Chapter 34: The Transmigrator is Korean (2)
‘The color and scent are definitely doenjang-guk.’
Artier sniffed again and again, and beca certain.
But how could doenjang-guk, a Korean food, exist in the dieval era?
I considered various possibilities, but nothing ca to mind.
“Where did you get this?”
Artier asked the old woman.
The old woman answered the question, cautiously observing Artier's expression.
“They are yellow beans I purchased a while ago.”
“Just beans?”
“Well…… they are a bit old.”
She was a person who ran an orphanage.
But with the money the old woman earned, it was difficult to feed the children on ti.
“I salted them to make them last longer, but they have a bit of a strange sll……. They haven't gone bad.”
“……You salted them?”
“Yes, I did?”
Looking around, Artier spotted a large jar with its lid closed.
That must be the jar containing the salted beans the old woman ntioned.
“Just a mont.”
When Artier asked for permission to take a closer look and opened the jar, a foul sll pierced his nose.
The jar was filled to the brim with shriveled beans.
“Ugh.”
It wasn't the mild feeling you get from the supermarket.
It was the scent of real doenjang, the kind you'd expect from opening a jar buried in the ground in the countryside.
Artier checked the information of the contents inside the jar.
[Fernted Beans (Normal)]
Description: Beans that have fernted by chance. They give off an unpleasant sll but are still edible.
Option: Slightly increases satiety.
Of course, doenjang isn't made just by salting beans.
The contents of the jar were also different from the doenjang Artier rembered. But the sll wafting from the jar reminded Artier of the doenjang he missed.
‘Could I get sothing similar to this sowhere else?’
There was no way.
Making fernted food is not an easy task. Even in the modern era, it sotis fails, so how much more so here?
Artier made a decision.
“This, would it be alright if I purchased it?”
“Pardon?”
“Eek?!”
When he pointed at the jar and spoke, the old woman was puzzled and Collie was horrified.
“Master, why are you buying sothing like this?”
“To say ‘sothing like this’ in front of soone who eats it. That's rude.”
“Th-that, I apologize.”
Collie's voice lowered, dejected, only after receiving the sharp glares from the surrounding children.
“But if it's salted beans, they sell them at the market next door.”
“I need this. I have a use for it.”
Artier took out 5 silver coins and handed them to the woman.
At this price, it would be a profitable deal even if she gave him the whole jar.
“Oh my, thank you. I feel so sorry selling sothing like this for money……”
[You have perford a minor good deed. Karma Points increased by 1.]
The rare point acquisition was a bonus.
After putting the entire jar into his inventory, Artier turned his steps without any lingering attachnt.
“Where on earth do you plan to use it?”
“Are you that curious?”
“Of course! If it's for ergency food, there are plenty of perfectly fine options.”
Collie's reaction was perfectly normal for people of this world.
Even the old woman and children had been frowning. They ate it because they had nothing else to eat, aning they would have thrown it away otherwise.
The sll of fernted beans was not a familiar one to the people here.
“It's fine. I won't make you eat it.”
“That's not the problem. Are you really going to eat it, Master?”
“Of course. What did you think I was going to use it for?”
“Ugh…… I never thought I'd be outdone in terms of what I'd eat.”
Co to think of it, Collie is essentially a dog.
Does that last statent an I'm a strange human who eats things even a dog wouldn't?
When his thoughts reached that point, Artier inadvertently got defensive and continued.
“It just slls like this, the taste is probably fine.”
“How would you know? Have you eaten it before?”
“Of course. It's a common food where I used to live.”
“Is that so? What kind of place is your hotown, Master?”
“My hotown is……”
Thinking of Korea, where he lived before being transmigrated into the ga, Artier montarily paused.
Should he talk about the in-world Artier's hotown or modern-day Korea?
One he knew too little about, and the other was too far removed from this world's setting.
Either way, he felt like he shouldn't bring it up.
“Well, I don't rember that far back.”
“……”
But Collie, who was looking at Artier, threw out a aningful remark.
“Master, aren't you lying?”
“……What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
For a mont his heart sank, but Artier managed to ask back, feigning composure.
“Other people might not know, but since I am a Spirit Creature, I can tell. I can easily distinguish the wavelength of mana that wavers when you're conflicted.”
“I said I'm not.”
“Master, mana is the embodint of the power of thought. And what cos from thought is language. If the words spoken and the flow of mana are different, it surely ans there is sothing being hidden.”
As Collie continued to speak, Artier felt as if he were being stripped bare.
It was dangerous.
The thought that he shouldn't let Collie dig into his secret any further rang like an alarm in his head.
Did Collie sense Artier's feelings?
Collie shrugged his shoulders and said.
“Well, it's fine. Everyone has a secret or two they want to hide.”
“……”
“I don't know why Master is trying to hide the fact that he rembers his hotown, but you don't have to worry. I don't go around telling other people's secrets.”
Collie said so and began to walk again as if nothing had happened.
Artier followed behind him with a uneasy expression.
‘This is dangerous. Collie, being a Spirit Creature, can see through lies.’
It seed that acting was aningless in front of Collie, who could directly scan another's mana wavelength.
‘I need to be more careful when I speak from now on.’
His identity was a fact that the people of this world would find hard to accept.
He couldn't reveal that fact, not even to Collie.
Making his resolve, Artier entrusted his body to the teleport gate.
***
“Oh, what a sha! If I knew my little brother was coming back with Gnoll at, I would have made dinner a bit later. Then the al would have been so much richer!”
That evening, Artier accepted a bowl of at soup from a bustling Jeina.
As she said, the soup she had boiled was quite lacking in ingredients.
It was a sign that their funds for food were starting to run low.
“Why didn't you go fishing like yesterday?”
“Ah…… that was more like a bonus that ca along while I was just playing in the water.”
“Playing in the water?”
“Yeah. I went in and splashed around, and next thing I knew, they were floating on the water.”
“……”
Artier couldn't even imagine what kind of water play Jeina had enjoyed.
As if reading his expression, Gerard, who was leisurely sipping his tea, said in a calm voice.
“Sotis, ignorance is bliss.”
“……It seems like you know, Gerard.”
“I don't. I'm not particularly fond of water.”
Artier decided to just let it go.
‘Anyway, even if the food becos ager, they're firm believers in resting properly when it's ti to rest.’
Artier lightly took a spoonful of the at soup and put it in his mouth. Then, holding the plate he had received, he stood up from his seat.
“Huh? Where are you going?”
“There's sothing I want to try for a mont.”
Entering the kitchen, Artier rummaged through his inventory.
‘I've gathered all sorts of things, I can't let today end like this too!’
It wasn't that he disliked the at soup Jeina made. In fact, she deserved praise for bringing out this much flavor with so few ingredients.
But at least for today, he wanted to feel a more stimulating taste than the barely-there umami.
Pop.
Artier uncorked the bottle containing the Gnoll's blood.
He then poured a little of the Gnoll's blood into the at soup he received from Jeina and placed it on the hearth to boil the contents again.
Bubble, bubble…….
The at soup with Artier's own recipe began to slowly boil on the fire.
“Mmm, it's going well……. Huh?”
Artier, who was expecting a spicy at soup, discovered that the Gnoll's blood had coagulated and was floating around.
It was spicy, but it was still the blood of a monster. What did they call a dish boiled with clotted blood in Artier's hotown?
[Spicy Seonji-guk (Normal)]
Description: A at stew boiled with Gnoll's blood. Be careful, as chewing the red chunks may make you breathe fire.
Option: Greatly increases satiety.
‘……No, what is this!’
Artier swatted away the information window that popped up before him as if it were teasing him.
“Artier, is there a problem?”
“Ah, it's nothing.”
When Gerard peeked his head into the kitchen, Artier forced a smile, erasing his expression.
“Alright, I understand.”
After Gerard disappeared, Artier quietly disposed of the failed creation and took out a new stew.
‘Right, he wouldn't have ntioned mixing it with sli ooze for no reason.’
Clatter.
Artier took out another ingredient from his inventory.
‘Hmm, will this be a bit noisy.’
About 30 seconds after he placed it on a spoon and put it into the stew?
The reaction ca imdiately.
“What is this sll?”
“There's a strange sll.”
“It seems he finally took that out……”
“What is that?”
Burst.
As the sll began to emanate from the soup, the party mbers who entered the kitchen began to look around to grasp the situation.
Then they saw the yellow stew Artier was boiling on the hearth, and they frowned and covered their noses.
“Artier, what is that?”
“Why are you boiling poop?”
“P-poop……. It's a perfectly fine food.”
Artier almost dropped the stew for a mont.
After evenly heating the stew, Artier carefully transferred it to its original plate.
“This is food?”
Gerard couldn't erase the doubtful expression from his face.
But regardless, Artier once again picked up his spoon and brought the stew to his mouth.
“……!”
Artier's eyes, which had been chewing for a mont, lit up.
A salty flavor that enveloped his mouth, albeit crudely, and a savory aroma.
Although a bitter taste occasionally lingered in his mouth, this was enough. Because his tongue was experiencing a taste he hadn't felt once since coming to this world.
“Kuh, this is it. This is exactly what I was looking for!”
“……”
Jeina, who was staring blankly at Artier excitedly devouring the stew, whispered to Gerard so only he could hear.
“Our little brother, turns out he's sick sowhere, isn't he?”
“Be quiet, Jeina.”
“But he's crying while eating sothing that's gone bad.”
“……”
Gerard couldn't answer the last question right away.
He too couldn't understand Artier, who was happy while eating strange food.
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