Chapter 53 – Feeding the Pet Plant

As Hee-won picked up the eggshells, Baduki, who had been sitting quietly in the flowerpot, whipped its head—no, its flower bud—up. And it leaped right in place.

For a split second, the closed flower bud burst wide open and then shut.

Chomp.

By the time they came to their senses, the eggshell that had been in Hee-won’s hand was already gone.

Crunch, crunch, munch.

At the sound that resembled someone chewing on crackers, the person and the snail stared dumbly down at the flowerpot.

A plant using its flower bud like a mouth to chew and eat eggshells… It was a mind-boggling sight.

“…Did it just devour the eggshells?”

“Yeah. It eats well, doesn’t it?”

Lightning fast.

Baduki quickly chewed up the shell in its mouth… no, in its flower bud. Then, it looked up at Hee-won again.

Its leaves were fluttering like a tail. Anyone could tell this meant it wanted more.

Hee-won placed some eggshells on his palm and held it out in front of Baduki.

At that, Baduki began to greedily devour the shells.

“It seems it’s still very hungry.”

Baduki quickly ate up the shells of four eggs. But it didn’t seem satisfied at all, as it held onto the rim of the pot and sniffed around with its bud.

Hee-won looked down at the sight with pity.

“Hee-na, can we feed it some more eggs? It looks far from enough.”

“Well… there’s no reason we can’t.”

With a dazed expression, Hee-na opened the refrigerator door and took out three eggs, cracking them.

She planned to make a fluffy steamed egg dish with these. Adding green scallions and orange carrots would make it colorful, sure to please both the eyes and the mouth.

Meanwhile, Baduki devoured the shells of three eggs in an instant. Since it still acted like it was lacking, Hee-na had no choice but to take out more eggs.

‘This time, it’s egg soup.’

It would be nice to make a refreshing broth and prepare a soft egg soup.

Even though she cracked and gave it three more eggs, Baduki was still hungry.

It had already eaten ten eggshells. It was a mystery where all those eggshells went inside that slender stem.

“Doesn’t it show on the quest progress how much more we need to feed it?”

When she handed over five more cracked eggs with a sigh, Hee-won shook his head.

“It doesn’t show. It just says to keep giving them until Baduki feels full.”

“Just how long do I have to crack eggs? We’re going to run out of bowls.”

“Let’s just keep giving them for now.”

Baduki was finally satisfied after eating exactly twenty-eight eggshells. Hee-na clicked her tongue as she looked at Baduki, who was lying crookedly in the pot while patting its belly (?).

“It would have been a disaster if we hadn’t bought a carton of eggs.”

She had already given up on thinking about what to do with twenty-eight eggs. Hee-na’s repertoire of egg dishes was not that extensive.

Rolled omelets, steamed eggs, egg soup, egg fried rice, fried eggs, egg salad, and so on…

Well, either way, it was certain that they would have to eat nothing but eggs for a while until a chicken-like smell came out of their mouths.

Normally, a plant is supposed to stand upright on the soil, but Baduki, despite being a plant, lay down in the pot like a human.

And as if full, it tapped its stem with a leaf and fell asleep in an instant.

How did they know whether Baduki, who had no eyes, nose, or mouth, was asleep? It was because the constantly moving fine roots and grass leaves suddenly settled down quietly.

It even made a sound similar to snoring—pew-pew—as its flower bud repeatedly opened and closed slightly. It was truly a strange plant.

‘No, if it moves this much, shouldn’t it be called an animal?’

Hee-na thought about the definitions of plants and animals. She was confused.

“Isn’t it cute? It was just born, ate happily, and fell asleep right away.”

But Hee-won, having no doubts at all, held the flowerpot tightly with both hands and smiled gently.

“Oppa, isn’t a walking plant strange to you? How can you be so calm?”

When she whispered in a lowered voice, Hee-won shrugged.

“If you go to a plant-type dungeon, there are plenty of plant-type monsters that move like this. It’s nothing strange.”

“What? A monster? That thing?”

Seeing Hee-na freak out, Hee-won waved his hand as if telling her to calm down.

“Baduki is fine.”

“How do you know that?”

“I can see plant information with my skill. And Baduki’s description window says, ‘Gentle and unable to harm humans except in emergencies.’ Besides, raising it is my quest, so could anything dangerous really happen to me?”

It was an easygoing statement. But hearing her brother say that somehow put her mind at ease.

Even if he was only a D-class Farmer who had rarely participated in actual combat, Hee-won was someone who had survived in the Hunter industry for nearly ten years. He had a surprisingly bold side and was highly experienced in dungeon matters.

Moreover, Hee-won also had good intuition. Seeing how he liked Baduki right away, it seemed it at least wasn’t an entity that would cause harm.

‘Well, come to think of it, Osaek-i is just as peculiar. Not only is he much larger than a normal snail, but he even has intelligence and can communicate.’

Looking back, Hee-na hadn’t thought Osaek-i was strange when she first met him either. Rather, she had felt a feeling close to liking him.

The only problem was that she had mistaken him for a bug and swung her hand.

In a way, Hee-won might also instinctively feel affection for entities that would be helpful to him.

Having reached such a simple conclusion, Hee-na quickly shook off her thoughts and rolled up her sleeves.

“Since we fed and put the kid to sleep, let’s eat too. It’s late.”

For now, tonight’s dinner was set as rolled omelets, steamed eggs, egg-battered round ham slices, egg soup, egg fried rice, and fried eggs.

“For your information, tonight’s dinner menu was decided thanks to you, so I won’t accept any complaints about the side dishes.”

When she said it flatly, Hee-won chuckled.

“When have I ever complained about food?”

That was true. The number one rule in Hee-na’s house was to eat whatever was cooked with gratitude, considering the hard work of the person who prepared it.

But Hee-na pretended not to hear, snorting and whisking the eggs with a balloon whisk.

There was no particular reason. After all, siblings were just like that.

* * *

The next day, Hee-na pondered what to do with the remaining eggs and decided to try baking.

Among the options, she chose to make madeleines, which used whole egg yolks and whites. She selected them because they were described as an easy baked treat even for beginners.

Since she still had a few days left of her vacation, she had plenty of time.

Of course, the oven needed for baking was already prepared. It was an oven received as a reward for leveling up ‘Home Sweet Home.’

Its name was ‘The Oven That Doesn’t Burn Food,’ and its rank was B-class.

Since it was B-class, its performance was bound to be quite good, but she had only shoved it into a corner of the kitchen and had never used it since receiving it.

This was partly because Hee-na mainly cooked simple side dishes, and above all, she had never done even the slightest bit of baking in her life.

Hee-na laid out the baking ingredients she had quickly bought and thought optimistically.

‘I’ll be able to make them well, right?’

She had great faith in ‘Dexterous Fingertips’ and ‘This Is the True Taste of Homemade Food.’ She felt they would salvage it somehow even if she messed up. Besides, Hee-na had never failed at making food.

Just before starting to bake, Hee-na carefully read through the recipe once more. It wasn’t that difficult since she just had to add the ingredients in proper portions.

‘Once they’re done, I should share them with others.’

Hee-na smiled broadly, thinking about sharing the madeleines. Just imagining others eating what she made with relish made her feel good.

Since the madeleine mold was smaller than expected, she measured out and used only ten eggs’ worth. She planned to make an extra-large rolled omelet with the rest.

After gently beating the eggs, she sifted the dry ingredients. Then, when she gently poured in the melted butter and mixed it, the batter was complete.

The steps seemed simple, but because the overall quantity was large, it was not easy at all.

Hee-na groaned as she made her first baking batter. Perhaps because she was tense since it was her first time, it felt harder than rolling sixty rolls of gimbap.

Bread factory in operation?

Next to the grunting Hee-na, Osaek-i teased her, asking if she planned to open a bread factory. She wanted to say something in response, but the quantity was so massive that she had no words.

“Still, once they’re all done, it will be extremely rewarding.”

Hee-na glared slightly at Osaek-i and began piping the batter into the madeleine molds she had bought in bulk. Perhaps because it was a repetitive, simple task, she found herself concentrating quite well.