Chapter 63

Chapter 63: Our Talent Show

The newlywed bride Ria had saved a village grandmother.

The most delighted were the village residents.

"I thought we would be holding a funeral for Grandma Choi......, thank you, newlywed bride."

"What a remarkable bride!"

"Seeing light flash from Seon-u's wife's hands, she must be one of those, what do you call them, Hunters?"

"You did not know? Seon-u's wife is the one who beat the Sword Saint — the person everyone is talking about these days."

"Really? That is her? I saw it on a current affairs show."

"Seon-u really married well."

Ria was embarrassed by the attention.

I also said to Ria.

"Well done, Ria. What a remarkable wife."

"Remarkable wife of who? Of yours, Seon-u."

That is right, my wife.

The grandmother who had regained consciousness was taken away in the ambulance that arrived shortly after.

To liven the mood back up, gift presentations and an additional lucky draw followed.

The prizes were electronics exchange vouchers worth a total of 20 million won, including a washing machine, refrigerator, and the latest model television.

The winners were overjoyed.

Next was our couple's talent show.

'I prepared this segment out of guilt for having held the wedding privately and excluding the village elders and acquaintances.'

Ria went on stage first.

What Ria would perform was a sword dance.

'Go get them, Ria.'

Ria performed a sword dance set to gentle music.

Beside me, the Sword Saint watched in admiration.

"Oh my......, such a soft, elegant, and yet sharp sword dance. Lady Ria truly never ceases to amaze me."

"Is that so?"

Since I was not deeply versed in swordsmanship, all I could perceive was that it was beautiful.

Others were also captivated by her figure, swinging a sword while wearing a hanbok.

My mother was watching Ria in admiration too.

"So that is the kind of person my daughter-in-law is."

"Yes, she was genuinely a Knight Commander."

"A knight — how reassuring. It seems she will protect Seon-u well."

"She does. Thanks to Ria always being by my side, I am safe even inside the Rift."

There had actually been a few dangerous moments, but I did not mention them to avoid worrying her.

Ria then channeled Aura into her sword.

She released the Aura skyward.

A great semicircular wave of Aura cleaved through the air and then dissipated.

Thunderous applause erupted.

Next was my turn.

What I would perform was a fire show teppanyaki.

First, I put on a knife-spinning show.

"Chef, you are so cool!"

"Milky-white An Seon-u!"

The former Pungjeong staff were the most enthusiastic cheerers.

A little embarrassing.

I then grilled a beef sirloin steak and lobster on the preheated iron plate.

I splashed rum over them.

I lightly dabbed some rum on my finger and touched my finger to a candle flame beside me.

My finger caught fire.

I flicked the flaming finger toward the rum-splashed iron plate.

WHOOSH!

The fire leapt dramatically across the rum-covered plate.

I quickly blew out the flame on my hand.

A performance like something out of a ninja manga.

I splashed more rum to keep the fire burning strong.

The spectators erupted in cheers.

I then cooked teppanyaki fried noodles as well.

"Anyone who wants a fresh teppanyaki dish, come get one!"

When I called out, people swarmed to form a line.

'There are way more people than I expected......?'

The buffet food I had prepared was already top-quality, yet they still wanted teppanyaki.

Even the Pungjeong staff were in line.

'Why are they......'

Then Ji-young started hyping things up.

"Teppanyaki made to order by Korea's greatest chef — who could resist?!"

Her shout set off murmurs through the crowd.

One of the village men asked Ji-young.

"Young lady, is Seon-u really the greatest chef in Korea?"

"Absolutely! He was the undisputed top chef who commanded the kitchen during Pungjeong's three-star era. I was the kitchen's youngest member back then, so I would know."

"What about that whatshisname, Ha Yu-seong, the chef always on TV?"

"He was Pungjeong's Executive Chef, but he was always doing broadcasts and events, so he was barely in the kitchen about one day a month. On the rare occasions the Executive Chef actually took charge of the kitchen, things actually ran worse. The person who truly made Pungjeong the best restaurant was our Sous Chef, Chef An Seon-u."

The Pungjeong staff nodded at Ji-young's claim.

"That is right, that is right. Our Sous Chef was the best."

"After the Sous Chef quit and the Executive Chef took over, Pungjeong has been going downhill. I heard they are shutting down next month."

So it was finally closing.

Hearing the staff talk, my mother wore a look of considerable surprise.

She looked at me as if asking with her expression whether that was really true.

My mother had known I was the Sous Chef at Pungjeong, but she had not known that I had effectively commanded the kitchen.

I nodded to her.

She covered her mouth with both hands.

'She probably thought I was just an average Sous Chef all this time.'

I should cook a meal for her with my own hands sometime.

Thanks to Ji-young's unsolicited help, the teppanyaki line grew even longer.

As the line grew, the Pungjeong staff wrote queue numbers on a notepad so people could sit down and wait comfortably.

And so, I was stuck at the iron plate cooking all day.

Ria watched me with a sympathetic look.

"Seon-u, hang in there......!"

"Yeah, I will......!"

Ria helped by serving the completed teppanyaki dishes.

Time passed, and the reception came to an end.

People blessed us, telling us to live well, and departed one by one.

My mother had also left partway through for work.

"It is over......!"

"Great job."

Ria hugged me from behind.

Instantly, all fatigue melted away.

I then expressed my thanks to the three S-Rank members and the Pungjeong staff who had helped.

I told the Pungjeong staff I would treat them to a proper meal separately soon.

Ria and I also thanked the Rift Management Bureau staff.

Director Jeong Jae-yong then informed us that there had been multiple attempts by people who appeared to be reporters trying to gain entry.

However, without the invitation message I had sent, no one had been allowed in.

Only those with genuine business in the village were allowed through after verification.

Press access had been thoroughly excluded.

After hearing that, Ria and I discussed it between ourselves.

We decided that we would both join the Rift Management Bureau's Rift Crisis Response Team as Hunters.

Director Jeong Jae-yong was overjoyed to hear it.

"That is an excellent decision. I pledge on my honor: unless there is a national emergency caused by Rifts, you will never be summoned arbitrarily, and there will be no interference. And if you ever find yourselves in a difficult situation like before, I will mobilize all the power of the Rift Management Bureau and myself to help. I will make sure you never regret choosing the Rift Management Bureau."

"Thank you, Director. We look forward to working with you."

"We look forward to working with you, Director."

And so, we decided to join as Hunters directly under the Rift Management Bureau.

The bad blood with the Hunter Association, Team Leader Shin, and the Vice President was now truly over.

The Director then added.

"Ah, there was one thing I forgot to mention. We will not conduct a separate rank evaluation — both of you will be classified as S-Rank."

"S-Rank? Me too?"

When I asked, the Director tilted his head.

"If Hunter An Seon-u is not S-Rank, who is? You possess that massive Subspace Storage as well as cooking skills, and your average stats are extremely high."

"That is true, but under the Hunter Association's standards, my combat rank was A+-Rank."

"It is stranger to assign ranks based solely on combat stats. Support and auxiliary capabilities must be considered as well. Our Rift Management Bureau evaluates all abilities comprehensively."

"I see. That is certainly different from the Association."

"Haha! Of course it is."

"When should we visit?"

"Any time works for you two. Just give us a heads-up before you head out."

"Understood. We will visit soon with Ria."

The Director and the Bureau staff then departed as well.

Now only Ria and the three S-Rank members remained.

"What will you three do?"

"Ahem......"

"Uh, well."

"......"

The trio was reading my expression carefully.

This was 100% the look of people who wanted to go to the Rift house.

"If you want to go, then go. But you will need to find a spot in the forest on the outskirts and camp out. The knight order members are currently building a log cabin in the spot you used to use."

The cabin was nearly complete.

Neville had built a very impressive two-story structure.

"Of course! Camping is nothing."

The Sword Saint's energy was up.

Eriksson also said.

"I can sleep anywhere in the forest."

He wanted to go that badly.

Santos nodded at Eriksson's words.

The sight was so funny that Ria and I looked at each other and smiled.

"Do not worry, there is a large tent available. The knight order has started sleeping in the log cabin now, so the tent is empty. Just take it and set it up."

"Oh, that is great. What a relief."

"And I will either get a modular home installed or ask Neville if he can build another cabin, so you will have a place to stay when you come to the Rift."

The three of them were deeply moved.

The Sword Saint then said.

"We will naturally cover the costs. We brought quite a lot of Magic Stones this time."

"Me too! I brought a lot."

"......Me too."

All three had come fully prepared.

Well, it was no loss to me.

I needed to secure the safety of the Rift house and also needed security personnel at the restaurant site.

'I hear parties from various countries around the world have set out to challenge the Fourth Floor of the Rift.'

The same went for large Korean guilds.

Two guilds had already departed over ten days ago.

Before long, the Fourth Floor of the Rift would be bustling with visitors.

And so, Ria, I, and the three S-Rank members transferred from the countryside house to the Rift house via the Gate portal.

***

The next day.

Ria and I once again woke up in the same bed.

Waking up in the morning had never been this blissful.

However, there was one drawback.

"I want to stay like this forever. I do not want to get up."

"I know. I do not want to get up either."

Lingering sweetly together meant it took a long time to actually rise.

We eventually forced ourselves up, washed, and had breakfast.

Ria and I transferred to the restaurant site through the Gate portal.

"Ria, please handle the leveling work."

"Got it."

Ria drew her sword and began the Bedrock Zone leveling work with a sword dance.

The bedrock was gradually shaved down and flattened by the storm of Aura.

Ria sheathed her sword.

"Ria, it seems like your skills have improved even more."

The surface was even flatter and smoother than when she had done the foundation leveling before.

Part of it might have been due to better stone quality, but Ria's improved skill was also evident.

"You think so? I practice every day, after all. I have to protect my husband."

"How reassuring, my wife."

The busy days were behind us now.

It was time for me to also focus more on my own training.

To protect Ria and Rin.

"I will start taking the restaurant modules out."

"Okay, I am excited."

I began extracting the restaurant modules from Acresia one by one.

Four modules in total.

The seam-finishing work still needed to be done, but today was just a trial installation to get a sense of things.

I carefully extracted and connected the four modules.

"Done."

"The exterior looks great. It could rival our house."

"I spent a lot on having the interior designed. Let us go inside."

"Okay."

We opened the restaurant's front door and stepped inside.