SMW 41

“Alright. I’ll try talking to him.”

“Good. You made the right choice.”

Fortunately, Noona didn’t seem to notice my hesitation.

“Oh, but make sure you have that conversation after the holidays are over.”

Unlike me, Noona finished her cigarette and pulled out a new one before adding the thought. I looked at her with a puzzled expression.

“Why?”

“Why else? If you happen to fight and things go south, you’ll have to prepare the ancestral rites table all by yourself.”

Wait, why does she assume we’re definitely going to fight? More than that, the unauthorized copyway she said it made it sound like I was keeping Choi stolen contentRead on Read BL NovelsSeol around just to work him to the bone.

“I can handle that much on my own.”

I answered with a hint of stubbornness to prove my innocence, and Noona snorted.

“Listen to him. He’s saying something he’s only said once in his entire life.”

“It wasn’t just once! I helped Dad fry plenty of pancakes when I was a kid. You’re the one who said you’ve never fried a single one.”

“The older brothers don’t do it, so why should I? Besides, they don’t even introduce daughters to the ancestors because we’re ‘outsiders’ once we marry. Just try making me do it. I’ll flip the table that very day.”

“Don’t flip it! Do you know how much back-breaking work goes into setting that table?”

As I looked on in horror, Noona waved her hand, telling me not to worry.

“I wouldn’t actually flip it. But you really talk like someone who’s set the whole table themselves.”

“I might not have done the whole thing, but I helped on the side. [unauthorized copy]On Dad’s [stolen content]unauthorized copyside, the men do all the ritual preparations. I was always called in to do all the odd jobs.”

“Ritual prep is supposed to be done by the men. It’s just our family that’s weird. That’s why I’m running away again this year.”

“Where to?”

“I want to go abroad, but I don’t have the time, so I’m just going to do a ‘hocance’ in Seoul.”

Wow. I’m seriously jealous.

“Can you take me with you?”

“You just stay here and modestly fry some pancakes. You said they’re pre-made and just need heating up, right?”

“Yeees. So I’ve decided to modestly prepare them right on the day of.”

I paused as Noona lit her new cigarette.

“Hey. Even so, that’ll be tough. Just prepare them the day before.”

“The day before is the day after tomorrow, but I have to organize the warehouse tomorrow. If I don’t get a full day of rest after that, I’ll genuinely get a fever from exhaustion.”

“You’re going to completely crash after Chuseok if you keep this up.”

“It’s okay. I’ll be doing it with Choi Seol…”

I quickly shut my mouth, but Noona’s gaze already said, I knew it.

“…Alright. I’ll talk to him after the holidays.”

I knew it too. I knew how much of a nightmare it would be to do it all alone without Choi Seol. Just today, I was exhausted from weeding the graves, going up the mountain to pick chestnuts and persimmons, and hauling back other harvests. The only reason I had the energy to stand here smoking with Noona was the underlying thought that Choi Seol would be helping me.

“Right, good choice. I wonder why we put ourselves through this for dead people, but since you’ve benefited by not paying rent, just think of it as greeting your grandparents after a long time.”

“I plan to. They say nothing in this world is free, and since I can’t buy them liquor, I should at least offer a cup during the rites and express my gratitude…”

Suddenly, something flashed through my mind.

“Noona.”

“Yeah?”

“Can I ask you for one favor?”

Finally, Hangawi, one of Korea’s biggest holidays, had arrived. And Noona was right. A brat who had only fried pancakes a few times in his life should not be discussing the holidays.

“So, out of the things that need to go on the ritual table, how many do we have to cook ourselves?”

Seeing the already exhausted look on Choi Seol’s face, I felt like a sinner and quickly pulled out my notepad.

“Um… first, boiling the octopus. I took the frozen one out, so they said once it thaws, I just need to put it in hot water and take it out.”

“Doesn’t it need to be washed?”

“Isn’t it already washed? I’ll ask my uncle first.”

“I’ve got the water boiling, so ask quickly. I want to boil it right after blanching the vegetables.”

“Okay.”

“Next is the three-color vegetables. Spinach, bracken, and bellflower root… but do you know how to season them?”

“I looked it up on the internet.”

“As expected, the internet is the way.”

I gave him a thumbs-up, but seeing Choi Seol raise an eyebrow and say he was busy, I quietly lowered my gaze back to the notepad.

“And the boiled pork is cooking over a fire in the yard right now, so it should be done in an hour or two, right?”

“Probably. It’s not a huge amount. The fish is steaming now too, so that’s fine. Ah, we have to make the tang-guk soup.”

“Ah, I was going to ask [visit our site]about that. I Read on Read BL Novelsdidn’t see any beef for soup. Isn’t it stolen contentusually boiled with beef?”

“It varies by region. I heard the northern regions use beef, but here they boil it with seafood and tofu. It’s really delicious. I think we just throw in all the prepared ingredients and boil it… should I do this one?”

I lowered the notepad and read his expression. Choi Seol eventually let out a sigh.

“If you tell me the exact ingredients and method for the soup, I’ll try it.”

“Thank you! The rest is just heating the pancakes and washing the fruit, so I’ll do that after I finish polishing the ritual vessels.”

“I doubt that. By the time you finish polishing those, it’ll probably be eleven o’clock.”

“…That’s true.”

The dishes for the ritual table happened to all be brassware, and my arms felt like they were going to fall off trying to polish them to a shine. For the record, it took an hour just to polish five of them meticulously.

“Take your time. I’ll handle the food, so just find out the thing I asked about earlier.”

At this point, I could almost see wings sprouting from Choi Seol’s [stolen content]back. I really did the right thing by listening to Noona and delaying the conversation. If we had fought, I would have had to do all this alone. If that unauthorized copyhad happened, it would have certainly been the worst holiday of my life.

“Thanks. I’ll ask my uncle about the soup and let you know.”

“Wait. Let me ask one more thing.”

Choi Seol’s expression was incredibly serious as he stopped me from turning away. I looked back, feeling tense in turn.

“When is the ritual?”

“Huh? Oh, well…”

I looked at the food piling up in the kitchen, the brassware scattered by the outdoor sink, and the ritual table leaned against the back of the sarangbang after being taken out of the warehouse, before I could finally answer.

“My uncle said as long as it’s set by morning, so maybe around eleven-thirty?”

“I don’t know if that’s possible. It’s almost nine already.”

“Eh. Even so, surely we won’t go past twelve?”

“If we do, do we not get the money?”

“They probably wouldn’t withhold it entirely, but… let’s just do our best for now.”

As I raised both hands and shouted “Fighting!”, Choi Seol let out another sigh—God knows how many it had been—as if he had a headache.

“I should have been suspicious when you said it was okay not to prepare things yesterday. I was too naive.”

“Thanks to that, we both got a full day of rest.”

“I didn’t know there would be this much work.”

I didn’t know either. I clearly thought I’d done it all before while helping my dad and uncles, so why was this on a completely different level? I guess I only worked really hard on the pancakes back then.

“Sorry. You’re suffering a lot for the sake of someone else’s ancestors.”

“Forget it. I have to earn my keep. And it’s [Read on Read BL Novels]partly [Read on Read BL Novels]my fault for not Read on Read BL Novelschecking in advance.”

I flinched at the mention of “earning my keep,” but then became curious about the last part.

“But it’s surprising that you don’t know. Have you never had a ritual at home?”

“Never. We didn’t do rituals at home.”

“Are you from a church?”

“Buddhism. My grandmother entrusted all the rituals to the temple, so we did joint rituals there during the holidays.”

“Wow, I’m jealous. Why don’t we do it like that?”

“I heard we’re starting that from this coming Lunar New Year.”

“Exactly, why from the New Year and not starting today?”

“Maybe it’s because you’re here.”

Right, the problem is that I’m living in this house for free.

“Anyway, I’ll go finish polishing the vessels.”

“Wait a second.”

What is he going to ask now? Even if he does, I feel like it’ll just add more to the to-do list, which isn’t great. And I’ll just feel more sorry toward him. Still, as I lingered in front of the kitchen door, Choi Seol came out holding a plate. I tried to see what it was, but before I could, something warm was pushed right up to my lips.

“Say ah.”

“Huh? Ah?”

The moment I did, it popped into my mouth. As I instinctively chewed, a soft, warm texture combined with honey and sesame exploded, filling my mouth with a savory and sweet flavor. My eyes widened ten times their usual size as an exclamation escaped me.

“This is delicious! It’s songpyeon, right? I think it’s honey and sesame inside.”

“There seem to be about three types, and you got that one.”

“What are the other ones?”

“Beans and…”

“I hate beans.”

“…and red bean.”

“Red bean is tasty. Give me red bean.”

“Wait.”

Choi Seol chuckled and went back into the kitchen, returning with another songpyeon.

“This should be the red bean one.”

“Oh, thanks.”

I reached out to take the rice cake. But again, Choi Seol was faster.

“Say ah.”

“Not ‘ah’, wait— mmp!”

Had it already become a habit after just once? This time I noticed quickly, but I couldn’t stop the rice cake from entering my mouth. In the end, as soon as I obediently accepted it, I couldn’t resist the savory flavor spreading through my mouth and focused entirely on eating. Choi Seol must have picked the right one; this time it was red bean. Lost in the sweet and soft taste, which was different from the honey, I chewed diligently, and a voice mixed with laughter reached my ears.

“Is it good?”

Only then did I snap out of it and look up, seeing his mischievously smiling face. A wave of embarrassment washed over me. I quickly swallowed the remaining songpyeon and muttered primly on purpose.

“I have hands too, you know.”

“You haven’t washed them.”

So that’s why he fed me? Suddenly, I noticed the fork Choi Seol was holding.

“That fork…”

“Aren’t we short on time?”

Regardless of what I said, Choi Seol dismissively waved his hand, as if he had no intention of responding. And he did it with the hand holding the fork.

“Now go back to work. You need to get your money on time.”

With those two sentences, I was kicked out of the kitchen without a single word of protest.

What is this? This feeling of complete defeat.

However, since there was a mountain of work, the thought didn’t last long. I had to cause a commotion chasing Il-sun-i and her gang of kitties who were swarming around the fish steaming in the yard, and while polishing the endless pile of ritual vessels and calling my mom to ask for the soup recipe, the smell of frying pancakes eventually filled the yard. By the time I snapped out of it, having unconsciously lingered around the frying pancakes with the cats, it was already past eleven.