Chapter 50: A Blanket Is Dangerous (2) (50/225)
"Haah…"
Jinseo let out a long sigh as he woke up. The scenery of the Francia Continent was nowhere to be seen—instead, the highway from before he first crossed over into this otherworld lay spread out in front of him.
"Why did I ever give that order… haah."
After belatedly confirming through the AI what he had decided half-asleep, Jinseo groaned in regret. He'd received a report that the three passengers were safe, but just in case, he carefully opened the back door of the extra trailer.
"Uh… everyone?"
"Man, I slept so well. These days, you really realize how precious sleep is."
"My head's kind of… pounding."
"Huh? When did I even fall asleep?"
And thankfully, the three who had been asleep were fine.
"A-are you okay?"
"Obviously. I can't beat that guy in how much he eats, but when it comes to drinking, it's a different story. But… we moved while we were sleeping? This isn't where we stopped earlier."
Hayward was about to step out after seeing the unfamiliar scenery, when Jinseo spread both arms and blocked him.
"It's dangerous if you go out right now!"
"A monster showed up?"
Hayward reflexively drew the dagger at his waist.
"N-no, that's not it! Anyway, this is a problem!"
"Did we already arrive at Krone Village?"
"Ah… about that. We arrived, but…"
At Craid's question, Jinseo trailed off, hesitating.
"We didn't arrive at Krone Village. We arrived in Korea."
"Korea? Your country? That wasn't on the schedule."
"I'm sorry! I'm really sorry!"
"Hey, why is that something to apologize for? Since we're here, let's look around a bit before we go back."
"Wow… so this is Korea? Everything is new!"
"Korea…"
Unlike Jinseo, who was sweating coldly, the other three were calm to an absurd degree.
"So this is…"
Craid faced the wind blowing straight across the highway and slowly lifted his head.
"The land of bunsik? I've wanted to come here."
After all sorts of twists and turns, Jinseo and Craid's group ended up in Korea. After agonizing on the highway shoulder for a long time, Jinseo ultimately decided to take them home. Even if it was unintentional, he had to take responsibility for bringing people from another world into Korea.
First, he retrieved the perch he'd installed above the driver's seat and put it inside the extra trailer. If he drove around Korea with an owl perched above the driver's seat, he'd attract attention no matter what. Worse, he could run into legal trouble—something Jinseo absolutely wanted to avoid.
Once Nero and Owl ended up in the same space, tension filled the trailer. But perhaps they both sensed Jinseo's feelings, because the two spirits simply sat quietly on the cat tower and the perch.
Jinseo persuaded Craid—who wanted the passenger seat—to ride in the trailer, and he repeatedly warned the rest of the group not to get out of the trailer.
"Absolutely do not get out until we reach my home. And don't open the curtains on the windows, either."
But human curiosity made you do exactly what you were told not to do. They parted the curtains just enough to peek outside.
Korea—the land of bunsik and magic, which they'd only heard about from Jinseo. They'd already imagined Korea in countless ways, but what they saw through that narrow gap far exceeded their expectations.
"L-look over there! A dragon flying in the sky—no, that's not a dragon! What is that?!"
"It's what I saw in the drama Jinseo showed us. A vehicle called an airplane. He said it can carry hundreds of people and fly."
"Wow! Korea's magic level is unbelievable!"
Julien couldn't take his eyes off the airplane shrinking into the distance.
Meanwhile, Hayward's attention was on the cars passing by on the road.
"Huh… there are tons of wagons that look like food trucks. But the wagons here don't have horses at all."
"It's what I saw in the movie Jinseo showed us. They're called cars. He said the food truck is also a kind of car."
"If there are this many, it must be common here. I want to get one. I wonder how much it costs."
To their questions, Craid answered in a calm tone.
And yet, the hands gripping the curtain trembled with excitement. Every time a shop selling unfamiliar food flashed past, he felt an urge to burst out of the food truck immediately.
"I can't take it anymore! I want to ask people directly what kind of magic lets airplanes fly!"
"M-me too! I need to ask where they bought the cars we just saw!"
"Endure it."
Craid placed one hand on each man's shoulder and pressed down lightly. Lightly—by his standards.
So… taking them back to the Francia Continent won't be a problem, right?
{-Yes, that is correct. Would you like to hear the explanation again?-}
No, it's fine.
After parking the food truck in a paid lot near his home, Jinseo let out a breath of relief. Now all that remained was protecting Craid's group safely for at least a week while stabilization proceeded.
In modern Korea, there was almost no need to worry about public safety. They wouldn't run into monsters while wandering through the woods, and they wouldn't meet bandits on some deserted mountain road.
But problems were likely to arise in an entirely different direction.
Jinseo imagined what would happen if the three acted according to Francia-Continent common sense. Getting arrested for carrying weapons, violating traffic laws while staring around in a daze, being mistaken for illegal residents…
No—illegal residents is exactly what they are, isn't it?
Imagining three men who'd never had visas or passports being dragged away by the police made Jinseo's face darken.
No, if they went quietly, that would still be the best-case scenario. With their strength, they'd clearly escape with ease, and after that, they'd keep evading law enforcement and the situation would only spiral further.
And the one who caused all this was Jinseo himself, so the sense of responsibility only grew heavier.
Let's just get them inside first and think from there. It's… already 11 p.m.
After checking the time on his phone, Jinseo opened the extra trailer door.
"You can come out now. I'm sorry I kept telling you to stay inside."
"Whew, I thought I was going to go crazy from how stifling it was. Anyway, now—what the hell? Why is it so cold?"
Hayward stepped out, shivering and hunching his shoulders.
"Ugh… Korea is a pretty cold country."
As Julien rubbed his hands together, white breath puffed from his mouth.
Up until now, they'd been in the southern region of the Francia Continent, so even though it was November, it hadn't been that cold.
But this was Korea, and it was mid-November.
The first trial most Koreans go through—the week of the college entrance exam.
Of course it was cold.
"Come on. Let's go quickly."
The three men from the Francia Continent left their weapons in the trailer, put on masks, and quietly followed behind Jinseo. That was after changing into Jinseo's sportswear, since their original outfits would draw too much attention.
Only Craid stayed in his original outfit, because Jinseo didn't own anything that fit his body.
If we run into someone we know… do I say cosplay is his hobby?
Thankfully, because it was late at night and there weren't many people, what Jinseo feared didn't happen. Avoiding people's eyes, Jinseo and Craid's group entered the apartment complex and moved quickly but cautiously.
The three besides Jinseo still looked around frantically, even as they kept their mouths tightly shut, as Jinseo had instructed.
There was a small commotion when they got into the elevator, but they made it safely into Jinseo's home.
However, Nero and Owl were left behind in the food truck. Jinseo gave the order to enter sleep mode—a basic function of the cat tower and perch installed in the food truck. He wasn't sure whether pets were allowed in the building, and if the two spirits fought inside the apartment, it could cause an unexpected disaster.
"This is it."
Once inside the entryway, Jinseo turned on the living room lights.
"I felt it even from outside, but this is a very strange kind of castle."
"Whew, we can talk now, right? We can relax?"
The moment Hayward stepped into the living room in his sportswear—
"You can't do that! Take your shoes off!"
When Jinseo suddenly shouted, Craid's group flinched and turned around. Even Craid jolted at that level of force.
"Ah… I'm sorry for shouting. I didn't tell you in advance. In Korea, you must take off your shoes when you enter a home."
He didn't raise his voice like before, but Jinseo's expression was more stern and serious than ever.
"T-that's how it is?"
"Yes. Then I'm going to the bathroom for a moment."
Trying to escape the awkward mood, Jinseo chose the bathroom. After washing his face, he gripped the sink and stared at himself in the mirror.
Thank god I moved into a place on a long-term deposit lease. If I were still in my old monthly rental, it'd be way too small for this many people.
But he'd only cleared the first hurdle. There were still problems left to solve.
For a whole week, he had to turn three grown men into shut-ins. Men who had freely traveled all across the Francia Continent, no less.
As Jinseo agonized over how to get through a week without any incidents…
The three sat on the sofa, blankly taking in the room.
"Man… everything we see is fascinating. But what Jinseo said earlier—he was totally different from usual, wasn't he?"
"It was my first time seeing Jinseo speak like that."
"It was really unexpected. Even that guy flinched."
Enjoying the sofa's soft texture in secret, Craid leaned forward with a composed expression.
"There is a line you must not cross."
He rested his elbows on his thighs and propped his chin on his interlaced fingers.
"For Jinseo, what happened earlier seemed to be that line."
Strictly speaking, it was a line for all Koreans.
"This is Korea, where our common sense doesn't apply. So always be careful—"
"Everyone hungry?"
As the bathroom door opened and Jinseo came out, the three flinched at the same time.
"Should we order pizza?"
One of the essential conditions for being a shut-in: Delivery food.
Since they'd come all the way to Korea, Jinseo wanted to show them an even wider variety of food. Cooking himself was an option, but he excluded it. He felt bad for bringing Craid's group to Korea unintentionally, but also—after finally coming home—he wanted to put down his work and rest for once.
"Here. Eat up."
When Jinseo brought ten pizzas and opened each box, the other three fixed their eyes on the unfamiliar food.
"It has cheese."
Craid inhaled through his nose, savoring the cheese aroma rising from the warm pizza. The tension he'd shown in the new environment was gone—he was back to his usual self.
"Well, if Jinseo picked it, it's obviously going to taste good."
"Is this food also bunsik?"
At the question, Jinseo made an awkward face. Everything he made or brought had ended up being shoved into the category of "bunsik."
"It uses flour, but it's not bunsik. If I had to classify it as bunsik… Italian bunsik?"
"Italian?"
"Strictly speaking, pizza is food eaten in Italy. It spread to a country called America and got localized, then came into Korea and turned into what this is now."
"Complicated."
Craid lifted an entire pizza with his right hand. Then he inhaled it. Literally—exactly like Jinseo had once imagined.
"It's good. That's all that matters."
Dumping the pickles from a small cup into his mouth, Craid grabbed a second pizza.
And inhaled it again.
"Italy… it must be a bunsik powerhouse no less than Korea. I want to visit it someday."
"U-Italy is very far from here. So for now, please enjoy the pizza."
At Craid's comment—wanting to go there himself, not just be satisfied eating—Jinseo broke into a cold sweat.
As expected, food alone isn't enough.
He'd expected it, but it was impossible to keep three curious otherworlders tied down with only food.
Then it's time to move to the next stage.
Jinseo turned on the living room TV.
"This is NetXlix."
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Read 176 more chapters ahead on NovelDex!
https://noveldex.io/series/mythical-otherworld-food-truck
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━