TRUFT 03

Chapter 03

“By the way, Hyunjoon, what are your plans from now on?”

My brother, who was eating in a hurry, asked me.

“I’m planning to run a food truck with you, sister-in-law, and Yun-a.”

Clatter! Bang!

My brother dropped his spoon and looked at me like he couldn’t believe what he just heard.

“What are you talking about? Yun-a needs to go to daycare, and we need to make money, you know.”

“Yun-a is 7… so before she enters elementary school, we can run a business, help her build a sense of money, earn pocket money, travel around, and even grow her creativity. And money? Well… if things get tough, I can just go hunt monsters.”

“…Huh?”

My brother rested his chin on his hand and stared at me.

He knew I wasn’t weak. Even running B-rank gate raids could earn millions a day. In a world where people with abilities could become rich, running a food truck didn’t seem like a bad idea.

“How about it?”

Then I looked at my sister-in-law and asked for her opinion.

“I think it’s great. Quitting my job, traveling, and running a business. Sounds romantic, doesn’t it?”

“…What about Yun-a?”

“Hm?”

“…Do you want to take a year off daycare and do a food truck? Do you know what a food truck is?”

“Yes! I know! I saw it on TV! It’s like traveling around and selling food, right?”

“That’s right.”

“I like it! I really like it!”

After hearing Yun-a and my sister-in-law, my brother thought for a while and then spoke with difficulty.

“Alright. Let’s do it.”

“Yes!!”

I stretched my arms and cheered.

“Wait! Before that, you’ll have to pass the Monster Cooking Technician exam.”

“Something like that exists?”

So there’s such a thing?

“When you disappeared, it had only been a year since the world changed. There were many cases where people died from poison or mana after cooking monster meat carelessly.”

“…Ah.”

“So, to make it safe for everyone to eat, a certification exam was created. You have to remove poison and dilute the mana in the food. If you don’t pass it, you can’t even handle monster meat.”

“Sister-in-law, is that true?”

“Yes, it’s true. How can you not trust your brother? Hoho.”

Oh…

The world has changed quite nicely.

“Anything else different?”

“Not really. Other than that exam… you also can’t bring food into gates.”

“Huh? You can’t bring food into gates?”

“Yeah. Didn’t you know? No one knows why, but food can’t be taken inside. The only thing allowed is nutrition capsules that just fill your stomach, so hunters who can’t eat complain a lot.”

“And rich hunters even bring chefs who can cook monster meat along with them on raids.”

I was quite shocked by what they said.

“Oh right. And the moment you come out of a gate, you feel extremely hungry. That’s why there are so many restaurants near gates.”

“…We can use that.”

Unlike H, not being able to bring food into gates is unfortunate, but from another perspective, it’s a huge business opportunity.

‘I can cook monster food, after all.’

That means I could bring a truck into a gate, hunt monsters, cook them, and sell the food.

Everyone inside the gate would buy my food. And since there would be only one place selling food, people would pay high prices without hesitation.

‘But… this is dangerous since Yun-a and my brother and sister-in-law are involved.’

So this method would only be used if I work alone. I also came up with another method.

‘Use the fact that people get extremely hungry after leaving gates.’

If I get permission to run a food truck near gates, I could sell monster meat there.

‘There’s nothing as delicious as monster meat, and very few people can cook it properly.’

Selling monster meat near gates would definitely be a huge success.

“That’s not the main point. The main thing is—once you get the certification, we run the food truck. Monster meat sells the best.”

“Alright. I’ll go get it.”

I placed my empty plate in the sink and went to my room.

‘Clean.’

They’ve been keeping things tidy.

Feeling touched, I sat down and looked up the exam application.

“The exam is next week.”

Both the written and practical exams would be tested, and the judges would include members of the Monster Cooking Association and one of the most popular chefs in Korea.

‘A C-rank hunter and a monster cooking authority…’

It wouldn’t hurt to leave a good impression.

“Uncle… are you taking the exam?”

“Hm? Oh, Yun-a, yeah. I’m going to take it soon.”

“Hmm! Come here!”

Suddenly, Yun-a came in and sat me down on the floor, pulling out a marker.

“What are you going to do, Yun-a?”

“At daycare, when we do dictation, Mom draws a ‘100 fairy’ on my hand, and I always get good scores! I’ll help you too, Uncle!”

How cute.

And how thoughtful.

“Alright, let’s see your drawing skills!”

Yun-a drew a strange picture—a round face with rabbit ears, round eyes, and a bear-like nose and mouth.

And below it, she wrote a big “100”.

‘…It’s weird, but cute.’

Is my niece a genius?

She can already draw like this?

“Hyung!! Sister-in-law!! Come here! Yun-a is a genius!”

“Wow…! Our daughter draws so well!”

“I’m good, right~? Give me your hands too!”

“Uh… I’m okay!”

“I’m fine too…”

But they couldn’t refuse.

On their palms were drawings of rabbits and bears.

…Yun-a has gotten into this.

She’s using their hands like a canvas every day.

‘That marker won’t be easy to erase. But we can’t refuse a drawing from her either.’

We just have to endure it. It’s a drawing from my niece—the cutest kid in the world.

Hyunjoon headed to a gate in the nearby mountains.

He wanted to regain his combat and butchering skills after a long time, and also bring delicious meat for his niece.

‘A Red Wolf… it’s been a while.’

A C-rank monster called the Red Wolf.

It is red in color, fast, and strong.

But its biggest feature…

…it tastes incredibly good.

Gulp.

Hyunjoon swallowed and stepped into the gate.

“Ugh.”

The damp, dark cave never felt familiar no matter how many times he entered.

‘There it is.’

He sensed the mana of the Red Wolves in the distance.

He also sensed other hunters sneaking through side paths to hunt the wolves.

‘Hmm… should I not use my abilities?’

Even a small amount of aura or mana could allow him to wipe out all the monsters with just a thought or a finger.

But if he did that, other hunters would waste their time waiting for the monsters to respawn. Also, he needed to regain his combat instincts.

Towards the end of his time in H, he had mostly fought using magic and swords, so his hand-to-hand combat skills had slightly dulled.

So Hyunjoon decided not to use any abilities and only fight using his fists—just to hunt one wolf.

‘One is enough for ten servings.’

He picked up a stone nearby and tossed it.

“Growl!”

One wolf rushed toward him.

The leader of the pack had noticed an intruder.

‘Just one and I’ll leave.’

Hyunjoon raised his guard as the wolf jumped at him.

Thud.

He blocked the attack with his hand and then kicked with his back leg as the wolf jumped again.

Thud!

“Yelp!”

The straight kick hit the wolf’s nose, making it stumble back.

The wolf realized he was not an easy opponent.

Hyunjoon also caught his breath and measured the timing.

Objectively speaking, fighting a C-rank Red Wolf with bare hands was insane.

But Hyunjoon had spent three years in H training his combat senses by fighting Red Wolves every day.

‘I’ve hunted over ten thousand wolves. One more is nothing.’

He recalled the weak points of the wolf.

‘Neck, nose, ribs… if I break the ribs, it can’t move well.’

Deciding to restrict its speed by breaking its ribs, he lowered his guard.

Thinking Hyunjoon was exposed, the wolf jumped again.

“Growl!”

“Hoo!”

With a quick breath, Hyunjoon twisted his body and threw an uppercut with his left hand, striking the wolf’s ribs.

“Yelp!”

“Got it.”

Taking advantage of the moment, he ran toward the immobilized wolf.

‘Other wolves are coming this way. Some hunters too.’

The wolves being hunted were running toward their leader, followed by hunters.

This would make things troublesome, so Hyunjoon quickly lifted the wolf and left the gate.

“Haa… I should’ve just used my powers.”

Well, whatever. Thanks for cooperating.

He tapped the wolf and stored it in his subspace.

Snap.

I snapped my fingers and turned the subspace into a kitchen.

Swoosh.

With a single knife, I separated the skin and flesh.

‘If people are going to eat this, I need to remove the mana.’

Monster mana negatively affects humans.

For example, it can turn into dark mana and cause mana addiction.

‘First, remove the heart where the mana is concentrated.’

Ordinary people use machines for this, but I can simply control the flow of mana with my fingers.

Wooooong—

With that, the mana flow shifted, and the heart disappeared.

‘After some time, the mana will be gone.’

Now it was time for butchering.

‘I read that this is very difficult.’

The bones are hard, and cutting them wrong ruins the meat.

Of course… for me, I just need to move my fingers a bit.

Wooooong—

The meat was automatically deboned.

“Why can’t others do this simple thing?”

I divided the meat into parts and took only what I needed home.

“Uncle!! Where did you go?”

“I brought meat. Let’s eat.”

“Meat…!!”

As soon as I entered, Yun-a greeted me, and my brother and sister-in-law asked about the meat.

“What kind of meat is that? Beef? Pork?”

“Red wolf.”

“…Red wolf? How did you get such expensive meat?”

“I hunted it myself and prepared it to gain your approval. Let’s cook it together later.”

“…You’re crazy.”

They didn’t expect me to be able to prepare wolf meat the same day.

“Brother, sister-in-law, Yun-a—none of you have tried this before, right? I’ll cook it deliciously. Once you try it, you won’t want anything else.”

“….”

My brother still looked dissatisfied, but he was clearly looking forward to the taste.

“Uncle! Hurry and cook it!”

“Haha, alright.”