Chapter 22. The First Hero (16)
[Wild Pig Stew has been completed!]
[After eating Wild Pig Stew, all stats will increase by 20% for one day!]
[You have advanced from Low-Grade Cook (C) to Intermediate Cook (B)!]
When Kim Seongchan had made Wild Pig Soup using the cauldron meant for low-grade monsters, he had become a Low-Grade Cook.
Now, after completing Wild Pig Stew in a cauldron meant for intermediate-grade monsters, he had become an Intermediate Cook.
When people saw the size of a larger cauldron, they often made the mistake of increasing the fire too much and ruining the food.
That was why having an experienced Intermediate Cook around made it much easier to reach the same rank.
Without someone to teach you, it wasn't unusual to struggle for years before finally becoming an Intermediate Cook.
[It really is exactly the same.]
After finishing its role, If came out from beneath the cauldron.
Seongchan replaced it with top-grade Terk firewood.
Once Wild Pig Stew was completed, its taste no longer changed.
But it wouldn't taste as good once it became cold, so he used the finest Terk firewood to keep the broth nice and hot.
Good job.
If let out a happy sound and settled on Seongchan's shoulder.
Members of the Rice Ball Guild were serving the food in exchange for payment.
They had already eaten their fill of Wild Pig Stew and were now helping out.
"The Guild Master wants to eat it! Why are you telling him to come all the way out here?"
Seongchan turned toward the sudden commotion.
Lee Na-ye was blocking a guild member who was trying to carry a bowl of soup into the Rice Ball Guild House.
"You bastard! How dare you talk like that to the Vice Guild Master?!"
Kang Tae-sik's anger immediately turned toward the guild member.
The man completely ignored Kang Tae-sik and tried to walk past Na-ye, only for her to grab his shoulder.
"Let go of me!"
The guild member twisted his body, trying to shake off her hand, but his body didn't budge.
A startled expression appeared on his face.
There's no way an ordinary hero can break free from Na-ye's strength.
Seongchan walked toward the rude guild member.
The man noticed him and gave him a look that clearly said, Don't interfere. Just let me go.
"If it's for the Guild Master, you should've said so."
The guild member's expression immediately changed when he heard what sounded like cooperation from Seongchan.
As expected. He can tell I'm a guild member carrying out an important task for the Guild Master.
The man confidently made his demand.
"Good. At least you understand. Hurry up and make Vice Guild Master Lee Na-ye move aside."
Seongchan blinked.
Na-ye was still the Vice Guild Master, yet an ordinary guild member was speaking to her like that.
The man seemed to think he had borrowed the Guild Master's authority and was acting as though he himself were the Guild Master.
Please let it go just this once.
I think you've already let too much go.
Na-ye looked at him as though asking for understanding.
Just how much was she planning to embrace and forgive?
Seongchan couldn't even guess how large that shield of hers was.
"One platinum."
"What did you just say?"
"Give me one platinum and I'll do it."
One hundred silver was one gold.
One thousand gold was one platinum.
A full set of magical armor normally worn by knights cost around one platinum.
A high-grade recovery potion that increased recovery by 300% for one hour also cost one platinum.
It was an absurd price.
"A perfectly reasonable price!"
Kosdal agreed.
"Uh... reasonable?"
"What? Do you have a problem with it?"
"It's too expensive. Lower it a little."
The guild member who had spoken so rudely to Na-ye became visibly timid in front of Kosdal and tried to negotiate.
The sight irritated Seongchan.
He hardened his expression and held out his hand.
"Special discount. Five hundred gold."
Seongchan spoke as if he were being extremely generous.
At the same time, he deliberately tried to meet the man's eyes whenever the guild member attempted to look away.
He even frowned slightly and gave him what he thought was a trustworthy smile.
The guild member still seemed unhappy with five hundred gold.
Apparently, Seongchan needed to give him an even more shocking discount.
"One hundred gold. I won't go any lower."
"F-Fifty! Fifty gold!"
"One hundred."
"Eighty! Let's make it eighty gold!"
Seongchan let out a deep sigh.
He had already dropped the price dramatically from one platinum to five hundred gold, then again from five hundred to one hundred.
And this guy still wanted another discount.
Seongchan swept his hair back and stared at him.
He saw the man's throat move as he swallowed.
His entire body had been tense from the moment their eyes met.
"Eighty-five gold."
"Here."
The guild member quickly paid and left.
After pocketing the eighty-five gold, Seongchan rubbed his chin.
"Was my trustworthy face too much for him?"
"Buying something sold for one silver and reselling it for eighty-five gold... That's not the face of trust. That's the face of greed."
"You said one platinum was reasonable."
"Hold out your hand."
Seongchan had only put on a bit of pressure because he disliked the guild member's attitude toward Na-ye.
Now Kosdal was telling him to hold out his hand.
Is he paying me for the Wild Pig Soup he ate?
Seongchan held out his palm.
There's no way he'll actually give me much.
But Kosdal really did hand him money.
Not one silver.
One platinum.
"That's how much value it has. His Majesty recognized its potential and granted you his favor. And after thinking about everything you've done so far, I believe you deserve this."
Considering how many people Seongchan had already saved with Wild Pig Soup and how many more he would save in the future, its discovery was worth far more than one platinum.
Even one hundred platinum wouldn't be an unreasonable valuation.
Kosdal looked proud of his own words.
Then I guess I'll take it.
However, Kosdal had never actually intended to give away one platinum.
He had only placed it in Seongchan's hand because physically showing him the coin would make his point more convincing.
Surely no one would seriously think they could keep the platinum.
Pleased with his explanation, Kosdal reached out to take the coin back.
"Now that you've heard the explanation, give me back the platinum."
Seongchan immediately stuffed it into his high-grade subspace pouch.
"Thank you for the Wild Pig Stew pass."
"You're not seriously planning to keep that, are you? You don't actually think I gave it to you, do you?"
"If you can look at my trustworthy face and still say that, I'm disappointed."
One step.
Two steps.
Even though Kosdal saw Seongchan's face every day, he still wasn't used to it.
He unconsciously stepped back twice.
The moment he realized what he'd done, he glared at Seongchan.
"Give me back the platinum."
"Are you really going to go back on your word after saying it was a reasonable price?"
"Isn't one platinum a little much for something you sold for one silver?"
"That's why I called it a Wild Pig Stew pass."
"I want a refund."
"One silver."
"Are you messing with me?!"
Kosdal had looked so cool when he handed over the platinum, yet now he was desperately demanding it back.
Seongchan took the platinum out of his high-grade subspace pouch and returned it.
He was actually glad that Kosdal valued Wild Pig Stew so highly.
He just hadn't liked the smug expression on the man's face, so he'd decided to tease him a little.
"Why are you giving me one silver?! One platinum!"
At first glance, a silver coin and a platinum coin could look similar.
But if someone paid even a little attention, the difference was obvious.
"You didn't even look. Do you really trust my face that little?"
"Th-That..."
Kosdal had apparently been so certain Seongchan would hand him one silver that he'd called the platinum coin silver without even checking.
Embarrassed, he cleared his throat.
Then a shout came from the Rice Ball Guild House.
"You charged eighty-five gold for Wild Pig Stew?!"
The Guild House became noisy.
It didn't take long before the entire building was in an uproar.
Heavy footsteps rang out.
Soon, the Guild Master emerged with several Rice Ball Guild members behind him.
His expression was openly displeased.
"Explain why something that costs one silver suddenly became eighty-five gold. Unless you can explain what crime we've committed to deserve such outrageous profiteering, you won't be able to stay comfortably in the Terk Kingdom."
"It's one silver if you eat it here. I charged eighty-five gold because it was delivery."
"You think that makes any sense?!"
"Why wouldn't it? He bought it, didn't he?"
Seongchan looked at the guild member standing behind Park Seokdu.
Overwhelmed by Seongchan's face, the man avoided his gaze.
Park Seokdu took one step forward.
Seongchan matched him with one step of his own.
Oh. He's holding his ground.
Seongchan couldn't tell whether Park Seokdu was enduring it through sheer stubbornness or whether his rage had reached the point where he'd lost all fear.
Either way, he continued looking Seongchan directly in the eyes.
"This is the Terk Kingdom, and I'm the Guild Master of the Rice Ball Guild."
"That's right."
Seongchan waited.
If Park Seokdu was going so far as to bring up his guild and his position, he clearly intended to use them as some kind of trump card.
"Whose permission did you get to cook here?"
"The Vice Guild Master gave me permission."
"I gave him permission. Seokdu, that's enough. Seongchan, you've finished business for today anyway, so please find somewhere to stay and call me later."
Na-ye stepped forward to mediate.
Every member of the Rice Ball Guild was watching.
Park Seokdu tried to shove Na-ye aside, then stopped.
Right. Noona is strong.
Winning against her through strength was impossible.
Because she usually spoke gently and quietly, he'd forgotten.
Park Seokdu subtly moved sideways and walked around her instead.
"Na-ye noona, just stay out of it. This is Guild Master business."
"You should probably listen to Na-ye."
Seongchan, who had been watching quietly, finally spoke.
He could see dissatisfaction on the faces of many guild members.
Especially when you think about how the guild members who've finally been able to eat proper food are going to react.
Those guild members had escaped food discrimination because of Seongchan.
And Na-ye was the one who had brought Seongchan here.
Na-ye wanted to end things peacefully, but Park Seokdu refused to let it go.
From the perspective of the discriminated guild members, it could easily look as though Park Seokdu intended to continue treating them differently when it came to food.
If Na-ye weren't standing there, more than one of them looked ready to ignore his position as Guild Master and throw a punch.
Na-ye isn't doing this because she's reading the mood. She's genuinely panicking and trying to find some way to calm everything down.
Her uncertainty was obvious.
It was clear she was desperately thinking of how to stop the situation from getting worse.
Na-ye could be forgiven for that.
Park Seokdu couldn't.
Consumed by his anger, he couldn't see what was happening around him at all.
He'd notice the atmosphere if he looked around even a little.
It couldn't be something only Seongchan had noticed.
Yet Park Seokdu didn't calm down.
Instead, his anger grew.
"You think I can't tell this isn't Wild Pig meat?! Na-ye noona brought a fraud here!"
"Seokdu! Seongchan, you know he's just saying nonsense because he doesn't understand anything, right? Hey! Get inside right now!"
Na-ye grabbed Park Seokdu and dragged him away.
He couldn't overcome her strength and was pulled along helplessly.
"Hey! Are you all just going to stand there and watch?!"
Only then did the guild members who had been watching step in and block Na-ye.
Park Seokdu managed to escape her grip.
This is bad. If she throws off even the guild members holding both her arms, Seokdu will get even angrier. Then the guild members won't be able to hold back anymore and a fight will start.
Na-ye glanced around nervously.
Then she put her palms together and bowed her head toward Seongchan.
Could you please let it go just once for my sake?
Your face is exactly why I can't let it go.
It would have been better if Na-ye had simply dragged Park Seokdu into the Guild Master's office.
But she couldn't bring herself to shake off the guild members holding her.
She was afraid the situation would worsen.
Because of that, she could no longer stop Park Seokdu.
Seongchan looked at the man who was lying and asked,
"You said this isn't Wild Pig meat. Can you take responsibility for those words?"
"Everyone else might be fooled, but I won't be."
"Seokdu, I watched him catch it and butcher it myself! Apologize right now!"
"You were fooled too, noona. Just because he butchered a Wild Pig doesn't mean he used its meat. He could've put black dye on some other meat!"
Na-ye looked genuinely shocked by Park Seokdu's incredible theory.
Her mouth opened, but no words came out.
It was the reaction of someone who didn't even know where to begin correcting what they'd just heard.
The name of a dish is decided by the cook.
A cook could see the name and effects of a completed dish.
However, the dish's title itself was decided by the cook.
So even if the system window said [Wild Pig Stew], it did not necessarily prove that Wild Pig meat had actually been used.
"Na-ye, just watch."
Seongchan was curious to see how far Park Seokdu would take his lie.
Surely Park Seokdu knew what Wild Pig meat was like.
You couldn't imitate its unique texture simply by coloring other meat black.
Its springy chewiness, its bite, and its distinctive smell were impossible to reproduce perfectly.
"When the meat in your subspace storage runs out, cook using the Wild Pigs we bring. If you do that, I'll admit it."
"That's really all it'll take?"
"Yes."
"Then I can keep selling here until then, right?"
"Do whatever you want. Once I confirm all the meat is gone, I'll bring back Wild Pigs we've hunted ourselves."
Having said everything he wanted to say, Park Seokdu turned around and left with the guild members.
"I'm sorry. This is my fault."
"How much are you planning to keep carrying?"
"What? What do you mean?"
"Everything you were worried about happened."
Seongchan's voice was sharp.
Na-ye frowned slightly at that sharpness.
She was clearly trying to smooth things over again.
She needs to understand that she can't carry everyone forever.
He couldn't allow her to embrace even the things that were clearly wrong.
That was why Seongchan deliberately spoke harshly.
At the very least, I need to give her a chance to change on her own.
If she changed herself, even Silnyang would find it easier to approach her.
