Naming Dana

Meanwhile, in the peaceful cabin, Ji-oh was examining the newest member of the family.

"Is this little one fully grown already?"

"Gyarrr."

"Cute."

It was a cuteness that soothed the heart. As the creature sprawled on its back, paddling all four paws in the air, Ji-oh gently took hold of the Anti-cat's front feet. Earth's cats hated having their paws held, but the Anti-cat did not seem to mind much. He waved the little front paws back and forth a few times, the way one might play with a newborn baby.

"Grrrrrr…."

"Doesn't seem like it hates it."

"Miyaek."

"A cat is still a cat."

"Mmmmmung."

"It's extremely cold."

The Anti-cat's body was as cool as touching a stalagmite deep in some seldom-visited cave.

"Honey, you're the complete opposite."

"Kkureureuk?"

"You're warm."

Perhaps because it had evolved after drinking the juice of Lurupu flowers that grew under both sunlight and moonlight, Honey's bean-sized body was particularly warm. Recently, thanks to the generous affection it had received from the Sun God, its temperature seemed to have risen even higher.

"If it's this cold, it might be hard for it to stick close to Honey…."

He wasn't sure if there was any scientific basis for the idea, but didn't people sometimes feel that grabbing cold-blooded creatures like fish or frogs with bare human hands might cause a burn?

"If my touch is uncomfortable, tell me, little one."

"……."

"Closing its mouth like a ghost. Good girl, good girl. Very clever."

It seemed the touch was not unwelcome.

"It seems to understand what I'm saying, too."

That was truly marvelous.

It sparkles just like a jewel… almost like some kind of crystallized essence.

The Anti-cat's body was the size of a kitten only a few months old. That body held dense, glittering light like a meticulously cut diamond. Because of that, unlike the completely transparent Honey, it looked almost opaque.

"Cool."

"Meung."

"It can even emit light on its own. Impressive."

Beside them, Honey stared fixedly at Ji-oh.

"……."

"…Of course you're impressive too, Honey."

"Kkung."

"Aww, so pretty."

"Kkureurreu."

Raising kids was really hard work.

"By the way, what does our youngest eat to grow?"

From a rough check earlier, he had been told it lived by absorbing vitality. On Earth it was apparently treated as a kind of ghost, but if it was a ghost this cute, wouldn't it be fine to have a little vitality sucked out once in a while?

"I might have to make a cat tower soon… I do have a knack for building hidey tunnels."

"Gyarrr."

"There are plenty of tall, rugged trees around here that would be good for climbing, but the Anti-cat will still need its own territory inside the house. If it takes after cats, it'll be just as sensitive about its space."

"Myaeng."

"The place the youngest lived was the Vein of Gems, so an environment similar to that should be fun. I'll make a hidey house like a dark ant tunnel and put some gems inside… that ought to be fine."

Then it was time to choose a name.

"Sparkles…."

"……."

"…Déjà vu?"

It was a reaction almost identical to the one he had gotten when he first considered calling Honey "Goldie." A look that seemed to ask, Are you serious, human?

Ji-oh tried to summon a little more creativity.

"……."

After a moment of silence he muttered softly,

"Dana?"

Among Korean names it carried the meaning of "one who always goes ahead," but that was not why the name had come to him.

"I kept thinking of diamond, so I wanted something similar, but 'diamond' is too long. Shortening it to 'Dia' still felt too long."

And cutting it down to "Daa" or "Dai" would have been far too shameless.

"So I modified it a little—Dana. How about it?"

"Muung."

"Glad you like it."

It had passed the review.

"Hoo."

Ji-oh dedicated this glory to every namer in the world. Naming was never an easy task.

"Now let's go prepare the meal."

"Kkureureureureureuk."

"Naming made me hungry."

He also needed to finish dealing with the bone broth.

"Fortunately it seems Cha Ah-ra's taste was fine with it as well."

Earth's bone broth required a great deal of attention. The cleaning process was similar, but after that came careful fire control and the constant skimming of rising impurities.

"The very first broth that comes out is so oily it's too rich to eat as-is. Even when I boil bone broth at home I hate to waste it, so I always find some way to use it, but the hassle of simmering Earth's cattle bones never changes."

"Meung?"

"There's that kind of thing."

Even if it understood speech, the Anti-cat Dana was still not fully adjusted; she draped herself over Ji-oh's shoulder as if to say she had not understood a single word. She was heavier than expected, and the sight was entertaining.

Honey, who knew that Ji-oh enjoyed cooking, listened calmly. A true gourmet knows the origin of the food and savors it more deeply for it. Honey and Ji-oh were alike in that.

"In that regard, the Treehorn Deer's bone broth is extremely independent."

Just leave it on low heat for three days and the bones and cartilage melt away without any need to scoop out impurities.

"Strictly speaking, there's almost nothing of the Treehorn Deer that goes to waste."

"Kkureureureuk."

Honey, who had already eaten every organ except certain intestines, offered fervent agreement. Happily wagging its tail feathers, it looked back at Ji-oh from the opposite shoulder from Dana.

"……."

"……?"

Something seemed to have occurred to Honey, and a moment later Ji-oh realized what it was saying.

"…Ah."

Come to think of it, there had been the gem heart he obtained while butchering the Treehorn Deer.

"I forgot to check it."

"Kkungkkungkkung…."

"If everything's fine after we finish eating today, I'll give it to you, Honey."

Gems were everywhere, and Ji-oh could create them himself; he had no particular desire for the gem heart. Even though it was clearly part of a dead body, it still somehow felt alive, which left him with an odd feeling.

"But if it looks like it'll upset your stomach, Dad will keep it for you."

"Kkuk."

Honey did not throw a tantrum about that either. Ji-oh was pleased.

"What a good kid."

He rejoiced at having such a diligent, well-behaved son. He himself was hardly a particularly virtuous person, yet meeting only good family members throughout his life felt like a profound blessing.

Skillfully adjusting Dana's sliding posture, Ji-oh continued,

"Actually the bone broth itself was finished the moment I served Cha Ah-ra the rice cooked with it, but if I'm going to keep it in the ice storage for a long time, it's better concentrated, so I boiled it down a bit thicker. I can just add water later whenever I need it."

"Kkureureureureureureuk."

"Yeah, you waited a long time too. I can still picture you pacing in front of the hearth, desperate to eat. You really held out well. Seeing that patience, you'll grow into a big bird someday."

Honey had always preferred food in liquid form. The wait until now must have been harsh. Acknowledging and praising that patience, Ji-oh walked over to the cauldron where the bone broth was still simmering.

"Oh…."

The sweet aroma that rushed out when he lifted the lid was wonderful.

"Nice."

"Kkureukkkureukkkureuk…."

"It's hot right now."

"Kkung."

"If you insist, I'll scoop some."

Honey had taken the Sun God's touch any number of times without trouble. A soup that had simply been boiled a little longer over firewood was hardly going to be a problem now. Ji-oh was about to ladle some broth into a small bowl for Honey.

And then he saw it.

"Honey."

"Kkureuk."

"It would be better for my peace of mind if you came out."

Honey had plopped straight into the cauldron.

"Kkungkkungkkung…."

"I do not want to eat broth made from my own son. This isn't a scene from Greek mythology—what kind of human scum are you trying to turn me into?"

In the short time it had been inside, Honey had expanded from sparrow-sized to roughly the size of a pigeon. If he took it to a veterinary clinic looking like this, they would definitely tell him the bird was severely obese and that the guardian needed to pay more attention.

"It's already concentrated, so the flavor is richer—what do you think you're doing?"

"Kkungkkungkkungkkungkkung…."

"Eating too much salt is bad for you. Dad can make it even tastier, so let's calm down a little."

Honey grumbled but crawled back out of the cauldron.

"……."

"…You too?"

"Ayaok."

Perhaps inspired by the bold feat of its sibling, who had unhesitatingly climbed into a cauldron anywhere, anytime, just to taste it, Dana—who until then had been draped over his shoulder like a limp slime with no particular motivation—plopped down beside the pot.

It might be a bit hot for Dana, whose base body temperature is so low.

Ji-oh cooled a shallow ladleful of broth as much as possible and offered it to her.

"……."

Slurp.

"……."

"Oh."

Watching her body begin to glow softly and silently all over, Ji-oh nodded.

Looks like she liked it.

She was not a chatty creature like Honey, but it seemed her mood expressed itself by making her body shine.

Feeling a warm pride as both father and cook, Ji-oh cheerfully continued preparing the meal.

"There's rice I cooked when Cha Ah-ra came, so let's eat that."

"Kkureuk."

"Mang."

Dana, who had shown little interest in food before, seemed to have realized something after tasting the bone broth. Watching her trail after Honey and poke her nose into the meal preparations was thoroughly entertaining.

"As expected, nothing works better with kids than something delicious…."

Ji-oh scraped and scooped the rice that had been cooked in bone broth. After transferring every last fluffy grain, he cleanly scraped up the scorched rice—nurungji—left at the bottom. Thanks to the oiliness of the bone broth used for cooking, it came away perfectly clean.

"Anyone for nurungji?"

When Ji-oh, having rolled the nurungji into a simple snack, asked the question, both creatures responded at once.

"Kkureureureuk. Kkureureureureuk."

"Mang, miyaek, alyaok… meungmangmangmang."

"…We'll split it."

There was considerable protest, but was there any choice more historically profound and wise than the judgment of Solomon? Ji-oh neatly divided the nurungji rice ball in half, and after that the two companion creatures stopped grumbling.

While they were absorbed in their nurungji rice balls, Ji-oh finished the rest of the meal preparations.

"I should try making a grilled rice ball with the bone-broth rice."

Even as he said it, he had no intention of grilling only one.

"For side dishes, grilled eggplant with doenjang and… maybe I'll boil one soup."

Ji-oh headed out to the backyard he called a vegetable garden and regarded as a monster field.

The pea stems still looked firmly possessed of their own selfhood.

"……."

Enough so that they seemed to greet him.

"…This is starting to get funny."

Sway.

"Yes, nice to meet you. Lovely weather, isn't it?"

"……."

"Thank you for protecting the garden again today."

Having received Ji-oh's greeting, the stem calmly settled back down with a soft rustle.

…Even if it pretends to be an ordinary pea stem now, it still won't look ordinary.

But Ji-oh decided to respect the pea stem's privacy. He simply overlooked the fact that ordinary pea stems cannot move.

In any case, he picked four eggplants and various other vegetables from the garden. After washing them clean, he sliced the eggplants to a suitable thickness and salted them, peeled the radish and cut it into thin slices, and shelled the peas, rinsing them once in water.

"…Even so, putting jerky in feels a bit off."

Ji-oh brought out sausage instead.

"Honey, you don't like spicy food, right?"

"Kkureureureureureureureureureureuk."

"I thought so."

It was a mild-flavored sausage.

"Ayat?"

"Well, whether you can handle spicy food is something we'll check later. Since I'm only making one soup, if spicy sausage goes in, Honey won't be able to eat it."

"Meuk."

"I'll grill the spicy sausage for you later."

It might be an unfamiliar combination for Koreans, but boiling sausage in soup actually tasted surprisingly good. Of course, using the kind of pink sausage or spam where you couldn't even see the shape of the meat grains would have been a bit awkward….

"Then shall we peel it now."

Ji-oh prepared the sausage. He snipped the tip of the casing and gently pushed with the back of the knife; the seasoned meat filling slid out intact. Spices had permeated it thoroughly, giving off a deep aroma. He cut both the filling and the casing into suitable pieces.

"Now we just throw everything in."

He added a little water to the concentrated bone broth, then dropped in the radish, peas, and prepared sausage. The peas grown in the monster field were thick but relatively small, and the sausage was already fine to eat raw, so once the radish was cooked it would be ready.

"And next…."

He lightly grilled the rice balls, coated the eggplants with a sauce made from fruit syrup, doenjang, and soy sauce, and set them in the oven. By the time the soup was roughly finished, the rest of the food was done as well.

"Let's eat."

"Kkureureureureureuk."

"Ayaoooook, meungmangmangmangmang…."

It was the first time Ji-oh had heard Dana make such a long sound. Seeing her enjoy mealtime so much was delightful. Children were always prettiest when they were eating.

"Dad's going to go offer tribute to the Sun God, so you two start without me."

"Myaeng."

"Kkureuk."

Ji-oh headed straight up to the second-floor storage room for finished works. Several landscape paintings waited there. He went directly into the Breathing Sea.

As expected, the Sun God was overjoyed, and….

"……."

…gave him a gift.

"…What is this? A certificate?"

" "

"Then shouldn't I not accept it? It wasn't mine to begin with."

" "

"…Yes, I understand."

He still wasn't sure what it was, but it didn't seem harmful, so Ji-oh decided to accept it with gratitude.

(To be continued)