Chapter 144: The Nation of Cuisine, Girvante (2) "Wow, they really can eat."
Hayward watched the wandering chefs devour their jjolmyeon at a frantic pace, then glanced sideways at Craid.
"If you're from the Kingdom of Girvante, that much is normal."
After finishing five bowls of jjolmyeon, Craid lifted a 1.5-liter bottle of MilXis and drank it straight from the bottle.
"Well, I guess you have to be good at eating to be good at cooking. Still, I was kind of looking forward to a cooking duel. Didn't it end too anticlimactically? The opponent surrendered after eating what you made before even showing his own skills."
"I suppose so. In any case, if they enjoy my bunsik, that's enough for me."
Lee Jinseo had little interest in cooking duels themselves.¹
What he was curious about instead was how well bunsik would be received by the chefs of the Kingdom of Girvante—a country so serious about cuisine that it was called the Nation of Cooking.
So he had served dishes related to each challenger's specialty and waited to see what they would present in return.
But after feeding bunsik to the five wandering chefs, the reactions were always the same—and far from what Jinseo had expected.
"Mr. Jinseo, you are truly an incredible chef! To present such a variety of flavors we have never experienced before!"
Skelson, the wandering chef who had first challenged Jinseo, lavished praise with lips stained red from the sauce.
"Most of these are dishes made from recipes that already exist. They're not that special. Quite a few of them I didn't even make myself—I brought them from home."
"Oh, come now, that is excessive modesty."
"Even so, you have clearly shown us an unknown world. There is no need to lower yourself like that!"
Jinseo was telling the truth, but the wandering chefs did not take his words at face value.
The longer he explained, the more he seemed like a chef who possessed not only skill but also the virtue of humility.
"Anyway, I'm not lying, so please believe me. But… isn't it spicy?"
"You mean the jjolmyeon? It certainly is. But the fact that we can endure it and still want to eat more is proof of how delicious it is, isn't it?"
Skelson wiped up every last drop of sauce at the bottom of his bowl with pickled radish and popped it into his mouth.
"And with this drink called CoolXis, there is no problem at all!"
"With this by our side, no spicy bunsik can frighten us!"
The wandering chefs suddenly began praising CoolXis—the miracle drink Jinseo had provided to calm the heat.
"Delicious bunsik, delicious drinks, and even dessert… thank you so much!"
Andrew, who had just joined and introduced himself as a "master of confectionery," repeatedly expressed his gratitude.
"I'm glad you enjoyed what I made, but shouldn't the one you truly thank be the Cardinal, not me?"
At Jinseo's words, the four wandering chefs rose in unison and made the sign of the cross toward Fedora Artran, who was eating jjolmyeon across from them.
"Thank you for granting us your blessing yesterday!"
They spoke sincerely. After she had eaten the special rabokki at lunch the previous day and bestowed her blessing, their chronic ailments—such as tendonitis and persistent lower back pain—had been cured in an instant.
"A blessing? Don't you have to apply at a church and wait quite a long time to receive one…?"
Only Andrew, who had joined last and knew nothing of the circumstances, looked at Fedora in confusion. The other wandering chefs extended their right hands and wagged their index fingers.
"Don't rush it. When she enjoys bunsik so spicy we can't even touch it, she will grant blessings to us all."
"To be honest, I hardly went to church before. But this time, I've decided to straighten myself out and start attending again."
"The next Pope should be someone like her. Yes, absolutely."
The wandering chefs praised her so enthusiastically that Fedora's face turned red as she listened.
After the noisy meal, they went into the kitchen and began washing dishes.
"W-what? When I turn this, water comes out?"
"Well, it is a Sacred Relic of the Heirem Order, isn't it?"²
"Huh… when I turn it the other way, hot—hot water comes out too?"
"It's a Sacred Relic. Ah, you handle the plates. I'll take the bowls."
Andrew, entering the Mobile Cooking Facility for the first time, stared in amazement at the water gushing from the faucet. The other wandering chefs, having already washed dishes before, accepted it as natural and diligently cleaned the tableware.
"It looks to me like those chefs will keep following you even when you return to the Doren Kingdom."
Greg, whose mouth still burned from the spiciness of the jjolmyeon, kept drinking CoolXis as he watched the kitchen.
"Since it's come to this, how about hiring them? It seems like the bunsik street could use more chefs."
"I'm not thinking about that yet. How about hiring them at your restaurants instead, Greg?"
"That would be difficult. They love freedom as much as they love cooking. I once hired a few wandering chefs before, but not a single one stayed. Every last one returned to the road. We weren't on bad terms—in fact, we got along quite well."
"I see."
"In that sense, they may be similar to you. Considering the influence of bunsik, it would be easier to stay in one place and run a comfortable business. Or become a royal chef. Or stop cooking personally and hire many people, managing numerous restaurants like I do—that would be the usual path."
"That's true."
"But you don't do that. You keep traveling from place to place, spreading bunsik. You even cross continents where different races live, and you still cook with your own hands."
In truth, there was a greater reason Jinseo drove the Mobile Cooking Facility from place to place, but he saw no need to contradict Greg and simply nodded quietly.
"The fact that wandering chefs are following you proves how much they like bunsik. So they'll likely stay on your bunsik street a bit longer. Who knows—they might even stop wandering altogether."
Greg set down his empty paper cup, and Craid silently refilled it with CoolXis.
"In any case, treat them well for now. Since it's a bond formed through cooking, let's treasure it."
"Yes, understood."
As Jinseo continued north toward the capital of the Kingdom of Girvante, darkness thickened. He decided to pull into an empty clearing in the brush and camp for the night.
Since a new wandering chef had joined, they couldn't simply let it pass, so a modest drinking gathering was held to welcome Andrew, the self-proclaimed "master of confectionery."
It may have seemed modest from Jinseo's perspective, but to the wandering chefs, the beer and dishes laid out were anything but modest.
Captivated by the charm of dwarf-made beer and budae-jjigae, the wandering chefs drank and talked late into the night before falling asleep inside the tents Jinseo had set up.
Jinseo, who once again did not drink because he had to drive, lay in the driver's seat of the Mobile Cooking Facility.
With his fingers interlaced behind his head and the seat reclined, sleep would not come easily.
*Maybe I should check how much experience I gained during the last festival.*³
He opened the Status Window and checked the Facility Level.
Level 70… It really went up a lot during the festival. Only 30 levels left now.
It had been nearly two years since he began running the Mobile Cooking Facility for the sake of the wish granted upon reaching Level 100. A strange feeling washed over him.
*Time really flew. It feels like just yesterday I held the grand opening at Falstead Castle…*⁴
Knock, knock.
At the sound of tapping on the driver's side window, Jinseo turned his head.
"Cardinal?"
"Jinseo, were you sleeping?"
"No. Weren't you asleep either?"
"No, I couldn't fall asleep. May we talk?"
"Of course."
Fedora, seated in the passenger seat, adjusted her yellow T-shirt with a bear printed on it and her sweatpants.
She looked cold, so Jinseo reached behind the driver's seat to search for something.
"Cardinal, you said you plan to go to the Holy Land after finishing the schedule in the Kingdom of Girvante, right? If you think you'll be delayed, please tell me in advance."
"As long as I arrive before the Holy Festival Day, there's still plenty of time."
"Understood. Ah, here—take this."
Fedora wrapped the cloak blanket Jinseo handed her around herself and let out a long breath.
"So… Jinseo, I have a request."
"Please, go ahead."
"Could we establish a branch of the Mobile Cooking Facility in the Holy Land?"
"Yes, of course."
"Really? Is that alright?"
Jinseo answered without hesitation, and it was Fedora who looked surprised.
"I had already been thinking that bunsik should eventually be introduced to the Holy Land as well. I hadn't considered a branch, but after hearing your suggestion, I think that would be even better."
"Thanks to your bunsik, the clergy of Kaysus Cathedral, including myself, can grant more blessings than before. But please understand my greed—I wish to free even more believers from illness."
"Greed? Isn't that only natural?"
As they spoke, Jinseo rummaged through the storage compartment.
"To be honest, I tried to resolve it internally within the Order so as not to burden you. But I was told that simply eating spicy food does not produce the same effect as your special tteokbokki…"
"I've already received much from the Order, so that's no problem. And… ah, here it is."
He found a can of chocolate-flavored JeX that he had kept warm and handed it to Fedora.
Click.
Her expression, stiff from their serious discussion, gradually softened as she took a sip of the warm, sweet JeX.
"Ah… I feel alive again."
"Since it's the Holy Land, it might be difficult for a civilian to stay inside and run a business, right? If there were a clergy member skilled at cooking, that would be ideal. Do you have anyone to recommend?"
"Cooking… someone does come to mind."
Fedora smiled faintly as she recalled someone she had once been close to during her time in the Holy Land.
"Who is this person?"
"…No. There's no one I can recommend."
She closed her mouth, retracting her earlier words. Her expression hardened again.
With her refusal to speak further on the matter, silence settled inside the Mobile Cooking Facility.
After more than ten minutes of sitting quietly and staring ahead, Jinseo belatedly noticed Fedora's gaze through the passenger window.
"I envy them."
She looked toward the four-person tent where father and son slept together.
The jjimjilbang remedy Jinseo had prescribed over the past week had dramatically bridged the rift between them.
They were still somewhat awkward, but at least when they shared a meal, they quietly looked after each other in their own way.
"Still, things have improved a lot compared to before, haven't they?"
At Jinseo's words, Fedora gave a bitter smile and lowered her gaze.
Her relationship with Painfolt Artran was no longer as cold as before, but an invisible wall still stood firmly between them.
"I wanted to go together this time, but he said he was very busy."
"He mentioned there was a great deal to investigate and analyze."
"Yes. It couldn't be helped. That's why it's even more regrettable. I… could help too."
Fedora tilted the can and finished the remaining JeX.
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