Chapter 1

Translator: Roshi

4 years old? 5 years old?

It was a very young child.

"Why are you giving me this?"

"Hanuri can't drink it..."

The child looked disappointed for a moment at his words.

"Hehe. Handsome ajosshi, you eat it!"

The child, who was smiling brightly again, didn’t even wait for his response and just turned around and ran off.

"......"

He stared at the leftover yogurt the child had left behind, watching the child’s retreating figure.

When was the last time someone approached him without fear?

Whether it was a child, an adult, or not even a person—everyone feared him.

And yet, a gift?

Even if it was just a single bottle of yogurt...

‘Kim Do-yoon.’

Coincidentally, he felt a strange expression on his face as he regained his original name and thought of what had just happened.

Taking his gaze off the yogurt, he slowly looked around.

He had already confirmed that this place was a hospital.

What he was trying to figure out was the time.

-Yesterday, there was an incident when a massive dungeon appeared in the middle of Yeouido during the 75th Liberation Day anniversary event.

Sssrrk.

His attention shifted toward the television as the sound caught his ear.

-According to the investigation by the Goblin Team of the Taegeuk Guild, who entered to rescue those caught in the Dungeon Storm, it was classified as an A-grade dungeon. This dungeon revealed dragon-type monsters previously only seen in five other countries...

Although the anchor kept talking, what mattered to him was the mention of the 75th Liberation Day anniversary that he’d heard earlier.

‘Yesterday?’

It had been a long time, but he remembered it well.

The day he had worked a part-time job for the 75th Liberation Day event in Yeouido.

He could never forget it because that was the day he had fell into another world, all alone.

And yet, the news said that day was just yesterday.

"Only one day has passed...?"

For all that time, only a single day had passed here.

He felt confused.

Whether he should be happy about this or not.

...He was momentarily stunned.

*

Lying there blankly and lost in thought, evening eventually came.

And dinner was served precisely on time.

Strangely enough, all the distracting thoughts in his mind disappeared the moment he saw the prepared meal.

‘There is no need to think so deeply.’

To think such simple thoughts would disappear at such a modest meal.

He decided to focus solely on the meal.

Dinner was black beans in soy sauce, braised soy sauce chicken, seasoned spinach, dried pollock soup, and rice with green peas.

There was no dessert this time, but he still had the yogurt the child had given him at lunch.

He set the yogurt aside and began his meal.

First, he took a spoonful of the steaming pollock soup.

Slurp!

Refreshing.

A taste that only Koreans would know, with no better way to describe it... that kind of soup.

The dried pollock was well-cooked, making it easy to chew with a savory taste, and the white tofu was mild yet nutty.

‘Good.’

Satisfied with the pollock soup, he was about to move his spoon toward the rice when

"Peas don't taste good..."

A small head suddenly popped up from below the bed, muttering.

‘Where does this kid keep popping up from?’

It was strange.

There shouldn’t be a child in this hospital room...

"Oh? Hanuri? You ran away again because you didn’t want to eat your pea rice?"

"Hehe."

"You can’t do that! Eating pea rice is important for growing strong."

"Nuh-uh. Hanuri can get strong just by eating sausages!"

The child spoke with familiarity to the patient next to him.

Showing off a little bicep as if to prove how strong she was, but it was all skin and bones, without even a hint of muscle or fat.

Though he hadn't noticed during lunch, now that he looked closely, the child's complexion wasn't very good, appearing far from healthy.

And there was a faint, tangled aura about her, coming from all over.

He looked at the child for a moment before silently resuming his meal.

Right now, the food was more important to him than the child.

He took a big spoonful of the rice with green peas and filled his mouth.

The peas had a slightly grainy, rough texture that some people might dislike, but he didn’t mind it.

The mild flavor of the peas was rather enjoyable to him.

As he savored that taste, he picked up a piece of the braised chicken.

The soy sauce glaze was savory with a hint of sweetness...

‘Is this a drumstick?’

The tender yet chewy texture of the chopped chicken filled his mouth as he took a big bite…

“Ajusshi, is it delicious?”

When had the child climbed up onto the bed?

The kid was sitting across from him, staring at him with a curious expression that was almost overbearing.

He nodded.

The child seemed ready to keep asking questions, so he kept his response simple with a nod.

The mild, seasoned spinach, the classic sweet and salty black beans in soy sauce.

Clink.

Despite savoring each bite slowly, the meal ended quickly.

Setting down his spoon, he finished his meal with a final one-shot of the yogurt, just like last time.

The time spent focusing solely on the flavors, free of stray thoughts, had come to an end.

With the meal over, other things started coming into focus.

As soon as he was done eating, the child clumsily climbed down from the bed.

“Uu! Watching you eat made me hungry! Hanuri will go eat too!”

Once again, watching him eat had stirred up the child’s appetite.

He watched the child’s back for a moment, then lightly channeled his energy.

Swoosh…

The energy flowing from his body quickly seeped into the child.

It was to invigorate the child’s faint, weak aura.

Though he couldn’t fully untangle the twisted energy, this much was manageable.

And this much was just about worth a single bottle of yogurt.

Tap tap tap tap!

Whether it was worth it or not, the child's footsteps became a bit more lively before quickly disappearing.

But for some reason…

He felt a tiny pang of regret.

As small as the emptiness of the yogurt bottle.

*

Eating and sleeping, eating and sleeping.

A week passed like that in the hospital.

It seemed like he’d gotten pretty used to this world by now…

“Hm.”

He hesitated in front of his meal tray.

Had his tastes adapted too?

He was starting to get tired of hospital food.

‘Maybe it’s time to leave.’

They said he needed three months of recovery here, but if he put his mind to it, he could walk out of here right now.

He didn’t have anywhere to go, nor anything to do, so he’d stayed here, using it as a chance to adjust.

But now it felt like the time to leave had come.

With hospital food, he couldn’t fully clear his mind of stray thoughts.

“Ajusshi, aren’t you eating?”

Whether the child understood his thoughts or not, the kid tilted her head and looked up at him.

The child looked quite different than a week ago.

Her face had filled out, cheeks round and plump.

A healthy pink tint had returned to her complexion, making her look much more vibrant than before.

And the chubby, rice-cake-like cuteness was a bonus.

Every day, the child would bring snacks to him, one by one.

Each time he accepted the snack, he would channel some energy into the child, boosting her vitality.

Today, too, he planned to give the child a little more energy in exchange for the Choco Pie the child had brought.

Swoosh.

She subtly slid the Choco Pie over to his side.

Lately, he’d found himself enjoying these snacks more than the hospital food.

‘Have I been trained?’

For a moment, he felt like a puppy trained with treats, but then…

‘It’s an exchange.’

This was an unspoken trade.

He got snacks, and the child got health.

That’s how he saw it.

But…

Smack!

"You can't just eat snacks and not rice! Look at this! I've become super strong, right? Eat your rice first! I'm confiscating this until you eat!"

“……”

Apparently, the child saw it differently.

Where did she even learn the word “confiscate”?

“Oh my, our Hanuri is quite the little caretaker.”

“Hahaha! Hanuri’s really giving the young uncle a hard time.”

“Lately, you haven’t been eating well, have you? Hanuri, keep it up! If he keeps being so weak, how’s he going to recover? Scold him more, Hanuri.”

The other patients in the shared room laughed, commenting on the child’s behavior.

Everyone in the room had come to know Hanuri, who visited often, and the child had quickly become well-loved.

“Hehe.”

Well, of course.

A cute kid smiling and chatting like this—who wouldn’t find it endearing?

Especially in a hospital room where there wasn’t much to do.

“Getting sick of the food already, huh?”

“Hahaha! I thought you liked it since you’ve been eating so well.”

“Hey, why don’t you sneak out and get some tteokbokki from the shop in front of the hospital? There’s no way you wouldn’t get tired of eating the same hospital meals every day.”

Because the shared room was filled with elderly long-term patients, any topic thrown into the air quickly turned into a lively chatter.

He picked up his spoon, ignoring the noise around him.

And he began his plain meal.

But as he ate, he found his gaze drifting more and more toward the Choco Pie.

"No!"

The child glared at him with a fierce expression, like a little tiger.

Even the Demon Lords of the underworld would tremble if they locked eyes with him, yet…

"I finished it all."

"Hehe. Here you go!"

When he finally showed the empty meal tray after finishing his hospital food, the child beamed and handed him the Choco Pie.

The child’s chubby cheeks, which had filled out a little, made her smile even cuter.

Having finally received the Choco Pie, he carefully moved his energy and sent it over to the child.

‘If I stay any longer, I might start to get attached.’

As he transferred his energy to the child, he made up his mind.

He would give this last bit and then leave the hospital.

It wasn’t as if he’d stayed in the hospital because of the child, but the timing felt fitting.

It was time to leave this place.

And he suddenly thought of something he wanted to do once he was out.

More precisely, something he wanted to eat.

‘Tteokbokki.’

He’d heard the patients in the room mention it earlier.

The quintessential Korean snack—tteokbokki.

Chewy rice cakes drenched in a spicy and sweet red sauce.

Fish cakes soaked in seasoning.

Various fried treats dipped in the sauce, and hard-boiled eggs mashed and mixed into the dish to be scooped up with a spoon—the ultimate comfort food.

‘Gochujang sauce? Or a spicy, clean gochugaru sauce?’

His personal preference was for the rich, thick gochujang sauce.

But a lighter, spicier gochugaru sauce would be fine too.

‘Anything bold and flavorful is good.’

As he recalled the tteokbokki from his old memories, he finished sending energy to the child.

This should be enough to cover the last snack’s worth.

Although he hadn’t untangled the twisted energy entirely, extending the child’s short lifespan was beyond his control.

Still, the kid could live a healthier life, and that was something.

“Aaah… sleepy…”

As the transfer finished, the once bright-eyed child yawned.

The circulation of energy was causing her body to adapt.

Gently… gently…

True to a child’s nature, she couldn’t resist sleepiness and soon fell asleep.

The problem was, she’d chosen to fall asleep on his lap.

‘This is… awkward.’

He could simply move the child’s head, but somehow, he didn’t feel like doing so.

Maybe it was because of the warmth, something he hadn’t felt in so long, coming through the child’s head.

‘I’ll stay just until she wakes up.’

Anyway, the child would wake up soon, so he could give it a bit more time.

In the meantime, he decided to reorganize his body to better adapt to this world.

“Oh my, Hanuri’s fallen asleep?”

“It’s fascinating. She seems to be especially fond of that young man.”

“Poor thing, she must be craving affection.”

“Well, her parents were young too, weren’t they?”

“Very young. Just kids themselves when they had her . If they’d lived, they’d probably be around that young man’s age by now. Maybe that’s why.”

“Shh, shh! Keep it down! The kid might hear.”

The room’s chatter picked up again, but he ignored it.

The child would no longer be his concern.

He turned his focus away, trying to concentrate again, when suddenly,

“Hehehe… hamburger… slurp… hee…”

The child muttered in her sleep.

He looked down without a word.

The innocent, angelic face of a child who seemed to know nothing.

Parting ways with the child… it felt harder than he’d expected.

When did the small pang of regret, which he thought was as insignificant as that one bottle of yogurt, grow this much?

“When Hanuri gets better… let’s go eat kimbap and play together… Ajusshi… hehe. That’ll be fun… Ajusshi, I like you…”

Hearing the child’s sleepy mumbling, he realized his mistake.

The child hadn’t just been giving him snacks.

With each snack, the child had been giving him a piece of her heart.

And he had been accepting that heart along with the snacks, without even realizing it.

‘…I guess I should pay my dues, shouldn’t I?’

It felt a bit like an excuse, but it seemed like he needed to recalculate this trade.