Chapter 15

Chapter 15. Ria Has Returned

For the Red Lion Knights, I provided seven bottles of Applecherry juice and three Sandwiches in exchange for High-Grade Magic Stones.

And as a service, I added one more bottle of apple juice on top.

The members of the Red Lion Knights examined the Buff options from the food they received and chatted.

"The juice Buff will come in handy when hunting. I always suffer from Mana shortages."

"Right, you almost died from Mana overexertion while healing."

"That's because you let too many attacks through, senior. Eat the Sandwich Buff and get a little more agile."

"This punk?"

Such a harmonious scene.

I immediately dove into grilling the steaks.

This time, also the Grilled sous vide method.

I wanted to try other methods too, but the Drake meat was too high-grade to experiment with something new.

'There's no grilling method that requires more care than this anyway.'

It was also the highest difficulty steak grilling method.

That was probably why the Blessing of Dexterity effect worked.

I seared three chunks of steak meat.

I quickly cooked each surface for two seconds, then rested them, repeating the process.

About forty minutes later.

I successfully triggered the Blessing of Dexterity skill on all three steaks I had started grilling simultaneously.

'I'm practically at the level of a master now.'

Right after obtaining the Blessing of Dexterity, when I first succeeded.

I got confident and tried three more times, succeeding twice and failing once.

After that, I practiced continuously with beef so as not to waste the valuable Drake meat.

As a result, I became able to grill perfectly even Grilled sous vide steaks even when cooking three chunks simultaneously.

"Drake steak is ready. Please enjoy."

On the first and second days of business, I did not set up chairs.

That was because there was no space to accommodate many customers.

So most customers ate standing or sitting on logs or rocks.

But today there were few customers.

I served the food before the seats where the Red Lion Knights executives were waiting.

"I thought I'd have to endure disgust and force it down since it's Monster meat, but at least the aroma is good. It seems you suppressed the gamey smell with spices and charcoal."

"Charcoal is one thing, but he used Smoking Chips. Let's try it first. Guild Master, please go ahead."

"I will."

Kim Cheol-yeong soon cut the steak into bite-sized pieces and tasted it.

"Mm, the taste is as excellent as the aroma. A flawless and perfect steak."

"Is that so? Then let me try as well."

The vice guild master also tasted it and exclaimed in admiration.

"Such flavor....... It's like eating premium beef at a famous omakase restaurant."

Drake meat was on par with beef, or even superior.

If you just suppress the gamey smell, it was impossible for the meat to taste bad.

Since only three of the five ordered portions had been served, I started grilling the remaining two portions.

While I was resting them briefly.

"One steak, please!"

One of the remaining two portions sold.

Then the competition for the last portion began.

"I'll order!"

"Hey, I was about to order first!"

"I came first and was waiting to order while the chef was resting the meat, you know?"

Customers bickering to claim the last remaining one.

I directed the traffic.

"This person came first."

The customer who came as soon as one portion remained and waited to order until I was resting the meat.

That customer became the protagonist of the last steak.

Soon the Red Lion Knights executives finished eating and stood up from their seats.

Guild Master Kim Cheol-yeong approached and said.

"I ate very deliciously. Thanks to you, my Strength stat reached the threshold of ninety."

"Congratulations."

"By any chance, are you affiliated anywhere?"

"No, I am not."

"Then how about our Red Lion Knights guild?"

A sudden guild recruitment offer.

It did not seem like a joking proposal.

If I joined a ranker guild, I would certainly enjoy many benefits.

However, I was a cook before I was a Hunter.

I also had the goal of opening a restaurant inside a Rift.

Therefore, I did not want to join a guild and have my freedom suppressed.

"I appreciate the offer, but I have no intention of joining a guild."

"Hmm, I see. That is unfortunate. Understood."

He turned his back and walked away with his guild members.

'How cool of him.'

Soon all the steak cooking was finished and I completed the serving as well.

After that, another guild said they were going hunting far away and bought four bottles of juice and two Sandwiches.

The remaining three bottles of juice were also all sold to some Hunter party.

'Complete sellout...!'

Fourteen bottles of juice.

Five servings of Sandwiches.

Seven servings of steak.

Everything sold out.

And combining the first day and second day of business.

Calculating according to the market price of Magic Stones, I had made sales of approximately 157.5 million won.

'That's similar to three years of salary I received at Pungjeong.'

I earned in a few days what took three years of salary while working over twelve hours a day without weekends, working myself to death.

Joy and emptiness washed over me simultaneously.

That was brief, and only joy remained at the thought of installing a mobile home in the Rift where Ria and I stayed.

***

Seven days had passed since entering the Rift.

And we began our journey back.

"We earned 1.5 times more than usual. The first floor is safe, but the second floor is better."

Jeong Ye-rim said excitedly.

Kim Myeong-hun objected to that statement.

"The reason it feels better is because Seon-u hyung was in our party this time. If he wasn't here, no matter how much we earned, you wouldn't have been able to say the second floor was better, would you?"

Joel agreed with Kim Myeong-hun's words.

"That's right....... On the first floor, you can hunt for a day or two and leave, but if you go hunting on the second floor, it's at least a week or more, and eating only tasteless dry rations during that time is torture."

"Come to think of it, that's true. Nine days without Seon-u Oppa would be hell. The food would be tasteless, and we couldn't bring fluffy sleeping bags, so sleeping would be uncomfortable. It would be full of inconveniences."

"That's right, that's right."

The three conversed like that and turned their heads to look at me.

With eyes expecting something.

I knew well what answer they wanted.

"Let's go again next time."

Then my friends became very happy.

"Yes! Oppa! The best!"

"Hyung, thank you!"

"Hyung-nim, I love you!"

The love is a bit much.......

After two and a half days, we exited the Rift.

"It's over......!"

"The moment of safe return always feels good!"

"Everyone did well!"

"You all worked hard!"

We comforted each other and consoled the hardships of the journey.

After that, we rode in my car back to Seoul, then went to a quiet cafe to settle accounts.

"I divided the Magic Stones exactly by one over N."

Kim Myeong-hun allocated two Low-Grade Magic Stones and fourteen Lowest-Grade Magic Stones to me.

"Why am I getting one over N too?"

The originally agreed ratio was half of the other party members.

That was the basic settlement ratio for a Porter.

Moreover, I did not accompany the party members on their hunts while staying at the Outpost.

I could have accepted even less than half.

But one over N?

About that, Kim Myeong-hun said.

"Of course I agreed, and Ye-rim and Joel did too. How much did we mooch meals from you, hyung? Of course it should be one over N."

"Right, right! Other customers bought meals with one Lowest-Grade Magic Stone, but we ate Oppa's food for free."

"Thanks to hyung-nim's cooking, we could spend nine days without getting tired!"

In that case, I should accept it.

"Alright, I'll take it."

After receiving the Magic Stones like that.

We parted ways, promising to meet again.

***

After arriving at the country house, I entered the Rift for the first time in a while.

With hopeful anticipation.

However, Ria had not returned yet.

'Hoping she'd return after eleven days doesn't make sense.'

I soon climbed the hill above the cave and thoroughly examined the surroundings with binoculars.

It seemed there were no Monsters nearby right now.

While inspecting the alarm string, I found one place where the alarm string had been torn, as if there had been a Monster intrusion.

'That's why it's dangerous for me alone.'

After restoring the alarm string, I immediately came out of the Rift.

"Let's do some cooking research."

This time I boiled bone broth using Drake bones.

I simmered it thoroughly in the house yard for two days.

The taste was more savory than Korean beef bone broth.

'As expected, the Blessing of Dexterity skill doesn't trigger.'

Drake bones must not be as rare a ingredient as the meat.

Just in case, I tried various dishes using that bone broth base, but all failed.

'Still, next time I go to the Outpost to do business, I can sell the Drake bone broth base dishes I researched this time.'

I was satisfied just with having researched new dishes.

A week later like that.

The party of me, Kim Myeong-hun, Jeong Ye-rim, and Han Joel set out for the second floor Outpost of the Rift once more, and this time we returned after eight days.

Through this trip, I sold two servings of Strength stat Drake steak and 120 servings of bone broth base dishes and returned.

And this time I raised the Drake steak price to one High-Grade Magic Stone plus one Mid-Grade Magic Stone, selling them for 20 million won worth.

The sales from the second business trip were 76 million won.

Combining the first and second trips, I made 230 million won in sales just from business alone.

Once I had money, I began seriously looking into modular housing.

Originally I was going to go with a mobile home, but the square footage was too small.

On the other hand, modular housing could connect several modules together.

It was even possible to make it two stories.

'But I can't find a company I like.'

Price aside.

Either the design was mediocre or the walls were thin, as if they used cheap exterior materials.

While looking around like that for several days.

I found a company I liked.

"This is really a modular house?"

"Yes, customer."

They arranged three buildings of modular housing in a U-shape separately and only connected the roofs.

And in the middle of the U-shape, they created a garden and barbecue space.

Moreover, the walls were also solid and thick.

'This is good......?'

I consulted with that company several times.

Whether I could self-install the modular housing if I could just transport it and place it where I wanted with excavation work, even without the company's help.

Whether they could run separate plumbing since I would use a water tank instead of running water.

Whether they could install a fireplace instead of underfloor heating, and so on.

The company confirmed they could set everything up.

However, they said that to self-install the modular housing without the company's equipment and staff, I would need to receive sufficient training here.

How to secure the module building in one excavated spot, how to connect the roofs, how to connect the plumbing, and so on.

'At least two weeks of training from an expert......'

Including training fees and interior remodeling costs, it was 12 million won.

The building alone was 4 million won per pyeong, totaling 144 million won for thirty-six pyeong.

The total was 156 million won.

'Not bad.'

The design was overwhelmingly better than other companies, the modular house walls were thick, and the finishing materials looked good, yet the price was not significantly different.

I had come here half-doubting after watching Mutuber videos and reading reviews, and it was a good choice.

"I'll sign the contract."

"Thank you, customer."

Like that, I paid part of the deposit and stayed at a nearby lodging while receiving two weeks of training here.

The expert who trained me even taught me how to do foundation excavation work.

After learning intensively for two weeks, I gained confidence and felt I could do everything alone.

"It will be completed in about a month. Come see it then."

"Understood. I'll see you then."

"But are you really going to call a transport company separately? Unless it's an experienced professional transport company, it won't be easy to move. It'll cost a lot of money too."

"Yes, it's fine, so don't worry."

Because I had an excellent means of transportation called Acresia.

Like that, I returned to the country house after two weeks in another region.

Soon a call came in.

"Again......"

It was a call from the Hunter Association.

It seemed rumors had spread in the Hunter industry after I returned from the second business trip to the Rift.

And the Hunter Association called me every other day.

If I answered, they would probably urge me to take a grade reassessment.

There was a six-month reassessment grace period even after a Second Awakening.

Or it might not be about reassessment, but for a different reason.

Like before when an Association employee tried to put me in an S-rank party.

'Whatever the reason, it seems like it'll be a hassle.'

That was why I was not answering.

Besides that, perhaps my number was leaked, because I received contacts from unknown numbers, or text messages from some guild inviting me to join.

"Then shall I go survey the site for installing the building? I don't know when I'll be able to install it, but......"

It would only be possible to safely construct after Ria returned.

Even if it was completed, if it was destroyed by a Monster attack after completion, it would be a disaster.

I moved my steps toward the cabinet where the Rift in the warehouse was open.

Hoping that Monsters had not invaded again and ruined the alarm string.

Like that, I entered the Rift after two weeks.

"Uh......?"

After entering the Rift, I doubted my eyes.

The person I had been waiting for had not returned for over a month.

Since I did not know when she would return, I had lowered my expectations.

Since it might take several years if it took long, I decided to wait calmly.

And now, a month and two more weeks after that person left.

Before my eyes stood a woman with shimmering silver hair and a fresh smile.

"Seon-u, it's been a while."

Ria had returned.