#249: Newlyweds And Everyday Life (3) — The Archmage's Restaurant

I looked in the direction the mother might be in.

But there was no one in that direction who looked like the boy’s mother.

Instead, someone came running toward us from the opposite direction.

“Inseong!”

Since she called his name, she must’ve been his mother.

The boy, who barely reacted to me and only slightly responded to Rurin, suddenly took off running dramatically toward the voice calling his name.

Soon the mother and child reunited, and Rurin watched the scene and nodded.

“I gave away the chocolate bar.”

“Forget the chocolate bar—didn’t you used to complain about Selly all the time? What’s with the change?”

“Looking for your mother is sad. I cried because of my mom too, remember?”

Yeah.

I did cry in her arms when I first heard the news about my parents.

And Rurin cried even harder when she heard about hers.

To have those memories resurface just by seeing a lost child… That made another thought pop into my head.

“Rurin.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think we’d be good at raising a child if we had one?”

At my sudden question, Rurin tilted her head.

“Our child?”

“Yeah.”

“I’d be the mom?”

“Exactly.”

“Like my mom?”

“Your mom… She gave her life for you, but honestly, I’d never want a situation like that to happen.”

“Sounds like it would be hard. But if it’s our child, it’s fine. Other kids are not.”

“What do you mean by ‘other kids’?”

“Like…cheating? Someone once said those should be killed.”

Rurin scrunched her face like she was trying to recall something.

Who the hell taught her that?

“Anyway, let’s move.”

Nod nod.

Leaving the lost child incident behind, we finally escaped the snack aisle.

After that, we continued shopping without any more incidents.

We picked up all the household necessities for our rented place, and also bought some high-quality Korean beef—Rurin’s favorite—to grill either today or tomorrow morning.

Of course, we grabbed Rurin’s favorite beer too, and with the cart filled to the brim, we charged toward the checkout.

It took a while just to ring everything up, and we finally left the register with a mountain of shopping bags.

I was thinking we’d just hop in a taxi and head straight home, when I noticed Rurin had stopped and was staring at something.

“Rurin? What’s up?”

She had stopped in front of a phone store.

The look of the phones must’ve fascinated her—her eyes were full of curiosity.

“My love, what is this thing? It’s square and thin. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Ah, smartphones.

Truth be told, I haven’t really used one either. I only learned about them during my last trip to Korea.

“It’s something called a phone.”

I gave her the simplest explanation.

“Phone? What’s that?”

But there’s no such concept in her world, so of course she didn’t get it.

Rurin’s magical translation ability only works for concepts that exist in her world. If the idea doesn’t exist over there, she can’t grasp it.

“A phone lets you have conversations, like…”

“What’s a conversation?”

At this rate, I felt like we’d be stuck in a never-ending loop of “what’s that?”

So I decided—we’re buying it. Figured trying it wouldn’t be a bad experience anyway.

“Well, we won’t be able to use it in the other world, but we might as well try it while we’re here.”

“Really? I have no idea what it is, but is it good?”

“It can be…or not? Depends.”

“What kind of answer is that?”

Rurin tilted her head with a “what the hell kind of answer is that” expression.

But I had a feeling this was going to be fun—so I signed us up for two smartphones on the spot.

Naturally, Rurin’s mind magic had to help us get through the ID verification process again.

After going through all that complicated paperwork, we finally had smartphones in our hands. Both of us—completely new to this strange modern invention.

“Let’s try it out when we get home.”

Rurin had shopping bags packed full in both hands.

And my hands were full of bags too, so we grabbed a taxi and headed home. It was a nearby store, so the ride didn’t take long.

Rurin still had that face—the “what even is this phone” kind of look.

While I shoved the cold and frozen groceries into their proper places in the fridge, and started stacking snacks on shelves and random corners of the house, Rurin was just staring at the phone box, turning it over this way and that.

“You really are that curious?”

“Of course. The unknown always makes you curious.”

“Alright then. Let’s satisfy that curiosity. Go ahead, open the box.”

“Understood!”

With lightning-fast fingers, Rurin started unboxing it. Watching her, I opened mine too.

What came out was a sleek, black smartphone.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure I’d even be able to use it properly.

Back before I crossed over to the other world, the computers I used were from the 386-to-486 transition era.

If you don’t know it—study it.

It’s not like I had zero concept.

I’d gotten a rough explanation during my last visit.

So I started reading the manual. But reading the whole thing was giving me a headache, so I decided to focus just on the basic features.

Reading it felt like prepping for an exam. And then I could feel Rurin’s intense stare, so I looked up.

Sure enough, our eyes met.

No doubt—she’d been watching me the whole time.

She was resting her chin on both hands, quietly breathing, just staring straight at me, which was honestly sort of embarrassing.

“Why are you just sitting like that? Want to snack while you wait? I’ll teach you once I figure it out.”

“Alright.”

She answered, but didn’t budge. Her gaze still burned into me like a laser beam.

“Rurin? Aren’t you bored just sitting there?”

“Not really.”

“Seriously?”

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you focus that seriously on something.

“So I like watching you.”

“…Oh. Okay, then.”

“Yep!”

She can never say “I love you” out loud, but she throws out heart-melting lines like that so effortlessly.

She’s honestly a mystery.

Since she said she liked watching me, I ignored her laser eyes and buried my face back in the manual.

Holding the manual in one hand, and the phone in the other, I kept testing things out for a while. I was honestly amazed by what this phone could do.

Technology had come so far.

At this point, it felt more impressive than actual magic. The fact that you could just tap a screen and access so many features—felt like a revolution.

I didn’t need to learn everything, so I just focused on calls, texts, and the camera function.

I wasn’t planning to dive into things like the internet—that would just get too complicated.

It’s not like we’d be using it forever, since neither the internet, nor calls, nor texts would work once we went back to the other world anyway.

The camera might be the only feature we could use back there.

Anyway, I kept fumbling around with the phone for quite a while.

Finally, I got the hang of the basics—and stretched. It was the kind of stretch that comes with a sense of accomplishment.

“Rurin. All done! That was boring, huh?”

Rurin was…

asleep.

And she said watching me focus was exciting?

Well… That is very Rurin.

“Miss Rurin, rise and shine. You’re drooling.”

“Whuhh? You’re done?”

At my words, she quickly lifted her head, her expression dazed and confused.

“Did you sleep well? Because what you said earlier and what you’re doing now don’t really match up.”

“I wasn’t sleeping! I was watching!”

The audacity…

“Wipe your drool before you lie to me.”

“Ehk?!”

At the word “drool,” Rurin let out a weird yelp—then thump-ran to the bathroom.

She came stomping back shortly after.

“I wasn’t drooling! You tricked me!”

“Falling for it proves you were asleep.”

I gave her the smug look of a victor and shrugged.

Rurin groaned and shut her mouth.

“Ah—wait, that’s not the point. So what the heck is this thing?”

In the end, she used her sneaky topic-switching skill and pointed at the phone in front of me.

“I’ll show you now. Come here.”

Nod nod.

I patted the space in front of me, and Rurin came over and leaned her back against my chest. With her in my arms, I started walking her through how the phone worked.

“Okay, try holding this.”

Nod nod.

Rurin followed my instructions and held the phone in her hand.

“When it turns on, it looks like this. You use this button on the side to turn it on and off.”

“Oooh?! It lights up! What a strange thing. Is it like a lamp?”

She probably remembered when I told her about fluorescent and LED lights before, but this had nothing to do with that.

As I wondered how to explain it, I figured we’d start with the most basic feature—trying a phone call would be the quickest way to understand. So I turned on my phone and called Rurin’s number.

As soon as the ringtone played, Rurin flinched and almost threw the phone. I quickly caught her wrist before she could launch it—and gently brought the phone to her ear.

“Why would you throw it? Just hold it to your ear and try talking.”

“To my ear? This thing?”

“Yeah.”

“Just say anything?”

“Yup. Go for it.”

“Ahem. I am Rurin!”

I said “say anything” and she really did—she introduced herself to the phone. Who introduces themselves to a phone?

She even tilted her head back with a “Did I do good?” face.

With her head leaned back, her black hair gently swayed and trailed along the floor.

“No. What it actually does is, it lets us talk even when we’re far apart. Here—keep it by your ear. Don’t take it off, okay? I’m just going to step outside for a bit.”

“Wait, what? Where are you going?! Take me with you!”

“It’s fine, really. I’ll just be a minute.”

“Just a minute? Fine then—hurry back!”

“Okay.”

Rurin pouted a little but nodded.

Thankfully, she kept the phone to her ear like I asked.

Once I saw that, I stepped outside and spoke into my phone.

“Rurin. Can you hear me?”

“Whaaat?! My love?! Where are you? You went outside but I still hear you!”

“That voice you hear is coming from what’s by your ear.”

“From this?”

“Yeah.”