Chapter 4: Ah—So This Is XXXXX (1)
Chapter 4: Ah—So This Is XXXXX (1)
After riding an unidentified food truck and experiencing another world known as the Francia Continent, Jinseo had now been selling snacks in this other world for ten days.
Jinseo’s food truck began operating daily at the same spot where it first opened.
“Tteok-twig-sun set, one please!”
“All fried items as seaweed rolls only, please.”
“Is it possible to get soondae without any offal?”
The food truck’s business hours ran from around lunchtime until 10 p.m.
Perhaps thanks to word slowly spreading, quite a few customers now came from Falstead Castle.
Ironically, Jinseo’s food truck had never once entered the castle itself.
Instead, he was able to learn about the area through the two guards who had been his first customers on the Francia Continent.
The other world Jinseo had come to via the food truck wasn’t all that different from the worlds seen in fantasy movies or novels.
However, the area where Falstead Castle was located had the advantage of being relatively peaceful, with no regional conflicts or monster incursions.
I was honestly terrified, wondering whether my snacks would even work here…
Jinseo decided to endure for exactly one week as a trial run before deciding his future plans.
Whether to continue doing business on the Francia Continent, or return to selling food in Korea.
Now, ten days later, he was earning far more here than he ever had running Jinseo Snack Bar.
The tax and permit issues he had worried about were apparently on temporary hold, and he’d been told it was fine until an official decision was made—information he received from Jason, who had visited the food truck on opening day.
Thanks to that, Jinseo could focus on business with peace of mind.
I’m starting to want to see if my snacks would work somewhere other than here…
Ideally, he wanted to drive the food truck around and sell food wherever he went.
After all, the identity of a food truck lay in being able to go wherever there were customers.
But what Jinseo knew about the Francia Continent was still only a small fraction.
Understanding local taste preferences, and whether the experience he’d built up in Korea would translate here, came first.
And I still need to clear quests.
When Jinseo slightly raised his gaze, a message appeared beneath a yellow exclamation mark.
{—Starting Quest: Sell snacks in one location for 10 days.
Quest Completion Reward: 100 Mileage, 100 Mana.
Quest Progress: 9/10.—}
The quest, which had appeared on the second day after he started selling, was nearing completion.
The 100 mileage and 100 mana rewards each amounted to what he’d normally earn in about three days of business.
Since it could be cleared just by staying in one place, it wasn’t burdensome at all. Treating those ten days as an adjustment period, Jinseo devoted himself to running the stall.
“Hyung! Two servings of tteok-twig-sun, please!”
“Soondae offal—liver only!”
Jason and Foltan, now completely regular customers, placed their orders the moment they arrived.
“Yes. Just a moment.”
Jinseo checked the tub holding the soondae and frowned slightly.
“It looks like I’m a bit short on liver. I’ll give you extra soondae instead.”
“Oh come on! Why are you still speaking so formally? That’s too much pressure.”
“No matter how young I am, customers are still customers.”
On the flip side, no matter how old someone is, a rude customer is still a rude customer. Thankfully, none like that have shown up here yet.
Both men were in their mid-twenties, and after learning Jinseo’s age later on, they began calling him hyung and treating him familiarly.
“No, really—I honestly thought you were barely over twenty. Don’t tell me the secret to youth is in the snacks you sell, hyung?”
Jinseo firmly denied it, but every time they visited the food truck, the two couldn’t help harboring hopes of somehow getting younger.
Most of the other customers simply enjoyed Jinseo’s snacks for what they were.
An unfamiliar taste they’d never experienced before, offered at a cheap price.
“Three more squid tempura, please!”
“Yes, here you go.”
As soon as Jason placed the additional order, Jinseo set freshly fried squid tempura onto Jason’s plate.
After all, Jason always ordered extra squid.
“Ohhh, that was fast.”
“You need to quickly grasp a regular customer’s preferences. By the way, you really like squid.”
“Is that unusual? Don’t people eat it much in your country, hyung?”
“That’s not it. I just thought squid might be something people in this world avoid.”
“In other countries they freak out over it, sure, but not here. People can’t get enough of it. Especially kraken—it’s considered a delicacy…”
“Kraken?” Jinseo’s expression turned intrigued as he recalled the massive monster from pirate movies.
To think this is a world where kraken actually exist. I’m only selling food here for now, but if I get the chance, I’d like to go elsewhere too. I’d love to try cooking with ingredients from this world.
To the food truck’s customers, Jinseo’s snacks were an unknown flavor.
To Jinseo, the Francia Continent itself was unknown territory.
Maybe that was why just driving the food truck felt like going on a journey.
“Kraken tempura… I kind of want to try making that.”
At Jinseo’s offhand remark, Jason and Foltan snapped their heads up.
“Really? Then I’ll put in a reservation right now!”
“Hey, Jason! Don’t jump the gun by yourself! Me too, me too!”
Watching the two bicker, Jinseo glanced at the other customers.
Many people were sitting at the convenience tables eating snacks, but no additional orders were coming in.
It should be about time for them to arrive.
Even so, Jinseo began prepping ingredients, getting ready for a large order.
Soon enough, two women entered Jinseo’s field of view, approaching from the opposite side of the castle.
Dressed in robes and wearing wide-brimmed, slightly bent conical hats, they drew the attention of nearby customers.
“You’re here.” Jinseo recognized them immediately.
Setting aside their unusual outfits, they always ordered large quantities to take away.
“The usual today as well?”
“Ah, add one more set this time. There’s another friend joining us.”
“And please add a bit more tteokbokki sauce.”
“Understood. Please wait a moment.”
As Jinseo placed the battered ingredients into the oil, savory aromas and the sound of frying spread in all directions.
While Jinseo bustled about preparing a large amount of snacks, the two women sat on folding chairs beside the convenience tables.
“Are you ready for the magic-circle exam next week?”
“Not really. What about you, Cheny?”
“Same here. Just memorizing the notes the seniors gave us is already overwhelming.”
“Still, this is the only mage tower where the Archmage personally sets the exam questions. That means he really cares.”
“Sometimes I wish he cared a little less…”
The two women sighed in unison, their shoulders slumping.
But as soon as the smell from the food truck reached them, they perked right back up.
“Lately, I feel like I’m living just for this food.”
“Me too. It was pretty unfamiliar at first, but now it just sticks to your palate.”
“After the exams, should we just gather everyone and eat here?”
While they chatted, Jinseo divided the packaged snacks into three bags.
“Here you go. I added extra fried items of different kinds as a bonus.”
“Wow! Thank you so much!”
“The food is great, and you’re generous too—I really can’t quit coming here.”
“It’s nothing. You buy so much every time; this much should be on the house.”
The two women picked up their black plastic bags and moved a bit away from the tables where other customers were sitting.
“Mary, do you have enough mana for the teleportation spell?”
“Yes, no problem.”
Moments later, a circle formed beneath the two women, and complex symbols appeared along its edge.
Light burst forth from the completed magic circle, enveloping Mary and Cheny.
“We’ll be going now!”
“Thanks for the service!”
The true identities of the two women who even used magic to visit the food truck were—
“Thank you as always! Have a safe trip!”
They were the mage-tower mages who had now become regulars.
In the middle of the eastern woods of Falstead Castle stood a mage tower rising high into the sky.
As evening fell, the tower’s dining hall was crowded with mages who had finished their grueling training and research.
However, some mages gathered not in the dining hall, but in laboratories, beginning their own private feasts.
“As expected, tteok-twig-sun never betrays us.”
“Hey, I told you to leave out the lung from the soondae offal. You should’ve gotten more liver instead.”
“I’m not really into soondae… fried snacks are the best.”
“Save some tteokbokki sauce. I’ll dip bread in it later.”
“What? Who picked out all the sweet potato tempura? Why is there none left?!”
Mary and Cheny, mages affiliated with the mage tower, were gathered with their friends, enjoying the snacks Jinseo had made.
Just half a month ago, their dinners had been quiet affairs.
After Jinseo’s appearance, they had become lively and noisy.
Once they tasted the tteok-twig-sun set Mary brought back, they were completely captured by snacks.
“Are you all having a meal?”
“A—Archmage!”
At the familiar voice from behind, Mary hurriedly jumped to her feet.
“You seem to be eating something unusual.”
The Archmage of the mage tower, Painfolt, swept his gaze over the food laid out on the research table, then looked at the mages’ faces.
Red sauce smeared around their mouths, and oddly shaped foods coated in that same red sauce.
It was clearly a very different scene from their usual meals.
“Would you like some?”
“No need. It looks like there’s barely enough for you as it is. But…”
The old man known as the Archmage leaned closer to the snacks.
Yet his interest wasn’t in the food itself.
“Hm.”
Painfolt delicately unfolded a crumpled piece of wrapping film that had been set aside in a corner and held it up toward the wall-mounted lamp.
“Hm?”
The fact that light passed through it despite it not being glass struck him as unusual.
“I’ve never seen a material like this…”
Next, he picked up the black plastic bag and shook it lightly.
Unlike the film, no light passed through it at all, and despite being very thin, it didn’t tear even when holding items.
“This is also something I’ve never seen before.”
“Um… Archmage?”
“Where did you get this?”
Oswald, the lord of Falstead Castle, had to hurry to the reception room due to an unexpected visitor.
Though he had to interrupt a private gourmet meal he’d been enjoying alone for the past week, there wasn’t a hint of displeasure on his face.
The guest was a friend of his late father—someone he could never afford to treat lightly.
“Has it already been five years?”
“Indeed. It feels like just yesterday that I first came to this castle, yet so much time has passed.”
The two sat across from each other at a table, leisurely enjoying wine.
“The people inside the castle say they’re glad a good lord finally came along after so long. I expected as much from you.”
“You flatter me.”
“If your late father could see you now, he’d be proud. And… no.” Painfolt stopped himself from adding that he would’ve been even prouder five years ago.
“By the way, it’s already been over ten years since you became Archmage.”
“I should probably retire as Archmage soon and live in seclusion.”
“Aren’t you still in your prime?”
“My prime, you say… I’m just an old man waiting for the day I step down.”
Now seventy years old, Painfolt frowned as he tapped his left shoulder with his right hand.
“At my age, I’m not what I used to be. My mind, which used to run so smoothly when I was young, now feels stiff, like stone.”
Painfolt set down his wine glass.
A body that once handled several bottles without issue now felt burdened by even half a glass.
“Oswald, you’ve got something on your face.”
“Pardon?”
“Right there.” Painfolt pointed to the left side of Oswald’s lips. “Red sauce, of all things. What kind of dish did you eat to end up with that color?”
“H-haha…” Oswald quickly pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his lips. “Lord Painfolt, since you’ve come all this way, perhaps we could dine—”
“No. There’s a restaurant I’ve had my eye on. I plan to go there.” Tapping the pouch at his waist, Painfolt rose from his seat.