Of course, that was in my previous life, not now.

“Right. I heard Gyeoul has friends.”

Yeoreum entered the container.

In her hand was a black bag, emitting the distinct fishy smell of seafood.

“Ye–yes. I really do have friends…”

“Right. You said you’d introduce them to me.”

Introducing friends from another world.

If dimensions were connected like in Sophia’s world, it might be possible.

I thought of my friends comfortably living in another dimension and swiftly changed the subject.

“But, what’s that in your hand? It smells like fish.”

“Oh, this? It’s flounder sashimi. Gyeoul was just looking at a flounder in the water.”

How did she know I was looking at a flounder?

Where did she get the sashimi from?

As I pondered, Yeoreum placed the sashimi on a table set up in one corner of the container.

“Isn’t flounder sashimi expensive?”

“Not really. We raise them in the pond.”

“Ah…”

It was the same one I saw in the water.

Maybe she asked a chef in the building to prepare it.

“Gyeoul, let’s eat this with me. Sophia, come over too.”

“Hmm…”

If she had bought it herself, I might have hesitated, but since it was raised in the pond, there was no harm in eating it.

I sat down at the table, my salivary glands stimulated.

“But does Gyeoul know how to eat sashimi?”

“Yes. I’ve eaten a lot of raw fish before.”

“Oh…”

Yeoreum sat down, glancing at me curiously.

I couldn’t understand why she suddenly gave me that look.

“Eating it raw, just like that…?”

Do they see me as some kind of barbarian?

I wanted to deny it, but in reality, there were a few times I had done just that.

“Just a few times.”

“Quite wild indeed.”

Sophia, expressing her astonishment, took a seat beside me.

I was called a barbarian just because I had to eat raw because of my extreme hunger.

My lips pouted in dissatisfaction.

“But I mostly ate them cooked.”

Especially freshwater fish, because of the risk of parasites, I only ate them cooked.

I mostly ate seawater fish raw.

I wanted to explain this to Sophia, but before I could, she patted my back, stopping me.

“That’s good.”

Pat-pat

Sophia’s gesture was devoid of any malice.

Feeling somewhat stifled, I decided to focus on the flounder sashimi.

‘It’s been a long time since I had sashimi.’

Why does the unique fishy smell feel so good?

Feeling the tail swaying freely, I noticed something orange placed beside the sashimi.

‘Huh?’

There were clusters of orange granules.

They had no smell when I sniffed them.

Just fish roe?

Unable to contain my curiosity, I scooped up a bunch of the orange beads with my chopsticks.

“Gyeoul, that’s—Oh no—!”

Before she could finish her sentence, I shoved the orange beads into my mouth.

And immediately regretted my action.

“—!”

Spicy.

My nose stung, and tears welled up unwillingly.

“Uaaaah.”

That’s wasabi.

But why is the wasabi orange?

In unbearable pain, I grabbed my head and let out a small scream.

“Here, spit it out quickly.”

Sophia reached out her hand towards my mouth.

But I couldn’t just spit out the food into her hand.

I knew it was extremely rude to spit food into someone’s hand.

“Uuuu…”

Don’t chew, just swallow.

I closed my eyes tightly, clutched my nose, and swallowed the wasabi in one go.

“Gy-Gyeoul! If you swallow that…!”

Yeoreum handed me a cup of water.

Drinking it a few times made me feel a bit better.

Phew.

I thought I was going to die.

I gasped for air, clutching the empty cup.

“Sophia, is Gyeoul going to be okay?”

“She’ll be fine. The stomachs of a beast-kin are tougher than humans.”

“That’s–that’s a relief…”

Yeoreum caressed my cheek.

Her touch was gentle, like a doctor checking a patient.

“Gyeoul must be new to horseradish.”

“……”

It goes without saying, but it wasn’t my first time with wasabi.

It was just my first time with orange wasabi.

What kind of wasabi is orange?

Embarrassed at having hastily eaten something without knowing, I looked down at the floor.

My face burned with shame.

“I should have explained better, I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay…”

Yeoreum chuckled and pushed the flounder sashimi towards me.

“Gyeoul seems unfamiliar with a lot of foods. From now on, it would be better to ask me before eating something you haven’t seen before.”

“Ask you…?”

Treating me like an ignoramus?

I felt wronged, but it wasn’t exactly incorrect.

I was indeed ignorant about the culinary culture of this world.

“Yes. There are quite a few foods that can be dangerous if eaten raw.”

“Ah…”

I knew well that there were many such foods.

Yet, I had no choice but to nod in agreement.

I certainly didn’t want to swallow wasabi like that again.

I just wallowed in my grievance, focusing only on the sashimi.