Faster Than the Eye Can See
A plain-looking, ordinary man tried to snatch the glass bottle. But his movement was far from ordinary.
"Dragon Claw Hand!"
At Seonwoo Seol's shout, I had no choice but to act first.
"Not on my watch, punk!"
*Smack!*
Slapping his hand away, I snatched the glass bottle with my other hand.
"...!"
The man's face filled with sheer panic, and he immediately tried to bolt. But—
*Thud!*
Man Hanseok, who seemed to have caught on to what Seonwoo Seol and I were doing, blocked the ice house door. The fleeing man ended up slamming face-first into Hanseok's massive chest.
"You shall not pass!"
"G-get out of the way! Move!"
The man yelled in panic, reaching behind his back for something. Right then—
*Smack! Bam!*
"...?"
"...?"
Seonwoo Seol and I locked eyes. Standing on either side of the man, we had both thrown a punch at his face at the exact same time.
Talk about telepathy.
The man's face looked like a shrimp caught between two whale fists. Having taken two clean, heavy blows straight to the jaw, he must have been absolutely thrilled, because his eyes rolled back instantly and he passed out cold on his feet.
"I can't believe the Murim Alliance's security is this lax..." Seonwoo Seol clicked her tongue and shook her head.
Coming from someone who sneaked in using disguise techniques, that was rich. At any rate, looking at the unconscious man's waist, I saw a small dagger tucked into his belt. It was much smaller than a standard dagger, but definitely large enough to send someone to the afterlife if plunged into the heart.
"My lady, you keep this glass bottle. Hanseok, block the entrance and make sure no one gets in. Yeongji, stay with my lady."
This was no time for banter. There might be other accomplices lurking around. Leaving the ice house to the three of them, I rushed outside.
"Is everyone alr—"
I had run out to protect the Murim Alliance chefs, but... Outside the ice house, the chefs were already brandishing kitchen knives and various utensils, pointing them at the delivery men. The delivery men had their hands raised high, trembling in fear.
"Move and I'll stick you!"
At one chef's shout, I immediately understood the situation. Ah, the tension evaporated instantly. I guess since this was the Murim Alliance kitchen, everyone possessed a decent amount of righteous spirit. Is this chef self-determination instead of national self-determination?
As I let out a dry chuckle and looked at one of the men, the oldest-looking one among them cried out, "We surrender! We surrender!"
They didn't seem to know what was going on, but with a bunch of chefs pointing knives at them, they had panicked. Well, I'd raise my hands too if I were them.
"Chef Ung, are you here?"
"Yes? Yes! I'm here!"
When I called out to Ung Jin, who was the most approachable, he came running over, clutching a thin metal skewer used for roasting meat. Why a skewer of all things, not even a knife?
"Go fetch the guards. Someone who can take responsibility for this."
"Y-yes, sir!"
As I scanned the surroundings, I noticed Cafeteria Master Dong Gyeongdo clutching his stomach, casting cautious glances around. Ugh, as the Cafeteria Master, shouldn't he step up and shout, 'I'll go get them!' or something? Should I just smack him? In any case, Ung Jin returned shortly with a martial artist, just as I had asked.
"I am Geum Miyeong, Leader of the White Ape Unit."
And a unit leader, no less. Unit Leader Geum Miyeong, who had a sharp impression, scanned the area before turning to me.
"You are the Three-Virtue Chef from the Mutual Righteousness Academy, correct? May I ask why you summoned our White Ape Unit?"
"My lady! Bring that glass bottle from earlier!"
At my shout, Seonwoo Seol trotted over and handed me the bottle. Passing it to Geum Miyeong, I immediately began my explanation.
"Some time ago, an unfortunate incident occurred at the Mutual Righteousness Academy. A glass bottle identical to the one found at that scene was just discovered here. Specifically, inside one of the ingredient crates these delivery men were carrying."
"An unfortunate incident... What are you referring to?"
"When the Drunken King, the great devil of Northern Yuan, was discovered near the academy."
At the mention of a 'great devil,' Unit Leader Geum Miyeong and the other chefs gasped in shock. The delivery men with their hands raised looked equally terrified.
"W-we have nothing to do with any great devil! We swear!"
Ignoring the man's desperate plea, Geum Miyeong shook her head and placed her thumb and index finger in her mouth. What was she doing?
*Pweeeeet!*
It turned out she was blowing a whistle. As the shrill sound echoed, countless light footsteps approached from all directions. Soon, a crowd of female martial artists poured into the kitchen. Though their individual auras varied, they entered in an orderly fashion, and one of them bowed.
"You called, Unit Leader?"
"Take those with their hands raised to the Law Enforcement Hall."
While the White Ape Unit members dragged the delivery men away under Geum Miyeong's orders, she turned back to me.
"Do you have any other glass bottles besides the one you are holding?"
"The other one should be in my luggage."
"It would be best if you came to the Law Enforcement Hall in a short while. If what you say is true, Three-Virtue Chef, this is bound to become a massive issue."
Ah, but I wanted to roast some eggplants... It felt like I had gotten tangled up in something incredibly troublesome.
Whatever that glass bottle was, I always kept it in my pouch of valuables, so I had managed to bring it along this time too.
"..."
I had completely forgotten about it because I found it alongside the treasure map. Normally, I should have handed it over to the Murim Alliance investigation team when they visited the Hyeondong Merchant Guild.
To testify for this incident, I headed to the Law Enforcement Hall of the Murim Alliance along with the other three.
*Gulp.*
Seonwoo Seol swallowed hard, staring ahead with an anxious expression. Normally, I would have teased her for being a scaredy-cat, but this time, even I was slightly terrified. The dreary pavilion looming before us was none other than the Law Enforcement Hall—the place where those who opposed the Murim Alliance were dragged and ruthlessly tortured. In modern Korean terms, it played the exact same role as "that place" in Namsan. Since the Law Enforcement Hall also dealt with criminals within the Alliance, intermittent screams could still be heard echoing from inside.
*Aaaargh...!*
"We'll be fine, right...?"
Another scream echoed from somewhere. For Seonwoo Seol, who had more than a few skeletons in her closet, it was only natural to be terrified.
"We didn't commit any crimes. If anything, we deserve a reward. Let's not get scared beforehand."
"That's easy for you to say, but your legs are shaking a bit too, Chef Yoon."
"It's just your imagination. Your imagination."
This felt exactly like the first time I went to a police station to sue some troll who left malicious comments on my social media food posts. That bizarre feeling of being terrified even though you did absolutely nothing wrong. Man Hanseok looked as stoic as ever, but Gongson Yeongji was gripping Seonwoo Seol's and my hands so tightly her palms were sweating. She was clearly petrified.
As we stepped inside the Law Enforcement Hall, a man with a gloomy face greeted us.
"What brings you here...?"
"Eek!"
Gongson Yeongji let out a small squeak and clung tightly to Seonwoo Seol. The man nodded, looking as if he fully understood her reaction. I guess he knew he looked terrifying.
"I am the Three-Virtue Chef, Yoon Gomyung. We are here regarding the incident that occurred in the kitchen."
"This way, please..."
His skin was so pale and cool-toned that he looked like the Grim Reaper himself. He certainly fit the part of a Law Enforcement Hall guard.
The guard who guided us to the room vanished into thin air the moment we sat down. In his place, a sharp, businesslike middle-aged woman entered. Sitting down, she looked back and forth between Seonwoo Seol and me before introducing herself in a crisp, clear voice.
"I am from the Medical Hall."
The Medical Hall? While my eyes widened at the unexpected department, the woman got straight to the point, completely unbothered.
"You mentioned that the glass bottle found at the estate of the Hyeondong Merchant Group's Poeun Branch is identical to the one found today?"
"Ah, yes. Glass bottles aren't exactly common in the Central Plains. Especially ones that are so transparent and clean."
"By any chance, have you smelled or tasted the liquid inside the bottle?"
"No, not at all. To be honest, I had completely forgotten about its existence until today."
The woman nodded and replied in a grave tone, "The Medical Hall has conducted a preliminary test... and it appears to be a colorless, odorless poison that doesn't even react to silver needles."
"Excuse me? Poison?"
"And an extremely lethal one at that."
I gently slid the glass bottle I was still holding toward her. "Then, could this one also...?"
"If the bottles were manufactured in the same place, there is a high probability. Though we will have to test it to be sure," she replied, taking the bottle from my hand.
Poison. At the mention of a colorless, odorless, and silver-needle-undetectable lethal poison, everyone's faces stiffened. If Man Hanseok hadn't discovered him, that deadly poison might have been sprinkled all over the ingredients in the ice house. A major catastrophe could have occurred right before the grand conference.
"Has the poison been identified?"
"We are currently cross-referencing the Medical Hall's records on colorless, odorless poisons, but we haven't identified the exact type yet. Fortunately, the Poison Dragon is currently staying at the Murim Alliance, so we plan to seek his expertise."
Finding out whether poison was present wasn't too difficult, but identifying the exact type was a completely different story.
"Has the guy we beat up spilled any information yet?"
"That is not under my jurisdiction, so I am not sure... But given the gravity of the situation, they should get answers soon."
Well, it had barely been two hours since the incident, so it made sense she didn't know. Nothing could be done about that.
The middle-aged woman asked a few more questions, such as how the man had approached us and how we had discovered the bottle. Naturally, we gave her a detailed account, including the fact that the man had used the Dragon Claw Hand martial art. After about half an hour had passed, she stood up from her seat.
"You may return to your quarters now. Thank you for your cooperation."
Cold sweat was running down my back. Why did I sweat so much when I hadn't even done anything wrong? It seemed I wasn't the only one, though. Seonwoo Seol, tense as a bowstring, kept wetting her lips, while Man Hanseok wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. Gongson Yeongji silently leaned her head against Seonwoo Seol's side. Seriously, how many people had to suffer because of that one guy?
"By the way, will the conference proceed as scheduled?"
"I cannot say for certain, but I imagine they will tighten the security guards and station more skilled physicians."
If the conference proceeded normally, it meant the banquet would too, so my schedule remained unchanged. Then again, this incident might give the Murim Alliance Leader a perfect excuse to declare something like, 'The names of those who threaten the Alliance are in my hands!' which would be a good thing.
As we stepped out of the Law Enforcement Hall with complex emotions swirling in our minds, another scream echoed through the air.
*Aaaargh...!*
It was a deeply agonizing scream, but Seonwoo Seol, whom I expected to grimace, turned to me with a perfectly nonchalant expression.
"Do you think that's the guy who tried to smuggle the poison into the ice house?"
"I'm not sure, but there's a decent chance."
"I hope it is."
"Why's that?"
"He made us go to the Law Enforcement Hall, so he deserves to suffer at least that much pain."
With those words, Seonwoo Seol clenched her fists. This wasn't just an eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth Hammurabi Code level; it felt more like a certain Japanese banker's philosophy: if you mess with me, I'll return it tenfold. It was a bit chilling, but completely understandable. Clasping my hands behind my back, I spoke to her.
"Let's drop the grim talk in front of the kids and go eat that roasted eggplant I mentioned earlier."
When you're feeling down, there's nothing better than eating. Autumn eggplants with concentrated nutrients are delicious, but summer eggplants, which grow rapidly under the blazing sun, are also at their peak flavor. At my words, Seonwoo Seol tilted her head.
"Isn't the ice house off-limits for the time being?"
"We can always make more jeho for the banquet, and the batch I set aside earlier is sitting safely in a corner of the kitchen, so we're good."
Jeho. That was the term in the Central Plains, but in modern Korean, it was cheese. If you heat water buffalo milk and splash a bit of vinegar into it, the curds—looking much like ground soybean dregs—separate from the whey. After squeezing the whey out of the curds, you heat it again, squeeze it, and repeat the process while stretching it out. This is how the mozzarella cheese we all know is made.
"..."
How on earth did foreigners figure out this method? It was truly fascinating. At any rate, while the ice house was temporarily closed to check for any potential poison, the cheese I had brought out with me was perfectly fine to use.
While the three of them waited in the dining hall, I walked into the kitchen carrying the cheese and the rest of the ingredients.
"Three-Virtue Chef?"
The chef who had received my nagging disguised as advice during lunch—right when Dong Gyeongdo was being carried away—greeted me warmly. Seeing how he welcomed me after only a couple of meetings, it seemed I had a pretty good reputation among the other chefs, excluding Dong Gyeongdo. Yes, this was how it should be.
"I'd like to do a quick rehearsal for the banquet. Would it be alright if I used the kitchen?"
"Of course! Please, go ahead!"
Just like a royal inspector's medallion, the word 'banquet' granted me absolute authority to do whatever I wanted in the kitchen. Ah, power really is intoxicating.
Tying my apron back on, I gathered some plump eggplants and sliced them in half lengthwise. Next, I scooped out the flesh with a spoon, taking care not to hollow them out too much. Then, I took some bitter melon that had been salted briefly to remove its bitterness, mixed it with minced stir-fried beef, finely chopped tomatoes, minced garlic, and a pinch of salt, and stuffed the mixture into the hollowed-out eggplants. Dusting the inside of the eggplants with a bit of starch powder beforehand helped keep the filling from sliding out. Finally, just as I was about to sprinkle the mozzarella cheese on top—
"..."
"Whoa, you startled me!"
Gongson Yeongji was standing quietly behind me, watching me cook with wide, sparkling eyes.
"What's wrong? Did something happen?"
"No... I just wanted to watch you cook, Chef Yoon..."
"Oh, is that all? Watch as much as you like."
She really was adorable. I tore the soft cheese into strips and gently layered them over the stuffed eggplants. Now, all that was left was to bake them in the large stone oven.
While lighting the fire and waiting for the oven to heat up, Gongson Yeongji asked, "Aren't you... angry?"
"At whom?"
"The Cafeteria Master..."
"Anger only works on people who actually listen."
There was no point in getting genuinely angry at a guy who accused a guest personally invited by the Murim Alliance of 'trying to steal his job.'
"Honestly, he just seems like a pitiful guy."
"So you're going to ignore him...?"
"Well, who knows? If he apologizes first, I might accept it. But do you think a guy like him would apologize first? I highly doubt it."
Even if he did apologize, it would probably be due to external pressure. Which would actually suit me just fine.
With those words, I slid the eggplants into the oven, which had reached the perfect temperature. Less than fifteen minutes later, I pulled out the beautifully golden-brown eggplants and placed them on a plate.
"Wow..."
Gongson Yeongji gasped in awe. The eggplants were perfectly tender and roasted to perfection, and the white mozzarella cheese blanketing the top had melted beautifully, releasing a rich, savory aroma.
"Looks delicious, doesn't it?"
"Yes..."
"Let's go eat before it gets cold."
A perfectly roasted eggplant dish—now this was something you absolutely couldn't resist.