I Will Live as a Villain the Magical Girl Is Obsessed With

13 – 5. I, Become a Rival -3

On my way home, for some reason, my heart was restless.

I remembered the first day I possessed this world. Fear of the new world, feelings of desolation about the future. And then, meeting the magical girl and Noah, the day I first fought him as a villain.

The memories passed by me like a series of lantern slides.

Until then, I had no idea things would turn out this way.

“Is this where you live?”

“Yes, properly speaking, it’s on the floor below.”

Noah followed me all the way home. I had no idea what he was thinking.

He hadn’t shown up in days, but all of a sudden he walked into the house of a man he barely knew.

“What are you thinking, coming here?”

“Just because.”

“You aren’t thinking anything weird, are you?”

“…You pervert.”

Noah swirled the plastic bag he was holding, then smiled his characteristically gloomy smile.

“We’re not that kind of relation, you know?”

“Not yet?”

“No! That’s…uh…Anyway, don’t think anything weird. I just wanted to eat some kimchi soup, and I thought I could repay that favor from last time.”

At Noah’s words, I started to wonder.

“Why not just make it at your goshiwon?”

“I don’t particularly want to show you that pigsty.”

“…You should clean up a bit.”

“I’m busy. In the first place, there’s nothing much in my kitchen. Just a bunch of ramen.”

At those words, I just shook my head helplessly.

A good goshiwon might have a well-equipped kitchen, but given Noah’s circumstances, that’s probably too much to ask.

Noah pulled out some pork belly with a serious look on his face.

“I, really took a chance buying this pork belly, you know?”

“It’s pretty expensive.”

“That’s why. If possible, I want to make it as tasty as I can.”

“Ah, so you just came to borrow the kitchen… is that it?”

“Yes. Goshiwon isn’t so great… I can’t just rent a restaurant kitchen to make one kimchi soup.”

“And I…”

“What were you thinking? A girl comes to your home… You weren’t having any perverted thoughts, were you?”

I said nothing.

With a sizzling gaze, Noah stared at me.

“…You did, didn’t you?”

“A man’s brain is naturally filled with this kind of thing.”

“…Y-eah…”

“So cut it out with those eyes. It’s almost painful.”

I mean, I had had such thoughts too, but if it’s just borrowing the kitchen, that’s not too unreasonable.

No, on the contrary, it’s welcome.

An opportunity to properly feed Noah.

“And.”

“What? The pervert with a head full of dirty things?”

“Minors who can’t even get an ID are excluded.”

What’s this kid, who hasn’t even dried his hair, saying?

I pretended to pat Noah’s head, and then flicked it.

With a hissing sound, Noah puffed his cheeks out.

And so, Noah acquired one more nickname for me.

“Perverted old man.”

“hahahaha, that’s right. I’m a pervert and an old man.”

“I heard that if you have a lot of male hormones, your hair falls out quickly.”

“…This kid, I swear.”

Frustrated with Noah, I pulled his cheek. His cheek stretched out with a pop.

His soft cheeks were like sticky rice cake.

I let out a stern voice.

“Did you do something wrong or not?”

“I’m sorryyyyy.”

This kid, even so, the hair loss joke crossed a line.

…It’s not like I wasn’t slightly worried these days.

+++++

“Oh… You keep your place tidy.”

Upon arriving at my house, Noah headed straight for the kitchen.

It wasn’t particularly spacious, but it was a neat kitchen. He took out a few seasonings and started preparing the dish.

Wearing an apron, he looked markedly like a housewife.

However, this wasn’t just for show,

As Noah took out the pork belly,She began cutting skillfully. Neither too big nor too small, the size was absolutely standard.

She took out the kimchi she bought from the convenience store and chopped it into pieces.

“You’re good at this.”

“My dad was bad at cooking. I started doing most of it when I was in primary school.”

Despite her reply, she continued cutting expertly.

When all the ingredients were prepared, she started to boil the broth, conveniently using a product in cube form. She extracted grease from the pork and fried the other ingredients in it. Lastly, she put everything together and let it simmer energetically.

The dish Noah was preparing was ‘Kimchi Jjigae with pork’, a stew made with soul food of Koreans – samgyeopsal and their representative food – kimchi.

After tasting it with the ladle she…

“…Good.”

She nodded in satisfaction.

She gulped down her saliva at the smell coming from the Kimchi Jjigae.

“Do you want to try? It would take more time to simmer it further.”

“Then just a bite.”

I eat the kimchi and pork with the soup.

I was shocked. This is the cooking ability of a middle schooler?

The pork is not tough. But it’s not too tender either, it retains a bit of chewiness. The convenience store kimchi is decent but there’s a clear restriction to the taste. And yet, it can have such profound flavor.

“…Your father must have been happy.”

“Pardon?”

“No, never mind.”

“Now we just wait. Let’s lower the flame and leave it for a little bit.”

While Noah lowered the flame, I rummaged through the refrigerator for a moment. “The side dishes…” were lacking. In fact, if I were alone, having a stew would have been a great meal.

However, since Noah came, I wanted to feed her heartily.

For some reason, she felt like a younger sister. No matter how much one quarrels with their younger sister, nobody would wish for them to starve.

I took out a tray of eggs from the refrigerator.

“Do you plan to eat with just the stew?”

“Should I…?”

“Well, sit here for a moment.”

I had Noah sit down and took the frying pan myself. I only cooked on special occasions and not normally. It looked grandiose but it was actually a very ordinary dish.

Crack, crack.

I began to crack eggs into a big bowl.

Two eggs.

“Are you making fried eggs?”

Four eggs.

“Two eggs each, how generous.”

Six eggs.

“Mister, you really don’t have to do so much!”

Around the time when half the eggs were gone, I lightly added salt and chopped vegetables and began beating the eggs.

What I was making was rolled omelette.

However, it was just insanely big.

“I’ve never seen so much egg mixture…”

“Just wait and see. It’ll be incredibly delicious.”

The scent of the eggs cooking at a good pace was wonderful. We could easily eat it just like this and it would taste great. But we have more than enough time and ingredients.

One layer after another. The layers of the egg started to stack up. The layers rose and the omelette began to thicken.

She swallowed.

Noah, who was watching this, swallowed hard.

“Um…Mister…?”

“Wait a bit. It’s almost done.”

I gently struck the fluffy omelette, which had built up layer upon layer, with a spatula. The omelette made a popping sound. It was satisfying.

Leaving the fragments of the slaughtered eggs behind, I presented the rolled omelette in the center of the table. Thankfully, the Kimchi Jjigae was also almost ready.

As soon as I brought the instant rice, a grand feast was spread out in front of us.

“Let’s eat.”

“…”

“Noah?”

“…”

Noah’s eyes were locked onto the large and grand rolled omelette. She was sending a hesitant look.

“…Mister. That’s really delicious, right?”

“Of course. It’s my masterpiece.”

“…What to do.”

“Why?”

In return to my question, Noah responded with a troubled voice.

“I get disappointed when my expectations are betrayed.”

“…What?”

“If I don’t have any expectations from the beginning, I wouldn’t be disappointed.”

She said philosophical and pessimistic words and pointed at the rolled omelette.

“…What if it doesn’t taste good?”

“Will you get scolded?”

“No, that’s not what I meant. If I build up expectations and then get disappointed…”

Noah could no longer continue her sentence.

The reason was simple.

“You should at least eat it first before judging.”

“Oh…””Because I pushed the rolled omelette into her mouth.”

Noah didn’t have a chance to say anything. The thin, soft layers of egg tore in her mouth. The texture was fluffy from the well-cooked eggs.

Noah’s eyes grew wide involuntarily.

“Try some kimchi stew.”

As I speak, he scoops some of the stew into his mouth.

And then the liquid trickles carefully into his mouth. In the next moment, Noah’s expression turned blank.

Just eating a rolled omelette and kimchi stew and he reacts like this. I wonder if he’d bawl when I take him to a decent barbecue restaurant.

Here he was, gorging his food, sending it down his throat, then picking up his chopsticks as if enchanted.

The action repeated and soon, a sigh of delight slipped from his lips.

“Wow…”

“Is it good?”

“Yes…this is my first time eating a rolled omelette like this!”

Is it that tasty? I’ve always been more amazed by the taste of kimchi stew than something I always eat.

Definitely. The flavor is much richer after simmering.

Noah devoured the omelette with awe.

Happiness bloomed on the face of the kid who was stuffing her cheeks full.

“A chick eating a chick.”

“Huh?”

“I’m not going to rob you, eat a lot.”

“Oh…you should have some too.”

“It’s too late for polite refusals.”

“No, that’s not it…” Noah probably wanted to argue. But she kept eating her rolled omelette, so I just thought it might be the case.

He was eating in a rush when suddenly, he took out a small notebook and a pen. The sound of scribbling could be heard as he got back to his meal with a satisfied expression.

“What’s that?”

As I started to converse, Noah pulled out the note again.

“It’s a bucket list.”

“Bucket list?”

“A bucket list means that, right?”

“The one where you write down the things you want to do?”

“Yes. I think I achieved one today.”

He pointed to a line on which a check mark was drawn.

“I just succeeded.”

Eating delicious food with a close friend (V).

“You’re my friend. I don’t have any others to begin with.”

“…So is that why I’m a close friend?”

“That’s right. Since you’re my only one, aren’t you a close friend?”

There were many things I wanted to say but I held back. What’s the point of intruding when she’s happy?

I just got curious about one thing.

“Why a bucket list all of a sudden?”

In the original, Noah never had anything like this. She merely had vague wishes.

Hmm…Noah carefully choosing her words.

After a moment of contemplation, she answered with a smile.

“Just…in case I die.”

“…”

“I had a bit of a scary experience not long ago, made me think about it a lot.”

An incident not long ago…

Ah.

‘That incident.’

The day I transformed into a villain and fought with Iris. Obviously, Noah remembered that incident quite well.

Noah, who was lost in thought for a while,

the words that she spilled out pierced my heart deeply.

“There’s a villain with really disgusting tentacles. His name was Kraken or something. Anyways, he was really ugly.”

“That villain, is he really that bad…?”

“Yes. He talks like a middle-schooler with a disease, his name is lousy, and he’s a pervert. How can anyone see that in a good way?”