Chapter 113: Bunsik Street in Another World (3) "On the Ashred Continent, you might get a downpour like this once every few years, if that. Is it common here? Tch..."
Geshtain kept handing out the towels Lee Jinseo passed him to the colleagues sitting beside him.
Everyone who had followed him was soaked through, like drowned rats.
"Geshtain-nim, I'm asking just in case… you didn't force them to exercise, did you?"
A sport that had become hugely popular not only in Korea, but also on the Francia Continent and even the Ashred Continent: soccer.
But not everyone could like soccer.
Saying there must not be irrational coercion like the forced hiking so common in Korea, Lee Jinseo had repeatedly emphasized it from the very beginning, ever since Geshtain started forming an early-morning soccer club.
"Huh? Absolutely not! Because—wait, let me wring some water out here."
Geshtain wrapped his chin beard with the towel, then squeezed it hard to wring out the water.
"Huu, now I can finally breathe again. To continue what I was saying—if you force someone to do it, how would proper skill ever come out? We dwarves value efficiency more than any other race. And we hate losing more than anyone. We don't even like beating weak opponents who don't want to run, either."
When someone likes one thing, it's common for them to see only that and fail to see anything around them.
That man Lee Jinseo had thought of before the rain—Marco—was a prime example.
Thankfully, compared to him, Geshtain fell into the category of someone who knew how to look around properly.
"More than that, with only three soccer grounds, we're already struggling to handle everyone who wants to play. It's not like we're so free we can force people who don't want to play to run."
"I-I'm sorry."
At Geshtain's answer shutting down the issue, Lee Jinseo felt bad and scratched the back of his neck.
"What's there to be sorry about? You said there were plenty of people at other workplaces who forced you to do things you didn't want to do, right? Especially in the military. After going through that, you can get sensitive about things like this."
Geshtain, recalling what he'd heard from Lee Jinseo before, replied as if it were nothing.
"And I think I've gotten pretty sensitive too because of the rain. My clothes are damp, and it feels awful."
As Geshtain shook out the wet sleeves, Lee Jinseo looked down at Nero sitting at the far left end of the counter seat.
"Nero, can you dry their clothes?"
-meow!-
Whoosh.
The gentle heat Nero breathed out wrapped around the dwarves and the people.
Using the delicate mana control unique to a spirit to drive off only the moisture without burning or scorching the fabric, everyone sitting at the counter seat looked at Nero at once with sparkling eyes.
"Haha, as expected of a spirit. I'm really grateful."
Geshtain reached out to pet Nero's head, but Nero, as always, smoothly dodged, then left with only an aloof view of his back.
"By the way, this smell… it's Pajeon. They say it tastes even better when it rains—does it really?"
Freed from the clammy discomfort thanks to Nero, Geshtain belatedly showed interest in the jeon Lee Jinseo was frying.
"How about having a drink with it today?"
"Don't tell me it's Korean liquor?"
Seeing the Korean letters on the makgeolli bottle Lee Jinseo lifted, Geshtain openly frowned.
He had been extremely satisfied with Korean bunsik and other food, but he had been greatly disappointed by beer and soju, so he held no expectations.
"Just give me one cup first."
Seeing the milky-white makgeolli sloshing in a metal bowl rather than a beer glass, Geshtain hesitated, then brought it to his mouth with a whatever-happens-happens mindset.
Gulp, gulp.
"Hm..."
After taking a sip, Geshtain licked his lips and tilted his head.
"It's a completely different kind of drink from the beer we drink. I didn't expect it to taste slightly sweet."
Gulp, gulp.
"Even though it's thick, it goes down well."
Gulp, gulp...
"Good."
Once he got Geshtain's stamp of approval—someone who never lied when it came to alcohol—a smile settled on Lee Jinseo's lips.
The others at the counter seat followed Geshtain and drank the makgeolli. They found the completely different taste and texture puzzling at first, but quickly adapted.
More than anything, the pairing with the oily jeon was fantastic, so they couldn't stop eating and drinking.
After filling themselves to some extent with makgeolli and jeon, they relaxed, enjoyed the sound of rain, and slowly savored the makgeolli.
"It really is delicious. But it would've been even better if we'd drunk it after playing soccer."
Geshtain, who had emptied three bottles of makgeolli by himself, stared at the rain-soaked street and couldn't hide his regret.
"Hyung-nim, um..."
Jason, watching Geshtain's back, whispered carefully to Lee Jinseo.
"Do you think we can connect a game console to the large TV and play?"
"A game?"
"A soccer game. Not TeXris."
"Ah, just a moment."
Catching Jason's intent, Lee Jinseo called AI and instructed it to connect the game console to the large TV.
"Waaah!"
The moment the large TV turned on, cheers poured from the speakers, and the game title appeared large in the center of the screen. Jason jumped in place.
"Oh! It works! It works!"
"Everyone's eaten enough, so rest while you play. And Aston-nim, stop frying jeon too."
Because of the downpour, even the other bunsik shops had stopped work, but Jason and Aston Hamilton still had to keep frying jeon, so Lee Jinseo forcibly ordered both of them to rest.
Jason hurried down from the food truck, ran to the large TV, and brought his hand over the message telling him to press the start button.
"Yeah… this is what I wanted! I wanted to enjoy games on a screen this big!"
Whether on PC or console, the same game was always more fun and more thrilling on a bigger monitor.
At the thought of playing on the large TV—far bigger than the wall-mounted TV inside the Additional Trailer—Jason's heart pounded hard.
"Hyung-nim! You need to rest too! Over here!"
"Me too?"
"Yes! It's boring playing alone against the CPU!"
At Jason's earnest request, Lee Jinseo sat beside him as if he couldn't win and took the gamepad in his hands.
"How about a match with me, for the first time in a while?"
"Of course! This time, I won't lose so meaninglessly like before!"
Jason was brimming with confidence.
And Lee Jinseo, who had been playing soccer games for far longer than Jason.
When the two men—both smiling with confidence that they would never lose—started the soccer game, people began gathering in front of the large TV.
"Huh? What's that?"
"Isn't that soccer?"
Seeing the green field and the players' movements depicted in near-realistic graphics, the dwarves immediately recognized it as soccer.
"It's a soccer game! Soccer turned into a game!"
"A game? Like that TeXris you enjoy to the point of addiction?"
"Yes! You can enjoy soccer like this too—aaagh!"
Answering Geshtain's question, Jason screamed and clutched his head when the goalkeeper on screen failed to stop a goal.
And that scream repeated three more times.
"Try it once."
After easily beating Jason 4–1, Lee Jinseo handed the gamepad to Geshtain and gave up his seat.
"No, why won't it block?"
"You're probably pressing a different button."
"Ah, damn—no, why are you shooting from there?"
"That's because you held the button down too long."
"No, why do you keep scoring and I don't?"
"Because that's the difference in skill!"
Geshtain kept repeating, "No, why—"
And Jason, venting his frustration from losing to Lee Jinseo without hesitation on a complete beginner.
"Haha, if this were real soccer, you wouldn't even be my opponent..."
"That's that and this is this!"
Geshtain, who took great pride in his soccer skill, could not accept a score of 0–5.
So he fiercely mashed the gamepad buttons and selected the option for a rematch.
"Soccer enjoyed like that looks fun in its own way."
"But… why is he so bad?"
"Oh dear, he conceded a goal the moment it started again."
Watching the soccer game, the spectators clicked their tongues at Geshtain's play as he was overwhelmingly pushed back by Jason.
Up until now, there had been only two ways known on the Francia Continent to enjoy soccer.
Running around the field while directly kicking the ball, or sitting comfortably and watching others play while enjoying chicken and beer.
However, from this moment on, one more way to enjoy soccer was added.
Through the means of a game.
"Come on, come on! Those of you frustrated because you can't play soccer well—enjoy it through the game!"
After winning three consecutive times against Geshtain, Jason stopped playing himself. Instead, he began calling people up in pairs to face off in the soccer game, and started giving advice from the side.
"Hahaha, to think I'd lose..."
After three straight losses, Geshtain rubbed his reddened, swollen fingertips and laughed hollowly.
"So this is what a 'game' is. It was a fresh experience. Jinseo, you always make me experience strange things."
Geshtain ate the Potato Jeon Paulo had fried and drank down makgeolli in a long pull.
After watching Lee Jinseo fry jeon, he had stepped up saying he would make it himself, and after a few failures, he was now consistently putting out fine jeon one after another.
"It's not as good as running yourself, but it was still enjoyable to be able to enjoy soccer like this, whether it rains or not. After coming here, honestly, there hasn't really been much to enjoy besides soccer and bunsik."
"Yeah, there isn't much to do here."
PC cafés, billiard halls, gyms, board game cafés, and so on.
In Korea, they were common places for fun you'd see just by stepping outside, but on the Francia Continent there wasn't even one—something Lee Jinseo found regrettable.
"More than that, we need to build more shower rooms. If it's a climate where it rains this often, there'll be more times we need to wash up."
Looking at the rain that still showed no sign of stopping, Geshtain was already planning new construction.
"At times like that, instead of ending it with one shower, it's much better to go to a jjimjilbang, bathe properly, and warm your back."
"Jjimjilbang? What's that?"
"Ah, right. This isn't Korea. So what it is…"
Lee Jinseo tried explaining with words, but later he played a jjimjilbang video on his smartphone.
"Ho. Korea has facilities like that? It's quite an interesting structure. The idea is fun too."
"But I don't know how much can be reproduced with the technology here. I'm ignorant when it comes to construction."
"If it truly can't be done, there are parts we can solve with magic, so there's no need to worry too much. There are still plenty of lots you lent us that we haven't even touched, so shall we try building one?"
"Wait—then tourists who used Falstead Castle's lodging facilities might end up staying here instead."
"Then we can prohibit use after midnight. More than that, the food shown here looks quite appetizing—can you make all of it?"
"Yes, that won't be a problem."
"Then the biggest problem is solved. Anyway, since we're talking about it…"
Geshtain took out magic parchment, spread it on the table, and began drawing up a jjimjilbang blueprint.
With an exterior in dwarven architectural style and an interior faithfully implementing a jjimjilbang, the design slowly took shape. As various opinions from the dwarves and technicians watching the soccer game were incorporated, the drawings became even more detailed.
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