"Nice," Gio remarked, as he always did, but this content was particularly successful.

"People need to sweat."

"Kung?"

"One should not eat if they don't work."

"Kung, kung, kung..."

The body of Honey, the water bird with a sweet hue, trembled. Its cries seemed to ask, 'What about me who doesn't work?' Gio shook his head decisively.

"You look so cute; what do you have to worry about?"

"Kuk."

"Your cuteness already fulfills your role, so don’t worry about strange things."

Even a Gio living thoughtlessly wasn’t irresponsible enough to neglect a life born from his own paint. Being a gourmand and a glutton himself, there was no way his son Honey would starve.

"Understand?"

Honey seemed to accept this and sprawled out comfortably.

"But come out of there."

"Kur."

Of all places, it was inside Gio’s basket.

"It’s hard to get the seeds."

"Kurung."

"Who did you inherit such stubbornness from?"

"Kuk?"

"Me? Such an unfilial child."

Gio bent down and rummaged through the basket. Although Honey’s body was just weakly viscous and transparent like water, which wasn’t a big issue, the little one had been playing with the seeds, mixing them all up.

"This is..."

"..."

"...seems like it was an eggplant seed."

Fortunately, Seo Gio, coming from a remote village in Gangwon Province, could recognize the type of seed just by looking at it. It wasn't something every Gangwon native could do; it was possible because Gio himself was serious about farming.

Having enjoyed farming since childhood, Gio took the eggplant seed and placed it in a pre-dug hole.

"Is it time to plant the potatoes now?"

"Kuruk?"

"Hmm?"

There was a brief communication error, but soon Gio realized what Honey was puzzled about.

"I didn't mean I would plant Daddy."

"Kung?"

"Potato is a nickname. Like a second name."

His mother, who loved potatoes, had looked at the ultrasound image during pregnancy and named him 'Potato,' saying he resembled one. His grandmother, seeing newborn Gio, nodded and said, 'She ate so many potatoes, she gave birth to one.'

"Adults called me 'Potato,' so I thought I was a potato until I was four."

That's probably why he grew up so healthy and harmless.

"Well, that settles it then."

"Kurrur."

"Just grow up healthy."

The Seo family had always respected the free will of new life.

How many days had passed? Finally, Gio had managed to plant all the seeds Yoo Seong-Woon had gifted him. Now that he had planted potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn, all famous as famine foods, it seemed unlikely he would starve.

"With this body, starving would be harder anyway."

"Kurrur."

Advertisements

"Even if Daddy is very hungry, I won’t eat you, Honey."

The crops were planted in the garden behind the cabin.

"Is it still fair to call it a garden at this size?"

It had grown a bit, but it was still a garden. It wasn't as vast and expansive as the fields of those who farm for a living, so Gio had his justifications. It was definitely a garden.

Gio was an adult capable of compromising with reality.

"Let’s go back then."

"Kukkuk."

"Yeah, let’s also try the preserves I made."

It was about time the fruit preserves he had made were ready.

"The sweet-sour fruit of the mongdung tree with the harsh, bitter 'drought jar' makes a great combination."

If there was a concern, it was whether the two ingredients were well-balanced, but that wasn’t much of a worry. Gio, with his extensive solo living experience, now had the taste of a grandmother’s cooking.

"I only used my hands and eyes, but I can’t be wrong about the combination of food I’m going to eat."

Fitting his pride, a pleasant aroma was already emanating from the jar.

"Hmm."

Entering the kitchen, Gio blinked at the cabinet where the fruit preserves were stored.

"After sweating so much, maybe I should drink a refreshing tea."

"Kuruk?"

"I sweated in spirit."

Although Gio’s body didn't actually excrete waste like sweat, Honey pointed it out, but wasn’t it still labor? Humans who work deserve to refresh themselves with a crisp and refreshing tea.

"For that, I need to get some ice from the storehouse."

A pig doesn’t hesitate in front of food. Without even wiping the sweat he hadn’t shed, Gio immediately headed down to the storehouse.

The icehouse, full of various ingredients, naturally had ice in it. It almost looked like a cave, and it was hard to tell where the ice ended, with chunks of ice visible in every corner.

"A bit cold, huh?"

Opening the heavy door and entering the icehouse, Honey stiffened.

"Ku, kururuk."

"If it's too cold, you can go out... Oh."

"..."

"...are you frozen?"

At the sight of Honey, now just a block of transparent ice, Gio was visibly shaken despite his impassive face.

"Poof."

"?"

"Kuk."

"Have you evolved?"

"Kur."

"If I evolved from a human to a haunted portrait, there’s no rule saying a water bird can’t become an ice bird."

Gio was startled twice: first, thinking the now ice-formed Honey was dead, and second, seeing it move flexibly despite being ice. But if there were no problems, then why not?

Honey was cute even frozen.

"An ice bird that moves is quite interesting."

"Kurrururururururuk!"

"You’re happy, so this father's heart is glad."

Like its creator, Honey, born without a sense of crisis, was utterly joyful about its transformation.

Even for a bird made of water, freezing this quickly seemed unusual, but since Gio himself had turned from a human to a portrait, he wasn't much surprised.

"When have we ever followed the laws of physics?"

Living a life that even ignored the laws of physics was undeniably amusing.

"First, the ice..."

"Kukkuk."

"That way, thanks."

The wings of the now ice-formed Honey didn’t stick together as they used to.

Having grown feathers or some body part it originally didn't have, Honey pointed out the location of the ice and then busily preened itself. Maybe messing with feathers was a bird thing.

"When you were water, it was less so."

Leaving Honey on his shoulder, Gio slowly walked through the icehouse.

"..."

It was cool.

"Haah..."

His breath came out visibly.

Thick enough to see.

It must be cold, but for some reason, Gio felt no chill, and the ingredients didn’t freeze either.

Was the icehouse deceiving Gio, or were he and the ingredients tougher than the ice?

"Probably the latter."

Gio looked down at the floor.

"...Hmm..."

"It would be a disaster if this breaks."

The floor appeared as a bottomless pit of ice.

"It looks like solid ice, but it's so transparent, it's like there’s a lake underneath."

It was a very clear floor. Ice that had slowly formed was not opaque but as clean as glass, and the ice filled the floor to the brim. Gio couldn't even guess its depth.

Slightly slick, with a faint blue hue, occasionally, sparkling lights inside it appeared. They shone like fireflies for a few seconds before disappearing, and Gio was curious about their identity.

"Maybe a type of forest butterfly?"

"Kung?"

"Or maybe just glowing moss or bacteria."

They didn't move. They just lit up briefly and then vanished.

Like faint starlight.

"..."

It was a dreamlike scene.

"The colors are similar to glaciers."

It didn’t smell like the ocean, but the clear, blue ice floor evoked glaciers. Gio had never seen Earth's glaciers, but the scene might resemble them.

Gio looked up to take in the full view of the icehouse.

"Where did all this ice come from? It's all ice around."

He had always wondered.

"This icehouse is quite a way down from the first floor of the cabin. Maybe there was groundwater under the cabin."

Then there’s a contradiction.

"Right, it doesn’t make sense for groundwater under such a mild climate forest to be frozen like this."

That's why it was more mysterious.

"Nice."

And amusing.

"It's like something out of a fairy tale."

He liked it.

Gio still moved with an expressionless face as he walked through the enormous icehouse.

Honey, now adapted to its non-spreading body, made pleasant cries as it flew around the cave-like icehouse. It was a scene straight out of a movie.

Walking through the ice-filled corridors, Gio finally found what he was looking for.

"Yeah, right. It was here."

The ice had grown like stalactites in a cave.

"This seems good too."

"Kuk?"

"It’s just like a cave."

It was absurd, but the icehouse looked like a limestone cave made of ice.

Where was it flowing from, or was it melted, or perhaps there was an underground stream like a tree. In various parts of the icehouse, water dripped, and because of the low temperature, these droplets formed beads or pillars.

"Usually, that's how limestone caves are. Water containing a lot of limestone drips and slowly builds pillars on the cave floor, and droplets splash around like coral, or..."

If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight.net or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.

"..."

"Here. Like this, remaining in the shape of pearls."

They were actually called cave pearls.

"Of course, these aren’t cave pearls

but should be called ice pearls..."

Doesn’t it feel just like a real cave? Nature’s great mold.

"..."

Ice Pearls

Naturally occurring ice-shaped pearls in the icehouse beneath Gio's cabin. These transparent pearls, faintly iridescent like mother-of-pearl, are edible. Like real ice, they melt under hot temperatures and are odorless and tasteless.

Medicinal use: When melted and consumed, it is highly effective in stabilizing mental disorders like depression and madness.

"Shall I take this?"

The effect aside, it tastes just like real ice.

"Cutting that big ice bamboo shoot would be tiring."

"Kurukkuruk."

The ice bird Honey, who had °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° flown swiftly, swallowed one of the round ice pearls. Gio couldn't help but admire its quick action.

"Are you eating? Is that okay?"

"Kurrururururur!!"

"No, you misunderstand. If it sounded like I was saying something else, that's a huge misunderstanding. Daddy likes pigs."

Gio, who spent most of his life raised by his grandmother, had inherited some of her tastes, one of which was not being able to stand very thin people.

In that sense, it would be a happy thing if his own child, Honey, became plump.

"Kids are supposed to eat a lot and grow quickly."

Become a pig, yap.

"Let’s go up now."

"Kungkungkung..."

"I actually like it, pig."

"Kurrurururur!!!"

"Kids are supposed to be plump to grow well later."

Pacifying Honey, Gio headed up from the icehouse directly to the kitchen.

A pleasant aroma was already emanating from the fruit preserves he had previously taken out of the cabinet, and he was looking forward to how tasty it would be.

He took out a clean glass and transferred two spoonfuls of the fruit preserve into it.

"The aroma is really nice."

The mongdung fruit, which became more fragrant as it dried, seemed to amplify its fragrance even without drying, through some kind of maturation process.

The drought jar, being a citrus fruit, seemed to have a hint of citrus fragrance.

"Looking forward to it."

The fruit tea in the glass was a work of art in itself.

The fruit preserve, which had thoroughly absorbed the sugar, showed a shiny sheen.

The flesh of the mongdung fruit had turned into a soft, jelly-like texture, and the thinly peeled drought jar had hardened slightly, its grains visible to the eye.

"Add some ice pearls too..."

"Kukkuk."

"That’s the pearl you ate earlier. Put it back."

"Kuk?"

"Don’t hesitate."

Honey, now back to water, seemed about to regurgitate the ice pearl it had just swallowed, but Gio, exercising parental authority, prevented it. It wasn’t penguin milk, and he didn’t expect that far.

"Now, just stir gently..."

Clatter, thump.

The glass and ice pearls clinked, producing a clear sound.

"Fruit tea complete."

"Kwak."

"Are you a chicken?"

"Kurrung."

"Can’t figure out what you are."

The completed fruit tea was beautiful enough to make one want to draw it. The ruby-colored tea seen through the glass was deep in color yet very transparent.

The influence of the ice pearls might be why, but the sparkling blue light seen in the warehouse repeated itself like shooting stars, and between them, the flesh of the fruit appeared like full and half moons.

Take a sip...

"..."

A blissful flavor was felt.

"...It's delicious."

It was a flavor and umami never tasted before.

The ruby tea was smooth and cool, and while it might seem too sweet at first, a leisurely bitterness soon approached and politely settled him down.

The intense sourness of the drought jar felt like a child's cute tantrum when met with the mongdung fruit and sugar.

'The flesh is also to my liking.'

The juice-plundered mongdung fruit was almost like jelly. To compare, it was similar to konjac jelly but much softer.

It felt like the flesh of a grape that had all its skin peeled off, soft yet oddly elastic.

The drought jar had a bursting flavor like grapefruit or orange segments. It seemed to have had its juice stolen by the sugar like the mongdung fruit, but a slight hardness was more pronounced.

But it wasn’t an unpleasant hardness. The grains spreading gently in the mouth delivered a pleasant texture.

'The taste and fragrance are mixed together, making it hard to distinguish...'

But it was not one-dimensional; the tea showed a flavor like a soup, adding enjoyment to the otherwise simple texture with its fruits. And the strange transformation melting on the tongue.

That small change was likely from the luminescence trapped inside the ice pearls.

"...Popping candy?"

It wasn’t exactly fizzing or bursting like fireworks, but the tiny dots of blue light interspersed in the tea added a strange umami. It was a delight on the tongue that couldn’t be described simply as sweet or salty.

It was a fruit tea that made one salivate for no reason.

"..."

"Kurruruk?"

"It would make a perfect gift."

There was a lot of it; he thought about packaging some.

"I’ll give it to Mr. Yoo Seong-Woon."

Sharing his cooking was a grandmother's instinct.

Raised by his life mentor, his grandmother, with the advice to 'live generously,' Gio wanted to fatten up Yoo Seong-Woon.