Chapter 33: Ketchup Is Fundamental (1)
Chapter 33: Ketchup Is Fundamental (1)
It was already half a year since Jinseo started running his business in the other world with the food truck.
Falstead Castle on the Francia Continent welcomed autumn.
And the food truck near the castle, now with a more diverse menu than before, was doing brisk business as always.
“Customer number 99! Cheese ramen, cheese tteokbokki, and cheese gimbap are ready!”
At Jinseo’s shout, the customer who was sitting on a convenience-store chair sprang up and rushed to the counter seats.
The customer’s face as they looked down at the bunsik unified under the theme of cheese was pure bliss.
“I’ll dig in. I’ve been wishing for everything to have cheese for a while, and my wish finally came true. Are you going to add cheese fried food or cheese soondae too?”
“Haha… I’ll consider it. Enjoy. Next! Customer number 100!”
Jinseo sent off the cheese fanatic and called the next number.
Thanks to the “number ticket system” introduced with an upgrade a week ago, there were no longer mix-ups from the crowd—no tangled orders, no one taking the wrong food.
Even so, as usual, the tables set up in front of the food truck were packed full of people waiting for their bunsik.
As time passed, rumors about the food truck spread farther, and the number of customers surged until it was hard to eat without lining up.
It was the kind of situation where the long waits would naturally spark complaints.
But with a few simple ideas, Jinseo made even the waiting time enjoyable.
“Was today episode nine? No, ten?”
“It’s ten. Nine ended earlier.”
“Ah, damn… I should’ve come sooner.”
“Wait. Looks like today they’ll just loop nine and ten.”
In front of the large TV installed in the additional trailer, a crowd gathered to watch a drama.
A weekend drama about a love triangle that aired on terrestrial television more than ten years ago.
To Jinseo, it was already a trend long past…
A plain old drama, but the customers’ reactions were explosive.
At first, they were so shocked that the people on the screen moved that they just stared with their mouths open, focused only on the screen until the episode ended.
But now that they were used to dramas themselves, they enjoyed it with all kinds of reactions.
Not only those standing because there were no seats, but even people who already got their bunsik couldn’t take their eyes off the TV, absorbed in the actors’ performances.
“So that was what was really going on.”
“I wondered why that woman kept bullying the lead… so it was exactly that.”
“Hey! Even so, that was too much! If it were me, I’d never let that slide!”
Even if it was a drama drenched in common clichés like a secret of birth, for people of the Francia Continent who never experienced dramas at all, it was a fresh shock.
“Hmm, those clothes are a bit…”
“Well… isn’t that sometimes fine?”
“They said the culture’s different. Culture.”
Of course, not every shock was received positively.
In particular, issues about the characters’ clothing flared up early on, but they were resolved surprisingly easily.
First, even from Jinseo’s side, he avoided dramas with excessive exposure or content that was too extreme, minimizing potential controversy.
On top of that, a single remark from Cardinal Fedora—who turned into a full-blown drama fanatic—put an end to it.
“The One is a generous being. Brothers and sisters, let us also take after the One and embrace the culture of nonbelievers.”
With the cardinal stepping in and saying that, it never escalated into a situation where people openly made it an issue.
As a side note, mages and even engineers bombarded Jinseo with questions about how he made a “delicately rendered picture” move across such a huge screen.
To that, Jinseo brushed it off neatly by answering that it was an unknown magic only possible on the continent where he lived.
From the Francia people’s perspective, the drama broadcast through a large TV was basically magic itself.
Maybe because of that, even when scenes appeared that were hard to grasp with their common sense, they let it slide.
The way modern Koreans watched an SF movie and, even if a robot powered purely by imagination showed up, still went, “It’s an SF movie,” and moved on.
(Translator’s Note: SF movie - Science Fiction Movies)
Anyway, just as Jinseo intended, hardly anyone complained because orders backed up.
If anything, people even started showing up at fixed times every day just to watch the drama.
“Aaah! This time I could’ve won!”
A young man cried out, clutching his head as he stared at the collapsed wooden blocks.
“You can’t beat me.”
Across from him, the person standing with arms crossed shrugged.
One of Jinseo’s ideas to keep people from getting bored while waiting for their bunsik.
Jenga.
At first he thought of baduk or chess, but those had the hassle of teaching the rules in detail.
And compared to the waiting time before receiving food, there was also the drawback that a single game could take too long.
Jenga, on the other hand, had extremely simple rules, making it perfect for killing time at the right pace.
He set out a few other simple games, but the most popular by far was Jenga.
“Tsk tsk tsk, that’s not how you play Jenga.”
“When you pull the block, the snap is way too weak.”
And even if you didn’t play, it was fun to watch and throw in unsolicited advice from the side.
“Two servings of tteok-twig-sun, please. And cola and soda…”
“You can purchase drinks from the vending machine over there. Would you like me to explain how to use it?”
“Ah, that? How does it work?”
A moment later, after hearing Jinseo’s explanation, the customer lined up behind the people gathered in front of the vending machine.
The “drink vending machine” installed through an upgrade at the same time as the number ticket system.
It was easy to use, and customers praised it because they could taste a wider variety of drinks than before.
It even handled currency exchange automatically, which made things very convenient for Jinseo.
“Customer number 106! Two servings of tteok-twig-sun-ra-gim are ready! And… Nero, take this to table fifteen. And clean tables twenty and twenty-one too.”
-meow.-
Including Nero, who helped Jinseo from before, conditions improved a lot compared to the past.
Even so, there was a clear limit to how fast he could handle the flood of orders.
So Jinseo accepted one more helper.
“I’m here! I’ll change quick and be right back!”
A young man, drenched in sweat from sprinting from inside the castle to the food truck, panted roughly.
“It’s fine even if you’re late. Cleanliness comes first. Go shower too.”
“Yes, sir!”
Jason was one of the original regular duo at the food truck.
He never wanted to suffer through the pain of going without bunsik again during the two-plus months when the food truck was away.
After serious deliberation, what he finally said to Jinseo with a grave face was…
“I’ve become someone who can’t live without bunsik anymore. If this is how it’s going to be, please hire me so I can always be with bunsik!”
After Aston, who was registered as the first helper, returned to his duties as a knight, Jinseo also needed hands.
It also solved the guard issue Jinseo was about to bring up anyway, so he gladly hired Jason.
That didn’t mean Jason quit his original job as a castle guard.
He cut his guard duties in half and, in the time left over, helped Jinseo—those were the conditions under which Jason became part of the food truck.
“Customer number 130! Thank you for visiting three days in a row! Three servings of tteok-twig-sun to-go are ready! Big bro threw in a little extra service!”
“Thanks. Hope you sell a lot.”
“Thank you! Enjoy! Next, customer number 131! Four servings of tteokbokki are ready! Looks like the folks at that table are together—there are five of them, so we should give one extra fork, right?”
“Yes, one extra, please.”
“Got it! Here’s your change!”
Jason’s uniquely passionate customer service became a new burst of energy for the food truck.
With the food truck being designated as a holy relic, it helped a lot in easing a mood that could otherwise become too solemn.
Bunsik tasted best in a warm, lively atmosphere.
“Alright! When you’re done, put your empty bowls here! Nero! Wipe table seven. Not there… yeah, there! Scrub it clean!”
His coordination with Nero was also great, so there was almost nothing to criticize when it came to service.
Everything was great, but… it’d be nice if his cooking skills improved faster.
Unlike Aston, who enjoyed cooking as a hobby from the start, Jason was a complete beginner.
He failed at adjusting water for ramen and made it taste like plain water, and every time he rolled gimbap, the side split open without fail.
Let’s see. Did his stats go up?
{ -Second helper of the Mobile cooking equipment: Jason (23, male)
Owner’s job class: Guard (subject to change later)
Owner’s physical rank: E+
Owner’s cooking skill: Ramen (E), Gimbap (E), Tteokbokki (B), Fried food (B), Soondae (B)…
Owner’s possessed abilities: Swordsmanship (C-), Spearmanship (C)…- }
Strangely, though, he showed high understanding right away for the three basics of bunsik: tteok-twig-sun.
And after closing, he even cut down on sleep to practice alone, so his learning speed wasn’t actually slow.
It was just unfortunate that his comparison point was Aston.
Even so, thanks to Jason, Jinseo continued selling bunsik far more smoothly than he expected.
“Big bro! I’m adding more tteokbokki sauce! This amount is perfect, right?”
“Yes, please.”
As soon as break time started, Jason flopped into a counter seat and let out a long sigh.
It was a stark contrast to how energetic he was the entire time he sold bunsik.
“Whew… dealing with people really is tough. You’ve been doing this for over ten years… I love bunsik, but I can’t even imagine it.”
Jason wiped his face with the towel Jinseo handed him.
Once the tension eased, sweat started pouring down, and it didn’t stop no matter how much he wiped.
“More than anything, I was starving… I barely held out. After starting this job, I realized it too late. Watching other people eat bunsik can make you this hungry.”
While Jason stretched and caught his breath, Jinseo set a plate on the counter with several kinds of bunsik divided up on it.
“Then let’s fill our stomachs too.”
“I’ve been waiting to hear that!”
Back when Jinseo ran the business alone, he ate cup ramen or got by with an energy bar.
But now that he brought in Jason, the two started a late lunch with Jason’s “failed products.”
Today’s main dish was gimbap with the side split open.
He couldn’t sell it, but it was more than enough as staff food.
“Man, gimbap ends are the best. I never get tired of them, no matter how much I eat.”
Jason happily ate the ends of the gimbap Jinseo set aside separately.
Using failed products as staff meals wasn’t only about preventing waste.
Tasting what you make yourself was essential to learning how to cook.
Fortunately, Jason’s failures only looked messy—the taste was mostly fine.
The first bunsik I ever tried making… was probably gimbap, right?
Jinseo picked up a piece of gimbap with the side slightly split and sesame oil spread a bit too heavily, sinking into memories.
As a child, following his parents who worked hard to run their snack shop, he tried making gimbap alone at home for the first time.
After barely making something that only resembled gimbap, Jinseo bowed his head deeply in front of his parents.
Without a word, they patted his head.
Then they ate the gimbap he made without leaving a single grain of rice.
Saying it was more delicious than any other food.
“But it’s really amazing. Even with so many customers, nobody causes trouble… that’s because of that, right?”
While drinking fish cake broth from a paper cup, Jason looked at the sacred emblem.
“That too, but I’m glad more people come purely to enjoy bunsik.”
“Ah… I think I get what you mean.”
The sacred emblem showed its true power when dealing with people who came with other intentions.
They were obviously more polite than that merchant from Peyden Castle, but requests still came in from time to time—people trying to buy the bunsik recipes no matter what.
Or people asking where they could get a food truck, and so on.
Jinseo refused them politely every time, but when people kept returning without giving up, it wore him down.
But after the food truck was designated as a holy relic, Jinseo simply pointed quietly to the sacred emblem installed on the car door.
“As you know, this food truck is designated as a holy relic of the Hierem Order…”
After repeating that sort of refusal a few times, no one approached with those intentions anymore.
If things went wrong, it could look like an attempt to uncover the Hierem Order’s secrets.
Either way, being able to focus only on running the food truck was a huge relief for Jinseo.
“But the date… there isn’t much time left. I need to raise my skills fast so I can reduce your burden, big bro.”
“You said there was about a week left, right?”