When I lifted my head while wiping away the beads of sweat, customers were already leaving one by one. The glasses and ttukbaegi were emptied, and the earlier commotion had quieted down like it was a lie. However, only one person remained seated.
Theorde. He, who always stood up first after finishing his meal, showed no signs of leaving today.
Finally, when all the customers had left and Happy’s barking could be heard from outside, he slowly rose from his seat.
“Ah, are you leaving now?”
When I carefully spoke to him, Theorde lowered his gaze for a moment before nodding. Then, looking me over once, he slightly raised the corners of his mouth.
“It’ll be quiet for a while.”
A short statement. But it meant that once the big subjugation started, the adventurers would leave and the inn would have some respite for a while.
“…”
“You’ll be able to rest a little.”
That single line, mixed with laughter, strangely tugged at my heart. I couldn’t tell if it was regret at my big spender and cash cow Theorde leaving, or if it was because the tension had finally released.
As he turned to leave, I unknowingly raised my voice urgently.
“Wh-when are you leaving?”
Theorde stopped for a moment. In the dimly lit interior where the lantern flickered uncertainly, his blue eyes as he turned around glowed faintly, as if they held the moonlight from outside.
“I’ll stop by tomorrow before I go.”
“Tomorrow when?”
I seemed to have asked too urgently, and the back of my neck heated up instantly. However, he blinked as if nothing was wrong, then left a brief answer.
“I’ll come at lunch.”
That was all. He didn’t leave any other words.
I bowed my head for no reason as I saw him off. The door closed, and the shadow cast by the lantern stretched long. His back disappearing into the night sky remained in my vision for a long time.
***
The next day, I woke up before dawn.
Following the path where darkness had not yet lifted, I went down to the village and bought something with tears in my eyes.
A magic item.
…That sounds too grand—it was actually a simple cold-preservation pouch. An essential item for travelers that slows the spoilage of ingredients when stored inside. Like a small freezer, I guess. But it cost a whopping 5 Silver.
Of course, it wasn’t for me—it was a gift for Theorde.
Wasn’t it a waste? It was incredibly wasteful.
But thinking of it as an investment in the future made it bearable.
Worried I might lose it, I held it tightly to my chest as I returned. Then I immediately went into the kitchen to simmer the broth and portioned it out, carefully packing each one. The broth in the pouches quickly froze solid, becoming like a kind of meal kit. It became the inn’s secret weapon—just boil it and the gukbap would be complete.
One pot emptied, and as a new pot began to boil, customers started pouring in.
Ding-a-ling—
“Welcome.”
Theorde, who came in as usual, was dressed rather simply today. His preparations to leave were evident. I waited for the moment when he finished his meal and was about to stand up, then hurriedly held out a few pouches.
“…?”
“Please take these. They’re a gift!”
Theorde received the pouches with a puzzled look. I had no choice but to hastily add more words.
“It’s frozen broth—later when you’re eating, you can just boil it as is. You said it gives you energy, so I prepared it.”
After getting the words out, my face heated up for no reason. I scratched my cheek with my fingertips and avoided his gaze, but Theorde’s sculpted face was frozen as he stared straight at me. My shoulders flinched at that gaze. But soon, I stammered and added,
“You always come here to eat, so I thought you might miss it if you couldn’t have it.”
A brief silence flowed.
And a few seconds later, a low answer fell.
“…I’ll enjoy it.”
I smiled brightly and nodded.
“Have a safe trip!”
“…”
Theorde didn’t continue speaking right away. Instead, gripping the pouches tightly, he gave a very faint eye smile.
A face more dazzling than moonlight wearing even a smile… I just froze in a daze and blinked.
“Whoa.”
“Insane…”
Sure enough, exclamations leaked out from around us.
“…”
Theorde took a brief moment to catch his breath, then replied quietly.
“Alright.”
“Yes?”
“I’ll be back.”
With those words, Theorde turned around.
I watched his retreating figure for a while, then muttered toward the empty air.
“…I feel kind of regretful.”
I was surprised at myself for saying it out loud.
No, regretful? Why would I be?
Ah. Is it because my regular cash cow is leaving?
Well, yeah. It’s natural to feel regretful when a face you saw every day disappears.
#03. Daily Life at the Inn on the Boundary
Somehow they found out that I’d prepared meal kits for Theorde, and the inn, which I thought would be quiet for a while, was bustling.
Adventurers leaving for subjugations flocked in, and I didn’t miss that opportunity. To customers who had magic pouches, I sold the meal kits as is, and to those without pouches, I put frozen gukbap in pouches I’d bought myself and handed them over as package products.
The unit price? Of course I doubled the profit margin.
From the customers’ perspective, they were grateful saying “how convenient,” and I just put on a good-natured face.
Thanks to that, the days flew by again without a moment to breathe. But the boom was brief—after a few days passed, the inn quieted down as if nothing had happened.
I took advantage of the rare peaceful moment to pack the remaining broth in magic pouches and headed outside.
The village I entered after passing through the desertified land was unchanged.
Laundry fluttered in the wind between narrow stone paths, and the occasionally wafting smell of baking bread spread through the air. As the sunset glow slowly flowed down across the rooftops, children’s laughter sometimes lingered around the alley entrance.
Will war really break out when it’s this peaceful? It was quiet enough to make me think that.
It felt as if the chaos of the world and the smell of war remained only somewhere far away, beyond that hill.
“Sion! You’ve lost half your face!”
When I opened the door to the vegetable shop, the ahjussi greeted me with his plump hands on his hips. The fishy smell of soil tickled my nose from between the leafy vegetables and piled vegetable heaps.
“Don’t even mention it. I almost died from being so busy.”
When I complained with a tearful face and held out the magic pouch, the ahjussi’s eyes widened. Then, when he tried to just take out the contents and I shook my head and pressed it into his hand, the ahjussi clicked his tongue.
“No way, you’re giving me this precious thing too?”
“It’s fine. I got it as a tip.”
When I pretended to be nonchalant and joked around, the ahjussi looked a bit apologetic but soon smiled broadly and pressed a few bundles of vegetables into my hands.
After that, I stopped by the fruit shop, restaurant, and butcher shop in order. Everyone looked at my haggard state and repeatedly pressed a bag of fruit or a chunk of meat into my hands along with nagging that was half worry, half laughter.
In the end, both my hands were full of gifts so abundant they were heavy.
I stopped by Gilbert’s inn last, but Gilbert himself was nowhere to be seen. I pointlessly lingered in front of the empty counter before heading outside.
Then a street stall across the street caught my eye, and I unconsciously moved my feet toward it.
“Welcome! These are freshly arrived magic circles. Why don’t you take a look?”
“Magic… circles?”
My eyes naturally widened. I mean, even if this is a fantasy world, selling magic circles on the street?
With half doubt and half curiosity, I looked down to see geometric shapes neatly spread out on cloth. An unfamiliar yet mysterious light subtly rippled, capturing my attention, when the stall owner casually spoke to me.
“By any chance, are you the owner of the famous Inn on the Boundary?”
“You know me?”
“Of course I do. All the adventurers stop by there, don’t they? When it comes to ‘the Inn on the Boundary,’ there’s no one who doesn’t know about it these days.”
I knew it was lip service, but praise was never a bad thing. When I smiled pleasantly, the stall owner immediately started sweet-talking again as if he’d been waiting.
“I heard your cooking skills are art. Seeing you in person, indeed, hmm, you look like someone who’d do good business.”
Rolling his tongue and flattering—the classic salesman approach.
Perhaps that’s why. My guard slowly began to drop.
The stall owner smiled smoothly as if to slip through the gaps in my expression.
“But you know, when business is that good, doesn’t it actually keep you up at night? That’s no ordinary land you’re on. It’s right on the Boundary, isn’t it? What if monsters attack because of the commotion?”
When my expression hardened at the memory of the bloodstains in front of the inn, the stall owner, not missing a beat, pointed at one of the shapes and said,
“Just in case, you should get at least one of these security magic circles.”
“A security magic circle?”
“If someone with bad intentions crosses the threshold, flames will blaze up. It burns away any intruders completely.”
“…What if the inn burns down with them?”
“Oh, come on! How smart do you think magic circles are? They don’t burn the building—they just select and roast only the intruders. It’s a custom crematorium.”
Though it was a brutal statement, I found myself nodding unknowingly at that absurd confidence.
“…R-really?”
“Of course! I’ve even conducted experiments myself!”
I don’t know what kind of experiments.
However, when his hand swept through the air, a small flame bloomed and disappeared from the magic circle. Even the smoke looked convincing, so I unconsciously pulled out my wallet as if enchanted.
The price was a whopping 1 Gold.
It was money too precious even after selling a thousand bowls of gukbap. My fingertips trembled, making the sound of coins clinking.
But already half-enchanted, phrases like ‘I should still prepare,’ ‘Having it is better than not,’ and ‘What if monsters attack?’ kept popping up in my head one after another.
“Prevention is survival, after all…”
Convincing myself like that, I held out 1 Gold with trembling hands.
