“This must be because of the Communication skill.”
- Benefactor of the Sea’s Love: increases success rate in all fishing attempts.
Thanks to the chance meeting with the Merfolk again, the bond between us activated, allowing me to gather plenty of ingredients.
I filled the icebox with seawater, placed the seafood caught in the trap inside, and headed home.
Before I got too lazy, I finished organizing my gear and, unlike this morning, went to the market alone.
“Huh? Didn’t you come with that pretty lady from earlier?”
“Guess she dumped you already~ Looks like you came alone.”
“Hahaha, the market aunts must be jealous because I keep visiting them.”
After joking back at the friendly market vendors, I went into a small shop inside the market.
“Boss! Do you offer delivery? I think I’m going to buy a lot.”
“Huh? Buy how much? Just a little won’t work—what do I eat then?”
“Hahaha, I really am buying a lot. Three cases each of soju, beer, and makgeolli. Is that enough?”
“Oh my, what a noble customer. Of course we deliver~”
The shop owner’s gruff tone softened completely, and a kind smile spread across his face.
Besides the alcohol, I picked out some extra ingredients and rode back home in the owner’s truck.
He even helped me carry everything into the cold storage, saying to ask him again next time.
Thanks to that, I just had to organize everything and had some time to spare.
I moved the ingredients I’d picked while ordering the alcohol to the kitchen.
“Everything’s moved, so drink the alcohol properly~ Doing things properly is important, you know. Properly. I’m off now.”
“Hahaha, yes, thank you.”
Now it was a race against time.
I had to finish prepping the ingredients before the guests arrived.
First, I took out the ingredients to make tempura, known as ‘tenpura’ in Japan.
I had already prepared a sweet soy sauce and cut the kabocha and sweet potatoes I bought at the market.
The perilla leaves were quickly rinsed with water.
I planned to use the young cabbage leaves I had planted just half a day ago, which had already grown quite a bit.
Depending on taste, if you put them on rice and pour soy sauce, it becomes tendon, so I quickly cooked the rice.
“Phew. There’s more work than I thought.”
I wished Kasia would help even a little, but she was probably watching TV because I couldn’t even see her nose.
I thought she had matured, but I guess that was just my imagination.
If the flow breaks during the meal, people lose their appetite, so I had to prepare the ingredients I was going to serve in advance.
‘For freshness, I’ll clean the seafood last. Now to prepare the hot pot.’
Though I hadn’t bought it in Hoengseong, I had gotten some round steak from a butcher inside the market.
The rich red color made my mouth water; the quality looked pretty good.
I needed to pick the cabbage leaves to put in the hot pot…
No way.
“Kasia! Stop playing and help me a bit!”
No response. She must be completely absorbed.
“Kasia—!!”
Kasia approached me with her lips puckered.
Why do you keep calling me? I’m at the best part!
“What! You heard me but didn’t answer?!”
- Ah, no! I thought you had called several times because you were yelling!
Flustered, Kasia’s face turned bright red.
“Really?”
- I really did!
“Then I’ll let it slide just once.”
- Phew, thanks.
“See? You heard me!”
- !!
I saw her eyes rolling as she looked for an escape.
Since I was busy, I decided to tease her a bit and then make her work.
“I’ll let it slide, but go pick some young cabbage leaves. Plenty.”
- Cabbage leaves? You don’t mean the ones I planted so hard earlier, do you?
“Yes, those. When I came in, they’d grown a bit. Use them as cooking ingredients.”
- No way! Absolutely not! They haven’t grown enough yet, and you want me to pick them already? I don’t want to!
Maybe because I planted them myself, I’d gotten attached.
But it’s not just for decoration; I planted them to eat anyway.
“Then you can’t make kimchi either. You’re planning to let them grow that way?”
- That’s not what I meant, but aren’t they still too young? Don’t you feel sorry for the cabbages?
“Hey? Someone who mainly eats vegetables? Stop it and go pick them quickly. No dinner if you don’t.”
- …Tch.
Pouting, Kasia headed to the field.
Still, she’d quickly forgive me once I made delicious food.
Before Kasia returned, I placed a slice of round steak on each perilla leaf.
Once the cabbage leaves came back, I could just layer them on top.
As I made star-shaped cuts on a large shiitake mushroom, Kasia came back.
“You’re back?”
- Hmph.
The cabbage leaves were just right.
She does well when asked but gets sulky for no reason.
I placed the prepared perilla leaf and steak set on the cabbage leaves and cut them into suitable sizes.
Curious about this dish she had never seen before, I felt Kasia’s gaze.
Maybe I should make it prettier.
At the bottom of the hot pot, I laid a bed of bean sprouts and then densely layered the sliced cabbage-perilla-steak sets.
Filling it in a spiral from outside to inside makes the final presentation look beautiful.
In the center, I stood up bok choy and enoki mushrooms, and placed star-shaped shiitake mushrooms in the empty spaces.
The appetizing milfeuille nabe was complete.
- Wow… each ingredient came together to create a masterpiece.
“If you just add broth and boil it, it tastes as good as it looks. You can look forward to it.”
- Oh. I shall look forward to it.
The last thing left was preparing the sashimi.
I had cooked many dishes living alone, but I had never filleted fish myself.
I found a detailed sashimi cutting video on YouTube and followed along.
Since it was a skill learned hurriedly by watching over someone’s shoulder, it seemed like more flesh was wasted than used, but I did my best.
The pieces were thick and large enough to keep a good texture.
‘What time is it now… Phew, just barely done in time.’
The appointment was at 6 PM.
It was about 15 minutes before then, so it was almost time to arrive.
As I went outside to greet them, I saw a black van that looked like one celebrities would use in the distance.
The black van steadily approached the house and stopped in the yard.
“Bro, we’re here.”
“Hey~! Minho, how have you been?”
“Hello!”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Park Janghyeon.”
The four of them greeted in their own styles, and the quiet house became lively.
Perhaps because of the noise outside, Kasia came out of the house.
“Kasia, long time no see.”
- Domo Minjun, glad to see you. Greetings to the others as well.
“Kasia says she’s happy to see you.”
Because of the unfamiliar language, people looked at us with curious eyes.
“Is she a foreigner? She seems to understand Korean; I saw her talking with Minjun oppa.”
Healer Han Suyeon, curious, approached Kasia first and spoke, but since she had no connection with me, conversation was impossible.
“Kasia, you can reveal yourself. No need to hide from these people, so feel free.”
- Understood.
Once I gave permission, Kasia immediately revealed herself.
Her ears had already grown long and pointed.
The guests, confused about the conversation, rubbed their eyes in disbelief at the sight.
“Whoa! No way, an Elf!?”
“Welcome, Elf!”
“Wow~ Amazing.”
The recent news and internet buzz about the existence of Elves.
Though no one had actually seen one in person, they were spellbound by Kasia’s mysterious and beautiful appearance.
Then Kasia tilted her chin up and chuckled.
- They’ve all fallen for me, as expected.
Her confidence was well-founded.
Kanghun wore a thoroughly annoyed expression.
‘Having to drag this idiot Junhyeok Lee around. Let’s hope he doesn’t cause any trouble.’
The guy named Do Minho who sold eggs and peanuts at the auction.
I remembered hearing that unique name.
He was well known as a famous A-Grade Hunter.
Since he registered goods at the Kangwon Province Hunter Auction House, he must live somewhere in Kangwon Province, but the area was so vast that I couldn’t search on foot.
So, to find his whereabouts, I had to go to the Association of Superhumans.
Coincidentally, the residence of the Elves Junhyeok Lee was searching for was also known to the Association.
So Kanghun had no choice but to accompany Junhyeok Lee.
“The branch chief doesn’t even know the address… The person who supposedly knew already quit. What should I do…?”
He had been staking out in front of the Association for several days, but the Strongest Shield Do Minho hadn’t even shown his face.
“Ah, should we wait at our hospital?”
“Why the hospital? Don’t start spouting nonsense again.”
“Ah, no. I saw a news report about Do Minjun Hunter coming out of a dungeon recently, but all his comrades were cursed with petrification.”
Kanghun always thought Junhyeok was dumb, but he never expected him to be helpful like this.
Though he was about 2% off, judging by how he kept mixing up names.
“You even watch the news? And it’s not Do Minjun but Do Minho.”
“It’s Do Minjun.”
“Do Minho, I’m telling you!”
“No, it’s Do Minjun. Look at the news.”
Annoyed by Junhyeok’s stubborn insistence, Kanghun’s anger rose.
Determined to prove him wrong, he looked at the news article Junhyeok gave him and it really said ‘Do Minjun.’
I thought it was a typo and read the article, but every mention was ‘Do Minjun.’
With a bad feeling, I searched the site and, just like Junhyeok said, it was really Do Minjun.
Not Do Minho.
“Wh-what is this? Wasn’t the Strongest Shield’s name Do Minho?!”
“It’s Do Minjun, right? Haha. You always called me dumb, but Kanghun, you’re dumber.”
Being called dumb by a dumb guy was a huge insult to Kanghun.
Moreover, after days of staking out, was it all in vain?
Surely the Kangwon branch chief of the Hunter Auction House had said Do Minho.
“Damn! How can there be two people with such a rare name?”
“Maybe they’re family or relatives?”
“What?”
I habitually got annoyed at Junhyeok’s words, but it made sense.
If they shared the same surname Do and generation name Min, it added up.
“Since he’s famous, family info should come up.”
Searching ‘Do Minjun’ again showed he had an older brother.
“This is it. Nothing to lose. I’ll go after Do Minho—no, Do Minjun, as planned.”
They say even rotten guys have their use; Junhyeok had done something. Or maybe two things.
Kanghun was an assassin-type Hunter.
He had shifted to the underground following Junhyeok Lee, so he wasn’t officially recognized as an A-Grade Hunter, but by ability, he was close to the lowest rank of A-Grade now.
“No matter how strong Do Minjun is among the A-Grade, a tank like him won’t easily detect an assassin like me. Let’s go.”
When they arrived at the Transcendent Hospital, Kanghun and Junhyeok headed to the emergency stairs connecting the 6th and 7th floors.
Junhyeok, still a B-Grade Hunter, was only going to wait as instructed.
Silent—
Kanghun disappeared into the shadows as if swallowed.
The shadow moved along the wall up the stairs.
Even though it was an emergency staircase, two guards stood by the door on the 7th floor.
‘I’ll have to stick close to the railing.’
Since he had no info on their skill level, he wasn’t confident about handling them quietly.
They wouldn’t hire low-level guards.
Using the shadow along the railing, he got close to the guards.
As expected, they didn’t notice and stood straight, watching above and below the stairs.
Slowly and carefully, he blended into their shadows.
‘They’ve set up a lot.’
Passing under the emergency door, he saw two guards standing on the door opposite.
‘There it is. But how do I get in…’
It was close by walking from the emergency door to the hospital room door, but there were no shadows to ride on now that he was hiding in the shadows.
Just as he debated whether to risk crossing in the shadow,—
“Finally discharged—!”
Cheers erupted from inside the hospital room, then the door opened, and Do Minjun stepped out.
“Bro, it’s me. Everyone says we should party at your place tonight. Janghyeon’s awake and discharged. I’ll bring some good alcohol too.”
‘Bro? He definitely said bro, right? Then Do Minho is coming?’
One was staking out day and night, and another was having a party.
Perfect timing.
I’ll make this party hell.
I just had to tail them carefully without being noticed.
They said they’d go out tonight, so if I waited, they’d come out.
Then I just had to slip into one of their shadows.
Several hours passed.
The hospital room door opened, and they came out.
‘They’re all A-Grade, so I have to be careful not to be detected.’
A-Grade.
Such arrogance.
What Kanghun didn’t know was that, unlike him, these guys were made up of Do Minjun, now an S-Grade, and A-Grade Hunters aiming for the top.
But whether because they were excited about the party or because they hadn’t fully recovered, they failed to notice anything strange and left the hospital with tails.
The black van.
The car carrying the country’s top Hunters sped along the highway.
Destination: Chilcheon-ri.
“Hmm~ Hmm~ Hmm~”
When traveling all together like this, it was only when going to a dungeon, but thinking of it as a trip made Han Suyeon hum a tune happily.
The others, maybe thinking the same, smiled quietly.