“Is it really all done?”
“Of course.”
When I put the spinach into the bubbling water, the stiff leaves collapsed with a soft sound. The light green color deepened and it quickly became soft. After blanching for about thirty seconds, I immediately put it into cold water to remove the heat.
“Now I just need to season it.”
“That fast…”
“Yes.”
I pressed the spinach firmly with my hands to remove the water. I moved the moist spinach into a mixing bowl.
Then I added one spoon of garlic, one spoon of soup soy sauce, and one spoon of perilla oil one after another. The more I mixed it, the savory smell of the perilla oil rose gently.
“Seasoned spinach is one of the easiest side dishes in the world!”
Finally when I sprinkled sesame salt, fine white dots settled on the green spinach.
“It’s finished!”
At the word that it was finished the jangseung stared hard at the mixing bowl.
“Is it finished?”
“Yes. Would you like to try some?”
Then Haetae tapped the counter with his plump front paws.
“No way, me first, nya.”
“Haetae ah~.”
I held one stem of spinach with chopsticks and brought it in front of Haetae’s mouth. He opened his mouth wide with sparkling eyes. As soon as the spinach went in his tail stood straight up.
“How is it?”
“Nyaaaaang…! The savory perilla oil smell stimulates the appetite, nya.”
Haetae stood his tail straight and let out a long cry. This reaction means it is delicious!
“It’s delicious!”
“The seasoning is just right, nya.”
“Is there anything lacking?”
“That’s right, nya! Give me one more, nya!”
While blocking Haetae’s mouth that was asking for more with my palm I turned my head toward the jangseung.
“Jangseung-nim, please try one bite too.”
“May I open my mouth?”
“Yes? Yes!”
The jangseung hesitated as if shy and carefully opened his mouth wide. Through the gap that looked like cracked tree bark the inside was clearly visible.
Growth rings…?
I trembled slightly. Hundreds of years of time were fully contained inside.
“If it is scary I am sorry.”
“No. I will put the seasoned spinach in now!”
As soon as I put the seasoned spinach in the jangseung opened his eyes wide and admired.
“It is delicious!”
“Really?”
“Miss Jigu, please try the taste quickly too.”
With a pounding heart I rolled the seasoned spinach and put it into my mouth.
Because the spinach was only lightly blanched the crispness burst out. It was a little tough and had a grassy smell so it was not perfect, but the perilla oil warmly wrapped the roughness.
“Wow…!”
The sharp taste of garlic was also gently wrapped by the perilla oil so it was not stimulating and a deep savory taste filled my mouth richly. This level is enough!
“Can I give it like this? Jangseung-nim?”
“That is more than enough.”
I took out a plastic side dish container and neatly packed the seasoned spinach.
The completion of food is plating!
Originally the first taste of food is felt not by the tongue but by the eyes. The neatness of the arrangement is much more important than expected.
I arranged the shape so the spinach stems stretched evenly and lightly sprinkled sesame salt.
With the sound of the lid sealing with a ‘click’ a sense of satisfaction like pressing the completion button of a long quest rushed in.
I raised my head, looked at the jangseung, and smiled.
“Jangseung customer. Can I give it now?”
“Please give it.”
I put the container into a paper bag written ‘Hyang-suk’s Side Dish Shop’ and held it out toward the jangseung.
“The seasoned spinach you ordered is ready!”
When the jangseung received the paper bag the tree bark on his face moved and a smile spread.
“Finally… thank you for helping me leave a good memory. I think it was good that I came.”
Holding the paper bag the jangseung raised his hand. Even that one gesture carried heavy weight.
“…Will we be able to meet again next time?”
“Well. I do not know that either. But if there is a connection will we not meet again?”
In the calm and plain voice a strange lingering feeling was mixed. I looked at the back of the jangseung who opened the shop door and went out, then lowered my head and greeted.
“Please come again next time, customer!”
When the door closed with a click, the unique energy that had been lingering inside the shop until just now disappeared.
“…It feels like a tornado swept through once.”
I muttered to myself and moved my steps toward the kitchen. But then.
“Haetae!”
Haetae had buried his face in the mixing bowl and was busily eating the seasoned spinach.
…That glutton.
Jangseung. Age nine hundred.
A guardian spirit made by humans to protect the village.
For a long time he guarded one place. He listened to the voices of the village people and quietly protected them. Then one day a small ripple rose in his peaceful daily life.
‘Mom! Mom!’
‘Yes? Arin.’
‘What is this big tree?’
A little girl tilted her head back as far as she could and looked up at the jangseung. The jangseung looked down at that small child. She was still tender and delicate, the last child remaining in this village.
‘It is the guardian spirit that protects our village.’
‘Guardian spirit?’
‘Yes, this Jangseung Grandfather will protect our Arin.’
Words spoken casually to match the eye level of a young child. But Arin who believed those words with sincerity came to the jangseung every day and poured out her true feelings.
‘Guardian spirit. Guardian spirit.’
‘…’
‘My mom is sick. Can you help so she does not hurt?’
‘…’
‘She does not even eat the side dishes she likes…’
He must not give his heart to such a child. It was a prayer that he must not dare answer.
‘Dad said. My mom will go up to the sky…. So he told me to prepare my heart. Why do I have to do that?’
Looking at the small young child who could not hold back tears and was sobbing, the jangseung realized how powerless a being he was. A god who could not even offer words of comfort.
Becoming a god means not being able to carelessly interfere in human affairs.
Having personal feelings for humans means putting down one’s existence as a god.
So he must not give his heart to Arin. Even so the jangseung gave up the life of a ‘god’ and ended up speaking to a human. And in human form at that.
‘Hello.’
‘…Who are you?’
‘I am a person from the next village.’
‘Why is your way of speaking like that?’
‘I learned it this way from my parents.’
‘…Your way of speaking is funny.’
That way they became close not as human and god but as human and human.
Speaking openly to each other,
pouring out their true feelings to each other,
the barriers between god and human disappeared.
Time passed, and what the grown-up Arin handed to the jangseung was none other than a wedding invitation.
‘This is a wedding invitation.’
‘…Marriage?’
‘Yes. I am getting married. To the person I like. So… I hope you, the most precious one to me, will also come.’
A guardian spirit cannot leave the root where he was born. So to leave he needed the resolve to throw away everything. Resolve to throw away more than when he threw away the life of a god.
So he called the company and made a request. He wanted to give her a gift, and to leave this place.
‘Your divine power may all disappear. Is that okay?’
‘That is so.’
‘What is a mere human that you throw away your qualification as a god like that?’
‘Well. I do not know that either.’
The jangseung recalled Arin smiling brightly. He hoped her smile would always shine brightly on the world.
‘While protecting the village I may have naturally given my heart to a human, is that not so?’
Holding the paper bag the jangseung set out following the promise with her. She was sitting on the old bench where they always talked. Only one small streetlight was softly illuminating her.
“Arin.”
“Oh. When did you come?”
“This.”
The jangseung handed the paper bag to her.
“What is this?”
“Side dish.”
“Side dish?”
“The side dish you said your mother made and that you always bragged you liked the most.”
The hand offering it tried to look as natural as possible, but the end trembled slightly.
“Wow……! It’s the seasoned spinach I like the most. But I’m on a diet for the wedding so I can’t eat it now!”
“You can eat it later…”
Arin looked into the paper bag for a long time, then raised her head and looked at the jangseung.
“But why are you suddenly giving this?”
“You said you have not been eating well these days.”
“That’s true but. This is the first time you are giving me something.”
The jangseung slowly nodded.
“You said your body hurts. Is something really going on?”
Arin’s worried eyes turned toward the jangseung. He did not have the courage to face that gaze straight on. He slightly turned his gaze to the side and spoke lowly.
“Nothing is going on.”
“Really, really nothing?”
“Yes. So congratulations on your marriage…”
“Still, receiving congratulations from my closest friend feels good.”
Those words touched something in the jangseung’s chest. It was the last time. She was the one he would never be able to see again.
“Arin.”
“Why?”
“Arin.”
“Why, why are you calling me?”
Arin tilted her head as if puzzled. The jangseung’s voice was full of an unknown heavy sadness.
“Will you remember me?”
“Of course I will remember. Is that even a question?”
“Of course, of course……”
With those words the jangseung was satisfied.
“I will also of course remember you.”
“…Huh?”
“Arin.”
“What does that mean…”
At that moment. Before Arin’s words finished, all the divine power that had been dwelling deep inside the jangseung’s body began to scatter like sand. His breath sank heavily, and the human form he had been trying hard to maintain also collapsed together.
The change started from the fingertips. They became thin pieces like tree bark and slowly scattered in the wind.
“Arin.”
That voice brushed Arin’s ear like a breeze.
“I will remember you for my whole life.”
Arin stretched out her hand without time to think. She had to hold on. If these fingertips did not hold him, it felt like he would disappear forever.
But the jangseung firmly pushed her hand away. The more his body became transparent, the more affectionate his smile became.
“Where are you going…?”
Arin’s voice was trembling. But he could not say any words. With the last remaining strength stretching out his hand and touching her cheek was all he could do.
“If only I could have continued to protect you, if only I could have stayed by your side I would have had no regrets……”
The moment Arin’s trembling gaze became blurry, the jangseung disappeared into the countless starlights of the sky.
At the same time Arin blankly looked at the empty air and then slowly blinked once.
Click.
The sound of fingers snapping. Her mind became distant for a moment and then returned, and her body swayed slightly.
“Huh…?”
After collecting herself Arin looked down at the paper bag in her hand. An emotion that was neither unfamiliar nor familiar rose chaotically.
“Why was I here.”
She carelessly looked behind. There was a memory that faintly rose from the far side of memory.
“Originally, there should have been a jangseung here…”
In the voice trailing off an emotion that even Arin herself could not explain brushed the tip of her tongue.
Looking at the side dish container inside the bag Arin muttered.
“It’s seasoned spinach…?”
The next day.
“It is really empty……”
I propped my elbows on the table and blankly looked outside the shop. On the quiet afternoon only the sound of the clock’s second hand uniquely entered my ears.
At that moment.
“Oh.”
A young woman looked around and opened the shop door. Her neatly tied hair and calm impression stood out.
“Welcome, Hyang-suk’s Side Dish Shop!”
“Is this the place……?”
She looked around and then met my eyes. Then she carefully held out a paper bag.
“This is the bag used here, right?”
“Oh, yes. It is!”
Somehow a strange sense of relief was on her expression.
“I ate the seasoned spinach and it tasted exactly like my mom’s hand taste. It was something I missed so much…. Do you happen to sell it today too?”
…That customer.
The person the jangseung wanted so much to protect, that person.
“Yes! We are selling it today too. I will pack it right away.”
“I see…. Boss, then I will pay by card.”
“Yes. I received the card.”
Even after finishing the payment she stood in front of the shop door and hesitated.
“Um…. If you sell seasoned spinach from time to time could you contact me?”
“Yes, of course!”
She bit her lower lip as if holding back tears and said.
“Ah, why am I like this these days. Thank you, I will come again.”
“Even if I do not contact you, if you want to eat seasoned spinach just come. I will make it specially for you.”
“Boss, thank you.”
A soft wind blew into the shop. Riding that wind, a wooden hand quietly appeared in front of the praise sticker board.
The hand that firmly pressed and attached one spinach-shaped sticker awkwardly made a heart toward me as if saying thank you. And that hand sparkled like grains of sand under the sunlight and scattered away.
Soon a transparent window appeared in front of my eyes.
You obtained good deed points and the shop detailed information has been unlocked.
Han Jigu
- Local reputation: 30 (The love-room rumor is seeping into every corner of the neighborhood alleys.)
- Divine realm reputation: 15 (The reputation of the side dishes has begun to spread among gods and ■■.)
- Good deed points: 3 (Reward unlock conditions not met)
Business status
Today’s number of customers: 3/30 people
Number of regulars: 2 people
Wait.
“Regulars…”
Two people?
