Chapter 36
"Then an opportunity came. One of the top guilds, the Yongho Guild, announced that they were recruiting a B-rank sub-tank. I thought it was my final chance. I believed that if they recognized me there, I could finally prove my ability."
"I see. I've heard quite a lot about the Yongho Guild too."
"Yes... so...."
Han Young-mi applied alone.
She performed extremely well in the preliminary test and was accepted into the guild.
But reality was crueler than she had expected.
"Once I joined, I realized I was nothing more than a spare. Insurance. The main tank was a young male Hunter the guild was heavily supporting as a future S-rank candidate. At the moment, he was A-rank. I was simply there behind him in case something went wrong. Nothing more and nothing less. Even during training and strategy meetings, my opinions were completely ignored."
Bitterness filled her voice.
"Then that day came. A BX-0 Dungeon. Even parties made entirely of A-ranks would become nervous there. Our party was made up of the guild's elite members, and our goal was to break through to the highest level of the dungeon."
She paused and took another sip of fish cake broth.
"The dungeon raid went fairly smoothly at first. But near the end, we encountered a mid-boss far stronger than expected. Our entire combat line collapsed almost instantly. That young main tank ran away without even looking back because he wanted to save himself."
Anger appeared in Han Young-mi's eyes.
"Then the raid leader shouted at me, 'Block it, Ms. Han! You're the only one left!' There had been no discussion beforehand and no promise of support. I had only been treated as a backup, and suddenly they dumped all the responsibility on me."
She laughed bitterly.
"It was ridiculous... but I still stood my ground. There were still a mage and a healer behind me who hadn't escaped yet. All I could think was that if I fell there, everyone would die."
She gritted her teeth.
The desperate battle from that day seemed to appear clearly before her eyes.
"I endured with everything I had. I took attack after attack from countless monsters with my own body. It felt like my legs and back were breaking apart, but I held on through sheer willpower. Because of that, the two people behind me managed to escape safely."
Her voice began trembling again.
"But you know what? The rescue team never came. Maybe the ones who escaped forgot about me. Maybe they abandoned me. Maybe they were too busy saving themselves to organize a rescue. In the end, I collapsed on the dungeon floor... and died alone in the blood and mud. And now I've ended up like this."
Hot tears streamed down Han Young-mi's face again.
This time, they were filled with resentment and betrayal.
"Do you know what was truly painful after I died? Nobody remembers that moment when I held the line. The two people I saved returned alive, but my name doesn't appear anywhere in the dungeon clear records. I was thrown away like some disposable tool."
She clenched her fist.
"People say a tiger leaves its skin behind when it dies, don't they? I spent my whole life fighting while protecting my honor as a Hunter, and in the end, I die without even leaving my name behind? Why? I lasted much longer than that young A-rank tank! I was the real tank! Why does nobody recognize that? Why?!"
Han Young-mi's scream echoed throughout the food cart.
She had spent decades as both a hardworking woman and a dedicated tank, silently enduring everything.
Now, her entire life felt denied.
Her sacrifice during a critical operation had never been recorded.
Her name had been forgotten almost immediately.
The day after her death, the Yongho Guild announced the successful breakthrough of the highest level of the BX-0 Dungeon.
The A-rank tank who had run away and the raid leader were praised like heroes.
"I see...."
Hong Man-gi had listened silently.
His fists clenched as anger and sadness rose inside him.
Unrecorded sacrifice.
A forgotten name.
Being forced into invisibility.
As someone who had once been a lowest-rank Hunter himself, he understood very well how deeply that could destroy a person's sense of worth.
Han Young-mi's lingering regret was clear.
She wanted her sacrifice and her name to be remembered.
But how could Hong Man-gi make the world remember someone who had already died?
He fell into deep thought.
Then he quietly stood and walked toward the cooking counter.
He looked at Lee Yu-han.
"Yu-han."
"Yes, Hunter Hong Man-gi."
"Make another serving of Mala Chicken Skewer Tteokbokki. This time, make it special. Make it as hot and intense as you can, like that person's final battle."
Hong Man-gi thought that perhaps the way to ease Han Young-mi's anger and resentment was to let her feel that burning fighting spirit one more time.
Her name had not been recorded.
But at least here, in this food cart, her final battle could be remembered and comforted through one dish.
Lee Yu-han nodded with a serious expression.
He could not see the spirit, so he knew nothing about Han Young-mi's story.
But he could feel something from Hong Man-gi's tone.
'He needs something powerful.'
Lee Yu-han lit the charcoal again and generously coated the chicken skewers with mala seasoning.
His eyes were completely different from before.
He was no longer simply trying to make something delicious.
It seemed as though he was sincerely trying to soothe the deep wounds of a soul.
Even though he had no idea what kind of spirit was there or what story she had told Hong Man-gi, Lee Yu-han gave everything he had to the cooking.
The spicy mala aroma and hot charcoal smell began filling the food cart again.
It was like a fragrance honoring the final fighting spirit of a female tank who had burned fiercely until the end.
* * *
[Sizzle]
The heavily seasoned mala chicken skewers cooked over the glowing red charcoal.
Their sharp and spicy smell mixed with the charcoal aroma and filled the food cart.
Lee Yu-han focused completely on the chicken skewers.
Right now, he was preparing the final meal of a soul filled with resentment.
He moved more carefully and sincerely than ever before, as if trying to place someone's injustice, anger, and desperate fighting spirit into each skewer.
Of course, he still did not know which spirit had appeared or what she had told Hong Man-gi.
Still, he cooked with everything he had.
Beside him, Hong Man-gi stirred the bubbling pot of tteokbokki.
Spicy-sweet soupy tteokbokki.
It was an ordinary food and one of the foundations of a street food cart.
It had probably filled the stomachs of countless hungry people.
But today, Hong Man-gi seemed to be placing a special meaning inside that ordinary dish.
