Seia's Heartfelt Ssam
The customer, who had begun by carefully savoring each bite, was now devouring the rice with ravenous speed.
The harmony of every dish had reached near perfection.
Food is harmony.
After all, cooking itself is the process and outcome of blending various ingredients from the start, drawing out the very best flavor each one possesses, isn't it?
If eaten separately, one by one, the customer realized it might not compare to the refined offerings of upscale restaurants or those run by renowned hunter chefs.
Yet the spicy-sweet seasoning that perfectly complemented the tender meat, the fiery broth that cut through the richness, and finally the soft, fluffy rolled omelet that gently soothed any lingering heat in the mouth—each element fulfilled its purpose beautifully without undermining the others.
It was happiness.
Somewhere along the way, a meal had stopped being about discovering joy in the subtle act of tasting and had become nothing more than a necessary routine for survival.
Recent advances in science had even produced nutrient pills that delivered everything the body needed in a single dose, complete with a convincing sense of fullness.
“......”
When he finally came back to himself, every last dish set before him had been wiped clean.
“...I’m happy.”
It had been the same ordinary repetition of daily life as always.
Today had flowed on just like any other day, drawing to a close in the usual way.
Yet the Seona’s Restaurant he had wandered into as if under a spell had transformed even that first step through its doors into something special.
In the customer’s field of vision, Jungwoo and Seia appeared.
“Daddy!”
“Hm?”
“Seia will make this for you.”
Seia plopped a lettuce leaf larger than her own hand onto her palm and began piling everything she could into it.
Rice, meat, vegetables, and every side dish in reach.
Jungwoo didn’t remember teaching her how to make ssam, so where had she learned this?
The fact that her very first one was for him filled his heart with quiet joy.
“Like this...”
Just how grand a ssam was she trying to create? The ingredients had piled so high on Seia’s hand that it seemed questionable whether the lettuce could even close anymore.
“Ah, Daddy.”
“Hm?”
Seia’s voice had grown serious.
Had something gone wrong?
Was one lettuce leaf simply unable to withstand the heat of all that food?
Concern washed over him.
“It won’t wrap.”
“Haha. It won’t wrap?”
She was struggling to fold the lettuce closed with her other hand, but it refused to cooperate.
Somehow she had shaped it into a rough circle, but honestly, it looked less like a ssam and more like a dumpling.
A dim sum with its top left open.
Looking at it another way, perhaps Seia—who had managed to create dim sum out of lettuce—might actually have a talent for cooking.
Jungwoo himself was a decent cook, and his late wife had been even better.
Like father, like daughter, as they say. To Jungwoo, everything Seia did looked extraordinary.
“Our Seia did a great job, didn’t she?”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. Is that one for Daddy?”
It was a question that wasn’t really a question.
Jungwoo was certain.
That dumpling-like ssam belonged to no one else.
It was his and his alone.
He had already opened his mouth in anticipation when Seia delivered a shocking reply.
She simply shook her head from side to side without a word.
“Ah, it’s not...?”
“Daddy’s is the next one!”
Seia wriggled to her feet, clutching the dumpling-shaped ssam in both hands, and toddled toward the customer seated behind her.
“......?”
The customer, who had just finished his meal and was about to stand, blinked in confusion as he watched her approach.
“This is a present.”
“Hm? A gift?”
His gaze drifted downward from her bright eyes to the object in her small hands: a lettuce leaf piled high with rice and every side dish imaginable.
In the brief moment it had taken Seia to walk over, the carefully rolled ssam had unfurled, leaving the ingredients simply resting on the lettuce.
“Um, this is...”
What should he say?
What words could he choose that wouldn’t dim the sparkle in those innocent eyes?
He didn’t remember thinking this hard even during gate subjugations.
In that fleeting instant, after running through countless possibilities, the man arrived at the optimal answer.
He looked toward Jungwoo.
Since Seia was standing right here, Jungwoo’s attention would surely be here as well.
‘Ssam.’
As expected of a father with a daughter.
“Could this be ssam?”
The moment the man spoke the word he had read from Jungwoo’s lips, the sparkle in Seia’s eyes grew even brighter.
“Hehe. That’s right!”
Seia was delighted that he had recognized her gift, and the man felt a surge of joy at solving the important little riddle.
“Haha. Thank you. I’ll enjoy every bite.”
“Okay!”
The ssam passed from Seia’s hands to the man’s, but she didn’t leave. Instead, she stared at him with eyes that shone even more intensely than before.
Though today was their first meeting, the man immediately understood what she wanted.
And realizing it brought a warm smile to his face.
The ssam she had given him was far too large to eat in one bite.
Even a hunter with supernatural abilities couldn’t enlarge his mouth.
‘Since she knows what ssam is, she must know how it’s supposed to be eaten.’
His mouth was already relaxed after the meal.
He let out a deep, silent breath, then opened his mouth as wide as he could and stuffed the entire ssam inside.
He managed to get it in.
Perhaps he should be grateful his mouth was on the larger side.
“Mmph, mmph, ish goo.”
“Is it delicious?”
“Mhm. Ish delishush.”
“Hehe. You have to come again next time!”
Any more talking risked spilling food from his mouth, so the man simply smiled and nodded in reply.
Having successfully delivered her gift, Seia returned to her seat with the proud bearing of a triumphant general.
“Did you give it to him nicely?”
“Yes! He said it was delicious!”
“Haha. Well done. Then...”
“Daddy’s turn!”
Now it was Jungwoo’s turn.
However, there was one small problem.
The customer had succeeded all too well in devouring the massive “mountain” that had been Seia’s first ssam.
The one prepared for Jungwoo had already grown far beyond the previous size, yet Seia showed no sign of stopping.
Whether she had planned it from the beginning or not, this time she had set the lettuce on the floor instead of her palm and was building it there.
Or rather, could it even be called wrapping anymore?
No matter how you looked at it, she was stacking rather than wrapping.
“......”
This was a crisis.
He would have to get the entire thing into his mouth in one go somehow.
“Hehe. All done!”
The ssam that now filled the small plate was even larger than a full bowl of rice.
Once it seemed complete, Seia carefully carried the plate over to Jungwoo.
“Here we go. I’ll eat it well, Seia. It looks incredibly delicious!”
Seia’s sparkling eyes urged him to hurry.
Jungwoo took a deep breath, steeled himself, lifted the entire plate, and gathered the massive ssam in one hand.
Rather than trying to put it into his mouth, the best approach seemed to be placing it onto his mouth.
His mouth wasn’t particularly large, so it was no easy task.
He chewed what was already inside, swallowed, then took another portion from the pile.
Only after repeating the process several times did he finally manage to fit all of Seia’s creation into his mouth.
“Pwah!”
Seia watched him and burst into laughter that lasted a good while.
His cheeks were puffed out like balloons, and bits of side dish kept slipping out.
“Daddy.”
“Yes?”
“You don’t have to eat it all in one bite.”
“...Huh?”
After thoroughly chewing and swallowing everything, Jungwoo looked at his daughter.
“Our Seia… you already knew?”
“Hehe. Daddy’s cheeks got super puffy.”
“And whose fault is that?”
If Jungwoo’s cheeks had been stretched by the enormous mouthful of food, Seia’s were now being gently pulled outward by his hand.
They stretched like melted cheese.
Seia giggled as if it tickled.
“Oh! Daddy!”
“Hm?”
Seia ducked down, peering at something behind him.
“What is it?”
“The customer is waiting like that!”
“Ah, is he? He must be finished. Just a moment.”
As Seia had said, the customer stood waiting in front of the counter, looking their way.
“Ah, I’m sorry. Did you wait long?”
“Haha, not at all. I didn’t even notice how much time had passed.”
“Haha… that’s a little embarrassing. Let me help with your bill. The stir-fried pork, kimchi stew, and one bottle of soju comes to 23,000 won.”
For a hunter, 23,000 won was hardly a burden.
A single gate subjugation could easily yield tens or even hundreds of times that amount.
“Here you are. Thank you for the meal.”
“Yes, thank you. Please come again.”
It was the kind of place he would return to even if told not to.
If he converted the happiness he had felt today into money, it seemed he would gladly hand over everything he owned.
This place was like that.
Outside these walls, war raged on.
Yet inside, it was the one sanctuary on that battlefield where a person could exist without a single worry.
He didn’t know how others might see it, but to him this was a resting place for those exhausted by war.
‘What should I try next time?’
He couldn’t say for certain that he would return tomorrow.
Gate subjugations didn’t only happen in this area, and the profession of hunter offered no guarantees of safety even in the present moment.
Still, one thing was certain: he would return here someday.
There was the doenjang jjigae the little boss had mentioned, and by then the menu would surely be complete.
“Your cooking is excellent.”
“Haha, is it? I’ve only ever cooked for my daughter before. This was my first time making a meal for someone else, so I’m relieved it turned out well.”
Cooking for his daughter.
It must be a dish infused with a love too vast to put into words.
“By the way, what are your business hours?”
“Ah, I plan to open from ten in the morning until ten at night.”
“Will your daughter be all right with that?”
“I’ll put her to bed in the middle of the day. That’ll double as a short break time.”
The customer let out a soft chuckle.
“That sounds like a very flexible break time.”
In the customer’s eyes, Seia appeared once more. She clearly had no intention of sleeping anytime soon.
While the owner had been talking, she had scraped up every last grain of rice, and now she was patting her slightly rounded belly with a satisfied expression.
“Yes, it does, doesn’t it?”
“You haven’t even officially opened yet. Thank you for everything.”
“Haha, not at all. If you enjoyed the food, that’s more than enough for me.”
The customer bowed politely to Jungwoo, then turned away.
Once he stepped through that door, he would be back in the midst of war.
Yet it felt different from when he had left home earlier.
Now he had one more place to return to, and that thought brought him profound comfort.
Ding-a-ling.
The same bell that had greeted his arrival chimed inside the restaurant.
“Ah, welcome! To Seona’s Restaurant!”
And the same cheerful voice he had heard upon entering rang out once again.
“Haha, Seia. When someone is leaving, you say ‘Take care’ or ‘Goodbye.’”
“Aha! Take care! At Seona’s Restaurant!”
Even after the man had left the store, the smile never left his lips.