Chapter 91: It's a Bunsik Party! (5) "Is this a game? Then I'm joining too!"
"This is trickier than it looks."
Even the dwarves who had been piling bunsik onto their plates and eating nonstop took on the sugar-cutting challenge.
True to dwarf fashion, they started boldly, slicing at the dalgona with decisive taps from the outset.
The way they shoved failed fragments into their mouths and chewed them was just as fearless.
"I did it! Jinseo! Give me that Korean monster doll!"
"Me too! Me too!"
As a result, there were more failures than successes whenever they cut near the pattern, but the lucky dwarves who succeeded still stretched their hands toward Jinseo.
"Hoo... I'm almost there. If I just separate this part properly..."
Fedora was attempting the challenge while resting both elbows on the table, gripping the dalgona with both hands.
She had chosen the umbrella pattern—the highest-difficulty option—and slowly, carefully crushed the edges, step by step approaching success.
"Aaah! No!"
But at the final handle portion, she failed to control her strength, and ten minutes of effort went down the drain.
She stared in despair at the dalgona piece in her hand, cut into a perfect umbrella shape except for the handle.
"I was almost successful… can't this count as a success?"
Unable to handle Fedora's pleading gaze, Jason looked to Jinseo, silently asking him to pass judgment.
"Even if you're a Cardinal, there are no exceptions. It has to be fair."
When Jinseo refused with a faint smile, Fedora put on a disappointed face and stuffed the umbrella-shaped dalgona into her mouth all at once.
"That's cruel."
Crunch.
"And delicious. Still, you could have gone a little easier on me..."
Crunch, crunch.
"Ah, this kind of sweetness is really hard to resist!"
She smiled at the happiness brought by the sweetness, then repeatedly returned to a sulky expression.
"Hahaha, this one should be easier."
Jinseo handed Fedora a dalgona stamped with the safest heart-shaped mold, giving her another chance.
"I succeeded! This time, give me the winged monster!"
"The star shape is too easy. This time, stamp it with the umbrella. Ah, and for the doll, give me the long-necked one."
"What? Licking the back with your tongue is cheating? Ngh… fine."
Guests who had been wandering around enjoying various bunsik eventually gathered around the food truck, fully absorbed in dalgona.
The very idea of playing with food was refreshingly new, and the simple yet surprisingly tricky rules ignited people's competitive spirit.
In the end, even the royal palace chefs abandoned the bunsik they were supposed to be selling and joined the dalgona craze.
Unlike the other guests, they picked up ladles themselves and made dalgona, and instead of just eating and enjoying it, they began investigating its secrets.
"Just adding this white powder produces this flavor and texture..."
"Heh, how fascinating."
"Is it magic powder?"
Sodium bicarbonate.
Also known as baking soda.
The chefs were naturally shocked by its ability to turn melted sugar into dalgona, and such reactions were nothing new to Jinseo.
After all, when he was a child, he too believed the white powder added right before completion was real magic.
"If you add this powder to bread or cookies and bake them, they'll rise much more easily."
"What? Really?"
"I don't know much about baking, but I hear bakers in my homeland use it quite effectively."
"Mr. Jinseo, if possible..."
"Yes, I'll give you a few bottles."
"Thank you! Truly, thank you!"
"Teaching us bunsik recipes alone was already an immense favor, but to so readily give us magic powder as well... You are the hope of the Doren Kingdom culinary world! Hope!"
The palace chefs beamed as they chewed on freshly made dalgona.
With people making dalgona, eating it, and winning prizes all enjoying themselves, laughter never ceased.
So much so that they forgot the highest-ranking person in the kingdom was quietly approaching from behind.
"So this is the bunsik called dalgona?"
"Y-Your Majesty!"
Guests who recognized King Philip III hurriedly dropped to one knee and bowed their heads.
With dalgona still in their mouths.
Aston and Jason quickly dismounted from the food truck and paid their respects, and Jinseo was about to do the same, but Philip III extended his right hand, signaling it was unnecessary.
"Father! Look at this! It's the special prize I won! I was the first to succeed at dalgona too!"
Prince Charles smiled brightly as he held out a star-shaped dalgona and a dinosaur doll to his father.
Philip III gently patted his son's head.
"Well done."
As he praised his son, his gaze casually shifted toward Jinseo in the cooking area.
This was the son who had not smiled even at the antics of the kingdom's most renowned jester.
There was no need to ask who had made his emotionally reserved child beam so brightly.
"Seeing everyone enjoy themselves makes me feel proud as well. Enjoy the banquet at ease. I'll be going now."
After lightly tapping his son's head, Philip III stepped closer to Jinseo.
"…And later, send me some packaged bunsik. If I stay here, others won't be able to enjoy the banquet comfortably."
After making this discreet request, Philip III left.
With a star-shaped dalgona mold in his right hand.
Only after Philip III disappeared from everyone's sight did the guests who had been kneeling exhale and stand up.
Now's the perfect timing.
To lift the subdued mood caused by Philip III's sudden appearance, Jinseo pulled away the vinyl covers hiding the "something" installed on both sides of the food truck.
"All children who want to ride, please raise your hands."
Jinseo clearly designated children as the riders.
"Isn't it pretty fun…? No one?"
Was it because it was so unfamiliar to people of the Francia Continent?
Even when Jinseo asked again, the children hesitated, glancing at each other.
"I… I will!"
But the moment one child bravely raised a hand, others quickly followed.
"C-Can adults ride it too?"
"Would it be okay if I ride with my son?"
And then even the parents joined in.
"Waaah!"
"Yahoo!"
Children on the black mat screamed with excitement as they repeatedly soared high into the air and came back down.
The ride commonly called "bang-bang"—a trampoline.
Recalling how the children had been bored at the last ball, Jinseo brought out one of the rides he had stored earlier in the subspace storage: a trampoline.
"Woohoo! I'm flying! I'm really flying!"
"As soon as I get back to the Ashred Continent… I have to make this right away! Yahoo!"
Dwarves, who were inevitably shorter, fully enjoyed the thrill of soaring high together with the children.
"Hiyah! Hiyah!"
"Wahaha! This is great!"
But when there is only one option, waiting times grow long and boredom sets in easily.
So Jinseo prepared two more rides.
A spring horse made by modifying a handcart, and a mini Ferris wheel.
With the help of dwarf craftsmanship and Doren Mage Tower mages, they were upgraded to be more dazzling and to operate entirely by magic, without manpower.
"C-Can I ride too?"
"As you can see, these rides were designed with children in mind."
"What? I can't because I'm too tall? How could this be..."
"Yes, there's nothing we can do."
Just like with dalgona, adults who wanted to enjoy children's amusements appeared.
But they had to be turned away with explanations that adult riders could cause damage, since the rides were for children.
In truth, being built with dwarf technology, they were sturdy enough to handle adults without issue—but Jinseo deliberately hid that fact.
Today was, after all, a banquet where children were the protagonists.
The inclusion of dwarves had been something even Jinseo did not expect.
"Phew, jumping around like that really clears your head!"
"Did you enjoy it?"
"Of course! You have no idea how happy it makes us dwarves to fly without exerting much strength."
After five minutes of joyfully experiencing the upper air on the trampoline, Geshtain sat down at the counter.
"It's a shame I can't drink, but this is so much fun!"
Even in such a lively atmosphere, the dwarves did not touch a single drop of alcohol.
That was because of Jinseo's request that they refrain from drinking in front of children.
"I'd like to install the same thing at that orphanage. Could you help me?"
"You mean the trampoline?"
"I can just buy the trampoline in Korea, but the other two need modifications like before. Would that be possible?"
As he took out the "special" pork cutlet from the refrigerator, Jinseo asked Geshtain.
"Of course! Honestly, it'd weigh on my conscience if only we enjoyed something this fun! We should spread it everywhere!"
Geshtain burst into hearty laughter and pulled the red string from a long, thin sausage.
"This stuff's a hassle to peel, but it's oddly addictive."
After playing energetically, fatigue naturally sets in.
For those tired children, Jinseo unveiled a large selection of children's snacks that had not been on the menu before.
"Sir Aston, please fry ten more PiXchu pork cutlets."
"Yes! Understood. And we're out of tteok-skewer sauce!"
"There's more on the lower shelf of the seasoning compartment. Use that."
Mini pork cutlets shaped like a famous game character and skewered on sticks—commonly called PiXchu pork cutlets—became the next big hit after dalgona.
Alongside them came cup tteokbokki and tteok skewers made less spicy and sweeter to suit children's tastes.
And then grilled dried filefish and CheonX Jangsa sausages that were easy to hold and eat.
"This drink called cocoa—sweet and nice."
Geshtain sipped the new beverage, similar in color to coffee, from a paper cup.
Giving coffee to young children felt inappropriate.
So cocoa was chosen, and there was another option for children who disliked hot drinks.
JeX.
A powdered juice mixed with milk.
Among them, the chocolate flavor—by far the most popular—captured the hearts of children on the Francia Continent as well.
"Now, shake it vigorously like this, then drink!"
After watching Jason's demonstration, the children vigorously shook their milk cartons.
When they opened the spout again and tasted the milk with JeX fully dissolved, they encountered a sweetness from an entirely different realm than dalgona.
Soon, their eyes filled with amazement.
Strictly speaking, there was no need to go through such trouble—colored milk would have sufficed.
But Jinseo wanted to teach children the fun of making something delicious themselves, and his intention hit the mark perfectly.
Everyone's enjoying themselves.
In Jinseo's eyes, there was not a single child bored like at the previous ball.
Tasting new bunsik was no different from riding amusement park rides they had never seen before.
As a result, the adults—who had been the stars of the previous ball—were relatively sidelined today.
"Hey! Count Barion! That was a great toss!"
"Your attack was even better! Count Croon!"
"Oh? Humans have some impressive footwork!"
The dwarves brought those human adults into a new sport.
A sport that could be enjoyed with fewer players than soccer and required far less space: jokgu.
Human nobles and dwarves changed into T-shirts and athletic pants in the additional trailer and got down to a serious game of jokgu.
Putting on white sneakers made their kicks and receptions even more agile.
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