Chapter 89: It's a Bunsik Party! (3) "Bunsik and drinks I've never seen before."
Seated on the throne, Philip III looked down at the foods Jinseo had brought on a plate, his eyes full of interest.
He could recognize gimbap just by its appearance, since he'd eaten it many times by delivery.
But the other three were things he'd never seen in his life.
Hot bar, cup ramen, and mix coffee, right?
You pour hot water in? What does it taste like?
Likewise, the two maids facing unfamiliar food for the first time could barely contain their excitement.
Every time Philip III ate bunsik once a week, their tasting duties delighted their mouths.
And this time, it was even more special—bunsik made right in front of them by its creator, Jinseo.
With trembling hands, the two maids picked up the hot bar and the cup ramen from the plate.
"Wait a moment. You have to let cup ramen sit for a certain time before you eat it. First, why don't you try the others."
Jinseo took out his smartphone and set an alarm.
In the meantime, they tasted the gimbap, hot bar, and mix coffee.
As always, they couldn't hide the lingering regret on their faces—the feeling that no matter what, a single bite was never enough.
Beeeep-beep-beep-beep.
The alarm startled everyone nearby, and Jinseo mimed holding chopsticks and stirring.
"You should stir the inside well before eating."
Slurp.
Blinking, the maids exchanged glances.
With the same helpless sadness they felt every time they tasted bunsik—that one bite could never satisfy them—they respectfully handed the properly cooked cup ramen to Philip III.
"Then, let me try..."
Slurp.
"It's different from the ramen I ate before, but it has its own flavor."
Philip III smiled in satisfaction as he drew in the noodles.
Meanwhile, the officials watching him clutched their stomachs as their hunger only grew stronger.
The distinctive scent of cup ramen had spread through the room.
"And it smells like the kind of thing I'd feel guilty enjoying alone, like ramen. Please prepare a bowl for each of my officials as well."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"And for our foreign guests and guards too."
At Philip III's consideration, smiles bloomed across the officials' faces.
Jinseo took out a folding table from the scooter's extra-dimensional storage, and Aston accepted it, unfolding and setting them up one by one.
"Don't open the lids until I say so! And as you can see, the water is hot, so be careful!"
A strange spectacle unfolded: high-ranking officials lined up, each holding a cup ramen in their own hands, waiting to receive hot water poured by Jason.
Slurp, slurp.
Chew, chew.
Before they knew it, Doren Kingdom officials and dwarves had mixed together and gathered around the tables, starting a meal with a combination you'd commonly see at a convenience store.
"I heard your country has quite a lot of ore called adatium..."
"That stuff is rotting all over our continent."
"I've heard dwarf beer is something you can never forget once you drink it. If possible..."
"Beer's always overflowing for us. Just say the word anytime! Ah, not right now—later."
And naturally, conversation began.
Meanwhile, Jinseo stood before Philip III and carefully watched his reaction.
Just in case Philip III showed even a hint of dislike, Jinseo was ready to immediately replace it with other food.
"Hm. It's decent."
Perhaps mindful of everyone watching, Philip III kept his comment restrained.
But his expression made it clear how much he liked it.
"Still… is it just me, or does drinking this beverage called coffee make my mind feel clearer?"
"It's because it helps keep drowsiness away, Your Majesty."
"Is that so? That would be useful when working."
At Jinseo's explanation, Philip III stroked his beard, looking intrigued.
"In fact, the mages of the Doren Mage Tower use it frequently. Everyone drinks it, from students to the archmage. However, if you drink too much, you may suffer from insomnia, so you should be careful. For certain professions, the effect can be so strong it becomes troublesome."
"The best part is that you can drink it immediately just by adding hot water and stirring a little."
"I will offer a gift set with three hundred sticks."
"I cannot accept something for free from the owner of a holy relic. It would be a loss of face for the Heirem Order as well. I'll send someone later to pay an appropriate price. That aside, Painfolt didn't come."
Philip III finished his coffee, sounding regretful about Painfolt's absence.
At the moment, Painfolt was at the mage tower with Julien, fully immersed in research.
Though it was a mistake, they'd taken note of the fact that Geshtain succeeded in magic that crossed continents, and they pushed even harder on their existing research—improving teleportation magic.
It was to find his twin younger brother, whom everyone thought dead, but whom he firmly believed must be alive somewhere.
"Whew. That was a good meal."
Since he seemed to like the cup ramen quite a bit, Philip III ate a second cup, then set down the wooden chopsticks.
After drinking the last drop of mix coffee from his paper cup, Philip III looked at Jinseo with a deep gaze.
"Someone as talented as you—if it were up to my heart, by my side..."
"Khk! Khk!"
At a nearby table, Oswald choked on his ramen at Philip III's words.
Many people had tried to recruit Jinseo as their personal cook, and all of them had been refused.
But a suggestion from Philip III, the king of a nation, carried a different kind of weight, and Oswald couldn't help but tense up.
"...I would like to keep you, but if I monopolized such an outstanding person, the backlash would be severe. Above all, even the supreme being does not monopolize your bunsik though she enjoys it. How could I, a mere insignificant creature, do so?"
At Philip III's declaration of giving up, Oswald let out a breath and felt relief wash over him.
Jinseo felt reassured for a different reason.
Thanks to someone coughing, the scene that would have unfolded like a moment from a historical drama never came to pass.
In contrast, the maids tasked with tasting and the officials couldn't hide their disappointment.
If Jinseo became a palace cook, they had expected they would be able to taste his bunsik more often.
"Oswald, you said you eat Jinseo's bunsik every day, didn't you?"
"That is correct, Your Majesty."
"I envy you."
Resting his chin in his left hand, he looked down at Oswald—
with an expression of genuine envy for someone who could enjoy bunsik every day without headaches from endless work.
After enjoying bunsik that wasn't in the original plan, Philip III bestowed one of the treasures passed down in the royal family upon Jinseo.
Separately, he also offered a title and a fief, but Jinseo politely refused, saying it was far too much for him.
Jinseo only wanted to remain a cook who drove a food truck and sold bunsik.
He had neither the experience of managing vast lands nor the desire to rule over many people.
But Philip III insisted it was not excessive at all and continued urging him to accept a reward.
Jinseo's achievement in stopping a dragon's wrath was far more significant than Philip III had expected.
In the end, Jinseo accepted the reward in the form of receiving part of the territory near Falstead Castle.
"Whew..."
Standing before the king of a nation was bound to be nerve-wracking.
After finishing his audience with Philip III and leaving the audience chamber, Jinseo loosened his tie slightly.
He wanted nothing more than to rest all day, but to attend the evening's ball, he would need to change clothes and start preparing bunsik.
"It's been a long time!"
"It's good to see you, Marquis."
Outside the audience chamber, the lord and lady of the Hasrak Marquisate greeted Jinseo and Oswald warmly.
Though they were people of high status like Philip III, perhaps because Jinseo had just met the king, he found it much easier to exchange greetings with them.
"I missed you, Aston."
"I feel the same, Stella."
And Stella, who had come with her parents, greeted Aston warmly.
After their matchmaking ended awkwardly, the two had been far apart, but they still exchanged letters about how they were doing.
Once a week, even.
It would have been difficult without asking a Painfolt-class mage every time, but it was easily possible thanks to Owl's delivery ability.
They only needed to include the letter when sending food to the marquisate.
So even though it had been nearly a year since they last met, the way they looked at each other was thick with affection.
"Jinseo, do you plan to attend the ball this evening?"
"Yes. Everyone will be waiting for my bunsik, so I can't very well skip it. May I ask how many people will be attending?"
"Ah, you won't need to cook this time. There will be another ball in a few days. This one is meant for you to attend as a guest, and the next one for you to attend as a cook."
"Is that so?"
At the marquis's words, Jinseo realized he could finally breathe and let out a sigh.
As Jinseo did so, Stella approached him carefully.
Because the clothing he wore wasn't his usual cook's uniform but something with sharp lines and a powerful image, she couldn't take her eyes off him.
"This kind of outfit… it's my first time seeing it."
"I did dress up to show proper courtesy, but I'm worried it might look awkward to people here."
"Awkward? Not at all! The more I look, the more charming it is. It makes me want to go find the tailor who made it right now."
Since she had such interest that she even made clothes herself, Jinseo stood in place and turned this way and that so Stella could get a good look.
"Mr. Jinseo. About the clothes you're wearing—do you only have the one set?"
"Do you need it?"
"I thought it might suit Aston as well."
"It would… yes."
Jinseo glanced over Aston beside Stella.
Since his proportions were quite good, Jinseo nodded in agreement.
"As it happens, I have three more sets, so it won't be a problem. Oh, and Jason—how about you try one too?"
"M-me too?"
To be honest, Jason had wanted to wear Jinseo's suit too, even if he hadn't said so.
He couldn't be satisfied just looking at the impressive outfit that had drawn everyone's eyes before bunsik even came out.
"But I'm tall, so I'm not sure it'll fit you both."
"Leave it to me! Adjustments are no problem!"
Stella's eyes burned with excitement at the thought of being able to touch and examine foreign clothes she'd never seen before.
That evening—the same day the dwarf delegation and Jinseo's party visited the royal palace.
In the palace's main hall where the ball was being held, twice the usual number of attendees gathered.
Most of them were people who had traveled far without hesitation to see the non-human dwarves and the foreign cook Jinseo.
And the moment Jinseo, Aston, and Jason appeared before them, everyone's eyes naturally fixed on the three men.
With Stella's help, Aston and Jason were able to wear suits that fit them perfectly.
And since all three men had the same shoe size, they were even able to wear the spare dress shoes Jinseo had brought.
Attendees who wanted to talk about bunsik also bombarded them with questions about the suits, and Jinseo grew exhausted from repeating the same answers to different people.
"Whew… this is tiring."
Sitting in a chair with an antique design, Jinseo wiped sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief and caught his breath.
If not for the dwarves splitting the crowd's attention in half, he might have ended up unable to rest at all, forced to endlessly talk with visitors who kept coming for him.
"It might've been easier to just sell bunsik."
"Then it would've been better for me as well."
Fedora, seated beside Jinseo, let out a very short sigh and glanced around.
Because she was a cardinal, she couldn't show it, but she too had been battered by questions no less than Jinseo was, and she was just as tired.
"But it's strange. Are there usually this many children at a ball?"
"Probably because the dwarves are attending. Dwarves—the mysterious race that only appears in fairy tales. If they've appeared in person, there aren't many children who could resist coming to see them."
But unlike her explanation, the children Jinseo saw didn't look very cheerful.
They should be happy like they're at an amusement park… but looking at them, it just feels like they were dragged along to their mother's shopping trip.
The children had come of their own will to the adults' social gathering to see the dwarves, but since the crowd was so massive, the time they could actually talk with the dwarves was extremely short.
Jinseo believed that if he served bunsik to those children, it would bring bright smiles to their bored faces.
But there was no food truck here, and there was no time to prepare, so he decided to put it off for next time.
Then for the next ball, should I prepare menus like these?
Even after sitting down to rest, foods he hadn't yet introduced began popping into Jinseo's mind one after another.
Meanwhile, a maid approached Aston, who was speaking with others together with Stella, and carefully whispered something in his ear.
After hearing the maid out, Aston walked toward Jinseo with a serious expression.
"Mr. Jinseo, His Highness Prince Charles wishes to see you."
"Prince Charles?"
< It's a Bunsik Party! (3) > End
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