Chapter 53: A Blanket Is Dangerous (5) (53/225)
After the unexpected pork belly dinner ended, one Korean and three otherworlders put games and TV aside for a while and talked.
Normally, it might have been a situation where alcohol was needed, but the late-night food Jinseo ordered was more than enough.
Jokbal, with its chewy texture.
Makguksu, which delivered a completely different kind of flavor from ramen.
As yet another new world unfolded in their mouths, the mood turned lively, and they naturally started talking about their pasts—things they hadn't told each other yet.
"Hard to believe, but I'm actually from a count's family. How that happened is… Hey! Why are you already reacting like that? You don't believe me?"
Hayward's confession began under everyone else's suspicion.
What he'd meant to brush off as a joke kept going for nearly an hour, and everyone but him gradually stiffened.
Later, they were straight-up listening while eating popcorn and drinking cola, and whenever he asked for agreement, they reflexively nodded.
Even though they let ninety percent of what he said go in one ear and out the other.
"I was always hungry when I was a kid."
"That's obvious."
"But my family didn't have enough money to keep me full."
"That's obvious too."
Then Craid's past came out as well.
Compared to Hayward's long-winded life story, his was mostly a repeated pattern.
Beat up monsters, earn money, buy the food he wanted, then take down even stronger monsters to earn even more money…
"My family home? I sent them part of my food money, and they used it as capital to start a restaurant. The last time I contacted them, they said they were running about a hundred restaurants in the Girvante Kingdom…"
But that final twist was something no one could have predicted.
Just how much "food money" had he been sending for an ordinary family to rise into a massive food-service enterprise? Jinseo was dying to know.
"I guess compared to everyone else's circumstances, mine is pretty ordinary."
Three otherworlders who had lived on the Francia Continent, a textbook fantasy world.
Jinseo, who had spent most of his life in modern Korea.
Since there were limits to what they could truly understand about each other, they mostly brought up short anecdotes.
"That was really rough back then."
"Wow… People like that exist in Korea too. Just hearing it makes me angry."
"If it were me, I would never have forgiven them."
"It's the military. It's the same everywhere. Though… yeah, if it were you, you'd probably smash everything no matter what it was."
But when Jinseo started talking about stories from his military days, everyone got interested and listened closely.
"That bastard Corporal Kang—who made you slam your head with a toothpaste cap—where is he now?"
They ended up sweating as they tried to stop Craid, who was past "interested" and about to take direct action.
Even as Jinseo told his own stories, there were a few things he kept hidden.
Unrevealed truths about the food truck, and the fact that this place was another world completely separate from the Francia Continent.
He didn't want to shock people who would be going back to their original world after a week with unnecessary truth.
They kept talking late into the night, and the four men only woke up once it was already daytime.
Hayward and Craid turned on the TV and the Pl X 5 on their own the moment they got up.
Julien still didn't let go of the CD player.
But unlike yesterday, he wasn't sitting alone in a corner—he watched the others play from behind while listening to songs through earphones.
Breakfast, games and movies, lunch, dramas and games, dinner, movies and dramas and games, late-night food.
Time flew inside a tightly packed schedule designed so they wouldn't even think about going outside.
In the middle of it all, Jinseo tried pulling a few pranks on the three otherworlders.
Sweet-and-sour pork delivered with jajangmyeon—before the sauce was poured on.
Mint chocolate sitting in the far-left corner of a grand-size cup of BaeXkin Robbins ice cream.
Hawaiian pizza ordered alongside nine bulgogi pizzas.
And the results were…
Hayward chose "dip it" and got yelled at hard by the other three.
Julien stared at the other three with a look that said he couldn't understand how mint chocolate could possibly taste bad.
Craid inhaled the Hawaiian pizza, saying you shouldn't discriminate against ingredients.
Jinseo confirmed that all three of them each carried one abyss of the Korean food world.
"Ah… I don't want to go back."
"It's a shame I only got to eat one Hawaiian pizza."
"There are still so many CDs I haven't heard. Can't I finish them before we go?"
In the extra trailer, the three were desperate to go back to Jinseo's home again.
When they first came to Korea, Jinseo worried nonstop that they might go outside.
But when it was time to leave, he ended up in the position of persuading them that they had to go back.
Today—three days past the planned one week—Jinseo told them firmly that they had to return to the Francia Continent.
He managed to get all three into the food truck, but they still couldn't let go of Korea.
"Normally, you can only enter after getting a passport and a visa. Right now, you're illegal residents. You could even go to prison."
"Then we'll just keep running."
"That's exactly why it won't work in Korea."
CCTV and resident registration IDs.
There aren't many people who can avoid those in Korea.
Of course, given the ability of the three in front of him, they'd obviously keep running—
which was exactly the problem.
He had to prevent, at all costs, a headline about three unidentified foreigners causing chaos while evading the police.
"Ah! I want to play GilX Gear."
"It's hard to forget the feel in my hands."
Even though they'd said it was boring because they always won, now that they were leaving Korea, the two men missed the games.
Between them, they had recorded five hundred straight wins.
And the nickname Jinseo had given them—"Gaehwadongcho Master"—ended up being endlessly talked about on fighting-game sites.
"Guh… fine. I'll go."
"Sorry for making it difficult."
"Can we come visit again next time?"
"If there's a chance."
Only after they gave up on staying did Jinseo finally close the extra trailer door.
He did feel bad that they came all the way to another country and all they did was stay shut in for ten days, but…
right now, not a speck of that feeling remained.
Whew. We're finally going back.
After spending ten days in Korea—rest that didn't feel like rest—Jinseo started the food truck.
"Is this Falstead Castle?"
After getting out of the extra trailer, Hayward covered his brow with his hand and looked around.
"After being in Korea, this place feels so empty."
"Honestly, Korea felt suffocating to me. Being here puts me at ease."
Unlike Hayward, Jinseo took a deep breath.
Fresh air filling his nose—unlike Korea.
An environment where he could do business freely without restrictions.
Regulars who ate his bunsik happily.
Even people he could trust to run a branch.
To Jinseo, the Francia Continent felt more familiar than Korea.
"Huh? Hyungnim! Hyungnim, isn't that you?!"
"Jinseo! You're back!"
Jinseo waved and walked over to the two who were busy running the branch across from him.
"You've worked hard while I was gone. By the way, the people who came with Craid…"
Jinseo tried to introduce Hayward and Julien.
"I should've entered the command like this back then…"
"No, if you do it like that, you get blocked by the counter."
But they were lost in their own conversation, just making joystick motions at empty air.
Julien greeted them belatedly, but the two still didn't come out of their own world.
Gaming addiction really is dangerous.
Seeing the two still unable to escape the game, Jinseo found Jason admirable for having kept the branch running diligently while he was gone.
"Jason, you worked hard holding back all this time."
"Huh? Ah… you mean that?"
At Jinseo's praise, Jason scratched the back of his head and played it off.
"Hm? What's that?"
Jinseo spotted something drawn on the ground behind the branch building.
Someone had filled it with dense lines to draw a TeXris stage, and even snapped branches to form block shapes.
There was no need to ask who the culprit was.
"I truly don't understand, Jinseo. Is that game called TeXris really that fun?"
"Hahaha…"
At Aston's lament—Aston, who'd been sick to death of Jason's nonstop game talk—Jinseo had nothing to say.
"What? That's a game too?"
Hayward had already wandered over and was looking down at the TeXris drawing.
"Ah! Are you Craid's companion? You know games? Do you know TeXris? It's a game made in a country called the Soviet Union, with over forty years of history—"
After listening to Jason's long explanation, a snort of laughter slipped out of Hayward.
"Come on, it looks simple. Have you played a game called Spa2? KingX Pa? CheolX? GilX Gear?"
"What?"
As a string of game titles Julien had never heard poured out of Hayward's mouth, Jason perked up.
"That's enough, Hayward."
Jinseo quickly thrust out his arm and blocked the space between them.
He couldn't allow any more game addiction.
For Jason's sake—and for the food truck's future.
"I'm going to report to the Dean!"
"Me too! Me too!"
A few mages who had been eating bunsik hurriedly vanished somewhere through teleportation magic to spread the news that Jinseo had returned.
Not long after, Painfolt appeared in front of Jinseo through teleportation magic.
"It's been a while."
"You've been doing well?"
"I've been well, thanks to the ice cream you gave me. I even made a new friend."
"A new friend?"
"Actually, the reason I came in a hurry is because of that friend, but…"
As their conversation continued, Craid and Hayward tactfully stepped back.
"M… Master?"
But Julien saw Painfolt and froze as if time had stopped.
His master—the one whose body couldn't even be found after the accident ten years ago—had a face identical to Painfolt's, like it had been stamped from the same mold.
"A master? Me?"
Painfolt examined Julien closely, but he had no memory of a disciple or student with that face.
"Are you perhaps mistaking me for my twin brother?"
"Huh?"
"My name is Painfolt, not Rainfolt."
"Ah…"
As the hope he'd clung to vanished, a sigh spilled from Julien's lips.
"The one who got caught up in that incident wasn't me—it was my younger brother. Surely you haven't forgotten?"
At Painfolt's question, Julien's face turned bleak and he lowered his head.
"How could I… forget."
"It must have been a sad incident for you too. I'm sorry."
Painfolt closed his eyes and pressed his lips tight.
"So you were that boy's disciple. But it looks like you stopped walking the path of magic halfway."
At Painfolt's remark, Julien flinched and slowly raised his head.
"I-I'm sorry."
"No. There is no fixed road in life."
Painfolt let out a short breath, shaking off the painful memory.
"Jinseo, can I continue what I was saying earlier? There's someone who wants to see you."
"Me?"
"Well… calling it a 'person' is a bit questionable, but yes. We'll talk in detail at the mage tower."
At the entrance of the Doren Mage Tower—designated as a teleport point—Julien was the first to get out of the food truck.
"This is the Doren Mage Tower…"
Julien looked up at the tower with wistful eyes.
Images of his past, when he had studied magic with all his heart, and memories with his master rose on their own.
Hayward and Craid quietly placed one hand each on his shoulders.
"Oh! So this is the food truck you praised until your mouth went dry?"
Jinseo turned toward the voice.
The man in a robe that clearly marked him as a mage was short—barely reaching Jinseo's waist.
And with that bushy beard, one word surfaced in Jinseo's mind.
That person… could it be…?
"I thought you would know, and I was right."
For Jinseo, a race he'd only seen in movies and games.
A being even the people of the Francia Continent hadn't seen in a long time.
A dwarf.
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