Chapter 66

Chapter 66

Belloc's voice rumbled like an earthquake.

Every time he spoke, Hong Man-gi and Lee Yu-han had to cover their ears.

His volume felt strong enough to rupture their eardrums.

For a moment, even the eyes of the mounted monster heads on the walls seemed to shake.

Lee Yu-han desperately tried to calm his trembling legs under the overwhelming pressure of Belloc's presence.

"Kukukuk...."

Belloc cleaned the final scraps of meat from the bone with his teeth and casually tossed the huge bone onto the floor.

[Clatter!]

He wiped his greasy hands against his leather clothes and stood.

He was easily over two meters tall.

His entire body was covered in muscles that looked ready to burst.

"So, have you made up your minds?"

Belloc approached Hong Man-gi until he was standing directly in front of him.

His hot breath carried the smell of blood.

Hong Man-gi silently nodded.

A greedy smile spread across Belloc's face.

He reached behind himself and picked up a massive butcher's knife hanging on the wall.

"Pass the trial I give you, and I'll hand over what you want. I heard you're looking for something."

Apparently the Crow had already told him why Hong Man-gi and Lee Yu-han were here.

"Whether it's the Flame Lizard's Tear, the Little Giant's Breath, or something else. Anything. But... can you really do it? Keh keh."

He lightly lifted Hong Man-gi's chin with the tip of the blade.

Cold steel touched his skin.

Hong Man-gi swallowed dryly.

Belloc's presence carried a primal fear and pressure unlike any monster or Hunter he had faced before.

"If the food you make fails to satisfy me...."

Belloc paused.

Then he continued.

"Your fresh flesh and bones will become my breakfast tomorrow."

Madness flashed through Belloc's eyes.

At the same moment, a strange noise came from a massive iron cage in one corner of the hideout.

[Crash! Grrrrrr!]

Belloc looked toward it and grinned.

"There. Look. That's today's test ingredient."

He approached the cage and released the lock.

A gigantic boar covered in blazing red flames charged out in madness.

Its eyes burned with hatred.

Molten saliva dripped from its sharp tusks.

It was known as a Hellfire Boar.

A vicious monster that stood among the top predators even in A-rank dungeons.

Belloc did not even blink.

As the boar charged toward him, he casually swung his enormous butcher's knife.

[Slash!]

One strike.

The Hellfire Boar did not even manage to scream.

Its head was cleanly severed, and the giant monster collapsed.

The display of strength was overwhelming.

Belloc kicked the still-steaming corpse forward until it rolled in front of Hong Man-gi.

"There. That's today's ingredient. As you can see, it's extremely fresh. Use it to create the finest dish and make my tongue dance. Your time limit is until I finish this entire barrel of alcohol."

He lifted a huge barrel beside him.

Hong Man-gi looked down at the boar's body.

Wild boar was already one of the worst meats to prepare.

Its flesh was famously tough, with a strong gamey smell that seemed soaked all the way into the bones.

And this was not an ordinary wild boar.

It was a Hellfire Boar.

'He wants me to cook this?'

Hong Man-gi felt lost for a moment.

Then he gathered himself and summoned Poming.

[Pop.]

Poming appeared in a small flash of light.

But her usual energetic expression was nowhere to be seen.

The instant she appeared inside the terrifying hideout, she began trembling.

"Ch... Chef... wh... where are we? This place feels really bad...."

Poming hid behind Hong Man-gi's collar in fear.

Then she noticed the corpse of the Hellfire Boar lying on the floor.

"Uh... uhh... th... that's?! A Hellfire Boar?! Aaaah! Chef! You're not seriously going to cook that, right?! That's not food! It's basically a rock! It smells horrible tooooo!!"

Poming shook even harder.

Even an SSS-rank cooking spirit wanted nothing to do with the terrible ingredient.

The situation looked hopeless.

Hong Man-gi, however, had no intention of giving up.

He gently picked up the trembling Poming and whispered.

"Poming, it's okay. I'm here. We can do this. We'll use the Full Moon Restaurant style and turn the worst ingredient into the best dish."

Hearing Hong Man-gi's calm and dependable voice, Poming gradually settled down.

She closed her eyes and thought deeply.

Soon, her eyes suddenly opened.

"Hmm... if you insist... there might be one way. It's bold and maybe a little dangerous, though."

Poming leaned toward Hong Man-gi's ear and whispered an almost miraculous idea for turning the worst possible ingredient into an incredible dish.

It combined the traditional wisdom inherited from Baek Jong-su with Poming's wildly creative ideas.

A final secret technique only the Full Moon Restaurant could attempt.

Hong Man-gi's eyes began to shine as he listened.

A confident smile appeared on his face.

'Whole-roasted Hellfire Boar aged with doenjang and herbs, served with garlic purée....'

Hong Man-gi closed his eyes and imagined the entire cooking process.

The fermented enzymes of doenjang, Korean fermented soybean paste, would soften the tough boar meat while removing its gamey smell.

The delicate fragrance of the special dungeon herb, Poison Heart Herb, would elevate the meat's flavor.

Then the meat would be cooked at low temperature for a long time until it became unbelievably tender.

There were no statistics to guarantee success.

But theoretically, it was perfect.

'Good. We'll do it.'

Hong Man-gi looked at Belloc.

"Before I start cooking, I need several ingredients. Do you have basic seasonings here, things like doenjang, garlic, and ginger?"

Belloc stared at him as though he had said something ridiculous.

Then he exploded into laughter.

"Kahahaha! And what if I don't? You're cooking with your life on the line, are you planning to go shopping? You're amusing!"

Belloc jerked his chin toward a huge shelf in the corner of the hideout.

All kinds of spices, mysterious liquids inside glass bottles, and dried herbs were scattered across it.

It looked like the storage room of a witch.

"There's nothing my pantry doesn't have. Far more than you can imagine. Doenjang, peppers freshly picked from hell, whatever you want. Find it yourself."

His eyes narrowed.

"But don't blame your ingredients if you fail. If the result is pathetic, I'll start by pulling out your tongue and tasting that."

Ignoring Belloc's deadly warning, Hong Man-gi and Lee Yu-han headed toward the pantry.

Fortunately, they found well-aged doenjang inside a dusty jar.

Fresh garlic and ginger were stored in a wooden box.

"Yu-han, light the furnace first. Use that charcoal. I'll control the heat later, so make it as strong as possible for now."

"Y... yes! Understood!"

Lee Yu-han hurried toward the furnace.

The furnace opened its black mouth like a starving beast.

Meanwhile, Hong Man-gi picked up the enormous butcher's knife Belloc had tossed toward him.

He stood before the Hellfire Boar's corpse and took a slow breath.

The body still gave off faint heat and the smell of sulfur.

[Slice. Slice. Slice.]

Hong Man-gi's knife began moving.

His anatomical knowledge of monsters, gained through countless dungeon battles, combined with the precise deboning technique inherited from Baek Jong-su.

It looked almost like a ritual.

He cut cleanly through skin as hard as steel.

The blade slid along the tough muscle membranes.

Bone and flesh separated perfectly.

"Hooh...?"

Belloc's eyes narrowed as he drank from his barrel.

He had thought Hong Man-gi was a rookie.

But the man's knife technique was anything but ordinary.

There was no wasted movement.

Every cut targeted the exact necessary point.

This was not simply a chef's knife work.

It was the knife work of an experienced hunter.

Hong Man-gi selected the section that looked most tender and removed the loin in one whole piece.

Then he placed doenjang, minced garlic, and ginger into a mortar and began pounding them together.

Finally, he took several leaves of Poison Heart Herb from his inventory and crushed them into the mixture.

The herb's gentle, clean fragrance softened the deep fermented smell of the doenjang and the sharp aroma of garlic.

A strange harmony formed between them.

Hong Man-gi spread the finished seasoning over the thick loin.

He covered every surface carefully, almost as if dressing the meat in armor.

"Yu-han! Bring me some of those leaves!"

Hong Man-gi pointed toward the enormous leaves of a plant-type monster growing in a corner of the hideout.

Lee Yu-han hurriedly tore several free and brought them over.

Hong Man-gi wrapped the seasoned meat in several layers of leaves.

'Haa... next....'

He approached the roaring furnace Lee Yu-han had prepared.

Hong Man-gi carefully pushed the wrapped meat toward the edge of the furnace.

Then he covered the area with soil and ash, creating a perfect low-temperature cooking environment.

Belloc laughed.

"Keh keh. I'll admit you're working hard... but do you really think that method can satisfy my tongue?"

Hong Man-gi ignored him.

Every bit of his concentration was fixed on the meat inside the furnace.

Cooking it required patience.

While they waited, Hong Man-gi prepared the next part without wasting a second.

Together with Lee Yu-han, he peeled whole garlic cloves and simmered them in milk.

[Bubble, bubble.]

As the milk heated, the garlic slowly softened.

A rich, sweet aroma began pushing away the bloody smell filling the hideout.

"You're taking too long. Will you actually finish before I empty my alcohol?"

Belloc had already drunk half the barrel.

His irritated voice pushed them to hurry.

His red eyes still watched every movement Hong Man-gi made.

Finally,

the moment Belloc emptied the last of the alcohol into his throat and slammed the huge barrel onto the floor,

Hong Man-gi moved quickly.

"It's ready."

He carefully cleared away the soil and ash around the furnace.

The moment he pulled out the blackened bundle of leaves,

an unbelievable fragrance exploded through the hideout.

Belloc's nostrils flared.

His eyes opened wide.

"Th... this smell?!"

The horrible gamey smell of the boar had vanished completely.

Instead, the deep fermented fragrance of doenjang, the clean herbal aroma of Poison Heart Herb, and the rich scent of slowly roasted meat blended together.

Belloc's appetite was instantly awakened.

Hong Man-gi peeled away the leaves one by one.

At last, a massive steaming piece of meat appeared.

The surface had caramelized into a deep, appetizing brown.

Inside, it remained perfectly reddish and moist.

Hong Man-gi placed the roasted meat onto a cutting board and began slicing.

The instant the blade entered, the meat separated with shocking softness.

Clear juices flowed from the cut surface.

He arranged thick slices in the center of a plate.

Beside them, he spread the pure white garlic purée in a smooth wave.

The dark reddish meat against the white purée created a striking contrast.

Simple.

Yet perfect.

"It's finished. This is it."