Chapter 142: Trick or… Truck? (4) Three days had passed since Craid left for the Kingdom of Girvante after hearing his father was in critical condition.
On the last day of the autumn festival, Falstead Castle was flooded with more tourists than ever before—so many that even the road, where entry was prohibited so the street-food wagons and the Mobile Cooking Facility could move, ended up packed solid with people.
With movement becoming difficult because of the crowd, the Mobile Cooking Facility relocated to Dwarf Town. After that, they were able to prevent the streets from becoming too congested by appropriately limiting the number of tourists entering at a time.
Jinseo waited for Craid to return while selling street food and all kinds of snacks as usual.
The day before, Charlotte had briefly come back to restock cola and told them that Craid's father, Greg, had recovered safely, so there was no longer anything to worry about.
From Jinseo's perspective—someone who had already lost his own parents—Craid's situation didn't feel like someone else's problem.
There was only one thing Jinseo could do for Craid, who had been on edge with worry.
When he came back, Jinseo would serve him delicious street food like always.
Jinseo kept greeting customers while waiting for Craid, and only around evening did Craid return to the Mobile Cooking Facility.
Together with his father, Greg, who had regained his health.
"Welcome, Greg… not to Falstead Castle, but to Dwarf Town."
To greet the father and son—one the hero of Girvante, the other a master of the food business—Oswald Hamilton personally came out.¹
"It's a real pleasure to meet you. I never imagined the lord of the castle would come out in person for me."
"Haha, think nothing of it. I may be merely a castle lord, but aren't you the man who runs over a hundred restaurants in Girvante, the kingdom of cuisine? I've never had the chance to stop by since it's so far, but one day I fully intend to visit and conquer every menu item. And…"
With both hands on his hips, Oswald offered a respectful greeting to Charlotte, who looked very pleased with herself.
"Lady Charlotte, you truly worked hard."
"Right? I did great, didn't I? But if it weren't for this kid, it would've been hard to save that old creature. All I did was help you go back and forth comfortably."
Charlotte patted Fedora's shoulder proudly.
"I merely acted according to His teachings. Above all, it would have been difficult without Jinseo's special tteokbokki."
When Fedora, wearing a solemn expression, shifted the credit to Jinseo, Jinseo waved it off like it was nothing.
"So this is the rumored food truck. Let's see…"
Greg slowly circled the Mobile Cooking Facility, stroking his chin.
He'd eaten street food before and more or less knew what it was, but the Mobile Cooking Facility that made it—he'd only heard about it in stories.
"Ho… so this is what it's like. Truly fascinating."
Before coming here, he had imagined what the food truck might look like, but the real thing far surpassed his imagination.
A design utterly unlike any existing vehicle.
All sorts of cooking equipment and tools operating in incomprehensible ways.
Menus that made him anticipate the taste just by reading their names.
After carefully inspecting the kitchen and counter seats, Greg turned around and looked over the diners at the tables.
"But first, I want to try the street food you're eating right now. Noodles with black sauce—that's a bold idea."
Greg looked at the customers mid-meal, visibly impressed.
Since it was Sunday by Korean standards, Jinseo served jjaXguri as if it were only natural. And because it oddly suited Halloween's bizarre mood, orders started pouring in.
Everyone who ate it ended up with their mouths stained pitch-black, and Oswald's mouth was no exception after he'd finished two servings while waiting for Craid and Greg.
Yet no one called it dirty. They simply accepted it with, "It's Halloween today," and moved on.
"Here's your jjaXguri."
"So this is the street food called jjaXguri. Then let's see… Ah, my greetings are late. I am—"
"You're Greg, right? I'm Lee Jinseo. My surname is Lee, my given name is Jinseo. Please be comfortable with me. Speak casually too."
"How could I dare—when you are the owner of the holy relic and the founder of street food…"
"If we're talking like that, aren't you the one currently called the godfather of the food business in the Kingdom of Girvante? And you're Craid's father as well, so please call me comfortably."
"If you insist that much… then all right."
"Yes. Then enjoy."
Greg didn't eat right away. He first leaned in and smelled the steaming jjaXguri.
"Just from the smell, I can't really tell what it will taste like."
Tilting his head, Greg took a fork, twirled the noodles, and put them into his mouth.
Chew, chew.
Since it was his first time eating it, he didn't boldly slurp the noodles in—he chewed slowly, savoring the flavor instead.
"I was curious what a black sauce would taste like, but…"
"How is it?"
"As expected of street food. It exceeded my imagination. There's none of the bitterness I expected, and the flavors harmonize together. Interesting."
Slurp.
This time, he began savoring it more fully, enjoying the spring of the noodles.
His mouth turned black like everyone else's, but Greg didn't care—he simply enjoyed the harmony created by two different ramen.
"Ah, now I'm getting hungry. Jinseo, bring me the stone pot and clear mu soup."
Charlotte, sitting beside Greg with her chin propped on her left hand, snapped her fingers as she ordered. Jinseo served dolsot bibimbap and mu soup as if he'd been waiting for it.
"By the way, Lady Charlotte. How was the cuisine of the Kingdom of Girvante? I'm curious, personally."
"I got a lavish reception at the main branch of this old creature's restaurant. It was good. Really good. But…"
Charlotte turned her head slightly and checked Greg's expression.
"Hey, can I be honest?"
"A customer's honest impressions are the greatest help to restaurant management. Don't mind me—speak. I can roughly guess what you'll say."
Greg, half-finished with his jjaXguri, told her it was fine and drank down the fish cake soup Jinseo had brought.
"I can't really put it into words, but compared to your street food, it felt like something was missing. I'm not trying to belittle Girvante's cuisine, but anyway, it wasn't as good as I expected. And the festival wasn't even over yet, so I came early because I wanted street food. Either way, your dad's healthy now, so there's no problem, right?"
Charlotte pointed her spoon at Craid, who was quietly eating jjaXguri beside Greg.
"Thank you very much."
"Okay, so stop thanking me. At this rate my ears are going to bleed."
"But I've received such a great favor—I don't know how to repay it. From now on, I will obey any command Lady Charlotte gives."
"Anything?"
"Yes."
"Tsk! That's not the kind of answer you give. What if I tell you to sell all your father's restaurants and offer me the money? And I'm a dragon. Don't speak carelessly to a dragon. Your life gets ruined."
"Th-that's…"
When Craid, unlike himself, looked flustered, Charlotte snickered.
"Do I look like the kind of dragon who'd make you do that? It's a joke, a joke. But to you creatures, it probably doesn't sound like one."
Smiling, Charlotte patted Craid's broad back with her palm.
"If you really can't let it go, I'll ask for one light favor later. I said it clearly—light! Don't go guessing! Misunderstandings like that are why dragons like me get written as villains in your creatures' fairy tales!"
While talking between the father and son, Charlotte finished a whole bowl of dolsot bibimbap in no time. Then she lifted her soup bowl and gulped down the remaining broth and radish in one go.
"Whew, good meal. Then I'm going up to do the fireworks circus."
Charlotte patted the shoulders of the father and son—who still weren't speaking to each other—and stood up.
"..."
"..."
Scrape, scrape.
Once Charlotte was gone, only the quiet sound of someone scraping nurungji from the stone pot filled the space between them.
Bang! Kaboom!
When Charlotte's fireworks magic lit up the sky, father and son lifted their heads at the same time to look up.
Yet their gazes still didn't meet, each facing a different direction.
*At this rate, they'll just eat in silence and leave.*²
"Craid, after your meal, how about going to the jjimjilbang with Greg?"
Having spent more years living apart than together, the father and son felt awkward simply being in the same place. Unable to watch anymore, Jinseo proposed a Korean-style remedy.
"Jjimjilbang?"
"In Korea, there's a custom where fathers and sons build rapport by taking turns scrubbing each other's backs at a bathhouse."
"Is that so?"
"Is that so?"
When the exact same reply came out of both their mouths at once, Jinseo covered his mouth to hold back his laughter.
A little later, after finishing their meal, the two of them headed toward the jjimjilbang, passing through people in monster costumes—leaving behind the soft glow of the Jack-o'-lanterns.
"Now that I'm about to leave, it feels terribly regrettable."
Having just finished his final bath, Greg ran a hand over his gleaming face.
"Street food—I can learn from you later and make it myself, sure. But it's a shame I won't be able to go there anymore."
As his short stay in Dwarf Town came to an end, Greg stared at the jjimjilbang building with wistful eyes.
He was so taken with it that he spent the night there instead of using the lodging Oswald had prepared for him.
For a full week.
"Then how about inviting the dwarves to the Kingdom of Girvante later? They built it. Having at least one jjimjilbang in Girvante wouldn't be bad, would it?"
"Can we do that?"
"I'll ask the dwarves later. No—while we're at it, how about starting a jjimjilbang business?"
"A jjimjilbang business? Just imagining it makes my blood race. But… wait."
Greg hurriedly rummaged through the bag he'd brought, pulled something out, and handed it to Jinseo.
"I almost forgot this. It's an invitation."
"This is… Cardinal, please."
Jinseo handed the scroll to Fedora Artran, who had come to greet them.
A moment later, after Fedora read it aloud, Jinseo stared at Greg with a shocked expression.
"…Isn't this an invitation from the Girvante royal family to me?"
"I received it before I collapsed."
"No, that's not the point. Why are you only giving me something this important now—"
"Well, you see… after eating your street food and warming my back in the jjimjilbang, I forgot. Before that, I collapsed so suddenly that everything was chaos. Hahaha…"
Greg burst into a hearty laugh while deliberately staring off into the distance to avoid Jinseo's gaze.
"Anyway, I delivered it properly! But you'll have to bring the holy relic, the Mobile Cooking Facility, so it wouldn't be easy for you to come alone, would it? It seems someone from the Order should come as well."
"I will accompany you."
As soon as Fedora declared she would go, Greg beamed.
"That is exactly what I hoped for! I'm glad I can repay even a small part of the debt I owe you, Cardinal."
"But we can't depart immediately. Jinseo needs to prepare, and so do I."
"Then I suppose we'll have to stay longer until then. Hahaha! Can't be helped!"
Greg looked at Jinseo with a sly smile.
"By the way, I'm hungry. Jinseo, for breakfast, nothing beats street toast, right? With plain white milk, please."
"I'll take a light five servings. One carton each of chocolate, coffee, banana, strawberry, and plain white milk."
Between the father and son placing breakfast orders as if it were nothing, the awkward air was gone.
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