Chapter 151: The Road to the Sacred Land (1) As soon as Lee Jinseo arrived at Selphier Castle, the destination of this schedule, he went through a whirlwind of experiences.
The moment he entered the castle to meet King Lanster II of the Girvante Kingdom, business was forcibly started by the citizens who had surrounded the food truck.
In the midst of frantically selling bunsik, a sudden eating contest between King Lanster II and Craid was held.
After that, among the people Charlotte brought in response to Jinseo's request for help, there was an unexpected reunion with Marco, and so on.
All of this happened in a single day, and as time rushed by in a blur, Jinseo only managed to finish business past midnight.
Even so, the citizens who had crowded around the food truck showed no signs of leaving, and if things continued like this, all the cooks might have had to stay up all night making late-night meals.
In response, King Lanster II invited not only the entire food truck group but also everyone Charlotte had brought to the royal palace so that those who had struggled making and selling bunsik could rest properly.
Guest rooms were assigned to all of them.
However, from Jinseo's perspective, the bed in the Additional Trailer was far more comfortable, so he parked the food truck in the palace garden and decided to sleep inside it.
But once he lay down on the bed, sleep would not come, and he could only stare at the ceiling.
His body was tired from frying an enormous amount of pork cutlets, but his mind was wide awake from the exhilaration.
In the end, unable to fall asleep, Jinseo got out of bed and talked with Marco.
Marco had also been lying awake, unable to sleep, so the two exchanged the stories they had not been able to share until now.
"I never imagined the food truck would even have a space like this."
Sitting on the lower bunk of the bunk bed, Marco looked around the inside of the Additional Trailer in fascination.
With a shower where one could wash up and various conveniences prepared, the Additional Trailer felt like a small palace to him, who had stayed inside a cramped prison.
"But I still prefer the inside of the food truck where bunsik can be made. It was truly enjoyable to see tools and facilities I had never seen before in my life. Though I never expected the pork cutlets made inside that food truck to be served to so many customers."
"I felt the same. Even during the autumn festival, it wasn't to this extent."
"It was truly an enjoyable time… but I regret that, due to my lack of ability, I was only able to serve pork cutlets."
Even with the bunsik street cooks and the genius chef Marco joining in, it was impossible to provide all of the food truck's existing menu.
So the bunsik menu was limited to tteok-twig-sun, made at the bunsik cart, while the two types of pork cutlets were handled exclusively by Jinseo and Marco.
"To be honest, I wanted to stay up all night and serve even more customers, but I'm not working alone. Since I'm with the other cooks, I can't satisfy only my own greed."
Once he entered the kitchen, he still immersed himself in cooking just as before, but now he also knew how to look around him. He was clearly different from the past.
"The customers probably wanted to eat more as well. Especially King Lanster II—he looked like he wouldn't be satisfied even if he ate all night. So I gave him things he could eat without having to cook them, so for now, I hope he'll be satisfied with that."
"There were things you showed me when you visited the prison, but there were far more I hadn't seen."
Jinseo had handed King Lanster II, who was truly serious about eating, armfuls of various instant meals, snacks, and drinks.
The sight of King Lanster II holding a wide variety of cup ramen and snacks in both hands, smiling like a child, was still vivid in his memory.
"It's sweet. This snack pairs very well with milk."
The table was filled with various snacks Jinseo had set out, and Marco took a bite of a Choco Pie before drinking white milk.
As Marco pondered what snack to eat next, he noticed the unidentified snack Jinseo was eating and his eyes lit up. Seeing that gaze, Jinseo slightly lifted the bag he was eating from and said,
"Oh, this? It's a snack I used to make and eat from time to time when I was in the military."
A snack made by crushing military hardtack into small pieces, finely grinding the star-shaped candies included with it, sprinkling them on top, and then pouring milk over it.
Commonly called Geonflake.
Jinseo was eating it with chocolate milk instead of white milk to add more sweetness.
"May I have just one bite?"
When Marco looked at him with pleading eyes, Jinseo handed him the Geonflake he was eating along with a new spoon.
That one bite turned into two, and once it went past three, Jinseo gave up on getting it back.
"Oh… I ended up eating it all."
"Hahaha… It's fine."
"In a country called Korea, even soldiers can enjoy such delicious snacks. Not only bunsik, but a place where such diverse foods are made and sold… Korea, I would very much like to visit it."
"If the circumstances allow later, I'll invite you."
Without giving a definite answer of yes or no, Jinseo deferred it to the future and put a Home Run Ball into his mouth.
"What kind of snack is that?"
"Would you like to try it?"
Perhaps because Jinseo had laid out so many kinds of snacks, Marco stopped choosing snacks on his own and instead began eating whatever Jinseo was eating. Each time, he wore a satisfied expression and rekindled his desire to visit Korea.
Bubbling.
In the royal palace of Selphier Castle, the capital of the Girvante Kingdom, the sound of tteokbokki broth boiling could be heard here and there.
"Your Majesty, you must wait just a little longer."
Jinseo quietly approached King Lanster II, who was reaching out to lift the lid of the pot, and spoke beside him.
"Ugh… watching the tteokbokki cook right in front of my eyes makes it difficult to endure."
To restrain his own hand that kept trying to open the lid, King Lanster II crossed his arms.
Just as Jinseo and Marco had expected, he had stayed up all night eating cup ramen, various instant meals, and snacks while chatting about food with Oswald Hamilton.
As a result, the time King Lanster II woke up was somewhere between lunch and dinner.
Normally, no matter when he woke up, he would have eaten first, but having fallen completely in love with bunsik, he declared that until Jinseo left Selphier Castle, all of his meals would be resolved with the bunsik and dishes Jinseo made.
Maintaining an empty stomach without even drinking a drop of water until dinner time, King Lanster II warmly welcomed Jinseo and Marco when they came to the audience chamber.
For him, Jinseo set up the convenience-store-style tables he had brought and placed a Portable Gas Range on each table.
The dinner menu Jinseo chose was instant tteokbokki, a variation of the existing menu.
He wanted to present the foremost item of tteok-twig-sun—the dish that first comes to mind when one thinks of bunsik—in a different format.
"All right, it's ready. Everyone, please eat."
The moment Jinseo gave permission, King Lanster II personally opened the lid of the pot and used a ladle to scoop tteokbokki and various toppings, along with broth, into his small plate.
Unlike the original tteokbokki, instant tteokbokki was placed into a pot and boiled with generous broth and various toppings, making it enjoyable to cook and eat.
In addition to the basic fish cake and egg, one could add jorongi tteok to enjoy its unique texture, and if ramen noodles were not to one's liking, glass noodles could be added instead.
Regular dumplings or flat dumplings were fine as well, and after everything was boiled, finely cutting Fried Food and adding it in made it yet another versatile dish.
"This is my first time eating something this spicy."
"But it's not just spicy. I think I understand to some extent why tteokbokki is the representative menu of bunsik."
"The chewiness of this main ingredient called tteok is a texture rarely seen in our Girvante Kingdom. It would be good to use it in other dishes besides tteokbokki."
"That's true, but this red broth itself is an excellent sauce. Tteokbokki… it's truly an intriguing dish."
The officials who had not been able to eat bunsik the previous day due to the huge crowd sat at several tables and savored the instant tteokbokki.
The red broth of spiciness and the unique texture of tteokbokki were more than sufficient to satisfy their longing for new flavors.
They dipped additional gimbap, Fried Food, and sundae into the tteokbokki broth as they continued talking about tteokbokki.
"As expected… to be able to draw closer to Him even through eating—what a brilliant idea."
"To enjoy pain and flavor together in this way, and thus hear His voice—so that was how you experienced it. I am in awe!"
The priests of Selphier Castle, eating instant tteokbokki with Fedora Artran, suffered from the spiciness while continuously drinking CoolXse.
The instant tteokbokki specially made with a special sauce for the priests of the Heirem Order refused comparison with the other tables in terms of spiciness.
Though tormented by the spiciness striking their tongues, though drenched in sweat, the priests could not stop eating.
{"If you eat this bunsik, pain you have never experienced before will accompany you. If you overcome that pain, you will experience His voice whispering at your ear. Brothers and sisters, endure and persevere."}
Just as Fedora Artran had said before eating the special instant tteokbokki, they truly felt as though they were drawing closer to the One they served.
"This kind of tteokbokki is good as well."
King Lanster II, savoring the instant tteokbokki in a far more relaxed atmosphere than the previous day, wore an expression full of leisure.
Across from him sat Craid, the hero of the Girvante Kingdom, and on either side were Greg and Oswald Hamilton, all enjoying the instant tteokbokki together.
With two big eaters at one table, the instant tteokbokki in the pot was quickly emptied, leaving only broth.
"Your Majesty, shall we add more ramen noodles?"
"No, this is enough. Before eating the other bunsik, I must first finish what remains."
After rejecting Greg's suggestion, King Lanster II tried to gather the broth left shallowly at the bottom of the pot and scoop it up with a ladle.
At that moment, Craid stretched out his right hand with his palm open to stop him.
"Hmm? What is it?"
Instead of answering King Lanster II's question, Craid quietly looked at Jinseo approaching from behind.
Meeting that gaze and smiling, Jinseo approached King Lanster II and said,
"Your Majesty, would you like fried rice?"
"Fried rice?"
At the unfamiliar name of the dish, King Lanster II tilted his head.
On the other hand, Oswald Hamilton and Greg brightened at the mention of Stir-Fried Rice and nodded.
"It seems you two have eaten it before. Very well, bring it."
A short while later, King Lanster II scooped a large spoonful of the Stir-Fried Rice Jinseo made and put it into his mouth, then looked at Craid across from him with surprised eyes.
"I now understand why you were so pleased at the mention of Stir-Fried Rice. And I wondered why you left only the broth, but that too I understand at once."
In Korean cuisine, broth or the oil left after grilling meat is not something to be washed away.
Rather, it is the leading actor that splendidly decorates the finale of a meal.
After eating the Stir-Fried Rice—an enemy of dieting and one of the main causes of overeating—King Lanster II once again admired Jinseo's insight.
"That fried rice—can we have some as well?"
"Yes, please wait just a moment."
As requests for Stir-Fried Rice came from the other tables, Jinseo quickly made it as though he had been waiting.
"Th-this sound… could it be!"
Clang.
The sound of spoons dropping onto plates rang out in succession from the table where the priests were gathered.
Having eaten Stir-Fried Rice far spicier than the other tables, Fedora Artran and the priests began to tremble.
"His… voice!"
"I-I hear it too!"
"Ah… He speaks!"
Flash. Flash. Flash.
Light burst forth almost simultaneously from Fedora Artran and two other priests.
The ability that only the clergy of the Heirem Order could manifest—Blessing—was unleashed three times in succession.
"So this is… I see. I was planning to visit the Grand Cathedral next week to receive a blessing, but there is no need now. Hahaha."
King Lanster II switched the fork holding Kraken Tempura to his left hand and drew the sign of the cross with his right.
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