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Chapter 9
Se-hee checked the blue window floating before her eyes once again.
“……This.”
Only then did she realize it.
It was exactly the same format as the annoying and dangerous notification she had received yesterday.
“Don’t tell me this is some kind of mission or quest?”
A strange chill ran down her spine.
‘Don’t tell me this is going to pop up every day?’
Se-hee unconsciously looked at the pot, then beyond the fog, back and forth.
Then she muttered inwardly.
‘Seriously, does this thing have no intention of letting me rest?’
At that moment, the ominous footsteps coming from beyond the fog finally filled the clearing in front of Se-hee’s tent.
Just as Cassian had feared.
The men surrounded Se-hee’s small tent, each carrying a greatsword or an axe over his shoulder.
Se-hee’s shoulders stiffened slightly.
‘……Wait. Do I need to run?’
Then Vargas, the leader of the mercenary group, slammed an enormous battle axe as tall as himself onto the ground and stepped forward.
“Hey, woman.”
Vargas raised his chin and took another step closer.
“Running a strange business like this in the middle of the forest takes some serious guts.”
The corners of his mouth lifted mockingly.
“Do you know who we are? There aren’t many people in the northern part of the Empire who can hear our name and remain calm.”
Vargas thrust his face, covered in ugly scars, forward with a threatening grin.
The mercenaries behind him raised their weapons or struck their shields.
The clearing quickly became noisy with the clanging of metal and their rough laughter.
Se-hee immediately raised her head and looked over them.
‘If I run away now, my business is over.’
But Se-hee’s gaze fell not on Vargas, but on the ground he was standing on.
‘No, they could at least wipe their shoes before coming in. I just cleaned this place up this morning, and now they’re ruining everything.’
Se-hee frowned instead.
In an instant, these men stopped being frightening to her.
They were nothing more than a group of rude customers with terrible manners.
“You people really have no business manners. When a store is open, the basic rule is to stand in line.”
Vargas’s eyebrow twitched.
But a mocking laugh came first.
“Ha! A line? You’re telling Vargas to stand in line?”
The mercenaries burst into laughter and swung their weapons.
It was an obvious display of force, as if they were about to trample the tent at any moment.
“Please move when I ask nicely. I’m busy right now.”
“What kind of trick are you trying to pull?!”
Just as Vargas raised his axe and took a step forward—
Se-hee’s hand moved like lightning.
She grabbed the thick, bright-red liquid sauce left over from the Spicy Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles.
And she threw the sauce straight into the mercenary leader’s face.
“Hey! I told you, I don’t allow anything that interferes with business!”
Sizzle―!
A vivid, blood-red stream of sauce cut through the air and splashed directly across Vargas’s face and the mercenaries in the front row.
“……Urgh? What is this? Blood?”
Vargas snorted and tried to wipe the liquid off his face with his hand.
But one second later, his face turned purple.
“Aaaaaah! It’s hot! My face feels like it’s burning! It’s the flames of hell!”
The capsaicin was attacking their skin.
[Environmental Effect Activated: Hell’s Red Mist]
• Reaction: Extreme pain, involuntary tears
• Status Change: Loss of fighting spirit, sharp decrease in combat will
Se-hee briefly glanced over the message floating before her and put the sauce packet down.
‘Surprisingly, this works pretty well.’
Unlike Se-hee, who remained completely calm, the mercenaries could barely stand.
“Cough! Cough! Is this…… magic? Or poison?!”
The mercenaries stumbled backward, tears and mucus streaming down their faces.
Se-hee looked down at them for a moment and tilted her head.
“Ah, is this not enough?”
Then she casually sprayed more sauce.
“Aaaaaah!”
“What is this one?!”
The mercenaries who were already collapsed began rolling around on the ground.
Some covered their noses, while others couldn’t even breathe properly.
The area around the tent, covered in the spicy chicken sauce, instantly turned into complete chaos.
Vargas, the mercenary leader, lowered his sword with trembling hands and fell to his knees.
There seemed to be a few tears gathered in his eyes.
Even brushing against the tips of his fingers covered in the spicy sauce made Vargas scream, and he looked up at Se-hee in fear.
Se-hee clicked her tongue as she put the noodles into the pot.
“What are you all talking about? You barged in here however you wanted and now you’re complaining.”
She casually washed the little sauce on her finger away with water and added,
“Well, feeling better now?”
Se-hee tilted her head.
“Our store is pretty strict about property damage and interfering with business.”
She paused and held up the sauce packet once.
“If you don’t want to experience that again, you should buy our products.”
Her gaze slowly moved toward the mercenary group.
“You have to pay for barging in here without permission.”
Vargas gritted his teeth.
“……What product are you talking about?”
Se-hee nodded and gave a short smile.
“You just tasted it, didn’t you? I’ll specially charge only one gold coin per packet for this ‘flames of hell’ thing.”
Then she added,
“So everyone here has to buy one packet.”
“O-One gold coin?”
“Don’t want to? I can spray another round. This time, I’ll aim for your eyes.”
When Se-hee shook the remaining sauce packet, the entire mercenary group shrieked and hurriedly pulled out their money pouches.
“We’ll buy it! We’ll buy it! Please, just put that away!”
Se-hee collected the money the mercenaries desperately handed over.
The pouch made a heavy jingling sound, filled with coins.
She secretly peeked inside.
‘……Huh?’
There was almost no gold.
Most of the coins were silver or copper.
“But.”
Se-hee asked carefully.
“Don’t you have any gold coins?”
The area around the tent suddenly became strangely quiet.
“Gold coins? Who carries something that valuable around? We’re not nobles.”
Vargas gave a hollow laugh.
Se-hee’s eyes widened slightly.
“Then what do you normally use to pay?”
“There’s silver coins.”
Vargas answered as if it were obvious.
“Daily wages, drinks, equipment repairs—everything is paid in silver. Copper coins are for small change.”
Se-hee unconsciously swallowed.
‘Then the gold coins Cassian gave me…… how much were they worth?’
Only now did she realize that the price she had just demanded was absurdly high by their standards.
‘Wow. I really……’
She felt a tiny bit of guilt.
Just the size of a fingernail.
But these people had barged into her tent without permission and even waved their weapons around.
‘At this point, I’m practically giving them a bargain.’
Se-hee shook her head and handed out the packets one by one.
“Here. One packet of Spicy Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles each.”
Se-hee looked over their faces once and tilted her head.
“Come to think of it, you all look so miserable that I’ll give you a little discount.”
The mercenaries looked hopeful.
“One silver coin and three copper coins per packet. How about it?”
Vargas’s eyes widened.
The price was about the same as what the mercenaries would pay at a village tavern for a hearty meat stew and a few beers.
But Vargas knew that refusing this offer would only hurt them.
“Ooh……! Of course, that sounds good.”
Vargas quickly agreed, afraid Se-hee might change her mind.
‘I quoted a lower price than one gold coin, so there shouldn’t be any trouble later.’
Se-hee seemed satisfied and pointed toward the front with her chin.
“Everyone, go over there and find a place to sit.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the familiar system window appeared.
[Exchange Notification]
• Detected: Imperial Silver Coins ×6, Copper Coins ×18
• Converted Value: 780P
• Exchange Fee (20%): -156P
• Final Amount Acquired: 624P
‘This feels completely different from when I received gold coins.’
Se-hee looked over the numbers again.
‘Can the difference in points really be this big?’
She wanted to calculate it properly.
But the mercenaries were standing in front of her blankly, holding their ramen, so she stopped thinking about it and continued.
“I’ll demonstrate the cooking method for you now.”
Vargas and his men accepted the ramen packets with bewildered expressions.
Their minds were complicated by the realization that the weapon they had thought was the flames of hell was actually a product worth one silver coin.
But they were so overwhelmed by Se-hee’s presence that none of them dared to complain.
“This is already a cheap price for a fine imposed for trespassing.”
Se-hee looked down at the pot.
Then she swallowed a sigh and opened the system shop.
• [Pot] …… 700P
‘I’ll probably be using these more from now on, right? Then I can think of this as an initial investment.’
As soon as she made the decision, her hand moved toward the purchase button.
[Purchase History]
• Pot ×3
Total Cost: 2,100P
The new pots dropped onto the ground one after another.
The mercenaries flinched at the sudden appearance of the pots.
“There are three pots, so divide yourselves into groups and boil the noodles two packets at a time.”
Vargas rolled his eyes for a moment as he counted.
“So two people per pot?”
“Yes. You can cook up to two packets in one pot.”
Se-hee nodded and continued.
“Oh, and get the water from over there.”
She pointed toward the faucet beside the tent.
“You’ll have to make your own fire. This is self-service.”
The tear-covered mercenaries exchanged glances, then put down their weapons and gathered around their spots.
The sight of their rough hands carefully handling the ramen packets was strangely comical.
‘They swing swords so well, but why are they being this careful with a packet?’
Se-hee cleared her throat once.
“Okay, everyone’s seated? Then pay attention.”
Once she confirmed that everyone’s attention had naturally turned toward her, she continued.
“I’m going to explain how to cook Spicy Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles properly.”
Se-hee opened the lid of the pot and began giving her group of customers a full cooking lesson.
