Pick Me Up, Infinite Gacha

[Aaron Side Story Episode 40]

5. The light of the heart (2)

* * *

Flash!

As Aaron put wood into the brazier below, the fire grew stronger.

Acrid smoke rose along with the flames.

Chijik!

The iron plate on the brazier began to make the sound of cooking ingredients.

“Coke! Coke!”

Aaron coughed.

The windows were all open, but the smoke did not escape.

Should I build a new chimney?

‘Let’s see here…’

Aaron waved his hand and looked at the cookbook next to him.

‘Do you add the right amount of salt and pepper?’

right amount?

What is the right amount?

Aaron took out salt and pepper at random and poured it over the pan.

‘Please put the right amount of cheese when the eggs are properly cooked?’

ripe enough?

Do you put the right amount of cheese?

Aaron frowned and took a handful of cheese and put it on the pan.

Then he grabbed the handle of the pan and stirred it.

‘Please take it out after an appropriate amount of time.’

right time?

Wouldn’t it have been that much?

Aaron appropriately took the frying pan out of the griddle and laid out the properly prepared dishes on the plate.

it’s okay.

The omelet was properly completed.

It’s a little different from the picture in the cookbook, but I’m sure it was made according to the recipe.

‘It smells strange.’

It doesn’t matter.

I made it according to the recipe, so I’m sure it will be delicious.

“Master! Come out!”

“Ah? Are you done already?”

After a while, a boy with tousled hair appeared in the restaurant.

The boy yawned and sat down in a chair.

“The omelet is complete.”

“hmm?”

The boy frowned at the dishes on the table.

“What is this?”

“It is a dish called omelet. It is a popular food of the earth where eggs are properly grilled and eaten with steamed rice.”

Aaron shook the cookbook he was holding.

[Let’s make it right! Appropriate earth-style cooking]

[Author – Yurnet Sid]

The book contains recipes for various earth dishes.

These were pretty useful things for Aaron, who is new to cooking, to refer to.

“ha. It’s annoying. Isn’t Byeokgokdan enough to create an atmosphere?”

“It’s not possible.”

A pot in one corner of the restaurant is filled with unknown pills made from fallen leaves.

so-called Byeokgokdan.

It was said to be a substitute for a meal, but there was no substitute for anything like that.

‘I have to get my human life back.’

According to Aaron’s determination, several measures were taken in this cabin.

The most significant measure was the creation of a special warehouse directly connected to Niflheim’s storage.

To put it simply, you can use things from Niflheim here as well.

Aaron’s request was granted by the therapist.

Therefore, in the storage room on one side of the cabin, there was a pile of various ingredients and supplies that Aaron had requested.

The warehouse is automated with advanced dimensional magic, so you can call in any kind of item you want.

It had one purpose.

‘To help Master.’

The dimension called Luanan was special.

First of all, time passes more slowly than outside.

You don’t even need to sleep or eat.

However, if you ignore human needs, your mind will be devastated.

had to get it back.

human life.

The omelets and frying pans here were the result of Aaron’s hard work.

Somehow, they succeeded in bringing in cooking utensils and ingredients.

Eating is the most essential human element.

Eat even if you are not hungry.

Eat when the time comes.

eat even forcefully

“Come on, Master. Try it!”

Aaron also sat in the chair opposite.

Hot steam came up from each plate on which the omelet was placed.

The boy looked at Aaron as if he was tired, then took a spoonful of food.

“How are you?”

“Is this like that?”

“yes?”

“Did you mean to torment me by saying you would get your heart back?”

“What do you mean? I did my best.”

“You try it.”

Aaron also took a bite of his portion of the omelet.

Really appropriate…

“Eup!”

Coke! Coke!

Aaron coughed a couple of times because he had a sore throat.

There was silence for a while, then the boy spoke.

“From now on, I will cook, so you wash the dishes.”

“…yes.”

Here, too, Aaron was not dexterous.

Soon after, the boy presented a delicious stew with leftover ingredients.

I couldn’t tell who was helping.

after the meal is over.

Aaron grabbed the boy’s sleeve as he was about to disappear.

“Where are you going?”

“Why not again?”

“There are many vacant lots in front of the cabin. How about decorating it?”

“Ah?”

“It is to make a field and plant seeds. trees and flowers too. I will make robbers.”

“Why are you suddenly like this?”

“Isn’t that Master’s hobby?”

“No, but it is. Why are you so upset all of a sudden?”

“I wanted to do that too. Shouldn’t this be it? The garden is too far from here. How about trying a new one?”

The boy blinked as if to say something.

“You want to recreate that garden in front of the cabin?”

“It’s even bigger. It will surprise anyone who comes.”

“A seed? What about manure? What about water? Where do you get the other ingredients from?”

“Here is everything.”

The warehouse that the healer connected to Niflheim.

There are just about any materials you need.

If it runs out, it is recharged.

“Have you given up on training?”

“no. I’m going to do it in my free time. Wouldn’t an afternoon be suitable?”

I couldn’t stop swinging and stabbing at the gym in the back.

Karma doesn’t accumulate just because you spend time doing nothing.

He had to prove his dream through action.

“Did those guys tell you to do it?”

The boy’s gaze sharpened.

Aaron shook his head.

“no. It was my choice.”

“I went over to those guys. bother you.”

“Will you… please do me a favor?”

The boy crossed his arms and thought hard.

“Hmm. I don’t have anything else to do.”

“Isn’t it? Yes?”

“done. I’m bored, but don’t hang out with me. To pass the time.”

“great!”

This is one step closer.

Aaron spoke to the boy, referring to the blueprints he had drawn up the night before.

‘It’s desolate starting from this place.’

There is no wind and only leaves fall constantly.

It was a space that made my heart feel desolate just by being there.

I had to change the atmosphere.

“If you do this here…”

“That’s not possible. Are the lines getting weird? If you make your way there.”

“what.”

“It should be like this. hey are you kidding me Did you bring something like this as a plan? do you want to die!”

“omg!”

“Give me, child! I’ll weave it again, so you can get the materials from the warehouse.”

“Yes…”

Here again, Aaron was not dexterous.

Anyway, after a while the two started leveling the ground in front of the cabin.

Farming tools such as shovels and pitchforks turned over the soil and picked out stones.

It was the ground work for making a garden.

“Master.”

Aaron spat out as he continued his work.

“Why again?”

“What if I die?”

Aaron said nonchalantly.

“Won’t you die like a normal human?”

“Did the woman tell you?”

“well. I do not know.”

“Haha, that’s annoying. what good let me know if you’re curious What if karma dies? Why does it just disappear cleanly like a ghost?”

“Aren’t there any corpses left?”

“okay.”

It meant that there was no one on the ground beneath the tombstone.

“What process do you go through?”

“It doesn’t happen right away. live for a while It will look fine to others.”

“So what?”

“Once your presence weakens.”

“How is it?”

“Other people don’t care.”

Pak!

A stone caught on the end of the pitchfork.

“No matter who you were before, change like everyone else. I don’t care about you. won’t pay any attention like others.”

Aaron paused for a moment.

“Like others?”

“It will become more and more like that. This is because the emotional strings are getting thinner.”

“It is terrible.”

For a moment, Aaron thought.

The sight of comrades who shared life and death looking at oneself with cold eyes.

My body shuddered.

“You mean your connection with people will disappear.”

“okay.”

Pak!

Aaron removed the stone from the pitchfork.

“What then?”

“It is gradually forgotten. And then it disappears altogether. The world will not even know you existed.”

oblivion beyond death.

no one remembers you

No one remembers that they were there.

‘….’

If you go back home.

If Nina looked at herself with a face that said she didn’t know anything.

That might be scarier than dying.

‘To prevent that from happening.’

Aaron silently looked at the master who was plowing the ground beside him.

We need to get the boy out of here.

The boy goes out for a while whenever there is work, but it cannot be said that he went out.

Because I’m going back to Luanan anyway.

must be fully exported.

I had to get rid of the boy’s reason to stay here.

‘Is it because I’m immature?’

Aaron’s strength is incomparable to that of a boy.

There was no option to take the place of the teacher.

‘If I become stronger.’

If I could completely take over my master’s footsteps.

Wouldn’t the master be able to leave this place and retire safely?

“What you looking at?”

“it’s nothing.”

Aaron ignited a quiet determination.

I had to be strong.

Even more.

Time passed again.

Aaron went through several fables, but the complete break in his memory didn’t happen like before.

still remembered

your own goals.

Aaron’s poor cooking skills improved little by little.

It was because he learned the skill by glancing over the boy’s shoulder.

Before I knew it, various flowers were blooming in the garden in front of the hut.

In terms of karma, the unit of time was meaningless.

the flow continues

Just as flowers bloom and wither in a garden, Aaron also builds up his dreams by repeating death and birth.

‘How much room will I have left?’

Time passes more slowly here than outside.

But it was flowing slowly.

Can we stop the flow of time altogether?

lack.

More time was needed.

to get stronger.

to help Master.

It was in the meantime.

Suddenly it appeared.

“…”

Aaron was lying on the bed, wrapped in a blanket.

Physiological activities such as sleep are not required here.

I just lay down and pass the time.

It was imitating human life.

Even if you are not human.

“Dream.”

Yes.

Karma is, after all, a collection of pure dreams.

From the standpoint of the dream, Aaron’s personality was nothing more than an impurity.

It was trash that had to be removed.

“To be strong.”

“To be pure and strong without being hindered by anything.”

Someone whispers.

“Strength for what?”

“Strength to gain something?”

“Wasn’t it strength to become strong?”

Aaron didn’t look back.

someone was behind

“Wasn’t this the ending you wanted for yourself?”

“Didn’t you give up your family as well? To achieve your dream.”

Aaron gave up prioritizing Nina.

It was because I wanted to become stronger.

But come now?

“When do you wish for pure strength?”

“Do you want to have a heart now?”

Purity is.

that nothing else is needed.

Excluding all filth for the sake of one and only.

even your own heart.

“True strength is not bound by anything,”

someone said.

「You have to let go of insignificant human emotions and desires.」

「In order to become pure and strong.」

Mental illness.

It’s a mental illness.

“Shut up…”

“Your obsession is proof that you are weak.”

Aaron got up from the bed.

“Hehehehehehe…”

The middle of the room.

Someone is standing by the bed.

“Damn…”

A shadow stands.

It was red like blood.

The red shadow looked at Aaron and laughed at it.

On the subject of wishing for pure strength, he criticized the contradiction of Aaron, who now wants the human heart.

‘Master.’

Aaron remembered the boy’s words.

If your dream of becoming strong is really pure, you don’t need to have a personality.

The original mind disappears and the ghost takes its place.

If so, the identity of the shadow is clear.

‘Was it like this?’

Did the tombstones without names gradually increase in this way?

Aaron glared at the red shadow.

“I will tell you.”

The red shadow held out its hand.

An insidious voice that seemed to scratch the inside rose up.

「I will tell you about pure strength.」

「Unfettered by anything and unrestrained, more pure than anything else…」

Pak!

Aaron raised the silver spear by the bed and struck the shadow.

The red shadow disappeared.

“….”

Annoying.

Aaron snorted.

Sometimes delusion is annoying.