This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 520

“Surely…”

So that’s what my parents were worried about.

I used to think they just didn’t trust us kids, but after coming back today from being discharged for the first time in months, I finally began to understand why they felt the way they did.

“…Sister?”

“Uh, yeah?”

Even I wondered if there was a hint of guilt buried deep inside.

The slight tremor in her voice responding to my call suggested that just might be the case.

“Well, that’s somewhat of a relief.”

If there wasn’t even that, I would have truly struggled to find a way to start this conversation…

Thanks to Chae-rim’s reaction, akin to a thief caught in the act, it became relatively easier to bring up the topic.

“You know, I don’t really say anything about you drinking, right?”

“Ah, I know…”

Yeah, I had never once called out Chae-rim for drinking.

It wasn’t that I didn’t care about her.

More so… I figured there was no point in saying such things.

After all, Chae-rim is a superhuman.

She’s classified as ‘Special-Class,’ a level recognized for genuinely surpassing human limits. Unless it involved overwhelming amounts of alcohol, having a beer or two post-work wouldn’t affect her.

So, I never really said anything…

But that changes the moment we’re having this talk.

“If you’ve had something to drink, you should have cleaned up.”

“I was going to, but…”

“I thought you used to do recycling pretty well…”

“I’ve been kind of out of it lately…”

“Right, I know. You’re busy.”

It’s probably obvious when you consider there are more nights she works late than when she gets off on time.

And this is likely why things ended up this way.

She knew she should clean up after herself, but being so tired and busy caused her to neglect it.

That has to be it.

Which means, from now on, she can start putting in a bit of effort again.

“I think it might be best for you to stay away from alcohol for a while.”

“What…?”

Chae-rim, who generally eats whatever is served to her without complaints, might have been looking forward to enjoying some LA ribs while having a drink, considering it’s been a while.

When I suggested taking a break from drinking for a while, she made a bit of a sour expression, but that didn’t mean I was letting her off the hook.

“You think so too, right?”

With that, I smiled, and Chae-rim nodded her head with a look that clearly said she was reluctant.

“Then, I’ll be cooking dinner in the kitchen, so you can clean this up and come out when I call you for the meal, okay?”

“Yeah…”

With that, I encouraged Chae-rim to clean up her mess and returned to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

“Let’s see, the set menu includes…”

For Yoonseo, there’s pork cutlet and kimchi stew, and for Chae-rim, LA ribs… then there’s the spring rolls and mille-feuille hot pot that the Senior and Bora requested.

I was already worried the menu was skewed heavily toward meat, but by adding the requests from the Senior and Bora, it should strike a decent balance.

“So, the first thing I need to do is…”

I should start marinating the meat for the ribs.

Back in the day, I would have soaked the meat in cold water for a few hours to get rid of the blood before marinating it.

Nowadays, unless it’s imported or frozen meat, there’s really no need for that, making it easier to cook.

Well, it still needs to be washed, though.

“Brr, it’s cold.”

As I put on rubber gloves for the first time in ages and started neatly prepping the meat for the ribs, I wondered if I should also ask Miya to change the litter in the restroom.

Just then, Yoonseo appeared, either greeting me after a week apart or maybe feeling wary, but the way her tail swayed with each movement was striking.

“What are you doing?”

She started to circle around me while asking.

“What?”

“What is it?”

“Didn’t you have something to say to me?”

“Ah, no, I didn’t.”

“Not at all… I know you too well.”

The way Yoonseo was poking around my space clearly indicated she had something she wanted to discuss.

How can I be so sure?

Because it’s always been like that.

It’s never been otherwise.

“Well, what is it then?”

“Um, I was just wondering if there’s anything I can help with.”

Seeing Yoonseo, of all people, wanting to help makes me think she must have something else she’d like to ask.

What could it be?

What kind of favor could she possibly want that she’d try to butter me up like this?

I was intensely curious but decided not to pry just yet.

And I wasn’t going to decline her outstretched hand for help either.

Unless it was a ridiculously odd request, I typically had a high chance of accepting Yoonseo’s pleas, so if that’s how it would turn out anyway, why not take it and get some peace of mind?

I was just about overwhelmed trying to do everything on my own, so this was perfect.

“Really? Um… Then can you help me score the meat?”

I casually asked for something simple enough that Yoonseo could handle, and it seemed she had been waiting for me to say it.

Yoonseo nodded eagerly.

Just as she was about to dive in, I immediately stopped her.

“Hey, hey, hey, if you’re going to do it, at least put on some gloves.”

“Huh? Gloves? Plastic gloves?”

“That’s fine, or you can wear these like I am.”

Maybe the cooking latex gloves I was wearing looked much fancier to her than the plastic ones.

She rummaged through the drawer and pulled out one of the pairs I had set aside for myself, raising her hands toward me.

It looked like she was showing me the backs of her hands.

“What are you even doing…?”

I just asked her to score the meat, and here she is pretending to be a surgeon.

“Ugh, gloves!”

Anyone passing by would think she was preparing for a heart transplant or something.

At least from the look on her face, that’s how it came across.

Caught off guard, I couldn’t help but let out a smirk, but since it had come to this, I decided to indulge in her little play.

“Here you go.”

Saying this, I helped slip the gloves onto her hands, seeming to please her quite a bit.

“Mm.”

Yoonseo looked unusually serious, nodding with grave expression and focus while she prepared to handle the meat.

“So, what’s today’s procedure?”

“600 grams of rib meat for LA ribs.”

“600 grams of ribs, huh… That’ll be quite a challenging surgery.”

I must’ve lost my mind somewhere along the way.

In the past, I would have smacked her on the forehead for the nonsense, but the way she was acting was cute now.

“When you start finding your partner cute, isn’t that a real danger sign?” someone once probably said.

But it seems she felt a bit embarrassed too.

The way her ears peeked out from her hair turned a bright shade of red suggested as much.

As I handed her the clean ribs to score, she suddenly spoke in a half-squeaking voice.

“Hey, by the way…”

“Yeah?”

“If you’re helping your sister, does that mean you’ll be with her all day?”

“Well, we’ll see how it goes, but it’ll probably be like that.”

I used “probably,” but it was likely to be true.

Honestly, this was kind of the condition under which I was released from isolation.

So, the chances were high.

But why was she asking?

“Then… you must be really busy, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Especially since Chae-rim tends to be quite busy.

So I figured I would also get busy helping her, but…

Maybe that’s not the answer she expected from me.

While waiting for my response, Yoonseo’s expression drooped as she perked her ears cutely.

This left me blinking in confusion, wondering if I had said something wrong.