I put the soaked soybeans into a large cooking pot.
I filled the pot halfway with water and began to boil the beans over high heat.
After closing the lid and waiting for about 30 minutes, foam started to overflow.
I quickly opened the lid to calm the overflowing foam and reduced the heat to medium.
From this point, I had to be careful not to let the beans burn and continue boiling them for about three hours.
“Let’s take turns with Mom.”
“Yes.”
Three hours seemed like a long time, but it wasn’t that long once we got started.
Dad had already gone fishing with Ara, and the guests were exploring the dungeon.
Seon-ah? She was busy filming here and there and then went to film Ara fishing.
I left the pot with Mom for a while and set up the camping tent.
After placing various tools together, I called Jeong So-yeon and Kang Hanul.
“You can use this whenever you want to rest.”
“This is an amazing campsite! By the way, don’t we need to help?”
“It’s okay. Just help with shaping the soybean blocks when the beans are ready.”
“Haha! Got it!”
“Oh, and there’s a hot spring nearby. Would you like to check it out?”
“A hot spring?!”
Hanul, who had a stiff expression, nodded his head as if he was broken.
“A hot spring in the dungeon!”
“I’ll send a slime to guide you.”
I attached a slime that was playing around.
Jeong So-yeon, who was exploring the village, also heard about the hot spring and joined them.
“Is this place heaven?”
“It seems so. Heaven indeed comes to good people like Kyu-seong.”
After sending the two chattering away to the hot spring, I stayed and continued stirring the beans with a spatula.
As time passed, the beans became soft and ready with just a light touch.
“Is this done?”
“Yes, I think it’s all ready.”
“Thank you for your hard work, Mom.”
Since the preparation was complete, I gathered everyone.
When the fishing and hot spring parties returned, we saw the well-mashed beans.
“Now, everyone knows how to shape the soybean blocks, right? We have the molds here, so let’s press them well.”
We lined the molds with plastic and poured in the mashed beans.
After pressing them firmly into a rectangular shape, the soybean blocks were complete.
“Is this it? It feels like we haven’t done anything…”
Hanul muttered awkwardly.
“Yes, this is it. Now we just need to place them on the prepared straw and let them dry and ferment.”
“Oh, how long does it take to ferment?”
“I think it takes a little over a month. But since the environment is special, we need to check daily to make sure it ferments well.”
As it’s a fermented food, it couldn’t be made quickly.
Time was the most important factor.
With the soybean blocks ready, we headed to the empty storage for fermentation.
I had already prepared straw there.
“Huh?”
“What’s this?”
Inside the empty storage, we witnessed an unexpected sight.
On the neatly laid-out straw for drying the soybean blocks, Gomgom was curled up, sound asleep.
“When did he come in and fall asleep?”
“Gomgom!”
Ara, holding a soybean block, ran over to check on Gomgom.
Despite being cautiously touched, Gomgom showed no signs of waking up.
“Gomgom won’t wake up!”
“Uh-oh.”
What is this? Could it be that he’s not feeling well?
We quickly approached Gomgom to check his condition. Fortunately, he was breathing evenly and deeply, and there seemed to be no injuries even after checking his body.
“Could it be hibernation?”
Just then, Jeong So-yeon tilted her head and asked.
“Huh?”
“Oh, come to think of it, he’s a bear!”
It made sense. We hadn’t realized it since we’d been living together, but Gomgom was indeed a bear. And it was natural for bears to hibernate.
Whether we poked him or not, Gomgom was just curled up in a ball, deeply asleep.
“So soft.”
Ara hugged Gomgom and rubbed her face against him.
But this was quite a dilemma. Should we leave Gomgom here?
“……”
“Brother, can’t we take Gomgom home?”
“Home?”
“Just while he hibernates, since it’s warmer at home.”
As I glanced down at Ara, she looked at me and Seon-ah with hopeful eyes, clutching Gomgom tightly.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“…I suppose not.”
For now, we moved the sleeping Gomgom.
The Kkumuris had already built a house for Gomgom, so I didn’t understand why he chose to sleep here.
Should I put something like a quilt in his house?
Leaving the sleeping Gomgom, we placed the prepared soybean blocks neatly on the straw.
Now, we just had to flip them occasionally while doing farm work and pay attention to them to complete the fermentation.
“I’m looking forward to it!”
“The smell is nice and savory. It kind of reminds me of Doenjang.”
We had made quite a lot of soybean blocks.
Since they weren’t just for us, we ended up making a lot, but honestly, it still felt like not enough.
Having made it once, I thought I could try making it on my own next time.
***
Time passed, and evening came.
After having dinner together, the family went back home.
“It reminds me of my school days.”
However, Kang Hanul and Jeong So-yeon decided to stay the night, and there was plenty of space to sleep.
There were places to sleep in the buildings made by the Kkumuris, and if needed, we could sleep in the camping tent.
I lit a fire with the guests and enjoyed the campfire blankly.
It felt even more special because it was winter.
“This is so nice.”
Jeong So-yeon mumbled with a dazed look.
In her arms, Ara was nestling quietly, nodding off.
“Next time, let’s invite the children from the orphanage and have fun together.”
“Is that okay?”
“Yes. I was actually thinking about inviting the guild members here for a party, but it got postponed because winter came so suddenly.”
“Wow, that sounds great! If Kyu-seong allows it, I’m really looking forward to it.”
As we chatted, Hanul suddenly took something out from his pocket and started sipping it alone.
Was that my drink?
“Ah, this is nice. Enjoying this while looking at the bonfire is quite charming, just like in the hot spring.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
“Kyu-seong.”
“Yes, brother.”
“Thank you so much.”
Was he feeling sentimental?
I tilted my head, puzzled by Hanul’s sudden expression of gratitude.
“Why all of a sudden?”
“No, well… I just wanted to say it sometime. For inviting me to the dungeon, for making the soybean blocks I mentioned, and for always serving delicious food…”
“You’re welcome. Thanks to you, I joined Ara Hongryeon and always had fun. Ara also really likes you.”
As her name was mentioned, Ara, who had been nodding off, opened her eyes sleepily and looked around.
“Did you call me?”
“Ara, are you sleepy?”
“I’m not sleepy.”
Everyone laughed at Ara, who obviously looked sleepy but insisted she wasn’t. Regardless, Ara burrowed deeper into Jeong So-yeon’s arms, curling up.
“Do you want to sleep with me?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll go in and sleep first. Can I use the tent with Ara?”
“Of course.”
The serene landscape was blanketed with white snow. The sky, like a vast night with the Milky Way spread out, and the crackling campfire provided a calming ASMR sound.
Watching Hanul sip his drink without any snacks, I got up and brought some potatoes.
“Here, have some snacks.”
“Oh, thank you.”
I cut the potatoes into eight pieces and sautéed them in a buttered frying pan. Then I brought out the fairy honey to dip them in.
It was a simple but hearty and delicious potato dish.
Thus, another peaceful day came to an end.
***
After bidding farewell to Jeong So-yeon and Hanul, I headed back to Ara Hongryeon.
Since I had to visit the Terror Guild for a deal, I decided to stop by. Besides, I could buy Ara some winter clothes.
“Hehehe~!”
Ara was humming with excitement at the thought of buying a new hat, starting from when she was getting ready to go out.
Even though I bought her hats quite often, they always seemed to make her happy.
“When do you plan to buy a car, Kyu-seong?”
“Hmm, I should buy one, but I need to look around first.”
“You don’t need to buy an expensive one, but a car would be handy. Think about it.”
“Hmm.”
As Hanul said, having a car would be nice.
However, I hesitated to spend money freely because of a plan that had just come to my mind.
‘A large-scale construction project.’
In fact, I had planned to buy a mountain with the money from the deal with Skyscraper, but I managed to get it from the Terror Guild instead.
Does that mean I saved money? Not exactly.
Now that things turned out this way, I decided to use the money from Skyscraper for the construction project.
It was quite a large-scale project.
‘I’ll secure the construction contract through my father…’
I planned to level the area where my dungeon was located and build roads. I also intended to construct buildings around the dungeon.
I believed the money I had would be enough for this, but I decided not to spend large sums until I got an estimate.
Moreover, I planned to build a house inside the Gluttony Dungeon for Ara and me, as well as a place for my parents to stay, so there were many expenses ahead.
With the help of the Kkumuris and goblins, labor wouldn’t be an issue… and the materials could be partially sourced from the mines.
“We’re here.”
“Ah, is the vacation already over? I can’t believe it.”
Jeong So-yeon got out of the car with a sad face. Hanul laughed and patted her back loudly.
“Haha! Kiddo! Work hard while you can so you can retire early!”
“When I retire, can I build a house in a corner of Kyu-seong’s dungeon and live quietly? I won’t bother anyone and just live quietly.”
“Haha, you’re welcome anytime after you retire. We have plenty of land.”
As I accepted their jokes with a smile, Jeong So-yeon and Hanul suddenly turned serious and whispered to each other.
“Oh, when should I retire then? Maybe tomorrow?”
“That sounds good, but we should give the guild at least a week’s notice out of respect.”
“Hmm, we should give them some time to prepare. Otherwise, we might get into serious trouble.”
“Um, excuse me?”
Seeing their expressions that didn’t seem like jokes, I felt flustered. Ara, grinning, took the lead.
“Kyu-seong, we’re going to buy a hat!”
“Uh, sure.”
Well, it wouldn’t be a problem if they really came, but I wasn’t quite mentally prepared…
As we entered Ara Hongryeon, the guild master happened to be free and summoned me right away.
“You’re here, Kyu-seong.”
“I heard the news. Thank you for taking care of everything, Guild Master.”
“I was just doing my duty as the guild master. Please, have a seat.”
As I sat down, he handed me some documents. The documents were quite complex, but there was another set that explained everything clearly.
“Please read through them slowly and verify the details.”
“Yes, thank you. Is there anything I need to do?”
“For now, there’s nothing special you need to do. It’s just a matter of delivering the goods you supply to Ara Hongryeon in a second batch. Of course, it would be better if you could increase the supply.”
“Hmm, I’m already expanding the fields, so I’ll think about it.”
Due to the goblins, I was gradually expanding the fields. It was better to have some working in the fields and others helping with village construction, rather than having everyone work in the mines.
“Oh, and there’s one more piece of news.”
“News?”
“Yes. We’ve received an official invitation from the Skyscraper Guild.”
“Oh!”
An invitation from the giant Skyscraper Guild in China.
I wonder what awaits us there?
Cliche Novel 