Chapter 7
[You have absorbed B-rank Hunter ‘Baek Jongsu’s’ Survival Cooking Skill.]
[You have acquired B-rank Hunter ‘Baek Jongsu’s’ Cooking Notes.]
[Passive Skill Acquired: Ingredient Preparation Speed +30%]
[Cooking Success Rate has increased.]
“Oh... ho!”
This was the reward I received for resolving the lingering regret of a hunter on his way to the afterlife.
Cooking skills, huh?
Good.
I liked it.
But putting that aside...
“Whew. I should get some rest too.”
Honestly, it hadn’t exactly been a grueling day.
Still, maybe I had been more stressed than I realized because barely any customers had come.
I could feel a dull ache around my shoulders.
Since this wasn’t some huge street-food tent, closing up for a while wouldn’t be difficult.
I just had to organize the leftover ingredients first and stack the few chairs neatly in one corner.
“Up we go!”
That was when—
Jingle—
The bell on the entrance, which somehow reminded me of the adorable Poming, rang.
“Oi, ma’am! Bring me a bottle of soju and some grilled hagfish!”
“M-Ma’am?”
How the hell did I look like a ma’am?
I glared at him in disbelief.
Then—
“Oi! If I say you’re the ma’am, then you’re the ma’am! Why aren’t you bringing out my hagfish and soju already? I’m Seokhyeoi-haem! Don’t you know me?”
His arms were covered in flashy tattoos from his shoulders all the way down to his wrists.
A large belly sagged over his belt.
His cheeks practically overflowed with greed and lust.
Ha... A tattooed pig.
The man who proudly introduced himself as ‘Seokhyeoi-haem’ dragged over one of the chairs I had been putting away and dropped heavily into it.
Then he started shouting for hagfish again.
“Oi! What are you doing?!”
He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his tattoo-covered forearm.
Then, letting his bulging belly spill out from beneath his sleeveless shirt, he practically rested it on top of the table.
“Oi! Owner!”
A rough voice rang out along with a strong smell of alcohol.
One glance was enough to tell.
This guy was a drunken troublemaker.
Ah... seriously. What a pain.
Sure, I might only be an F-rank hunter who had nearly retired.
But I was still a hunter.
Compared to an ordinary person, there was an enormous difference between us.
I couldn’t exactly use physical force to throw him outside.
I should just call the police.
If he started causing a scene, things would only become more troublesome.
For now, I should try calming him down.
“I’m sorry, but we don’t serve hagfish here.”
Seokhyeoi-haem’s eyebrow twitched.
“What? You said you’re running a business, but you can’t serve what a customer wants? What kind of nonsense is that? Oi, don’t you know I’m Seokhyeoi-haem? The legendary number-one fist of the Korean Peninsula, Seokhyeoi-haem! Wanna throw hands with me?”
“Ha... seriously....”
Seokhyeoi-haem, Baek-haem, Spam-haem...
Whatever the hell your name was,
I didn’t care.
If he really wanted to fight, I could give him exactly what he wanted.
But how could I do that?
I’m a hunter.
I let out a long sigh and picked up my phone to call the police.
Then—
Ah. The battery....
I must have forgotten to charge it.
The phone was dead.
The man slammed his huge hand onto the table.
“Oi! Then hurry up and bring me something else! If you don’t bring something out in ten minutes, you’re dead, got it? You ignoring me when I’m Seokhyeoi-haem?!”
“No, I’m sorry, but our chef is....”
Hm?
Wait.
I had been about to mention Poming when something occurred to me.
As a reward for resolving the lingering regret of B-rank Hunter Baek Jongsu, who had been heading to the afterlife, I had absorbed his abilities.
Wait... then maybe I should try using them?
If I planned to keep this business going, I needed to be able to cook even without Poming around.
Even if I started cooking seriously, there was no way I could immediately catch up to Poming’s incredibly versatile cooking abilities.
But I couldn’t depend on him forever either.
It said I acquired Baek Jongsu’s Cooking Notes....
After thinking for a moment, I quietly said,
“Then I’ll make you one thing.”
Seokhyeoi-haem rested his chin on his hand and scoffed.
“Ha. This is pissing me off. What’ve you got besides hagfish? If it tastes bad, you’re dead.”
Without answering, I picked up a knife.
The dish Baek Jongsu had wanted to make and eat one final time.
Gukbap.
I was going to serve the same dish to this man.
Except this time, Poming wasn’t here.
I would make it purely with my own ability after absorbing Baek Jongsu’s skills.
What was left in the refrigerator again?
Thinking about it, I remembered having doenjang, garlic, Cheongyang chili peppers, tofu, and radish.
I guess it was lucky I prepared a bunch of ingredients beforehand.
Seokhyeoi-haem yawned lazily.
Thinking about the bowl of gukbap I was about to shove into his mouth, I said,
“Please wait a moment, Seokhyeoi-haem.”
“Oi! Now you finally recognize me! That’s right, I’m Seokhyeoi-haem! Seokhyeoi-haem, the number-one fist on the Korean Peninsula! Hurry up and bring it out!”
Ignoring his shouting, I opened the refrigerator and recalled Baek Jongsu’s Cooking Notes.
Fifteen minutes later.
The broth bubbled away.
A deep, rich smell of doenjang filled the street-food stall.
Hong Mangi silently pushed a bowl of soup toward him.
“Try it.”
Seokhyeoi-haem scoffed as he picked up his spoon.
“Oi! This is gukbap? You screwing with me? After I finish eating this, you and me are throwing hands.”
Then he swallowed a spoonful of broth.
Slurp.
At that moment—
“Huh...?”
His hand froze.
Hot, rich doenjang broth.
The deep savory flavor drawn out from dried pollack.
And the sharp kick of Cheongyang chili peppers that struck straight through his stomach.
One bite.
Then another.
Seokhyeoi-haem’s hand began moving faster.
Slurp— Slurp— Sluuurp—
Almost instinctively, he scooped up a huge mouthful of rice and broth.
“What the... this is... actually good?”
This time, he picked up his chopsticks and grabbed a piece of dried pollack.
As he quietly chewed the tender flesh that fell apart in his mouth—
A memory from long ago surfaced.
His early twenties.
Whenever he came home completely drunk,
there would always be a bowl of hangover soup waiting for him on their shabby dining table.
“Drink the broth first. You’re going to ruin your stomach.”
His mother’s voice.
Back then, it had only sounded like nagging.
So he had always grumbled while eating it.
At the time, he hadn’t understood.
He hadn’t understood just how warm that simple meal had been.
Now, his mother was gone.
He had sent her away without ever properly repaying her even once.
Before he knew it, words slipped from his mouth.
“...This tastes like something my mom used to make.”
Then—
Drip.
A drop of snot fell.
He froze and hurriedly wiped around his eyes.
“Ah, damn it... It’s because it’s spicy! How many Cheongyang peppers did you put in this? I’m not crying! Got it?! I’m Seokhyeoi—sniff! M-Mom!!”
Hong Mangi let out a small laugh.
“You drank way too much, so I made it to help settle your stomach.”
Seokhyeoi-haem cleared his throat.
Then he quickly finished everything, scraping up even the last drop of soup.
And then—
“...Fine. I admit it. Yeah. This place is good.”
He quietly stood up.
Then he pulled several crumpled bills from his pocket and tossed them onto the table.
“Start selling hagfish from tomorrow too, got it? I’ll bring all my boys here and make this our regular spot.”
He brushed off his pants and started walking away.
Then he stopped.
“By the way, what are you, some Michelin chef or something? Why the hell is your food this good?”
Hong Mangi answered bluntly.
“I’m a hunter.”
“A hunter? Oi, don’t bullshit me. What kind of hunter runs a street-food stall?!”
“Hmm.”
Hong Mangi quietly took out his hunter certification card and showed it to him.
Seokhyeoi-haem stared at the card.
He blinked several times as though the alcohol had suddenly left his body.
And then—
“Y-You really are one? H-Hunter-nim, why are you doing something like this here? Anyway... I-I’ll leave the money here. Damn, your cooking is amazing! Sell lots!!”
Whoosh!
Seokhyeoi-haem placed a ten-thousand-won bill on the table and hurried away.
Hong Mangi stared blankly at the money.
Maybe feeding someone is like a thread that connects our existence to one another...
Maybe it’s a way of passing the warmth of this world from one person to another.
With a satisfied smile, he resumed cleaning up the stall.
The next day, around lunchtime.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaak—!”
Poming’s pure white, soft cheeks turned bright red.
“No! Then does that mean you don’t need someone like me anymore?! If your cooking skills are already improving that quickly, then what use is my help?! No, doesn’t that mean you don’t need me anymore?!”
Poming’s eyes turned red as though he might burst into tears at any moment.
Apparently, he had become anxious after learning that while he was gone, I had personally made gukbap for Seokhyeoi-haem and received such a positive reaction.
“That B-rank Hunter Baek Jongsu... I never liked him! Why did he have to be a survival cooking expert?! Why did he have to pass an ability like that on to Master?!”
“He wasn’t exactly a survival cooking expert. He said he was a survival expert. His cooking skills were something he developed himself.”
“Haaah! Either way! Sob... Then now that you even have versatile cooking skills, are you going to say goodbye to me?”
No.
Of course not.
That ‘Seokhyeoi-haem’ from yesterday was an ordinary person, not a hunter.
If I wanted to receive hunters on their way to the afterlife, then obviously I still needed you.
“Come on, there’s no way. I’ll stay with you for the rest of my life!”
“F-For the rest of your life?”
The moment Poming heard the words rest of my life, his eyes practically filled with hearts.
“Forever... Well, saying forever might be a bit much. Let’s just... stay together for a pretty long time. A long, long time.”
“Hehe!”
Apparently feeling better, Poming began smiling brightly again.
“Are we going to open the shop again today? But isn’t it a little early for a street-food stall? Yesterday, you didn’t start until nighttime.”
He was right.
It was still a little early to open the stall.
But I wasn’t planning to start business right now.
“I’m going shopping.”
“Shopping? Like... fighting?”
“The market. I said we’re going to the market.”
“Aha! Hehe.”
“Today, I’m thinking of changing locations and going to an intermediate-to-high-level Gate.”
“Eh? An intermediate-to-high-level Gate? What rank exactly?”
“About... BX-rank?”
“Gehk! You’re planning to go inside?! You can’t!!!!”
A BX-rank dungeon.
It was slightly above a B-rank dungeon.
It was the kind of dungeon hunters visited when A-rank felt a little too dangerous, but B-rank was no longer challenging enough.
It was packed with monsters that were heavily specialized in offensive power.
Because of that, B-rank hunters and above who were aiming to make a huge score often visited those places.
“I’m not going inside. I was thinking about opening the street-food stall nearby.”
“Hehe. If that’s what you mean, then I welcome it!”
“I’ve been thinking. How about we prepare some Japanese food focused mainly on soups and hot dishes? You know some, right?”
“I know some! I know some!!! It would be faster for you to ask what I don’t know!”
“Didn’t you say you didn’t really know ramen when we first met?”
“I’ve cooked it once now, so I know it!”
“I’m kidding. All right, then. Let’s go buy the ingredients.”
Of course, I hoped there wouldn’t be any hunters heading for the afterlife.
But hunting monsters was something hunters could never truly avoid.
Hunters who regularly entered BX-rank dungeons were already warriors whose bravery and abilities had been recognized to a certain extent.
And if one of those hunters happened to die and was left with lingering regrets?
Someone will probably come looking for me again.
Poming shouted excitedly.
“Then hurry! Hurry! Let’s go!”
