Chapter 199: An Otherworld Drifter (1) Vrooom.
The food truck raced along a quiet highway.
Their destination was a junk shop in a quiet village in Gangwon Province, a place where they suspected the seller of the food truck might be.
I really hope we can meet the seller… It doesn't mean much to regret it now, but if I'd known things would get this tangled, I should've forced myself to find them earlier.
A few months before Fedora came to Korea, Lee Jinseo had already asked Jungkook—who worked at a detective agency—to investigate who the food truck's seller was.
After asking around, Jungkook found the place where the food truck had first been sold and went there in person.
But he couldn't find the seller he was looking for. Thinking they might just be away, he stopped by the junk shop several more times after that, but each time he had to return empty-handed, just like before.
After receiving Jungkook's apologetic call, Lee Jinseo gave up on finding the seller and devoted himself to running his business on the Francia Continent.
But now the situation was different.
To speed up the food truck's repair, he had to meet the seller. So this time, Lee Jinseo decided to go looking himself.
"Your Eminence, did you like the food at the rest stop?"
While driving, Lee Jinseo spoke to Fedora in the passenger seat.
"Yes. I did not expect to discover menus that CoXtco does not have. The world truly is vast."
Fedora, who liked the uniquely thin and firm texture, kept putting sweet potato sticks into her mouth without stopping.
"When I traveled around the country to source ingredients, I ate a lot of rest stop food too."
The foods you can enjoy at a rest stop are one of the small pleasures that give you strength when you're tired during a long drive.
Lee Jinseo swallowed, his mouth watering as he recalled the rest stop foods he'd eaten—so-tteok-so-tteok, walnut pastries, sweet potato sticks, marble ice cream, and so on.
"For me, udon was my favorite. I do not know if it is only me, but even if it is the same udon, udon ordered at a rest stop tastes especially… special."
"That's why you ordered udon earlier."
"Actually, I like garak guksu even more, but there are not many places that sell it. But is it truly delicious? Your Eminence's reaction is a bit lukewarm compared to usual."
"Huh? Yes."
Just a week ago, Fedora would light up with excitement whenever she encountered new food, and if it suited her taste, she would react intensely and delight in it.
But now, because she couldn't simply be happy when she thought about her situation, she suppressed her feelings while eating sweet potato sticks, and Lee Jinseo felt sorry for her.
"Don't burden yourself too much. You're the victim, after all."
"That's true..."
With a sigh, Fedora turned her gaze to the scenery flashing past outside the window.
It was a very unusual sight for someone from another world, so just watching it was interesting, but she didn't show it on her face.
"I hope we can repair the food truck properly. Korea has many skilled technicians, so even if it takes time, we should be able to do it, yes?"
"Well… Your Eminence, this is only my guess, but the person who made the food truck is probably not Korean. They are likely someone who came from the other world."
"I-is that so?"
"If the Francia Continent has magic, then Korea has science. But this food truck has many functions that can't be explained by Korean science."
Based on what he had seen and heard on the Francia Continent, Lee Jinseo had come to suspect one most likely person.
But he chose not to tell Fedora the name yet. He decided he would confirm it after meeting the person directly.
There was still a chance his guess was wrong, and if it ended up like Jungkook's attempts—where they couldn't meet the person at all—then it would be worse than never bringing it up.
"We'll arrive in about thirty minutes. Get some sleep in the meantime."
"I understand that sleeping in the passenger seat is not courteous to the driver. On the Francia Continent, it might not be a problem since there are no other vehicles besides the food truck, but this is Korea, where the roads are full of cars."
"Huh? How do you know that? Did I tell you?"
"I searched it on the internet."
"Once this is resolved, you'll return to the Francia Continent, so you don't really need to go that far—"
"If, truly if, but..."
After finishing the sweet potato sticks, Fedora clasped her hands together around the empty bag.
"If I cannot return to the Francia Continent and must keep living in Korea, I thought it would not hurt to learn the common sense of this place."
While Lee Jinseo searched for the seller hoping for the best outcome, Fedora, in her own way, was preparing for the worst.
"No. I have to find them, no matter what."
Seeing Fedora like that, Lee Jinseo hardened his resolve to find the creator.
"Is anyone here?"
After arriving at the junk shop, Lee Jinseo knocked on the container door.
"Is the person who sold the food truck inside? If you are, please answer!"
Normally, he would have waited outside until the owner came out, but the matter was urgent, so Lee Jinseo kept pounding on the door despite the rudeness.
"Hello? Please answer me!"
Bang, bang, bang.
Lee Jinseo shouted while pounding on the container door for over ten minutes, but there was no response.
AI, can you check whether there's someone nearby?
{—Since many functions of the Mobile Cooking Facility are currently unavailable, processing this request may consume a considerable amount of time. Also, the mana consumed during the search may further increase the time required for the complete restoration of the spatial transfer magic circle.—}
Then forget it. I'll look myself. But where are they, exactly?
Lee Jinseo stared at the miscellaneous junk piled high in the yard, unsure where to start searching, when Fedora—who had been sitting quietly in the passenger seat—opened the door and stepped down from the food truck.
"Your Eminence, it seems there is no one inside the container, so we should wait until the junk shop owner comes. You do not need to come out."
"Wait."
Fedora closed her eyes and placed her right hand against the container.
"I can feel mana."
"What? This is Korea. Not the Francia Continent."
At the word "mana," Lee Jinseo's eyes widened in shock.
"And it is mana with a familiar feel."
Fedora kept her eyes closed and concentrated on the mana flowing out from inside the container.
"There is definitely someone inside. They are refusing to come out on purpose."
"Are they sleeping?"
"No. They are definitely moving."
Creeeak.
"Come in."
The door opened on its own, and someone's voice flowed out from inside the container.
"So there really was someone in there. Should we go in?"
"...."
"Your Eminence?"
"If my sense is correct, the person inside is..."
Fedora trailed off and hesitated to step into the container.
"What are you doing? Get in."
"Y-yes. Let's go in first."
Lee Jinseo answered in a fluster and stepped into the dark container, and Fedora—still hesitating—bit her lower lip lightly and followed him in.
"I-if you could turn on the light..."
"Alright."
Click.
When the ceiling light turned on, Lee Jinseo squinted and turned his head to the side.
The first thing he saw was an old refrigerator covered with coupons from a Chinese restaurant and late-night delivery shops.
"From the looks of it, you're the one who bought the food truck. What brings you here?"
An old man sitting on a rusty metal bed turned his head to look at Lee Jinseo.
"Well, the food truck… huh?"
The moment Lee Jinseo saw the old man's face, he stopped mid-sentence in shock.
Because it looked like someone who shouldn't be here—someone who should have been on the Francia Continent.
"Dean?"
"Dean?"
At the word "dean," the old man stroked his short-trimmed beard, digging through his memory.
"Since you have a face I've never seen, you couldn't possibly know me. And I've never been a dean in the first place. Don't tell me you mistook me for my older brother?"
"Then, sir, you are..."
"If it's my older brother, he should be in a far higher place than 'dean.' How unfortunate."
Lamenting, the old man rose from the bed.
"More importantly, you—perhaps..."
Narrowing his eyes, the old man pointed at Fedora standing beside Lee Jinseo.
At that, Fedora began trembling, then clutched Lee Jinseo's left arm tightly.
"Could you b-be… Little… little grandfather?"
Unlike herself, Fedora stammered as she stared hard at the old man.
"The more time passes, the more you resemble Scarlet."
"Ah..."
When her late mother's name was spoken from the old man's mouth, Fedora became certain.
That she had finally met her little grandfather, Rainfolt—said to have died over ten years ago after being caught in an explosion caused by a failed spell.
"Fedora, is that you?"
"Yes..."
"My Fedora… my granddaughter so precious it would not hurt even if I held you in my eyes… is that you?"
"Yes."
Fedora fought desperately to hold back the tears that threatened to burst out.
"I do not know how you came to this other world, but… I am truly glad to see you."
But at Rainfolt's words that he was glad, Fedora finally crumpled into tears, her face twisted.
"How is my older brother?"
"He is… my great-grandfather is healthy and well… hhk..."
"That's good. A relief."
Rainfolt gently placed a hand on his granddaughter's trembling shoulder.
After more than ten years—and reunited in another world at that—Fedora and Rainfolt sat side by side on the bed, silently holding hands.
Unlike Rainfolt, who smiled as he looked at his granddaughter with satisfaction, Fedora couldn't contain the emotions swelling deep in her chest and kept crying.
Rainfolt patted his sobbing granddaughter's back, and Lee Jinseo stood quietly across from them until she calmed down.
"After my spell failed, I thought I would never meet my homeland people again… but thankfully, I was able to meet you."
"It feels like a dream..."
"I am truly sorry for the hardships you have suffered."
"No. It's alright, because we met again like this. More importantly, what happened? I never imagined you would be in Korea."
"We will speak of that in a moment. First, I want to thank that young man who brought you here."
"Jinseo-nim, thank you so much. I am grateful just for you taking care of me, but to let me meet my little grandfather again like this..."
After wiping her tears with a handkerchief, Fedora bowed politely to Lee Jinseo.
"No. If it weren't for you, Your Eminence, I might have just turned back like Jungkook did. It's thanks to your abilities that we were able to meet Rainfolt-nim again."
"Cardinal?"
Rainfolt furrowed his brow at once and looked back and forth between Lee Jinseo and Fedora.
"Don't tell me you are a cardinal of the Heirem Order? You?"
"Yes."
"Did you abandon the path of magic?"
The Fedora Rainfolt remembered was a granddaughter with outstanding talent for magic—so much so that he never doubted she would become a great archmage, following after him and his twin brother.
The sudden news that such a granddaughter had become a cardinal was impossible to accept.
"Fedora, I do not understand what happened."
"Well… about that..."
Fedora began explaining what happened between her and Painfolt after Rainfolt disappeared.
Afraid Rainfolt might be hurt, she described it more vaguely than what had truly happened.
Even so, the shadow on Rainfolt's face didn't lift as he listened. It only grew darker.
"For things to have become that way between you and my older brother… I see. It is all because of me."
After hearing everything, Rainfolt lowered his head with a gloomy expression.
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