Chapter 54: The Typhoon and Marbles (2)

“First, dry off and change your clothes. Then come downstairs. We can dry the laundry in the empty space at the lair construction site.”

“Got it…”

Sniffling, Rurin trudged upstairs. Leaving her alone up there made me uneasy, so I decided to follow her up.

Rurin had already tossed her wet clothes aside and was holding a towel, looking thoroughly annoyed.

“Typical of you…”

“Hey, you!”

Rurin came running toward me with the towel in her hand, clearly expecting me to help her dry off.

With a resigned sigh, I started drying her off.

“Put on your clothes yourself. Change and come downstairs.”

After giving her a firm command, I went back downstairs.

Now, perhaps it’s time to cook something.

Since we hadn’t had lunch yet, I craved something warm. A dish that would warm the body from the inside out.

There are many dishes that can warm you up, but right now, soup dishes are dancing around in my mind.

Given the howling wind and rain, a spicy soup would be perfect.

“Hey, you!”

Rurin had already changed and came running up behind me. What is with this speed?

If left alone to change, she takes forever. She’s an incredibly slow dragon when it comes to getting dressed.

“Since it’s cold, be my heater! Your back is warm!”

Rurin suddenly gave me a back hug, nearly making me drop the knife I was holding. It was the sensation against my back that almost made me lose my grip.

I had provided her with a variety of modern underwear, but she wasn’t wearing any. She wasn’t wearing any! This darn dragon…

I found myself catching my breath for no reason.

Holding a knife while she clung to me like this was quite dangerous.

I took a deep breath and tried to sound stern.

“Hey! What are you thinking, jumping on me while I’m holding a knife? You could’ve made me drop it on my foot! Please assess the situation before leaping, Miss Dragon.”

“But it’s cold! I can’t help it!”

Rurin showed no intention of letting go. I could feel her rubbing her cheek against my back. Well, her cheek I could tolerate… No, actually, I couldn’t.

Miss Dragon, you need to let go if I’m going to cook.

“If you’re cold, cover yourself with a blanket. Aren’t you hungry? If you keep clinging like this, you’ll have to go without food.”

“I don’t like that. Cook! I’m hungry!”

“Then let go.”

“No!”

“You said you’re hungry, didn’t you?”

“Cook while I stay like this!”

“Are you trying to start a fight?”

“Hehehe! How did you know!”

Rurin pouted, acting like she didn’t want anything, yet clung tighter to me.

Her arms wrapped firmly around my chest, clearly challenging me. If it’s a challenge, I’ll take it. Bring it on.

“Alright, let’s do this.”

I put the knife down, lowered my hands, and started tickling Rurin’s waist. **Tickle-tickle—**

“Hahahaha! Stop that!”

“Then let go!”

“Kya-ha-ha, your hands—he-he—my waist is ticklish! Stop it!”

We both descended into chaos. I tried to pry her off while Rurin attempted to hold on, resulting in a flurry of movement.

Eventually, Rurin, unable to withstand the tickling, glared at me as she backed away. It was effectively a declaration of surrender.

Tickling her had been exhausting, but I’d barely managed to win.

Rurin, whose waist was extremely sensitive to tickling, had laughed herself out of breath and now panted heavily.

“Hah, hah, hah!”

“You, you, I told you I’m ticklish! I did!”

Tears glistened in the corners of Rurin’s eyes from all the laughter, so I turned my back on her. Looking at her any longer and I might get sucked in again.

“If you’ve surrendered, go sit down. If you don’t want to starve, stop fooling around.”

“You, you, you… but thanks to you, I’m not cold anymore!”

“Oh, really? You laughed so hard your blood pressure went up, huh?”

“I’m not cold, so I’ll let you off.”

Rurin, as if doing me a favor, went to sit at the bar table. She picked up a fork.

“I let you off, so give me food! Right now, right now!”

“Dragon, do you think you could catch a flying kitchen knife if I threw it? Who’s been interfering until now?”

“And who would that be?”

The dragon played dumb. Of course, if I actually threw a kitchen knife at her, it wouldn’t kill her. She’d either dodge it effortlessly, or even if it hit her, she’d be fine.

Still, I couldn’t actually throw it.

I didn’t want even a scratch or a drop of blood.

Still, she was being too cheeky to just let it slide, so I pulled on her cheeks hard. They stretched easily; her soft cheeks were quite elastic.

“What are you doing to me!”

Finding this amusing, I gave her cheeks a few more tugs, then coolly turned my back to her and resumed cooking. Rurin began rubbing her cheeks, glaring at me, but ignoring her was the best option.

Today’s lunch would be a soup dish.

As I mentioned earlier, with the rain pouring down, I craved something warm and brothy. And among soup dishes, a Korean-style one.

Today, I felt like having Korean food.

Recently, I’d been cooking mostly Western dishes, but with the storm outside, thoughts of home were strong today.

I envisioned **kalguksu** in my mind. [1]

I’ll make a **kalguksu** that even the dragon will marvel at.

I placed a whole pallenque on the cutting board. I carefully removed all the parts that might have an odor, starting with the innards.

For **kalguksu**, it’s got to be a rich chicken broth.

Making chicken **kalguksu** isn’t particularly difficult. It’s a simple Korean dish that anyone can make.

As long as you’re willing to put in a bit of effort.

In the modern world, you could just buy ready-made **kalguksu** noodles and add them to the broth, but here I make the noodles from scratch using flour.

As a professional chef, I have to make an effort. Even though it’s a bit of work, I knead the flour to make the noodles.

For the dough, I use a pounding attack spell that makes it smoother and more elastic than hand-kneaded or foot-kneaded dough. Of course, I’ve already prepared the dough.

So the key here is the broth.

First, I score the pallenque along the bones, breaking it down and blanching it in salted water.

It should be boiled for about five minutes. It’s just blanching, after all.

This step is crucial for removing the fat and any gamey odor.

“Oh, oh, that’s…!”

Rurin immediately recognized the smell of the pallenque and sniffed the air eagerly. She loved pallenque. Her face showed eager anticipation as she sniffed the air more intently.

“Yes, I’m making a broth with this.”

“Just smelling it is making me hungrier.”

Rurin nodded and slumped down again.

Chicken bones create a rich broth, and the meat makes a clearer broth, but for chicken **kalguksu**, it’s best to use both. At least, that’s my preference.

There’s no fixed recipe in cooking; you can adapt as needed.

“If you’re hungry, help me out, Dragon. It’s hard to do this alone.”

“Will it go faster if I help?”

“Of course.”

I gave her a sly smile, and Rurin seemed to be lured into the kitchen as if under a spell. Of course, her helping wouldn’t actually speed things up. At least, not with a soup dish where you need to prepare a broth.

To make a rich broth, you start with cold water and add the pallenque. I tossed the pallenque into the pot, along with a whole onion and roughly chopped white parts of leeks, tossing those in as well.

Adding whole peppercorns helps to neutralize any residual odors. If you want a broth with a cleaner aftertaste, you should add whole peppercorns.

And now, a not-so-secret, secret tip.

Chicken releases a substance called inosinic acid.

Inosinic acid enhances the flavor of glutamic acid found in shiitake mushrooms. When shiitake mushrooms, which enhance the umami of meat, meet chicken with inosinic acid, the umami flavor explodes.

So, for chicken **kalguksu**, I add dried shiitake mushrooms instead of fresh ones. You shouldn’t add too much, or it could overpower the flavor, so a moderate amount is best.

Then let it simmer for 30 minutes.

“What do I do?”

“Keep an eye on the fireball, and when foam forms in the broth, skim it off.”

“And what about you?”

“I’ll be making the noodles.”

“Alright. Cooking is difficult. Hmph.”

Although not entirely reassuring, I left the dragon to manage the broth while I focused on making the noodles. Rurin stood there, trying her best to skim off the foam as it formed.

But after about 20 minutes, Rurin, holding the skimmer, started to nod off.

Dozing off in front of a fire? Was she trying to get burned?

Nod, nod, nod.

Rurin’s head bobbed up and down right over the pot.

It was dangerously unsafe.

“Hey! Oh, for goodness’ sake!”

I quickly grabbed Rurin and laid her out on the table. She couldn’t resist falling asleep for even a moment. Well, I guess it was too boring a task for her—standing still, waiting for foam to appear.

The exact opposite of what a dragon would enjoy.

But thanks to that, I had finished making the noodles, so I focused on the broth alone. I continued skimming off the foam, reduced the fireball’s intensity, and simmered for another 15 minutes, skimming off more foam.

I said it was easy, but it still required time and care. Broth is like that.

Once it’s simmered enough, strain it through a sieve to extract the clear broth, discarding everything except the pallenque. Separate the bones from the meat.

Put the bones back in the broth and simmer a bit longer, seasoning the shredded meat with a bit of salt and pepper.

Now, it’s almost done.

Add some sake to the broth to remove any remaining odors, transfer the broth to a smaller pot, and add the sliced shiitake mushrooms and green onions.

Then add the noodles and let it cook.

Since it’s for two, a small pot is sufficient.

After that, top the broth with the shredded pallenque meat as a garnish, and you have a steaming bowl of chicken broth noodles with chewy noodles and a broth enriched by the interplay of shiitake mushrooms—a perfect dish.

With my stomach growling, demanding to be fed quickly, I went to wake Rurin, who was sleeping at the table.

“Lunch is ready. Wake up.”

“Ugh? Finally done?”

Rurin rubbed her eyes, waking up. Clearly hungry, she wobbled a bit but quickly got up and moved to the bar table, sitting down.

I sat next to her and set down two bowls of chicken kalguksu—or rather, pallenque **kalguksu**.

“This is a noodle dish made with chicken broth. Go ahead and eat. You must be hungry, right?”

“Oh! Sometimes the rain is a good thing. Since we’re closed, I get to have lunch with you! That’s great! Hehehe.”

“Yes, so go ahead and eat.”

“Alright!”

Rurin picked up some noodles with a fork and put them in her mouth.

**Slurp, slurp.**

She was used to pasta, so she skillfully slurped the noodles down her throat. Watching her, I began to eat the **kalguksu** myself. Even if I say so, it turned out great. The pallenque itself being organic made a difference. Haha.

**Slurp, slurp, slurp!**

“Is it good?”

“Whooaa!”

**Clang.**

Instead of answering, Rurin gulped down a big spoonful of broth and set the bowl down. Then she nodded vigorously, looking very satisfied.

“Anything you make is delicious!”

The dragon declared with a determined face. Just like stating an obvious truth, like the sun rising in the east—our Rurin.

Even though it’s expected that it would taste good, hearing her say so still made me feel good. The laborious cooking process suddenly vanished from my mind, replaced by a sense of fulfillment from seeing someone enjoy my cooking.

So, if you’re ever served a meal, praising it as delicious is a survival tip.

Anyway, lunchtime passed like that.

The rain continued to pour. The wind had calmed a bit, but the rain was still coming down hard.

At this rate, dinner service was also out of the question.

***

Footnotes:
[1] **Kalguksu** is a traditional Korean noodle soup made with handmade, knife-cut wheat flour noodles, which is where the dish gets its name (“kal” means “knife” and “guksu” means “noodles”). The soup is typically served in a clear, savory broth made from ingredients like chicken, shellfish, or anchovies, and is often garnished with vegetables such as zucchini, potatoes, and mushrooms.