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Chapter 15
“Wow…! There’s so much!”
Hyunjun and his group headed to a nearby traditional Korean restaurant, and the table was filled with a variety of side dishes.
“Hehe.”
“Here’s the cheonggukjang and doenjang jjigae.”
“Thank you!”
“Here’s the tteokgalbi.”
“Wow…”
Hyunjun couldn’t help but exclaim in awe. The food truly matched its slightly higher price.
The restaurant served Korean beef known around Gyeongju, tteokgalbi, and various side dishes that made one’s mouth water.
“Cheonggukjang…!”
Yuna pointed at the cheonggukjang with her finger.
“Hurry, give it to me!”
Cheonggukjang isn’t usually a kid-friendly dish due to its strong smell, but Yuna loved it, showing a surprisingly mature palate for her age.
‘So many beans!’
The more beans in cheonggukjang, the nuttier and softer the texture. Yuna mixed the beans with rice, preferring to stir it like a strong soybean paste rather than drinking it as a soup.
She scooped a big spoonful and put it straight into her mouth.
As soon as she tasted it, her eyes curved like a crescent moon, and her lips stretched into a wide smile.
“Delicious!”
When Yuna smiled brightly, everyone quickly served themselves some cheonggukjang.
“Oh! This cheonggukjang is really good.”
“Yeah, it’s really tasty. If Yuna says it’s good, it must be good.”
“Hehe.”
Hyunsu and Jiyun also praised it, and Hyunjun took a bite.
“Wow…”
The tofu and beans blended perfectly. This wasn’t the ordinary cheonggukjang you’d eat anywhere.
‘I want to keep eating.’
It’s hard to explain, but the balance of flavors was perfect. The seasoning was just right.
‘The ratio of beans is good too.’
Not too salty, not too bland, rich and savory, yet addictive.
‘This is a cheonggukjang specialty restaurant.’
It was the best cheonggukjang Hyunjun had ever eaten.
‘No wonder this place is so crowded.’
He thought to himself that he should try making proper cheonggukjang sometime.
“Uncle! This tteokgalbi is delicious too!”
Hearing his niece, Hyunjun didn’t hesitate and took a bite of the tteokgalbi.
“Mmm…”
Savory and slightly salty, with the chewy texture of rice cakes inside the meat—it was perfect.
Looking back, Hyunjun realized that food was almost always delicious if it was moderately savory and slightly salty.
‘So that’s why bibimbap with sesame oil tastes so good.’
When he was twenty and poor, Hyunjun often mixed just gochujang and sesame oil with rice to make a meal. That simple bibimbap felt like Michelin-star food at the time.
‘Even without money, I had satisfying meals every day.’
“Uncle! This beef is so good too!”
Lost in memories, Yuna offered him some beef on her plate.
‘At this rate… I might get fatter than Yuna.’
“Yuna, don’t just eat the meat. Try the fern and pumpkin too. Really tasty.”
“Okay… I’ll try.”
Although not particularly interested, she obediently tried the dishes.
“Oh…?”
The pumpkin was naturally sweet, and the fern was pleasantly tender.
“This is delicious!”
Next came the soy sauce marinated crab and spicy marinated crab. Yuna curiously tasted a spoonful of the soy sauce crab.
“…Oh?”
Children usually dislike the fishy taste of soy sauce marinated crab, but for Yuna, it was perfect.
“Uncle! I want more of this!”
“Do you want it?”
Hyunjun carefully removed the crab meat while wearing gloves and placed it on rice for her.
“Thank you!”
Yuna scooped a large bite of rice mixed with crab meat and soy sauce.
“Wow… wow!”
Slightly fishy but sweet, with the soy sauce seasoning just right, and the soft crab meat matched perfectly with the white rice.
“Uncle! I want more of this!”
“I’ll eat that too.”
Seeing Yuna and Hyunjun enjoy the crab, Hyunsu also prepared some for Jiyun.
“Ah… that was a delicious and filling meal.”
“Yes, worth the price.”
“Even if it’s not as good as uncle’s cooking, it’s still tasty!”
“Ha ha! Thank you, Yuna.”
Hyunjun ruffled Yuna’s hair.
“Hehe.”
They laughed together as they walked back along Hwangridan-gil.
Unlike daytime, the night lit up the street beautifully with various lights.
“Hyung, I’m going somewhere for a bit.”
“Where are you off to now?”
“Preparing ingredients for tomorrow’s business.”
“…Be careful, okay?”
“Don’t worry. Don’t you trust me?”
“I trust you, so go, you rascal.”
Hyunsu patted Hyunjun on the back.
‘…That stung a little.’
Not surprising from a former boxer—the pat had some force.
Hyunjun headed toward a nearby B-rank gate.
The monsters here were “Red Gorillas.”
Unlike normal gorillas, their meat is so soft it almost melts in your mouth.
He planned to cook them after hunting.
‘According to the hunter community, there’s a very small chance a Black Bird appears in the Red Gorilla gate.’
The Black Bird isn’t particularly tasty, but its eggs are extremely nutritious and delicious. If he found one, he’d catch it and raise it.
“Uh? A C-rank hunter alone tackling this gate is very dangerous. You shouldn’t enter.”
As he cheerfully tried to enter, the guard at the gate blocked him.
Snap!
He simply snapped his fingers.
“…Enter.”
“Ugh, it’s humid.”
As soon as he entered the gate, hot air greeted him.
He used his cooling attribute to adjust the surroundings and moved forward.
About a minute later:
“Raaah-!”
Thump thump thump thump!
The gorillas were pounding their chests and roaring.
‘There they are.’
Should he hunt just one?
At three meters tall and weighing a ton, even a single Red Gorilla could feed him for a week.
He decided to hunt just one and ran toward the noise.
“Kuaah-!!”
Five Red Gorillas were there.
“To fight off all five but catch only one…”
That would be difficult without special attributes or weapons.
‘Maybe I’ll just use the Teleport attribute today.’
Hyunjun recently enjoyed using only one attribute to capture monsters.
Teleport alone, avoid getting hit, and take down only one. That was his goal for today.
“Ughh-!!”
He shouted and ran toward the monsters.
“Kuahhh!!”
The largest spotted gorilla swung a fist at him.
‘You’re the one I’m catching today, Spot.’
He twisted his upper body, and the fist slammed into the ground, not him.
Various rock fragments and dust flew as another Red Goblin charged him.
Pat-pat!
Hyunjun vanished.
“Eek-?”
Moments later, he appeared on Spot’s shoulder.
“Hngh-!!”
He slammed down hard. As Spot tried to strike with its left hand,
Pat-pat!
Hyunjun appeared over the gorilla’s head.
“Hngh-!”
The Red Gorilla’s weak point was the crown of its head, and Hyunjun was right above it.
In other words, the fight was over.
“Kuaaaek-!!!”
He struck Spot’s crown, and the gorilla collapsed.
“Good.”
Hyunjun placed Spot in his pocket dimension and disappeared from the view of the remaining Red Gorillas using teleport.
“That was fun.”
As he was about to leave the gate,
Creaaak…?
A Black Bird appeared in his sight.
“Jackpot.”
Should he seal it with magic? No—the mana fluctuation would be too big, so it wasn’t ideal.
‘I’ll just knock it out.’
“Kii, keeeek-!”
The bird shrieked in fear.
“Don’t worry, I won’t use magic.”
He didn’t want to accidentally kill it with magic, so he’d just hit it carefully.
Clenching his fist, Hyunjun ran.
The last Black Bird tried to flee.
“Kiiik-! Kiiik-!”
It sensed instinctively that this human had killed a far stronger Red Gorilla in one strike, and it would be dead if caught.
“Kiiik-!!”
“Stop, Chirp!”
Hyunjun had already given it the name “Chirp.”
“Kiiik!!”
Chirp screeched in fear but realized it couldn’t escape Hyunjun.
“What are you crying for, huh?”
Hyunjun used Translation Magic to communicate with Chirp.
“What’s your name?”
“…I don’t have one.”
“You’re Chirp from now on, got it?”
“….”
“Answer me.”
“Chirp.”
Hyunjun nodded with satisfaction.
‘It’s about the size of an ostrich and calm—should be fine to play with Yuna. Just need a bit of training.’
He imagined Yuna riding on Chirp and playing together.
“You’ll behave from now on, don’t hurt people. Okay? You’re carnivorous, so I’ll cast a spell so you won’t crave meat. Sound good?”
“…Okay… Chirp.”
Chirp had no idea what was happening but instinctively nodded—it knew survival depended on it.
“I’ll explain everything when we get home.”
Hyunjun placed it in his pocket dimension and headed to the truck.
Thus, Yuna finally got her very own pet.
