The Little Boss's Special Bibimbap
Seia's expression was one of pure, indescribable joy.
After all, she had poured the most care into the bibimbap.
“Daddy.”
Seia called out to Jungwoo in her tiny voice.
Jungwoo, who had been tidying up in the kitchen, turned to look at her.
“It’s deeeelicious!”
Though Seia still spoke in that small voice, it was loud enough for the customers to hear—or so Jungwoo thought.
And just as he expected, Ye-eun was listening to every word.
Did she think no one would notice?
Setting aside the fact that she was an S-class Hunter, even an ordinary person could have picked up on it with just a little focus.
She could have been even prouder. She could have asked directly if it tasted good.
Ding-a-ling.
Just then, the sound of the door opening echoed through Seona's Restaurant.
It was the familiar chime announcing the arrival of new guests.
“I told you this place is good.”
“Seona's Restaurant? Never seen it before.”
“What’s with that sandwich board out front? Looks like a kid wrote it.”
Three men walked in, chatting among themselves.
“Welcome!”
Seia’s bright voice rang out first. The man leading the group smiled warmly and waved at her.
“You’re back again?”
“That’s right. This time I brought my friends along.”
It was the very first customer—the man who had visited the evening before the official opening.
He had been Jungwoo and Seia’s first guest, and the first person to interact with them through the serving window.
And now he had brought his friends to Seona's Restaurant.
“Can we sit over there?”
“Yes!”
Thanks to Seia’s energetic reply, the two men who were visiting for the first time began murmuring excitedly.
“There really is a kid here?”
“She’s so cute. How can someone be that adorable?”
While their admiration continued nonstop, the men still moved to find their seats.
“The menu is… huh?”
“What? What is it?”
“Uh… um…”
What had caught their eyes was none other than Ye-eun, happily eating her bibimbap.
Seong Ye-eun, the Hunter.
One of the very few S-class Hunters in South Korea, and widely regarded as the strongest among them.
She had solo-cleared dozens of Gates, yet despite belonging to Park Geon-su’s guild—another S-class Hunter—she rarely made public appearances outside of Gate subjugations.
Her stunning beauty had only heightened public interest in her, but Ye-eun had never once appeared on television or in any media.
Because of that, she was practically the only S-class Hunter that only those in the know recognized.
From the outside, she simply looked like a delicate young woman.
But unfortunately for them, these three men knew exactly who she was.
“……”
Ye-eun couldn’t possibly miss their stares.
She paused mid-bite, spoon still in hand, and fixed them with a steady gaze.
A look that clearly said: Be quiet.
A look that said: Even if you know who I am, pretend you don’t.
They didn’t know the exact reason, but anyone with enough sense to miss that signal wouldn’t have survived long in a world crawling with Hunters.
“Nice weather we’re having, huh?”
“Y-yeah. Let’s sit down first.”
“How about over there?”
The most secluded corner of the restaurant.
If Ye-eun’s seat was the best spot in the house, the one they chose could hardly be called prime real estate.
Yet all three were in perfect agreement.
Once they were seated, Seia approached to take their order.
“You can order from Seia!”
“Haha, alright. Can you wait just a moment?”
“Okay!”
The eyes of the two friends he had brought were already filled with affection.
Even that simple reply carried the warmth of it.
Good thing I brought them.
Neither of his friends was married yet.
The same went for him, but in truth, none of them had ever really considered marriage.
Becoming a Hunter means you earn a lot of money.
That statement was only half true.
Everyone’s abilities were different. Some were perfectly suited for Gate subjugation, while others had powers that felt almost useless.
Even if you were specialized for combat, if your magic power was too low, clearing high-rank Gates became impossible.
The man and his two friends fell into a similar category.
Their abilities themselves weren’t bad.
The amount of magic power they possessed wasn’t particularly low either.
But subjugation was an act that required risking your life every single time.
It came with what was essentially a life insurance premium.
Just looking at their faces made that clear.
The large and small scars etched across their skin were proof of the brutal world they had fought their way through.
Living alone might be comfortable and leisurely enough.
But taking responsibility for someone else felt like too heavy a burden.
Since every moment carried the risk of death, the danger could never be ignored.
So at first they had given up on marriage. As time passed, they had simply grown used to their current lives.
But today, something was beginning to shift in their hearts.
What if there was a little boss like her waiting at home?
The feeling of solitude that greeted them every time they returned home brought them comfort and peace, but that didn’t necessarily mean it brought happiness.
“Could we get three bibimbaps, please?”
“Yes!”
They had seen the sandwich board that said everything was handmade.
Just how good would it taste?
Since their friend—the one who had dragged them here—said it was delicious, at the very least the basics should be solid.
“…I kind of want to get married.”
“Weren’t you just saying yesterday how great it is to live alone?”
“Look at that little girl. How could you not think that?”
“Well, that’s true. I was starting to feel the same way.”
“By the way… what is Seong Ye-eun doing here?”
“Hey, she might hear you.”
There was no way an S-class Hunter would miss their conversation, but voicing a simple question couldn’t hurt, right?
“She’s probably just here to eat.”
“Well, it is a restaurant.”
“See? I told you this place is good. The first thing I had was stir-fried pork, and the little boss personally wrapped it in lettuce for me.”
“What? She did?”
“Why would she wrap it for you…”
Their eyes were filled with envy.
Yes. This was it.
He knew they would be jealous.
It felt like a victory.
It might seem childish, but the fact that Seia had personally wrapped the ssam for him somehow felt like an enormous accomplishment worth bragging about.
And, as they all knew, Ye-eun was listening to the entire conversation.
At first, when she heard her name, she had listened out of curiosity.
There was nothing particularly important being said, so she had been about to tune them out—until the topic turned to Seia. After that, she simply couldn’t.
The little boss personally wrapped it in lettuce for me.
She couldn’t ignore those words.
She still didn’t quite understand why she couldn’t brush them off, but the sentence kept echoing in her head.
She wrapped it… and gave it to him?
The man had brought it up because he wanted his friends to envy him.
But that envy had unknowingly extended to Ye-eun as well.
She didn’t understand why it felt so bitter.
Was the child named Seia really that important?
A girl who was essentially a complete stranger.
Honestly, she just didn’t know.
“Daddy. This looks like it’s not enough.”
“Really? Should Seia try making more like before?”
Ye-eun simply focused on the voices drifting from the kitchen.
An ordinary, unremarkable conversation.
Something’s missing.
Let’s make this.
The way they slowly filled in each other’s shortcomings one by one was beautiful.
Other people envied S-class Hunters.
Because they were strong.
Because they had what others didn’t.
But Ye-eun, an S-class Hunter herself, found herself envying that ordinary father and daughter.
Because there were things you could only enjoy when you didn’t have power.
The mountain of bibimbap that had looked so enormous slowly disappeared, spoonful by spoonful, as she listened to the conversations floating through the restaurant.
Just then, it sounded like Jungwoo had finished everything in the kitchen. She heard Seia exclaim “All done!” as she admired her creation.
“Oh… our Seia is getting better and better.”
“Hehe, Seia’s good now, right?”
“Yes, you’re really good. Almost as good as Daddy.”
For Seia, that was the highest praise.
Because to her, Daddy had always been the best.
Three perfectly finished bibimbaps.
Since the tray wasn’t big enough to hold all of them, Jungwoo transferred the bibimbap onto it first.
Then he gave Seia a special task of her own.
He placed the small bowls containing the seasoning sauce and sesame oil on a plate and entrusted her with the monumental duty of serving it directly to the customers.
Until now, the only thing Seia had ever served was water.
Even then, Jungwoo had only allowed it because the cups were unbreakable. If they had been glass, he would never have permitted it.
“Hoo…”
Did she understand the weight of the responsibility?
As Seia stared at the six small bowls arranged on the plate, her eyes burned with determination.
The plate wasn’t actually that large, but when she lifted it with all her strength, it looked wider than her tiny shoulders.
“Seia, do you think you can do it?”
“Yes! Seia can do it!”
She carefully lowered the plate to chest height and followed behind Jungwoo.
“Be careful here. There’s a small step when you come out of the kitchen.”
The kitchen and the dining area needed to be slightly separated like this.
He had wanted to remove the step for Seia’s sake, but for hygiene reasons, that small threshold was necessary.
Worried that the plate might block her view, he warned her in advance. Seia nodded and tapped the floor a few times with her foot.
Once she found the step, she stepped over it with confident energy.
“Here is your ordered bibimbap. There’s also soup—I’ll bring it right away.”
“Thank you.”
“Here are the seasoning bowls too!”
“Oh my, let me take that for you.”
“Thank you!”
The customer who accepted the plate from Seia smiled warmly, placed the seasoning bowls in front of each person, and handed the empty plate back to her.
“We’ll enjoy it.”
“Yes! Seia helped make it too!”
“Your name is Seia? What a pretty name.”
“Hehe, thank you!”
While Seia monopolized the customers’ affection, Jungwoo brought out bowls of miyeokguk seaweed soup.
“Please enjoy your meal.”
“Enjoy your meeeal!”
Soon the father and daughter returned to the kitchen, and the customers stared at their bibimbap with surprised expressions.
“It looks way more high-end than I expected.”
“Yeah. You can tell they put a lot of care into it.”
“That’s the charm of this place.”
In an ordinary-looking restaurant, dishes filled with sincere effort appeared.
At first glance, the food might seem focused only on appearance, but whether it was purely superficial or filled with thoughtful consideration was something only the person eating it could feel.
And in this case, it was clearly the latter.
“The taste is great too.”
“It really is. Tastes like the old days. Like what I ate as a kid.”
“That’s one of the good things about it. It brings back things you thought you’d forgotten.”
It could be good or bad, but the important thing was this: if the memories that surfaced here were happy ones, they brought a warm smile. If they were painful or sad, the feeling was like receiving comfort. That was what mattered most.
That was why it was both ordinary and special.
Seona's Restaurant.