Chapter 82

Chapter 82: Jeonju Bibimbap with A-Rank Vegetables

Was it the Pocket Ping we watched today that did it?

Rin had awakened her vine ability.

"Rin, great job."

"Hehe!"

I tied the tattooed muscular man that Rin had bound to a tree, using rope I had pulled from Acresia.

The tough rope that had been used as an alarm line in the early days of the Rift.

No matter how strong an Awakened he was, he would not be able to break free from this binding.

At that, the muscular man began hurling profanity at me.

"You little b*****d! Do you know who I am?! Untie me right now!"

"Who are you, then?"

"I've got a big organization behind me. You mess with me, you'll disappear without a trace! Undo this while you still can!"

"An organization? How cute."

"......Cute?"

Just days ago, I had subdued and apprehended the boss and the enforcer of the South American Awakened Cartel Union. A domestic gang was hardly worth worrying about.

I went over to my mother and spoke.

"It is nothing serious, so do not worry about it. More importantly, you need to get back to the office, so please go ahead. I will call a taxi for you."

"All right. I will call one myself."

"Understood."

My mother then lowered herself to Rin's eye level.

"Rin, let us see each other again soon."

"Yes, Gwandma!"

My mother hugged Rin once.

She hugged Ria, her daughter-in-law, once as well, exchanged goodbyes, and left first.

Ria, in the meantime, put Rin in our car to protect her mental well-being, as the tattooed man kept spewing profanity and making threatening remarks.

Shortly after, the police arrived.

When I explained the situation, the police asked for my identification.

"I am Hunter An Seon-u, affiliated with the Rift Management Bureau."

"Oh, could it be......! Would it be possible to verify your Hunter ID?"

"Yes."

I held out my Hunter ID.

The officers were visibly astonished.

"S-Rank......, you really are Hunter An Seon-u."

"Wow, incredible!"

The officers were utterly amazed.

Then, pointing toward Ria,

"Then that person over there is...... Lady Emeria."

"That is correct."

The muscular man, still tied to the tree, heard Ria's and my names and his pupils trembled.

"An Seon-u......, Emeria......?"

The officers clicked their tongues at him.

"Tsk, tsk! Do you have any idea who you were threatening? S-Rank Hunters, no less. The nerve."

"Whatever organization you belong to, threatening Rift Management Bureau VIPs? That organization is about to get shaken down to its last speck of dust by the Bureau."

The muscular man, realizing he had messed with the wrong people, trembled from head to toe.

Shortly after, Rift Management Bureau staff also arrived.

Only then did a background check on the tattooed muscular man begin.

"Based on the fingerprint identity check, he is not registered as a Hunter. He is an unreported Awakened."

"Is that so?"

Failing to report one's Awakening was also a crime.

An Awakened was required to report their Awakening within six months.

"Given that his car is also unregistered, it looks like he has been involved in illegal activities. He also has six prior convictions."

"He claimed to be a member of an organization."

"Haha...... These days, Awakened crime and underground organizations have been increasing, and it is quite a headache."

"Thank you for your hard work."

Being a Hunter in government service was not easy either.

On top of that, I had heard that most Awakened crimes involved major incidents.

Given the immense power they possessed, any crime they committed had a very high chance of being a serious one.

Assaults and murders stemming from disputes were especially common.

'A lot of Awakened have trouble controlling their anger. Like that muscular guy.'

In many cases, Awakening caused a person's temperament to become more aggressive.

I spoke to the Rift Management Bureau Hunter.

"I do not need to accompany you as a witness, correct?"

"Correct. There is CCTV here and plenty of dashcams, so your account of the situation is sufficient. We will just take the victim in for an investigation."

"Understood."

And so the incident was settled.

In the end, the muscular man was arrested and transported by the Rift Management Bureau with the cooperation of the police.

***

An upgrade in Rin's abilities.

It was not limited to just the vine ability.

After returning to the Rift house, Rin headed to the fields.

HUMMM!

When she used an area-of-effect growth ability directed at the Romaine field, the recently planted Romaine grew rapidly.

"Wow......"

"It is growing in an instant."

The growth ability had clearly become more powerful.

Rin was so excited that she went on to rapidly grow the other crops as well.

"Rin, are you not tired?"

"Nope! Not tired! Hehe!"

She was simply radiant.

"That is incredible. At this rate, we will be harvesting in no time."

"Right."

I touched the grown Romaine.

A system message appeared.

[Mana-Infused Dryad Romaine]
[Taste & Rarity: A-Rank]
[Upon consuming a certain amount: Mana+0.1 increase (stackable)]

It appeared......!

A-Rank Romaine, no less.

While I stood there with my mouth agape in surprise, Ria asked.

"What is it? Did the rank go up?"

"Yeah, the rank went up. To A-Rank."

"Wow! Congratulations!"

Ria hugged me in celebration.

"Thanks. With this, I should probably add a salad menu, right?"

"Definitely. We already have surplus vegetable stock, so selling them would be a good idea."

"Yeah. And I think tomorrow's lunch menu should be bibimbap."

"Bibimbap sounds great."

Poke was good, but bibimbap was great too.

Especially.

"Jeonju-style yukhoe bibimbap."

"That sounds delicious."

Bibimbap topped with yukhoe was even more delicious.

Rin, encouraged by the praise, excitedly grew the Applecherry fruits as well.

However, the Applecherries did not rise from B-Rank to A-Rank.

'It could be because the Applecherry trees have already grown to a certain extent, or perhaps Rin's ability is still slightly insufficient to grow them to A-Rank.'

The results later on would tell.

Next, Rin raised a Wooden Golem.

"Wow, it is big."

Its height was nearly as tall as me.

Rin directed the Wooden Golem toward a boulder and had it bring its fist down on it.

Then —

CRACK!

The boulder, which previously had not even been scratched, now had a fracture running through it.

"Its power has increased considerably."

The vine binding ability on top of the Wooden Golem.

At this level, I figured Rin was at least on par with a C-Rank Hunter.

"Congratulations on your growth, Rin."

"Congratulations."

Rin smiled at the congratulations she received.

"Thank you!"

The golem soon crumbled into debris.

I swept up every last bit of debris and stored it in Acresia.

I would use it to cultivate Glace Mushrooms, and scatter whatever was left over onto the fields.

***

The next day, I prepared for the lunch service.

First, I cooked rice in the pressure cooker.

Then I began preparing the A-Rank ingredients.

Spinach, radish, Romaine, carrots, and zucchini.

A whopping five types of A-Rank vegetables would go into this dish.

I julienned the radish and tossed it with seasoning to make fresh radish salad.

I julienned the zucchini and carrots as well, stir-frying each in a lightly oiled pan with a touch of salt.

I also seasoned and stir-fried bellflower root.

Spinach, bracken, and bean sprouts were blanched, then seasoned with salt and sesame oil as a base.

The blanched bracken was further seasoned with soy sauce, minced garlic, and sesame oil, then lightly stir-fried in a pan.

I also sliced and lightly stir-fried shiitake mushrooms.

'The kick in Jeonju bibimbap is the yukhoe.'

I julienned fresh Grade 2+ Korean beef eye of round.

I added a small amount of rice wine, red pepper paste, garlic, sesame salt, and sesame oil.

For the kick, I mixed in a small amount of pear juice and plum extract.

"Ria, could you taste-test the seasoning?"

"Sure!"

Ria tasted the yukhoe seasoning.

"Delicious! This is a flavor Fenrir would absolutely love. The seasoning is just right."

"I know, right?"

Meanwhile, Ria was frying egg garnish beside me.

Along with my secret red pepper paste sauce.

I also prepared side dishes and a clear bean sprout soup.

Once all the preparations were complete, it was time to open the restaurant.

When I opened the doors, customers were already lined up in an orderly fashion outside.

Since we had taken a day off yesterday, we had not taken reservations today.

I had merely posted today's menu and prices outside the shop.

'Roughly 50 people in line......'

Today's menu was priced at one Mid-Grade Magic Stone — that is, 5 million won per serving.

More than eight times the usual food price of two Lowest-Grade Magic Stones.

That was to be expected, since the dish raised Mana by a whopping 0.2.

Yet, out of the 68 people currently staying near the restaurant outpost in the Rift, approximately 50 were in line.

"We are now open for business!"

The Hunters cheered.

"Ahem."

It was a little embarrassing.

Joel and Jeong Ye-rim, today's front-of-house staff, then assigned tables to the customers.

Orders began coming in table by table.

Still, today's orders were not too demanding.

Given the price, everyone was ordering single servings.

In return, on days like this, I served larger portions than usual.

I placed 350 grams of rice in a large brass bowl.

I arranged each prepared ingredient around the edges in a visually appealing manner.

In the center, I shaped and placed the yukhoe, topping it with an egg yolk.

I sprinkled a few pine nuts beside the egg.

And garnished with egg white strips.

Finally, a sprinkle of sesame seeds to complete the dish.

Upon completing the dish, a system message appeared.

[Artisan's Yukhoe Bibimbap]
[Blessing of Dexterity Effect: 3-hour 1% Stamina increase]
[A-Rank Vegetable Effect: Mana+0.2]

The Blessing of Dexterity effect was practically negligible.

The main draw was the A-Rank vegetable effect.

Because a large amount of A-Rank vegetables had been used, the Mana increase was 0.2.

Once Ria set it on a tray alongside the side dishes and soup, Jeong Ye-rim promptly served it.

'Our teamwork is seamless now.'

I worked well with Ria.

I worked well with Jeong Ye-rim and the other front-of-house staff too.

That said, I did need to hire one more kitchen staff member.

Ria was too tied down to the restaurant.

I would need to look into finding a Hunter with culinary experience soon.

After clearing the orders and finding a brief moment of respite, I went out to the dining floor.

"Is the bibimbap to your liking?"

When I asked, a foreign Hunter gave a thumbs up.

"Very delicious!"

"This bibimbap is amazing!"

"It is my first time eating raw meat, but it is tasty."

It might have been a very exotic dish, yet everyone was enjoying it.

Some Hunters hesitated to eat it, but there were also those who shut their eyes tight and ate it anyway because they needed to raise their stats.

And once they tasted it, they exclaimed in admiration at how good it was.

I returned to the kitchen and spoke to Ye-rim and Joel.

"If anyone does not know how to eat it, please let them know they should add the red pepper paste and mix everything together. Some people might not know the method and eat the toppings separately."

"Got it."

"Yes, Chef."

Before I knew it, every seat was full.

With only 42 seats, we could not accommodate everyone.

'I need to expand to 50 seats.'

Forty-two was not enough.

If I counted the waiting line outside, out of the 68 people currently at the outpost, all 68 had lined up.

'They buy it even though it is expensive.'

It was probably the effect of having been closed for a day.

In any case, it was fortunate that I had prepared ample ingredients.

As customers who had finished eating left, the remaining people in line all came in.

Then the restaurant door opened again.

'She is here.'

By now, I could tell who it was just from the presence.

It was Ashley.

Given that I could not sense Fenrir's presence today, she seemed to have come alone.

Then —

"Ahem! There is an empty seat over there."

One Hunter customer picked up his tray from the bar counter and moved to an empty spot at a regular table.

He had yielded his seat to Ashley.

In practice, he had fled from her.

Ashley sat at the vacated bar counter seat as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

The seat where she always sat.

I teased her.

"Ashley, stop stealing customers' seats."

"I did not steal anything. He moved on his own."

"I am joking. So, the usual steak for today's order?"

"Yes. But I would also like to try what the humans are eating. The aroma is quite enticing."

"That dish costs eight times the price of a serving of meat. Is that all right? You said you were running low on gold coins."

I had checked the price of the gold coins Ashley had been paying with at a gold exchange.

The gold dealer had offered 640,000 won per coin.

That was worth more than two Lowest-Grade Magic Stones.

Ashley said nonchalantly,

"It is fine. If I run out of gold coins, I can just have the dwarves exchange gems for coins."

"Dwarves? A race from the world you lived in?"

"That is right. There are dwarves, elves, and humans. And various other races as well. Dragons too."

How fascinating.

This was the first time I had heard about the world where Ashley and her mother, the Silver Dragon, had lived.

In the Continent of Bellinta, the world where Ria had lived, there were monsters, dragons, and elves, but I had never heard of dwarves existing there.

"What kind of race are dwarves?"

"Hmm, they are short and stocky, but thick-bodied and strong. They specialize in craftsmanship — things like fabrication, jewel cutting, and architecture."

"Really? I am curious now."

"If you are curious, want me to kidnap one and bring it here?"

"That might be a bit much......"

It was tempting, but kidnapping was still out of the question.