Round 73

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After finishing his work at the guild, Kang Hanul hurriedly headed somewhere. He arrived at a nursing home.

“Oh, you’re here?”

“Were there any issues today?”

“Not at all.”

The caregiver who greeted Kang Hanul soon brought an elderly woman over. She walked out quickly with the face of an excited child but paused when she saw Kang Hanul.

“Who are you?”

“Oh, you’re here. Sir, I’ll see you again tomorrow.”

“Yes. Take care.”

Despite the elderly woman’s puzzled voice, they only exchanged words with each other. As the caregiver returned to the nursing home, Kang Hanul, now alone with the elderly woman, reached out his hand.

“Let’s go.”

“Who are you!”

“It’s me, Hanul.”

Kang Hanul spoke with a smile, and the elderly woman tilted her head in confusion.

“What are you talking about? Where is my son!”

“Right here. Your son.”

“Huh?”

The elderly woman stared intently at Kang Hanul’s face, as if unable to understand, and then she suddenly exclaimed.

“No! You’re not my son!”

“I’m telling you, I’m Hanul, your son.”

Kang Hanul, seemingly accustomed to this situation, showed a troubled expression but still held her hand tightly and smiled.

“Mom. Do you remember the song you used to sing to me?”

“Song?”

Seeing the elderly woman’s slight interest, Kang Hanul softly murmured the lyrics.

“The white half-moon that came out during the day~”

Hearing the song, the elderly woman became quiet. Eventually, she started singing along with Kang Hanul, who continued singing the children’s song. It was a nostalgic tune that his mother often sang to him when he was young.

“When our baby was learning to walk~”

“If only you had worn shoes with a click-clack on one foot!”

The song, embedded in her being and sung while thinking of her son, brought back the lyrics even though her memory had faded, but her maternal love remained.

As they sang for a while and strolled around, Kang Hanul said, “Now can you recognize your son?”

“Huh? Hanul?”

“It’s me, Kang Hanul, your son.”

“Uhm…”

Despite singing together, the elderly woman still seemed uncertain and watched him warily. Kang Hanul scratched his head at the sight.

However, being used to this, he didn’t show his feelings and simply took something out from his pocket.

“I brought something different again today, Mom.”

“Huh?”

“You remember Kyu-seong, the younger one I always talk about? This time, he brought some mushrooms.”

“Mushrooms?”

Though her head didn’t remember, her body did, and she started smacking her lips. Seeing this, Kang Hanul laughed joyfully and sliced the mushrooms to make them easy to eat.

“Try some.”

“Okay.”

The elderly woman took the mushroom he handed her, opened her mouth slightly, and ate it. Chewing slowly, she soon reached out her hand and said,

“Give me more.”

“Haha!”

Kang Hanul cheerfully sliced the mushroom again and handed it to his mother. Although he was usually very fond of eating, at this moment, he was offering it without hesitation.

“How is it? Is it tasty?”

“Mmhmm.”

Seeing his mother nodding slightly and chewing, Kang Hanul felt a small happiness.

“But why aren’t you eating?”

“Me? I’ll eat whatever is left after you, Mom.”

“Don’t be like that, eat with me.”

“I can eat plenty. It’s fine, you go ahead, Mom.”

Even though she doesn’t remember him, Kang Hanul cherished even these small daily moments. Just having her nearby gave him a sense of comfort in a corner of his heart. He was also grateful to Kyu-seong for making his everyday life more colorful.

‘Doenjang jjigae.’

However, he wanted to be a bit greedier. The doenjang jjigae his mother used to make. Of course, even if he made it with Kyu-seong’s ingredients, it wouldn’t taste the same. But the thought of sharing a delicious meal with someone precious was enough.

His mother, and the dish he loved the most. It seemed trivial, but it had become something difficult to achieve now.

“Mom. How about we make some doenjang jjigae at home next time?”

“Doenjang jjigae? I’m good at making doenjang jjigae.”

“Haha! As your son, I know better than anyone how good your doenjang jjigae is.”

Kang Hanul wished for this happiness to last a bit longer.

* * *

From morning till evening.

After being outside for quite a long time, I returned home. I actually planned to stay overnight at my family home, but I hurried back due to something I checked just before leaving the dungeon.

‘Finally, it’s harvesting time.’

It took a really long time. No, for an ordinary farm, it might have been quick, but for me, it was the longest time I had ever taken to grow a crop.

“Strawberries! Strawberries!”

Ara sang excitedly. The crop to be harvested this time was none other than strawberries. Unlike the others which had been harvested two or three times already, the slowly growing strawberries finally started to show their bright red form.

When I arrived at the dungeon, the slimes were already busy harvesting the strawberries.

“Strawberries!”

Ara cheered and ran over. I could see the slimes welcoming her and sneakily handing her freshly harvested strawberries.

-Gobble gobble.

Gomgom was madly devouring the strawberries, paying no attention to our arrival.

“Wow, as expected, there are really a lot.”

I had been slightly surprised by the unusual number of strawberries since they started to fruit. They seemed to have about twenty times more fruit than usual strawberries, which might be why they took longer to ripen.

“Nom nom nom!”

“What is that sound?”

Ara made a strange noise after eating the strawberry. The size of the strawberries was normal, but I was curious whether the taste was also ordinary. Ara was a child who ate anything well, so her reaction couldn’t be entirely trusted.

Ping!

“Oh, thank you.”

Just then, a slime approached me and handed me a strawberry. Huh? Wasn’t this the one who liked to headbutt?

I first inspected the strawberry that was handed to me. Surely this one would also display an item description?

[Magic-infused Strawberry LV.1]

[A crop imbued with magic. It is harmless to the human body. When consumed, it grants a mild wound-healing effect.]

“What?!”

What is this? A healing potion?!

It had a similar ability to the item commonly referred to as a red potion. The only difference was that the word “mild” was missing in the potion’s description.

“Could it actually become a real potion if made into juice?”

The price of healing potions was quite high. Since they were essential for life, their demand was always high not only in dungeons but also in everyday life, yet the supply was always insufficient.

“Hmm.”

No wonder it took the strawberries the longest to harvest. If it’s something this precious, I can wait as long as needed.

“Gobble gobble!”

– Gobble gobble!

Next to me, strawberries were being devoured without hesitation. 

Well, let me try one too.

Crunch!

‘Crunch?’

The moment I felt the unique texture for a strawberry. 

I lost my mind, overwhelmed by the sweet and sour flavor.

“…Huh!”

Barely regaining my senses, I found myself clutching a handful of strawberries in both hands.

“What is this…?”

For a moment, I was confused, and then I realized my hands were disobeying my brain’s commands and moving the strawberries to my mouth.

And again, the intense strawberry juice exploded in my mouth.

“Sweet things are truly the best.”

So far, the harvested crops included cherry tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, Layla, sweet potatoes, ember grill, cucumbers, and eggplants. Among them, the only sweet crop was Layla, which had a strong sweet flavor, while the strawberries were a perfect balance of sweet and sour. The combination of sweetness and sourness was so exquisite, it felt like chewing on dozens of highly concentrated fruits at once.

“Why can’t I stop eating?”

Usually, such a strong flavor would get tiring or overwhelming, but it felt like I could keep eating endlessly.

Eventually, I had to muster all my willpower to stop my hands and mouth.

“Phew.”

Looking to my side, I saw Gomgom lying down with a satisfied smile and a bulging belly, while Ara, seemingly having regained her senses, was cautiously watching me.

For the record, her hands and mouth hadn’t stopped moving.

“Ara.”

“Huh!”

Like a thief caught in the act, Ara jumped and withdrew her hand from the strawberries.

“We’re not going to eat them all today, right? We’ll eat them tomorrow and the day after too.”

“Yeah! Yeah!”

Despite saying that, there were still plenty of strawberries. It seemed like our frantic eating hadn’t even dented the harvest, rewarding us for our long wait.

“Should we help out a bit now?”

“Let’s help!”

Once Ara and I started helping in earnest, the progress sped up. If Mark2 was here, we could have harvested even faster, but he was on an important mission right now.

“We’re running out of baskets.”

After repeatedly harvesting and transporting the strawberries, we eventually ran out of baskets to hold them. It felt like we were harvesting not just twenty times more strawberries than usual, but thirty times more.

“Ara, it looks like we’ll have to pile the harvested strawberries on the storage floor.”

“Okay!”

Ara ran to the storage room and dumped the strawberries from the baskets. Slimes quickly attached themselves to the dumped strawberries, covering them with their secretions. Even though I had seen this several times and we would wash and eat them afterward, it still felt a bit strange.

‘If we don’t do it that way, they’ll spoil quickly, so there’s no other choice.’

She brought back the empty baskets and we resumed the work. After working for several more hours, we finally saw the end.

“Wow, there really are a lot.”

“Hehehe.”

Ara smiled contentedly, looking at the strawberries piled up like a small hill. If I had eaten them alone, it probably would have taken me a lifetime to finish this amount of strawberries.

“Shall we try making some jam?”

“Jam?”

Ara tilted her head in curiosity. She hadn’t experienced fruit jam yet, but I could already see that she would love it.

“It’s late today, so I’ll make it for you tomorrow.”

“What is jam?”

“It’s when you put those strawberries in a pot and simmer them. Normally, you add sugar and simmer it together, but I think just simmering the strawberries alone will be enough.”

Still, I should look it up just in case. With the internet working well these days, a quick search would give me the recipe immediately.

“Simmer the strawberries?”

“Yeah. Let’s try making it together tomorrow.”

“Wow! I can make it too?”

“Yeah. It’s not difficult, so you can do it too, Ara.”

Ara’s eyes sparkled. Then, as if she were excited, she started doing her characteristic little dance.

“Haha.”

Even though it was time to sleep, she was still full of energy. Watching Ara’s cute dance skills, I felt that today had been a fulfilling day.

Oh, by the way, I got a message from Seon-ah just before returning to the dungeon.

‘A vlog?’

I knew what a vlog was. It was just sharing daily life through videos, right?

Seon-ah had said she wanted to film and share a vlog of Ara. Since most of the busy work had been finished, I was thinking of showing the Dungeon of Gluttony to my family, so I told them to come and visit.

Anyway, I needed to go back to the Dungeon of Gluttony to plant the beans that Hanul had requested, so it was killing two birds with one stone.

‘Seeing Ara helping with the farming would be quite heartwarming.’

It seemed like the kind of footage Seon-ah wanted would turn out well.

“Kyu-seong Kyu-seong, it’s time to sleep.”

“Oh, our dear Ara. Let’s go to bed now.”

“Okay.”

You did well today. Sleep tight.

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