Chapter 44: Seafood Tomato Soup

Irim realizing that Marina had a daughter wasn’t solely because of the ring.

The moment he saw the ring, everything he had seen and experienced while passing through the cave clicked together like puzzle pieces.

On the first floor, Dismembered Crabs and Electric Shrimp appeared.

And at the entrance to the basement floor, the writing ‘Oh, it was delicious’ was inscribed.

That wasn’t saying Marina ate the children.

To begin with, Marina had never kidnapped any children.

In other words, this was a message Marina wrote reminiscing about her daughter.

Elise must have liked flower crabs and shrimp.

Additionally, the monsters encountered on the basement floor were dolls.

The bear doll and rabbit dolls must have been Elise’s favorite toys in life. In the cavern that appeared while clearing the monsters, this writing was inscribed.

-We had so many fun memories.

That referred to the memories of playing with dolls and having fun with Elise. 

Finally, the writing ‘May you find peace there’ was a lament for her deceased daughter. 

Thus, the entire cave was a space filled with longing for her daughter.

Based on these situations, Irim inferred that Elise was Marina’s daughter, and the hidden quest triggered.

Marina’s soul looked at Irim with a bizarre expression.

“Elise. My beloved daughter. An innocent child had to leave the world at just five years old. Because of that damned plague! I…… needed someone to resent, but I couldn’t resent anyone.”

As Marina’s words ended, white text appeared before Irim’s eyes.

[In the end, Marina turned herself into a witch not for the villagers, but for herself. Marina, who came to resent herself, shut herself in this cave, yearning for Elise until she died. However, the grudge of losing her daughter kept her soul bound to this world. Now that the link between body and soul is completely severed, her soul full of grudge stands at a crossroads. Forgive herself and ascend to meet her daughter. Or be consumed by grudge and become a fearsome vengeful ghost. You must resolve Marina’s grudge so she doesn’t become a vengeful ghost.]

The text disappeared, and above Marina’s head, 60:00 appeared, starting a countdown.

“What’s that?”

59:59, 59:58, 59:57, 59:56…….

Maengho asked, watching the time continuously decrease.

The flustered Irim looked at Maengho.

“Didn’t you get the hidden quest?”

“Hidden quest? No? Did a hidden quest pop up for you?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t it for me?”

Only Irim received the hidden quest.

It seemed the hidden quest was given only to those who recognized Elise’s existence.

Moreover, this hidden quest activated forcibly without asking for acceptance.

The success reward was unknown.

The problem was the failure penalty was the worst.

It dropped all stat points by 5.

If that happened, all the effort Irim put into raising stats to get here would be for nothing.

58:31, 58:30, 58:29…….

Time kept decreasing.

“OOO 00000”

Black energy began to ripple from Marina’s soul.

Seeing this, the NPCs gripped their weapons.

“We can’t just leave her be, right?”

At Karen’s words, Luke and Xyle nodded.

And they charged at Marina simultaneously.

At that moment!

The black energy surrounding Marina’s body shot out like a barrage of arrows.

PEW PEW THUD!

“Ahh!”

“Kyaa!”

“Urk.”

The three NPCs had their thighs pierced, bleeding profusely as they collapsed.

“Damn it.”

Xyle spat a curse.

The three were incapacitated in a single blow.

Seeing this, Maengho couldn’t recklessly approach Marina.

“Wow, what the hell is this? Rice. What’s the hidden quest clear condition?”

“It says to soothe Marina’s soul. If she becomes a vengeful ghost like that, all my stats drop by 5.”

“Huh? What kind of hidden quest is that?”

“Yeah.”

56:26, 56:25, 56:24…….

The countdown continued mercilessly.

Irim pondered.

‘Soothe the soul…….’

Marina’s soul was currently suffering from the pain of losing her daughter.

Then, she could just ascend and meet her daughter.

But the grudge was so great that her self-resentment overshadowed her longing for her daughter.

She was being consumed by her own anger.

So, somehow make her longing for her daughter greater.

‘The problem is how.’

The hint must be somewhere in this cave.

The developers wouldn’t pose a problem with no solution.

Looking at Real’s tendencies so far, there were surely multiple ways to overcome this difficulty.

‘Ways to soothe a soul…… Typically, offering sacrifices or performing a ritual with food.’

55:04, 55:03, 55:02…….

Now, 55 minutes left.

As time passed, the black energy rising from Marina’s body grew thicker.

Her facial muscles twisted, her eyes turned red.

Horns grew from her head, gradually taking the form of a vengeful ghost.

‘This is the only thing I can do now.’

Irim took out Dismembered Crab and Electric Shrimp carcasses, tomatoes, garlic, cooking oil, chili peppers, salt, black pepper, and Double-Horned Chicken carcass from his inventory.

And he had been glancing around since earlier.

In fact, since entering this cavern, the ‘basil’ growing here and there had caught his eye.

Irim collected all the basil.

‘Use this as an ingredient too.’

It was perfect for the dish he planned to make now.

First, he filled a pot with plenty of water, boiled it, scored the bottoms of three tomatoes in a cross (+), blanched them lightly, and removed them.

He added cubed Double-Horned Chicken meat, garlic, ginger, and several black peppers to the boiling water. To make broth.

Next, he peeled the tomatoes.

The tomatoes blanched in hot water had their skins split at the scored parts. Grabbing and pulling them made peeling easy.

Irim quickly chopped the tomato flesh.

TATATATATATATAK!

Meanwhile, Maengho found it strange that Irim was suddenly cooking while Marina was turning into a vengeful ghost right in front of them.

“Rice-nim. Um…… This doesn’t seem like the time to cook.”

“This might be the way.”

Irim only said cryptic words and took out the cutting board and kitchen knife.

He quickly shelled the shrimp, extracted the meat, halved it, and trimmed the flower crab to an edible size.

Then sliced the chili peppers, julienned the basil, and minced the garlic.

Once the base ingredients were prepped, he immediately took out a frying pan.

He coated it with cooking oil, stir-fried the chili peppers, then added basil and minced garlic to release the aroma.

The exotic scent rising from the garlic and basil stimulated Maengho’s appetite.

“What are you making? The smell is amazing.”

Irim was too absorbed in cooking to hear Maengho’s question.

Having seen that many times before, Maengho wasn’t particularly offended.

Meanwhile, the fallen NPCs also watched Irim curiously, wondering what he was making.

Irim quickly stir-fried the prepped shrimp and flower crab with the chili, basil, and garlic, seasoned with salt and pepper.

Then poured in the chopped tomatoes he had made into a sauce earlier.

Bubble bubble.

The ingredients in the pan mixed with the tomato sauce, spreading a luxurious aroma filled with rich flavors throughout the cavern.

‘Almost done.’

Irim checked the chicken broth.

Only 15 minutes since it started boiling, it hadn’t properly steeped.

To bring out deep flavor, it needed to simmer for about an hour.

Irim’s gaze went to above Marina’s head.

39:57, 39:56, 39:55…….

About 40 minutes left.

‘Steep the broth as much as possible in 35 minutes.’

Irim patiently skimmed the foam rising in the broth and waited.

He set the frying pan with other ingredients aside on the floor.

After 35 minutes, he poured an appropriate amount of the fairly steeped chicken broth into the pan and put it on the fire.

After boiling a few more minutes, a deep aroma surged up, so rich that just smelling it felt like tasting the umami.

01:01, 01:00, 00:59…….

Now, less than a minute left in the time limit.

Irim plated the completed dish and checked the status window.

[Mouthwatering Seafood Tomato Soup]

-Consumes +35 Satiety

With such limited ingredients and terrible cooking conditions, it couldn’t reach ‘Delicious’ rank, but he managed the level below that.

Gulp!

Maengho’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down looking at the soup.

Irim brought it to Marina’s soul.

And said.

“Marina. This is a dish made with ingredients Elise liked.”

“Elise?”

Marina, who seemed unresponsive to anything, looked at the soup in the bowl.

Irim handed her the soup along with a spoon.

She stared at the soup for a long time.

00:31. 00:30. 00:29…….

Meanwhile, time kept passing, and those watching grew anxious.

Then, Marina slowly lifted the spoon, scooped the seafood tomato soup, and put it in her mouth.

Munch. Munch. Munch……. Gulp.

A small convulsion ran through Marina’s body as she swallowed the soup.

Soon, hot tears streamed down both her cheeks.

“Elise…… loved this soup.”

Her form, which had been turning into a vengeful ghost, began reverting to normal.

Her red eyes regained their original color, the horns disappeared, and the black aura faded.

The time endlessly ticking above her head,

00:10. 00:09. 00:08…….

Stopped with 8 seconds left.

The countdown time vanished, and Marina’s soul glowed blue.

“Elise was happy every time she ate delicious food. She looked like an angel. I…… was such a fool. That child is waiting for me in heaven right now, yet I was letting anger turn me into a monster.”

Marina, murmuring to herself in a trembling voice, looked at Irim.

“Thank you for awakening what was most precious. Now, I…… don’t think I need to stay here anymore.”

In Marina’s heart, her longing for her daughter grew greater than her hatred for herself.

It was possible because of the dish Irim made.

“This soup…… is really delicious.”

The flavor of the tomato seafood soup was top-notch.

In that small spoonful, the savoriness of shrimp and flower crab, the deep richness extracted from chicken, the mellow sourness of tomato, and the profound aroma of basil were all contained.

The red soup sliding down from tongue to throat burst with compressed flavors and aromas in a short moment, conveying the presence of all the ingredients.

Marina set the bowl and spoon on the floor.

Then, she clasped her hands neatly in front, bowed her head to Irim, and expressed her gratitude.

“I’ll give you…… a gift. Please use the witch’s power if it’s okay. Thank you.”

With those words, Marina’s soul disappeared.

And a red light orb flew through the air toward Irim, as a system message appeared.

[Hidden Quest – Marina’s Grudge]

-CLEAR!-

Reward: ‘Mana +100’, Magic ‘Flame Artisan F’, 500,000₩, Frost Shield, Hidden Achievement Acquired

The hidden quest cleared, revealing the previously question-marked reward list.

Seeing it, Irim’s mouth slightly agape.

The rewards were enormously beyond what he expected.

A ‘Mana’ stat was added to his stats, and he acquired the magic Flame Artisan.

Plus 500,000 Won entered, and he got an item called Frost Shield.

Before Irim could check the item in detail, another message appeared.

[Achievement Unlocked!]

Achieved: Liberate Marina’s Soul!

Condition: Clear Hidden Quest – Marina’s Grudge!

Reward: All Stats +10

The reward from the hidden achievement was incomparably better than the previous ones.