Newlyweds And Everyday Life (4)

“Oh yeah? Then what if I start nagging? Like—who told you to walk outside barefoot like that?!”

“Ugh! That’s not allowed. Double nagging?! That’s terrifying!”

Rurin clearly didn’t like that idea and lowered the phone from her ear.

“Oh, now I can’t hear it! Ah! Then if you nag, I lower it, and if you don’t, I raise it—total win! Hehe.”

Classic queen of “sweet, I’ll take it; bitter, I’ll spit it out”.

“Anyway, now that you know how calls work—let’s head back home!”

“There’s more?”

“Yeah. Still a few more things to show you.”

“This thing…is incredible.”

Rurin stared in awe, mouth agape. And I dragged her back home while she marveled.

After that, I continued teaching Rurin the basics in the same way.

I’d demonstrate it myself, then have her try it on her own—and after all that effort, I finally got her to understand the concept of phone numbers and phone calls.

So next, we moved on to texting. Again, I started with a demonstration.

“See? You can send a message like this.”

Dding—!

As I sent a text to Rurin’s phone, she looked at it with the smug expression of someone who was no longer startled by alert sounds.

“It’s not a call. It says a message arrived?”

“Yep, that’s right. Read it—that’s from me.”

“Really? I just tap this?”

Rurin tapped the screen lightly, and once she found the message, she started reading.

“Oooh. It’s writing! You sent this?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s like…a letter!”

“Exactly. That’s the idea. It’s like being able to send letters any time through your phone. And it only takes like a second—it’s super convenient.”

“Is that so? Then I wish we had this in our world! When you go off to work alone, we could do that phone-thing too!”

“That would be great, but honestly, it’s impossible. You don’t just need the phone—you need the whole network infrastructure too. Basically, it only works in this world.”

“So we can’t use it?”

“Nope. Just enjoy it while we’re here for the week.”

“That’s disappointing. But oh well. More importantly—I want to try sending a message too!”

“Sure. Just combine the letters I taught you and send me one.”

Nod nod.

Rurin nodded with fierce determination, and with some very awkward fingerwork tapped the screen, then pressed a few buttons slowly and deliberately—and once the message screen came up, she started tapping gently, carefully this time.

Her speed was…extremely slow.

She was basically hand-stitching each letter into the phone. It’s always like that at first—there’s nothing you can do.

Even I was faster than her, but I wasn’t exactly a texting pro either.

Earlier, she’d been sitting perfectly upright, nervously tapping the screen. Now that she was more used to it, she lay on the floor, legs crossed, and casually started tapping away.

She looked like some kid raised on smartphones from birth—it was kind of hilarious.

After waiting a while like that,

Dding—! The notification sound chimed.

I checked my phone—sure enough, a message had arrived.

Let’s see…

[Gu-d ae n-eo-eo-raniㆍ]

…What the heck is this? All that effort for this jumbled mess?

“Rurin… You’re the only one who could even try to read this.”

“Why not?”

“You didn’t even spell ‘geudae’ right. You’re supposed to write it as one word.”

“…Something went wrong! I’ll try again!”

Her competitive spirit kicked in, and she shot up into a sitting position, her face dead serious as she moved her fingers.

And then, after another long wait—

Well, with that much effort… I silently hoped she’d succeed this time.

Finally—Dding—! A new message.

Please let this one make sense… I carefully opened the message to read it. But just as I was about to read it,

Rurin suddenly jumped up and—

“KYAAAAAAAA!”

Dadadada! (rapid footsteps)

Screamed and bolted out the door.

What the…?

What did she send to react like that?

I stared at the door she vanished through, then turned my eyes back to the phone, and finally read the message.

This time, I actually got to read it.

[Geudae. Saranghanda]

The last character was still off. But I could totally read it. And her reaction made complete sense now.

Then the phone rang. Of course it was Rurin—she was clearly getting the hang of this.

“Hello?”

“Hehe, it’s me!”

“Yeah, I know. But seriously, what are you doing outside again? You went out barefoot, didn’t you?”

“More importantly—did you read it?”

“Yeah.”

“S-so, I managed to send it through text… I thought about it a lot, but I did it!”

“Okay, calm down, teenage girl confessing to her first crush—come back inside, dear.”

“Uuuh…?”

Suddenly her voice went all quiet.

Yep. This was definitely Rurin’s Rule #10 in action.

“Yeah. I love you too—so come on back.”

“……”

No reply.

Wait—after a pause, she finally answered.

“My love… Hearing it just through your voice feels like only half of you. I’m coming back—you have to say it again.”

“Oh come on—just get back in here.”

“Okay!”

With her thumping, Rurin kicked the door open and came running back in.

She marched straight up to me and declared:

“I’m back! So say it again—this time while looking at my face!”

“What? We’re done with that.”

“Why?!”

“What do you mean why?”

I just shrugged.

Then Rurin whipped out her phone and started angrily typing something.

Whoa—her speed leveled up.

Anger really does make dragons faster.

[You’re mean. Say it again.]

That was fast—and accurate!

Earlier, she must’ve been embarrassed trying to type “I love you,” so she kept erasing and retyping it—

That’s why it was so slow? Judging by her current speed and the message length, that had to be it.

“But like—why not just say it? Why send a text?”

“Fufu. Look below! I sent that thing you taught me!”

“Huh?”

There was another section in the message.

A blank line—and beneath it, something was written.

Well—not something. Just one special character.

A heart.

So yeah—she sent me a heart.

Her adaptability is insane.

“I mean, that was cute—but too late!”

Rurin might be too shy to say “I love you” all the time, but I believe in saying it only when it really matters—because that makes it more special.

So I don’t overuse it—and Rurin puffed up her cheeks like she’d just lost a battle.

“Anyway, we got way too into these phones. It’s already evening.”

“I was feeling hungry. But this was so cool, I held out.”

“Right? It’s too late to go out now—let’s cook at home. We’ve got that meat we bought anyway.”

“Oooh. The good stuff from earlier?”

Rurin nodded, visibly pleased.

So we put the phones away for now, set up a table and pulled out the portable gas stove—also known as a “brusta”—and placed it right on the floor table.

Then I placed a frying pan on top, and our meat grilling setup was complete. Sure, we could use the stove in the kitchen, but then we wouldn’t be able to sit together like this.

Grilling meat piece by piece together—that’s the true charm. I turned on the flame, heated the pan a bit, and tossed on some thin-cut brisket.

This kind of thin meat cooks almost instantly the moment it hits the pan. You’ve gotta eat it right as it sears.

“Rurin. Try some.”

“It smells great! Hehe.”

“Right?”

Rurin took the piece I handed her and popped it into her mouth.

She chewed.

And with a blissful look, she started nodding over and over.

“It’s so good! It’s so thin, but it just melts in my mouth!”

“Right?”

“Now I want beer! This needs beer with it!”

“It’s in the fridge.”

“Oooh! Glorious beer!”

Rurin dashed to the fridge like lightning and grabbed a can.

She was about to crack it open, when she suddenly went, “Ah!” and stopped in her tracks, turning around to do something.

“What? What are you doing?”

I asked as I watched her awkward behavior, and all I got in return was: “It’s a secret.”

“Nothing!”

Yeah, right.

“My love. Grill this too!”

“Huh?”

The “secret” turned out to be—a very familiar mushroom.

“Hey—wait, is that…?”

Yup. That was definitely a Sekun mushroom.

The exact same one we told the Kuns to use as a weapon.

“It tastes good grilled—so I got a few.”

“I kept them fresh with magic, so they’re perfectly fine. Hehe.”

“Hold on. You seriously brought that just because it tastes good? I doubt it.”

“Uh—o-of course that’s why!”

Busted. Now she’s overreacting.

Back on the day we parted ways with the Kuns, Rurin had spent some time wandering behind the big gate.

Whether she threatened or sweet-talked them, who knows—but she came back loaded with these mushrooms. If you grill and throw these at me—I’ll turn to stone.

Let’s be real—she’s definitely after that.

“Miss Rurin, what exactly are you planning once I turn to stone?”

“Uh—nothing?”

Nice try. I see right through you. Alright then—time to drop some shocking truth on her.

To stop Lady Rurin from weaponizing Sekun mushrooms again, I told her something important.

“Rurin. Remember how you thought you lose consciousness when you turn to stone?”

“You said you couldn’t remember anything?”

“Yeah, I said that.”

“Well, turns out—even as a statue, I was completely aware.”

“……”

Rurin just froze, mouth open, in total silence.

A moment passed.

She slowly came to her senses—well, her shocked expression stayed—but she sprang to her feet.

“WH-WHAT?! That’s not fairrrrr!”

“Yeah well—I didn’t know either.”

“Ughhh UGHHH! Then, then…”

“Yep. I saw everything you did.”

“Uugh… That’s…!”

Rurin collapsed and buried her face in her hands. Judging by how red her ears were, she was at peak embarrassment.

“It’s all in the past. Come on—meat time.”

I tossed more meat onto the pan.

As it sizzled and that savory smell filled the room, Rurin started creeping out of her sulk. Then she quietly pulled out something else—and slammed it onto the pan.

“What is it this time?”

“This one’s different.”

“Yeah, it does look different, I’ll give you that.”

It was still a mushroom, but this one—I hadn’t seen it in the ruin.

And it definitely wasn’t from a supermarket. It looked way too unique.

“The Kuns gave it to me! Hehe.”

“The Kuns?”

“They said they found it behind the big gate. It’s supposedly a legendary mushroom they’d only heard about in stories.”

“Seriously? A legendary mushroom? What does it do? All the mushrooms there have special effects.”

“Hm. I’m not sure. But they said it’s good for males.”

“For men?”

“Yep! I don’t know why exactly—but they said it’s good, so eat it!”

“I acquired it just for you! Not stole. Got.”

“I see.”

So like… stamina-boosting maybe?

If it’s good for males, that tracks.

“Well, let’s try it.”

“I’m sticking with meat!”

Rurin looked so proud—like all her past failures and embarrassment had been deleted—as she chugged her beer and took another bite of meat.

“Kyaaaah!”

And with a look of pure bliss, she nodded enthusiastically.