Spicy Stir-Fried Pork
The Black Guild, which had been running the supply base on the 10th Floor, was torn to pieces.
The news sent shockwaves through the Tower.
However furious the hunters were that the Black Guild had tried to plunder the convenience store, the guild—on the receiving end of the attack—had no intention of supplying them any longer. By all rights, the hunters should have been stuck at the bottom, stamping their feet, unable to climb without rations.
Contrary to every expectation, that never happened.
"Yes. Five grams."
"Thank you!"
Working the register had become an ordinary part of the day. The hunters packed the store so full that the line spilled out the door, and they no longer set foot in the Black Guild's supply base. They resupplied at the convenience store instead.
They had never liked the guild to begin with. It jacked up its prices at the slightest excuse, and there had never been any real goodwill between them.
Thanks to that, I've piled up a decent heap of magic stones.
The commission he would have to pay hunters to escape the Tower was already fully saved. These days, even watching the stones stack higher stirred nothing in him.
Dohyun glanced around. Hunters sat with happy faces, eating kimbap and kimchi stew—but behind those smiles, he was sure, deep shadows lingered.
So many people die climbing the Tower.
Hunters made good money, and the work was every bit as dangerous as the pay suggested. It was a relief they could at least rest easy here. The thought made him feel a little sorry for them: unlike him, they had to stake their lives just to earn magic stones.
Hmm. Isn't there some way I can help them more?
Still turning it over, Dohyun looked at the shelves.
Kimbap is nutritious enough, but it's really closer to a quick snack, and the kimchi stew is just a meal kit. It all feels a little thin...
He wanted to give them a heartier meal. After worrying over it for a long while, he scanned the product list—and before long, he found exactly the right thing.
"Ah, I want to get to that convenience store and eat some kimbap already."
Kim Minjun smacked his lips. He had stopped by the store not long ago while climbing the 10th Floor, and the rumors had been right: it was a promised land, selling every kind of fresh food. He had resupplied there for cheap, finished his climb, and was now on his way back down the Tower.
Having descended to the 10th Floor, he was walking through the heart of the forest.
"Hang in there just a little longer. We'll be there soon."
The vice-captain, serving as their guide, said it as he walked ahead.
"I know. But the 11th Floor was brutal."
"That it was. Ah—we've arrived. Just past those bushes."
"Yeah? All right. Let's put some strength into it."
Minjun cinched the pack strap he had left hanging loose, and before long the convenience store came into view. It was packed. Hunters stood in a line that stretched all the way outside, just to pay.
"Something's... there are even more people than before, aren't there?"
"Looks that way."
Eyeing the line in puzzlement, Minjun and his party stepped inside. He headed for the kimbap corner as usual, reached out to grab a roll—and froze with his hand still in the air.
"Captain? What's wrong?"
The vice-captain asked from behind, baffled, but Minjun couldn't answer.
"Th-this is..."
A new product sat above the kimbap corner.
"What on earth did you see that—"
Unable to stand the curiosity, the vice-captain poked his head out from behind Minjun and froze solid.
"S-spicy stir-fried pork!?"
And not just any spicy stir-fried pork. It was a full lunchbox, rice and side dishes packed in with it.
"What? Spicy stir-fried pork? For real?"
"A-a lunchbox? Don't tell me they can even supply lunchboxes?"
"Kimchi, rice, lettuce, a fried egg... every side dish that ought to be there is in there!"
The squad members who saw it next cried out in shock, and the whole party froze where they stood.
With a trembling hand, Minjun picked up a spicy stir-fried pork lunchbox and brought it right up to his nose. He half expected the sour reek of something gone bad. There was none. If anything, a sharp, spicy aroma leaked through the packaging and left his head spinning.
Shaking, he carried the lunchbox to the register.
"Ten grams of magic stones."
He was already turning, ready to make straight for the microwave, when a man beside him caught his arm.
"Hey. You've got to wait in line properly."
"Huh? Ah..."
Only then did Minjun come back to himself. He stepped outside to join the line.
I didn't get a proper look earlier, but now that I see it...
The long line outside the store—every single person in it was holding a spicy stir-fried pork lunchbox. They were all standing there for one reason: to heat it in the microwave.
"Ugh... I can't take it. When is this line going to shrink?"
"Just wait a little. A lunchbox like this only tastes right after a spin in the microwave."
"I know that, but..."
Every face was flushed with excitement.
They have enough stock to hand lunchboxes out to this many hunters?
He had already known the store's supply was enormous, but he couldn't help being impressed. Minjun quietly took his place at the very back, and the vice-captain and the squad members came up behind him, lunchboxes in hand.
"Captain! That's too much! Getting in line all by yourself!"
"Huh? Ah... sorry. I saw the spicy stir-fried pork lunchbox and lost my head for a second."
Minjun offered the excuse sheepishly under the vice-captain's scolding, but it didn't last.
"Vice-Captain. Weren't you about to leave us behind and go ahead yourself?"
"Ahem. Ahem. That was without thinking..."
At the squad's words, the vice-captain deflated too.
How long they waited in that line, none of them could have said.
Ah, I want to eat already.
When is it going to be my turn?
Hearts racing, they grew more impatient by the minute as the line refused to shrink—and then a man standing somewhere in the middle suddenly broke ranks.
"Aaaagh! I can't take it anymore!"
He dropped into a seat at a table outside the store and tore the packaging open in a flash.
"Th-that guy..."
"Even so, he couldn't hold back..."
The hunters who had been waiting forever to heat their spicy stir-fried pork murmured among themselves. Then—
He snatched up the pork with his chopsticks and all but inhaled it.
"Th-this taste...!"
The hunter's eyes flew wide.
"Yes... this is it... this is the taste I was hoping for!"
He piled the spicy stir-fried pork onto the rice and ate them together.
Gulp.
Turned, against their will, into the audience of a spicy-pork mukbang, the hunters had no choice but to swallow. Minjun was no exception.
If you wrap that in lettuce with rice and kimchi and the spicy pork...
As if he had read Minjun's mind, the hunter laid rice on a leaf of lettuce.
"Rice on top..."
Kimchi and spicy stir-fried pork went on after it. He wrapped the bundle carefully with his chopsticks and stuffed it into his mouth, then closed his eyes, savored what he had, and let out a long breath toward the empty air.
"Haa..."
That single sigh stoked the hunters' appetites more than a hundred words could have.
"C-Captain...!"
The vice-captain turned desperate eyes on Minjun.
"L-lunchboxes get eaten cold sometimes, don't they? So..."
"No! No matter what, you do not eat spicy stir-fried pork cold! That's a whole ten grams of magic stones. We are not wasting it!"
"That's true, but..."
"Endure it. Just a little longer."
Minjun looked back at his squad. Every one of them was grinding his teeth, barely holding down the urge to bolt. Even so, in the Tower a captain's word was absolute, and fortunately none of them broke from the line.
At last, Minjun's turn came. He set the microwave for two minutes, just as the packaging said.
One minute fifty seconds.
One minute forty-eight.
Time crawled.
Please, just go faster.
He glared at the microwave with bloodshot eyes.
Beep. Beep!
The instant it chimed, he yanked the lunchbox out and carried it to a table. The packaging came off at once. Chopsticks trembling, he lifted a piece of spicy stir-fried pork to his mouth, closed his eyes, and savored it—a chewy bite, laced with spicy seasoned sauce. His mind went blank.
Ah... to think this is food you can eat in the Tower...
The hunters around him were no different.
"Damn it. After eating this, how am I supposed to go back to that cursed hardtack and jerky on the upper floors?"
"Isn't there some way to take this with us when we climb...?"
"Idiot. It'll spoil halfway, obviously. This is a special meal you can only eat at the convenience store!"
"Manager! Thank you! For opening a convenience store for us!"
Amid the uproar, one hunter even bowed at the waist to the manager.
Then the vice-captain sat down at the table beside Minjun.
"Ah, Vice-Captain! This spicy stir-fried pork is really—"
Minjun froze mid-praise. The vice-captain had brought more than a lunchbox. He had instant rice as well. He dumped the lunchbox rice in with it, then mixed in the spicy stir-fried pork.
A-a spicy pork rice bowl!?
Sensing the stare, the vice-captain turned and grinned.
"Captain. That's why you shouldn't have gone ahead and left us behind. I've already told the others to each buy a pack of instant rice."
He scooped up a spoonful of the pork rice bowl he had made and brought it to his mouth. Minjun could only stare at him, dazed.