Chapter 46:This Wasn't in the Plan? (2) (46/225)
At Julien's shout, the other three looked at him at the same time.
"What? A spirit?"
"Was it?"
"So it was a spirit."
This time, because Jinseo spoke unusually calmly, the other three's gazes shifted to him.
"You're not surprised? It's a spirit!"
"It's mysterious. I didn't think such a pretty white owl would be a spirit."
"This isn't just 'mysterious'! Ah… to see spirits—two of them, in completely different forms… and in a dungeon, too!"
Just like when he first saw Nero, Julien reached out toward the newly appeared spirit, then hurriedly pulled his hand back.
Even the fidgety way he acted, as if it might run away, was the same as back then.
Compared to that, Jinseo stared at the owl spirit leisurely.
It was about the same feeling as spotting an owl perched on a tree while hiking.
It's mysterious, but I don't think it's something to make that big a fuss over… Ah, no. They said spirits are extremely rare, right?
Jinseo was always with Nero, so even hearing the word "spirit" didn't make him jump.
And since he had met Nero not long after arriving on the Francia Continent, his reaction was bound to differ from everyone else's.
To the people of the Francia Continent, on the other hand, a spirit was something you could struggle to meet even once in a lifetime.
So it made sense that they were like this—after all, they had met something that rare twice in barely over a week.
"Yeah, if you think about it normally, there's no way an owl would be living alone in a dungeon."
Unlike Jinseo, who kept speaking calmly, the other three couldn't take their eyes off the spirit.
Julien, who had an object of worship right in front of him.
Hayward, who had witnessed a spirit twice when it was hard to see even once in a lifetime.
Craid didn't show it on his face, but the way his right hand—arms crossed—kept tapping at his waist was more than enough.
The owl spirit stared straight at Jinseo and flapped its wings.
As it passed, particles of light scattered and left traces behind, and that trail of light reached Jinseo's right shoulder.
"Huh?"
Watching blankly, Jinseo turned his head toward the owl spirit now sitting on his shoulder like it was nothing.
For its size, it's lighter than I expected. Well, it's a spirit, so I guess that makes sense.
"Should I give you something to eat?"
Jinseo was about to ask the AI what would be suitable as bird feed, but changed his mind.
"Ah, right. It wasn't a bird, it was a spirit."
He remembered when he first met Nero and thought about giving it bunsik, but that would only be possible outside the dungeon, so he changed his mind again.
I only have instant food, so it's hard to figure out what to give it. Feeding it the cockatrice meat we got today is… no. Even if it's a spirit, feeding a bird another bird feels too cruel.
Craid, who had only been watching the owl spirit, walked up to Jinseo and suddenly held out what he had been gripping in his left hand.
"It looks like it wants to eat this."
A GaX chocolate bar with the wrapper half peeled off.
Even while staring at the spirit, Craid hadn't stopped eating, and once he noticed the owl spirit's gaze, he willingly offered up what he had been eating.
From Craid, of all people.
"Want to try this? It's sweet, so it'll taste good."
When Jinseo held the chocolate out, the owl spirit tilted its head slightly to the left.It only looked at the thin dark-brown slab it had never seen before, without sticking out its beak.
"Wait a second. I'll cut it so it's easier for you to eat."
Jinseo snapped the chocolate into small pieces along the grooves.
Then he picked up one piece and held it out to the owl spirit.
The owl spirit tapped the chocolate piece with its beak a few times, then swallowed it whole.
"How is it?"
At Jinseo's question, the owl spirit didn't answer and simply closed its eyes.
A moment later, after learning the taste of chocolate, it made an owl-like smiling expression with its eyes and looked blissfully happy.
"You like it. Want one more?"
Jinseo kept breaking off pieces and feeding it, and no one noticed that Nero's eyes had sharpened as she watched.
Once the owl spirit finished the chocolate, the status window appeared in the very center of Jinseo's view.
{ Please name the spirit in the form of an owl. If you assign a name, it can be designated as your second companion. }
Huh? I can do it without a separate quest?
{ From the second registration onward, it is possible without a separate quest. This is the same as with assistants. }
Ah, Jason was registered as an assistant without any related quest, too, right? But an owl's name… I can't think of anything suitable.
Unlike cats or dogs, it was rare to keep an owl as a pet, and in Korea, keeping an owl privately was illegal in the first place.
So he didn't even know any common names people gave owls.
An owl in English is "owl"… Is that too bland?
Jinseo crossed out the name he had just thought of.But even as time passed, he couldn't think of anything that fit better.
Fine. I named Nero "Nero" just because she's a black cat—that's bland too, so what's the problem? AI, I've decided. Owl.
{ Understood. Displaying information for the newly joined companion, Owl. }
{ Second Companion of the Mobile Cooking Facility: Owl (Spirit, Age Unknown) }{ Companion Level: 2 }
{ As the companion's level increases, special abilities will be granted. }{ Please choose one of the three abilities shown below. }
{ Combat Enhancement: Increases the companion's attack power and magic power. }{ Mana Recovery: Increases the Mobile Cooking Facility's mana recovery speed by a certain percentage. }{ Swift Delivery: Instantly delivers food and drinks to customers within a certain distance of the Mobile Cooking Facility and a teleport point. This ability can be used up to three times per week, and as the companion's grade increases, the number of uses and deliverable capacity increase. }
{ Please choose one more ability from the three shown below. }
{ Magic Specialization: Further enhances the companion's magic power. }{ Bunsik Promotion: Increases the chance of attracting new customers to the Mobile Cooking Facility. }{ Emergency Escape: If inside a dungeon, city, or village, immediately moves to the entrance. }
Ah, since it started at Level 2, I get to choose abilities twice. Abilities I didn't pick when Nero leveled up are showing up again.
For the first choice, Jinseo selected Swift Delivery.
It was useful for customers who couldn't come to the food truck to eat or pick up due to circumstances.
More than anything, the part Jinseo liked was…
If it's within a certain distance of a teleport point, I can even send a delivery to the Marquis.
It meant that even people who were too far away and could only wait for the food truck to visit could still taste bunsik.
Karl, the Marquis Hasrak, who had liked Jinseo's Snack Bar so much at that matchmaking meeting.
Because of the distance, Jinseo hadn't visited the Marquisate since that day.
Instead, he had left it for later and had already designated the Marquisate's estate as a teleport point.
Now that Owl had joined as a companion, Jinseo could grant Karl's wish.
"From now on, your name is Owl. Owl. Got it?"
The owl spirit, Owl, flapped its wings in place and nodded at Jinseo's words.
"Does that mean this owl spirit is coming along too?"
"Yes. That's what happened."
"Incredible… From now on, I think we should call Mr. Jinseo a spirit tamer rather than a cook."
"It's nothing. I'm just a food-service worker, that's all."
Embarrassed by Julien's respectful gaze, Jinseo walked over to the scooter.
"Nero. This one is Owl. From now on you'll be together, so…"
He was about to tell them to get along, but he had to stop mid-sentence.
"Meow…"
Nero suddenly hissed at Owl and raised her tail straight up.
At Nero's sudden hostility, Owl only tilted its head in confusion.
"Meow!"
Nero even pounced toward Owl.
But Owl flew up first, floating in the air and looking down at Nero as if it were nothing.
Nero flew at Owl, Owl opened the distance again, and the chase repeated like tag.
While Nero floated around in the air, Owl flapped its wings and flew up at high speed.
"Ah… the two spirits are communing with each other…"
Julien was still overwhelmed by the fact that two spirits had appeared at once, but Jinseo's head started to ache.
AI, what's wrong with Nero? Did something happen?
{ No special abnormalities are detected in the companion. A sharp emotional change has been detected, but it is judged to not be something the owner needs to worry about. }
Is there an upgrade that can make spirits get along with each other?
{ There is no upgrade on the list that can control the emotions of a specific lifeform or existence. }
Even the upgrade system, his all-purpose fixer, didn't work this time.
They won't end up hurting each other, right?
{ Because both spirits are registered as companions, a situation where they inflict harm on each other will not occur. }
Good. That's all I needed.
With a sigh, Jinseo half gave up and left the two spirits' chase alone.
It was fine for now, but if they caused trouble for others later, he planned to scold them properly then.
"Then let's get ready to head back. I got too distracted by the spirits. It'd be great if we could just pop out with teleport magic. It always sucks that we can't."
Maybe because he had seen many mages come buy tteok-twig-sun using teleport magic, Jinseo reflexively looked at Julien, but Julien gave a bitter smile and ran his eyes over the spellbook at his waist.
"In a sealed space deep underground like a dungeon, it isn't easy to implement teleport magic. And moving multiple people at once requires an enormous amount of mana. Embarrassingly, I'm not skilled enough for that yet."
Then for the remaining ability, should I pick this?
Jinseo chose Emergency Escape as Owl's second ability.
"Owl, I want to get out of the dungeon. Can you help?"
At Jinseo's request, Owl nodded while floating in the air.
Paaah.
A strong light covered everyone.
Before long, their vision returned to normal, but what they saw wasn't the dungeon.
It was the dungeon entrance—where, a week ago, they had witnessed the food truck shrink into a scooter.
"What just happened? You used teleport magic without even a magic circle?"
"Huh? That wasn't me."
Julien waved his hands, saying it wasn't him, at Hayward pointing at him.
Then everyone's gaze shifted to Jinseo.
He shook his head and pointed at Owl sitting on his right shoulder.
"Really? Wow. Spirits can do stuff like that too?"
"If it's a spirit—an embodiment of condensed mana that lives and moves… it's something that should be possible."
"Anyway, we're out of the dungeon, so let's rest first. No—let's eat bunsik first! Bunsik first."
The instant foods Hayward had eaten inside the dungeon were impossible to compare to anything he'd eaten before.
Except for the coffee, they had made his body and mind happy with no cost at all.
But the only "true bunsik" he had tasted was the one meal they ate before entering the dungeon.
He was now filled with anticipation, ready to finally eat the complete form of bunsik he had only heard about—tteok-twig-sun-ramen-gimbap—as much as he wanted.
"I have to conquer all the menu items I haven't tried this time. Craid, you too, right?"
At Hayward's push for agreement, Craid didn't answer.
Instead, he slowly inhaled through his nose and closed his eyes.
"But before that…"
"Before that?"
"I want to drink a cup of mix coffee in a refreshing forest."
"Me too!"
"Wait a moment. I'll make it right now. I'm craving coffee too."
"I… ah…"
Hayward, who had been about to join in naturally, remembered the scheduled twenty-four hours of sleeplessness.
He had sworn he'd never go through it again, but the price of choosing coffee was already waiting for him.
While Hayward agonized over whether to fall for the devil's temptation again, Jinseo handed cups of mix coffee to the other two.
"Mmm… nice."
"It tastes better than when we drank it in the dungeon. The coffee aroma feels clearer too."
The two men permitted coffee each sat on stumps and enjoyed a peaceful rest.
"Want to try some?"
Jinseo lightly offered the mix coffee he was drinking to Owl, still perched on his right shoulder.
Owl pecked into the paper cup once with its beak, then made an eye-smile and started sipping in small gulps.
Nero refused to give up and lunged at Owl again, but failed, and their game of tag resumed.
"Damn it…"
The only man not permitted coffee—Hayward.
A resentful grumble spilled out of his mouth.
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