Chapter 170: Ah, You're Saying You Couldn't Eat It Because It Wasn't There (6) "You know Lady Charlotte?"
"If you've lived over two thousand years like me, you can't not know noona. Back when noona hid her status and enjoyed adventures in the human world, I hung out with her. Back then, both noona and I were young, so we caused a lot of trouble too… Those were truly days I miss."
Beryllus gazed up at the sky with distant eyes.
But only for a moment.
Remembering why he had come out in person to greet the allied delegation, he smacked his lips.
"Ah, this isn't the time for that. Was it bunsik? You said it's the latest cuisine that's popular on other continents? I've eaten meat here and there while traveling other continents, so I want to eat bunsik first."
The moment bunsik was mentioned from Beryllus's mouth, the other Elves' gazes all snapped toward the food truck.
In truth, what they had wanted wasn't Jinseo's chicken breast or muscle supplement that had suddenly been pushed at them, but the bunsik that had delivered a fresh shock to tongues that had only known bland vegetarian food, and proper meat dishes.
"It can be quite stimulating food for Elves who have only eaten vegetarian meals. Are you sure you'll be alright?"
"One thing you learn when you live long is this. If you fear and reject new things outright, you'll get treated like a doddering shut-in elder in no time. I heard the food truck is a moving restaurant, yeah? You can cook here, can't you?"
"Yes, I can. But…"
After actually meeting other races, many of Jinseo's preconceptions had already collapsed.
Still, the essence didn't change.
For example, Dwarves were supposed to be short, and Elves were supposed to have ears that stretched upward.
In that sense, Jinseo found himself wondering whether Beryllus's essence as a vampire had also changed, seeing how he craved bunsik.
Do vampires even eat regular meals? Doesn't drinking blood solve everything?
"Blood-drinking? It does solve things, but since coming over here, I've been holding back. For various reasons, the situation's a bit complicated."
Jinseo doubted his ears.
A vampire who held back on drinking blood was hard to accept with what he knew.
"I figured vampires are a strong race, so you'd just solve it by sucking anyone's blood."
"What are you talking about? In this day and age, if you drink blood without consent, it's a huge problem! That's a mindset that only worked ten thousand years ago!"
Beryllus jumped as if it were unthinkable.
"You, how much do you think you know about vampires?"
"Mm, I think I know a fair amount. But judging by how you're reacting, you seem pretty different from the vampires on the continent where I live."
"Say it. Tell me."
Jinseo described in detail the vampires he had seen in movies, novels, and games.
Beryllus nodded along when something sounded plausible, but when vampires were depicted with a negative image, he furrowed his brows.
"There are some overlapping parts, but… the vampires on your continent feel like they only pick actions that are perfect for getting wiped out."
"It's definitely not a good image."
"More than anything, when they make underlings through blood-drinking, it feels like they do it without a plan. Do they even think when they drink blood?"
Beryllus, clearly displeased with vampires from another world, started grumbling openly.
"I'm glad the vampires here are different from what I know."
"Think about it. Unless you die naturally, you'll be together for at least a few hundred years. Would you pick just anyone? Unless you're making them a lifelong partner, or someone you truly trust, you should absolutely refrain from making servants through blood-drinking. And obviously, you have to get the other party's consent too."
"Ah… yes."
Jinseo was confused by Beryllus's words, which were completely detached from the vampires he knew, but he nodded anyway.
"Of course, we did have vampires here who acted like what you described, but those types got weeded out on their own. Anyway, for that reason, most vampires mostly drink blood as a concept of 'meals.' Even if we drink other races' blood, we don't turn them into underlings, or we just drink animal blood. But on the Keinua Continent, it's hard to find animals, so I stopped even that."
Beryllus lightly flicked the fang jutting out below his lip.
"More than anything, these kids only eat vegetarian food, right? In that situation, if I'm the only one slurping animal blood or my own kind's blood, would I be able to ignore the vibe? Or not? So for hundreds of years, I've just been eating normal meals."
"Now I understand exactly what you mean."
"Anyway, enough blood talk. Give me some bunsik. Talking about it made me hungrier."
"Uh, but…"
"Is there some problem? Seriously, eating this bunsik thing is ridiculously complicated."
"A fair amount of bunsik has garlic in it. Are you sure that won't be an issue? In fact, in most of the dishes I make besides bunsik, garlic is almost a must."
By Jinseo's common sense, along with crosses, garlic was one of the things vampires avoided.
Even aside from that, garlic's distinct aroma was also something people had strong likes and dislikes about.
Fortunately, most races in this world enjoyed dishes with garlic without hesitation, but there was no guarantee vampires would too.
"Garlic is in it? What's the problem with that?"
"I've heard vampires loathe garlic. Don't tell me that doesn't apply here either?"
"Good grief, so that's how the story spread. Me and other vampires don't eat garlic, but it's not because vampires hate garlic."
Beryllus scratched the back of his head with an awkward expression.
"One of our ancestors who ruled as the leader for the longest time… I don't remember their name, but apparently they hated garlic that much. Was it that even just smelling it without eating it gave them hives all over? Anyway, in front of that person, it was an unspoken rule not to even mention garlic."
Huh? A vampire with a garlic allergy? That… might actually make sense.
After experiencing so many things in this world, Jinseo didn't find it strange at all that there could be a vampire who suffered from allergies.
"So because of that, vampires stopped eating garlic altogether. If the very top says they hate it, how many people do you think can say, 'I'm fine,' and push their own opinion?"
"That's true."
Jinseo remembered a time before enlistment when he worked part-time at a small company, and the boss took the employees to a Chinese restaurant.
'I'll have jajangmyeon. What about everyone else?'
With that one sentence, all the subordinates' orders got unified as jajangmyeon, and the assistant manager who ordered jjamppong got scolded after the meal by the section chief for "not reading the room."
It made Jinseo realize that even in this world, things often happened the same way as in modern society, where individual preferences were suppressed.
"Anyway, stop worrying about whether garlic is in it or not, and just bring out the bunsik first. I'll decide after I eat it."
"Understood."
Jinseo went into the food truck's kitchen with Jason and Paulo.
"Serving bunsik to the mysterious race, vampires, for the first time… This is making me nervous."
Paulo stretched his interlaced hands forward to loosen his stiff body.
"In the end, as long as it tastes good, it works out. Don't be too nervous. And on the Francia Continent, haven't we served bunsik to other races plenty of times?"
"That's true, but the other party has lived a long time, on par with dragons, so they might be far more picky about taste than other races, no? We should be more careful. Right. What about garlic? Should we not put it in?"
"Let's try it the way we always make it first. Jason, do you have any other opinion?"
"I-I'll just do what you tell me to do, hyungnim and Paulo-nim!"
"Alright. Then I'll rely on you."
Amid the helpers' worries and tension, Jinseo picked up the kitchen knife and began cooking.
Sizzle.
Chop-chop-chop-chop.
"Hm… what a brisk chopping sound. And that sounds like something being fried… and on top of that, a savory smell is spreading everywhere."
Sitting in the center of the counter seats, Beryllus closed his eyes and enjoyed the cooking process using only hearing and smell.
The Elves who had gathered around him were all staring toward the three people inside the kitchen making bunsik.
They had already tasted bunsik that the food truck made before, through Painfolt and Geshtain.
But that time it had already been cooked and packaged, so seeing the process of various bunsik being made in real time was simply fascinating to them.
Gulp.
When one Elf swallowed, as if on cue, the other Elves started swallowing too.
In their hearts, the Elves wanted to eat the freshly cooked bunsik before anyone else, but it was impossible to touch the food before Beryllus, who was sitting there with his eyes closed yet radiating presence.
"First, I brought out tteok-twig-sun-ra-gim (tteokbokki, twigim, sundae, ramen, gimbap). Here, please try it."
"So this is bunsik. Let's see… Yes, I should start with this."
The dish Jinseo brought out was the bunsik staple: tteok-twig-sun-ra-gim.
After sweeping his eyes over the five types of bunsik, the first thing Beryllus chose was the bright red dish that jumped out at a glance.
Tteokbokki.
"Hmm, this soft, chewy texture is quite unfamiliar. And it's spicy enough to burn."
"Would you like it less spicy?"
"No. I like that it's spicy. This place only has mild-tasting food, so I missed something intense like this."
Beryllus gulped down the CoolX Jinseo poured into a paper cup, soothing his mouth that had been suffering from the heat.
"Then next… I want this."
After reacting favorably to the first bunsik, tteokbokki, Beryllus chose twigim next.
Crunch.
Crack-crunch.
"This greasy, oil-rich texture. I haven't had it in a long time. This is meat… no, it's not meat, and it's definitely not vegetables. What is it?"
"Squid."
"Ah, right. My tongue remembers, but my mind was slow to recall it. Do you have any fried food made from meat?"
"There's pork cutlet, but I'll bring that out later."
With both tteokbokki and twigim receiving high praise, Jinseo wiped his forehead with a napkin and kept checking Beryllus's condition.
He was fine for now, but Jinseo was worried about whether the garlic used while cooking the tteokbokki would be alright.
"Sir Beryllus, is your throat swelling, or itching, or anything like that?"
"I'm fine. Then I'll keep eating?"
"If anything feels off, please tell me immediately."
"Got it."
Unlike the "ancestor" he had mentioned, Beryllus showed no allergic reaction even after continuing to eat the tteokbokki.
He simply focused on eating and enjoying the bunsik without hesitation.
After finishing all the twigim dipped in soy sauce, and devouring a whole roll of gimbap in the blink of an eye, Beryllus's expression was pure happiness.
"The taste and texture of the meat inside. This is truly welcome. Has it been hundreds of years…? When I traveled around the Francia Continent with noona, it was a taste I ate without thinking, but now that I'm having it again, I miss those days."
"Thank you for enjoying it."
"But it doesn't only bring back nostalgia. The new tastes and textures make my heart race. Especially this dish called ramen, it's truly new. It is spicy, but compared to the tteokbokki I ate earlier…"
Eating ramen with a fork, Beryllus suddenly turned around and snorted with a laugh.
"Good grief, look at those brats. It's like drool is about to pour out of their mouths any second. You all said you've already eaten bunsik, right? Then hold it in until I finish everything I have here."
After neatly finishing even the ramen while receiving the Elf scouts' envious stares, Beryllus left only one last menu item in front of him.
"This looks like a sausage, but it's black."
"It's bunsik made in a similar way to sausage."
"It's like it's been soaked in squid ink. Then let's see…"
Beryllus speared the unknown bunsik with his fork, something he couldn't even imagine the taste of just by looking, and lightly dipped it into the salt spread in the corner of the plate before bringing it to his mouth.
"Oh. Th-this is…"
"Are you alright?"
Thinking the allergic reaction he had feared had finally appeared, Jinseo hurried to step out of the kitchen, but Beryllus raised his left hand and gestured for him to stop.
"It's not because something is wrong! This is… a taste I truly miss. This must be… right. It's a dish with blood in it, isn't it? Right?"
"Blood? Ah, yes. It's bunsik that uses blood."
The last bunsik Beryllus tasted was sundae, made with seonji, pig blood.
Because it was such a commonly eaten bunsik, Jinseo had overlooked the fact that sundae contained blood.
"How is it?"
"Eating this makes me feel wronged."
"Huh? Is something wrong?"
"It means something this delicious was something only other races besides vampires got to eat. More than anything, it's a dish with blood in it, and yet I've never tasted it even once in over two thousand years. How could I not feel wronged?"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Read 56 more chapters ahead on NovelDex!
https://noveldex.io/series/mythical-otherworld-food-truck
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━