Miho the Killer
Chapter 66: Three of a Kind

Chapter 66: Three of a Kind

Between getting attacked at the hospital - although I literally just laid in bed and did nothing - and all the driving around, I was quite exhausted and was looking forward to getting a good night’s rest, but the rumbling sound of Miho’s stomach dictated that I’d had to postpone that plan a little.

"Old man, is there anything we can eat?"

I came out of Miho’s room and asked Shin, who sat on an armchair in the living room smoking a cigarette and reading a book.

"You are hungry?"

He said without looking up.

"Miho is. She says she can’t - and WON’T sleep until she gets something to eat."

"Tell her it’s a bad habit to at this time. It’s past midnight now."

"Heartless!" Miho jumped out from behind me and pointed at Shin.

When did she follow me? I thought she was waiting in her room for the good news. She really had feline footsteps when she wanted.

"Bad eating habits will make you gain weight, unfit, and slow."

"I’m as fit as a fox."

"You mean as strong as an ox." Shin pointed out.

"Fox, ox, same thing." The fox shrugged.

"They are not the same at all."

"The main thing is they are both animals." Miho thought she scored a point.

"And you are not an animal."

"Awooooo!" Miho howled.

"That’s a wolf. Not a fox."

"What does the fox say?" A genuine curiosity from my wolf.

Neither Shin nor I could answer this one.

"I win, so we are going to eat something."

I didn’t know how that translates to winning, but I was going to side with Miho here.

"Do you have something I can cook?" I asked.

"Sigh... just eat ramen or something then." Shin gave in.

Ramen isn’t exactly a healthier nighttime snack but I knew Miho liked them so I wasn’t going to argue.

"I’ll show you the kitchen." Without waiting for my answer, Miho turned and headed down the hallway so I followed.

She seemed to remember this house well.

Once I got there, I found that the kitchen was actually very well equipped and well stocked, with a sink big enough to wash a large wok, lightwave oven, gas oven, air-frier, deep-frier, multiple knife blocks, chopping boards, glass jars of spices and herbs, variety of salts, sugar, and a massive fridge on one side. Basically, it looked like a professional chef’s kitchen.

"Does Uncle Shin cook?" I asked Miho.

"Not often, but sometimes, yeah."

I shuddered a little, thinking that the same hands that sliced through people did the same here separating flesh and bones.

"Is he any good?"

"He’s an excellent cook!"

It was hard to imagine the old man wearing an apron in this kitchen, but if Miho said he was, then I guess he was.

I opened the fridge to find that it was equally well stocked with fresh ingredients.

"How would you like your ramen?" I asked the hungry girl.

"Eggs, leeks, and chilies."

We normally stuck with the ’pure’ version of instant ramen when we used to live together, but sometimes Miho was in the mood for more indulgence and I smiled remembering this was what I used to cook for her every now and then too. Fortunately, the fridge contained everything Miho was looking for.

"Got it. How many portions?"

"Two packages for me."

"Right. Where do you keep ramen?"

Miho grinned, walked over to one kitchen cupboard, and opened it with a ta-da.

It seemed both Miho and the old man were really fond of ramen - well, I knew about Miho since our time together and I suppose it’s not surprising that an ahjussi might enjoy quick and easy spicy soup with a bottle of soju at the end of a hard day’s ’work’.

"Two for me as well."

Talking of the devil, Shin came into the kitchen as well announcing that I - suddenly the cook of the house, despite the fact that HE is supposedly a good cook - shall cook for him too.

Five packs of ramen aren’t easy to cook well because the noodles tend to get soggy once you cook more than three together in a pot. Nevertheless, now that I was cooking for three people - two of them very hungry, there really wasn’t a way around it. So I got to work. My type of work.

I first filled the big pot Miho found for me with water. It was a pot I wasn’t used to so I decided to measure the water instead of going by eye estimate. I poured three cups of water - probably around 200ml each -, then three cups of about 180ml each, as linearly increasing the amount of water per ramen when cooking multiple of them tend to end up with too much soup and less taste.

I then poured 3 out of 5 dried spicy soup powder first, together with the dried vegetable packages. I didn’t normally do this for cooking up to three portions, but this should allow the water to boil at higher than 100 degrees celsius, helping the noodles get cooked a little better even at higher volume.

Miho stood next to me watching carefully, but I knew it wasn’t because she wanted to learn. I imagined this is what she used to do when her elder sister cooked for her as well. It was very sad but if I could provide her a bit of comfort like this, then that was fine with me.

Once the water boiled, I broke the solid lumps of noodles into two. Again, this was a big no-no when boiling up to three ramen, but boiling five meant not breaking them would make it harder to have them cooked more evenly. Desperate times required desperate measures.

It was time for a bit of manual work and attention for the next four minutes. I used long wooden chopsticks to periodically lift the noodles out of the boiling soup and put them back again. The repetition of this short cooling and drying results in uneven cooking, which results in the noodles retaining slightly al dente quality in different places. It wasn’t ideal, but this process does introduce variation in texture that gave the impression of more chewiness to the noodles.

With about a minute and a half to go, I stopped fiddling with the noodles and put the eggs in. Miho liked them cooked to the extent that you could swirl them to dissolve in the bowl when the ramen is served, so it was about the right time for it.

With thirty seconds to go, I put in the chopped leeks, chillies, and a dash of chilly power on top.

"It’s all done."

Miho already had the bowls ready for me to distribute the ramen and I carefully moved them from the pot to the bowls so the eggs didn’t get spread out and the leeks and chillies stay on top as... well, toppings as otherwise they’d be botommings (is that even a word? It sounded like they had a little... interesting connotations.)

Shin didn’t just sit around the table to wait though. He also came over to grab his own bowl, so we all carried our own portions to the table in the dining room.

"Thank you for the meal!" Both Shin and Miho appreciated and dug in.

"Kaaaaah, this is good!" Miho let out as she took a few spoons of the soup first.

"Very nicely cooked indeed. I’m impressed, Ms. Han." Even Shin praised, sucking in the noodles like a vacuum cleaner.

I also took a mouthful and was proud of my end product.

The tension of the day was dissolving like the lightly cooked eggs in the spicy soup, and the hearty sound of gulping and slurping filled the room. The ceiling light above the table wasn’t harsh fluorescent white but had a warm tone of old-style light bulbs. The wallpapers were also beige, a welcome change from the sterile white walls of the hospital we escaped from earlier.

Miho talked with her mouth full and got reprimanded by Shin who also talked with his mouth full as he did so. I couldn’t make sense of the relationship between the suspicious old man - who was yet undoubtedly kind and caring - and the once-a-killer lady that sat next to me who seemed so vibrant and alive now, a stark contrast from the past weeks when she laid staring at the ceiling for the whole day every day.

I thought how I always felt left out in a group of three, but right now, even sitting quietly without saying a thing, I didn’t feel alone. As Miho turned to glance at me periodically and smile, I realized we had become Three of a Kinds. I may not be the strongest suit out of three, but just by being here I made our hands better. It was a strange feeling knowing that I was wanted, even if it wasn’t expressed explicitly. There was no doubt that Shin was the one playing cards here, but it was because of Miho and me that he could make his bets.

I just hoped that we could emerge out of all this unscathed after the river.