Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 144
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 144
“A snack that even I have never tasted before…”
Lion fell into thought.
Food was abundant in the world, so finding something he hadn’t eaten should have been easy. But what this quest demanded was…
‘Not merely rare food.’
The request was cute, but hidden quests were never that straightforward.
‘Though this one is giving me plenty of hints.’
The Bydantis family necklace had been far more convoluted.
Compared to that, this was…
-What snack did you most want to try?
Remarkably kind.
The problem was that this quest required Lion to find the answer completely on his own.
Lion fell deep into thought.
“A snack I wanted to try…”
First, he obviously had to exclude anything he had ever tasted, even once.
And also anything he might have tasted once when he was very young.
Eliminating a few things that immediately came to mind narrowed the scope considerably, but…
he still didn’t know which dish to pick from what remained.
‘Of course, there is the brute-force method of just making everything that comes to mind.’
But if he did that, Nature’s tiny stomach might swell up and burst.
And besides… it is a “snack,” right?
No matter how ancient-class the spirit, feeding it too often couldn’t be good for its health.
And above all…
‘Since I’ve even gone and received a quest for it.’
Lion wanted to give Nature something properly good.
So he had to think it through carefully.
Lion folded his arms and closed his eyes gently.
‘The truth is, I’ve managed to try almost everything I couldn’t eat as a kid.’
Due to his circumstances as a child, even when there was a snack he wanted, he never had the time or means to buy it properly.
The biggest problem had been money.
So much so that he had even kept a list, thinking vaguely, “Once I make money, I’ll eat everything I want!”
Looking back on it, it was such a childish and cute thing to do, but at the time, he had been utterly earnest.
‘It was a good experience in its own way… What was the very first thing I ate from that list, again?’
Ah, right. That was it.
French toast.
But not ordinary French toast.
“Fried white bread” would be a more accurate description.
So, back when he was in the lower grades of elementary school…
With his eyes still closed, Lion briefly revisited the past.
* * *
While drawing a weekend picture diary with crayons, the kid next to him looked at Baek Yi-hyeon’s drawing and exclaimed with admiration.
“Wow! Yi-hyeon, did you eat ice cream on the weekend?”
“Yeah.”
“So jealous~!”
Young Baek Yi-hyeon had really loved ice cream.
Originally, given his family’s financial situation, ice cream was a treat he couldn’t even dream of.
But occasionally, a tall stranger had slipped an ice cream into his hand.
“Hey, kid. Come over here. Quick.”
The owner of the neighborhood convenience store.
Whenever Baek Yi-hyeon walked down the street clutching his hungry stomach, the convenience store owner would glance around furtively and whisper to him in secret.
Baek Yi-hyeon had really liked those words.
Because if he hurried over right then, a delicious ice cream would appear.
“Here. If anyone asks, you tell them it sprouted from the ground. Got it?”
“Thank you!”
Probably, the man had felt so sorry seeing Baek Yi-hyeon without proper parental care that he gave him one from time to time.
At first, he’d been embarrassed, but the sweet taste of the ice cream was too good to refuse.
A hard ice cream, a block of sugar with an artificial fruit flavor.
And by about the fifth time he’d received that ice cream, he had become deeply grateful for the store owner’s concern for him.
So to Baek Yi-hyeon, that cheap ice cream had been the sweetest, most delicious, happiest snack in the world.
“Whoa. Really? So jealous. I made toast at home. Do you know French toast?”
“No.”
“It’s supposed to be a really yummy and soft, cake-like bread, but I made it with my mom and it wasn’t sweet at all and got burnt and was gross. I’d rather eat ice cream too!”
Thinking back on it, his seatmate had probably just been chattering away, wanting to become friends.
In fact, that kid had looked out for Baek Yi-hyeon quite a bit.
Like sharing colored pencils that needed sharpening, or lending him the newest popular educational comic book first.
But unfortunately, young Baek Yi-hyeon hadn’t been able to grow close to this friend.
Why?
Because he had been envious.
It had felt like a heavy rock had lodged itself firmly in his heart.
At the time, he hadn’t even realized that such a casual conversation could hurt him.
He only recognized it after the same thing happened two or three more times.
‘So that’s when I made that resolution.’
That no matter what it took, someday he would definitely eat everything he wanted to eat.
* * *
“And eat I did.”
From the moment he became able to earn money, whenever he found a place that served that damn French toast, he would carve out the time to go there, or have it delivered, shoving it into his mouth bite by bite.
Of course, the toast he gobbled down that way was dry and soggy and tasted terrible.
But he ate it anyway. Because it vented his old resentment.
Since it was a wound he’d inflicted on himself, he had tried to heal it himself.
“I also got really fat.”
Lion chuckled to himself as those days came back to him, and opened his eyes.
It didn’t hurt as much anymore. It had become just a story he could tell with a small laugh.
…Anyway! Foods he had really, truly wanted to eat as a child, like French toast, had long since been conquered through the power of capitalism once he became an adult.
“And that’s the problem.”
Lion uncrossed his arms and scratched his head vigorously.
At this rate, he’d end up going to the hotel without resolving anything.
That was unacceptable.
Lion wanted to make Nature a delicious snack as soon as possible.
“Alright.”
Lion scooped up Nature and sprang to his feet.
He couldn’t find the answer by thinking alone because he lacked data.
At times like this, a field investigation was the answer.
“Let’s go to the night market at least.”
“Ppi!”
Lion immediately grabbed his outerwear and walked out of the room.
The paper reading “Do Not Enter” was still plastered firmly on the door.
* * *
The atmosphere of the night market was brimming with energy again that night.
“Cheap, cheap!”
“Freshly baked bread here! That whole-wheat bread everyone’s crazy about lately!”
“Last-day-of-the-month discount! If you don’t come now, you’re the only one losing out!”
The night market had a completely different mood and intensity from the daytime market.
If the daytime market felt like a place selling daily necessities for actual survival, the night market specialized in food and entertainment.
Colorful lights, the smells of all sorts of spices.
And from somewhere, the aroma of grilling meat wafted thickly through the air!
‘This is similar to when the elves came.’
What had changed a little was…
‘Was whole-wheat bread always a trend?’
The trend seemed to have shifted slightly.
Lion gazed at the freshly baked whole-wheat bread displayed on the stall.
But wait, didn’t the shape look very familiar?
‘…It looks just like the whole-wheat bread I made, doesn’t it?’
One could argue that all bread looks similar in the end, but even the detail of the whole-wheat dusting on top and the scoring marks was identical.
Word must have spread well from the orphanage.
‘Well, I just copied something I’d seen somewhere myself.’
Lion nodded to himself and followed the flow of the crowd, browsing the night market.
‘Whoa, it’s so packed you could easily get pickpocketed.’
The crowds were that intense.
Just like office workers gathering for a drink after work on a Friday night!
“Peep, peep.”
From inside Lion’s pocket, Nature let out a tiny peep, as if telling him not to worry.
“I’m not worried.”
Partly because Nature was sitting right on top of his coin pouch acting as a guard, but to be honest, this amount of money was pocket change to the current Lion.
So why had he worried?
‘…Well, for the thief’s personal safety, I suppose.’
They’d be caught for sure, and things probably wouldn’t end well for them.
“Ah, should we try that?”
“Ppi!”
Together with Nature, Lion bought and shared a few foods.
First, a potato dish with mashed potatoes heaped high with cheese sauce.
It had the uniquely stimulating, greasy taste characteristic of the night market.
The kind of taste that clogs up your veins rather than being healthy.
But eaten within the unique atmosphere of the night market, it was actually quite good.
“Seems like it’d be fine to come out every once in a while.”
Nature also received a little bit
of the potato cheese and ate it.
‘No change at all.’
The hidden quest didn’t clear.
Of course, Lion had already anticipated that.
Still, what was a field investigation but a field investigation?
“Here. How about trying this one this time?”
Lion bought a huge portion of grilled skewers and took a bite.
The firm-textured meat yielded softly under his teeth, mingling with the stimulating seasoning, and a subtle oak-wood fragrance rose through his nose.
“Ppik.”
However, it didn’t seem to suit Nature’s taste, as the spirit pecked at it only a few times before giving up.
‘As expected.’
Lion nodded to himself.
The reason for coming to the night market.
Of course, it was to get inspiration from the food sold here.
Because imagining something in his head was completely different from actually seeing its shape,
and tasting and smelling the real thing.
And the second reason was none other than a taste test for Nature!
Normally, Nature happily accepted and ate whatever Lion made.
It was the perfect companion spirit with no pickiness at all.
But—
‘That means I can’t even tell when it dislikes something.’
So this time, he wanted to take the time to figure out, at the very least, what kind of food Nature didn’t want right now.
Of course, asking directly would be more efficient…
But wasn’t it nice to come out and spend this time together like this?
Lion didn’t want to become obsessed solely with efficiency.
‘First off, it doesn’t seem to want anything greasy or salty.’
Lion’s experiment continued after that…
but he didn’t see any food that Nature especially liked.
As a result, the only outcome was Lion’s stomach filling up right to the brim.
‘I’m so, so full…!’
Was this how the elves had felt when they visited and gorged themselves?
Lion glanced over at Nature, wondering briefly if perhaps the spirit was simply disliking the night market atmosphere.
But—
“Peeep~ Peep, peep.”
Seeing its tiny body bouncing up and down, the spirit seemed to be enjoying itself quite well in its own way.
Which meant… he still hadn’t found a suitable food.
‘And I hadn’t thought of anything specific either.’
The ingredients differed slightly, but they were all night market foods he had tasted at least once before anyway.
To call any of them the best snack was a bit…
‘First, I need to sit down for a bit.’
Lion escaped the crowd and headed for an alley a little away from the night market.
Since it wasn’t a main thoroughfare, not many people gathered here.
“Phew.”
As the clamorous noise of the night market drifted past the back of his head, a peaceful quiet settled in.
And then, right before Lion’s eyes…
“Hmm?”
A street vendor’s stall caught his eye, with this and that spread out on a straw mat.
What had precisely caught his eye was exactly that ‘this and that.’
“Care to try a candied flower petal?”
When their eyes met, the merchant smiled and held up a bottle, shaking it.
As if mesmerized, Lion reached out his hand, and the old merchant grinned and handed him a single sugar-preserved blossom.
[Soft Rose Preserve]
-A sugar preserve made by selecting only those rose petals that are especially soft and fragrant.
-Isn’t this quality too high for a night market?
-The scent of roses and sweetness harmonize well.
Lion did not consume the rose preserve right away. He held it in his hand and quietly studied its shape for a moment.
A flower preserved in sugar.
“…Ah.”
In an instant, a snack flickered up in Lion’s mind.
Candied Fruit.
How could he have forgotten that?