Chapter 71: The Marquis's Counterattack? (4) After the party ended, the guests began leaving the estate one by one in their carriages.
They chattered excitedly as they departed, speaking not about Jinseo's food, but about the bunsik made by Marco. Watching them disappear into the night, Jinseo finished the day's sales and began cleaning up the food truck.
In the past, he would have shared the leftover bunsik with the staff. But given the heavy atmosphere, it felt like they wouldn't eat it even if he offered, so he packed everything into trash bags instead.
"I'll only take payment for the portion that was sold, as agreed in the contract."
From the money pouch the butler brought over, Jinseo took out a single coin—only the amount corresponding to the order placed by Marquis Horus, the food truck's sole customer that day.
"Please don't do that, sir. Please take it. You must have worked hard coming all this way. This is offered as a sign of sincerity. Please, I beg you to accept it."
"As I said earlier, I can't take more than what was sold."
The butler pleaded with him to accept the full payment, but Jinseo ignored him and continued scrubbing the sink.
He felt sorry for the man—he was clearly just following orders—but Jinseo didn't want to leave behind anything that could later be twisted or nitpicked. So he refused to the end.
"Why are they acting like that?"
Jason, cleaning up beside him, looked genuinely confused.
Their attitude was completely different from how they had treated the food truck during the party, when it had been handled like an unwanted leftover.
Jinseo had a rough idea of the reason, but he didn't say anything.
They probably got tossed aside after being used.
When Marquis Horus left the garden earlier, Count Wilson had rushed after him, shouting. That alone made it easy enough to imagine what happened next.
"Oswald, I do have something to explain about what happened today…"
Not only the butler—the host of the party, Count Wilson himself—had suddenly changed his attitude.
The arrogance he had shown when he brought in another food truck was nowhere to be found.
"Wilson, I didn't think you'd do this to me."
Oswald stared at Count Wilson with an icy gaze—the man he had believed he was close to.
"There's no way you didn't know what my relationship with that man is."
"I know! How could I not know? But like I said earlier, I had my own circumstances."
"What about my circumstances? No—fine. Say I don't matter. But you shouldn't have dragged Jinseo into this. He had nothing to do with it."
It already felt bad enough that the mud-slinging conflict from three years ago had resurfaced. On top of that, he had been stabbed in the back by someone he thought he trusted.
Oswald wanted to ask why Wilson had done this—but learning the reason now felt meaningless. So he quietly turned away.
The other side had cut the tie first.
There was no reason to cling to it.
"We won't have any reason to meet again. I'll be leaving now."
As Count Wilson tried to grab his hand, Oswald avoided him and climbed into the passenger seat of the food truck.
"Please, hear me out! There's been a misunderstanding!"
Oswald ignored him completely, staring straight ahead as if Wilson were the wronged party rather than the one at fault.
When Count Wilson refused to give up and started pounding on the food truck, Jinseo silently pointed to the sacred crest mounted beside the driver's seat.
In the end, Count Wilson gave up. His shoulders slumped as he trudged back into the estate.
"Jinseo… I'm truly sorry."
Oswald let out a long sigh as he watched Count Wilson recede into the distance.
He looked so heavy-hearted that he opened a can of SolX Snow but didn't even drink it—just held it loosely in his hand.
"Given Marquis Horus's personality, this won't end with just me. I'm sorry you got dragged into this for no reason because of me."
"No. If anything, this is for the best."
"For the best?"
"From what I saw of Marquis Horus, he looks like the type who would grind his teeth just because I'm associated with you, Lord of the Castle. It's better to clash with someone like that early."
Since a conflict like this would have happened sooner or later anyway, Jinseo chose to take it in stride.
"And it's been a while since I met someone who shows hostility this openly. It actually feels… fresh."
After coming to the Francia Continent, Jinseo had rarely faced outright hostility.
Almost everyone loved his bunsik. They treated him kindly, welcomed him warmly.
In that sense, life in this other world had felt like a fantasy.
But encountering Marquis Horus made it clear—this place was also reality, just a different kind.
"Besides, hostility from someone you can identify is much easier to deal with than hostility from someone you can't. It's like dealing with an unreasonable customer who shows up at your shop, instead of someone who only leaves malicious comments online and disappears."
"SNS? Malicious comments? What are those?"
"If you can't face them properly, it's better not to deal with them at all. Malicious comments are… basically what Marquis Horus did today."
Jinseo decided to treat this incident as a test—to see what kind of response worked best against people who might try to interfere with him again.
This isn't a place where modern Korean common sense applies. Something unexpected is bound to happen eventually.
Until now, it had felt strange that nothing had gone wrong.
But the food truck had been designated a sacred relic, and Oswald's backing had likely prevented people from acting rashly.
Realizing he had solid protection without even knowing it, Jinseo gave a bitter smile.
Right beside him was Oswald—constantly worrying about others being hurt because of him.
"By the way… what kind of person is Count Wilson? You seemed close."
"He was always someone who acted without thinking, but we clicked. So we stayed close."
The bitterness in Oswald's tone made it clear he was speaking of Wilson in the past tense.
"I never thought he'd be this careless. I warned him several times to stay away from that man. I never imagined he'd do the exact opposite."
Oswald sighed and stared out the window.
"Wait… that man is—"
He trailed off as he spotted someone approaching through the maids.
"It's the chef named Marco."
Marco walked toward the food truck.
Jinseo couldn't guess what kind of attitude he would show. Everything suggested he was connected to Marquis Horus.
"So this is the food truck I've only heard about…"
Marco examined it closely, reaching out—then stopping when he noticed the sacred crest.
"What is it?"
Jinseo rolled down the driver's window.
"Ah… um…"
Marco hesitated, fidgeting, unable to settle his gaze.
When Jinseo opened the door and stepped down, Marco flinched and backed away—nothing like the composed figure who had focused only on cooking earlier.
"Are you Lee Jinseo, the one who brought bunsik here?"
"The creator?"
Jinseo blinked, startled by the title.
"I wouldn't say that. I just brought it from my country."
"I've wanted to meet you."
Marco looked up at Jinseo, eyes brimming with emotion.
"I was able to start cooking again because I ate your bunsik."
"Huh?"
After teleporting near Falstead Castle, Jinseo turned off the food truck and stepped out.
"I didn't even do that much… but I'm exhausted."
Jason climbed out of the additional trailer and checked Jinseo's face.
"Brother, are you okay?"
"Other than being mentally tired, I'm fine."
Jason clenched his fists.
"I wanted people to taste the bunsik I made with my own hands. But the only customer we got was—"
"It was your first on-site catering job."
Jinseo said it gently.
Jason had joined after the food truck was already established. This was his first time seeing carefully prepared food ignored.
"I should have paid more attention to how everyone felt."
"This isn't your fault. It's all because of Marquis Horus."
Jinseo paused.
"But there's someone else we'll need to deal with. Oswald, what kind of person is Marco?"
Oswald thought for a moment.
"I ate his food a few times when I worked in the capital. That's all. You probably know him better than I do now."
"Me?"
"You talked for a long time earlier."
Marco had explained everything—how, after three empty years, tasting Jinseo's bunsik reignited his passion. How he picked up his knife again. How he obsessed over recreating tteok-twig-sun until he succeeded.
"It's not flattering, but… he's obsessed."
"That hasn't changed."
"And he has terrible judgment outside cooking."
Genius in one field didn't translate to wisdom elsewhere.
From Jinseo's perspective, Marquis Horus—openly malicious—was easier to deal with.
Marco, with no malice at all, was far more troublesome.
"His skill is above mine."
"You really think so?"
"I have to admit what's true. That's how I move forward."
Oswald placed a hand on Jinseo's shoulder.
"I won't lose to Marquis Horus."
With Falstead Castle already captivated by the food truck, Oswald resolved himself.
This time, he would stand his ground.
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