Chapter 13
The weather wasn’t very good today.
The rain-soaked asphalt quietly absorbed every drop that fell onto it.
Beneath the dull gray clouds, the street in front of Mangi’s restaurant—the small pojangmacha—was nearly empty.
“Chef… are we really opening today? Hmm… wouldn’t it be better to just close for the day?”
Poming deliberately made a dissatisfied face.
A few raindrops splashed onto her small, white, puppy-like body, making her jump around as she began her adorable protest.
“Look! Look at this! I think rain is leaking through the tarp! What if Poming gets wet?! You have to take responsibility! You’ll have to dry me with the hair dryer!”
“Leaking, my ass. Aren’t you standing there on purpose so the rain hits you? Just because you want me to use the hair dryer on you?”
“Ah, you caught on fast.”
Mangi clicked his tongue softly and hurriedly lowered the tarp, completing the roof of the food stall.
The vinyl tarp fluttered in the wind for a moment before settling into place.
Now it finally looked like a proper shop.
“Phew, done.”
Mangi let out a small sigh and started wiping down the tables.
They hadn’t even started business yet, so why did he already feel exhausted?
Poming bounced up and leaped onto Mangi’s shoulder.
“Ahem! Chef! For some reason, I feel kind of sluggish today.”
“Same here.”
“You’re not coming down with a cold, are you? Should I prepare a special medicinal soup?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“Cough, cough.”
Poming pretended to cough a couple of times as if she had caught a cold.
“Can summoned creatures even catch colds?”
“Of course we can! Especially cute and delicate summoned creatures like Poming. I’m very fragile!”
Mangi shook his head and clicked his tongue, though he found her adorable.
Where the hell did this little thing learn to act like that?
Even while thinking that, Mangi was actually grateful that Poming was complaining like this.
At least when Poming was making noise beside him, the damp, gloomy feeling of a rainy day seemed to become a little warmer.
Poming sat back down on top of a pot, her ears fluttering.
“By the way, Chef, do you really think customers will come on a day like this?”
“Hmm. Regular customers definitely don’t seem likely.”
“What about the souls of hunters heading to the afterlife?”
“I don’t know about them.”
Mangi muttered casually as he picked up the onions and carrots he had prepared on the cutting board.
Poming pouted and mumbled something under her breath.
The rain still showed no sign of stopping.
When is it going to let up?
Mangi pulled aside the tarp slightly and looked outside.
That was when he saw it.
Someone was standing beneath the streetlamp across the road from the restaurant.
…Huh?
Mangi narrowed his eyes.
Under the faint light of the streetlamp stood a young woman.
She didn’t have an umbrella.
She was simply standing there, completely soaked by the rain, staring toward the restaurant.
She wasn’t moving at all.
It almost seemed as though she was waiting for someone to notice her.
Mangi frowned.
What is she doing over there…?
Poming suddenly jumped on Mangi’s shoulder.
“Eh? Who’s that person…? Why is she standing there alone? In the rain? That’s scary!”
“Yeah….”
Mangi felt something strange.
Was there really any reason for someone to stand there while getting drenched like that?
Poming bounced beside his ear and shouted.
“Chef, hurry and go check on her! She’s going to catch a cold too!”
At Poming’s urging, Mangi let out a small sigh, grabbed a dry cloth, and stepped outside the tarp.
“Poming, watch the shop.”
“Huh? Poming wants to come too…”
“You said you’d catch a cold. You were just whining about not wanting to get wet.”
“Hehe…”
When Mangi gave her a sharp look, Poming immediately lowered her tail.
“Waaah~! Fine~! Come back quickly~!”
Holding an umbrella, Mangi slowly crossed the road and approached the woman.
The woman standing in the rain didn’t seem to notice him approaching.
Only when he got fairly close did she finally seem to hear his footsteps and slowly turn her head.
Hmm?
She looked to be somewhere in her mid-twenties.
Her unfocused eyes and long hair soaked by the rain made her already pale face appear even paler.
What’s going on…?
Something was strange.
Despite standing beneath the freezing rain, she didn’t seem cold at all.
“Excuse me.”
Mangi spoke to her.
But the woman gave no response.
Only her hands trembled slightly.
“What are you doing standing out here? You’re completely soaked…”
She spoke in a trembling voice.
“Are you… running that food stall?”
“Yes, I am. Come inside for a moment.”
“You… You can really see me, right?”
Mangi answered without thinking.
“Of course I can see you. That’s why I’m talking—ah.”
Only then did something occur to him, and he stopped speaking.
He couldn’t feel any warmth coming from her body.
Nor could he sense that unique feeling possessed by living beings.
Because of that, Mangi instinctively realized the truth.
She’s dead… She’s the soul of a dead hunter.
The woman muttered as though speaking to herself.
“I… I don’t have anywhere to go, and I’m really hungry. But I don’t know if it’s okay for me to go there… I don’t have anything I can give you.”
Mangi smiled calmly.
“That’s okay. Our restaurant doesn’t care about things like that.”
“…Really?”
“Yes. Come inside and relax. You said you’re hungry, right? Don’t stay out here getting soaked.”
For the first time, she smiled in relief.
A faint smile appeared on her rain-soaked face.
Mangi quietly held the umbrella over her.
“I don’t know what kind of food you like, but let’s start with something warm.”
The rain gradually became heavier, making the surroundings even colder.
She moved a little closer to Mangi.
Even beside the unnatural coldness of her soul, Mangi spoke warmly.
“It looks like the rain’s going to keep falling. What’s your name?”
“Seo Jia. I was… Seo Jia.”
“You’re a hunter, aren’t you?”
“I was… a hunter. I was a B-rank hunter.”
“I’m a hunter too.”
The two slowly walked through the rainy street.
