Eat Well on the Road

"Japan wrapped up better than I expected. Goddess Solari's grace, truly."

Jeolji-ah had been riding without rest, his motorcycle carrying him across the length of the Alliance. From what had once been Korea all the way through Japan, he had already persuaded more District Overseers — and more ordinary people — than his original plan had ever called for.

It was a little embarrassing to admit, but his own name still carried enough weight that the work had not been especially hard.

"Now through China and on to Russia... hm?"

A prickling gaze touched the back of his neck. Jeolji-ah flicked his eyes to the rearview mirror.

Sure enough, black sedans and riders on motorcycles were closing hard behind him. One look was enough. He was the target.

"Heh heh heh... All that driving's left me stiff. Perfect timing."

The tires screamed as he locked the brakes and eased his beloved bike onto the shoulder. It was night, and the road was empty. He stepped out into the middle of the lane as if he owned it.

"You've come an awfully long way. What business could you possibly have with an old man like me?"

The pursuers exchanged a few words among themselves. The motorcycles peeled off, and the sedans surged forward, picking up speed. They meant to run him down.

The sun had nearly slipped under the horizon, and the headlights swept across him in a hard white glare. Jeolji-ah did not so much as blink. He simply walked toward them, unhurried.

The interiors were coated so dark that nothing inside was visible, but he could feel what lived in those cabins all the same. Killing intent, aimed at the old man they were about to crush.

Someone buried the accelerator. The engines shrieked as if they meant to tear themselves apart. In a heartbeat the cars were on top of him. Jeolji-ah only chuckled, low and warm, and kept walking.

To anyone watching, it was a contest with only one possible outcome: steel against flesh. The result was nothing of the kind.

The sound that rolled down the highway was not the dull thud of steel hitting a man. It was the ringing, violent crack of steel colliding with steel.

Jeolji-ah won. The instant the lead car struck him, inertia and impact kicked its rear wheels into the air and flipped the whole machine clean over.

"That's quite the rough greeting. Then this retired old man will be the first to show some manners."

He grinned at the faces staring at him in blank disbelief.

Why is my strength overflowing like this?

Jeolji-ah looked down at his own body as if seeing it for the first time. It thrummed, taut and overflowing, as though he had been wound back to his twenties.

What have I eaten lately... Ah!

That nutrition juice — the one they said had Mandrake in it. He had drunk it without a second thought at the time, but looking back, it had come from the Judge's shop. Even if it had been real Mandrake, it would not have been strange in the slightest.

"Hahahaha! Goddess Solari's grace indeed. Thank you, Judge!"

Feeling the vitality surge through him, Jeolji-ah threw his head back and laughed, then charged.

"Fist. Right here!"

Chaerin's punch split the air with a heavy whoom. She had loaded no mana into it. She was not content to lean on the naturally hardened body of an Awakened. This was a fist trained until calluses had set into every knuckle like stone, then proven again and again in real fights.

A straight, smooth as glass and without a hair of wasted motion, uncoiled from her frame.

"Start from the foot, through the knee, turn the hip, and let it travel naturally — shoulder, elbow, and last of all the fist."

Samsaek, watching from the side with Karen, tipped his head.

"Master. Do human schools actually teach that in PE?"

"No. Not in my day, at least. If they had, most monsters would've turned around and run."

Forward rolls, dodgeball, soccer, basketball. That was about the size of it.

"That's it! But here you need to draw the back foot a little farther."

Ellie might have been hopeless at math, but she had a gift for anything that used the body. Praise kept spilling out of Chaerin, and from where Karen stood it did not sound like she was simply trying to boost the girl's confidence.

That height, though, is a little... problematic.

Ellie was throwing the same punch straight ahead, but she was still small. The blow looked liable to land somewhere rather critical. Karen pictured the silhouette of an adult man standing in front of her and confirmed it at once. Chaerin was building herself a living weapon.

"Like this?"

"That's it! Our Ellie is doing so well. Karen! Did you see that?"

"...She's doing well."

Ellie's face lit up at the praise, and whatever Karen had been about to add went right back down his throat. It was not as if she would ever use that punch on him anyway.

A watch alarm chirped.

"Huh? It's over already?"

"I wish it wasn't."

Ellie looked down at the watch on her wrist with the same faint disappointment. Of every subject, PE was the one she loved most. Chaerin made it fun, yes — but more than that, every time she moved her body something in her chest went light and clear, and that feeling had won her over completely.

"You probably shouldn't let Director Kang hear you say that."

Chaerin's teasing made Ellie flinch. She whipped her head around, checking in a hurry to be sure the man himself was nowhere in sight.

"Of course! I like all of it! Math is... a little hard, though."

"Yeah. Studying's hard. I only ever did sports, so I wouldn't know."

Chaerin had been a boxing prospect since she was small, and she had lived more hours in the gym than in a classroom. She had been closer to the coach and the other fighters than to anyone from school.

"Then I'll just do sports too—"

"Not. Happening."

Karen cut her off without a shred of mercy, and Ellie's hopeful expression crumpled on the spot.

"Learning never hurt anybody. Just learn it all for now. What you pick up while you're young, you'll use later."

"Wow... Master."

"What?"

"That just now... never mind. We agreed not to go there."

"Why? Go on, call me an old fogey. You little monster."

"Nnghhh!"

Karen ruffled Samsaek's fur without mercy, and the cat thrashed and rolled. Before he could escape, Karen scooped him into his arms and leaned down to his ear.

"Want another dose of Polymorph Potion? Could double as a diet."

"...I was wrong."

"And when Ellie becomes the Saintess, she'll use all of it. Even if the people under her handle the details, she needs the general picture or the whole organization stalls."

There was a reason the old saying went that you learn so you can pass it on. There was always a reason.

"Uncle, there's no class next week. Is something going on?"

Aside from the weekend, she had lessons every day from Monday through Friday — and next week was a blank. She had asked the teachers, and they had not known either.

"We're going on a field trip."

"Kku-ing, I'm coming too!"

"A field trip? I love that!"

Ellie threw both arms in the air and pressed in close at Karen's side. Whenever the two of them watched school dramas in the living room, there was always a scene of students in uniform heading out on a field trip. She had been waiting for one of her own.

"Where are we going?"

She squirmed in place, too excited to hold still.

"Russia. That secret organization I mentioned before? We're going to acquire it."

"Ellie! Then let's go buy clothes! If you and Karen are going on a trip together, you've got to wear something pretty!"

"Kku-ing, doesn't she already have enough clo—"

The storage room on the second floor had already become Ellie's closet. Samsaek had been about to point that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠out. Chaerin's expressionless face shut him down cold.

"Samsaek. You can never have too many clothes and shoes. There is never anything to wear when you actually need to go out."

And just like that, Chaerin and Ellie were gone. Karen delivered the finishing blow to the dazed cat they had left behind.

"That's why you went hundreds of years without a girlfriend."

"...I had someone who liked me! She was really famous!"

"You don't have one now."

"..."

Time slipped by like water, and the morning of the field trip arrived.

"We'll be off, then!"

"Be careful out there! You too, Karen!"

"Bring back souvenirs!"

Ellie waved brightly from the passenger seat, and the teachers waved back just as hard. With everyone watching, her first field trip at last pulled away from the house.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

In the back seat, Samsaek sat strapped into a travel kennel, the seatbelt locked across it.

"Do I really have to get in this."

"Animals ride safer this way, Samsaek. I looked it up on HunTube."

"Ellie. Master jokes about it all the time, but I am a Spiritual Bea—"

"Ah-ah! Safety comes first!"

Karen glanced at the back seat and barely kept a straight face.

"Master! I can see your whole face, you know!"

"Ahem..."

If he truly got sick of it, he would let himself out. The creature could walk away from a head-on collision with a truck. As far as Karen was concerned, he was just playing along with Ellie.

They left the ordinary roads behind and came to the fork for the expressway — but the navigation had another route in mind.

The road was freely usable only by B-Rank hunters and above, which meant a D-Rank like Karen was ordinarily barred. With the Foundation behind him and Lee Chaerin's guarantee on file, of course, that was a technicality. Karen eased the wheel over and took the ramp.

The system verified the vehicle, a mechanical chime sounded, and the barrier lifted. There was little danger of civilians abusing the privilege. Anyone caught using the Hunter-Exclusive Highway without authorization was sentenced to five years in prison on a first offense — no trial. The punishment was unprecedented because the terror of the gates, and the damage they had done, had been unprecedented too.

A low hum filled the cabin. The engine ran on a mana stone, so pressing the accelerator produced none of the rough growl of an internal combustion engine — only the quiet thrum of a spaceship out of a science-fiction film. Even that sound had been added artificially, for fear of accidents.

"Wow... this car is so nice. The inside is huge, too."

"Master went out of his way to buy a new one just because we're going on a field trip."

"Shut up."

He had been meaning to buy one anyway. The Humvee was too big for the city, and the ride was miserable. He had absolutely not bought it because he was excited about a field trip.

"I'll make sure you don't get bored, Uncle. Samsaek, could you pass me some snacks from the back?"

At Ellie's request, Samsaek hopped from the back seat into the cargo space and came back with an armful of snacks and drinks.

"Kku-eung..."

Ellie grabbed a bag as big as her own face and tried to pull it open from both sides. Whether she lacked the trick of it, or the strength, or both, she only managed a strained little groan.

Her face went red with effort. At last she gave up and tore along the notch the way the bag was designed to open.

"I wanted to try it that way, but I can't. Uncle Minjae said eating it like this has no romance..."

"It's fine. That's just Han Minjae talking nonsense again."

"Really? As long as you're okay with it, Uncle, then I am too."

If the whole world said otherwise, and Uncle said it was right, then it was right. If Uncle liked it, she liked it.

"Urghhh."

Then Ellie ran into a serious problem.

"Too short..."

She tried to pass Karen a snack, but the seat sat low and her arms were not long enough. Even leaning as far as she could, the seatbelt stopped her a few inches short of his mouth.

Letters bloomed across the windshield as if the car itself understood the situation. This was the Hunter-Exclusive Highway; there was not another vehicle in sight. She did not need to struggle. He could eat a snack on his own. The prompt sat in the left-hand corner, where Ellie had not yet seen it.

"Then auto—"

"Nngh!"

Karen closed his mouth. Beside him, someone was putting her whole soul into the effort.

Ellie had her teeth clenched, working the controls to raise her seat and slide it as far toward the driver's side as it would go, grunting with every adjustment.

"You don't have to go that far."

"No! This is what you do from the passenger seat! I heard it's something you absolutely have to do so the driver doesn't get tired!"

"Was that Han Minjae too?"

"Hangil told me this one!"

"..."

What exactly had those two been teaching her?

"All set! Say aah!"

Preparations complete, Ellie popped a snack neatly into Karen's mouth.

"Success!"

In the back, the Spiritual Beast — who had been crunching through his own snacks and watching the whole affair with great interest — clapped his front paws together in delight.

"Next snack! I'll take full responsibility!"

The prompt rose again. Karen dismissed it by hand and shut the notifications off.

The system asked once more. Karen turned the alerts off again without a flicker of hesitation.

As long as the copilot beside him stayed awake, he would not be needing that function anytime soon.

They had been driving for some time when a huge sign rose into view, exactly as the navigation had promised.

"A rest stop! The herbal chicken soup here is famous, and then..."

Paper rustled. Ellie pulled a long sheet from her pocket and began to read.

"Sausage-and-rice-cake skewers, tornado potatoes, walnut pastries, corn dogs, sweet potato sticks, custard cakes, chewy twisted doughnuts..."

Karen glanced at the heading on the paper in her hands. Food You Absolutely Have to Eat at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a Rest Stop ran in a line down the page — and that, it turned out, was only the subtitle. The real title sat above it.

"...Did you write that list yourself?"

"No! Everyone wrote it together!"

"Alright. Let's stop at the rest area, grab something to eat, and take a break."

"Yes! Talking while we watch the cars in front of the rest stop is on here too!"

And sure enough, right where Ellie pointed, the item sat in plain ink.

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"Kku-ing! Thorough. So how many stars does feeding Master snacks get?"

"That one is obviously..."

Every teacher responsible for Ellie had gathered in the cafe with grave faces. They sat her in the center, even unscrewed the whiteboard from the wall, and the briefing began.

"Everyone, I want you to think back to your own school days. Of course this isn't a group trip the way ours were, so just use that as a reference."

True to his years in a major corporation, Director Kang took the lead, and the meeting came to order. Chaerin's hand shot into the air.

"Training! We travel around and challenge every gym we find—"

"Rejected!"

"Why? That's what I did!"

"That is because it was you, Chaerin. It is not typical. Neither Ellie nor Karen has any reason to do such a thing. They are already the strongest there is."

"..."

Director Kang's words landed harder than a punch. Chaerin deflated into the corner on the spot. This time it was Oh Yeongjun, still in his kitchen apron, who spoke up.

"Wouldn't it be better if they just... didn't do anything special?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"You all know Karen's personality. He's not the type who likes making a big production out of things."

"Mm... that's true."

"Yeah."

Everyone nodded, and the agreement put a little steel into Oh Yeongjun's voice.

"Let's just do ordinary things. The small stuff that still sticks with you."

"I like that!"

Even Ellie, the person it actually concerned, was in favor. Director Kang smiled, thoroughly satisfied. Countless meetings had taught him the same lesson: once the theme was set, everything after that ran like a rail.

"Then let's start with the basics. The person in the passenger seat looks after this and that, right?"

"I like that. And even if the Cataclysm shrank the land, there are still rest stops everywhere, aren't there?"

And so the hard-won know-how of the middle-aged was diligently copied down, Ellie nodding along with a pen in her hand, and the list was born.