<Episode 51>
@huterking
Went to the second branch behind the Hunter Management Bureau. Camped out for three nights beforehand, and I don’t regret it.
@fishbread
Th-this-this-this is insane. The fish is dancing inside my mouth.
@cat_HANYANG
You HAVE to eat the sotteok-sotteok. If you don’t, it’s a national disaster. (Crying Hanyang emoji)
@gategetout
The moment I took a bite of the tteokbokki, it felt like I’d gone back to before my Awakening. TT It reminded me of my elementary school days, and I just couldn’t stop crying…
A man scrolling through social media with an indifferent expression suddenly frowned.
“…What an exaggeration.”
His name was Choi Baekho. A rookie Hunter who had awakened as a D-rank Hunter six months ago.
He had stayed up all night with his seniors to secure reservations at the shop because of all the hype, but honestly, he wasn’t very interested in the place.
“What’s so important about food? You can just go hungry.”
He had always been an extremely light eater and had little interest in food to begin with.
Even if the side effect of Awakening dulled the taste of food, it didn’t really matter to him.
But there was something more important to him than that side effect.
Splat!
“Ugh, isn’t this bird poop?”
Namely, he was a person with unbelievably terrible luck.
At least once a day, he’d trip over a rock, and if he walked down the street, bird droppings would somehow land on him.
It was fortunate that he belonged to the Production-type Hunters. If he’d had to enter Gates regularly, he would’ve probably died long ago.
His nickname was Black Tiger.
People said his Luck stat must have burned itself black, which was how he earned the humiliating nickname.
“Hey, Black Tiger. Got hit by bird poop again?”
“Seriously, you’ve got something going on. Didn’t it happen the other day too?”
“That wasn’t bird poop. Someone splashed water from above.”
“Hahahaha! Right, right.”
As he pulled wet wipes from his pocket and vigorously cleaned off the mess, several seniors approached and threw their arms around his shoulders.
“You’re heavy. Move.”
“Tsk. Acting tough, huh? It’s almost our turn, you know? Ah, I’m seriously excited. I wonder how good it’ll taste.”
“The reviews are insane.”
His seniors launched into a heated discussion about which fish-shaped pastries they’d reserved and how the combination of tteokbokki and fish cake was unbeatable.
“Oh right, Black Tiger. What’d you reserve?”
“Sotteok-sotteok.”
“Ah, the new menu item?”
Baekho quietly nodded.
He wasn’t interested in any of the other dishes.
Only the new item that was being previewed first at the Busan branch: sotteok-sotteok.
‘It reminds me of eating it at highway rest stops when I was a kid.’
Back in middle school, he’d submitted a field trip application and gone on a family vacation to Geoje Island.
It had been their first family trip.
Unfortunately, it was peak vacation season, and they’d spent over five hours stuck on the road.
Since there hadn’t been time for lunch, the family had eaten sotteok-sotteok at a highway rest stop.
He still remembered how delicious it had been.
The moment he saw “sotteok-sotteok” listed in the reservation system, he’d selected it without hesitation because of that memory.
“I was curious about that too. You gotta give me a bite when you get it.”
“Sure, whatever.”
“You’re still such a picky eater. Ah! Reservation orders are ready. Let’s go pick them up.”
Baekho was dragged away by his seniors.
Naturally, he also stumbled over a rock while being pulled along.
“Welcome. May I have the reservation name, please?”
“I’m Kim Seokhyun. This is Lee Dongmin, and this is…”
“Choi Baekho.”
The man checking the reservation names nodded.
“Please wait a moment. Juhee, could you put some sauce on the sotteok-sotteok? Hyunwoo, please pack the tteokbokki and fish cakes.”
His hair was slicked back enough to reveal half his forehead, and his sharp eyes slanted slightly upward.
For some reason, he looked like a man who belonged in a tailored suit rather than a snack shop apron.
‘Still, his fish pastry flipping skills are no joke.’
Despite his cold appearance, the way he carefully turned the pastries over with a serious expression was remarkably skilled.
According to rumors, he’d worked at a famous pharmaceutical company before suddenly quitting and applying to become the branch manager.
Was his name Gong Juwon?
“Oppa… I mean, Manager! Here’s the sotteok-sotteok.”
A beautiful woman with voluminous waves and catlike eyes awkwardly corrected herself.
“Juhee, you…”
“I’m trying, okay?”
The man finally sighed and nodded.
“Yeah. You’ll get used to it eventually.”
“Manager, the tteokbokki and fish cakes are packed.”
“Thank you, Mr. Suchan.”
At last, their order was complete.
“Here’s your food. The fish pastries are hot, so please be careful.”
“Oh, that smell. Thank you!”
“Hope business goes well. We’ll come again~”
“…Thank you.”
They bowed and turned to leave when one of the seniors pointed at the menu board.
“Hey, look at that. The effect of the sotteok-sotteok is Luck +20%.”
“Whoa. That’s exactly what our Black Tiger needs.”
“Yeah, right. Luck…”
It wasn’t an officially displayed stat in one’s status window, but among Production-type Hunters, “Luck” was considered the most important stat.
Their profession required handling sensitive mana stones.
One small mistake could cause an explosion or ruin a valuable item.
‘It’s all superstition anyway. Completely useless.’
It wasn’t as though Baekho had never purchased luck-enhancing items before.
But the effects had been practically nonexistent.
In fact, he sometimes felt as though his luck had become even worse afterward.
Grumbling, he sat down on a bench and absentmindedly bit into the sotteok-sotteok.
‘Oh…!’
It tasted exactly like he remembered from the highway rest stop.
Crispy fried rice cakes, chewy sausage, and sweet-spicy sauce coating everything.
No.
Maybe it tasted even better than he remembered.
“Wow, this red bean fish pastry is unbelievable. You can actually feel the red bean grains!”
“The tteokbokki is so good it’s making me cry. Seriously, it’s been forever since I tasted something like this…”
His seniors were already stuffing food into their mouths and continuously praising it.
This time, Baekho carefully balanced the rice cake and sausage ratio before taking another bite.
Then he heard someone shouting from a distance.
“Whoa! Watch out!”
A stone was flying straight toward him.
No, seriously.
Why was a rock flying through an ordinary street? It wasn’t even a Gate.
Normally, D-rank Hunters could dodge something like this effortlessly.
But Baekho, the embodiment of misfortune, was different.
Even if he tried to block it, it would definitely hit him somewhere…
“…Huh?”
He stared blankly at the stone resting perfectly in his hand.
“I’m so sorry! My friends and I were fooling around… You’re not hurt, right?”
“I’m fine.”
What kind of fooling around involved throwing rocks?
Anyway, after the apologetic woman left, his seniors made a huge fuss.
“Whoa! What miracle is this? You actually caught it?”
“Maybe that luck effect is real!”
Could it really be?
Baekho stared at the stone in his hand before slipping it into his pocket.
He’d keep it as a souvenir.
“I’ll head in first. Take your time eating.”
“Hey! Are you not gonna try the fish pastry? It’s good.”
“No thanks. Not interested.”
Brushing off his jacket, he stood and looked at the empty skewer in his hand.
The trash can was two meters away.
Considering how strong the wind was today, the chances of successfully throwing it in were practically zero.
‘But for some reason, I have a good feeling about this.’
After hesitating briefly, he snapped the skewer in half and tossed it toward the trash can.
Naturally, his throw was way off target…
Whoosh.
A gust of wind carried it beautifully into the trash can.
“Nice one, Baekho.”
“Maybe it really does work.”
Once could be a coincidence.
Twice wasn’t.
Had luck really come to him at last?
He glanced toward Haneul’s shop, crowded with people, and began walking away.
“Hey, aren’t you going back to the office? Where’re you going?”
“I’m setting up a tent in advance. I think I need to eat another one tomorrow before I reinforce my items.”
He swore to himself that he’d enjoy this newfound luck again tomorrow, no matter what.
And thus, another devoted regular customer of Haneul’s Second Branch was born.
***
On the historic day that the Busan Second Branch opened to tremendous success, what was I doing?
‘…What does this mean?’
The water I hadn’t managed to swallow dribbled from the corner of my mouth.
Completely oblivious to my T-shirt getting soaked, I stared blankly at the pop-up window floating before me.
—
[Amazing Achievement!]
Customers of “Haneul’s” Second Branch are highly satisfied with its items.
[Condition Completed: Successful Opening of the Second Branch]
[“Haneul’s” has been switched to Autonomous Operation Mode.]
All restricted functions have been unlocked.
‘ New Feature: Menu Shop
‘ Reward: 1 Employee Recruitment Ticket
—
…Autonomous Operation Mode?
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