Chapter 111: Bunsik Street in Another World (1) Paulo, the head chef of the Doren Kingdom's royal court, had worked as a court chef for over twenty years, and this year marked his tenth year as head chef.
While he devoted himself to recreating the royal cuisine passed down through generations, he became completely captivated by a new kind of food he encountered last year.
A foreign chef from a nation called Korea on a faraway continent: Lee Jinseo.
What Jinseo spread throughout the Doren Kingdom showed a man who had spent nearly thirty years walking only the path of cooking a new direction: street food.
While Paulo was on leave and briefly staying in his hometown, Jinseo received an invitation to the royal palace, showcased all sorts of street food, and left.
When Paulo returned from leave, he saw the other court chefs making the street food they had learned from Jinseo and letting each other taste it, and he made up his mind.
He would go to Falstead Castle—the birthplace of street food—in person and learn from Jinseo, the creator of street food.
After earnestly pleading with King Philip III, who enjoyed street food delivered from the food truck once a week, Paulo was sent on a business trip to Falstead Castle under the pretext of "street food training."
"His Majesty said he'd send someone who would be of help to Dwarf Town, but..."
Early in the morning, Oswald Hamilton, Lord of Falstead Castle, who had stopped by the food truck, yawned as he looked at Paulo.
"Paulo, I didn't expect you to come."
"It's been a long time."
Oswald Hamilton, who had been rumored to be a gourmand since his days at the palace, was acquainted with Paulo to some extent when he was still a court chef.
They often bonded over their shared topic of cooking, and Paulo was also one of the few people who had seen Oswald Hamilton off when he was framed and left the capital, Colses.
"And I expected it even less that you'd come with that many people. And I never imagined they'd be people who worked under that man, either."
Oswald Hamilton swept a displeased gaze over the people gathered behind Paulo.
Most of the street-food wagon staff who had been dragged to prison and later released on the charge of angering Charlotte had come here with Paulo.
The reason a group totaling over a hundred—chefs, mages, carpenters, blacksmiths, and even serving staff—followed Paulo was simple.
King Philip III, while they were still under house arrest, gave them an order.
Either help Jinseo, or choose to return to prison.
"Haa… It's His Majesty's order, so there's no refusing it."
Oswald Hamilton furrowed his brows and shook his head.
Since they had been enemies until recently, an awkward atmosphere naturally hung in the air.
"Either way, isn't it a good thing? With manpower reinforced like this, Jinseo won't have to suffer as much. For now, let's sit and talk."
Geshtain, Dwarf Town's ambassador, called Oswald Hamilton and Paulo over and seated them side by side at the food truck's counter.
"Mr. Paulo, I'll be in your care from now on."
"I-I'm the one who should be asking for t-teaching, p-please."
Was it because he was standing before the creator of street food?
Paulo's expression in front of Jinseo was clearly tense.
"You're about my uncle's age, so speak comfortably."
"S-Should I?"
"You've been cooking longer, too, so treat me as your junior. That's more comfortable for me as well."
"No matter what, how could I dare..."
"Please."
"Th-Then I will."
"Come to think of it, none of you have had breakfast yet, right? I'll make something simple to fill you up."
Sssss.
As Jinseo spread margarine on a well-heated griddle and began to toast the filling, a savory smell spread in all directions.
Then he took out the bread, opened it, and lifted his head slightly.
"The people in the back shouldn't keep standing either—sit down."
Compared to Oswald Hamilton, it was far less, but it was true that Jinseo did not see them in a good light either.
Even so, he could not ignore the manpower the King had sent, so he pushed his personal feelings aside and focused on making toast.
More than anything, whether it was occupational habit or not, he could not simply leave hungry people alone.
"Come on, sit. Standing won't change anything."
At Jinseo's slightly sharp words, they looked around and began taking seats at empty tables.
"Oh man, my body... I should've drunk in moderation—huh?"
"Mr. Jinseo, have you started business already?"
Jason and Aston Hamilton, who had woken late and come down from the Additional Trailer, flinched at the tables filled with people and hurried into the kitchen.
After hearing what had happened from Jinseo, the two men briefly glared at the "customers who weren't really customers," then shut their mouths and silently began helping him.
"Mmm, this really is good."
Oswald Hamilton took a bite of the nicely browned toast, then sucked the sauce off his fingertips as he looked back.
"Right… they said those people worked under that man because they liked street food."
Seeing the faces of the former workers under Marquis Horus happily wolfing down freshly made toast, Oswald Hamilton's expression softened somewhat.
"Eating street food I've never tried the moment I arrive… I really did the right thing coming in person."
After devouring three servings of toast in a row, Paulo gulped down the remaining milk and stood up.
"No good. Just eating won't satisfy me. I can't endure it unless I work right away. Can I start with washing dishes?"
"As if."
Jinseo smiled as he flipped the well-toasted bread.
There was no way he would have top-tier manpower who had worked for years as a head chef in a King's palace doing mere menial chores.
"Do you happen to know what our situation is like?"
"Is there some problem?"
"Since Dwarf Town was created, the number of customers looking for street food has increased so much that this single food truck can't accommodate everyone."
"From the looks of it… including you, you've only got three staff? Then you must've been pushing yourself pretty hard."
"So we want to expand. We plan to gather shops that specialize only in street food in one place and create a street food alley."
"A street food alley!"
Paulo shouted the happiness-inducing words out loud without realizing it.
"The chefs who came with you are people who've already been making street food, so once they finish some additional training, they can be deployed to the street food alley right away. So—this is what I'm saying. I'd like to ask you, Mr. Paulo, to manage the street food alley."
"M-Me? I came to learn street food from you."
Paulo panicked, hurriedly wiping the saliva dribbling from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.
"With your skill, learning street food won't take long. Instead, I'm asking you to use the management ability you built in the royal palace here as well—something I don't have."
"Can't you do it too?"
At Paulo's words, Jinseo shook his head.
"I've never had experience managing that many staff. The shop I worked at before running the food truck had, at most, three staff including me."
"Hm… I came here just to learn street food, but..."
Paulo set down the carbonated drink can he had been drinking on the counter.
Then he closed his eyes, lowered his head in thought, and when he opened his eyes again, he raised his head.
"Alright."
"Thank you. Like I said earlier, I'll be in your care from now on."
"I'm the one who should be asking for your care. But, can't I buy this in bulk later?"
Paulo asked as he shook the carbonated drink can he had emptied without leaving a single drop.
It was the moment the number of buyers of a beverage only one person had been able to taste on the Francia Continent increased to two.
The right-side district of Dwarf Town was an area with few tourist footsteps, aside from the dwarf taverns that opened in the evening.
But with the street food alley that had begun operating a week ago, it transformed into the place drawing the largest crowd of tourists.
"Order in for five servings of cheese tteokbokki!"
"We're running low on Fish Cake / Odeng, so go to the food truck and receive more."
"Additional order in for three servings of jjolmyeon, two cheese donkatsu, and five mini Tteok-twig-sun sets!"
"Put out the mini Tteok-twig-sun sets first. And how many boiled eggs are left? Do we have about a tray?"
"Yes! We do! I'll boil more!"
Paulo, now officially registered as the food truck's third helper, processed the continuous orders quickly while delivering detailed instructions to the other chefs.
By making the most of his experience as a court chef—where not a single mistake was tolerated—the street food shop Paulo cooked at drew the most customers after the food truck.
Anticipating this, Jinseo registered Paulo's shop as a branch of the food truck from the beginning.
In fact, if street food items were sold anywhere other than the food truck or a branch, there was the drawback that you could not gain the food truck's experience, Mileage, or Mana.
But putting all that aside, Jinseo did not want to make customers who came because they wanted street food wait too long, or see them leave sadly without getting to eat until closing time.
"Then I'll go check the other shops."
After handling all the incoming orders, Paulo left the kitchen and walked outside.
Wearing the cooking uniform and hat Jinseo gave him, along with sanitary gloves and a transparent sanitary mask, his eyes were lively as he carefully inspected the other street food shops.
"The rice-cake stock looks low. For now, take orders focusing on wheat tteok."
"Yes! Understood!"
"And for dishes like rabokki, where two different street food ingredients go in together, manage inventory with extra care."
After delivering short, clear instructions, Paulo entered the next street food shop.
In all five street food shops packed with customers, chefs who had worked under Marquis Horus sweated as they churned out street food.
They had all been imprisoned without exception for the crime of angering Charlotte, but when Marco took responsibility and entered prison, most of them were released.
And by royal order, they were dispatched to help Jinseo's street food business.
Originally, they were instructed to work without pay until further orders were issued, but the directive was changed to providing proper compensation.
No matter the situation, work done without proper wages inevitably becomes extremely inefficient.
And since that directly affected the taste of the street food, Jinseo objected, saying that regardless of his personal feelings toward them, it was unacceptable.
Their wages could be covered by a portion of the rent paid by the mercenary corps and the dwarves, so there was no burden.
"Up to here, you've cleaned very neatly. Well done."
Past the five street food shops already operating, inside the sixth shop that was preparing to open, the chefs stood in a line with tense expressions.
And the one conducting the final inspection with those chefs behind him was none other than Jason.
"But..."
Jason, wearing ceremonial gloves that the chefs of the already-open shops had dubbed the "white gloves of terror," swept his fingertips through every corner of the kitchen that the eye did not reach.
"Oh dear… as expected, you didn't wipe this properly."
Because it was one of the cleaning zones he himself used to skip in the past, Jason's prediction that another chef would have passed it by was exactly right.
The moment he lifted the tip of the glove that had turned black, the chefs lowered their heads deeply.
"Brother said this. Cooking skill can be raised later somehow with effort, but hygiene awareness is something that inevitably gets lax over time… that's what he said."
Jason repeated the lecture he had heard from Jinseo, only changing "Father said" to "Brother said," and keeping the rest exactly the same.
The chefs who came with Paulo were flawless in skill, but when it came to hygiene, they were naturally lacking compared to Jinseo, who had worked in food service in modern Korea.
Hygiene inspections were essential both before opening and after, and the one who volunteered to conduct those inspections was Jason.
Remembering the training Jinseo had put him through in the early days when he first became a food truck helper, he checked every corner of every shop meticulously, missing nothing.
To the point that reactions like, "No, do we really have to go this far?" kept pouring out.
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