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The next day, watching Pang-pang clutch her head as she got out of bed, I let out an exasperated sigh.

In the kitchen, soup was bubbling away. It was the beef stew I had bought in advance, just in case. Naturally, I hadn’t prepared it myself; it was a meal kit packed into servings for two.

The most surprising thing about visiting Pang-pang’s house was that she almost always ate quick-cooking meals.

Of course, I hadn’t cooked anything since coming to this world. I had always eaten at the orphanage’s dining hall.

But still, I had lived alone in my previous life long enough to make simple meals for survival. Well, most of the time I just boiled meal kits.

“Ugh…”

Pang-pang’s voice was oddly hoarse. She sounded like someone who had just rolled out of bed after getting plastered, her voice thick with phlegm.

You drank coffee, right? I couldn’t help but wonder how caffeine could cause such a reaction in her body.

More importantly, would this hangover soup really help her? Usually, people would eat something like cake when they weren’t feeling well. Hangover dishes are generally good snacks when drinking, but she surely wouldn’t mix hangover soup with coffee.

Actually, I didn’t even know if aliens like her used beef stew for hangovers.

Well, since there was no hangover soup, I guess beef stew would have to do.

Fortunately, Pang-pang ate the hangover soup I made without complaint.

“Ugh…”

She even let out a sound of delight, like my friend from my previous life who scarfed down bean sprout soup the day after a drinking binge.

“Oh, this is great.”

After slurping a few spoonfuls of soup, Pang-pang finally spoke in a voice that was somewhat back to normal.

“Looks like you haven’t had a proper breakfast much, huh?”

“I can’t be bothered.”

I understood, though.

Back when my mom would wake me up for breakfast, I often just wanted to sleep another thirty minutes and head to school.

Pang-pang repeated how good it was while slurping the soup, and I observed her in disbelief while slowly finishing my meal. There was still some time left. I had already washed up.

“I don’t know why you’re drinking something that’s not good for you.”

James, sitting in one corner of the table munching on almonds, chimed in.

“Well, you wouldn’t get it. A bit of caffeine or alcohol could kill you.”

James nodded at my words.

I had heard that caffeine was extremely toxic to animals. Or was it something else? I know they say not to feed dogs chocolate. Anyway.

It seemed that even if they could speak and had incredible advanced technology, hamsters were still hamsters. Being way smaller than humans, they must be sensitive to smaller doses of poison, and just like other animals, there are certain substances they shouldn’t even taste.

“Phew.”

After gobbling down her meal, Pang-pang let out a long sigh, as if relieved she wouldn’t die.

“Wow, I really owe my life to you.”

“Well, if you eat well and store some food, you could easily manage without me.”

“No, no, I’m serious. It’s been forever since someone made me breakfast when I woke up.”

“Are you saying I’m like a cook? I just heated up something that was already prepared.”

When I said this in disbelief, Pang-pang shook her head.

“No, that’s not it. Hmm, what can I say? More like…”

She looked at me with a smile.

“You definitely feel like a wife preparing breakfast for her husband.”

James and I exchanged incredulous glances at Pang-pang.

Pang-pang shrugged and stood up.

“Well, I’m going to go wash up.”

“No way, saying that and then going to wash up is weird. And you should clear your own plate.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll clean up after I come out.”

I let out a laugh at the ridiculousness of it all and continued slowly finishing my meal.

Pang-pang did as she said, hurriedly washed up, and returned to clean up her meal.

…But if you’re going to wash up, can’t you take a proper amount of time?

It’s not like I have the right to complain since I’m living off her.

*

On my way back after finishing work.

Today, I stubbornly didn’t buy coffee.

Just like how alcohol directly impacts health issues, it was clear that something about Pang-pang’s health wasn’t right either.

Honestly, claiming that it’s not addictive was a bit absurd. Though, those who loved drinking often insisted they weren’t addicted even when they drank until they blacked out.

Only later, after going to the hospital and concluding they were addicted, did they realize the seriousness of the situation.

But Pang-pang wasn’t even of legal drinking age yet. There was no way guzzling something like alcohol could be considered normal.

“…”

“What’s up, are you pouting?”

When I asked in disbelief, Pang-pang shook her head.

“No, it’s just… I feel a bit strange.”

“Strange?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

Pang-pang said as she walked under the starry night sky.

“Up until now, no one has ever really worried about me like this.”

“Worried about you? Hah.”

I said that while feeling a bit embarrassed.

“Well, I really like Earth! The music is great, and I love the story about Voyager I mentioned last time. Every movie and drama is amazing.”

“And then?”

“But people generally don’t try to approach me friendly. Well, I guess so. To be honest, I tend to come off as quite eccentric. From a human standpoint, I’m obviously an alien from another star, and I probably seem like someone who can’t speak any of Earth’s many languages.”

“…”

That’s… well, it makes sense.

People tend to assume that foreigners can’t speak Korean just from looking at them. Even if they share the same Korean nationality, there’s a possibility that they might not immediately think, “This might be a Korean.”

So, living in Korea could be more complicated than what an average foreigner experiences.

“I feel lucky thinking about it that way. The person I met at work is looking after me like this. We’re really friends now.”

“To clarify, I’m not taking care of you; you’re the one taking care of me. You’re the one crashing at my place.”

“Yeah, I get that.”

We were supposed to turn towards Pang-pang’s house, but we continued walking a bit more without diverting.

No one suggested it first; it just felt like neither of us wanted to go in.

As we aimlessly strolled along the not-so-pretty stream, Pang-pang continued with her random chat.

“I, well, my family is scattered, too.”

“…Really?”

“Yeah, because of business.”

Because of business.

It made sense why. I recalled hearing that most aliens lived in capitalist countries. If there’s capitalism, there will be those who succeed and those who fail.

I decided not to pry further.

“They fought and threw accusations at each other… I can’t believe it.”

Maybe what Pang-pang said was truly her heartfelt sentiment.

“…I see.”

I let out a light sigh.

Without anyone saying it first, we stopped walking.

We leaned against the railing, looking down at the stream, listening to the sound of flowing water for a while.

Cars passed by frequently behind us. They must be heading back home. It was just past quitting time.

“So, how’s it been since you got here?”

“Well, it was fun. A bit lonely, but mostly it was okay. I made friends, tried to do things I wanted, and even dared to have dreams.”

“Dreams?”

“I want to be an astronaut.”

Pang-pang said while gazing up at the night sky.

In a world where roaming around on a ship beyond the stars had almost become a daily routine, she dreamed of becoming an astronaut.

And I knew that she didn’t just mean riding around on that ship.

The astronaut she spoke of was a concept from Earth that had long since vanished.

An astronaut suited up in a thick spacesuit, flying for days on end in a cramped spaceship, landing on the moon.

“What a grand dream.”

It was the kind of dream that an elementary school kid might wish for at least once.

Or maybe not? I wasn’t sure if the current elementary school kids still dreamed that way.

Still, for some reason, I didn’t want to scoff at it.

Because I had a similar dream too.

I wanted to defeat the magical girls.

Knowing well how impossible that dream might be, and realizing it wasn’t exactly the right thing to wish for, I still wanted to at least get a chance to wrestle with those magical girls once.

Well, I didn’t plan to say that here.

“…I hope you achieve it.”

As if saying it to myself, I told Pang-pang that.

Pang-pang stayed silent for a moment before responding,

“Yeah, I’ll definitely make it happen. In whatever way I can.”

That was her answer.

Ah, I should have just bought a can of coffee.

And somehow, I should have secured at least a can of beer.

It felt like one of those nights when I wanted to drink something.

Instead, we gulped down cola I picked up from the convenience store and spent a long time admiring the night sky.

The sky, now clear of dust, sparkled with a good number of stars.

 

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