Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: S0. Modern Civilization Tour Diary - 2
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"Isn't this kimchi a bit too salty and spicy?"
"Gah!!!"
"Y-You're not that kind of character, are you?!"
Who cares about character when it comes to defending the soul of the Korean people? Seizing the moment, I bellowed out a hearty gal!! at the top of my lungs.
Sure, the Magic Tower Master might have medieval fantasy taste buds, but even if she couldn't grasp the profound flavors of Korean cuisine, she had to respect the spirit infused into the cooking, right?
"Th-Then show a little respect for the Violet Magic Tower's hundred-year history...?"
Compared to the Korean people's five-thousand-year legacy, that was like the difference between a scrap of paper and a whole log.
I was the type who generally ignored orders from anyone weaker than me.
"You're acting twice as weird as usual... Ah, this is good."
"Oh, you don't know? That's called doenjang guk."
"...There's nothing weird in this, right?"
My repeated character breaks had her worried that maybe some hallucinogen had been slipped into the food.
But come on, how could virtual reality food conjured by illusion magic contain hallucinogens?
Hmm.
It felt just like being back on Earth, and that put me in a fantastic mood.
Even if it was all just an illusion brought to life by magic.
That's why my energy was sky-high.
It had been nearly twenty years since my sudden isekai reincarnation.
Twenty years of sniffing medieval shit-stink, and now here I was, strolling through a perfectly rendered South Korea.
If that didn't stir your emotions, you weren't human.
There was another reason for my excitement. Korean DNA comes wired with a satisfaction boost from watching babies chow down on food messily.
Double that if it's a foreigner, and with the national pride buff, it triples.
Sure, the Violet Magic Tower Master was older than me, but she looked like a student.
After twenty years of my soul withering away, this national pride rain shower filled my chest with an indescribable fulfillment.
"This is subtly delicious too..."
The Violet Magic Tower Master chewed thoughtfully on her braised short ribs, sliced neatly with fork and knife.
Seeing her savor it so meticulously, I could tell she was nobility through and through.
Nobles are usually gourmets, after all.
Even the unbalanced sight of her cutting into ribs exuded aristocratic elegance.
There was a softness in how her slender fingers gripped the knife.
Just like how an actor's passionate performance on stage captivates you, noble etiquette has this mesmerizing grace that draws in the viewer. It was a pleasure to watch her eat.
So I manipulated the surrounding customers (NPCs) to shower her with praise.
"Whoa, that foreigner... she's eating with such class!"
"Is this what they call refinement? Ugh! Us commoners can never reach that level...!!"
"She looks like a hamster, so cute. Is she maybe a celebrity—like, someone in showbiz who gets tons of public love and admiration?"
As the murmurs of acclaim poured in from around us, the Magic Tower Master's ears warmed to just the right temperature.
Some people dance when praised, others squeak. She was the squeaky type.
Maybe self-conscious now, she amped up her noble act with over-the-top flair, but the golden-haired foreigner who screamed nobility just a minute ago was gone—replaced by a girl hacking away with her knife.
"Whoa, that foreigner... she's hacking away like crazy!"
"I can hear her joints creaking, ugh! Us commoners can never reach that level...!!"
"She looks like a hamster. Is she maybe a hamster—a furry rodent from the muridae family?"
The Magic Tower Master slammed her fork-hand down on the table with a thunk.
"...St-Stop it! That was you, wasn't it?"
"Nope."
"If it wasn't on purpose, why would some random diner next to us suddenly explain a word like 'celebrity' in such detail?!"
She stayed quiet during the praise but piped up to nitpick now—that was so her. Yuna, the Violet Magic Tower Master, was still at an age hungry for compliments.
A TRPG master has to strike the right balance between what they want and the player's demands. My original plan was to show her Korea's landmarks.
If she craved praise, maybe I should up the compliment ratio in future scenes.
So, as she was eating a piece of kimchi and chugging water, I asked,
(Looks like she's really getting into it.)
"If you'd like, next scene could be 'The pheromone power granted to me after falling into another world makes hot guys confess to me for no reason?!'"
The Magic Tower Master snorted water out her nose.
For her honor, I'll skip the gory details.
"Pffft, gyaaah!!"
Choking on food with red pepper powder like kimchi wreaks havoc on your nasal membranes.
Her nose burning, she clutched the bridge and let out a wail close to a kyaaang.
Maybe caught off guard by my out-of-the-blue line, I added an explanation.
"Originally, the theme for this experience was... Yuna's excitement and anxiety upon falling into an unfamiliar world. She'd tour a completely alien civilization, realize how different it is from her own, but also discover the unchanging truths. She'd reaffirm basic human values and return to her original world."
"Cough, cough..."
"But I figured one-sided romance with hot guys from a position of power would satisfy you more."
"Wh-What do you take me for?! We can do that later—do what you want first. You have something you wanna show me, right?"
She didn't deny hating the 'hot guys confessing for no reason' bit and even said to do it later.
Wasn't that a classy after-party request? Music to my ears.
This world had plenty of rough edges. It needed tons of testing, and if she'd play along, even better.
Even setting practicality aside, hanging out with the Magic Tower Master was fun.
I smiled and replied,
"I'm already showing you what I want to. The city that never sleeps, tables laden with every spice imaginable, days amid the smog. What happens on top of it all doesn't matter."
I just needed a friend to share the experience with.
Games are like that too, right?
When recommending a game, how your friend plays isn't the point.
Whether they chase romance or min-max efficiency, it doesn't matter.
What counts is playing the same game together.
I actually hoped the Magic Tower Master would squeeze more fun out of it.
"Anything you're curious about instead? Something else you wanna see in this world?"
"...I'd like to check out a clothing store."
"That's unexpected. You always wear that Magic Tower hood. The seniors and I even bet on how many outfits you own."
For the record, I bet five. She struck me as the type to wear one per weekday and wash them all at once on weekends.
Taking it as a challenge to her femininity, the Magic Tower Master bristled.
"I have normal clothes too, you know?!"
"Then why don't you wear them?"
"'Cause it's embarrassing...!"
Lots to be embarrassed about, I figured.
"Alright, let's go together."
"Um... in your world, do people really wear such, uh, provocative stuff...?"
"Hmm..."
The resources for this illusion magic rendering of Korea come straight from my head.
In other words, I can't create what I don't know or haven't seen.
Hardened by my ex-girlfriend's three-hour hellish shopping wait-training, I know the basics. I have a solid grasp of what constitutes standard women's clothing.
But I wasn't expert enough to fill a massive department store to the brim. So I had to make choices.
Fill the space by copy-pasting the same outfits.
Or plug the gaps with... 'other knowledge'.
I went with the latter. Better to have it and not need it than the opposite.
It was a calculated move too. Department stores overwhelm low-femininity targets with dizziness and confusion. Once disoriented, they beg, 'No more clothes, let's see something else and go.'
Judging by how the Magic Tower Master tossed her everyday socks around willy-nilly, I figured she'd tap out after two floors.
'Clothes from another world are like this, huh...'
And then we'd grab some fried chicken and bail.
But nope.
She powered through six floors—the limit of my 'standard women's clothing' memory. The seventh floor and beyond? Filled with 'non-standard' stuff.
The kind that tugs at a man's heartstrings.
Reverse bunnies, bandage outfits, slingshots, bikinis, feather clumps, you name it.
"Not mainstream stuff. For the bedroom..."
"Pajamas? Even those look uncomfortable on a few..."
"For when you're in the bedroom, two-person tag-team..."
"........."
The Magic Tower Master hung the Santa costume back on the rack.
She finally got why those undies had slits—and what for.
"I'll wait outside."
I made a hasty exit from this minefield where one wrong move equaled sexual harassment.
I stepped out, and about three minutes later, so did the Magic Tower Master.
'I' stepped out, but this world is my illusion magic creation. It's all in my palm—what happens inside is as clear as day.
I pretended not to notice her eagerly inspecting some seriously lewd lingerie.
After that, we tried all sorts of things. I even had her play StarCraft, infused with the soul of Korean folk games.
(She'd studied military strategy before getting disowned from her family, so her skills were no joke.)
We had some haemul pajeon and makgeolli too.
(Couldn't implement intoxication yet, so no buzz.)
Then talk turned to how a magic-less world built such skyscrapers, so I gave a light science crash course.
"So, matter's made of tiny particles... and this Earth is just a speck of dust in the absurdly vast emptiness of space?"
"Yep."
The Magic Tower Master took modern science straight to the chin and went groggy.