Chapter 77: Jinseo’s Counterattack (2)
Chapter 77: Jinseo’s Counterattack (2)
The truth was that they were a duo of scammers who had been pulling cons in other regions, and they had nearly fallen into eternal suffering.
After hearing rumors that the food truck was doing well, they tried to make money the usual way—through fraud.
But once they learned, albeit late, that it was a holy relic, they cleanly gave up.
No matter how illegally they made their living…
They didn’t have the nerve to run a con against a holy relic of the Heirem Order.
Then someone hiding their identity approached the scammer duo.
They offered a job: don’t harm the food truck itself—just carry out a scheme that could damage the owner, Lee Jinseo’s, image.
The risk was so high they were going to refuse, but the money was far too much.
In the end, their con failed completely, and they nearly got dragged away by the cathedral knight order for daring to plot in front of a holy relic.
“I really don’t know who that man is! I swear! Please believe me! This time it’s true!”
“So please… give me a blessing… I’ll never! Never… do it again!”
When pressed about who was behind it, they begged, insisting they truly didn’t know.
Just like the ones who had tried to frame Jinseo by secretly putting bugs into the food before.
Of course, Jinseo already knew who the mastermind was even without hearing it, so he didn’t dig deeper. He left the rest to the cathedral knight order and returned to his main work.
After that, there were several more attempts to frame Jinseo, but they were all within what he expected, so he got through them safely.
That didn’t mean Jinseo intended to keep defending passively.
He endured, waiting for his proper counterattack preparations to be complete, and the wait didn’t take long.
Marquis Horus’s bunsik carriages were deployed not only where Jinseo normally did business, but in many other places as well.
Whenever they visited a major city in the Doren Kingdom or attended aristocrats’ parties and events, the bunsik carriages drew an enthusiastic response.
Because no one would refuse trending bunsik—especially when it was being handed out for free under the name of “tasting.”
In that way, the bunsik carriages were thriving all across the Doren Kingdom, now numbering around twenty.
Jinseo chose the Marquis of Kashid’s party—where a bunsik carriage was scheduled to visit—as the food truck’s first “expedition stop,” and he was on the move.
“Now that we’re the ones going on the offensive, my heart’s pounding in a different way.”
Jason, sitting in the passenger seat, couldn’t hide his excitement as he looked at the manor drawing closer.
He had been waiting for a chance to repay the humiliation and disgrace from Count Wilson’s party, and after long patience, he finally got it.
“Are you not nervous this time?”
“My hands are itching.”
Restless to start making bunsik as soon as possible, Jason kept clenching and unclenching both hands.
When the food truck arrived at the manor entrance, the guards who had been notified in advance made the sign of the cross and opened the iron gate.
“What is it? Did another bunsik carriage come?”
“It’s… different from the bunsik carriage. There’s no horse.”
“How did it get here without a horse? Could that be the rumored food truck?”
“The food truck?”
The guests who had been eating bunsik began taking interest in the food truck that suddenly entered the garden.
Meanwhile, the bunsik carriage side, already there making bunsik, looked visibly tense.
“Alright. Then let’s begin.”
“I’ve been waiting for this!”
Jinseo and Jason met each other’s eyes, nodded at the same time, and got down from the food truck.
Then, when Jinseo opened the back door of the additional trailer, Aston—participating in his first on-site catering sale as a cook—climbed down as if he had been waiting.
“Aston, are you ready?”
“Of course.”
At Jinseo’s question, Aston showed the kitchen knife in a leather sheath in his right hand.
It was a gift from Jinseo—something he cherished so much he kept it beside him even when he slept.
“No, that’s the food truck, isn’t it? What is the meaning of this?”
A bunsik carriage worker ran to the butler to protest, but it didn’t work.
To begin with, the side that said it would come first was the bunsik carriage, and the Marquis of Kashid’s side simply accepted that.
So there was no basis whatsoever to block the food truck just because it arrived as well.
From the Marquis of Kashid’s perspective, he hadn’t paid to call the bunsik carriage in the first place, and he wasn’t in a position where he needed to mind Marquis Horus’s mood.
Treating his guests with more delicious food came first.
More than anything, the food truck was a holy relic, so it couldn’t be denied entry without a proper reason, and since they had politely asked in advance whether they could attend the party, there was nothing problematic.
So, shall we begin?
While Aston and Jason prepared in the cooking area, Jinseo turned on the large TV.
Then the food truck promotional video, filmed and edited the night before, began playing.
“L-look at that!”
“What is it? The picture is moving.”
“It’s not a picture, is it? Is there really a person inside?”
The guests set down their bunsik and surged toward the large TV.
“Y-you’re the owner of the food truck, right? What is this supposed to be?”
“Ah, about that…”
Jinseo explained in a way that people seeing a TV screen for the first time could understand.
Naturally, that made it hard for them to focus on the video’s contents.
So at the start of the video, Jinseo edited it so there were no lines at all—only eating footage.
“I see. The magic of a country called Korea is truly impressive.”
“Then shall we properly watch it?”
They sat in a tight cluster at the tables placed in front of the food truck and started watching the video closely.
“That isn’t tteok-twi-sun-ra-gim, is it?”
“The drink he’s drinking is strange too. Can you really drink something that black?”
“Did bunsik have that many kinds?”
All sorts of different dishes and drinks on a wide table came into the guests’ view, and only then did they realize it was different from what they had been eating at the bunsik carriage until now.
Since the person in the video, as usual, focused only on eating in silence, the viewers began wondering who he was.
Then, at perfect timing, subtitles appeared above his head, and everyone watching the TV doubted their eyes.
“The hero of Girvante? Then that man is…!”
“It’s Craid! That Craid!”
“He really is huge.”
Craid—the hero of the Girvante Kingdom, and the owner of the epithet “the lonely swordsman.”
But at least while eating, he wasn’t alone like his epithet suggested.
A woman in vestments was slowly approaching his side.
“Isn’t that Cardinal Fedora?”
“That’s right! Her name appeared above her head too, like Craid earlier!”
“I wasn’t sure, but they’re making it clear like this. It’s not just putting on a play—they’re even displaying letters. Incredible.”
“May His blessing be with all of you watching this video… I am Fedora, His unworthy servant.”
“M-my, a voice came out!”
When Fedora greeted them and made the sign of the cross, the guests followed along, making the sign of the cross as they showed respect.
It was something they should have done the moment they saw the holy relic food truck, but the sudden appearance of the food truck distracted them, and they had completely forgotten.
Everyone hurriedly made the sign of the cross and began reciting prayers, while Fedora on the TV silently looked toward the guests on the other side of the screen—
With a gentle smile, as if she had expected this reaction.
After some time passed, Fedora on the TV began explaining how the food truck came to be designated as a holy relic of the Order.
“…Therefore, brothers and sisters watching this video, remember this. There is only one food truck designated as a holy relic by the Order—only Lee Jinseo’s food truck. It has absolutely no connection to Marquis Horus’s bunsik carriage.”
“Huh? Is that so?”
“I already knew…”
“So from the beginning, that bunsik carriage had nothing to do with the food truck? Why didn’t they tell us?”
“Because you didn’t ask, did you?”
The guests began bickering among themselves, and the bunsik carriage workers who had approached nearby sensed things were taking an ominous turn.
When asked whether this bunsik carriage was also a holy relic of the Order, they denied it, of course.
However, unless the other side asked first, they never brought up the topic of holy relics at all, and they didn’t step forward to deny any connection to the food truck.
Instead, they spread the rumor first that “a carriage serving a special cuisine called bunsik is a holy relic of the Order,” naturally leading people to mistake the bunsik carriage for the food truck.
That had been possible because they mainly chose regions where the food truck had not appeared yet and spread bunsik there.
But once Fedora, an Order affiliate, completely denied any connection between the bunsik carriage and the food truck through the video, the bunsik carriage side panicked noticeably.
It was a truth that would be revealed someday, but they hadn’t expected it to break through in the form of a video.
“That is the end of my message. Please do not forget that the truth must be widely known.”
After speaking, Fedora made the sign of the cross and disappeared off the right side of the TV screen.
At the same time, Oswald appeared from the left.
He sat beside Craid, who had kept eating wordlessly the entire time, and joined the eating broadcast.
Unlike Craid, though, he added explanations and described the flavors.
His easy-to-accept, easy-to-understand way of speaking was heavily influenced by the Korean home shopping broadcasts Jinseo had shown before.
“Haah… This clean yet refreshing broth flavor of tteokmanduguk! I want all of you to taste it. You’re asking how you can taste it? It’s simple! Place an order with the food truck!”
A close-up filled the screen: steam rising from between the halves of a dumpling cut in two.
Oswald put half the dumpling into his mouth with a blissful expression.
One irresistible scene after another followed, making it impossible to suppress the appetite that surged just from watching.
“But before that—wait!”
At Oswald’s shout, the guests who were about to go place an order turned their heads toward the TV and stopped mid-step.
“Food truck bunsik, with new items that the bunsik carriage doesn’t have, is sold at a set time every day near Falstead Castle. If you come in person, you can enjoy even more variety—not only today, but every day, whenever you want. However, I believe there are also those who hesitate due to the distance to Falstead Castle. For those people!”
Snap.
When Oswald snapped his fingers, Jason came into the center of the screen holding a whiteboard.
Holding a black marker, Oswald drew a series of arrows converging from multiple directions onto a map of the Doren Kingdom that had already been prepared.
The place all the arrows pointed to was Falstead Castle.
“We invite you to a food truck trip, with courses ranging from as short as one night and two days, to as long as seven nights and eight days. A specially trained guide in charge will kindly lead you throughout the trip. And I will say in advance that this will not be a trip made solely to enjoy the food truck’s bunsik.”
The screen suddenly changed, and mages gathered in the lobby of the Doren Mage Tower waved at the guests on the other side of the screen.
A moment later, the screen changed once again to a sacred view inside Kaysus Cathedral.
“You can enjoy a tour of the Doren Mage Tower and a pilgrimage to Kaysus Cathedral together. For those living in the eastern region only, you may also choose a course that briefly stops by Orte Harbor to enjoy the local specialty—kraken dishes.”
Fishermen with bronze skin and muscular builds smiled wide, the sunset behind them.
They stood atop the massive kraken’s carcass.
“And among those who book this trip, up to four people per week will be selected, granting them the special privilege of riding the food truck directly to Falstead Castle. During the journey, we will prepare refreshments you have never tasted before, so you may look forward to it.”
In the center of the screen showing the inside of the additional trailer, the table was filled with items like ChoX Pie, WeXes, E X S crackers, PpeXro, and more.
“And you can enjoy games as well. You don’t know what a game is? Don’t worry! A game expert will explain it to you in detail.”
The screen showed Jason and Mary from behind, holding gamepads in both hands and diligently playing TteXrice.
They couldn’t grasp exactly what it was, but everyone watching could be certain of one thing.
With the bunsik carriage, you could only enjoy bunsik, just like the name said—but the food truck was different.