When leaving the Association, I promised Baek San, who had even seen me off, that I would visit the headquarters sometime.
I had to meet his older brother, the Chairman of the Association, at least once.
The next day.
We returned to Haeundae to spend our last day in Busan. Alton remained in the camper, saying he was learning how to farm from the Father of Crops, while only Baek Chun and Eric accompanied me.
Several four-cut photo booths, similar to old-fashioned sticker photo booths, were scattered around. Byeol pointed at one and shouted loudly.
“That! I want to take a picture there!”
Come to think of it, we didn’t have a single photo of all of us together. We all crowded inside. I thought that later, I should definitely take a photo with the spirits and Alton too, once they deactivated their invisibility.
Beep, beep, beep — Click!
Beep, beep, beep — Click!
The timer moved quickly, and the photos were taken.
“Th-this is difficult.”
“…Modern civilization is not easy.”
Eric and Baek Chun, who were unfamiliar with the situation, fumbled around, resulting in a few strange photos. I took Byeol’s hand and adjusted her pose so she could make a flower cup with her hands.
Then, Baek Chun, Eric, and I extended our arms and posed so that the focus remained entirely on Byeol.
Click — !
A single photo was completed where only Byeol’s cuteness stood out.
I wiped my sweat in the hot booth with a proud expression, and Byeol said with a bright smile, “Hehe, this is fun!”
The system required choosing only four out of eight photos. Byeol chose the photos after much deliberation. First, she picked two wacky photos created because Baek Chun and Eric were flustered, then one where she looked good, and finally, one where we all looked good together.
She chose four photos in total.
“Phew! This is great, I’m satisfied!”
Byeol, who came out of the booth dusting her palms, gave a beaming smile.
[Anonymous 1]: Can we get that photo as an offering somehow?
[God of Rain and Sunlight]: Yeah, is there no way?
[Anonymous 1]: I heard people these days buy things called ‘goods’ whenever they fanboy over something.
[Water God of Cheongha]: Hmm, I have heard of that too.
[The Last Cook]: …Byeol is truly cute. I desperately want that photo too.
[The Demon Realm Returnee]: I want it the most….
[Endless Waiting]: I want it very much as well.
[The Liberated Swordsman]: Me too.
[The Father of Crops]: Please, please me! Please me!!
[The Last Smith]: Jinwoo, it seems like there is no one else besides me who should receive this photo.
‘I’m sorry, I’ll take more next time and give them to you then.’
Not today. There weren’t enough photos.
[Anonymous 1]: Argh, dammit!!
After taking the four-cut photos, we headed to a nearby snack bar to grab lunch. After playing at Haeundae today, we planned to take a cruise to Gwangalli to see the night view of Busan.
The snack bar seemed quite popular as there was a line, but luckily, we were able to enter without waiting for long.
Isn’t Busan famous for fish cakes and water rice cakes? This place was famous for its tteokbokki, but its fish cakes and water rice cakes were particularly delicious.
[Anonymous 1]: Fish cakes are all the same.
[The Last Cook]: I’ve been studying a bit lately… fish cake flavors are not all the same. How much flour is added and what kind of fish meat is used greatly affects the taste. However, I think the fish cakes sold on the street like those are indeed all similar. Most are produced in factories in a similar way. There might be differences depending on the flavor of the broth… but most people would end up with the impression that ‘they’re all just delicious.’
Personally, I agreed with Louis’s opinion. Well, of course, there are differences in the taste of fish cakes. However, those eaten at food stalls or snack bars mostly used similar commercially available fish cakes and boiled the broth in similar ways.
Therefore, the differences were only things like being more savory, saltier, or having a bit more umami. It usually ended with the conclusion that all fish cakes were delicious.
“Here are four servings of tteokbokki, ten fish cakes, and ten water rice cakes. We count the fish cakes and water rice cakes by the skewers, so if you want to eat more after finishing these, please go ahead and help yourselves.”
“Thank you.”
“Oh, two servings of fried snacks and two servings of soondae will be out shortly.”
“Thank you.”
There was a place nearby where we could grab more fish cakes and water rice cakes. Not long after, the fried snacks and soondae arrived as well.
We chuckled, looking at the food filling the table. It was also funny that the person who would eat most of this food was Byeol.
“Shall we try the water rice cakes first?”
Busan was famous for its water rice cakes, after all.
“Very well, Lord. Ah, no, Jinwoo.”
“Eric, when we’re out, just use comfortable titles, okay?”
Since he seemed uncomfortable with informal speech, we agreed to just use comfortable titles.
“Yes, I understand.”
“Baek Chun, you eat a lot too.”
“You should eat plenty as well.”
Baek Chun treated me comfortably like a friend and picked up a water rice cake. We all chewed on the water rice cakes together. The rice cakes, soaked in the broth, were chewy as they stuck to the inside of the mouth before pulling away quickly.
Between the chewy texture, the saltiness of the soy sauce came through, and within that, the deep flavor of the anchovy broth, boasting that characteristic MSG depth, shone faintly.
“…!”
“Ho.”
“This is delicious.”
It was an addictive taste.
“Hehe, this is super tasty!”
It seemed to perfectly suit Byeol’s palate. Byeol devoured two water rice cakes on the spot and then picked up a fish cake. Byeol, who took a large bite of the folded, wiggly fish cake, smiled again.
“This is really yummy!”
Come to think of it, Byeol hadn’t eaten this kind of snack food very often. Maybe once or twice at most.
‘The constellations have never eaten this kind of snack food even once.’
Fine, I should make this for them soon.
[Anonymous 1]: Thanks, Jinwoo. You promised to make it for us, right?
[God of Rain and Sunlight]: I can trust you, right? Huh?
[Water God of Cheongha]: One can always trust their descendant.
[The Liberated Swordsman]: Right, I should trust him. Jinwoo, I believe in you!
[Endless Waiting]: Me too!
[The Warrior Who Lives Death]: …I’m looking forward to it. I envy Baek Chun right now. Baek Chun should have been the constellation and I should have been the summon….
[The Last Cook]: I trust Jinwoo. A cook does not lie.
‘Yes, I will definitely make it for you.’
After making the promise with the constellations, I ate a fish cake. The water rice cake was delicious, but the fish cake was the best.
‘…The broth tastes completely different.’
The fish cakes were just the ones you could buy at a supermarket, but the fact that the taste was completely different meant the broth was different. It felt different from the water rice cake broth. Usually, they would be boiled together in one place.
‘This snack bar boils the water rice cakes and fish cakes separately.’
Using different broths meant they had to work much more laboriously.
[Anonymous 1]: Business is good because they have that kind of sincerity.
[God of Rain and Sunlight]: I agree.
[The Last Cook]: Usually, places with something unique compared to other restaurants do well. Being more diligent, researching more. It’s only natural for such restaurants to succeed. You can feel good about paying for food at places like that, even if it’s expensive.
[The Father of Crops]: So, how does it taste?
[Endless Waiting]: I’m curious about the taste too.
[The Liberated Swordsman]: It doesn’t look like anything special on the outside.
[The Demon Realm Returnee]: The addictive umami unique to fish cakes is truly an art. Ha… should I just accept an offering once?
[The Warrior Who Lives Death]: Sincerity governs everything.
‘Fish cakes are foods that can be eaten too quickly, so I don’t think receiving an offering now is a good idea.’
I stopped Kang Min-seok, the Demon Realm Returnee.
‘It’s really delicious, but I’m confident I can make it even better.’
I also showed some confidence.
“Friend.”
Baek Chun called me.
“Yeah?”
“This is quite something. It’s salty, but the deep taste unique to anchovies is an art. Not only that, but I can taste the refreshing flavor of clams as well.”
Baek Chun provided all the flavor descriptions. I nodded in agreement.
“It’s just yummy! Hehe.”
Byeol concluded the taste evaluation by saying it was delicious. Having whetted our appetites with fish cakes and water rice cakes, we picked up the tteokbokki.
Byeol was the first to pick up a rice cake with her skillful chopstick movements and waited until we ate.
As soon as I ate the tteokbokki, it reminded me of the tteokbokki from old snack bars. It was sweet and not very spicy, the kind of tteokbokki students would love. I tended to prefer this kind of strong sweetness over mindlessly spicy tteokbokki.
“Oh, it’s delicious. However…”
“I think it would be even better if Jinwoo made it.”
Eric and Baek Chun seemed to be looking forward more to the tteokbokki I would make.
[Anonymous 1]: Ah—! Hurry, hurry! Quickly make tteokbokki for me too!
[Water God of Cheongha]: Descendant, I am quite good at waiting. Even so… I won’t refuse if you say you’ll make tteokbokki soon.
[The Demon Realm Returnee]: Man… I want to eat snack food for the first time in a while. Busan fish cakes and water rice cakes! Old-style tteokbokki from those days! Greasy but somehow crispy fried snacks with that old-school sentiment!
‘Next time, next time. I’ll make it for you soon. Or I could even make it as a late-night snack.’
[The Warrior Who Lives Death]: It looks delicious.
I calmed the constellations and looked at Byeol. Byeol was eating the tteokbokki very deliciously. She seemed to like that sweet taste.
“Byeol.”
“Ung?”
“You dip this fried snack in the tteokbokki sauce.”
I dipped a fried squid in the tteokbokki sauce and put it in Byeol’s mouth. Eric and Baek Chun followed suit and dipped seaweed noodle rolls into the sauce.
“…!”
“!!”
“Wow—!”
“Is it good?”
“Ung!!”
The combination of the unique savory taste and chewy texture of the fried squid with the sweetness and spicy umami was shockingly addictive. As for the seaweed noodle rolls, there was nothing to say; the glass noodles inside and the tteokbokki sauce were an invincible combination.
Byeol, Baek Chun, and Eric were also shocked after trying the soondae dipped in tteokbokki sauce. They had expressions that said tteokbokki sauce was truly all-purpose.
‘The soondae here is good.’
The soondae was well-seasoned and salty. Dipping the salty soondae into the tteokbokki sauce made the balance of flavors perfect, so I kept eating. I preferred the innards over the soondae itself, so I focused on the liver, which was dry but released a savory flavor the more I chewed, and the lungs, which had an appealing texture.
“Phew, I’m full.”
“Me too!”
“Thank you for the meal.”
“This thing called snack food is quite delicious.”
After finishing our satisfying meal, we began to take a walk along the sandy beach of Haeundae to digest.
***
At that time, the spirits were in the camper’s garden with Alton.
They were growing golden wheat separately to make flour. Baekgu was helping Maru, and Alton was also enthusiastically helping the two of them. The Father of Crops was also giving them various pieces of advice.
Particularly now that the spirits had become high-ranking spirits, the Father of Crops was especially excited, saying that it was fun to teach them farming.
Their rank acknowledged by the system was high-ranking spirit, but their power, ability, and realization of nature were already so excellent that it was unimaginable for beings who had just become high-ranking spirits.
With Baekgu and Maru farming together, high-quality and fresh produce, like those grown by the Father of Crops himself, was now being produced.
Soli was carefully watching the wind spirit egg, which was covered in swirling patterns.
— My younger sibling, when will you be born?
He was looking forward to the spirit being born soon.
At that moment.
Flash—!
Whoosh—!!
A strong wind began to swirl in the yard where there had been no wind at all.
Whoosh—! Swish—!
Crack, cra-crack—!
The egg slowly began to crack and then broke completely.
— Wow! Big brothers!
Soli called Maru, Baekgu, and Alton. Finally, the spirit had hatched from the egg.