Yeona seemed genuinely devoted to the garden. As soon as she opened her eyes, the first place she headed to was the garden.
“Still in the garden today.”
Coming out of the door, Jong-sik naturally exchanged morning greetings.
“Yeona, good morning.”
“Did you sleep well too, Dad?”
Dirt smudges on her face was visible
Isn’t she at an age where she should be more concerned about her appearance? Come to think of it, Yeona seems different from other kids her age.
Jong-sik made a puzzled expression and used a skill. Yeona was startled by the sudden cold sensation that covered her face.
“Ouch… I mean, it’s refreshing.”
“You haven’t even planted anything yet, why are you working so hard every day? Getting dirt all over your face.”
“The gardening Uncle says that if you carefully selects the soil, the plants will grow better. But anyway, Dad!”
Yeona’s eyes sparkled as she ran up to him. The hoe she held was now discarded.
“What is it?”
“Did you just do that, Dad?”
“What, this?”
The water droplets on his cheek suddenly dispersed at his gesture. Yeona exclaimed, her mouth wide open.
“Wow.”
Jong-sik found Yeona’s reaction quite amusing. Admiration, awe, worship, and so on. He had encountered countless emotions from others, but this was the first time he felt like this.
It’s as if Jong-pal and Yeona’s eyes were saying something, making him shrug his shoulders for no reason. Even now.
“…Wow, what can’t Dad do?”
“Why are you so surprised?”
Jong-sik chuckled, scratching his chin. Then it happened. A voice echoed from the first floor. It was Jong-pal.
“Why aren’t you both coming down? What are you doing? Skipping breakfast?”
At that, Jong-sik chuckled and looked at Yeona.
“Are you annoyed?”
Nodding.
“We should go downstairs quickly. Oh! Dad, no saying today’s food is delicious, okay?”
Yeona dashed down the stairs. The day was beginning.
***
Red boar stir-fry, wild boar loin rice bowl, chicken soup, pork belly rice bowl, and more.
The dishes made from both regular and dungeon ingredients were plentiful.
Although there were only about ten main dishes, there was a reason for such a spread.
With the restaurant opening approaching, Jong-pal spent most of his day on the first floor of the restaurant.
While the type of cuisine (Korean food) was decided, the menu had not yet been finalized.
So, Jong-pal was considering everyone’s opinions to choose the menu.
As a result, a sumptuous meal was prepared for every meal.
“How is it? Can I choose from the menu? Pick three.”
“Mmm. They’re all delicious. Jong-pal, another bowl of rice!”
However, the problem was that Jong-sik wasn’t being helpful at all. With everyone praising the food one after another, Jong-pal could only shake his head helplessly.
“Okay. Just enjoy the food, brother. Yeona, what about you?”
“Hmm. Dad!”
“Yeah, I’m listening.”
On the other hand, Yeona was different. She always had various opinions. Today wouldn’t be any different. Jong-pal looked at Yeona. Yeona lowered her chopsticks onto the table and spoke.
“I’ve been thinking deeply. Do we really need to decide on a menu?”
“Huh? Of course, we do.”
What’s a restaurant without a menu? But Yeona’s following words sounded quite convincing.
“I took a stroll around the neighborhood yesterday. But all I saw were franchises. There wasn’t a single regular restaurant, right? Doesn’t that mean it’s hard for regular restaurants to survive in this neighborhood? Isn’t it?”
“Uh, is that so?”
Nodding.
“Our niece is smart.”
Jong-sik nodded in agreement.
“Of course, Dad’s homemade regular dishes are the most delicious in the world! But here, people might think differently. So, we should ride the trend and focus on selling dishes made with monster ingredients. But the problem is…”
The issue lies in not being able to defend the prices.
Essentially, monster meat can only be obtained through hunting, not farming, making its price uncertain. Roller-coaster-like fluctuating prices may be difficult for individual restaurants to cope with. Yeona was pinpointing that.
“So, I’ve been thinking, what if we don’t decide on a menu at all and just buy inexpensive ingredients each time to cook? But then, Dad would have a hard time, right? He’d have to go to the market every day and decide on the menu. Or maybe franchises aren’t so bad after all.”
“No, no. Yeona, you’re right. Why didn’t I think of that?”
Jong-pal muttered. Then, with a relieved expression, he gently squeezed Yeona’s cheek. Her chubby cheeks stretched under Jong-pal’s touch, resembling sticky rice cakes.
“Oh, why is my daughter so mischievous?”
“Oh, Dad!”
Yeona retorted with an irritated tone. Jong-sik, who had finished his meal, watched with a smile. Somehow, he felt like pinching his niece’s cheeks too.
Then it happened. Someone swiftly opened the shop door and peeked inside.
“Are you open now?”
It was a boy in a school uniform. Jong-pal responded with a puzzled expression.
“We’re not open at the moment. We’re planning to open temporarily within a few days.”
“Oh… I thought there were customers inside, so I thought you were open. Sorry!”
The boy bowed apologetically and quickly closed the door. A moment of silence passed. Jong-pal broke the silence.
“Wait a moment!”
He hurriedly followed the boy outside.
A moment later,
Jong-pal returned to the shop with the boy.
The situation is vaguely outlined.
After all, it’s a Korean thing to feed someone first to ease one’s conscience.
“We’re in the middle of menu testing, so we’ve made a lot of food. So don’t feel pressured, just eat and give us your feedback afterward.”
“…Alright, I’ll enjoy it.”
“Haha. Eat plenty.”
As expected, the scene unfolded as anticipated.
‘Anyway, he seems nice.’
Jong-pal muttered to himself inwardly.
His phone vibrated in his pocket.
“Hello?”
“Hello. This is Happy Villa…”
The voice from the other end.
Someone he knows well.
Although they said to contact them anytime if help was needed, he didn’t expect the call to come so soon.
“I’ll be back in a moment.”
With his phone in hand, Jong-sik hurriedly left the shop.
***
Incheon, Gyewoldong.
The reason he came here was because of a phone call.
“I know it’s shameless, but please. The Association keeps postponing things, but we can’t just sit still like this.”
The caller was Mr. Kang, the owner of Happy Villa on the 4th floor. Mr. Kang earnestly pleaded with Jong-sik, holding both of his hands.
Here’s the situation.
A few days ago, the gate opened, and some monsters that hadn’t been captured escaped near the village or something like that.
Fortunately, there haven’t been any casualties yet. Mr. Kang asked Jong-sik to handle the monster extermination, saying it’s like locking the barn door after the horse has bolted.
“A student from the house below could have been in big trouble. It’s not just someone else’s problem since we all live in the same neighborhood… I called you without shame.”
From Jong-sik’s perspective, it was a somewhat awkward request.
“Oh, please don’t say that. And it’s not a difficult request at all. You mentioned goblins, right? Just let me know where you saw them.”
The old man nodded silently.
“But the place they’re hiding is a bit…”
“…?”
A puzzled reaction from Mr. Kang.
It didn’t take long for Jong-sik to understand the meaning behind it. Shortly after,
“I’ll go.”
Mr. Kang, leading the way, suddenly stopped and pointed in one direction, indicating where the creatures were hiding. It was a landfill piled up like a mountain of garbage.
“Nasty creatures. They must have hidden here.”
Even amidst the foul odor, Jong-sik could vaguely sense it. It wasn’t the monsters that were the problem, but rather the location itself.
“Tsk, no matter how you look at it.”
Despite such thoughts, if it weren’t for Mr. Kang’s request, he wouldn’t have stepped foot in that garbage den.
Still, Jong-sik didn’t show any signs of discomfort.
“I’ll take it from here and find them myself, so you can go back home.”
“I can’t just go back after making the request. I’ll come along too.”
“You’ll only be a hindrance.”
“Then I’ll wait here.”
Quite a stubborn old man, isn’t he?
“Well then, I’ll just go.”
“…I’ll go!”
“I might not be able to meet you separately after the job is done. I’ll let you know by phone.”
“Thank you very much.”
But in the end, Mr. Kang went back, leaving Jong-sik alone in front of the landfill. Jong-sik spread out his senses widely. The only presence he could feel there was that of monsters.
“Well, then there’s no choice but to go in and search for them myself.”
Jong-sik chanted the ignition spell. And then,
Whoosh!
In an instant, the landfill was engulfed in flames.
“Sir, you don’t need to worry anymore.”
With the call ended, Jong-sik calmly left the scene.
“Should’ve let Yeona see this.”
***
At that moment,
Incheon Branch of the Korean Hunter Association.
The phone at the Gate Reporting and Reception Team began ringing continuously.
“Yes, this is the Gate Reporting and Reception Team.”
“Um, we’re in Gae-wol-dong, and fire is raining from the sky.”
“Calm down, please, and explain the situation.”
“There’s a huge fire!”
“Sir, this is the Gate Reporting and Reception Team. Please call 119 to report a fire.”
The first operator who answered the call thought it was a misdialed call.
“Yes, this is the Gate Reporting and Reception Team.”
“The gate opened in Gae-wol-dong! Th-there’s a landfill over there!”
But upon receiving a second call mentioning the same neighborhood, the operator felt that something was amiss.
“Please wait a moment.”
“Huh?”
The operator checked the magical detection system. Strangely, there was no energy detected that would typically accompany a gate opening. The machine couldn’t be malfunctioning…
“Sir, are there any monsters confirmed right now?”
“The fire just went out.”
“What?”
“I’m not joking! There was a massive fire, but it suddenly disappeared. Everything seems okay now, so I’ll hang up!”
With that, the caller ended the call abruptly.
Vroom-vroom—
The operator’s expression turned perplexed. That’s when it happened. Across the partition, a colleague faced them and murmured, “Hey, did you hear about Gae-wol-dong?” And it wasn’t just one person. They all looked up with curiosity, wondering, “What’s going on?”
It wasn’t just another routine call.
A moment later,
“Where is this…?”
The team leader of the Gate Reporting and Reception Team furrowed his brow upon receiving the report. It was understandable; Gae-wol-dong landfill had been the subject of numerous complaints in recent days.
“This is becoming a headache.”
With that thought in mind, the team leader urgently dispatched a response team.
“[Urgent] Requesting on-site verification at Gae-wol-dong landfill.”
Upon arriving at the site that had been procrastinated for days, the response team was met with nothing but a landfill completely engulfed in flames.
