Chapter 79

Chapter 79: Dealing with Uninvited Guests

Ria and I then tasted the food.

This time, with beer.

Fried chicken and beer was always a winning combination.

"Wow, this looks amazing."

"Try it. See if store-bought is better, or this."

"Okay!"

Ria tasted a piece of boneless chicken.

Then she looked back and forth between me and the chicken.

"What?"

"Why, does it taste weird?"

"Yeah, weird."

Weird...... Was it bad?

It was not.

"It's so good it's weird. Crispy outside, moist inside, the meat is tender, and even though it's plain fried, it's clean without any greasiness."

"Yeah? Then let me try."

I picked up a piece and tasted it.

The meticulous tenderizing had indeed been worth the effort.

Pounding, scoring, and then Applecherry juice tenderizing—simultaneously eliminating gaminess.

The triple tenderizing process had produced meat that was wonderfully chewy yet tender.

On top of that, the quality oil meant there was no off-taste—just a clean finish.

The subtle aroma of olive oil added an air of sophistication.

"It really is delicious."

"Right? Way better than franchise chicken places."

"Thanks to the quality ingredients."

We then tried the braised chicken.

The fried chicken was clearly superior when made with Cockatrice meat.

But the braised version was not noticeably different from using regular chicken.

Ria and I enjoyed our late-night meal with beer.

***

Two months of business had passed, and we were now into the third month.

During that time, the Frost Flower Guild, the Union Guild, and other early-arriving guilds had departed.

Five new guilds and two parties had arrived.

Outside the Rift, word about the Fourth Floor had spread widely.

I sensed this during a phone call with Director Jeong Jae-yong.

—Currently, the rules to observe on the Fourth Floor are spreading rapidly across both domestic and international hunter communities.

"What kind of rules?"

—First, beware the white-haired ones. Among them is a dragon that can toy with S-Rank Hunters like children and devour them, a massive wolf monster called Fenrir, and a lady knight who overpowers them both. The rule is to exercise extreme caution.

"That's amusing. Anything else?"

—Yes. Second, hunting non-aggressive monsters on the Fourth Floor is prohibited.

That had already spread.

It was information I had disseminated through the Sword Saint about twenty days ago.

Non-aggressive, beneficial monsters like Dryads and Great Honeybees were absolutely not to be hunted.

Hunting friendly, intelligent Transcendent-Grade monsters like the dragon and Fenrir was also forbidden.

Violations could result in retaliation from the northern rulers—the dragon and Fenrir—as well as the allied S-Rank Hunter coalition stationed on the Fourth Floor.

'In effect, I declared the restaurant vicinity as the hunter outpost of the Fourth Floor.'

Regardless, it seemed the message had already spread.

"Anything else?"

—Yes. Through social media, the word is spreading that causing trouble at the restaurant is strictly forbidden. They say if the restaurant closes, a great many high-rank hunters will be furious.

"Haha......"

—That's how beloved your restaurant is, Hunter An. Thanks to the restaurant providing one meal a day, hunters can stay much longer on the Fourth Floor.

Among the hunters on the Fourth Floor, some parties with limited food supplies ate only one meal a day at the restaurant.

In exchange, they ordered at least two servings per sitting.

One hunter even ordered four servings daily.

'That's because I only operate during lunch.'

If I ran dinner service too, no one would need to cram a whole day's food into one meal.

Feeling guilty about it, I sometimes distributed free cup noodles.

Or supplied bread and grain flour.

Occasionally, I also made and sold Applecherry sandwiches.

And I held evening service once a week.

In any case, every party and guild that had visited the Fourth Floor clearly recognized the importance of my Rift restaurant before departing.

—As a result, your popularity as the owner-chef keeps soaring. You're becoming famous not just domestically, but worldwide.

"......I see. I'm not particularly eager to be famous."

—Can't be helped. Anyway, Seon-u.

"Yes?"

—You'll likely be inundated with offers. From various countries and hunter guilds.

"Ah, you mean naturalization or guild recruitment pitches."

—Yes, exactly. Um......

He seemed worried I might accept citizenship elsewhere.

"Please don't worry. No matter what conditions are offered, I will never naturalize anywhere else."

—Haha, yes. Understood.

Naturalization was out of the question.

While being affiliated with the Rift Management Bureau did not prevent guild membership, I had no intention of joining another guild unless I founded one myself.

After the call, I reviewed the CCTV footage from cameras installed at the house.

Thankfully, no one had broken in.

However, several suspicious individuals lingering around the perimeter had been captured.

'Either scouts sent by specific guilds for recruitment, or journalists and paparazzi.'

Village residents also mentioned that visitor traffic had increased lately.

When confronted on the road about why they had come to such a rural village, the strangers either evaded the question or gave vague answers.

'I really should move somewhere with better security.'

Current restaurant revenue had surpassed thirteen billion won.

Including my bank balance and other assets, the total exceeded 15.5 billion.

The twenty-billion target was not far away.

***

Currently, sixty-seven people were stationed at the Fourth Floor outpost.

A significant increase.

And that was with twenty-one away on extended hunts.

The restaurant was packed with customers every day.

I had already sold a combined twelve servings of Cockatrice chicken, braised chicken, and braised spicy chicken stat dishes.

And today, one more party arrived.

But......

"Seon-u, be cautious of them."

Blade Saint Kim Gang-hyeon, who had returned to the Fourth Floor leading the Emperor Guild, came to my side and spoke.

"Why?"

"They're cartel-affiliated Awakened. Not legitimate hunters."

"Excuse me......? Non-hunters can enter Rifts?"

"They can. They're a union of Awakened belonging to cartels in Mexico and Central America."

"Ah, the Awakened cartel that recently illegally occupied northeastern Guatemala?"

"Yes, that's them. They entered through a Rift in the territory they occupied."

"I see......"

I had seen it on the news.

An armed cartel of Awakened had seized territory in northeastern Guatemala.

It was speculated that the occupation was motivated by the discovery of plants with awakening properties inside a dungeon in that region.

"Their union's boss and enforcer both came here. Both are S-Rank."

"Is that so? But why would they come here......"

"That, I don't know."

They set up camp far from the restaurant-area encampment.

The hunters who had been tensely monitoring their movements visibly relaxed at the distance.

'Everyone seems to know their reputation.'

In any case, I hoped they would not visit the restaurant.

I had no desire for trouble at the restaurant.

Nor did I want to serve food paid for with dirty money.

Time passed.

Fortunately, the cartel party had not visited the restaurant for three days.

Then night fell.

"Woof!"

While resting at the Rift house, Bell barked toward the west.

"What's wrong, Bell?"

"Woof!"

She scrunched her face and pointed westward with her head.

Based on her reaction, something had approached the forest perimeter.

Either a monster or uninvited guests.

Bell calmed down shortly after.

"Seems like they left."

"Aoong."

The next day.

Bell was on alert toward the west again.

A more intense reaction than yesterday.

'Something must have entered the outer forest barrier.'

Ria also said she sensed six hunters who had entered the outer forest.

"Did they wander off course while hunting?"

"Hard to say. They might have approached deliberately."

Until now, some hunters had come near the forest, but none had actually entered it.

This was the first time.

But they would ultimately fail to breach the barrier.

Eriksson spoke up.

"I'll use Stealth to check who they are."

"All right, be careful."

"Will do."

After a long wait, Eriksson returned.

His expression was grim.

"Those bastards......"

"What happened?"

Before Eriksson could answer my question, Santos placed a hand on Eriksson's shoulder.

"......Don't tell me."

"Yeah. It's the cartel Awakened."

The veins on Santos's forehead bulged.

"......Those scum."

As a South American native, he was clearly hypersensitive about cartels.

So the cartel members had tried to infiltrate the forest.

I asked Bell,

"Bell, was yesterday's presence also from them?"

"Aoong."

Bell nodded.

Then it was not a coincidence but deliberate approach.

They must have tailed someone from the S-Rank trio or knight squad during a guard shift change—walking between the Rift house and the restaurant.

"Whatever the reason, they approached with bad intentions."

Santos nodded vigorously at my words.

"......Those things are not people—they're demons. They can't possibly have good intentions."

Ria said,

"Then shall I subdue them and find out why they came?"

At that question, Eriksson and Santos exchanged glances and shook their heads.

"No, Captain doesn't need to get involved. We'll handle it."

"......One of my fellow hunters was murdered by their union. I want to do this myself."

Everyone fell silent at those words.

But the other side also had two S-Rank Hunters, so sending just the two of them was risky......

The Sword Saint was currently at the restaurant outpost, not here.

That was when Benny stepped forward.

"I'll assist the two of you."

The innocent-faced young knight volunteered.

Ria looked at Benny and frowned.

"Benny, not you."

"Why not, Captain?"

"You're too violent."

How violent could he be......

With that innocent face.

"I'll keep them alive. I swear."

"You say that, but you'll chop off all four limbs and leave them barely breathing."

"I won't do that. I'll just cut off one arm and sever their Achilles tendons—just enough so they can barely walk."

"Hmm, that's acceptable."

A chilling exchange.

The three geared up and headed for the outer forest.

"Is it really okay to send just those three?"

"It's fine. Benny is strong. And Neville is there too."

No sooner had Ria finished speaking than spearman Neville also grabbed his weapon and headed for the forest perimeter.

As he left, he said,

"If Benny goes berserk, I'll rein him in."

"All right."

Ria then told me,

"Whenever Benny gets worked up and goes overboard, it's always Neville's job to hold him back."

"Really? Just how violent is he?"

***

Eriksson used Stealth to approach the cartel Awakened.

They had been stopped by the forest barrier and had come back out.

Eriksson pressed his back against a tree and focused on their conversation.

"What the hell kind of forest is this......?"

"We keep ending up back outside. It's like there's a barrier or something."

"A barrier? Is that even a skill?"

"Maybe it's like my smokescreen skill that strips your senses. Anyway, there must be something important inside, just like the intel said."

"Even just kidnapping the female hunter who beat the Sword Saint would be a huge score."

They attempted entry again.

"Let's go back in. If you spot the female hunter or any strong-looking hunter, hit them with the sleep bomb immediately. No hunter, no matter how strong, can resist a sleep bomb detonation."

"Understood."

The mention of a sleep bomb made Eriksson tilt his head.

'Sleep bomb......? Is that the rumored drug bomb made for hunters?'

Apparently, a drug existed that was derived from a plant growing only in a specific Rift that had opened in Guatemala.

A rumored drug that only affected Awakened individuals.

Eriksson scowled.

'Those scum.'

They walked past the tree where Eriksson was hiding.

Benny then appeared with his sword drawn, blocking their path.

"Good day. What brings you to this area?"

Benny asked with a smile.

That innocent face might have put anyone else at ease, but these cartel Awakened had survived in brutal environments.

They were not fools who would be disarmed by a guileless face.

One of them hurled a black sphere at Benny's feet.

POP!

The sphere burst, engulfing Benny in white powder.

The cartel members donned prepared gas masks.

"He didn't even dodge. What an idiot."

The powder slowly cleared.

Benny calmly waved it away and asked,

"What was that powder?"

The cartel was stunned to see Benny standing perfectly fine.

"Huh......? Why isn't it working? Even a small inhalation should have knocked him out cold. Is he...... not a hunter?"

"That's correct. I'm not a hunter."

Benny's innocent expression vanished completely.

Radiating murderous intent intense enough to make even cartel Awakened blanch—

"I'm a knight."

Benny charged from the front, sword in hand.

From behind, Eriksson—who had been lurking in Stealth with his mouth and nose covered—pounced.

From the flank, Santos barreled in with his shield raised, ready to slam into them.