"Two SeoX Ice-Ju!"
"Try not to eat more than three a day."
"Give me GuXCon!"
"That one's sold out."
"Ah… then two SsangXBars."
"Here you go."
"I'll take Bi X Bik."
Ever since a new menu item had been added to the food truck, ice cream was now selling quite well even to ordinary customers, not just mages.
To the people of Falstead Castle, a "cold and sweet dessert"—and not just one kind, but many kinds—made the food truck itself feel like a whole new world.
Customers who wanted something refreshing at the end after eating snacks would head back to the castle with an ice cream in their mouths.
Profits rose even further thanks to that, but Jinseo felt a little regretful.
He still wanted more of the snacks that had passed through his own hands to sell.
"Let's see. Today too, and yesterday too…"
Now that it had been two months since he started doing business, Jinseo roughly estimated the amount he would get after exchanging it into Korean currency.
"The reaction's still good, and there are even more customers."
Most indicators made Jinseo smile.
That said, he couldn't just be satisfied because business was going well.
Sales were steadily rising, but he had noticed the snack sales were becoming lopsided.
Fried foods and soondae are fine, but tteokbokki is the problem.
With tteokbokki, quite a few people couldn't eat it, likely because they weren't used to spicy food.
So he had no choice but to make it less spicy than when he sold it in Korea.
Adjusting to local tastes was an obvious choice for a cook, but Jinseo's desire for people to understand the real taste of tteokbokki didn't change.
If you remove the spiciness from regular tteokbokki—when it isn't soy-sauce tteokbokki—it loses its meaning.
On top of that, he wanted to solve the fact that the texture of the main ingredient, rice cake, split opinions, but no good solution came to mind.
In the end, he could only wait until customers got used to it.
"Ugh…" Jinseo dropped the ladle he had been using to stir the tteokbokki and frowned. "Damn it, it's starting again."
A pain he'd been living without for a while surged into his right wrist.
A condition common among cooks who overwork their wrists—tenosynovitis—was tormenting him.
(Translator's Notes: Tenosynovitis is the inflammation of the tendon sheath, the protective covering around a tendon. This condition often results from repetitive motion, overuse, or injury, and it can cause pain, swelling, and difficulty moving the affected joint.)
"Are you okay?"
A customer who had been about to carry a plate of tteokbokki away looked at Jinseo with concern.
"I'm not… okay. It was fine for a while, but today it suddenly flared up."
With a grimace, Jinseo sat down on a chair and let out a long breath.
The customers who had finished eating were considerate. They didn't place additional orders, set their empty plates on the counter seat, and left.
"…Thank you."
"Come on. If you're not feeling well, it can't be helped. Try to rest as much as you can."
In the end, Jinseo had to close an hour earlier than his scheduled break time.
Since he had left the painkillers he'd once gotten from the pharmacy back in Korea, he followed what the doctor had taught him—stretching his wrist and waiting for the pain to subside.
Business is going well, and I pushed myself too hard.
The snacks that were commonplace in Korea got a blazing response here in the other world, the Francia Continent.
Maybe because of that, Jinseo himself had gotten excited too, throwing himself into cooking.
To the point where he forgot about his wrist condition—the one he always had to be careful about.
I've made a decent amount of money. I should rest and get my body back in shape. If my health collapses, what use is money no matter how much I make?
If he wasn't in a situation where survival itself was uncertain, then health came first.
His parents had also passed away at an age that should have still had a future ahead of them, because their health deteriorated.
First… I need to deal with the orders from the customers who are waiting.
Jinseo lifted his head and looked toward the table seats.
Even though it was break time, quite a few customers had already taken seats at the tables.
Normally, they would have stared at him with eyes demanding he end his break early.
But once they realized Jinseo's condition wasn't normal, they quietly kept their mouths shut and looked elsewhere.
It's a lot better than before. Still, I shouldn't overdo it.
Jinseo repeatedly clenched and opened his right hand, checking his wrist.
I should go to the hospital tomorrow. I need to get medicine too. What time would it be less crowded… but.
Jinseo belatedly realized what he had forgotten and placed his left hand over the cash box.
A tool that might be even better than a hospital was right next to him.
AI.
{—Yes, Mr. Lee Jinseo.—}
Can you display my physical condition in the status window?
{—At the current level of the Mobile Cooking Facility, that capability is not possible.—}
If it's not possible at this level, that means it becomes possible when the level goes up, right?
{—Yes. Once the Mobile Cooking Facility reaches Level 10 or higher, it becomes possible.—}
Level 10… I'm Level 5 right now, so I'll be struggling for a while.
Jinseo pressed down his disappointment and rubbed his wrist.
"Alright, I'll take orders."
At Jinseo's words, the customers who had been waiting stood up at the same time.
Stirring tteokbokki, lifting fried foods from the oil, slicing soondae—Jinseo kept checking the state of his wrist.
It's still okay. Still okay.
As he rapidly assembled tteok-twi-sun sets one after another, he looked ahead.
The line was still long; it seemed like he would have to take orders only up to those who had already been waiting and then close early.
"Are you okay?"
"My wrist isn't great, but I can still hold out for now."
To a worried regular, Jinseo forced a calm expression.
"Then how about receiving the blessing of the Heirem Order?"
"A blessing?"
The Heirem Order.
A monotheistic order spread widely across the Francia Continent.
Jinseo had heard now and then from customers that such an order existed.
Since he had never met any order members as customers before, he couldn't even imagine what kind of place it was.
"It's my first time in a cathedral since I went with my parents as a kid…"
Jinseo was driving the food truck toward the place a regular had told him about.
At first, he'd planned to brush the regular's suggestion off, but his thinking changed after he went to the hospital that morning.
「You need to rest for a while. Like I told you before, if you keep pushing yourself, it can get worse.」
As Jinseo expected, the doctor's prescription was exactly the same as before.
But now, with his snack business on the Francia Continent in full swing, he couldn't decide so easily.
If he took a break, the customers he'd built up would obviously disappear like the tide going out.
So he decided it wouldn't be too late to see what this "blessing" was first, then decide whether to rest.
"I hope this works out…"
After driving with vague hope for an hour, Jinseo parked the food truck beside the iron gate leading into the destination.
A holy site famous as a place the order's followers visited on pilgrimage, reached only after passing through the forest north of Falstead Castle.
Kaysus Cathedral.
"It's more modest than I expected."
Unlike the massive cathedrals he'd only ever seen in photos and videos, it wasn't very different from the church he used to attend long ago.
The differences were that instead of a cross, the symbol representing the Heirem Order was mounted at the tip of the cathedral's pointed roof, and while clergy on Earth tended to be wrapped in black, here their vestments were unified in pure white—the complete opposite.
Jinseo stared up at the familiar yet strangely foreign cathedral in silence for a while.
Then, when he looked around, he saw it wasn't just clergy—there were also many pilgrims crowding the area.
Jinseo moved through the people and approached a clergy standing beside the cathedral entrance.
"Excuse me, I have something to ask."
"May His blessing be with you… Brother, what brings you here?"
"If I apply now, you're saying it'll be at least a month."
After hearing the answer from the clergy in charge of managing entrants, Jinseo nodded.
"Yes. Lately, the number of believers whose health has worsened has increased so much that this is what it's come to."
The clergy explained in detail how blessings were conducted, what qualifications were needed, and how long the wait would be.
They said that even if he wasn't a believer, he could still receive a blessing.
But for Jinseo, it was impossible to wait for a minimum of one month with no guarantee.
"Please understand that in granting blessings, we must prioritize our believers."
"Ah, that's only natural. I understand."
Jinseo greeted them, then walked back out beyond the iron gate where the food truck was.
What do I do? That clergy was subtly giving me the look that they want me to become a believer.
Jinseo stroked his chin and paced around the food truck.
The level of modern medicine certainly wasn't low, but he couldn't help hoping that a blessing in this other world might cure tenosynovitis in a single shot.
Just like in fantasy novels or movies.
But this is kind of like…
Jinseo remembered his military days, when he'd chosen religious events that gave extra ChocoXPie, and he gave a bitter laugh.
No, let's stop. Becoming a believer like this doesn't feel right. I'll just follow the doctor's advice, rest properly, and focus on treatment. Luckily, I've earned a lot of money, so I don't need to worry about money while I rest. And sales—I can work hard and build them back up.
Regulars in this other world might be disappointed, but they'd been worried about Jinseo too, so he chose to recover quickly.
But I'm seeing familiar regulars here too.
Jinseo felt strange when he noticed the familiar faces.
They all had one thing in common: they were the ones who mainly bought tteokbokki—the very item Jinseo had been agonizing over how to sell more of.
And there was one more thing.
They were clergy wearing vestments.
But I don't remember the order's clergy being among my customers. Did they come secretly to eat?
"Mr. Jinseo, what brings you here?"
"Huh?"
When someone behind him recognized him and spoke, Jinseo startled and stared hard at the person.
"Wait. Your name is… Sister Leira, right?"
Like the people he'd just recognized earlier, Leira was also a regular who especially loved tteokbokki.
Because she was dressed in vestments completely different from what she usually wore at the food truck, Jinseo hadn't recognized her right away.
"Yes. You remembered me."
"Of course. You're a regular. I only just realized you're clergy of the Heirem Order."
"Because of the vestments, right?"
"That too, but your whole vibe is really different."
Unlike when she visited the food truck, Leira in pure white vestments had a calm aura—the complete opposite of the bubbly image Jinseo knew.
"But it's quite far from here to Falstead Castle. Wasn't it hard for you every time you came?"
"I'm dispatched to the Falstead parish once every three days to help with mass. I just enjoy snacks while I'm there."
"But if you go as far as disguising yourself… is there some doctrine that says you can't enjoy worldly food?"
"No, it's not that. It's just that if I eat tteokbokki wearing these…"
"…I get it."
When he pictured tteokbokki sauce staining white vestments, Jinseo immediately understood what a disaster it would be.
From now on, I should prepare aprons for customers.
"But… are you not doing business today?" Leira glanced around, then lowered her voice.
"Here? There's a cathedral right there—would it be okay?"
"As long as it isn't right in front of the cathedral, it's fine. And you just can't loudly hawk customers." Leira pointed to the road leading away from the iron gate. "Look. Other merchants are openly doing business too."
"Oh, you're right?"
Stalls selling food and necessities to pilgrims lined both sides of the road.
Jinseo bent his right wrist back and forth and confirmed there wasn't pain.
At this level, I can manage for a little while.
"Then since I'm here, I'll do some business before I go."
"Thank goodness! Today isn't a dispatch day, so I can't go to the food truck, so… I mean, I wanted the believers to taste your snacks too. Ahem!"
Leira clapped happily, then put her hands behind her back and cleared her throat.
She clearly looked like she wanted to eat the most, but Jinseo pretended not to notice and parked the food truck among the stalls.
"What's that?"
"It smells good, but did they sell food like that before?"
People who watched Jinseo making snacks in the food truck gathered with curiosity.
And right at the front of them was Leira, who had already taken a seat at the counter.
"Here you go. And put this on in front."
"Thank you!"
Leira put on the apron Jinseo handed her, then made the sign of the cross.
Then she looked down at the tteokbokki on the plate and picked up her fork.
When she spotted the garaetteok and fish cake settled in the red broth—and the boiled egg she always ordered as an extra—her lips naturally curved into a smile.
"Mmm… yes. This taste."
Eating tteokbokki near the cathedral, unlike usual, felt especially meaningful to her.
"Tteokbokki is always fascinating. The spiciness is painful, but it has this charm that makes you unable to stop."
"It seems like people in the order especially like tteokbokki."
"That's what they say. After I eat this, I also feel like prayer goes better for some reason."
The customers who had gathered around but didn't have the courage to order yet began swallowing their saliva.
The way she ate the tteokbokki so appetizingly, without ever rushing, stimulated everyone else's appetite.
"They say they sell something called tteok-twi-sun—what does it taste like?"
"Huh? I've heard of that! Isn't it supposed to be a Falstead Castle specialty? Should I try it?"
"So that's tteok-twi-sun?"
Once they belatedly realized what the food truck was, people started raising their hands and ordering one after another.
The table seats that had been empty were suddenly full, and the smell of snacks spread outward.
Then even the merchants selling beside the food truck approached Jinseo with curiosity.
"Is that good?"
While working hard making snacks, Jinseo smiled and nodded.
"Give me one."
"Yes, please wait a moment."
A little later, the man who returned to his stall with a plate of tteok-twi-sun began eating with his fellow merchants.
"What a strange taste. I've traveled all over the continent, but I've never tasted anything like this."
"Hey, come here! Don't just watch—take a bite too!"
"This one's a bit spicy, but the others go down easy."
People's preferences split somewhat, but at least one of the three items in tteok-twi-sun managed to win them over.
"It's not enough—should we order more?"
"Tteok-twi-sun for two… no, make it three servings!"
After finishing a serving in no time, the merchants placed additional orders.
Jinseo was happy at the unexpected popularity, but at the same time he felt troubled as he watched the customers keep increasing.
This is more of a crowd than I expected. I don't know if my wrist can hold up.
Jinseo wiped the sweat on his forehead with a roll of tissue and stirred the tteokbokki.
In a short time he had sold quite a lot of snacks, but the line wasn't shrinking—if anything, it was growing.
"Huh? That person… no way."
"T-that person came all the way to a place like this…"
Just as Jinseo was about to shout that he would only take orders up to the people currently in line, the customers in line suddenly split to both sides and made space.