Chapter 90: It's a Bunsik Party! (4) Jinseo followed the maid, sightseeing the lush trees and brightly blooming flowers along the way.
As expected of a garden inside a royal palace, its scale was clearly on a completely different level from the gardens of the mansions he'd visited so far.
With a place this wide, holding the next ball here wouldn't be a bad idea. If the weather stays warm like today, it should be fine even if it runs late into the evening… though bugs might swarm, but Nero can handle that with his ability….
The next ball would be a ball in name only—practically a banquet for eating Jinseo's bunsik.
In that case, a garden that blended with nature suited it far better than a stifling indoor hall.
And above all, selling food outdoors fit a food truck's identity more than anything else.
While scanning the area and thinking about where he should park the food truck to look best, Jinseo also worried about how he should treat Prince Charles when they met.
He's ten, right? I don't know if he's already tried bunsik, but at that age, kids usually like it….
In case he had to serve bunsik on short notice, Jinseo had miniaturized the food truck into a scooter and brought it along.
Fedora, worried about sending him alone, accompanied him—twisted slightly to the left as she sat on the scooter seat.
"He's over there."
Recognizing Prince Charles, Fedora got down and walked toward the fountain.
The people already waiting near the fountain at the center of the vast garden all turned their eyes to the scooter, but the boy in the middle didn't seem interested.
It was the same even when he saw the clothes Jinseo wore—something any Francian would be seeing for the first time.
"Your Highness, it's been a long time."
"It's been a long time for me as well, Cardinal."
After exchanging greetings with Fedora, the boy looked up at Jinseo.
"Are you the foreign cook, Jinseo?"
"Yes, Your Highness."
Prince Charles.
The eldest son of Philip III, the current king of the Doren Kingdom—a boy who had just turned ten.
Seated alone on a long bench, Charles bit his nails as he studied Jinseo closely.
"I heard you serve astonishing food—enough to calm even a dragon's wrath."
"You flatter me."
"I'll be looking forward to the cooking skill you'll show at the ball three days from now."
"I will do my best to meet your expectations."
At Jinseo's answer, Charles nodded.
But for someone who claimed to be looking forward to it, his expression was nowhere near expectation.
Looks like he's never eaten bunsik even once.
Even if it was only once a week, the amount of food delivered to Philip III was never small.
Jinseo had assumed the king would share it with his family, but Charles's reaction was far from what he expected.
"Once a week, Father enjoys the cooking you make—this 'bunsik.'"
"Yes. I send it to His Majesty once a week."
"I'd never seen him look that happy. Not once in front of me."
With his lower lip jutting out, Charles tossed out the words, and the air grew heavy.
Yeah… I think I get how this is going.
As they'd come here, Jinseo recalled what Fedora had told him.
Philip III and Charles weren't on bad terms, but it was also hard to say they were close.
He's a king. Of course he doesn't have much time with his son….
A parent who works for their child, even at the cost of the time they could spend with that child.
And as a result, parent and child drift further apart—against the parent's intentions.
Different in form, but similar to what Jinseo had felt as a child.
After time passed and he became an adult, he could understand his parents' position to some extent.
And only after they died did he painfully realize why they had worked so hard.
So for Prince Charles now, it was far too early to understand Philip III.
He probably thinks Father spending time with me got cut down even more because of my bunsik.
In this situation, serving bunsik right away could make the boy resent it even more.
Based on his own experience, Jinseo thought hard about how he could loosen this young prince's heart.
When I was like that, I think I forgot the hurt by just playing with my school friends. But he's a prince, so it'll be hard for him to find someone he can really relax around….
Jinseo looked to either side of the bench where Charles sat.
Wide, spread-out grass.
The sunset spreading around the sun as it dipped just below the horizon.
Plenty of space for a food truck.
Right. In times like this, instead of just sitting….
Rather than clumsily trying to comfort him with words, Jinseo chose another way.
AI, return the food truck to its original form.
{ -Yes, understood.- }
Paaaat.
When the scooter flashed and returned to its original food-truck form, Prince Charles sprang to his feet from the bench.
"Huh…?"
Blinking, Charles stared at the food truck with intense curiosity.
"Your Highness, please wait a moment."
Jinseo went into the extra trailer, then came back out holding two baseball gloves and a baseball.
He took off his suit jacket and draped it over the bench, then rolled his sleeves up to his elbows.
"Want to play catch?"
The conditions for properly playing baseball are fairly demanding.
You need a certain number of participants, and the equipment list is more than one or two things.
You need multiple umpires, and a wide space is an absolute requirement.
But if all you want is to enjoy a simple game of catch, you don't need a wide space, and you only need two people.
"Yes, like that."
Jinseo lightly caught the ball Charles threw, then tossed it back.
"Good catch."
"I'm pretty good now, right?"
"Yes. Later, if you gather people and play real baseball, I think you'll do well."
Praised by Jinseo, Charles grew a bit shy, then threw the ball harder.
It was nothing more than tossing a ball back and forth, but Charles enjoyed it far more than Jinseo expected, completely absorbed in their game of catch.
At first, he couldn't throw properly and kept driving it into the ground.
But after watching the pitching motion Jinseo showed him on the smartphone, he'd reached the point where he could properly catch the seams and throw.
Whenever Charles threw it too far for Jinseo to catch, Nero and Owl took turns acting as ball boys, so their game never had to stop.
"Your Highness, I think we should stop here."
"We can't do more?"
"If it gets any darker, you won't be able to see the ball."
"Then I guess we can't help it."
Regretful, Prince Charles wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.
He was a bit tired from moving so much, but his expression was far better than when they'd first met.
"You're hungry, aren't you?"
"There's food?"
"This is a food truck. I'll make bunsik for you here."
After changing into his cook's uniform, Jinseo brought out bunsik, and seated at the counter, Prince Charles began eating with gusto.
"It's delicious! So this is bunsik!"
Watching Charles act his age again, Jinseo smiled, pleased.
If catch didn't work, I was going to lure him in with another game, but thank goodness it worked right away.
For a child trapped in worries that can't be solved immediately, there's very little an outsider can do.
So Jinseo kept it simple.
Get them playing with someone, not alone.
Then eat something tasty together.
It was a very simple method, but it had been proven effective many times.
Because Jinseo himself had lived it, in Prince Charles's place.
"Alright. The rest of you should eat together too."
At Jinseo's suggestion, the guards and maids gathered around the tables and began eating bunsik.
Fedora sat beside Prince Charles and slowly savored cup tteokbokki—
with plenty of her own special sauce, far spicier than what Charles was eating.
"Your Highness, do you like the bunsik I made?"
"Of course!"
"At the next ball, I'll delight you with far more types—bunsik I haven't shown yet, even beyond what you ate earlier."
"Really?"
"Yes. You can look forward to it."
With tteokbokki sauce smeared all over his lips, Prince Charles's face was filled with pure anticipation.
Three days later.
Taking Jinseo's suggestion, the second ball was held not in the main hall but in the garden—and it began around midday, not late afternoon.
So while it was called a ball, as Jinseo had predicted, it proceeded in the form of a banquet.
Even more people than the last ball gathered when they heard Jinseo's bunsik would appear, but since the location moved to the garden, there was no trouble accommodating the increased crowd.
"Over here is tteokbokki! If you tell us how spicy you want it in advance, we'll cook it to match!"
"If you want seafood ramen, come this way!"
"Tuna-mayo gimbap is difficult right now because we're out of ingredients! Other gimbap can be made immediately!"
"Today's special menu—kraken fritters! Made from kraken meat personally sourced from Orte Harbor by the holy relic's owner, Jinseo!"
This time, the palace cooks who had made food at the previous ball were now in charge of cooking and selling directly in front of guests.
At Jinseo's request—so guests wouldn't have to wait too long and could choose what they wanted—they accepted gladly.
How could they refuse a request from the creator of bunsik, Jinseo?
Thanks to that, guests could enjoy a wide variety of bunsik in a buffet format, and Jinseo provided bunsik only for special guests from the food truck—
bunsik tailored to the children's tastes, who had ended up unintentionally sidelined at the previous ball.
"Th-that one, please!"
"I'll take two! No, three!"
Drawn in by the sweet aroma, the children chose a new treat turning brown inside a ladle over the fire.
It was dalgona.
But Jinseo was more familiar with the name his father used—ppopgi.
"Now, before you eat it…"
Jinseo held out freshly made ppopgi to the children who were snapping it apart and eating it however they pleased.
The real fun of ppopgi isn't just eating—it's the game you can play while eating it.
"If you break it along the drawn line properly, I'll give you a special prize."
Carefully, Jinseo began tapping and breaking it from the edge.
The children watched in breathless silence, and soon they stared with admiring eyes at the ppopgi reborn into a perfect heart shape.
"Alright, you all know how now, right? Give it a try."
After Jinseo's demonstration, the children gripped the round candy in their tiny hands and took on the ppopgi challenge.
It would be easier with a needle, but since it might be dangerous for young children, Jinseo used firmly pressing the mold instead.
"Ah! It broke!"
"Waaah… I was almost done…"
For a first-time game, there were bound to be more failures than successes.
Even as the failed children sniffled, they still popped the broken candy pieces into their mouths.
"I-I did it!"
A boy seated at the center of the counter raised a star-shaped ppopgi and cheered.
It was Prince Charles—the first to succeed.
"Your Highness! Congratulations! It took me ten tries to get my first success, but you did it in just two…! An amazing skill! Here—your prize!"
Jason made a big fuss as he pulled something out of a plastic bag.
By the so-called "unwritten rule," the prize should've been one more dalgona.
But for children who had more than enough money to simply buy another, a different gift was more fitting.
The large bag was filled with "toys" Jinseo had bought at a stationery shop.
"Wow… what's this?"
"This is an ancient monster that existed in my brother's homeland."
When Prince Charles received a plastic dinosaur toy, his face bloomed with joy.
"Wow, that's amazing!"
"Your Highness! I-I want to see too!"
Noble children swarmed around Prince Charles, staring at the dinosaur toy as if they could bore holes through it.
Yeah, at that age, kids can't resist dinosaurs.
Jinseo realized once again that dinosaurs transcended space itself and worked on every child.
"Dad! Do it for me!"
"Dad! It's too hard! Do it instead!"
Children who kept failing finally tugged on their fathers' sleeves and dragged them to the ppopgi station.
"I-it's not just for kids, is it? But this… ngh, it's harder than I thought."
After completely smashing one side of the star and making his child cry even more, the man put the failed pieces into his mouth—and his eyes went wide.
The ppopgi game had given him a headache, but he couldn't help admiring the sweet taste.
"Ohhh. It's good even if you just eat it."
"Dad… that was mine…"
"Oh? Right! Hey! Give me two more of this ppopgi!"
Father and son each took a different shape, and they challenged the ppopgi game again.
< It's a Bunsik Party! (4) > End
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