Clash of the Cults
“What! Already?”
“Damn it!”
It was faster than expected.
The startled executives rushed toward the source of the bizarre laughter.
“……”
Left alone in the forest were the Chairman and GhostAndCalories.
The Chairman stared intently at GhostAndCalories.
She slowly shook her head.
No new orders yet.
In other words, since no instructions had come for the third condition they'd left open, they were to quietly adhere to the first and second conditions.
“……”
Even so, the Chairman kept gazing at her steadily.
“GhostAndCalories.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
“Since when?”
“…Pardon?”
“I'm asking since when you've been playing spy.”
GhostAndCalories corrected him precisely.
“To be exact, I'm a prakchi.”
“Same difference.”
“Oh, is it?”
GhostAndCalories felt a twinge of conscience, so she opened up without resistance.
“The Tteokbokki Cult was formed from the start to meet Hura-nim. To eat his tteokbokki at least one more time, wasn't it?”
“…That's true.”
She smiled faintly as she spoke.
“I've already achieved more than enough.”
“…What?”
“Heehee… You see, these days are so happy they make me doubt if this is even reality. Days so dazzlingly blissful, like a dream.”
GhostAndCalories slowly removed her hood.
The Chairman watched her with wide eyes.
“My life is fuller than ever, brimming with sparkling grains of happiness everywhere.”
GhostAndCalories looked up at the sky.
Sunlight twinkled through the tree branches swaying in the wind.
She took a deep breath of the cool, clear air of the white forest and smiled in satisfaction.
“N-No way…”
The Chairman's questioning voice trembled faintly.
GhostAndCalories's round glasses met his gaze.
“Yes. By some stroke of luck, I got to meet the real Hura-nim.”
“……!”
The Chairman's usually impassive eyes widened, his mouth dropping open.
“Th-That means…!”
GhostAndCalories just smiled gently in response.
“That's all I'll say.”
“Hah… How could… How on earth…?”
The Chairman clutched his head, muttering in disbelief.
“J-Just one thing, then. Does Hura-nim cook in real life too?”
“Of course.”
“Then… how does it taste?”
“The best.”
“……!”
GhostAndCalories smiled proudly, then spoke in a businesslike tone.
“Until further instructions from Hura-nim, please wait quietly.”
“Hah… Fine, I get it…”
The Chairman swept back the hair under his hood as he replied.
“But our opponents are the Sapjaru-dan. Who knows what they'll do.”
“Hura-nim is watching closely. For now, we're just observing the situation.”
“…I understand. How's Jang U-san doing?”
“Perfectly fine.”
GhostAndCalories thought of Jang U-san from the night before, laughing as they played drinking games together, and smiled.
“No need to worry; he's doing well.”
The Chairman nodded heavily.
“…Got it.”
He said he understood, but his tone suggested lingering unease.
And who could blame him? Hura had pulled the trigger without hesitation.
If he hadn't stopped him, he would've fired for sure.
“But tell Hura-nim this: As you know, the Sapjaru-dan are utterly unpredictable. We need at least a minimal direction in advance to respond swiftly. Waiting until after something happens will be too late.”
“Understood. I'll report that.”
The Chairman gazed worriedly toward the direction of the bizarre laughter.
* * *
“Sap haha!”
The Sapjaru-dan had finally arrived in Harten.
Unlike the uniformly dressed Tteokbokki Cult, they wore all sorts of outfits.
Snow clung thickly to them from the merciless blizzard, yet they kept laughing.
“Sap haha!”
That mad laughter was the Sapjaru-dan's identity.
The identity of utter lunatics.
But even so, these who pierced the deadly northern blizzard to reach Harten were only a portion.
At a glance, they'd lost more than half.
Even for them, not everyone could survive the harsh north.
The difference from the Tteokbokki Cult? They showed no mourning for fallen comrades.
Just mad laughter as they pressed on, and on.
Having swiftly reached their destination, they chattered innocently with laughs.
“Ooh! Ramen sounds delicious!”
“Let's eat first!”
“Sap haha! Yeah!”
One stepped forward as representative and called a passing waiter.
“Um… excuse me!”
“Yes? Did you need something?”
The waiter in a black suit responded politely.
“Do you have seats for about 500 people?”
“…500 people?”
A group of 500. Enough to fluster anyone.
“Ah, if no seats, we'll just sit on the floor. Can we order?”
But the waiter replied calmly. After all, a group of 300 had come just yesterday.
“No problem. Plenty of seats. But we made them in a hurry, so they might be a bit uncomfortable. Is that okay?”
“Ah, yes. Of course. As long as we can sit.”
Thanks to Hura's clones preparing seats in spare moments, space wasn't an issue.
“Then I'll guide you. Follow me, please.”
“Yep.”
The Sapjaru-dan member exchanged polite words with the waiter, then returned to the group.
“Sap haha! Seats available! Let's go eat!”
“Sap ha! Lucky!”
“Hurry! I'm starving!”
“……”
The waiter was momentarily speechless at the bizarre laughter erupting as he joined them.
He'd seemed perfectly normal before.
It was like those Korean reservists who turned weird the moment they put on uniforms.
“Sap haha! Waiter, lead the way!”
“……”
The man who returned laughing madly was clearly the same polite customer from moments ago.
“…This way.”
The Sapjaru-dan followed the waiter in a herd.
Meanwhile, the various Nutubers and regular users trailing them had mostly been swept away by the northern blizzard.
Panwol Emo Jjomo's cameraman brushed snow from his clothes and stared at the noisy Sapjaru-dan receding into the distance.
“What do we do, noona?”
“About what?”
Panwol Emo Jjomo's reporter, SearchingForNiimorul, smoothed her wind-tossed hair and shot back.
“The Sapjaru-dan seem to be just quietly going for ramen.”
“Yeah, doesn't look like anything's happening right away. Tteokbokki Cult's behaving too.”
“Should we follow?”
“Nah. Might as well eat while we're here.”
“Ah, then how about a side-story mukbang vlog? Comments have been asking for your vlogs lately.”
“Hohoho~ Oh, you. Flatterer. Order one.”
“One?”
“You have to film.”
“……”
* * *
The kitchen was a sweltering inferno.
Hura and his three clones bustled furiously, boiling ramen.
No chance to turn off the burners even for a second—the kitchen was hotter than yesterday.
“Where's the chopped green onions!”
“Check that bin over there!”
“Not there!”
“What? We used them all already? JayHura! Chop more green onions, quick!”
“…Tch.”
“JeilHura! Eggs?”
“Check the storage!”
“Ah, here!”
“Grab ramen noodles while you're at it!”
The kitchen was pure chaos. A battlefield.
The busiest day of the seven.
No day at the snack bar had been this hectic since day one.
“Hey! Water's boiling!”
“Argh! No breather!”
As they boiled ramen frantically, Gold Sun approached.
“Boss!”
“Yeah, what!”
“GhostAndCalories-nim says the Sapjaru-dan has arrived and asks for instructions on what to do!”
“They're behaving!”
Contrary to their madman rumors, they were surprisingly just eating ramen quietly, so Hura hadn't paid much mind.
Or rather, couldn't.
“They're unpredictable, so we need to prepare for sudden incidents! She requests at least a minimal direction on our goals!”
Hura glanced at the quest window, numbers climbing steeply.
“Top priority is keeping business stable! If they stay quiet, let them! If they show signs of disrupting, block them without hesitation—pass that on!”
“Yes, sir!”
He had to hold out until 3,000 somehow.
No problems now.
With that order given, Hura focused solely on boiling ramen.
No matter how busy, quality couldn't slip.
Consistent, same taste always.
It was just one of many dishes to him, but the first for customers.
…….
Time flew.
Lost in cooking, it zipped by like an arrow loosed from a bowstring.
The quest's headcount rose rapidly.
Steepest climb of the seven days.
Now late afternoon. Sun tinged yellow.
Hura wiped sweat from his brow with his sleeve and checked the quest.
Lonely Chef of the Harsh Winter
📍 Rewards: Trace of Sulis, Meeting with Vesta's Friend, Rare Ingredients
🎁 People Moved:(2,873/3,000)
Almost there. Just a bit more!
“Aja aja! Not much left! Everyone, let's push!”
“Hey, Hura! Shut up and add water!”
“……”
Then.
A thud and clamor echoed from afar.
Hura knew what it was without looking.
Sure enough, Gold Sun came sprinting.
“Boss! Big trouble! The Sapjaru-dan—”
“Gold Sun! Tell the Chairman—this is the third condition!”
The third condition he'd held in reserve just in case.
Time to use it.
“Stop those damn Sapjaru-dan!”
“Yes, sir!”
Gold Sun dashed off, and Hura hurriedly boiled more ramen, eyes on the quest.
“Just… hold on a little longer…”
* * *
Sapjaru-dan with shovels over shoulders, legs jiggling casually.
Tteokbokki Cult blocking them with spears.
The two groups faced off.
“Well, if it isn't the fanatics, the Tteokbokki Cult? Sap ha!”
“And you must be the asylum, the Sapjaru-dan?”
The restaurant plunged into chaos at the clash of giants.
Dozens of cooking summons responded swiftly.
“A little disturbance— we'll seat you at another table shortly~”
“S-Sir, please stop eating and move…”
Gold Sun and Tteoksoon-i evacuated nearby diners.
Customers followed, pots in hand.
Some tripped face-first into their ramen mid-move; others ignored all and focused on slurping, requiring full-pot carries.
New arrivals were seated far from the commotion.
Through the cooking summons' tearful efforts, business continued as much as possible while the standoff heated up.
“Why the fuss? We just want to see the chef's face—the food's too good.”
“Hura-nim is busy, you mannerless lot.”
“Tsk. Isn't manners greeting face-to-face? We're here to be polite.”
“Cut the wordplay. Back to your seats quietly.”
“…And if we don't?”
“If you don't…”
Then GhostAndCalories whispered to the Chairman facing the Sapjaru-dan.
He nodded grimly and slammed his spear into the ground like an ultimatum.
Thud—
“Not one step past this line!”
“What?”
“If you won't, try breaking through.”
Sapjaru-dan eyed them casually, shovels on shoulders, with a 'wanna bet?' look.
“Look here. You've only 300. We're 500.”
“So?”
“So? Nearly double! This is insane!”
The Chairman looked up at them steadily.
“Insane…?”
He snickered.
“No.”
Bam! Another spear slammed down as he roared.
“This is the Tteokbokki Cult!!”
“……!”
“Tteokbokki Cult! Hear me!”
He bellowed to the 300 behind him.
“This is where we stop them!”
His voice boomed across the snowy plains.
“This is where we fight!”
Bam! Tteokbokki spears slammed in unison, echoing grandly.
“This is their grave!”
“Earn your spears, Tteokbokki Cult!”
“Wooo!!”
Tteokbokki Cult roared in fierce response to GhostAndCalories's cry.
“Remember this day, men.”
Spears turned toward Sapjaru-dan one by one at the Chairman's chilling words.
“All these moments will be yours.”
Then the Sapjaru-dan leader stepped forward, shouting.
“Tteokbokki Cult! Drop your weapons!”
Thwack! A spear flew from somewhere, embedding in his chest.
“Gah.”
He crumpled with a death rattle.
“……!”
“Come take it!”
“You mad bastards!”
And the two forces collided.