***
When I opened my eyes, my stomach felt heavy. There was some kind of rock placed on it, so I thought I was receiving some punishment like in Greek and Roman mythology, you know?
Out of breath, I barely lifted my eyelids to find Damian sleeping on top of me.
“You’re awake.”
“…”
He’s definitely a conscienceless bastard. Sleeping on top of someone who probably weighs less than half of you?! At least Happy was smaller than me!
I wanted to scream at him to get lost right now and crumple up his face, but my survival instinct made me smile brightly. Then Damian flinched and shook his head.
He probably thinks I seduced him again.
This is why you shouldn’t take in black-haired beasts, right? Only having ungrateful thoughts. As I was inwardly cursing my past self, I saw what Damian was holding and blanked out.
“…What’s that?”
“When I opened my eyes at a strange presence, it appeared from thin air.”
“Wh-what did?”
“This.”
In Damian’s hand was a piece of black cloth.
No, more precisely, it was a hood.
But… that hood appeared from thin air?
…Wait.
“…!”
That’s it.
MSG, and chili peppers.
Just like when those suddenly appeared, this time a hood popped out.
Realization struck my head like lightning. At the same time, as I sat up, Damian stepped aside very naturally as if he’d anticipated that reaction. Ignoring him, I immediately reached out for the hood.
“…Why on earth?”
My voice trembled involuntarily as I continued speaking.
Right. Why on earth?
Could it be because of what I muttered before falling asleep yesterday—’I need a hood or something to cover those damn horns…’?
“No, that doesn’t make sense.”
But the problem is, it does make sense.
It’s not like I spent my time peacefully just making gukbap. In the first place, I suddenly transmigrated here, and on the first day, MSG appeared with a ‘ta-da’ in the inn that had nothing, and then it was chili peppers.
Honestly, isn’t it creepy? The day after I muttered “I wish I had chili peppers…,” chili peppers really appeared. And not just any, but plump green peppers and chili powder with a glossy shine.
Actually, by that point, thinking there was some strange power either in this inn or in me, the next day I begged in the same tone with the same sentence structure.
‘Please let me go back.’
‘Please, just let me return to my original world.’
I repeated those words for days. Of course, I forgot for a bit in between because the inn business got busy. But could I really forget something like this?
The result?
I didn’t go back.
I just settled down here as an inn owner selling gukbap. At this rate, I’ll be registered on a map as a famous gukbap restaurant.
So I eventually concluded it was a coincidence, but now it’s different.
Once is suspicious but can be overlooked.
Twice is… unpleasant but there’s nothing I can do, so I forced myself to move on. But three times?
Three times means I have to acknowledge it now. Whether I want to or not, something is happening.
As I stared blankly down at the hood in my hand, I didn’t even realize Damian had come close.
“Human, what’s wrong?”
“…”
“Human.”
“…!”
Geez!
Because Damian suddenly brought his face right up to mine, my entire view was filled with his face. It was like a nightmare magnified in 4K resolution.
“Ugh… Why are you putting your face like that…”
As I grumbled while suppressing my startled, pounding heart, the horns before my eyes suddenly caught my attention. As if enchanted, I placed the hood over Damian’s head.
“…Huh?”
In that moment, something unbelievable happened. Those huge horns disappeared just like that. As if they were about to pierce through the cloth at any moment, the horns vanished without a trace.
“…Why does this work?”
Really, why does it work?
Is this a magic item?
And Damian lightly fiddled with the piece of cloth on his head, then immediately slammed down the hood and said,
“My dignity is hidden.”
No, right now the fact that the horns are hidden is more important than that dignity.
But I couldn’t say that now, so I kept my mouth shut tight. You know, it’s a world where one word can repay a debt of a thousand yang and avoid curses. So I just raised the corners of my mouth with the most harmless face in the world.
“Things that are subtly revealed are actually more attractive. Like how being partially dressed is sexier than being naked.”
At those words, Damian glanced at me, then adjusted his collar with a strangely serious expression.
“…What.”
What, hey, that’s not what I meant by that!
This monster was incredibly good at misunderstanding. No, not just good—looking at him now, he seemed to completely think I was giving him some sticky gaze.
Far from looking at him lecherously, I’m seriously thinking about killing him, so why does he keep taking it that way?
Ha, this is driving me crazy. Really.
Anyway, let’s set aside that crazy monster. What’s important right now was something else.
I shook my head and picked up the hood Damian had slammed on the floor.
Though it looked ordinary, this was clearly a magic item no matter how I looked at it. It dropped from thin air, and the texture against my fingertips was strangely vivid.
Moreover, that thin piece of cloth perfectly hid the horns. It was a strange phenomenon, as if the physical laws of the world had briefly looked away.
“But how?”
Why did this happen?
Even if a cloth that hides horns originally exists in this world, does it make sense that it fell next to my bed with just one word from me?
Neither the logic nor the principle could be explained.
Of course, even if I agonize over this, I’m ultimately just a common gukbap restaurant owner. So even if it’s magic or a strange phenomenon, how could I possibly understand it?
In the end, I grabbed my hair again this time too. As my fluffy curly hair tangled around my fingertips, getting tangled again, it seemed I needed to make a hair salon appointment before deduction.
“At times like this, I should drink an iced Americano and turn my brain… huh?”
That was the moment.
As soon as the words ended, a vibration—vroom—arose from thin air. I unconsciously looked up to see an unbelievable scene unfold.
A cup of Americano with floating ice, without spilling a single drop, fell onto the table.
“…What?”
Cold condensation formed on the cup’s surface. The ice gleamed transparently as if just added, and there was even a straw stuck in it. As I froze at that bizarre sight, Damian beside me also tilted his head slightly.
“What is this black thing?”
“America… no, that’s not the important part—this was just summoned from thin air!”
Damian definitely saw it.
In the same space, at the same timing, the same phenomenon.
But the guy tilted his head and said calmly,
“Didn’t you make it?”
“If I could summon coffee, would I be selling gukbap here? I’d open a franchise cafe.”
“Franchise?”
Let’s not talk.
I gave up arguing and looked at the cup. The familiar black liquid to me sparkled, and it had a savory aroma. After hesitating, I grabbed it with my fingertips, and I heard the sound of ice clinking.
“…Really, what is this.”
It’s cold. Too realistically cold.
The texture of glass against my fingertips, the cool chill, and even the subtle coffee aroma brushing my nose.
It was no longer a simple coincidence or playful luck.
There definitely exists something inexplicable where the words I speak become reality.
Until now, I only thought ‘what I muttered before sleeping appeared in the morning.’ But if that’s not it, what if it applies immediately as soon as I say it?
Maybe I just didn’t know, and the conditions were different?
My heart beat thump, thump, irregularly. The pounding in my chest was loud enough to be transmitted to my throat. My mouth was parched, and as I moistened my dry lips with the tip of my tongue, I carefully opened my mouth.
“…A stack of money?”
And nothing happened.
“…”
As expected.
That’s my life.
This is why I didn’t transmigrate and become a gukbap restaurant owner for no reason, right?
Half a sigh, half resignation. Still, I couldn’t suppress my curiosity. After that, I experimented several more times. Fortunately, an immediate reaction occurred, confirming that things were summoned right as I spoke them.
The results were surprisingly clear.
Things that actually existed or that I had owned before were summoned. For example, things like toilet paper rolls or tissue boxes. Strangely enough, summoning was possible despite them being items from this world.
But abstract things had no reaction at all.
Things like stacks of money, jewels, or luck didn’t work at all.
And what was even stranger was that some processed items didn’t react at all.
When I said ‘I want to eat kimchi,’ there was complete silence, but when I thought of cabbage and chili powder separately, each appeared with a plop before my eyes.
So naturally, a smartphone couldn’t be summoned either, and then the question arose—why was MSG possible?
Logically speaking, tissue should be summoned as wood, right?
But the most absurd thing was something else.
Duplicate summoning doesn’t work.
Once summoned, it couldn’t be called again immediately. Worried it would interfere with business, I tried thinking of chili peppers, and fortunately they did appear. It seemed there was some kind of cooldown for summoning the same thing.
Actually, at first I thought ‘Isn’t it amazing if I summon items from another world and sell them?’ but as if reading my thoughts, it was thoroughly blocked.
What kind of nonsensical logic is this?
What exactly are the criteria?
“Things directly related to money can’t be called, but things like pre-cooking ingredients are possible…”
I muttered aloud and scratched my head.
