Chapter 195: Is This the Land of Bunsik? (3)
"Please come again! Please! Please!"
The health club manager, a solidly built man, waved his hand vigorously at Lee Jinseo and Fedora as they headed out the door.
"Whew… it truly was a meaningful time."
"Your Eminence, is your body alright? I'm worried you might have pushed yourself too hard today."
"My body is weary, but my heart is more peaceful than ever, because I was able to carry out proper ascetic training for the first time in a long while."
Fedora stretched, then rolled her arms in circles.
The time she devoted herself to ascetic training in the name of exercise at the health club was two hours.
Since she had lived a life far from exercise, she tired quickly, but she left the health club with a satisfied smile.
"And I'm also very happy to receive the reward for my ascetic training—something I never even expected."
Fedora spread the coupon the manager gave her with both hands, then smiled with deep satisfaction as she looked at the big word "FREE."
"A three-month free pass! So this is the warmth of Korea you told me about, Jinseo-nim!"
"Uh… yes… that's right."
Lee Jinseo wanted to add something to what she said so happily, but he didn't want to ruin the mood, so he gave a safe answer and moved on.
"May all the members I met today continue to devote themselves to ascetic training, just as they have done until now..."
Looking up at the health club sign, Fedora made the sign of the cross.
She had been faithful to ascetic training in the name of exercise, but as a complete beginner, there weren't that many workouts she could truly do properly.
Still, she didn't give up. She sweated as if it were pouring rain and never stopped pushing herself to the limit. The members of the health club were moved by her passionate attitude.
They abandoned their own workouts, gathered around her, began cheering, and poured into her every bit of exercise know-how they had learned with their bodies.
When Fedora—repeating challenge and failure—lifted the barbell in time with the members' chants, applause erupted across the health club.
For them, people who lived making the acquisition and maintenance of a healthy body their greatest life goal, the process mattered just as much as the result.
To the point others might find it tedious, they never stopped tempering their bodies to the limit. They knew well that only by silently repeating that process while enduring pain could a body like steel be born.
In that sense, what Fedora showed there was more than enough to earn their support.
"And may the protection of dumbbells and barbells—and protein as well—always be with the members..."
Though it had been a brief meeting, Fedora offered a prayer as she thought of the health club members who devoted themselves to ascetic training in the name of exercise.
People passing by stared curiously at the sight of her standing in the middle of the street with her eyes closed, praying with a solemn expression.
Lee Jinseo, on the other hand, had often experienced moments like this while traveling with her on the Francia Continent, so he stood quietly beside her and waited for the prayer to end.
"…And I pray you will meet muscles firmer than yesterday. Whew, I'm finished now. Jinseo-nim, I'm sorry to keep you waiting."
"No, it's fine. Then, Your Eminence, shall we go buy clothes?"
"Clothes?"
"You said you kept feeling uncomfortable in the dress you're wearing."
"Th-that... after wearing it for a while, I'm fine now."
Maybe it was because she regained mental stability after undergoing ascetic training in the name of exercise.
Fedora didn't react sensitively to the gazes of people passing by and looking at her.
"How does the dress I'm wearing look to you, Jinseo-nim? Does it still not suit me?"
"Not suit you? I said from the start it suited you."
"R-right. Then I don't think I need to buy more. The owner also gave me a few more outfits. I want to go somewhere else instead of a clothing store."
Now that she had regained some composure, Fedora stopped minding her surroundings.
With a lighter heart, she looked around here and there, searching for a place she wanted to go next, and a sign on an especially large building caught her eye.
"Jinseo-nim, what is that place?"
"That's… ah, that place."
Looking where Fedora pointed, Lee Jinseo immediately recognized it from the sign written in red English letters.
"It's CoXtco."
"CoXtco?"
"It's one of the large marts. I often buy a lot of what we sell on the food truck from there. Want to go?"
A large discount mart in Korea that was famous for being highly preferred—CoXtco.
Even Lee Jinseo, who came often, still felt a bit excited every time because of its enormous scale, so the shock Fedora felt on her first visit was, frankly, hard to put into words.
"T-this can't be..."
As soon as she entered CoXtco, Fedora stared wide-eyed and looked around frantically, as if she had encountered a new world.
The CoXtco building she had seen from afar turned out to be far larger than she imagined. She was already stunned by the size, but when she went inside, she couldn't help being stunned again at the mountains of goods piled up in countless varieties.
Thinking she might be seeing things, she rubbed her eyes, but everything in her vision was reality, not an illusion.
Still half out of her mind as she wandered through CoXtco, Fedora let out a cheer the moment she stepped into the food section.
"Ahh… everything I can see is something I can eat!"
Able to read Korean, Fedora was moved to the point of tears after reading the words "Food Section."
"Jinseo-nim, you said this sometimes, didn't you? That the food and snacks you brought to the Francia Continent are only a small portion compared to what's sold in Korea."
"I did say that."
"But… it was true. I didn't know there could be this many snacks!"
Fedora grew excited as she took in all the different kinds of snacks.
"There are FrXggles here too! Oh, but..."
After spotting a familiar snack can she had eaten often, Fedora's eyes went round.
"No, did FrXggles have flavors like this too?"
Through the food truck, the flavors of FrXggles she had known—famous for the line that once you open it you can't stop—were only three kinds.
But the many different colors of FrXggles lined up in front of her were, even with a rough count, at least ten varieties.
"Were there really this many kinds of Buldak noodles? No—and CoolXrs had three flavors too? It wasn't only pineapple!"
A drink you couldn't do without to endure the ascetic training called spicy food—CoolXrs.
Up until now, Fedora had enjoyed only a single flavor, so when she discovered peach and plum flavors, she didn't know what to do and rejoiced.
But it was only for a moment.
Folding her arms, she began to agonize over which snacks and drinks she should put in the cart.
"Ngh… my heart wants to start with spicy flavors, but then the flavor profile will lean too much in one direction..."
"Can't you just put everything in?"
"I planned to at first, but this is too much—way too much! Even if I put just one of each type from what's displayed here, it's impossible to take it all!"
Watching her, after so much agonizing, carefully choose snacks and drinks and happily add them one by one, Lee Jinseo felt like he was out with a daughter.
"Are you done choosing?"
"Yes! For now, this is enough!"
Even though she had chosen carefully, there was so much that both Lee Jinseo and Fedora had to carry plastic bags packed full of snacks and drinks in both hands.
"Then shall we go fill our stomachs lightly?"
Lee Jinseo took Fedora toward one of CoXtco's strengths—the food court.
When he came alone, he usually ordered only a hot dog to eat lightly and leave, but this time he ordered pizza too and began sharing it with Fedora.
"What do you think?"
"Hm..."
After eating one slice of pizza and then starting on the hot dog, Fedora made a subtle expression for the first time since entering CoXtco.
"Compared to your cooking, Jinseo-nim… how should I put it… it feels like a dish with many disappointing points."
"Since this place competes on overwhelming cost-effectiveness, you might feel that way. And most of the food here is made to suit American tastes more than Korean ones, so preferences can split."
"So in that country called America, they eat things salty and greasy, I suppose?"
"Yes."
Lee Jinseo nodded and took a big bite of the hot dog stuffed with onions and pickles.
I used to like it because it was a lot for the price, but maybe since I've tasted sausage from the other world, it doesn't feel satisfying.
When Lee Jinseo silently ate, Fedora—who had been staring at him—lowered her head, belatedly reflecting on her mistake.
"…I'm sorry."
"Huh? For what?"
"I only kept complaining about the place you brought me to."
"Hahaha, no. Even I was thinking while eating that it would be better if it had dwarf special sausage in it. By the way, when you eat something greasy, you start wanting something spicy, right?"
"Yes. I truly miss your special tteokbokki."
"I figured you would, so I picked out a place in advance. Want to go? If it's you, Your Eminence, you'll definitely be satisfied."
"Huah… huah..."
With her mouth flushed red, Fedora kept breathing out, and fine beads of sweat formed on her forehead.
Even while wiping the sweat streaming down not only her forehead but her entire face with a roll of paper towels, she didn't let go of the fork in her right hand.
"So this is the taste of original buldak..."
At the buldak specialty restaurant Lee Jinseo told her about, Fedora was finally indulging in the spicy flavor she had wanted as much as she pleased.
"I have always prided myself on loving buldak flavor more than anyone, yet I'm ashamed that I encountered buldak so late."
She had eaten special tteokbokki with buldak sauce at least once a week without fail, but this was her first time actually eating buldak as a dish.
Maybe because of that, she was displaying far more endurance than usual, focusing entirely on eating buldak.
"I'm really glad you like it. There actually aren't many places that specialize in buldak. I came here a few years ago, and it's a relief it's still in business."
Because Buldak noodles became a massive hit, buldak flavor had spread widely, but the number of restaurants serving buldak as an actual dish had clearly decreased compared to when it was at peak popularity.
Maybe because of that, the restaurant was rather quiet compared to the last time Lee Jinseo came.
In that situation, a foreign woman with long silver hair eating buldak without hesitation was bound to stand out.
Customers at nearby tables glanced sideways at Fedora, but she didn't care and focused only on eating buldak.
Buldak was so perfectly to her taste that she couldn't even spare attention for other people's eyes.
"This suddenly reminds me of the first time I met you, Your Eminence. Back then, you suddenly gave me a blessing, so I was very fluste—"
Lee Jinseo stopped mid-sentence and began looking around quickly.
"Your Eminence, could it be that here..."
"You're worried I might unconsciously bestow a blessing here and draw people's attention, right?"
"Yes."
"It's fine. In Korea, the concentration of mana is far too thin, so it's difficult to bestow blessings. Also, personally, it's unfortunate that His power does not reach Korea, but I also know that in a place where another religion has taken root, such acts should be restrained."
"Ah, I see."
"So I'll just eat without worrying about anything else!"
Fedora gripped a fork in each hand and boldly stuffed into her mouth even the portion Lee Jinseo yielded to her, chewing happily.
Lee Jinseo wiped the sweat running down Fedora's face with a napkin, helping her focus solely on eating.
Thanks to that, Fedora displayed an appetite no less than Craid's, and when she finished five servings of buldak all by herself, the owner beamed and came out from the kitchen.
"Customer, I've been running this place for almost fifteen years, and you're the first person I've ever seen eat so deliciously!"
"Yes. I'm truly thinking it was the right choice to come to Korea."
"Thank you so much! This is on the house!"
"So this is the warmth of Korea! Thank you very much!"
Fedora accepted the complimentary menu item from the owner with both hands and smiled broadly.
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