Chapter 19

Chapter 19

“Ah, yes. What would you like as a side dish?”

“Anything is fine.”

The customer looked like he had a story behind him.

But he wasn’t a Hunter on his way to the afterlife.

In other words, he wasn’t a soul.

He was simply an injured Hunter.

I stopped paying him any more attention and called for Poming.

“Poming.”

“Yeees~ Chef!”

“Today… we’re making something special.”

Without another word, I pulled a dark red chunk of meat from the refrigerator.

Its surface had a glossy, bluish-black sheen, while the inside was soft enough to sink under pressure like butter.

Yeah.

One look was enough to tell that this wasn’t ordinary meat.

“Hmm! Even seeing it again, the smell is still awful! Tin Bludder’s laryngeal muscle!! But!”

Poming’s eyes practically turned into hearts.

Puffing out her white cheeks, she fluttered into the air and hovered over the chunk of meat.

“This thing is packed with unsaturated fat, so the savory aroma is incredible~ It also boosts reaction speed~ It stimulates the central nervous system, so it clears your head too~ Just thinking about cooking it makes Poming feel like something amazing is about to happen!”

“That’s why I want to try it today. Seems like we’ve got a customer who could use it too.”

I closed the refrigerator and dusted off my hands.

“What do you think about just grilling it? It looks like it’d make a good steak.”

“Yeees~ Poming is entering steak preparation mode!”

Poming flew toward the kitchen and began lining up knives.

With her tiny hands, she crawled around pushing their handles while talking to herself.

“How about this one?”

“This one’s too heavy!”

Meanwhile, I quietly placed the Tin Bludder’s laryngeal muscle on the cutting board.

Its surface glistened with moisture and fat.

The grain was surprisingly fine and firm, and when I pressed the knife into it, I could even feel its elasticity.

“I’ll cut it into a single serving. About two and a half centimeters thick?”

“Yep! Should I slice some king oyster mushrooms and onions too?”

“Sounds good. Use coarse salt, and slice the garlic thin. We’ll put that down first.”

Poming shuffled over with quick little steps, rolling an onion along with her foot while carrying a basket of garlic.

She looked so serious that I couldn’t help but laugh.

Sizzle, sizzle.

The frying pan heated up, and the garlic began frying in olive oil.

“Chef! The aroma’s coming up! It’s time to put in the Tin Bludder!”

“Here we go.”

I placed the sliced laryngeal muscle steak onto the pan.

Sssssssssshhh!!

The sound of meat hitting the pan spread like exploding fireworks.

The smell of garlic mixed with the fat from the meat, teasing my mouth.

“Oh my gosh, my brain is reacting before anything else! Poming just got Reaction Speed +10 from the smell alone. Hehe.”

“Get a grip. We still have another side to cook.”

Exactly forty-five seconds later, I flipped the meat.

The golden-brown surface lifted cleanly from the bottom,

and the juices spread like melted butter, coating the pan once again.

“Onions going in!”

Poming tossed the onion pieces beside the steak one by one.

The onions began browning,

while the king oyster mushrooms cooked in the spaces between them.

“Waaah! Chef, today you’re a total cooking wizard!”

“You’re all talk.”

“Chef, since this is a steak that increases reaction speed, that hyung’s whole life might change after eating it!”

“Since when did the customer become your hyung…?”

I lifted the pan and transferred the meat onto a plate.

I added the garlic, onions, and king oyster mushrooms on the side,

then sprinkled just a little more salt over the sizzling iron plate.

“Give this a try.”

I carried the plate over and placed it in front of the man.

“What is this…?”

At his blunt question, I slowly answered.

“It’s a steak made from the laryngeal muscle of a high-grade monster called a Tin Bludder. It should improve your reaction speed, and it tastes good too. It’ll reduce your fatigue and clear your head. It’s exactly the kind of dish someone like you needs.”

“I can’t afford anything expensive….”

“It’s fine. Pay whatever you’re comfortable with.”

“I appreciate that, but….”

Without saying anything more, the man picked up a piece of meat with his chopsticks.

The moment he put it into his mouth—

“Mm…!”

He closed his eyes as though he had felt something.

The corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

Then he suddenly opened his eyes wide and said,

“This tastes better than Korean beef. You’re telling me this is monster meat?”

Poming raised both hands and shouted,

“Right?! Right?! This is basically the Korean beef of the monster world! It makes your head flash, your eyes flash, even your heart flash~!”

The man silently picked up another piece.

Then he took a sip of soju.

Once again, he fell quiet.

He simply continued alternating between the meat and the alcohol.

Slowly.

Quietly.

After nibbling away like that for a while, the man suddenly lowered his head and stopped moving his chopsticks.

There was still warm Tin Bludder steak left on the plate.

A piece of garlic remained trapped under the meat, cooling without ever being eaten.

“…Ha….”

A sigh escaped him.

And then—

“Ugh… Hngh… Uuu… Uuu….”

His shoulders began trembling little by little.

Then the crying he had been trying to suppress suddenly burst out.

“Uwaaaaaah! Damn it!! Uaaaaaagh!”

His belly shook,

and tears streamed from the deeply wrinkled corners of his eyes.

The large man covered his face with the back of his thick hand as he cried.

I was a little startled by his sudden outburst of frustration and tears, but for now, I pulled out some tissues and handed them to him.

“Sounds like you’ve been through something difficult.”

“I got cursed at again today.”

He continued quietly.

His voice was wet with tears, and his hands trembled.

“I’m used to being treated like a laborer. It’s been like that my whole life. But today, they said I couldn’t even kill a single monster inside the dungeon… They didn’t treat me like a person, much less a Hunter. I almost died getting knocked around by the lowest-rank ant monster, and the raid leader asked me if I was even a human being.”

He stopped speaking for a moment and laughed bitterly.

“Then some B-rank Hunter way younger than me said it was amazing that I hadn’t died yet. All I could do was laugh. ‘Hehe, sorry about that.’ Why? Because if I lose that place, there isn’t a single party anywhere else that would accept a bottom-rank Hunter like me. I have to cling to even that rotten lifeline!”

“I see….”

“Seriously… why was I born like this, only to live like this until I’m nearly fifty…?”

I spoke.

“Fifty years old. You’ve stayed active as a Hunter all the way to that age. Isn’t that what matters?”

Hearing my words, he slowly raised his head.

“But judging from the look of things… Chef, you’re an F-rank too, aren’t you?”

I smiled and nodded.

“Yes. I’m Hong Mangi, an F-rank Hunter. At least, I was until yesterday. But… now I’m D-rank.”

“Ah, D-rank….”

I quietly lifted the lid of a pot.

Inside was a soybean paste soup I had prepared separately, bubbling away.

“This steak you’re eating right now. Like I said, it came from an A-rank monster. You probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you an F-rank Hunter hunted that A-rank monster and brought the meat back himself.”

“Then how did you…? Did you have strong raid members? No. Even good raid members wouldn’t just hand over A-rank monster meat for you to eat.”

“Because I didn’t give up, didn’t die, and kept going. Once I kept at it long enough, luck finally started coming my way.”

I poured him a bowl of soup.

The rich smell of soybean paste spread over the table.

Then he suddenly asked me,

“How is someone without talent supposed to live?”

His eyes showed that he truly wanted to know.

Hmm….

I thought about it for a moment.

Then I answered sincerely.

“You do it like breathing.”

“What?”

“Don’t try to be good at it. And don’t keep thinking, ‘I just have to survive until retirement.’ Just do it like you breathe. Whether people curse at you or not, whether you nearly die or not, you just live your life doing whatever needs to be done that day.”

Without saying anything, he quietly picked up another piece of meat.

This time, he chewed it very slowly, savoring every bite.

A tiny hint of relief appeared on his face.

Watching him, Hong Mangi spoke again.

“Like I said, I’m D-rank now. I got evaluated again.”

“You said you were reassessed. Congratulations.”

“Thank you. Maybe that’s why I feel like I understand how you feel, at least a little. You’re much older than me, but age doesn’t really mean much in this world anyway, right?”

“That’s true….”

“I was the same. I was ready to give everything up and quit being a Hunter… Then one day, a door suddenly opened in front of me. Thanks to that, each day started becoming a little different.”

Talking so much made my throat feel a little dry, so I scooped up a spoonful of soup and ate it.

It was pleasantly salty and seasoned just right.

Then I continued.

“Hunter-nim. I know you’re exhausted and struggling, but I think the same door that opened for me could open for you too. Of course, I don’t know when that’ll happen. It could be tomorrow. Or it could be after you survive a hundred near-death experiences. But there’s one thing. If you want to still be standing in front of that door when it opens… first, you have to stay alive.”

The man quietly nodded.

He couldn’t say those words were wrong.

Tears gathered in his eyes.

“…It’s delicious.”

That night,

the man finished an entire bottle of soju, the steak, and the soybean paste soup before slowly getting to his feet.

Only when he was about to leave did he quietly speak.

“I learned a lot tonight. I’ll try to keep living. Thank you. This is for the food.”

He held out two bills to me.

I accepted them politely.

“I’m glad you had a good time.”

“Thank you again.”

He trudged out of the food stall.

His shoulders, which had been hanging low before, seemed to have risen just a little.

At the very least, it was clear that he had gained some strength.

At that moment, Poming quietly spoke to me.

“Chef… you’re cool.”

I shook my head.

“Cool, my ass… I was just thinking. I’d like this place to become somewhere that even people without talent can feel accepted.”

“Why?”

“Because I know how those people feel better than anyone.”

The next day.

A low-level dungeon.

There wasn’t even a proper boss.

The experience gained was low.

Even the loot consisted of nothing more than bones and hides from minor monsters.

It was the kind of place people treated as nothing more than a playground for kids.

And once again, Mr. Kim was there today.

“Hey, sweep that stuff up over there!”

“Yes.”

“Watch your back. No! Clean that area properly! There’s still slime goo over there.”

“Understood.”

Mr. Kim simply moved quietly and did as he was told.

Organizing potion boxes.

Carrying emergency communication devices.

Collecting remains left behind by minor monsters.

Today, his role was once again that of a laborer.

But then—

“Mr. Kim! Watch out! Those things aren’t dead!”

A group of slimes suddenly sprang upward.

One of the creatures had seeped into a small water container, and it suddenly went berserk, launching itself toward the raid party.

Before anyone else could react,

Mr. Kim instinctively threw himself forward.

“Mr. Kim! Don’t do anything stupid! No!”

Bang!

He drove the low-grade dagger in his hand straight into the slime’s core.

Lowering his center of gravity, Mr. Kim struck precisely.

With a sharp pshhh! sound, the slime burst into steam and disappeared.

“…Whoa.”

“Wow, he actually killed that thing?”

“What the hell was that reaction speed?”

“Mr. Kim, that was awesome!”

The raid members, who had only just managed to take defensive positions, began applauding one after another.

Someone even recorded his quick movements with their portable equipment.

“Wait, wasn’t he faster than me?”

“Wow… seriously. That was crazy.”

“What happened to him?”

Mr. Kim said nothing.

He simply dusted off his hands.

He carefully wiped away the fragments of slime core stuck to the tip of his fork, then returned to the equipment box.

Behind him, people continued whispering.

“Even if Mr. Kim is F-rank, I guess experience really makes a difference.”

“He really is the oldest brother of our party.”

“He’s a good guy, too.”

That night.

Mr. Kim was on his way home.

He quietly stopped by a snack shop near his house.

He ordered gimbap, tteokbokki, and sundae, then opened a bottle of soju.

Even today,

nothing particularly special had happened to him.

Glug…

He poured himself a glass and swallowed it in one gulp.

Then he remembered the face of a young Hunter.

The man who had silently cooked steak for him.

He had looked much younger,

yet he had calmly listened to the story of a bottom-rank Hunter everyone simply called Mr. Kim.

Those hands had helped a man stand back up with nothing more than a single dish.

Mr. Kim quietly murmured to himself,

“Thank you, Hong Mangi-nim.”

His reaction speed today had been incredible.

A single piece of the Tin Bludder’s laryngeal muscle that Hong Mangi had given him had made his life just a little better.