The Taste of Regret
Before they tried to break through the cordon of specter warriors, the gathered players were making every preparation they could.
They were all weak, but that didn’t mean they could afford to do nothing.
The blacksmiths handed out whatever items they had to the others. If someone could wear it, they put it on them. If they couldn’t, they used skills to force it on anyway.
One of the blacksmith skills let you lower an item’s performance enough to equip it. In exchange, even if you didn’t meet the level or stat requirements, you could still wear it.
At the same time, they hurriedly repaired other people’s gear and slapped temporary buffs on it.
“Bring me all your equipment!”
“What level are you? Can you wear this right now?”
The cooks dumped out every last ingredient they had and started cooking.
Right now, they needed whatever would raise their health as much as possible before they moved.
“Anybody got spare spices?”
“I grabbed some over there earlier, but... isn’t this expired?”
“Is that really what you’re worrying about right now? Just throw it in! Throw it in first!”
The bard hurriedly started preparing a piece.
“Should I use a harp here, or a guitar?”
“What should I do for the lyrics? Can I just use the ones I wrote last time?”
“What did you write last time?”
“You know, that song cursing the merchant bastards who tricked us and dragged us all the way here.”
“Are you insane? Change the lyrics!”
And Tae-hyun was busy tearing into the players.
“You call yourself a blacksmith? Huh? How are your hands that slow? Were you actually swinging that hammer just now? For God’s sake. I thought you were standing still. You think you can repair an item by tapping it like that? No, looks to me like you’re about to smash it!”
The kind of scolding that made the listening blacksmith’s face go red and his eyes well up with tears.
But Tae-hyun didn’t stop.
When even that much abuse failed to speed things up, he finally stepped in himself.
“Hand it over.”
“Excuse me?”
“I said hand it over. You deaf?”
The blacksmith player, Woo Jeong-sik, let go of the hammer and stepped aside. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was also thinking, Let’s see how good you really are.
“What are you staring at?”
When Woo Jeong-sik stood up, Kim Ji-san and Park Seong-chan were staring at him from the side. Irritated, he snapped at them.
Kim Ji-san and Park Seong-chan shook their heads. They’d already been through this themselves.
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
“Find out what?”
“More importantly, Mr. Woo Jeong-sik. Remember that bet from last time? About swimming across the sea.”
“...!”
Woo Jeong-sik blanched.
Come to think of it, he had made that bet.
“N-no, that was just a joke...”
“We recorded it, you know?”
“Come on! People make mistakes! How are you supposed to live if you nitpick every little thing like that? You’re saying I really have to swim all the way back?!”
When people got cornered, they got shameless.
Woo Jeong-sik came right out with a Do your worst attitude.
“Instead of that, do you want to pay us back another way?”
That caught his interest.
“What way?”
“Promise not to get close to Kim Tae-san.”
“What? Why the hell would I ever be friendly with that guy?”
Woo Jeong-sik shot back in disbelief.
Everyone else had suddenly gotten all worked up, going on about how Kim Tae-san was actually a good guy, just rough in how he expressed himself, but not Woo Jeong-sik.
If the guy were really good, he wouldn’t have tricked them into coming to this island in the first place.
Just thinking about all the backbreaking labor he’d done since getting here made his teeth grind.
“Then promise right now.”
“Fine. Fine! That’s easy enough.”
There was no reason to refuse.
Woo Jeong-sik answered quickly, almost gleefully.
“I will not get close to that man from now on.”
“And if you break that promise?”
“What?”
“Please say what you’ll do if you break it too.”
“Fine! Fine! If I break it, I’ll really swim across the sea back to the mainland!”
“Perfect.”
Kim Ji-san and Park Seong-chan high-fived.
They had successfully eliminated a rival blacksmith.
Meanwhile, Tae-hyun finished the work in a flash.
Even the other blacksmiths’ eyes went wide at the speed of it.
“Done. Check the rest and get them equipped!”
“Yes, sir!”
Woo Jeong-sik picked up a piece of armor.
He’d grown curious about how well Tae-hyun had actually done.
Well, he rushed it this much, so it’s probably a mess... worse than what we did...
“Guhk?!”
Woo Jeong-sik nearly dropped dead from shock and let the armor slip from his hands.
And then he understood why those two had made him swear that promise.
“You dirty bastards!”
“Too late now!”
***
“Th-this is a fresh grilled dish made using fish caught in the waters off Katerand and four kinds of spices the pirates used. The fishermen brought such good ingredients that the cooking also...”
The cooks started stammering the moment Tae-hyun came over.
They had just watched him ripping the blacksmiths apart.
They didn’t know what kind of trick he’d used, but after he left, the blacksmiths had been making a huge racket among themselves, all shocked out of their minds.
“How the hell did he do this?!”
“Anybody know a blacksmith class like this?!”
“Hey! What even is this?!”
From the cooks’ point of view, it was more like, What the hell is wrong with them?
But right now, what mattered was Tae-hyun.
Tae-hyun picked up a piece of the grilled fish and ate it.
You have eaten Grilled Kabada Fish with Four Spices.
Health has increased by 1.
Health temporarily increases by 5%.
Your cooking skill does not increase because the dish’s quality is too low.
Tsk.
He’d hoped for a free cooking skill increase, but apparently that was asking too much.
One of the cooks asked with an expectant expression, “What do you think?”
“This dish has one major flaw.”
“Gasp—what flaw?”
“The fact that I only get to eat it now.”
It was praise.
The cook beamed. “Thank you!”
“If I’d tasted it earlier, I’d have known your cooking was at this level and could’ve avoided putting you on the job.”
“...”
“I’m kidding. You did all right. But the quantity’s a bit lacking.”
There were too many people gathered here for the amount of food they’d made.
The cooks had focused on dishes they were confident in, and as a result, never paid much attention to volume.
“W-well, if we make large-quantity dishes, the quality drops...”
“That’s just an excuse. I’ll cook something. Hand over the ingredients.”
“Excuse me? No, but that’s a bit...”
Tae-hyun shoved the cook aside and stood in front of the pot.
He had no intention of making anything complicated. There wasn’t time.
You have used a skill.
You receive a bonus to cooking.
The easiest thing to make was obviously a stew: throw everything in and boil it.
Tae-hyun started grabbing ingredients by the fistful and tossing them into the pot.
From the cooks’ perspective, watching from the side, it was enough to make them leap out of their skins.
“Th-that ingredient...”
“What?”
“N-nothing.”
Tae-hyun silenced them with a look.
A look that clearly said, If you get in my way, I’ll hit you.
“What spice is this?”
“That’s one we left out because Kabada fish has a strong flavor. If you add those together, they don’t balance well.”
“Really?”
Tae-hyun, cool and indifferent, dumped the spice straight into the pot.
The cooks nearly jumped.
“You can’t do that!”
“Already did.”
Tae-hyun didn’t stop there.
If it looked like an ingredient he could throw in, in it went.
“Seems a little salty, doesn’t it?”
“...”
“Yeah, a little salty. Bring me some water.”
The amount of soup in the pot kept rising.
At least there would be enough for everyone.
The question was whether it would taste good.
“Now it’s too bland? Bring me the leftovers over there.”
“Excuse me? That fish was just scraps...”
“It’s sea fish, so it’s probably a bit salty, right?”
“Kuh-huhk!”
This was culinary insanity—just throwing in whatever he pleased.
The cooks watching him felt as if their entire world had been denied.
“Done. Who wants to try it first?”
“...”
The cooks all fell silent.
Good food gave stat bonuses and other benefits, but bad food could actively harm you.
Poison damage or stomach cramps were the mild cases. If it went really badly, you could literally die from eating it.
And no matter how anyone looked at it, the thing Tae-hyun had made did not look like good food.
The kind of dish that could take you out in one bite.
“The first person to eat it gets the best bonus, you know.”
The first one to eat a dish somebody else made got an extra bonus.
It was a kind of privilege.
The cooks obviously knew that, but...
I don’t want this dish’s bonus!
Exactly!
As everyone continued to hesitate, one of the cooks finally stepped forward.
There was a solemn resolve written across her face.
What is this, are you marching to your death?
From Tae-hyun’s point of view, it was absurd, but the other cooks seemed moved.
“Hyeon-yeong!”
“No!”
Tae-hyun asked in disbelief, “No? What do you mean, no? Then do you want to eat it?”
“...”
Instant silence from every last one of them.
The cook who had stepped forward, Ju Hyeon-yeong, swallowed nervously and said, “I’ll eat it. The rest of you...”
“Then do that. The rest of you can cook your own food and eat that.”
Tae-hyun had no desire to spoon-feed people who were determined to kick over their own meal tray.
The cooks could fend for themselves.
But the cooks’ faces lit up with joy.
Seeing that, Tae-hyun paused to consider something.
Should I punch them?
Meanwhile, Ju Hyeon-yeong scooped up the soup and started eating.
You have eaten Fish Hodgepodge Soup, made by a cook of outstanding culinary skill and insane instincts.
Health permanently increases by 5.
Luck permanently increases by 5.
Evasion temporarily increases by 30%.
You have eaten food made by an outstanding cook. Your cooking skill increases.
You observed the cooking process from the side.
You have acquired the recipe (74% complete).
Additional steps are required to complete it fully.
Windows poured down one after another.
But that wasn’t what mattered right now.
It’s delicious!
Ju Hyeon-yeong was someone who actually cooked in real life.
And even to her palate, this soup was genuinely delicious.
The first taste was a complex, savory richness, followed by an intense heat. The ingredients had been tossed in haphazardly, but the more she chewed, the more texture and springiness she found.
“H-Hyeon-yeong. Are you okay?”
“I’ve got antidotes. Want to borrow one?”
“Huh? No. I’m fine. This is actually really good. It’s delicious!”
The cooks who heard her were a little moved.
How kind did someone have to be to eat that and still say something like that afterward?
Even after eating it, she was enduring it so Tae-hyun wouldn’t get mad.
Everyone’s eyes started reddening.
“Can I have more?”
“No. Go call the others and make them all eat it. And you lot—don’t eat any.”
Tae-hyun pointed a finger at the cooks as he spoke.
Like we’d eat it even if you told us to?
Why’s he even saying that?
The cooks tilted their heads in confusion.
Tae-hyun ignored them and said in a chilling voice, “If I catch any of you sneaking some, I’m throwing you into the sea. I’m not joking. I mean it.”
“???”
It didn’t take the cooks long to understand why.
***
“More, please!”
“Hey! You already ate and got the buff! Other people need to eat too, so move!”
“No, it’s too good! Just one more bite!”
The cooks’ mouths dropped open.
Clatter.
The grilled fish dishes they had made fell to the ground.
All that effort and care they had poured in, only to be crushed by that hodgepodge fish soup.
“No way!”
“You’re telling me that dish tastes better than ours?!”
“What the hell does it even taste like?!”
One of the cooks finally snapped and rushed over, reaching out toward the pot.
Clang!
At that instant, a dagger stabbed into the ground right in front of his feet.
Tae-hyun had thrown it from where he was adjusting the other players’ equipment nearby.
Tae-hyun pointed at the cook, then pointed toward the sea.
Eat it, and I throw you into the ocean.
The cook felt a chill run down his spine.
Only then did the cooks understand what Tae-hyun had meant.
He’d been that confident in his cooking all along.
Confident enough to make them regret not eating it.