TSGWS 01

Chapter 01

Hyangsuk’s Side Dish Shop (1)

At the tail end of spring, as the season quietly announced the arrival of a hot summer.

Beyond the hospital room window, lush green leaves swayed gently in the stillness.

I held out a slice of Korean melon on a fork toward Grandma.

“Grandma, this melon is sweet. Try some.”

Grandma slowly turned her head and took a bite.

“Jigu.”

“Hm? What is it?”

“How long are you going to live like an unemployed bum?”

“…Well, I don’t know.”

I had been wanting to find a job lately. After spending an entire year doing nothing, I was starting to feel restless. Grandma stared at me for a moment, then suddenly spoke.

“So, are you not going to cook anymore?”

“Not sure yet. I don’t know whether I will or not.”

“Then how about my granddaughter taking over this old lady’s shop?”

I nearly spat out the melon I was eating.

“Cough—Grandma, what did you just say?”

“I was thinking it’d be nice if my granddaughter inherited Hyangsuk’s Side Dish Shop.”

“…Me?”

“What’s the problem? You worked your way up to sous chef at a restaurant.”

“Well…”

I trailed off.

“Give it a try.”

Then Grandma casually popped another slice of melon into her mouth.

Crunch.

The fresh sound echoed through the hospital room as silence followed.

Why all of a sudden?

I barely managed to steady my shaken thoughts.

Grandma had always looked happier than a child while serving side dishes to customers. The idea of her quitting the shop felt impossible to me.

Before I realized it, Grandma’s warm hand rested gently over my clenched fist.

“You know too, don’t you?”

“…”

“That Grandma can’t run the side dish shop anymore.”

I knew.

I did know.

Avoiding her gaze, I spoke slowly.

“The doctor said you can still live, Grandma…”

“Jigu.”

“Ah, I don’t want to hear it. Just eat your melon.”

I really didn’t want to hear it.

I pulled my hand away from hers and stood up.

“If it’s Grandma’s wish, will you do it?”

“…!”

…You know I can’t say no when you put it like that!

“Grandma!”

Grandma quietly patted the chair beside her twice.

Trying hard not to cry, I forced strength into my eyes and looked at her.

“Come on, sit back down.”

“…Even if I sit, you’re not going to listen to me anyway.”

“My only family now is my little puppy. Why wouldn’t I listen?”

The sweetness of the melon lingering in my mouth had long disappeared.

I sat back down and looked at Grandma.

“…Why are you pushing this so much? There’s no reason I have to run the side dish shop, right? I just… want you to open the shop again.”

Grandma spoke softly.

“It’s simply time.”

“…Time?”

I couldn’t understand what she meant at all.

“No, seriously. Why are you doing this?”

“Well… it’d be such a waste to leave it like that.”

…I thought the shop would be a waste too, but still.

“I care about you first, Grandma.”

Grandma smiled warmly.

“Yeah, just as expected. My puppy is the best.”

“If I’m all you’ve got, then listen to me for once.”

Please.

I stared silently at her face.

“Alright, alright. But will you promise me one thing?”

“What is it?”

“Later… after Grandma’s gone, go to the shop’s back door…”

“Why are you talking like that? And what’s with the back door?”

“Oh dear, alright, alright. Much later… if Grandma ever goes far away.”

Without even waiting for my answer, Grandma opened the hospital drawer and pulled out her bag.

From inside, she took out an old, blackened key and held it out to me.

“This. It’s the key to the shop’s back door.”

“Huh…?”

“When the time comes, you’ll understand why I wanted you to take over the shop.”

I lowered my head and stared at the worn key resting in Grandma’s hand.

Suddenly, an old memory surfaced.

It was shortly after my parents passed away, around the time Grandma had just opened the shop.

That day, I had gone toward the back door to pick up a paper crane that had fallen by the window. But Grandma rushed over in a panic and blocked me.

Then she firmly told me, over and over again, never to go near the shop’s back door.

“Okay. So if I go like you said, I’ll understand?”

“That’s right.”

Without hesitation, I reached out and took the old key.

Clink.

The cold, heavy metal settled into my palm.

For some reason, such a small key felt unbearably heavy.

And I never imagined I would end up taking it out again so soon.

A month later.

Grandma’s funeral passed by in a blur.

By the time all the mourners had left the empty funeral hall, I couldn’t even remember how much I had cried.

A month had passed since then.

And now, I stood in front of the shop, hesitating.

Like a child putting off homework, I couldn’t bring myself to open the door.

But I couldn’t run away forever.

It had been Grandma’s final request.

[Hyangsuk’s Side Dish Shop]

I looked up at the faded signboard with peeling paint.

My vision blurred again, and I lowered my head.

“…Seriously, what’s even behind the back door?”

I grabbed the shop door and pulled it open.

Creeeak.

The moment it opened, dust burst outward from inside.

“Cough!”

The dust instantly stung my nose.

“Ugh, so dusty!”

As I stepped inside, I kept coughing and covered my nose with my hand.

Since the shop had been closed for a while, dust had piled up everywhere.

Even the slightest movement sent particles swirling into the air.

I looked around.

Messy tables, empty side dish display shelves, and the counter worn smooth by Grandma’s hands.

The old shop atmosphere stirred up a strange nostalgia.

Everything had remained exactly the same.

Except Grandma.

“I miss you, Grandma.”

I immediately opened the industrial refrigerator in the kitchen.

Grandma was seriously such a neat freak…

Though empty, the inside sparkled spotless, perfectly reflecting her personality.

Just as I was about to close the refrigerator—

Thud, thud, thud, thud—

A strange knocking sound came from underneath it.

What the…?

Startled, I stepped back and stared at where the sound had come from.

Soon, it stopped.

“That scared me. Maybe it’s just because it’s old.”

I walked deeper into the shop toward the back door.

Standing before it, I tilted my head.

Did she really hide treasure or something?

I inserted the key into the lock, turned it, and swung the door open.

“…What?”

The sight beyond made me doubt my own eyes.

A strange scene unfolded—something that hardly seemed real.

A swirling black veil stretched beyond the doorway.

Like pitch-black paint dissolved into the air, nothing could be seen past it.

Yet strangely enough, I wasn’t scared.

“…So this is Grandma’s treasure?”

Instead, a refreshing scent of earth and grass drifted from beyond the darkness, like rain falling onto dry land.

The same familiar scent Grandma always carried…

Gathering my courage, I stepped into the black veil.

My foot sank through it effortlessly, but I felt nothing.

Nothing happened…?

I lifted and lowered my foot again.

Still nothing.

Guess I’m going in.

I stepped all the way through and slowly opened my eyes.

The moment I did, my vision filled with a tiny garden in the middle of a forest.

At the heart of a vast woodland stood a carefully tended vegetable patch, beside it a tiny cat statue.

It looked like something straight out of a fairy tale.

Seeing such an unreal scene, I swallowed hard.

“…No wonder she hid this.”

The air itself felt different.

Instead of the city’s suffocating heaviness, the crisp air seeped deep into my lungs.

Both the sun and moon floated in the sky at the same time.

“Wow…”

I slowly walked toward the small garden.

[Bracken Fern]
[Aster Leaves]
[Canola]
[Carrot]
[Potato]

Signs written in Grandma’s handwriting stood beside the crops.

“Canola, carrots, potatoes…”

But something felt odd.

There was only one or two of each type planted.

Usually, gardens had rows and rows of the same crop.

I snapped off a canola leaf with my fingertips.

The scent hit me instantly.

My eyes widened.

The aroma was richer than any organic ingredient I had ever handled at the restaurant.

“This smell is insane.”

Having worked as a sous chef for years, I could tell ingredient quality just by scent or color.

This wasn’t just top grade.

It was beyond that.

Then—

“…Huh?”

Where I had plucked the leaf, a stem suddenly sprouted.

As though time had accelerated, a fresh leaf unfurled before my eyes.

The canola had completely restored itself in seconds.

“This is something I’ve only seen in mobile games…”

Out of curiosity, I plucked another leaf.

Again, the plant regrew instantly.

How many times had I repeated it?

Before I realized it, my hand was trembling as I stared at the bundle of canola leaves I had gathered.

I muttered blankly:

“Now I get why she hid this.”

Holding the leaves, my eyes wandered around.

Come to think of it, canola, carrots, and potatoes weren’t even in the same growing season.

That meant—

The crops in this garden grew regardless of time or season.

Gulp.

I swallowed unconsciously.

Just imagining cooking with ingredients this good made my mouth water.

Grandma… was this why?

Was this why she wanted me to run the side dish shop?

I stood up, planning to look around a little more—

“…Huh?”

The eyes of the cat statue near the garden slowly blinked.

Life gradually filled its stone body.

The gray statue transformed into an orange tabby cat.

A cat statue… turned into a real cat?

Right in front of me.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the impossible sight.

This is reality, right?

The orange cat lazily settled onto the grass.

After leisurely licking its soft paws, it slowly lifted its head.

Its golden eyes locked directly onto mine.

As if it had been waiting for me all along.

“So, you finally came, meow?”

Huh?

I doubted my ears.

There was no one else here except me.

“Are… are you talking?”

The cat ignored my confusion and spoke again clearly.

“You’re way too late, meow.”

“…Too late?”

“Yeah. I’ve been waiting, meow.”

The cat slowly walked over and stopped in front of me.

A round-faced cat.

Speaking human language.

“For Hyangsuk’s granddaughter, meow.”

Meow, meow.

Its sentence endings echoed like the cries of cicadas in midsummer.

“How is a cat even talking?”

The cat stopped licking its paw and replied haughtily:

“That’s prejudice, meow.”

“Holy crap.”