A short moment of understanding.
Clearly, monsters are entities that ultimately should disappear from Earth.
But what if, overnight, all monsters never appeared on Earth again?
Then what happens to those of us who are in related professions?
We all become unemployed overnight.
Jobs will collapse, bank accounts will crumble…
It’s as if monsters and magical girls are like fire and firefighters.
It’s naturally best if there are no fire incidents, but that doesn’t mean we can completely eliminate everything that can potentially catch fire, like burning grass or trees, from the Earth.
Even if some measures are taken, it shouldn’t be a decision made impulsively and alone.
Despite being a country plagued by safety complacency like Korea, thanks to the magical girls’ unique diligence, there have been zero civilian casualties for nearly a decade.
So, I think it might actually be okay to leave things as they are.
Maintaining the status quo.
In a way, it may sound irresponsible, but I couldn’t easily choose to change things either.
The emergence of monsters is a significant societal phenomenon that could have a massive impact.
Given the many people involved, we needed to approach any unilateral decision with a different mindset from prior matters.
No matter how much our side gets swept up in emotions and creates controversies, those are, after all, related to personal criticisms and blame directed at me.
However, the issues tied to this situation are on an entirely different scale.
They can have an impact that extends beyond individuals to the world, so naturally, I had to think deeply.
“So, for now, I’m thinking of putting it on hold.”
“I see.”
Without specifically elaborating on all those aspects, Gomtaengi seemed to understand the gist of it with a light explanation of ‘losing our livelihood.’
Having talked enough about monsters, it was time to delve into the serious consideration of what to make for dinner tonight.
In the refrigerator, right at eye level, were the steamed buns.
Sweet potato, red bean, vegetable, pizza, cream cheese…
Every year, countless new products come out, making it difficult to count all the types of steamed buns.
When winter makes one crave warm snacks, taking one out to eat has always been a good idea.
But right now, I needed to think about dinner, not a snack.
I turned my gaze away from the mountain of steamed buns to the small plastic rice bowl sitting by itself.
Exactly two bowls worth—plenty for dinner tonight.
The problem was the side dishes.
There were a few leftover quail eggs, but the table seemed a bit bland.
A few leftover sausages from the budae jjigae.
Eggs that wouldn’t run out anytime soon in the refrigerator.
First, I needed to remove anything that seemed usable and see what I could do with it.
Sausages, seasoned dried squid with gochujang, and quail egg jangjorim?
It wasn’t bad, but there felt like something was missing.
It felt like a rushed breakfast prepared by a busy mom, lacking effort.
If I added a frozen food item, it might make a perfect dinner, but these days, I’ve been trying to reduce my reliance on frozen foods.
‘What else is there…?’
Eventually, I passed by the freezer and opened the creaking storage cabinet under the induction cooktop.
It was a homemaker’s space for items like cooking oil, canned tuna, canned ham, spaghetti sauce, and temperature-stable products like salt, sugar, syrup, and vinegar.
There was a can of corn I couldn’t even remember buying and half-eaten macaroni sealed tightly with a clip.
‘Macaroni… corn can…’
I pulled out the random ingredients without knowing what I was going to make.
With my arms crossed, I silently stared at the ingredients for 15 seconds.
In my head, a fierce discussion was happening about how to cook these ingredients.
First, I would need to boil the macaroni if I was going to use it somehow.
Starting with filling a pot with water for dinner prep.
‘Cut the sausage into small pieces like when making fried rice…’
Thud, thud, the sound of the knife scraping the wooden cutting board reverberated in the kitchen.
The sound of the corn can opening with a pop also grated on my ears.
Naturally, the cooking direction was set toward making macaroni salad.
As I pulled out the drawer where the dishes were, rattling them noisily, I took out a strainer and casually placed it over a suitably deep bowl.
Using my waist to close the drawer as my hands were busy.
I flipped the can of corn upside down over the strainer, letting the liquid drain out for a moment.
Once the water in the slightly wider pot than a ramen pot began to boil, I grabbed two handfuls from the macaroni bag overflowing in one hand.
I took the dried macaroni and dropped it straight into the boiling water.
After that, it was a battle with patience.
Using a small strainer, I kept stirring the macaroni to ensure it didn’t stick to the bottom or clump together.
The macaroni, which had been as small as a bean before entering the water, swelled to four or five times its size as it absorbed the water while boiling.
That’s why I intentionally added a lot of water.
Even if it’s a small amount, as it cooks, it absorbs a lot of water until it reveals the bottom of the pot.
When I sensed enough time had elapsed for the macaroni to be cooked.
I lightly fished out a single macaroni from the strainer and rinsed it under cold water at the sink before tasting it.
The slippery macaroni rolled around in my mouth, breaking apart as it stuck to my teeth.
It didn’t taste undercooked; this was sufficient.
“Hehe-♪”
With an inexplicable hum, I emptied all the macaroni into the strainer and headed to the adjacent sink.
I cooled the macaroni with tap water so it wouldn’t feel hot and returned to the induction area to retrieve a large glass container.
I decided to leave the water in the pot that had turned cloudy while boiling the macaroni to cool down before disposing of it, and first added the sausages I’d chopped and the drained corn.
I poured both of them into the large glass container without leaving any behind, completing the preparation for the salad.
A bit of fine salt on top, and a generous amount of sugar in a way that made me wonder if it was too much.
Next, I squeezed the mayonnaise in a way that seemed like it would congeal and nearly finished the salad, around 80 percent complete.
The remaining 20 percent would be finished as soon as the water drained from the macaroni and I mixed everything together.
“Ugh, one side dish done!”
In a situation where there was only Gomtaengi to listen, this line carried a sense of accomplishment as I stretched my arms, feeling unexpectedly refreshed.
How impressive could a side dish be, with a whole pile of dishes still waiting to be washed?
It was indeed looking quite daunting.
Starting with the pot, two strainers, the bowl I had perched the corn in because there was nowhere else to drain it.
Plus the container that held the sausages, the knife, and the cutting board I pulled out to slice the sausages.
This is why cooking that only uses one pan is convenient.
“What did you make?”
“Macaroni salad, just need to mix it later.”
I answered Gomtaengi nonchalantly and quickly grabbed a dish scrubber to start washing the dishes with a clatter.
If I put it off for later, I felt I wouldn’t do it, so I decided to quickly finish it while I still had the will to scrub.
As I finished washing and wiped my hands on the towel hanging nearby, I heard the faint beep of the front door’s password entry.
“Huh? Oh, it’s already time…”
In the meantime, the outside sky had gradually darkened.
It could be because it’s winter and the sun sets early, but it felt like time passed quickly as long as there was no school.
After coming home from school, catching a monster, and finishing household chores, it was already night.
Rather than immediately going to the front door, I quickly finished packing the cooled macaroni into the glass container for Shiyeon, stirring the contents of the container with a shallow ladle.
The sound of clinking grains mixed with sugar and a sticky liquid, and the clanging of the metal ladle against the glass surface.
Once the pink pieces of sausage, yellow corn, white boiled macaroni, and mayonnaise were sufficiently mixed, it was complete.
I took the eggs out of the fridge and placed them on a rubber pot holder with shallow grooves to keep them from slipping off the sink.
“What delicious food are you making?”
“You’re back? I made macaroni salad, heat up the rice and get ready to eat. I’m also going to make egg rice.”
“Okay-!”
I placed a small frying pan on the induction with residual heat and cracked in the eggs.
The main dish for the rice was guaranteed to be delicious given it would be soy sauce egg rice, while the side dishes included seaweed and kimchi, quail egg jangjorim, sweet and salty macaroni salad, and seasoned dried squid with gochujang.
It was undoubtedly going to be a delicious meal, but while my mouth was busy, I thought I might soon need to consider fish or soup as well.
“Thanks for the meal-”
“Yep, it was good-”
Hours passed faster than expected, and Shiyeon got up from her seat before me.
The dishes filled with water from the plastic container sunk and bubbled down.
How long had it been since I washed the dishes? Each bowl and dish filled the sink again.
However, there were no remaining side dishes, so I only needed to wipe down the rice bowl and spoon.
The small pile of dishes wouldn’t take two minutes, and as my bare hands got wet and I was washing them…
“Mary, Mary! Come here!”
“Yes?”
Shiyeon’s sudden call.
I wondered what interesting news was on the TV that had her attention so fixed, so I quickly walked over, still holding the soapy rice bowl.
What Shiyeon was watching was a news channel.
The screen was filled with buildings ablaze and those that had crumbled down to ashes.
[Chuncheon, gas explosion due to battle between magical girl and monster. Estimated damage at about 35 billion won…]
“Oh my, what is happening?”
Fortunately, there were zero casualties, but many houses were burned and destroyed in the incident.
The magical girls were forced to watch a government video for three hours as a preventive measure, urging them to be careful with the message, “Stay alert and fight!”
Hmm, there hasn’t been any progress from the school violence ‘Stop!’ campaign.
