Chapter 150: The Nation of Cuisine, Girvante (8) Jinseo crossed his arms and fell into deep thought.
An enormous volume of orders poured in, but there were enough ingredients stored in the Subspace Storage.
The problem was that the wandering chefs who had been helping Jinseo during the eating duel were exhausted.
The mere fact they had cooked for a king and served him pushed them to the brink of exhaustion, physically and mentally.
Skelson somehow kept it together, and Jinseo was fine from the start, but with only two people, it was impossible to fry tonkatsu on top of tteok-twig-sun-ra-gim.
"Excuse me! Are there any chefs who can help us?"
When Skelson asked for help because he couldn't stand it anymore, the chefs among the citizens raised their hands without hesitation.
"N-No. It's the thought that counts. We'll handle it ourselves somehow. Please wait just a little. Just a moment!"
But Jinseo waved them off and refused their kindness.
If he also had to teach cooking methods to people who had never made bunsik, it would likely slow things down even more.
"Owl!"
Jinseo urgently called Owl and tied the hastily written note to the necklace around Owl's neck.
"You remember where she is, right? Go and come back safely."
Piiiii.
Owl saluted with its right wing, then flapped its wings and flew high into the air.
Jinseo watched the direction Owl flew and steadied his breathing.
When he lowered his gaze, the faces of countless citizens waiting for bunsik filled his view.
"Mr. Jinseo, is it really okay for us to just wait like this?"
"Rest for now. Trust me. Everyone else, sit down too. Standing around won't solve anything."
Even after Jinseo spoke, the wandering chefs fidgeted and trembled in place.
They only hoped Jinseo would resolve this situation, and the citizens waited for bunsik sales to resume, puzzled about why Jinseo told them to wait.
Then, ten minutes into everyone's waiting, a brilliant light spread across the skies above Selfier Castle.
"W-What is that?"
"M-Monster!"
The citizens saw the dragon Charlotte appear overhead and scattered in shock.
"Hi! You creatures I've never seen before! You really gathered a lot! It's way more than the Falstead Castle festival, isn't it?"¹
The citizens who were about to flee stopped in place when they heard Charlotte's bright voice.
"Hey! Don't freak out too much! I won't hurt you! If I was going to hurt you, would I bother talking like this? I'd have just blasted you with my breath first! Anyway, I'm coming down, okay? I'm landing next to the food truck, so move out of the way yourselves! I'll come down slowly, so don't panic and scramble too hard!"
Hearing Charlotte, the guard knights and soldiers calmly evacuated the citizens and made space for her to land.
"Yeah, that'll do! I'm really coming down!"
After confirming a clear space appeared in an instant, Charlotte flapped her huge wings and landed beside the food truck.
Fwaaat.
Charlotte transformed into human form, slid her right hand behind her neck, and flipped her long, red hair upward in one sharp motion.
Behind her, Jason and Aston, along with the bunsik street chefs and Paulo, stared at Jinseo with dazed expressions.
"I didn't know who you'd want me to bring, so I brought everyone for now. I did good, right?"
Charlotte smiled and pointed with her right thumb at the chefs and the ten bunsik carts behind her.
"Thank you… truly."
"Wow. I think that's the first time I've ever seen you make that face?"
Charlotte looked at Jinseo, who genuinely looked delighted, and shrugged.
Meanwhile, the citizens couldn't help being shocked when the dragon that had been huge enough to blanket countless people with its shadow turned into a young woman with deep red hair.
"Everyone, please calm down. That person is the guardian dragon of the Kingdom of Doren—"²
"Hey, I'm not a guardian dragon?"
"Y-Yes! Anyway, this is Lady Charlotte, the dragon who is not a guardian dragon! With the power of a great dragon, it isn't strange at all to transform into a human."
"And among those who came to Selfier Castle today, there are quite a few besides Lady Charlotte who are not human. These are dwarves from the Ashred Continent. Despite their short stature, they are strong warriors, and they are blacksmiths with outstanding skill."³
After introducing the dwarves first, Jinseo introduced all the other guests who came along as well.
"Half-human, half-horse centaurs from the Crudian Continent came too. The young woman in the center of the screen is Her Highness Princess Angelica of the Crudian Kingdom. Please welcome her with applause."⁴
As not only Charlotte the dragon but also a large number of non-human races appeared, the citizens of Selfier Castle clapped in a daze.
The citizens' attention, which had been focused only on bunsik, split between the dwarves and the centaurs, and in the meantime, the bunsik street chefs went into the ten bunsik carts and began preparing to cook.
"So many people were shouting for bunsik… I can see why you urgently asked for help."
"Lord of the Castle? You came too, Lord of the Castle?"
"Would I ever miss the chance to come to the Kingdom of Girvante, the nation of cuisine? Ah, is that Lanster II with Craid? I'll go pay my respects!"⁵
Oswald forced his way between the knights, met Lanster II, and immediately started talking enthusiastically.
*No doubt it's about bunsik.*⁶
Jinseo watched Oswald speak freely even in front of a king, and Lanster II kept responding along, and Jinseo's sense that the Kingdom of Girvante truly was a country that loved cuisine only solidified further.⁵
"It's been a long time since I've seen you outside prison, Mr. Jinseo."
"Marco?"
"Yes, it's me. Lady Charlotte suddenly came to the prison and dragged me here. But… it's too bright here."
Marco appeared in front of Jinseo—someone he never expected to come, even if he was a chef.
Out in the world for the first time in a long while, he seemed unfamiliar with the intense sunlight, and he slipped into the food truck's shade.
"I already heard what's going on. We just need to make as much bunsik as possible, right?"
"Yes, please. But before that!"
Seeing Marco's grimy state, Jinseo immediately guided him into the shower in the Additional Trailer.
Marco began washing himself as Jinseo instructed, and as Jinseo waited outside, the Status Window suddenly appeared in his view.
*Mr. Lee Jinseo, you can now register Marco (38 years old, male) as a helper of the Mobile Cooking Equipment. Would you like to register him?*⁷
Before, I would've hesitated, but with him now, it'll be fine. Register him.
*Yes, understood. Please wait a moment.*⁷
Mobile Cooking Equipment's fifth helper: Marco (38 years old, male)
Helper's job class: Prisoner (can be converted to Chef, his previous profession)
Helper's Physical Rank: E+ Rank
Helper's Cooking Skill: Ramen (S Rank), Gimbap (S Rank), Tteokbokki (S Rank), Fried food (S Rank), Sundae (S Rank)....
*Helper's Abilities: Mass Cooking (A- Rank), Rapid Cooking (S Rank)....*⁷
*Wow… he stayed in prison the whole time, but his skill didn't rust at all. No, did it actually improve?*⁶
While Marco showered, Jinseo checked his stats and clicked his tongue.
"I'm done washing."
Marco changed into the cooking uniform Jinseo gave him and came down from the Additional Trailer while wiping his face with a towel.
He tied his long hair into a ponytail and even shaved, then awkwardly rubbed his now-smooth chin.
Jinseo grabbed his hand and led him into the cooking area.
"To stand inside the food truck with Mr. Jinseo… it feels like a dream."
The food truck—the space where all kinds of bunsik were made—was something he had always only glanced at from across the way.
Even when he competed with Jinseo in bunsik, and even after he went to prison, he kept hoping that one day would come when he could make bunsik inside the food truck.
Now that his wish came true, he was deeply moved and, with trembling fingertips, touched the cutting board.
But he only basked in it for a moment.
He narrowed his eyes as he caught the smell in the cooking area.
"This smell is tonkatsu."
"Yes. No customer can endure smelling tonkatsu without eating it. So we'll need to keep serving tonkatsu first. By the way, you remember the tonkatsu you developed on your own back then, right?"
"Japanese-style tonkatsu."
When Jinseo visited Marco, he told him that the tonkatsu Marco developed to beat Western-style tonkatsu was called Japanese-style tonkatsu.
"Yes. I'm asking you for that. I prepared the ingredients for Japanese-style tonkatsu separately. For now, you can make it according to what's written here."
Jinseo chose the Japanese-style tonkatsu recipe from the set Fedora had translated into the language of the Francia Continent and handed it to Marco.
With a recipe that included simple drawings and explained the process in detail before him, Marco's eyes moved quickly left and right.
After studying the recipe several times, Marco began frying tonkatsu.
Not Western-style, but Japanese-style.
Ssssss.
After slicing and serving the freshly fried Japanese-style tonkatsu, Marco clasped his hands in front of him with a tense face and waited for Jinseo's tasting evaluation.
"What do you think?"
"It's excellent. It tastes better than any Japanese-style tonkatsu I ate in Korea. If it tastes this good even without sauce, everyone will be satisfied."
"R-Really?"
"Yes. So make it like this."
The moment Jinseo approved, Marco began frying Japanese-style tonkatsu at a rapid pace, and Jinseo took charge of the Western-style tonkatsu.
Jason and Aston supported the two of them diligently.
Crunch.
The citizens who tasted Japanese-style tonkatsu for the first time widened their eyes and began comparing it with the Western-style tonkatsu they ordered together.
"This is way thicker than the tonkatsu we ate earlier."
"They call it Japanese-style tonkatsu. I like this new tonkatsu."
"Both are flawless and delicious, so I'm torn on what to eat. If I had to choose, Western-style fits my taste more, but… ah, now that I think about it, there's no reason to worry at all, is there? If it's delicious, just eat both!"⁸
Whether Japanese-style or Western-style, tonkatsu was a new realm of cuisine to the citizens of Selfier Castle, so orders kept coming.
As they ordered the two kinds, their preferences split on which was better, but praise for tonkatsu itself never stopped.
"Jinseo! Ten more servings of Japanese-style tonkatsu! Five servings of Western-style!"
Angelica, who had taken over serving, carried food while taking more orders and relaying them to Jinseo.
"But at this rate, won't it be hard? Should we stop taking additional orders for a while?"
"It's fine."
"Understood. Then I'll take them as they come!"
Even with an order volume far beyond expectation, Jinseo stayed relaxed.
With Marco joining, handling the orders became much easier.
*Is this how Liu Bei felt when he gained Zhuge Liang in Romance of the Three Kingdoms?*⁶
Jinseo watched Marco focus on frying tonkatsu beside him and smiled with satisfaction.
After visiting Marco many times before finally bringing him in—when Marco had refused to leave prison—it even felt like he recruited him after three earnest visits.
In the lively atmosphere where both the makers and the eaters were having fun, Owl diligently filmed the citizens eating.
"Huh! That's my face!"
"Huh? Me too! I'm on there too!"
When the citizens realized their faces were showing on the large TV screen, they grew even more excited, waving tonkatsu speared on their forks.
"Owl, show me."
Charlotte, chewing Japanese-style tonkatsu, crooked her finger and called Owl.
When Charlotte filled the large TV screen, the citizens tensed up for a moment.
"Creatures! Who do you think you have to thank for being able to eat such delicious bunsik?"
By the time Charlotte asked, the answer was already decided. They only needed to say what she wanted to hear.
"Lady Charlotte!"
"It's the great supreme being, Lady Charlotte!"
Hearing them chant her name, Charlotte grinned and nodded.
"Good. You're not clueless creatures. But the correct answer is Jinseo and the chefs. Everyone, put down what you're eating and clap!"
As thunderous applause erupted, the chefs cooking in the food truck and bunsik carts waved back.
"And we can't leave out Owl's hard work either, since Owl went back and forth over a long distance so I could come all the way here, right?"
"Owl! Owl! Owl!"
"The greatest spirit! Owl!"
Hearing the cheers pouring down on it, Owl shrugged just like Nero did and turned its head to the side.
Then the large TV screen filled with Nero, wearing a sulky face as it roughly shoveled down tteokbokki.
Seeing Nero's expression—clearly displeased that people were praising Owl instead of itself—the citizens burst into laughter.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Read 76 more chapters ahead on NovelDex!
https://noveldex.io/series/mythical-otherworld-food-truck
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━