Avoiding the rough questioning, the interpreter uncle mumbles it off as a joke.
Seeing how they are even avoiding eye contact, it seems like there’s a hint of his true feelings mixed in.
Anyway, accepting jokes as jokes, I went around taking pictures of the bridge and engine room…
I also popped into the bar, a space full of adults heavily infused with the smell of alcohol.
It was a strange sight to see elementary school students with small bottoms that couldn’t even fill the round seats where grown men sat.
Beside them were adults who appeared to be interpreters, each one resembling those wicked adults who seem to want to teach their children early about alcohol.
By the way, the staff never stopped us minors from coming in.
Perhaps it’s because they find it hard to tell our actual ages based on our transformed appearances.
In this atmosphere, wouldn’t it be possible to naturally drink?
“Still a minor, huh?”
“Yes.”
I thought so, but I was subtly checked by the interpreter uncle’s question.
The bar was lined with alcohol whose names I didn’t even recognize.
Not wanting to have a twisting stomach from hastily drinking in this atmosphere, I only filled my eyes and camera with it.
In the aimless monster search trip, it had turned into a polar expedition on the icebreaker like any regular tourist.
The work ended quickly, but it seemed there were no plans for an early return.
The magical girls from other countries seemed to have no complaints as they enjoyed the luxurious life aboard the icebreaker.
And at some point, their actions became bolder…
Having taken quite a few pictures and having transformed back in the room, while I was warming myself in the blanket, there came a knock at the door.
When I opened it, confirming it was the interpreter uncle, I received an absurd piece of news.
“Excuse me? What do you mean the magical girls are doing what?”
“Oh, they’re looking for people to touch a polar bear’s paw…”
“Are they out of their minds?”
Even if it wasn’t intended, I told them to have a comfortable rest in the warm room, and now it seems they are in chaos because there’s nothing else to do.
Saying they want to touch the jelly of a weak monster like a polar bear, I wonder what kind of wind has blown.
Even the interpreters from various countries seemed quite tipsy from the atmosphere, wanting to be called over when the polar bear was subdued and its paw was touched.
Then their heads could get smashed by its front paw smash and become cushions!
Polar bears tear people apart.
“XXX X XXXX XXXX XX!”
“Let’s go catch a polar bear!”
Especially, the magical girl from China, whether she was a golden girl or a boy, was particularly eager, treating the polar bear as if it were a panda.
They completely forgot the mishap of the first day and were gathering magical girls to meet the polar bear like excited kids on the day of an amusement park visit.
Inviting others to touch the polar bear’s paw, quite a few magical girls from various nationalities united on that day.
As if by fate, they could meet the polar bear near the ice the icebreaker was cutting through…
“Uwooo!”
“Kyyaak!”
So, I could directly witness the polar bear’s front paw slap, which I had only heard about.
Why, in cartoons or movies, they show it flying with some psychic power, right?
I never knew it could actually happen; bears are indeed incredible.
If it hadn’t been for the transformation, I might have lost my head like a grape being plucked…
Fortunately, without any horrific bloodshed, a few magical girls charged in with great vigor to subdue the polar bear.
Like a picture of a polar bear forcibly laid down, bound at the neck and limbs with ropes.
A polar bear that has never lost in strength in its life but was experiencing a rare situation.
Struggling with overflowing power, it eventually seemed to give up after realizing it couldn’t win, and I could feel it sneaking out its strength.
That jelly from the polar bear, which I thought I would touch for the first and last time.
“It’s not very squishy.”
The texture felt more like the surface of a bumpy basketball than jelly.
Considering that what remains are just photos, I snapped a picture of the subdued polar bear.
The ambitious operation to touch the polar bear’s paw somehow came to an end, and it was lunchtime.
Lying in my room, sorting through the pictures to send to Shiyeon…
It was just becoming morning in Korea.
Ding, and a message arrived.
[Oh]
[I see.]
In the early morning, the sender of the message was none other than her.
Tap, tap, tap, my fingers moved quickly in response to the late reply from my friend and family.
Even with one eye tightly closed from sleep, tap, tap, I continued in the dim room.
Clack, my mascot lit up the dark room by putting its beak on the light switch.
“We need to turn on the light; it’ll ruin your eyes.”
“Thank you…”
I said thank you in the clumsy pronunciation of early morning while still keeping my slightly open eyes fixed on the screen.
Mary, who hadn’t been replying since I sent a message early yesterday morning.
Realizing the reason, I sent a response mixed with understanding.
The work was done, but when would they return?
To get the answer I didn’t hear yesterday, I sent the same message I had sent in the early morning of the day before.
[So, when will you be back?]
One second after sending the message, the numbers quickly disappeared.
I secretly hoped for a response like “sometime tomorrow or the day after?”
[No early return.]
[It seems we’ll return according to schedule.]
“Ah…”
With the response from Mary, a sigh involuntarily slipped from my lips.
I slapped the winter blanket that had been puffed up with my sullen legs.
I had already eaten the japchae and curry, and only a few sausages and quail eggs that I didn’t want to bother cooking were left.
What should I make for breakfast today?
“Is Mary coming back early?”
“She said she will return according to schedule…”
In response to Bae-mi’s question, I let out a puff of air that had been held in my cheeks, answering with a weak voice.
I was hungry, but I couldn’t think of what food to make for breakfast.
Should I fry some rice and sausages?
Or should I just draw until I get hungrier?
If these kinds of dilemmas keep going daily, the silence made the house feel too spacious.
A message notification broke the silence.
Did I still have a message to send? Not fully getting up from bed, I glanced at my smart phone.
[(I sent 9 photos.)]
[The polar bear’s paw was hard.]
In the pictures Mary sent, little girls were holding on to the polar bear, laughing as if they had discovered a fun toy.
Those people must be magical girls too, right?
The polar bear’s expression looked hilariously wronged.
Besides that, there were pictures of delicious-looking food and photos that seemed to be of the ship’s bridge.
Mary must have taken lots of pictures, matching her tendency to say that you only have photos left when you travel.
“Puhuh.”
I drafted a message saying I wanted to go too.
But I deleted the cluster of letters with the fingers repeatedly pressing the same spot.
If I had said that, Mary surely would have responded with “Let’s go together next time!”
So I just smiled, reminiscing over the polar bear pictures.
How did she capture those so exquisitely?
By the way, looking at the food photos Mary sent made me feel hungry.
Even though it’s morning, should I order something to eat…?
But I still couldn’t think of a “this is it!” kind of food, so I found myself in the same dilemma.
In the end, I left the decision to someone else.
“Bae-mi, is there anything you want to eat?”
“Me? Hmm…”
Nodding her head in the air, Bae-mi spun around in mid-air.
Perhaps her sudden question made her think too, as Bae-mi continued to whirl in a circle.
Doesn’t that make her dizzy?
“At this time, wouldn’t a lunch box be good?”
The groans of indecision kept coming from Bae-mi, then soon led to a conclusion.
Since it’s morning, not many delivery shops would be open, so how about a lunch box?
Right, it’s only 8 now, so chicken places are probably not open yet.
“Yeah, what should we eat…?”
After clicking on the lunch box shop divided by categories on the delivery app, a long list of delivery restaurants appeared.
It was a lunch box ideal for early breakfast, but many of them only opened at 8:30 or 9.
Even after deciding on the shops, the indecision continued.
Chicken mayo, kimchi stir-fried pork over rice, pork cutlet, shrimp tempura, tteokgalbi, beef bulgogi, spam, dak-galbi, curry pork cutlet.
Finally deciding on the lunch box shop, it was still a continuous series of choices.
Various types of lunch boxes with different styles.
Should I eat this or that? It was too hard to make a decision.
“What should I eat….”
After nearly 20 minutes of pondering, I decided to order curry pork cutlet and various side dishes that Bae-mi could eat.
That would settle breakfast.
With nothing to do until the food arrives, I sat in front of the computer and began to draw.
Since Mary was in the Arctic, I decided to draw a character who uses ice today.
Swish, the pen moved smoothly as the character took shape.
The academy teachers had told us to first draw a circle to create the character, then use guidelines to determine where to place the eyes and draw it out…
But it felt more like studying if I just followed the instructions, so I was drawing freely as I pleased.
After stubbornly sticking to the chair and drawing for 20 minutes.
Ding dong, hearing the doorbell, I stood up and headed to the front door.
“I’m here!”
Either way, Shiyeon was doing quite well even without Mary around.
