<Episode 28>
Wrapped in a thick, long padded coat that reached down to her ankles, a scarf wound tightly around her neck, and fluffy fur-lined gloves carefully covering her hands, the woman waddled toward the shop.
“Ahhh… It’s so cold.”
Her name was Seo Minha, a C-rank Hunter who controlled water. Whether because of her ability or simply her natural constitution, every winter she suffered as if her entire body were freezing solid.
And yet there was a reason she had come out into the dark pre-dawn streets where not even the sun existed.
It was to try Haneul’s fish-shaped pastry shop’s new menu item: fish cake skewers.
‘Apparently, it’s bungeoppang this time, but a completely new menu. Something about increasing cold resistance?’
The street stall that had appeared like a comet one day in front of the Management Bureau had become a literal beacon of hope for Hunters who had lost their sense of taste. There might be people who had never tried the legendary fish-shaped pastries, but there was no one who had eaten them only once.
And now, that very shop has released a new menu item that increases resistance to the cold.
‘This is basically food made for me. There’s no way I can skip trying it!’
Sniffling, Minha patiently waited for her turn. She had come out fairly early, but the front of the shop was already packed with diligent Hunters.
“This place keeps getting sturdier and sturdier. It’s honestly fascinating.”
“They say the shop itself is an item. Still, it’s good news for us. The daily reservation limit increased too.”
Listening to the surrounding chatter, she tapped her Hunter Watch into the reservation system. Just like they said, the rickety old stall that had once looked ready to collapse had somehow remodeled itself into a proper little store.
Well, this was a world where Gates suddenly opened in the sky, and monsters covered in hundreds of eyeballs poured out. Compared to that, a shop growing bigger on its own was hardly surprising.
The real problem lay elsewhere.
“…I came this early, and I’m still number 152.”
The shop’s popularity had exploded, making reservation competition increasingly fierce. Minha clicked her tongue while staring at her queue number. Still, with this spot, she should at least get her food before noon.
‘Please let the effect be good.’
Just as she expected, shortly after 11 a.m., an alert arrived saying her reserved menu item was ready. Quickly checking her watch, she hurried out of the office.
“Welcome! If you tell me your name, I’ll get your order right away!”
The moment she stepped inside, a lively employee greeted her energetically. After giving her name, she found a seat in one corner.
‘Back then, we had to stand outside in line to eat, but now there’s even indoor seating.’
The shop bustled with customers picking up pastries and others asking about reservation schedules.
“Here’s your reserved fish cake skewer. The broth is complimentary, so let me know if you want more.”
Before she knew it, steaming hot fish cake skewers and a paper cup filled with light brown broth had been placed in front of her. The employee even winked, saying broth refills were available.
‘That employee sure has a lot of energy.’
She had heard through the grapevine that the shop was hiring staff. Quite a few people had apparently gone through interviews with no one being hired, so she had stopped paying attention. Then, suddenly, one day, a new employee had appeared out of nowhere.
The girl looked younger than expected, and when Minha had asked her age, she’d answered seventeen.
Watching the employee kindly greet every customer, Minha carefully bit into the still-steaming fish cake.
“Whoa… this is delicious!”
The first thing she noticed was the chewy texture. Unlike ordinary fish cake, it was springy and elastic, whatever ingredients it was made from.
Then came the rich flavor of fish meat. Not the taste of cheap flour filler, but luxurious, high-quality fish. A gentle sweetness softly wrapped around her tongue.
Honestly, even without any special effect, she felt like she could eat this every day.
“Maybe I should try the broth too?”
Carefully blowing on it, she sipped the pale brown broth. She could feel the hot liquid slide down her throat. Before she realized it, she was gulping it down repeatedly, eventually asking the employee for a refill.
“It’s kind of hot in here.”
Strangely enough, her stomach felt warm, and her face had started heating up. As she fanned herself with her hand, she noticed a man beside her sweating profusely.
“Hah! The new menu’s effect is amazing, right? It really heats you up!”
The man stubbornly wore sunglasses even indoors. He was Yoon Kanghyuk, the head of the Security Management Team. He’d looked intimidating in the bureau lobby, but outside of work, his image felt strangely different.
Apparently, he’d been a regular since the shop first opened, though lately he’d been grumbling that the place had become too popular and difficult to buy from.
“But new menu items keep appearing every time, so eating here never gets boring! Hahaha!”
Bursting into hearty laughter, he called the employee over and asked for yet another broth refill. Judging from the way the employee’s face instantly turned cold, he’d probably asked for a lot already.
‘I was skeptical, but the effect is actually real?’
The toes that had felt painfully numb moments ago no longer hurt. Even the aching joints in her fingers, stiff from the cold, now felt loose and supple as though freshly oiled.
“…What a waste that these are limited to one per person.”
Apparently, the fish-shaped pastries could now be baked several at a time using six-slot molds, but fish cake skewers had to be assembled by hand, limiting the quantity.
Sure enough, in one corner, the employee could be seen diligently threading fish cakes onto skewers. Beside her, the talking cat seemed to be nagging nonstop.
“You’re too slow, nya. You need to skewer them faster so more humans can eat.”
“Ugh, seriously, why do you talk so much?!”
After quietly watching the peaceful scene for a while, Minha cleaned up her spot and stepped outside.
Unlike earlier, the harsh winter wind no longer felt painful. If anything, her scarf suddenly felt too warm.
“Alright. I’m definitely making another reservation tomorrow.”
Even if she stayed up late again tonight, it no longer seemed like a big problem.
Just as she was about to set an alarm on her Hunter Watch, a message pop-up appeared.
[Team Leader Sunjun: The new Gate terrain simulation came out. Want to do mock combat together at 4?]
“Hmm. Mock combat…”
On days she wasn’t assigned to a Gate, she usually reviewed tactical reports or trained stamina and mana control at the practice grounds.
But now a new item had suddenly been added to her schedule.
Combat training to adapt to the new Gate terrain.
“Yeah. Why not? Let’s do it!”
Normally, even thinking about such a schedule would’ve exhausted her, but today, strangely enough, her steps felt light.
It was as though the warm fish cake she’d eaten earlier was still heating her from the inside.
***
“Finally done with business! Great work today, Ari.”
“Whew! You too, unnie.”
“You worked hard too, nya~”
Ever since Ari joined, their pace had noticeably improved. With Ari handling customers and the new menu, all I had to focus on was baking the fish-shaped pastries.
“How are you this good at working? It’s honestly amazing.”
“I guess all the secret part-time jobs I did while I was in school helped.”
Wedding halls, fried chicken restaurants, manga cafés, convenience stores…
Ari proudly declared there was practically no part-time job she hadn’t tried.
“To work under me, that much should be obvious, nya!”
“Ugh, what a nag.”
Hanyang and Ari bickered constantly, but it was obvious they’d actually grown pretty close. Especially Hanyang, now that customer numbers had increased, she visibly seemed happier. Even now, she was glued to Ari’s side like chewing gum.
“Tomorrow’s the day you’re taking your grandmother to the hospital, right?”
“Yep! They said if tomorrow’s checkup goes well, she won’t have to come back for a while.”
“She’ll be fine. The surgery went well, didn’t it? I’ll adjust my schedule and head to the hospital too.”
Since Grandma would be going in for a checkup on Saturday, I planned to accompany them. After Ari chattered excitedly about eating something delicious together tomorrow and finally left, Hanyang and I slowly walked down the street.
“I’m glad Ari adjusted well, don’t you think?”
“You picked an excellent employee, nya.”
“You should say those compliments directly to Ari too.”
Hanyang made a sullen face and walked ahead of me. Apparently, for some reason of pride, she felt embarrassed about complimenting Ari directly. Honestly, Hanyang could be surprisingly bad at being honest sometimes.
“Noona! Haneul noona!”
Someone called out to me urgently from afar. Looking toward the sound, I spotted familiar pink hair.
It was Hunter Kang Min.
“Noona! Did you just get off work?”
“Yep. I just saw Ari off. What about you, Hunter Kang Min?”
“I’m getting off work too. But noona! Isn’t your shop taking investments?”
Investment? What investment?
Caught completely off guard, I stared blankly while Kang Min scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
“Usually, creators receive tons of investments. But the items you make are way better, right? So I was thinking about it.”
“Ahh, I see. Honestly, I haven’t really thought seriously about investments yet.”
Come to think of it, customers had recently started asking more and more often whether I had any plans to take investments.
‘Hmm. Something feels strange.’
How could everyone suddenly start asking the same thing all at once?
Sensing something odd, I asked Kang Min carefully.
“Is there some rumor going around that I’m looking for investors?”
“Ah! Not exactly. It’s just that people keep talking about it on the Hunter forums.”
When I asked what he meant, Kang Min immediately showed me a post from the Hunter forums.
<Title: Fish-shaped pastries) But seriously, why isn’t she taking investments?>
If she’s a creator, literally everyone gets investment offers. Such a waste of talentㅠ
– Seriously, exactly. Feels like the owner just doesn’t know how to run a business
└ Someone should step up and explain it to her
– With how much people keep talking about it, she’s probably already gotten offers
└ But it’s weirdly quiet if that’s true
└ She doesn’t need to publicly announce every investment deal though; leave her alone;
– Even a B-rank creator got investment recentlyㅠ Maybe it’s because she’s F-rank
– At this point, it’s beyond frustrating; it actually makes me mad. Why can’t she use what she has? Is she stupid?
Right there on the very first page were discussions about my shop.
The anonymous comments had gone beyond pitying me for not taking investments and were openly mocking me as an idiot.
Scrolling through the comments absentmindedly, I looked up at Kang Min.
“Do these kinds of discussions happen often?”
“Uh… not really? Come to think of it, though, there’s been way more lately.”
I searched the forums for the word ‘investment’ and skimmed through post after post.
Then I finally found one particular thread.
<Title: The genuinely frustrating thing about the fish pastry shop owner>
Other creators make trash-tier items and still get massive corporate investments, meanwhile, the fish pastry owner’s stuck doing manual labor in a shabby store all day, kekek feels tragic
– Huh? Seriously though?
– Honestly, the items are amazing, she just has no clue how to do business kek
– Who would invest in an F-rank? Ha! Are corporations stupid?
└ The rank isn’t what matters. The items are. Even A-rank creators can’t make stuff like that
– Actually true. If she took investments, she’d become rich instantlyㅠ
Starting from that post, discussions about whether my shop would receive investment became a huge hot topic.
And every time the momentum started dying down, someone would revive the subject again.
Almost as if they wanted me to see these posts.
‘This reeks of a coordinated setup I’ve seen before.’
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