Chapter 11 - Awakened

Many memories of Mom resurfaced from my memory. Looking through the album photos gave me a better understanding of what Mom had buried deep inside her. 

I continued to check and sort out the rest of the stuff in the storage room.

While checking the rest of the area I found some old stuff from the previous tea shop, but because 20 years had passed, it became unusable now. 

When I finished checking all parts of the storage room, it was already quite late. I didn't notice how time flew so fast. 

Maybe because of how engrossed I was when looking through the nostalgic stuff. 

The time now tells me that it was already around 4 pm, too late for lunch but too early for dinner. But as my body was dirty and full of dust from the storage room, I planned to wash up first and then have dinner after that.

After finishing washing up, I went to the kitchen to take a look at the ingredients. A moment passed as I was thinking about what to make for today. Then I decided to make some bibimbap and doenjang jjigae, as I was craving some hearty and warm meals. 

First, I prepared the veggies needed for the jjigae as they needed to be boiled for a while to soften them up. After putting the veggies in the newly bought earthenware pot, I also added some anchovies to a pouch for stock for making the broth. They would boil for around 10-15 minutes.

While waiting for the stock to boil, I started to prepare some side dishes for the bibimbap. Such as sauteed the carrots and mushrooms for it. 

After a while the stock had finished boiling, I stirred in some soybean paste over on the strainer to make sure the paste mixed in well and made the soup taste smoother. Then wait for the jjigae to finish boiling for around 20-30 minutes. 

While the jjigae was boiling I focused back on the bibimbap. I blanched both the beansprout and spinach and seasoned them well with the seasoning sauce. I also sprinkled some sesame seeds to add a nutty flavor to it.

Lastly, I cooked a sunny side egg to perfect the bibimbap.

After finishing making the necessary side dishes, I started to assemble them. Firstly the rice, then all of the side dishes making the bowl as if holding some delicious rainbow. Then top it with an egg. 

Before I mixed them, I needed a sauce for them. I mixed in some gochujang paste, minced garlic, sesame oil, a bit of vinegar, and sugar, and topped it off with roasted sesame seeds. 

I added a heaping amount of the bibimbap sauce and started to mix them all in the bowl.

After the bibimbap finished mixing, the jjigae also finished cooking. The smell of both dishes filled the room, making my stomach started to rumble.

I served both meals at the dining table and continued to savor the hearty dinner while overlooking the back courtyard view. 

Not long after, I finished the meal and washed the dishes. I also cleaned up the mess I made in the kitchen from making dinner. 

I moved to the master bedroom to finish sorting the stuff she took from the old apartment, because even though the mover already helped with the big furniture and clothes, Some of the miscellaneous stuff still needed to be sorted.

While sorting, I came across the pouch I had during the dungeon break.

Previously, because of the hectic of that time and also some drastic changes happening. I forgot the existence of them for a moment.

I opened the pouch to look at what was left in it, as the association had it for a while during her hospitalization.

But after further inspection, nothing was missing.

I still found the stuff I had during the break, such as the life-saving perfume bottle along with the lighter. But I remembered to throw the perfume and refill it with some air from the lake in the boss' room.

There was another thing that I forgot the existence of.

It was pretty and mysterious beads. The one that had a different and prettier color compared to other beads when I found it.

But after further and careful inspection, the beads kind of resemble a seed. As there was something in it, it was visible because the surface of it was kind of translucent.

However, because it was from a high-ranking dungeon, It would be dangerous to do anything to it without knowing clearly what it was. 

So I put down the beads on the nightstand and cleaned up the rest of the stuff back in the pouch. Then I also put away the pouch inside the bedside table cabinet. 

After I finished cleaning up the stuff, my eyes caught the recipe book I had brought out of storage.

Previously I had not looked at it carefully. When I opened the book, I noticed the book was divided into many sections.

There was a tab that mainly wrote about tea blends and recipes for some drinks. Another tab was about many dessert recipes, bread, and sandwiches.

As I kept on flipping the pages I noticed how much love mom put into each of the stuff that was recorded.

On the last page, I saw a long note that I believed was written by Mom.

The note mentioned her love for the shop, making all the items that were sold in it, how happy people were when drinking and chatting, and how she wished to spread more positivity with each of the teas she served.

Suddenly some strange transparent window-like game appeared in front of me as I finished reading Mom's note.

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Condition is met

Initiation starts

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 After a moment, another window appeared replacing the previous one.

__________________________

Initiation is complete

…Welcome Awakener…

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