Chapter 206: Become a Food Fighter for the World (1) "One full Tteok-twi-sun-ra-gim set for one person! And add a 1.5-liter cola!"
"Um… it was that yellow cup ramen… yeah! Sesame-flavor cup ramen! Five of those, please!"
"You still haven't sold out of the soldier package, right? There's some left? Thank goodness! Then give me three!"
The knights and soldiers gathered in front of the food truck raised their voices so their orders wouldn't be drowned out by everyone else.
The sight of people wearing armor emblazoned with the emblems of their respective countries placing orders, and then getting tangled together while waiting for their food, was pure chaos.
"Three servings of omurice, five servings of jjolmyeon, and two servings of tonkatsu are ready!"
"For cup ramen, you can get water from the purifier over there. You have to wait three minutes before you eat it, and be careful because it's hot. And… Lee Jinseo-ssi! Are the cheese hot dogs not ready yet? Ah, they are! The person who ordered five earlier, come pick them up! Jason! It looks like the orders over there are backed up, so handle those first!"
"Got it! Who ordered two boxes of Chox pie? Is that you? No? Ah, you—the one with your hand raised, right?"
Aston, Jason, and Foltan moved nonstop to bring out the ordered food, and Lee Jinseo bustled around to process the constant stream of orders.
Ding-ding-ding-ding.
While both the ordering side and the serving side spent time in a frenzy, the prepared ingredients ran out, and Jason hurriedly struck the golden bell hanging above the counter seats.
"That's it! We're out of ingredients for bunsik! We'll reopen once the break time ends!"
"What? I was going to order one more Tteok-twi-sun-ra-gim set… it's over?"
"We're sorry! We'll catch our breath and fill our stomachs too, then prepare ingredients again and come back! Please understand!"
"I waited an hour… damn, should I have come earlier?"
At Jason's shout announcing the end of service, the knights and soldiers who still hadn't been able to order scattered with regret.
"Ugh… I think my throat's already gone hoarse. Foltan, are you okay?"
"I should drink that balloonflower-pear extract they say is good for your throat."
"Everyone worked hard. But this really is exhausting."
"Whew..."
The moment lunch ended and the break time started, the four men stumbled out of the food truck's kitchen area and collapsed into the counter seats.
They were exhausted both physically and mentally.
"There really are a lot of customers..."
Lee Jinseo wiped the sweat still running down his forehead with a towel and looked at the knights and soldiers who were still eating.
To get tired to this degree… I really did rest too long.
Maybe because he had almost completely let go of food truck business while staying in Korea, Lee Jinseo—who returned to the Francia Continent after two months—was completely drained from dealing with the sudden flood of military customers.
"But I didn't expect this many soldiers to gather. A lot changed while I was gone."
"Still, before you came back, Lee Jinseo-ssi, they didn't swarm in to this extent."
"The bunsik street was packed with military customers from the start. Come to think of it, wasn't it about three days before hyung came back that the stuff in Jinseo Club sold out completely?"
"Don't even start. Once they got a taste of the snacks sold at Jinseo Club, they wiped it clean. The Raven Mercenary Group members looked like they were about to cry because the things they usually bought were nowhere to be found."
The four men, who hadn't even had time to drink a single sip of water while working, took turns drinking bottled water as they talked.
"At least we thought it was fortunate we distributed combat rations to the soldiers in advance..."
"And even so, there were plenty of soldiers who finished eating fast and came here to order, so it was driving us insane. If every single soldier had rushed over to order… whew, that would've been horrific."
Aston and Jason trembled as they imagined far more people swarming in than the number they faced during lunch.
"Well, soldiers are always hungry no matter how much they eat."
"Th-that's true."
Aston, the food truck's helper and captain of the knight order.
Jason and Foltan, who had worked as guards at Falstead Castle.
All three men—soldiers, and former soldiers—nodded in agreement at Lee Jinseo's words, since Lee Jinseo himself had completed active duty in Korea.
"All we can do is provide them with good food and pray they all return safely to their homeland."
At present, around Falstead Castle, countless forces from every country were stationed for the decisive battle against Dark Dragon Evelyn.
They were elite troops selected with utmost effort by every nation on the Francia Continent, so their skill was beyond question.
But their opponent was none other than Dark Dragon Evelyn.
As he anticipated casualties would pour in, a shadow fell across Lee Jinseo's face.
"Still, the atmosphere isn't as bad as I expected."
Lee Jinseo had assumed a tightly wound, suffocating tension would form ahead of the battle with Dark Dragon Evelyn.
But rather than the air of war, the knights and soldiers enjoying bunsik showed no fear on their faces.
"Lee Jinseo-ssi, you worked hard."
"Ah, Marco-nim! You're here. How is it on your side?"
"Our side was also cooking nonstop, and we just managed to rest now."
Even with the help of the cooks working on the bunsik street, it was realistically impossible to handle the meals for all the troops gathered around Falstead Castle.
So Marco, who had been overseeing the food truck branch at Selphier Castle, rushed to Falstead Castle with wandering cooks to support them.
On top of that, cooks gathered from all across the Girvante Kingdom joined in as well.
Thinking it was a chance to learn bunsik directly from Lee Jinseo—the original master of bunsik—they cooked the soldiers' meals with sincerity and care.
"To think I lived my whole life without knowing a taste like this—it's unfair."
"When we go back, we should pack a lot with us. Sadly, bunsik can only be eaten here, but things like Chox pie can be eaten even months later, so I'm going to pack a bunch."
Maybe because of that, the knights sitting at the tables were all enjoying satisfied meals as they indulged in bunsik.
"But I don't know if it's okay for us to be enjoying a meal this comfortably."
"It's not like we can starve until Dark Dragon Evelyn appears again. We have to eat and live first, don't we?"
"And it's too delicious not to eat. Let's eat first and worry later."
"That's true."
If this were a normal war, everyone gathered here would be tense.
At first, the overwhelming pressure of having to fight the strongest lifeform—a dragon—filled the soldiers gathered around Falstead Castle with a suffocating tension.
But as time passed, the atmosphere shifted as if nothing had happened, leaving only the kind of excitement you feel before an important match.
When fear becomes too great, at some point, you begin to forget the fear itself.
And as they thought it over, the soldiers realized that whether they died fighting the dragon here, or died because they failed to stop it and Dark Dragon Evelyn rampaged, death was death either way.
So rather than staying tense, they decided it was better to eat bunsik as hard as they could—enough that they'd have no regrets even if they died—and they enthusiastically enjoyed it.
"Huh? That sword you're holding—where did you get it?"
"Oh, this? A dwarf blacksmith in Dwarf Town made it for me. It's amazing, right?"
"What? Really?"
"What did you say? A sword forged directly by a dwarf?"
Knights from different countries couldn't take their eyes off the sword produced by a knight from the Doren Kingdom.
"Wow, even just the way elves walk makes them look like a painting."
"I heard there are quite a lot of dwarves who are proficient in magic—if we can properly exchange with them during this opportunity, that would be great."
"I've only read about it, but to think a half-human, half-horse race really exists! I want to research how such a body structure can run so fast!"
Meanwhile, mages from different mage towers watched the other races passing in front of them carefully, with ice cream in their mouths.
Hearing such lively conversation flying around—so lively it was hard to believe this was the mood before a decisive battle with a dragon—Lee Jinseo didn't know what reaction to show.
Well… it's better than everyone wearing dark expressions. But for forces gathered to fight a dragon, it still feels too few.
From what Lee Jinseo heard from Oswald Hamilton, the forces gathered from across the continent numbered around 50,000.
Of course, 50,000 troops was by no means a small number, but against a dragon—the strongest lifeform—it looked absurdly small to Lee Jinseo.
"Why are you making such a serious face?"
"Ah, Charlotte-nim. You're here."
When the red-haired dragon, Charlotte, appeared, the knights who were eating simultaneously set down their forks, then all knelt on one knee in respect.
"Hey, hey, hey. It's not like you're seeing me for the first time—why are you making such a fuss? I'm not the kind of dragon who likes empty ceremony, you know?"
She raised her hand and told them to stand, but the knights still kept their heads lowered and didn't even show signs of rising.
"Ugh, this is why I wanted to call you secretly… anyway, I'll just leave those kids and take you."
"Huh? Me?"
"Just now, I finally heard that all the rulers of every country have gathered. So let's go attend the meeting."
"Were you all talking nicely?"
As Charlotte opened the meeting room door and entered, the rulers of each country seated at the round table stood up at once.
"Enough—sit down. It's not like we've only known each other for a day or two. Don't you get tired doing this every time I show up?"
"Yes, understood!"
"Good. You've got discipline. I like it."
Charlotte patted the shoulder of King Philip III, then sat to his left.
"Supreme being, the young man who came with you… is he not Lee Jinseo, the master of bunsik?"
Jorge V, King of the Arken Kingdom, who had joined the meeting four days ago, asked while pointing at Lee Jinseo, who entered with Charlotte.
"That's right. I'll get straight to the point. The reason I brought Lee Jinseo to this meeting is because I absolutely need his help to properly seal my niece."
"What?"
Hearing Charlotte's answer, Jorge V and all the kings seated around the table stared at her with shocked eyes.
"Do you intend to have Lee Jinseo participate in the battle against Dark Dragon Evelyn?"
"He will participate. But..."
"Supreme being! Even if we have heard rumors that this young man is as strong as his cooking skill, this is not acceptable!"
"If something goes wrong and he becomes unable to cook, this won't end as a loss to the Doren Kingdom alone! It will be an enormous loss on an international scale!"
"Even if this young man is said to be a master of taekwondo, the mysterious combat art passed down in Korea… no! We've heard rumors his kicks split the ground and shatter boulders, but that is not reason enough to send him into battle!"
Interpreting Charlotte's words as meaning Lee Jinseo would directly participate in combat, the kings all voiced opposition one after another.
Among them, King Philip III of the Doren Kingdom and King Lanster II of the Girvante Kingdom opposed it most fiercely, wearing the most serious expressions of any meeting so far.
"Hey, hey, hey! Let the dragon finish speaking! Everyone calm down! I brought this guy here because I have my reasons. I'll explain why, step by step."
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