Chapter 11: Serving Is for the Cat (2) "By the way, hyung. Did you hear that story? They say a shop selling tteok-twi-sun showed up in Peyden Castle."
"Do you think that rumor is real?"
"Yes, I heard it."
"Aren't you worried?"
"It'd be a problem if your business tanked because customers got stolen over there…"
"Peyden Castle is far away, so it won't be an issue. More than anything, just the customers here are enough for me to turn a solid profit."
Ten days had passed since the merchant from Peyden Castle disappeared.
Jinseo sliced soondae, re-checking the rumor he'd already heard from Jason and Foltan.
"They say the shopping district in Peyden Castle started selling bunsik with big promotional campaigns. Unlike the food truck, they sell tteokbokki, fried items, and soondae separately, and I also heard they even opened three shops. I'm scared it'll affect things here."
Unlike Jason, who still couldn't shake his worry, Jinseo himself wasn't particularly concerned.
Because he'd expected that someday people would show up to imitate bunsik.
When a popular dish appears, copycat shops popping up is something that naturally happened on Earth too.
But if it stops at just "imitation," it'll be worse than not eating it at all. In the first place, with only the ingredients here, it's close to impossible to recreate the real taste.
Jinseo had already tried it himself—and failed—so he'd long since stopped clinging to it.
On the other hand, he was curious how they planned to implement tteok-twi-sun using only Francia Continent ingredients.
If that guy from Peyden Castle hadn't acted like that back then, I could've figured out more in detail. That's the only shame.
Jinseo had also wondered whether his bunsik would work in Peyden Castle, and he'd driven the food truck there himself once to secure new customers.
After driving for over an hour, he arrived, but instead of entering the castle, he began preparing to do business nearby, just like he'd done around Falstead Castle.
Just as people coming and going began to take interest in the food truck and gather around, someone appeared, pushing through the crowd.
A Peyden Castle official arrived with guards in tow and stopped him, saying it was forbidden to do business near the castle without permission.
In truth, Jinseo had never intended to do business without a permit.
Since he had no connections there, he couldn't just go into the castle however he pleased, so his plan was to pretend to set up shop first, then if someone came to raise an issue, ask how he could get permission.
But the answer he got was unexpected.
The official suddenly threatened him, demanding he pay half his sales as tax, and Jinseo turned around without hesitation.
And then, just yesterday, through a regular customer, he heard the rumor that a bunsik shop had appeared in Peyden Castle.
Almost exactly what Jason had said.
"Hyung, did you change ingredients?"
"Not really."
After hearing Jinseo's answer, Jason took a bite of tteokbokki and tilted his head.
"It feels like the tteok got chewier than before. The fried items are crispier, and the soondae tastes richer."
"I thought it was just me—so you felt it too?"
As the additional taste enhancement effect—one of the benefits gained as the food truck's level rose—showed its value, Jinseo smiled softly.
Either way, he was satisfied with the reaction that it tasted better.
And he wanted to offer a wider variety of bunsik.
It'd be great if I could add ramen and gimbap soon. The problem is, it's hard with the current equipment, and I'd need someone else to handle serving.
If tteok-twi-sun was the basic bunsik set, then the moment you add ramen and gimbap, bunsik is complete.
The so-called tteok-twi-sun-ra-gim.
(Translator's Note: tteok-twi-sun-ra-gim (떡튀순라김) — bunsik street-food combo: tteokboki, tempura, soondae, ramen, and gimbap (seaweed rolls))
But gimbap takes a lot of hands-on work from ingredient prep onward, and ramen noodles get soggy, so it was impossible to make a large batch in advance and respond that way.
On top of that, now that customers had increased, orders occasionally piled up, so it was still too early to add more menu items.
"Then we'll get going first! Hyung, sell a lot!"
When Jason and Foltan left their seats, Jinseo put up the sign that said it was break time.
"Hm? That's…" Jinseo got out of the food truck to collect empty plates, spotted something, and approached cautiously. "It's a cat."
Seeing the black cat curled up on top of a table, Jinseo crooked his finger.
But the cat, as if it had no interest in Jinseo, didn't even glance at him and stared only at the leftover food on the plate.
"Huh? You can't eat that!"
The cat was licking the tteokbokki sauce left on a customer's plate.
Jinseo hurried over to chase it away, but the cat was faster. It hopped to another table and quickly swallowed some soondae offal.
Dodging Jinseo's hand, the cat hopped from table to table, and only after it had eaten every last bit of bunsik the customers had left behind did it disappear beyond the bushes.
"This is…" Jinseo frowned, troubled.
It wasn't because the food was a waste—it was going to be thrown out anyway.
It was a hygiene issue, but also because food cooked for humans could be dangerous for animals to eat.
Cats on the Francia Continent might be different from cats on Earth, but he was still worried it might get sick from eating bunsik he'd made.
"Should I buy churu or something…?"
(Translator's Note: churu (츄르) — a lickable cat treat, typically a soft paste in a squeeze tube.)
Scratching the back of his head, Jinseo stared in the direction the cat had vanished.
The next day, Jinseo brought cat food so the same thing wouldn't happen again.
He placed a bowl of kibble a little away from the food truck, and kept checking for when it might come.
The cat didn't appear when customers were around.
Instead, when it was break time, it showed up, aiming for the bunsik customers had left behind.
"Eat this instead of cold leftovers that don't taste good."
Each time, Jinseo approached it and held out the bowl of kibble.
But the cat didn't even look at the kibble, and quickly ate only the leftover bunsik before slipping away.
Jinseo cleaned the spot where the cat had been each time, but strangely, there was no fur or pawprints where it had passed.
There wasn't even the typical cat smell.
"Oh, but…"
Jinseo realized something he hadn't noticed before.
Right now, he was doing business by setting three places as teleport points.
Near Falstead Castle, Doren Mage Tower, and Kaysus Cathedral.
Each location was far enough apart that even driving the food truck would take about an hour if it wasn't by teleportation, yet the cat appeared every single time.
"How did it follow me across such a long distance?"
"It's not a cat. It's a spirit."
"Huh?"
The one who resolved Jinseo's question was none other than Dean Painfolt of the Doren Mage Tower.
Before closing up for the day, Painfolt came to the food truck after a long time and pointed at the "cat," calling it a spirit.
"Look closely. Inside that spirit's body, powerful mana is condensed. If it were an ordinary cat, that would be impossible."
"Is that so?"
AI, analyze that cat.
Pretending to accept it, Jinseo secretly gave the command to the AI.
{-There is no name. It is a spirit of unknown age, currently maintaining a form modeled after the animal known as a cat. As of now, the number of visits to the mobile cooking facility is '0'.-}
Maybe because it stole food, the visits didn't count officially. But it really was a spirit?
{-Yes, that is correct. The mobile cooking facility has limited information stored regarding spirits, so advice from a human with specialized knowledge in that field is required.-}
Got it. Spirits are probably more or less like what I've read in fantasy novels.
Only after reading the AI's analysis did that "cat" start to look different to Jinseo.
But in Jinseo's understanding, a spirit was a being closer to a soul.
So he couldn't understand it stealing leftovers.
"Then do spirits eat food?"
"I've never seen a spirit eat anything. More precisely, they don't need to eat anything—though that doesn't mean they're not allowed to eat."
"Then I can just see it as eating bunsik as a treat."
"That's right. But even for me, this is my first time seeing a case like this."
"No wonder. It looks exactly like a cat, but there's no fur shedding, so I found it strange."
"You were paying attention to that?"
"As someone who sells food, I have to."
"Just like you, indeed."
Compared to other cooks on the Francia Continent, Jinseo was particularly strict about hygiene.
If you don't have the skill to make it delicious, then at least manage hygiene thoroughly. Cooking skill grows with time, but hygiene awareness is what loosens over time.
Remembering the guidance his parents always emphasized, Jinseo felt relieved that the cat that kept aiming for bunsik was actually a spirit.
It wasn't like an animal that could carry disease or parasites.
"Even without me saying it, you probably know, but the food sold at the food truck is clearly different from the food here. Maybe that's why it got interested and tried it. Spirits are surprisingly curious beings."
Jinseo looked at the spirit sitting quietly on a counter chair.
It had stolen leftovers, but it didn't cause trouble like making a mess.
And he hadn't found any real hygiene issues either, so he judged there was no need to chase it away.
Still, it looked pitiful, eating only leftovers.
Jinseo took freshly cooked tteok-twi-sun, portioned a little onto a plate, and offered it to the spirit.
Not cold, but still warm—served properly on a real plate.
"So I misunderstood you without knowing."
"Meow."
"From now on, don't eat what customers leave behind. I'll give you warm stuff like this instead. Okay?"
He didn't say it expecting an answer, but the spirit nodded toward him.
As if it understood him.
"Do spirits understand human language?"
"Probably. It's not my specialty so I can't be sure, but exchanges between spirits and humans have existed since long ago. Though they've mostly disappeared now." Painfolt turned his gaze to the distance, thinking of his younger brother who used to research spirits too. "But in the present day, it's extremely rare for a spirit to appear in front of humans like this. Even I've only seen one after five years. And a spirit that approaches people first—this is my first time in my life."
"Is that so?"
"For the past few days, haven't you been closing in a different place each time? Yet you met it every time. That means it followed you." Resting his chin on his hand, Painfolt watched the spirit gulp down tteokbokki beside him. "Seeing the little thing eat makes me want to eat something too."
"What would you like?"
"I'm not that hungry, so just give me one ice cream."
"Would you like a NuX Bar?"
"Oh! You brought that in! Of course!"
A NuX Bar, with soft vanilla ice cream inside a thin chocolate coating, was popular with older people here on the Francia Continent just like in Korea.
"Oh dear!"
Maybe he was excited because he'd finally gotten ice cream after a while.
As he unwrapped it, Painfolt fumbled and dropped the NuX Bar.
The spirit swiftly batted the NuX Bar upward.
No—rather than batting it up, it only looked that way. In truth, the NuX Bar floated up, bobbing above the spirit's head.
And the spirit itself was floating too.
Flapping transparent wings.
"Whew, thank goodness. I almost wasted that ice cream." Painfolt took the NuX Bar floating in midair and bit into it.
"That…"
"It's magic. Spirits can use magic too. Still, living long enough, I even end up receiving help from a spirit. Hahaha…" Painfolt let out a hearty laugh and stood up. "Then I'll be on my way. Since a spirit is following you like this, get along with it. If you can bring it around with you, that alone will draw a lot of customers to the food truck."
"Well. I'm not really thinking that far…"
Jinseo silently looked down at the spirit nibbling away at the bunsik.
Whether it benefited the food truck or not, the spirit splitting fried items with its front paw and eating was simply cute.
"Thinking of it as having a pet with me… that'd be nice."
Jinseo held out his hand and gently stroked the back of the spirit's neck.
At that moment, a status window popped up along with a purple exclamation mark.
{-Hidden Quest: 'Satisfy a Special Being' has been completed.-}
"Huh? A hidden quest? There was a quest?"
Not even knowing a hidden quest existed, Jinseo stared blankly at the completion message.
And then he had to be shocked again when he read the next message.
"The reward… 10,000 mana? 10,000 mileage? It gives that much?"
And when an A+ grade free upgrade coupon was added on top, Jinseo couldn't gather his thoughts.
But that was only the beginning.
{-From now on, if you do business alongside a special being, rewards gained through other quests increase by 10%.-}
Jinseo now had a reason he absolutely had to do business with the spirit in the future.
From that day on, the food truck gained a new employee.
Strictly speaking, it wasn't a human, but a spirit.
"Nero, fried items for table three."
Jinseo called the spirit by "Nero," a name black cats were commonly called by.
"Meow."
The spirit called Nero lifted the plate above its head with magic, then floated slowly through the air toward the customer who'd ordered.
"Oh my! The spirit really listens to people?" The middle-aged woman who received the plate of fried items reached out her hand toward Nero.
But perhaps because it looked like a cat on the outside, it didn't easily allow another person's touch.
More precisely, it didn't allow anyone's touch except Jinseo's.
"Would it come if we called its name?"
"Nero! Come here! Nero!"
The customers waved at Nero, trying to catch its attention somehow, but it was useless.
Feeling regretful at its aloofness, they began eating their bunsik.
"Nero, please collect the empty plates from table five and eight."
"Meow."
Receiving Jinseo's instruction, Nero floated the plates above its head with magic and slowly flew back toward the counter.
"Wow! It's flying!"
"I want to raise a spirit too…"
People began coming to the food truck just because they could see a spirit in the form of a black cat up close.
Customers increased that much, but because Nero worked as an employee, orders didn't pile up and Jinseo could do business smoothly.
It delivered plates with food, collected them, and even wiped down table seats with a rag, reducing the workload.
When it wasn't busy, it played like a real cat on the cat tower Jinseo had set up beside the food truck, monopolizing the customers' affection.
Because of that, one of the carpenters even came with paper and copied the cat tower design.
Calling it a revolutionary structure, the optimal play equipment for cats… and swearing nobles who raised cats would definitely buy it.
Anyway, with Nero's appearance, not only Jinseo but the customers were even happier.
"So this was the real taste of tteok-twi-sun…"
"What do we do? Compared to this, the bunsik we sell is basically fraud."
"At least with tteok-twi-sun, we can make something that looks similar on the outside, but ice cream—that cold dessert—we can't even imitate it."
Regardless of that atmosphere, there were men eating at the farthest table with gloomy expressions.
In the end, they left without even eating half of the bunsik they'd ordered.
Not because it tasted bad, but because they realized it was food they could never reach through their own skill and effort.
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