Sprout Restaurant is Open for Business (2)
A brief moment of Hwa-ryeon's possessiveness followed.
“Why won’t you do it for me…”
“Back then the entire Blood Cult was cooking for you. When I was the Hero, I had to prepare my own meals! We even had a rotating meal duty schedule…”
“Hic… sob…”
This definitely feels like she’s just messing with me.
“Ahh…!!”
The sudden sound of So-ye’s scream made me turn. By then, Luna had already climbed onto a plate and was sitting there with her cheeks puffed out like balloons.
“Mmmph! Gulp!! Delicious! So good!”
She had devoured an entire plate—meaning one whole fish—of sashimi in a single bite.
“Luna! You can’t just eat all of that by yourself!”
“Papa…?”
Luna tilted her head with an innocent expression and patted her now-round belly.
“She’s just a child. What does she know?”
Rhea smiled softly as she lifted Luna into her arms and gently patted her back.
I chimed in as well.
“I made plenty because I figured this would happen, so don’t worry.”
To be honest, I had expected it. Last time, Luna had single-handedly polished off most of the Korean beef by herself.
“Ah… I see. Ahem.”
So-ye cleared her throat awkwardly and picked up her chopsticks again.
“By the way, don’t you have anything like bamboo wine here?”
Apparently craving a drink, Hwa-ryeon made a gesture like she was holding a cup.
“We do have soju.”
I took a bottle of soju from the fridge, poured it into glasses, and handed them to the women.
“Hmm…?”
Hwa-ryeon’s expression turned strange after one sip.
“This is…? Slurp…”
“Pretty bland, right?”
For someone who used to drink high-quality Chinese liquor in Murim, this would taste incredibly watery.
“It’s like they took cheap liquor and watered it down even more.”
“I don’t really like this drink either. The beer we had last time was cold and much tastier.”
As expected, cheap Korean soju meant for getting drunk quickly didn’t suit people from Murim or another world.
“Still, it somehow fits the vibe.”
Watching Hwa-ryeon dip her sashimi in chojang and chase it with soju, she really looked like a local Korean.
“By the way… you know we’re being followed, right?”
Rhea, who had been eating sashimi, looked at me and spoke.
“I know. They’re Korean.”
“Are you just going to leave them be?”
“It’s fine to leave them. They don’t have any solid evidence anyway—just suspicions.”
After all, we had a Blood Archdemon who had reached the Transcendent Realm and a Lord Dragon. What could possibly go wrong?
“The most dangerous thing for us is the gate.”
“A gate connected to another world… that’s exactly how I came to this one.”
Rhea nodded in agreement.
“The reason I kept reincarnating into different worlds is because of that so-called god.”
“What about the Goddess…?”
“She’s nothing more than a pawn. There’s someone higher up. I need to figure out what that bastard is thinking…”
No matter how much I thought about it, I still couldn’t understand why I was being sent to different worlds over and over.
Jeok Hwa-ryeon had been listening quietly. She set her soju glass down with a clack and spoke.
“Perhaps, husband, your very existence is a kind of variable?”
“A variable?”
“Even in Murim, no matter how perfect a plan seemed, there was always some unexpected benefactor who would appear from nowhere. You must be an exceptional being that even a god cannot control.”
She had a point.
“So they reincarnated me to kill me?”
“It could be. Or maybe that was simply the best move available to them.”
It was quite an interesting theory.
“I’ll be going to bed now.”
Jeok So-ye must have been tired. She hugged Luna with half-closed eyes.
Luna was also nodding off, clearly in need of a goodnight kiss.
“Hero.”
Rhea gently pushed my back.
I immediately understood what she meant.
It was something Rhea had whispered to me inside a dark tent, insisting I never forget.
Hero, you always have to kiss me on the forehead before bed. Even after our child is born, even after a hundred years…
Isn’t that too far in the future?
Is it? A hundred years is such a short time for us. And if we have a child, you’ll have to do it for them too.
My lips aren’t going to survive this.
H-how many children are you planning to have…?!
I never thought she would still remember that promise.
This is embarrassing.
Back then, it was a promise made when any of us could die at any moment.
“Still, a promise is a promise.”
I gave So-ye and Luna each a quick kiss on the forehead as they headed to bed.
“Sleep well.”
“Yes… You too, Father…”
Jeok So-ye’s face turned bright red like a ripe tomato. She spun around and walked off with stiff, wooden steps like a marionette. It was honestly hilarious.
“Honey! I want a kiss too!”
Jeok Hwa-ryeon, who was sitting beside me, spread her arms wide.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Even as I said that, I pulled her into my arms and kissed her forehead.
“Wait, that’s not what I meant.”
“Huh?”
“Is the room well soundproofed?”
“Pardon?”
Rhea spoke as if she had been waiting for this moment.
“Do you know about Silent Magic?”
“Unnie, you’re the best?”
She had only drunk one glass of soju, right?
“Follow me to the room.”
“…”
“Answer me.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Here it is.”
“This is the famous restaurant…?”
Ju Tae-jin and Yoo Na-ra had arrived in front of a small eatery called Sprout Restaurant.
It had only been open for less than a week.
She had dragged him out on a so-called “gourmet hunt,” and this was the place? A brand-new restaurant?
Yoo Na-ra stared at Ju Tae-jin with a blank expression.
“Don’t look at me like that. You can find hidden gems at newly opened places too, you know?”
“Sure…”
With Yoo Na-ra looking thoroughly disappointed, the two of them stepped inside.
Japanese-style counter seating…?
It was the kind of place where chairs were lined up in front of the open kitchen so customers could watch the chef work.
“Welcome~”
A black-haired man greeted them.
“Hello. Is it true that every dish is ten thousand won?”
“That’s correct. Please take any seat you like.”
The moment Yoo Na-ra sat down, her expression froze.
“Chief.”
“Yeah.”
Ju Tae-jin answered her call with a nod.
The owner of this restaurant was none other than Kim Min-su—the very man they had been tailing to gather information.
“What would you like? We currently have fish, meat, and noodle dishes.”
“I drank a bit yesterday. Would maeuntang be possible?”
“Maeuntang is available. Would you like water parsley in it?”
At the mention of water parsley, Ju Tae-jin glanced at Yoo Na-ra.
“Maeuntang is already a bit much, but she doesn’t like strong herbs…”
“Please leave out the water parsley.”
“Understood~ It’ll take a little time~”
The owner skillfully took out a fish and began dismantling it with swift, practiced movements.
The two of them typed back and forth on their phone’s memo app so Kim Min-su wouldn’t notice.
Yoo Na-ra quietly touched the dagger hidden against her calf.
This is way too dangerous.
She loved the blood of the battlefield.
The sensation of blood spraying and the pain that came with it made her feel truly alive. However, she was terrified of opponents on a completely different level.
She had realized it the moment she saw the corpse of the Horned Knight, crushed without him even being able to react.
I could die without even being able to respond.
That truth had become a great fear for Yoo Na-ra.
So it’s those two.
I already knew the pair were the ones who had been tailing us and digging for information.
I didn’t know why they had come, but customers were customers.
And more than anything else—
How is it possible that not a single customer has shown up in an entire week…
Even though we had opened for business, not one customer had come yet.
In other words, these two were our very first guests.
“Let’s make this delicious.”
I quickly sliced the bubble fish into sashimi, then put the head and bones into a pot and added water. I sliced radish and green onion and tossed them in, then boiled it down to create a rich broth.
The sashimi was plated separately like flower petals on a dish.
Once the broth was ready, I added red pepper powder, minced garlic, and soybean paste. Slowly, it began to take on the familiar bright red color of maeuntang.
And finally, instead of water parsley—which they both dislike—
I sliced some green chili peppers, which were good for hangovers, and added them instead.
A pinch of MSG to finish it off.
I transferred the maeuntang into a stone pot, placed it on a tray along with two bowls of rice, and served it.
“We didn’t order sashimi.”
“It’s on the house.”
I confidently declared it was complimentary and turned away.
From the faint smell of alcohol, it didn’t seem like they were lying about drinking the night before.
The real question was why they had deliberately come here and shown their faces.
Why, though?
Under the counter, I had a heavy sword hidden, ready to counterattack at any moment.
I really hope I don’t have to use this…
While I was thinking that—
“Krr… This is the real deal.”
“Chief?”
“Don’t just sit there—try the maeuntang. Hoo…”
Ju Tae-jin blew on the hot soup, took a sip, and immediately began mixing rice into the broth.
Only then did Yoo Na-ra pick up her spoon and start eating the maeuntang as well.
My maeuntang received nothing but praise even in another world.
For some reason, I found myself nodding.
“Slurp.”
Yoo Na-ra drank the maeuntang broth with a stiff expression.
The moment the hot liquid touched her tongue, a sharp, clean spiciness spread through her mouth. The deep, rich umami from the fish slid smoothly down her throat.
“It’s… surprisingly clean?”
There was almost no fishy smell at all.
It was incomparably better than the canned fish she had eaten during the war.
The reason she had come to dislike fish was precisely because of those military canned rations. Every single one of them had been unbearably fishy.
The canned herring was so notorious that many hunters would vomit after eating it.
Ju Tae-jin ate a piece of sashimi, then took a big bite of rice soaked in the spicy broth.
“Krr… This is it.”
The two of them looked happier than they had in a long time as they savored the maeuntang.
“Here’s the bill.”
Ju Tae-jin pulled two ten-thousand-won bills from his pocket.
“Twenty thousand won? You only ordered one maeuntang.”
“You gave us the sashimi for free, and there are two of us eating. It’s only fair.”
He shook his head at Kim Min-su’s words and firmly handed over the twenty thousand won.
“By the way, are you running the place alone?”
“Ah, yes. I usually run it by myself. My wife helps out when she has time. Oh, speak of the devil—here she comes.”
The restaurant door opened, and a woman with striking red hair walked in.
In one hand, she held a crimson sword.
“So… shall we talk?”
Kim Min-su’s tone completely changed. He stepped out from the kitchen and stood in front of Ju Tae-jin.
“Why have you been following us?”