Episode 27
27.
Sihu ran through the alley, taking the stairs two at a time, heading toward where the delivery driver was waiting.
Huff, huff—
Sihu quickly ran up to the parking lot next to the hiking trail entrance where the delivery driver was waiting.
A truck with “Sacheon-ri Bicycles” written on it came into Sihu’s sight.
As Sihu approached the truck, the driver who saw him got out of the cab.
Sihu caught his breath and apologized.
“Hoo— Hoo—. Sorry to keep you waiting.”
Seeing Sihu trying to catch his breath, the driver’s urge to say something completely vanished.
The young man’s hair was soaked with sweat from running.
Moreover, his clothes were sticking to his body.
The driver unloaded the bicycle from the back of the truck and explained how to fold and unfold it, among other things.
“On an electric bicycle, if you grab the brakes suddenly, the back can lift up, so be careful.”
Sihu responded to the delivery driver’s explanation, then took the handlebars of the bicycle being handed to him.
“Thank you for the delivery, sir.”
At Sihu’s respectful demeanor, the driver chuckled and climbed back into the truck.
“Then enjoy your ride, student.”
Vroom—
The delivery driver waved his hand out the window and disappeared from sight.
Sihu sat on the electric bicycle’s seat for a moment.
It was to adjust it to his height.
After switching it to manual mode, Sihu lightly pressed the pedal.
The bicycle rolled forward smoothly.
Sihu rode the bicycle in a circle around the parking lot at the hiking trail entrance.
A gentle breeze caressed Sihu’s hair.
**
The animal hospital where Sihu had left the garden creature was not a 24-hour facility.
The animal hospital where the garden creature was.
A small sound was heard from the ward there.
Krrr—
The animal in the ward opened its eyes, letting out a small groan.
Kkang—?
The animal looked around as if asking where this was.
Then it looked down at the IV line attached to its arm.
A feeling of something flowing in.
And the pain had lessened considerably compared to before.
Krr—
The animal thought it strange that the pain had decreased.
It was certain that the human had taken some measures.
The other animals around it seemed frightened.
The cats and dogs in the ward were extremely wary of the animal making sounds.
Grrrr—
Woof, nyaaa—
The animal in the ward snorted upon hearing the tense, wary sounds of the dogs and cats.
Pfft—
At that, all the other animals hospitalized there fell silent.
The animal thought of the human who had saved it.
‘&*()&^&*(’
Pwaah—
Then, soon looking sleepy, it curled up into a ball and went to sleep.
***
Sihu woke up early in the morning and went down to the vegetable garden.
It was to harvest ingredients.
Chirrr—
The type of bird that had attacked Yaongi(?) a short while ago was flying in the sky.
‘Was it a Griffin or a Griffon?’
Sihu had asked Hayun, who wrote web novels.
After describing its appearance, the answer that came back was that although it was a mythical creature, it was often depicted as a spirit beast, a demonic beast, or a mount.
‘Well, when I saw it up close, it was pretty huge, so it seemed like you could ride it around.’
That bird circled above the garden for a long time, then flew off toward the mountain range.
Snip— Snip—
Sihu diligently plucked ingredients, put them in the basket, plucked more, and put them in again.
How much time had passed?
Sihu moved the harvested vegetables into a sack and headed toward where the fruit trees were.
Squeak—
Sihu turned his head toward the sound.
Thinking it was an animal that lived there, Sihu quickly finished harvesting the ingredients and returned inside through the basement.
The electric bicycle sat beside the door leading to the garden.
Sihu thought he should come back home in the evening and properly patrol the garden.
Thud—
The sack contained quite a lot of ingredients.
Even after harvesting like this, when he went down the next day, the plants would be growing perfectly fine.
At first, Sihu had thought it was magic.
Now he had learned that time flowed quickly on the garden’s side.
“?!”
The moment he realized the flow of time, Sihu thought of “Yaongi,” whom he had taken from the garden and hospitalized.
“Ah, then… just how much time has passed in that world?”
Thinking that far, Sihu’s head suddenly became complicated.
Hoo—
Sihu let out a sigh and decided to stop by the animal hospital after class.
“Ah, it’s already time.”
Sihu looked at the clock and quickly began preparing to go out.
Clunk—
Clack—
Having left the house, Sihu pulled the handcart down the alley, looking at the people passing by.
Rattle— Rattle—
Before he had gone far down the alley, someone greeted him.
“Huh? Hello.”
A cute girl acted like she knew Sihu when she saw him.
About a fifth grader in elementary school.
She was a girl with an oval face who would grow up to be quite a beauty.
Sihu recalled the girl’s name. Was it Jang Minju?
Since Sihu had also lived in this alley for a long time, he roughly knew the faces of the neighbors.
She was a child who lived not far from Sihu’s house.
“Minju, going to school?”
Sihu called her name as he remembered it.
The girl nodded.
“Yes. What about you, Uncle?”
To Minju’s question, Sihu glanced at the handcart and said.
“Uncle’s on his way to the shop.”
“Ah!”
Minju spoke to Sihu with an expression that said she had just remembered something.
“Uncle, do you happen to know [SeeYou]?”
When the name of his own restaurant came out of Minju’s mouth, his pupils shook slightly.
“Huh? Of course I know it, why?”
“I heard the spicy shrimp pasta there is really delicious, so I went once?
Sihu felt sorry at Minju’s words.
“There were too many people, so I couldn’t eat. Why is there always a long line there?”
Minju expressed her question.
Just why were there so many people there?
Sihu too sometimes thought that there were many people.
Sihu met Minju’s eyes and asked.
“Do you want to try the spicy shrimp pasta that place sells?”
“Yes, I want to try it. But there are too many people…”
“Minju, I’ll talk to the chef at [SeeYou] for you.”
At Sihu’s words, Minju’s expression brightened brilliantly.
“Really? Promise!”
The child held out her hand, even hooking her pinky to seal it.
Sihu thought he would have to make it for her at home after getting off work.
“Ah, Uncle, I’m on classroom duty today so I left early. Then please make sure to tell Chef Uncle at [SeeYou]!”
“Okay, go carefully.”
“Yes, bye-bye, Uncle—”
Sihu burst into a smile at Minju’s goodbye and pulled the handcart.
When he arrived at the shop, Hwijun was standing there.
“You’re here?”
“Yeah, you still haven’t gotten the shop key, right?”
“Yeah, Hayun Hyung said he’d give it to me today.”
“Okay, if you arrive early, leave the door open and start working first.”
Hwijun, who was helping move the handcart Sihu had brought, eyes went wide.
“Hey, isn’t this heavy?”
Even when both of them lifted the handcart, it was quite heavy.
But Sihu had carried it without any sign of strain.
“It’s not very heavy.”
At Sihu’s answer, Hwijun’s eyes narrowed.
“What kind of exercise do you do?”
“I exercise at home every day. A chef needs stamina.”
At Sihu’s words, Hwijun nodded as if convinced.
“Ah, and that Woodpecker.”
When the story of YouTuber Woodpecker came out of Hwijun’s mouth, Sihu’s expression vanished.
“Why? What did he say?”
Seeing Sihu’s expression, Hwijun couldn’t help but take a slight step back.
The cold expression and voice.
Hwijun took out the USB Sihu had given him and said.
“Woodpecker edited out what happened at the store in the broadcast and took vague, roundabout jabs at the takeout food.”
Sihu smirked at that and said.
“So that Woodpecker had already finished editing the footage from when he came to the store?”
“Yeah, he had it done.”
Sihu thought for a moment, then opened his mouth.
“Tomorrow is the regular day off, can you come? There’s something to talk about, and someone to introduce. What time works for you?”
“Hmm… Around 2 p.m. seems possible.”
Ding-a-ling—
The shop door opened, and Hayun came in with a greeting.
“Good mor…ning. What’s going on?”
At Hayun’s question, Sihu had only one corner of his mouth raised, while Hwijun looked on blankly.
“Woodpecker took roundabout jabs at the takeout food, apparently.”
Hearing Sihu’s words, Hayun ran a hand down his face and sighed.
Haaah—
Hayun’s mind grew complicated seeing Sihu’s gaze.
Having collected himself, Hayun urged them to prepare to open.
“Nothing gets solved by standing around, right? Let’s hurry up and get ready to open, then eat. I’m hungry.”
Sihu went into the kitchen and thought about what to make for today’s staff meal.
Sihu glanced at Hayun’s face for a moment.
“Hyung, did you drink yesterday?”
“What?”
Hayun was surprised by Sihu’s question.
“How did you know? A relative came over yesterday, and I had a drink with my family.”
“Is that so?”
After giving a bland reply, Sihu began moving quickly in the kitchen.
Watching that, Hayun’s head tilted on its own.
‘His observational skills are innate, truly innate.’
**
Sihu finished his classes and took out his phone.
There was a text message from the animal hospital.
Sihu replied to the text and headed to the animal hospital.
Ding—
At the sound of the door opening,
Huiyeon, who worked as both an animal hospital nurse and receptionist, raised her head.
“Huh? You’re here?”
Sihu lightly bowed toward Huiyeon and opened his mouth.
“I came after seeing your text. Did something happen to ‘Yaongi’?”
“Ah, it’s nothing like that. Please wait a moment.”
At Huiyeon’s reaction, Sihu’s head tilted slightly.
Just then, the treatment room door opened, and the veterinarian came out.
When Sihu greeted the veterinarian, he called Sihu into the examination room.
“You’re here. Please come inside.”
When Sihu sat in the examination room chair, the veterinarian showed him the monitor and spoke.
“This is the photo taken when you brought it in, and this is the one taken just a short while ago.”
Sihu looked at the photos as the veterinarian explained.
“?! I—is it completely better?”
The veterinarian nodded at Sihu’s words and continued.
“It’s really my first time seeing an animal with such fast recovery. What breed of cat is this? I’ve never seen a cat like this even during vet school or at conferences…”
Sihu couldn’t say anything.
He couldn’t say that he had rescued it from being attacked by a Griffin in the garden.
If he said that, he felt he would receive advice from the veterinarian in front of him to visit a psychiatrist.
“Well… I don’t really know either. I rescued it because it looked like it was being attacked by a hawk in the back mountain.”
The veterinarian’s eyes went round at Sihu’s words.
“There are hawks in this neighborhood?”
“……”
Sihu had said it to gloss things over.
“I live in the residential area down below that mountain up there; hawks fly by sometimes?”
At Sihu’s calm words, the veterinarian nodded.
“Well, that mountain up there is quite vast and dense, so they might live there.”
The veterinarian nodded slightly and was convinced.
Sihu clenched his fist inwardly.
The veterinarian got up from his seat, told him to wait a moment, and went into the treatment room.
Shortly after.
The animal Sihu had left in their care came in, cradled in the veterinarian’s arms.
Kk-anya—
Only then could Sihu see the garden animal clearly in a bright place.
Obsidian-like eyes were turned toward him.
Blink—
The garden animal slowly blinked its eyes once toward Sihu.
—Kkaaah
When the veterinarian placed the animal on the examination table, it began sniffing toward Sihu.
—Kk?
Thank you for reading.
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