The negotiation was one-sided, benefiting only one side, but nonetheless, it was a mutually satisfactory conversation.
Opening the calculator on the smart phone, I divided 1320 by 365, even if it wasn’t accurate, it came to about 3 years and 7 months.
If I consider that time has passed, it means the monster would reappear when we are in the upper grades, around 5th grade.
“Anyway, it’s a good thing.”
As a result, the work has decreased, while the money received remains the same.
Being able to have meaningful conversations with monsters feels more communicative than with humans at times.
Since that day, there have been reports of the monster’s appearances being abruptly cut off, contrasting with humans, who only seem to talk about lies and deception.
After several days without a monster appearing, the media, like ghosts, began to spew articles filled with delusions.
[No monster appearances for several days, will ‘the nightmare of Sun and Mun’ be replicated….]
[Concerns from citizens as the current situation overlaps with mass monster appearances from months ago.]
[Criticism rises against Assemblyman Kim for saying, ‘Magical girls should directly call and talk…’]
[Assemblyman Seo, ‘Monsters can be handled by current and reserve soldiers.’ Assemblyman Heo openly criticizes, ‘You sure talk a lot for a level 5….’]
“Go ahead and talk all you want.”
From the perspective of those who know the reason for the monster’s absence, it’s all just amusing.
However, the real problem arose days later.
It started with a post on the internet.
Somehow, a photo surfaced showing a monster holding a metallic sign that awkwardly read, “I want to talk.”
It’s not really a big deal if monster photos are circulating on the internet.
There aren’t many people around, and everyone must have fled; at most, you’d only see them damaging roads or buildings or confronting magical girls.
For the general public, the perception of monsters is that they are simply barbaric beasts that appear out of nowhere.
Therefore, the very fact that a monster is trying to understand human language and engage in conversation was a huge shock to people.
The media’s interest seemed to die down for a moment, only to suddenly ignite again with that photo.
[Is it true that the monster understands human language? Monster expert Professor Kim says, “This is impossible.”]
[Sun & Mun, did they really talk to the monster?]
[The disappearance of the monster in Incheon, is it related to that monster?]
[Possibility of being a composite image: is contact between monsters and humans…possible?]
[Assemblyman Hwang insists, “We must investigate the relationship between the octopus monster and magical girls.”]
[The battle between the monster and the magical girl, could it be a staged play?]
Filtering through all sorts of news and media craziness, this time various communities were also in an uproar.
Every type of cafe, including galleries, was bustling; it seemed the messenger apps were noisy as well.
And the community that became particularly active was the monster gallery.
If ordinary people’s reaction to “The monster is talking?” was one of surprise, this crowd mostly responded with, “I knew it!”
[Did you really think they wouldn’t be intelligent while planning a planet invasion? Seriously?]
[So those fools who claimed, “Monsters are barbaric,” are getting what they deserve, haha.]
[Still claiming it’s ‘impossible?’ Seriously, I feel like stabbing someone.]
[By the way, if the great monsters fought, who would win?]
[We weren’t wrong. The wrong one is this ‘world’….]
[Now, who’s the real barbaric one?]
It was truly a community situation like the middle of a war.
Feeling like my sanity might erode if I stayed longer, I pressed the home button and fled to the main screen.
“Give me that, please.”
As I pressed the side button to turn the screen black, Gomtaengi crawled over from the corner of the bed on all fours, as if it had been waiting.
I knew it had nothing to do, but I was astonished at its audacity in demanding my smartphone.
That said, I wasn’t going to withhold it from him, so I tossed out a couple of sharp remarks.
“This thing is seriously addictive.”
“Hey, what do you gain from it….”
Hearing the typical lines of addiction, I started to get off the bed on the second floor.
No matter how noisy the world outside is, I was still hungry.
Today, the usual delivery food just didn’t satisfy me.
What I unexpectedly recalled was the instant spaghetti we ate at the villa in Sokcho.
If I ordered pasta through delivery, it would cost around 20,000 won for a quantity similar to a cup ramen.
Even though Shiyeon and I often relied on deliveries for meals, we didn’t want to waste money unnecessarily.
Why order something when I could fill a frying pan with noodles and sauce for 10,000 won?
This was something I absolutely couldn’t hold back from doing.
Deep in my heart, my frugal instincts were still working.
After gathering my clothes in a hurry, I said, “I’m going out!”
I mentioned beforehand that I was leaving to Shiyeon, who might be hard to find.
Instead of a simple acknowledgment, I heard her voice from the bed.
“Where are you going?”
“To the mart, want to come?”
After providing the location, I subtly suggested she join me.
“Yeah!”
“Then get dressed.”
Eagerly responding as if she had something planned, Shiyeon sat up from the bed immediately.
As I urged her to grab her summer clothes from the drawer and tossed them on the floor, she promptly started picking them up to wear.
Seeing her so eager to go out made me suspect she was after some snacks.
Thanks to monsters who are more human than humans, I headed to the mart, leaving the mascots casually at home.
As I passed the convenience store and entered the mart I usually visited, the cool air inside helped to cool the sweat I had built up outside.
“Only get what you can carry, okay?”
“Okay!”
With Shiyeon dashing off into the mart, I carried a plastic shopping basket provided by the store to the noodle section.
Passing by somen, ramen, and dangmyeon, I found the long, bright yellow pasta.
500 grams of noodles was barely enough for the two of us to have three meals.
Still, there weren’t any smaller packages than this for sale at the local mart, so I begrudgingly put it in my basket.
Now, it was time to choose a sauce.
Bacon bolognese, meat tomato, rose….
To keep it simple, I went with the cheapest option from the red tomato sauce category.
‘Bacon, bacon….’
I couldn’t just eat noodles and sauce, so I started thinking about additional ingredients.
Choosing a slightly thicker front leg bacon over the pricier belly, I casually tossed it into my basket since it didn’t matter as long as it was meat.
With just a rough idea of what I wanted in the basket, I made my way toward the checkout.
“Hmm?”
Just as I said, Shiyeon had brought just ‘as much as she could carry’ with her.
Despite holding bags of snacks in both hands, she had even stacked some in between, like a tower.
Shiyeon was getting cleverer by the day.
It seems like there are downsides to getting smarter.
Returning to the house carefree after an untroubled trip to the mart felt like a luxury.
Only someone who had experienced the calm brought by knowing that monsters would not appear for a while could understand this.
As soon as I got home, I pulled the noodles, sauce, and bacon out of the bags and was about to head to the kitchen when…
“Mary?”
Gomtaengi, clinging tightly to my smart phone, floated over lazily.
Considering that it must have been something else that it wanted, I didn’t even look at it and responded briefly.
“Why?”
“I kept getting calls from a restricted number since a while ago…”
“That seems to be from the minister; what’s up?”
Receiving the smart phone from the now near Gomtaengi, I noticed there had been 7 missed calls.
It seemed to ignore the notion that I couldn’t answer, for the moment I got the phone back, another call came in from a restricted number.
I casually answered, pushing the green button and delivering the customary greeting.
“Hello.”
“Sun, why haven’t you been answering the phone!”
The voice I heard from the smart phone was that very person, no need for any explanation.
Contrasting my calm demeanor, there was a hint of urgency in the voice.
Wondering why there was an urgent reason for the call, I returned with a brief question.
“What’s wrong?”
“What do you mean what’s wrong! Didn’t you have any monsters appear since that octopus monster? There’s chaos everywhere because of that!”
What I thought was merely a fortuitous event had turned into a sudden whirlwind over in their neighborhood.
It would be fine to just accept it like when they come up with thoughtless policies; why do they have to be unnecessarily strict in this situation?
“Well, isn’t it good if nothing appears?”
“Easy for you to say…! Don’t you know anything?”
“They said they won’t come this way for about 3 and a half years?”
I simply told the truth, which resulted in a brief silence on the other end.
The sound of the minister’s astonishment echoed faintly.
“…Wait, did you really just say that?”
“Yes, and?”
Giving a matter-of-fact response, I could hear a short sigh followed by the minister’s voice drifting away.
“Ah, I’m going crazy… alright, let’s hang up for now.”
“Ah, wait a moment.”
“Why?”
Thinking that I should mention at least one inconvenience in our lives, I decided to bring up something about our 14 and under policy that had been bothering me.
It had been difficult to wait until I turned a certain age while dealing with all these inconveniences, so I figured it was time to mention it.
“Don’t we have legal guardians or anything? It drives me crazy when I hit age restrictions every time.”
“Eh? Oh, didn’t you hear?”
“Yes?”
Bizarrely, my question was met with a return question.
It was awkwardly evident that we both felt like there was a question mark hovering in the air.
In this strange situation of questioning each other about what the issue was, the tone of the minister on the other side gradually softened.
“Uh… just a moment.”
The minister, sensing something was off, said to hold on a second with a slightly hesitant voice.
Focusing on the sounds of conversation echoing from the smart phone, I strained to listen.
“Hey, didn’t you assign legal guardians to Sun and Mun?”
“That’s right, the minister said it was unnecessary since one of them was too capable…”
“No, that was a joke! Ugh, I’m going crazy! Send me a message quickly!”
“…….”
It seemed to me that the misunderstanding stemmed from treating a joke seriously; apparently, it was a simple oversight.
Only in this absurd country.
