Sprout Restaurant Is Open (1)
“Hahaha… I am the legion…”
Romanoff sat cross-legged on top of his living armor army like he was royalty itself.
“T-this guy is so annoying… What do we even do with him?!”
Yoo Na-ra complained, clearly fed up with the constantly regenerating legion.
“Unfortunately, if he gets that far, you won’t be safe either, Na-ra.”
Ju Tae-jin said coldly.
‘Each one is on par with an S-rank hunter. We need to weaken their regeneration somehow…’
Just looking at it, the distant living armor that was Romanoff must have been the cause of the regeneration. But he never stepped forward.
“Now that I think about it, something’s weird…”
Na-ra and the management team had somehow held the monsters back, but after calming down I realized they weren’t even trying to get closer to the portal.
‘They’re stalling…?’
Why?
Why?
When that thought hit me…
“The gate is closing!!”
The gate began to turn transparent. It meant the core had been destroyed.
“They cleared it?”
“I’m coming out!!”
A human shadow appeared inside the gate.
“S-Secretary Jo Seung-min?!”
A few of us recognized the face and shouted the name.
“Next to him is Secretary Baek Ji-tae!”
“Move to prioritize survivor rescue!!”
Ju Tae-jin shouted while spitting out red smoke, and the management staff’s movements sped up.
“Na-ra, time to withdraw.”
“Hah… I kinda wanted to keep fighting but oh well…”
Sweeping sweat from her forehead, Na-ra quickly joined Ju Tae-jin.
“Eighteen minutes have passed. The hunters should be here soon.”
Ju Tae-jin checked his watch.
The moment I glanced at the area where Romanoff was watching his actions…
“?!”
His eyes widened.
“He’s gone?”
The colossal boss-like Romanoff had disappeared.
He had been sitting there spouting nonsense like “I am the legion,” yet he vanished in an instant.
The living armor lay on the ground in plain armor, their purple aura gone as if it had never been.
“W-what…?”
When five question marks popped above Ju Tae-jin’s head…
“Hunters are here!!”
“We’re alive… We’re really alive…”
The management staff cheered at the sight of the approaching hunters.
Zero fatalities.
Over twenty injured.
Incredibly small damage compared to the scale of the enemy.
‘This is too weird… It’s just too weird.’
The mystery remained unsolved, but right now I decided to savor this happiness.
“You all worked hard.”
“Yes! Director. So when’s lunch?”
“First let’s clean up and eat.”
Na-ra seemed to feel a pang of regret over the vanished national porridge restaurant and said, smacking her lips.
“Director, how about a gourmet tour?”
“Sounds good. If I find anything, I’ll let you know.”
A group watched them from afar.
“They’re the people in charge of that incident?”
“Yes.”
“We can’t let an S-rank hunter be born in Korea.”
They glared at Ju Tae-jin and Na-ra, then vanished quietly.
“Ooooh!!”
As soon as I arrived home I let out the cheer I had been holding back.
I had recovered sixty percent of my peak power.
And the biggest thing was separate.
“Status window!! Status window!!”
The Status Window skill from the Hero returned.
A godlike ability that read other people’s info and leveled up my stats.
That ability was back in my hands.
“Hmm…”
The problem was the stat portion remained locked.
‘It’s a shame, but reading info is good enough.’
I tested it by reading the bubble fish’s info I had set aside.
[Bubble Fish]
A fish with large, round gills that resemble bubbles.
The gill area is extremely chewy, making it popular.
“Ooooh…”
It was exactly the same as back on the Ardenia Continent.
“I’m going to wash up and rest now.”
Hwa-ryeon was probably tired after using a huge amount of power and headed straight for the bathroom.
I opened her status window.
[Jeok Hwa-ryeon]
LT__Unable to check with current level.>
I couldn’t read any information except the name.
“She really reached the Transcendent Realm…”
The status window could only read info at a similar level.
“Ppaya?”
“You’re back? You’re a bit late.”
So-ye came out to greet me while hugging Luna in her arms.
“Ppaya!”
Luna smiled and reached for me.
I immediately took her and rubbed my cheek against hers.
“What were you doing, Luna?”
“Koo! Koo!”
“You were sleeping.”
Thanks to learning to talk, her speech had improved a lot.
Gurgle.
“Gurgle?”
A stomach growl came from Luna’s belly.
Looking at her own belly and tilting her head, I burst out laughing.
“Wait a sec.”
The shop door couldn’t open because of today’s accident, so I had to cook bubble fish.
I took fresh bubble fish from the kitchen.
“Shaa! Shaa!”
“It sounds like you’re talking about fish.”
So-ye sat at the kitchen table and interpreted Luna’s words.
‘Now that I think about it, I haven’t spent much time alone with So-ye.’
I still hadn’t built up many daily routines with my daughter. At best I’d shopped and cooked with her.
I felt especially guilty toward my kids, especially So-ye.
“So-ye. Want to eat and do some training?”
My strength was right at the edge of the peak. With the status window back, my raw power should have reached super peak, but no such luck.
“Training…? Okay.”
“Sure.”
So-ye nodded as if she thought it was fine.
I struck the head of the bubble fish on the cutting board with the flat of my knife.
“It might be a bit cruel, so cover Luna’s eyes.”
“Yes.”
So-ye covered Luna’s eyes and stroked her fluffy fur.
“Hahaha!! That was so much fun!”
With the sound of the door bursting open came Romanoff’s voice.
Romanoff’s wish had been to create subordinates.
That was how I made him do it and turned his attention away from the gate. Romanoff had played the biggest role in this matter.
Because he had created subordinates, he looked extremely happy.
“Romanoff.”
“Huh? Hero, why?”
“Go outside, shake off the dust and dirt.”
“Ah… I understand.”
I made Romanoff shake himself off and picked up the knife again.
The tip of the knife moved like flowing water. I scraped off the scales, removed the innards, and sliced along the spine. I removed the bones and spines, then finally glided the knife along the skin. In an instant dozens of thin slices bloomed like petals.
I set aside the most important gill part and carefully sliced the flesh, arranging it in the center of the plate. Since there were a limited number of people, I prepared three slices.
I took the pre-prepared sauce and soy sauce and placed them on the plate, finishing the complete setting.
“The first person to arrive, open your mouth.”
“Ppah!!”
Luna raised one hand.
“Then, first for Luna~”
I dipped the gill slice in soy sauce and placed it in Luna’s mouth.
“Ppah…?”
Her expression looked confused, like it was an incomprehensible taste. I dipped it in sauce and put it in her mouth.
“Kyuah!!”
Only then did she laugh brightly, as if it tasted good.
“Childlike tastes.”
When I was a kid I loved soaking fish in sauce.
What else could explain the saying “fish is just a sauce launcher”?
Now I preferred soy sauce with wasabi.
‘People’s tastes always change.’
I quietly asked the soaking-soaked So-ye who was still waiting.
“What will you dip it in?”
So-ye glanced at Luna laughing brightly.
***
Jeok So-ye looked back and forth between the red sauce and soy sauce.
‘Sauce… this red one…?’
Kim Min-su said children like dipping in sauce.
“I’m not a child… I’ll use soy sauce.”
Jeok So-ye chose soy sauce. Kim Min-su smiled and offered the gill slice dipped in sauce.
“Ah~”
“M-me too?”
“Ah~ This part is delicious and won’t be left over.”
So-ye was insanely embarrassed, but she recalled the baby bird opening its mouth to eat the mother bird’s food and opened her mouth.
With the sensation of fish entering her mouth, she began to chew slowly. The first taste she felt was the salty soy sauce. The strange thing was that the more she chewed, the more a subtle sweet taste spread.
“It’s soft and chewy.”
“Now you know why the gill part disappears so fast?”
“I don’t know why the gill part is so chewy, but this is really delicious. It should be very popular.”
Kim Min-su laughed at So-ye, who was becoming talkative about food.
“W-why… why are you laughing?”
“There’s something like that.”
The moment the speed wagon popped up, Kim Min-su saw two women walking down the hallway.
“Is it dinner today?”
“Fish… it’s not my favorite, but since you cooked it, shall I try?”
Hwa-ryeon, who had twisted her head with three-way fusion, sat down in a chair.
“The sauce is red and the soy sauce is yours, right?”
“I know.”
Hwa-ryeon immediately picked up a gill piece and dipped it in the red sauce.
“What, what is this? I’ve only ever eaten things that were grilled or boiled… you can make this taste with raw fish too?”
Right away Hwa-ryeon picked up another piece and dipped it in soy sauce.
“Mmm… the original taste is best with soy sauce. Can I eat as much as I want?”
“There’s plenty, so eat slowly. Is the sauce good and the soy sauce good?”
“The sauce gives a sense of ruining the original taste, but it’s exactly my preference—sour and sweet.”
Hwa-ryeon’s words made So-ye’s pupils waver.
“T-then I’ll also use sauce…”
“If Hwa-ryeon says it like that…”
Rhea’s chopsticks moved first. She had been a thorough meat-and-vegetable avoider.
“Mmm~ This fish’s freshness fills my mouth… The hero’s cooking skill really hasn’t died.”
“Haha… is that so?”
Kim Min-su gave an embarrassed smile.
But Hwa-ryeon’s reaction was strange.
“What…? Does that mean you cooked for Rhea-unnie…?”
“Ah.”