it back into her bloodstream.

After gathering as much mana as possible into my spatial storage, I raised aura in my finger and stirred the mana. The impurities stuck to my hand.

‘Done.’

Now I burned off all the impurities, then injected the mana into her arm like a shot.

A moment later—

Her pale face began to look healthy again, and she slowly blinked.

“Yun-a, wake up.”

I woke her and called her parents into the room.

“Yun-a! Are you okay now?”

“Yes! Mom, I’m not in pain anymore!”

“That’s such a relief, my daughter! Thank you… thank you so much, Hyunjoon!”

“Thank you, sir. Really, thank you…”

“Yun-a, do you recognize your uncle?”

“Hm… yes?”

At her father’s words, Yun-a turned to look at me.

“Uncle? Uncle! It’s uncle, right?”

She recognized me.

Even though it had been 4 years.

“Yes, Yun-a. It’s your uncle. Do you recognize me?”

“Where did you go? Why did you come back now? Did you really go learn cooking like Dad said? Why didn’t you call Yun-a?”

Her pronunciation was still a bit unclear, which made her even cuter.

‘So she thought I went far away to learn cooking.’

Well, that’s partly true.

I kept learning cooking in small restaurants on Earth, and even on the H continent, I continued cooking while dreaming of a food truck.

“Yes. I learned everything and came back. I’m sorry I couldn’t call you. I really missed you, but I was busy. You’ll understand, right? I’ll cook something delicious for you.”

“I missed you too, uncle!”

…Ah, seriously.

Tears started flowing again without me realizing.

“Yun-a, from now on I’ll cook tasty food for you and take you traveling every day. Before you go to elementary school, let’s travel together with the food truck and make lots of memories.”

“…What?”

“I’ll go out for a bit. I’ll be back soon, Yun-a.”

I quickly left the hospital room before my brother could scold me.

Now it was time for revenge.

‘They said they live next to the apartment, right?’

Following my memory, I went to Unit 1202 of Building 307.

When I arrived, I calmly pressed the doorbell.

Ding-dong.

Ding-dong.

“Who is it?”

A woman in her late 40s with wrinkles, covered somewhat with makeup, opened the door.

‘I guess she has plans to go out.’

I spoke calmly.

“I’m Yun-a’s uncle.”

“Oh, the one who went abroad to cook? What do you want?”

So shameless?

This isn’t good.

“Do you have time right now?”

“…No. We’re going to sign a contract with a guild for our son.”

Already signing with a guild?

That means they plan to have him make money as soon as he becomes a middle schooler.

Crazy.

“I’ll be quick. Isn’t a sincere apology enough?”

“Apology again? Why are you making such a fuss? We already paid the expensive hospital bills!”

“Guess there’s no talking to you people.”

“What? You people? Listen to this guy talking back to an adult! I bet that Yun-a kid was also rude and got hit because of that!”

…

That crossed the line.

I controlled my beating heart and felt the mana in this house.

I could feel a very small amount of mana.

‘To people here, it might be a genius-level talent.’

But compared to my mana, it was nothing.

Because he had only been an awakened one for less than a month, I could easily turn him back into an ordinary person.

‘Back in the continent, I stole an artifact that absorbs another person’s mana.’

With this, I could take away all of that brat Jo Sung-woo’s mana.

“Quiet down, lady.”

“What? You little—!”

Ignoring her shouting, I took out a stone from my pocket.

Then I connected it to the mana of Jo Sung-woo, the kid who hurt Yun-a.

Woooong—

Through invisible mana threads, all of his mana was sucked into the stone.

‘Done.’

3… 2… 1…

“Mom… my mana is gone!”

As his mana disappeared, he felt that his abilities and traits were gone.

“W-what? Feel it properly! Is it really gone?”

“Yes… I don’t feel anything. Th-the system says my awakening qualification is revoked!”

The kid could read well.

“Waaaaah!”

Scared by his mother’s yelling, he burst into tears.

Then his mother came toward me, her face red with anger.

“You! You’re the one who canceled my son’s awakening, aren’t you?!”

“…Does that even make sense? I’m just a cook. Removing mana is something I’ve never heard of.”

I provoked her slightly.

And then I added a spell to make her lose control of her anger.

Wham— Bang—

“You bastard! It’s you! You’re the one!!”

The angry woman swung her luxury bag at me.

I moved to where the CCTV was and let myself get hit three times on purpose, then called the police.

After that

“I understand. We’ll accept the apology.”

I accepted the apology while looking at them bowing in front of Yun-a.

If I didn’t accept, they would be punished.

But if they were punished now, things would become dangerous for them.

They had already signed a contract with a rookie guild, so breaking it would mean paying a huge penalty.

That’s why they were sincerely apologizing.

‘They’re already in debt because of the house and hospital bills. Now with penalties too… they’re probably in trouble.’

But that’s not my problem.

Because of them, Yun-a developed trauma, and my brother and sister-in-law’s health also worsened.

Of course, I already healed them with magic.

Anyway, they only needed to apologize, but they relied on power and ended up like this.

“Thank you, Hyunjoon. Yun-a isn’t scared anymore.”

After accepting the apology, Yun-a returned to her bright smile.

Seeing them apologize made her fear disappear.

“That’s a relief. Yun-a, shall we go home and eat? Food is strength.”

“Yes! Food!”

“Brother, sister-in-law, let’s go. I’ll cook something delicious.”

…

“Hm…”

Bringing monster meat right away might be too much.

“Yun-a, what do you like?”

“…Omelette rice?”

“Oh! You really take after me! I’ll make it delicious. Just wait, okay?”

“Yes! Yesyesyes!”

Omelette rice.

A dish I’ve loved since I was young and cooked many times on the continent, so I was confident.

I chopped onions, carrots, and bacon into small pieces and fried them in a pan.

After cooking a bit, I added soy sauce instead of monster oyster sauce, since this was a normal Earth kitchen.

‘Add cooking wine and pepper… now!’

After a short pause, I added rice and fried it.

Now the important part—

I created fire with my finger and used it like a torch to sear the fried rice.

The fire I used was the magic I created with Ben. Cooking with this fire enhanced the flavor and aroma.

‘I even created new magic just for cooking.’

Good, almost done.

I plated the fried rice, then poured beaten eggs into another heated pan.

Now comes the technique.

I stirred the eggs on low heat, then moved them to one side of the pan.

‘Carefully shaping it…!’

Done.

The slightly undercooked but beautifully shaped omelet was completed.

I placed it over the fried rice.

“Finished!”

“Ooh, that looks amazing! Why is the egg on top of the rice?”

“Ah, that?”

Instead of answering, I took a knife and cut the center of the omelet.

The egg spread open to the sides, covering the rice beautifully.

‘This is food that pleases both the eyes and the taste.’

“Wow… that’s amazing. How do you do that? Teach me.”

“Brother can’t do this. Do you know how hard it is? You have to control fire, thickness, and cooking level perfectly!”

“I tried it after watching videos… but I always failed.”

“Wow… it looks so cool! Yun-a, try it first!”

“Wait! Omelette rice needs ketchup.”

“Thank you, uncle!”

Yun-a spread ketchup shaped like a heart over the rice and took a big bite.

“Wow! It’s so good! Sooooo good! It’s not even comparable to Mom and Dad’s food!”

“…It’s really delicious.”

“Yeah, it’s way better.”

“Haha! Thank you, Yun-a.”

All the hardship of the past 40 years felt worth it.

It felt like all that suffering had been washed away.