“Toss it over a grill for a couple of seconds, and flames will deal with the rest. Oh, don't forget to add salt, pepper, or sauces afterward. Dip, chew, and swallow. Done.” Mi-Yung explained and smiled at how simple it sounded. “On the other side, consider the meat. Thin slices tend to fall apart differently, so we use scissors or knives to cut thicker cuts into smaller pieces. Proper seasoning is also important.” She also pointed to a bunch of containers and bowls. William had never felt such a complex meal prep.

  Taking tweezers, Mi-Yung took charge of the cooking by placing the first batch of meats over the grill. It was meant for rendering fat.

  A sizzling sound came off immediately, and cooking began. Smoke wasn’t an issue, thanks to a neat little chimney above the table. It was a suitable solution for an indoor restaurant, though William doubted that having a literal fire indoors was without hazards.

  “Smells incredible,” he muttered, ignoring a stealing hand that kept testing raw meat. By now, saliva escaped his mouth, while Ellie froze because of the Hound on her lap. She couldn’t move or think. Nothing she did worked while a mountain pressed onto her legs and whimpered towards her face.

  “Right?” Mi-Yung said to him. “Thin slices of beef and pork will be the fastest, and they are quite rich. A dozen seconds is all you need. I suggest serving it with rice or eating it as is. Not raw, by the way. We also have oil or spice sauces, but simplicity is also delightful. I prefer it simple... and some raw, eh?” Mi-Yung ended her explanation and snatched the closest plates away from Celeste's reach.

  She grunted, but not for long. Mi-Yung tossed her the first cook, and her eyes sparked as she ate them right away. Celeste's eyes widened, her mind stirred, her stomach wriggled, and her throat was blown out of proportion. She moaned, nearly falling to the ground, and mumbled a bunch of gibberish.

  Hound jumped to the rescue and started licking Celeste’s arms, letting Ellie breathe and finally think straight.

  “It is good, no? Shame you ate too much of it raw, no? That’s your problem. It is your sin and you will live with it for the rest of your life.” Mi-Yung said and mocked the moaning girl.

  William was already holding a knife and fork, expecting his fill.

  “If you won't cut the thick pieces, they need to be turned around so that the meat will be evenly cooked. It is a problem with most beef. Some could take ten minutes or hours, depending on the American-style approach. Pulled pork is one such thing, and brisket is great to cook for many hours. Let me show it to you so you will know it in the future.”

  “Why?”

  “What, why?” Mi-Yung was confused. “I damn hope you will grow and eat good. Outside is lacking and you... Well, while you aren’t all bones and skin, you need to eat properly.”

  “Here?” This time, William was the one confused and didn't think he was that bad.

  Mi-Yung nodded and no longer elaborated. A show began in front of Celeste's and William's eyes. Ellie took care of her own tweezers and cooked for herself and Celeste. Mi-Yung did the rest.

  Meat after meat, and dishes after more sauces and salty tastes, entered their mouths. William had incredible fun and felt like Mi-Yung was joking with eating here all the freakign time. He couldn't eat like this. No way... He shouldn’t eat this! It was way too good.

  This feast of almost fourteen plates of meat turned to nothing in less than twenty minutes.

  Side dishes were more than sufficient because William found his main interest in the meat. Celeste was the same and discovered those white little worms called rice, which were odd. Yellow soft mud looked more tasty. She liked charred vegetables and bread, which was about the only thing Ellie managed to offer her besides more meat.

  Everyone was satisfied, and William hadn’t expected this to be so lavish. He realized the taste way too late. The little containers he had eaten in his new home had come from this place. He already tasted this Pit, though the fresh deal was still unbeatable.

  Charcoal was still hot, but there was no meat. Everyone had had enough—even Celeste, whose face convinced Hound that she had found her second sky.

  But something was far from satisfaction. Hound was lying on her lap, whimpering as if dead and gruesomely disappointed that they got to eat while he didn’t.

  After all this time in this maddening place and cooking, Hound’s mind and instincts were churning, making his size stagnant, if not smaller than usual. Celeste offered strips gushing in fatty blissful bits, but he refused as if she showed it a Cricker.

  At the end, the table was clean and Celeste glanced at Hound, feeling a bit bummed her bliss couldn't be shared.

  Mi-Yung sighed and deduced that if no one cared for it so far, maybe they expected her to do it instead. Who? This girl? Fain? She saw it days ago and didn’t think this Hound would end up this… attached, yet ignored.

  That silly little collar and badge weren’t working like that all the time. However, it also wasn’t too suspicious, or insane, and Mi-Yung wanted to be a brilliant hostess, so she held onto one line of thought.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Are you worried about your dog, Celeste?” she asked.

  Celeste nodded, pulling Hound above the table. Paws lay low and his mouth and eyes were down, as if he had lost every bit and piece of his living purposes. Celeste looked worried, since she wasn’t worried. She was ecstatic and full, and it was weird how this combination of emotions and physical pacts made her feel.

  Mi-Yung wished to laugh and tell a joke, but from the looks of it, Celeste had a lot of feelings attached to it, so she rather forfeited them.

  She would love to hear their story, and one way to do it was to act accordingly and ask, or simply give it even more weight. Because of that, Mi-Yung leaned forward and snatched Hound from Celeste's hands.

  Hound perked up, as if seized and stolen by a storm, and no longer pretended his sky had broken. Barking and gnawing at her arm restrained his thoughts for several great reason, yet he hadn't done shit to any of her finger.

  “Give me a minute and wait here. I will be back,” Mi-Yung said with a smile and walked away, leaving this trio behind.

  Ellie and William looked at one another, unsure of what she meant or what she was planning with Hound. Celeste got up and wanted to follow her right away. A hand stopped her, coming from Ellie, who would rather not act harsh if it weren’t for her conscience.

  “Mi-Yung said to wait. Do you not trust her?”

  Celeste had no way to reply to that. Trust or not, what was the point in words when her Hound got depressed?! Or was hunger really that devlish? She knew it could get ugly, terrific, and sharp.

  Benefits and learning were valid. Replaying the past hour, she sat and prayed Hound won't get turned into soup. Why? Because soups weren’t good. That's a fact everyone understood. They were far from the splendid blood and cocktail of bliss in that pool.

  She put her palms together, put them over her mouth, while both thumbs went under her chin.

  “What's that?” Ellie asked curiously.

  “Dunno. A charm?” She tried to describe it, but only half succeeded.

  It still looked funny.

  ***

  In the backstage area, Mi-Yung walked as if she were taking care of garbage.

  With Hound in hand and plenty of curiosity, she had time and no privy fools around her. She reached an empty meeting hall and locked the door behind her, which left her alone with this curious little playful Hound, who was suddenly as lively as yesterday.

  For the start, she tossed Hound to the ground, where he fell like a sack of potatoes and got up like a vicious little wolf. He eyed this tigress and hissed a bunch of curses at her ways.

  “Enough of this thing, beast. Logically, most Hounds carry themselves for years with little or no bite. But I am not stupid. I am far away from any of that, so... first things first. Who are you and what do you want?” Mi-Yung didn't ask. She ordered it.

  Hound shook, eyes blazing in a challenge to appease his sorry instincts. Pity. He rose like slowly moving weeds, wishing to reach an impressive ten feet and ten inches.

  Mi-Yung almost clapped at such a display of prowess, but didn't give shit about it. He barked and continued to grow, and Mi-Yung crouched to see these effects better.

  In a poof of forceful sound, like arms snapping, Hound grew until he was more than seven feet tall, and all of his Aspects turned in delight. Clutter of fur danced and tensed, and his breath huffed and forced a powerful gust of wind at Mi-Yung, who now seemed to crouch as a weakling before a master.

  Her brows twitched when that gust pushed her hair behind her. This wasn’t a storm. No Fog was in place, but this beast was still way too dramatic over a mere dispute and question. Pulling her arm up, she grasped his tough fur around the chest and neck, and pulled.

  Hound fell to the ground, grunting, head pressed where it had fallen before, and Mi-Yung caught his head with both palms. Now, Hound ended in what William would name a deadly pincer of a vicious tigress.

  Hound wasn't shocked, angry, or afraid. He snorted, pushing more wind to her face, and growled as he fought with paws against the ground. Weight shifted, and strength and bodies creaked as powerful physical strength stirred between them. Mi-Yung furrowed her brows even tighter and judged this beast, and saw those eyes.

  It wasn’t so laughable anymore, and she used quite a bit of strength to mess with it.

  “You want to play, eh? With me?!” She laughed, and her Emblem throbbed in self-activation sequence before a huge spark responded, creating a dome of light around them.

  Hound mumbled thunder for barks and laughed. Mi-Yung pushed it to the ground even more until the whole building shook, even with a Barrier set in place.

  “Don't try me. I don’t like guessing, and if this makes any sense to me... this is dramatic and fine. What is this about you that grinds my nerves, huh? Your entire points stinks!” she shouted, and Hound moaned for once.

  It was as if she stepped on his tail and called his eyes a pair of binoculars. It simply wasn't prideful enough, let alone clever.

  “So?”

  Hound huffed a sorry breath, and all of his eyes looked away.

  “No truth?”

  He kept looking away, feeling sorry, weak, yet logically fine with this position. This girl was very strong. There was no doubt about it. Sometimes, things were sorry for no apparent reason, and this place was just not it. He had to be calm. Sincere, perhaps? With... this?

  Nah.

  “No sincerity? I will gladly help you out if the further points make more sense. For example...”

  A shake rumbled, and something about Mi-Yung seemed different, but it was hard to guess what. She activated her System, which was invisible to anyone, including Darks and other Walkers.

  She pulled a hand away from Hound's left cheek, grasped an empty vial from her pocket, and put it up.

  She opened the lid with her mouth and yanked the open vial in the air. It disappeared into the air in a strange crash, as if she dug into the space itself like a miner to the ground. She put it out in a second, now with a strange red liquid oozing and sizzling in the vial.

  Hound's eyes and mouth twitched, and he swore this level of threat wasn’t making any sense. Considering his choices, shame and Celeste were nowhere to be found. It was a choice, wasn't it? Like before, now, and forever.

  Mi-Yung pulled the vial down, smelled it, and offered it like a treat to a child. Hound began shaking as if he had received a gift sent by heaven. It was getting away, snatched and closing before that taunting, dangerous smile.

  Mi-Yung kissed the vial and wondered where else she was going with it, or where to even end.

  “So, my little friend. Celeste. Australia. Whatever shit is up with Holy Lands. What had occurred left me entertained, and Fain was the same. Dreadus, not so much, but I can talk to him about anything any day. Your brief existence is like a dot in a grey sky, beast. Not many questioned it, yes?”

  Hound grimly howled and pressed his head to the ground, rather than feeling defeated by her grip.

  “How odd... for a Dark such as yourself. That doesn’t answer anything, but my Mark says otherwise. I feel things, you see. I know things. And so far, this one is not giving me many reasons to believe your existence means anything good for us, and that girl makes me appreciate what Fain was doing. Celeste at least tries to act along, but I do her because of Dreadus. That’s fair, don’t you think? You. You are not fair, but I am not that myself. So, how about a deal?” She played with the vial, handling it like a ball of treats.