***
With Gilbert and the merchants’ help, the exterior was cleaned up quite nicely. The creaking door frame was oiled and opened smoothly, and the broken window glass was also newly replaced. Now it looked like a proper inn rather than a shabby ruin to anyone who saw it.
Of course, that didn’t mean customers would come on their own.
I still hadn’t put out a proper menu, and I hadn’t officially started business either.
I had food concepts planned in my head, but would they even work in this unfamiliar world? Worry kept circling in my throat.
Just then, ding-a-ling- a bell rang.
It was a small bell the fruit shop ahjussi had hung up.
“…A customer?”
As I unconsciously got up, Gilbert leisurely waved his hand and entered from beyond the door.
“I’m here.”
I deliberately snapped grumpily.
“Are you here to act like you own this place too? I’m busy.”
“Even though you have no customers?”
“Planning menus is also work. Anyway, aren’t you busy, Boss?”
“I hired an employee.”
“Hah…!”
How long has it been since you kicked someone out, and you already hired a new employee? You said they all ran away before!
As I glared with widened eyes, Gilbert nonchalantly scratched his chin. His face said ‘what’s the big deal?’ But looking closely, he was holding a hammer in his other hand.
“What’s that? Don’t tell me… you’re thinking there should only be one inn in this village, so you’re going to, what, do something to me?”
“What are you talking about?”
Of course I know that’s not the case. But still, at Gilbert’s voice dripping with disappointment, I awkwardly laughed and shut my mouth.
Gilbert soon strode into the kitchen.
“So what did you decide on? The butcher shop owner said you bought an armful of head meat.”
“There’s something I want to try making.”
“Yeah? You’re opening tomorrow?”
“Yes. But I’m troubled because I don’t have any side dishes that go well with it.”
“What are you trying to make?”
Gukbap. Unable to say Korean-style pork gukbap, I subtly changed the subject.
“Just, something similar to last time. But why did you barge into someone else’s inn early in the morning breeze, and into the kitchen at that, holding a hammer?”
Gilbert didn’t say anything. That silence was even more suspicious, so I inadvertently followed behind him, and he just shrugged his shoulders and suddenly threw out a question.
“Do you remember the silent swordsman from the adventurer party that came last time?”
“I know. He’s the Empire’s Knight Commander.”
As soon as the words left my mouth, Gilbert’s footsteps stopped.
Then he slowly turned his head. His beard and hair draped over, hiding his expression, but the gaze glinting beneath was sharp.
“…How do you know that?”
Oops. I’d been holding out with the ‘lost memory’ setting for Gilbert.
I tried to rack my brain to make up some excuse, but my head was empty with no excuses coming to mind. No, actually, I might have been more afraid of piling another lie onto someone who had shown me kindness. In the end, I just moved my lips but couldn’t spit out a single word.
Gilbert silently looked at me, then shook his head. Then he knelt down and tapped the floor.
Tang, tang. It was the spot where I had grumbled before about a nail sticking out. He hammered the floor with his large hands.
“Anyway, you’re a peculiar kid… Anyway, that man has been lurking around this area recently. He came to our inn several times too.”
“Why?”
Gilbert’s hand that was swinging the hammer stopped. After pausing for a moment, he muttered lowly.
“Well. It seemed like he was looking for you, kid.”
“…For me?”
Me, who only worked part-time at an inn in this world and is now just planning to make gukbap… why? Anxiously crouching down next to Gilbert, I asked.
“What did he do at your inn, Boss?”
“He didn’t say much. He just ate and left.”
Right, given his attitude I saw in the novel, he’d definitely be like that. A character who eats taciturnly and leaves without a word.
But why would such a character? Why is he looking for me?
Just as my head was getting more tangled.
Ding-a-ling-
The bell rang. I reflexively left the kitchen and shouted toward the entrance.
“Uh, we’re not open yet…”
My words froze.
Standing in front of the door was a man with silver hair and blue eyes. That uniquely sculpted face was an impression you could never forget once you saw it.
Yes, it was none other than Theorde Valen Hart whom I’d seen not long ago.
Looking at Gilbert still in the kitchen with shocked eyes, Gilbert too had turned pale and dropped the hammer on the floor, looking at me.
“…”
“…”
As the silence continued, Theorde glanced around and carefully opened his mouth.
“Are you not, open for business?”
I guess… I have to be?
With my lips completely dried out, I forced a smile and opened my mouth.
“Please come in.”
The moment I spoke, there was no turning back. I guided him to a seat and slowly moved toward the kitchen. Theorde’s gaze felt from behind coldly brushed the back of my neck for no reason.
Gilbert was standing with his face completely covered by his beard, and despite his mountain-like build, he looked exactly like a hiding bear.
“What are you doing? Does that hide your bulk?”
When I couldn’t hold back and snapped, Gilbert grumbled sullenly.
“I hate standing out.”
“How did you serve him when he came to the inn before?”
“That’s why I hired an employee. Even on the first day he came, if you hadn’t gone on that errand, I would have been holed up in some corner.”
Really eccentric. But I also understood. If you’re a person who’s earned a certain amount and has some leeway, there’s no reason to step forward and deal with troublesome customers. Especially in this kind of hierarchical society, getting involved with nobility is needlessly tiresome and even dangerous.
I let out a deep sigh and pushed Gilbert aside like shooing away a fly. Then I took out the garlic and head meat I’d stored in the cool storage corner of the kitchen.
The meat in my hands had been boiled thoroughly beforehand so it held a moderate amount of oil, and the broth from boiling the bones was white and rich. As hot steam rose, Gilbert curiously peeked behind me. His bushy beard brushed past like a breeze and tickled, so I quickly pushed him away.
“Ah, please back off. Your hair is getting in.”
“Geez, so sensitive…”
Taking advantage of Gilbert grumbling and backing away, I stirred the broth with a ladle. Small oil droplets rose round and round on the white broth, and the minced garlic fragrance gently spread.
I tore the head meat along the grain to bring out the chewy texture, and chopped green onions finely and scattered them generously. As the broth boiled vigorously, a savory aroma filled the kitchen.
“Good.”
I added the secret powder MSG and completed the white gukbap. Steam rose densely, spreading umami flavor into the air.
When I carefully carried the hot gukbap in a ttukbaegi and set it down in front of Theorde, his blue eyes lingered on the gukbap for a moment.
After a brief silence, Theorde’s long fingers slowly picked up the spoon. And the moment he scooped up the broth and swallowed a spoonful, his eyelids slowly lowered. His expressionless face made it hard to read his emotions, but soon a ripple briefly crossed his blue eyes as he opened them.
At that reaction, tension caught in my throat as if my breath was blocked.
Does he like it, or not? Perhaps because he’s a character with hardly any lines, the silence made my heart pound instead.
Then finally, Theorde’s lips slowly opened.
“…You are right now.”
R-right now what? I unknowingly clenched both hands and just stared at his lips.
“You love me.”
…What?
Thinking I’d misheard, I turned to Gilbert with a shocked face. However, whether I’d heard correctly, Gilbert also had a dumbfounded face just like me. Then he slowly circled his finger next to his head.
The meaning of that was this: Kid, congratulations. Your first customer is a crazy bastard.
“It tastes of love.”
“…”
Whether he’s crazy, a new breed of pervert, or just misspoke.
What was certain was that the man before my eyes was not in his right mind.
Theorde sat in front of the steaming ttukbaegi, his blue eyes shining like a priest offering a sacrament, seated seriously.
…Right, he was reciting bullshit with an insanely reverent face.
Should I kick him out? Or just leave him alone for now?
I weighed it dozens of times in my head. I was worried what if he really is a crazy bastard if I carelessly touch him.
Just then, Theorde, who had already cleanly emptied the ttukbaegi, neatly put down his spoon. Then he raised his blue eyes to face me.
“I ate well.”
“…Ah, yes.”
My voice automatically crawled halfway down. Because I didn’t want to get involved with a crazy bastard.
He soon slowly turned his gaze. He looked at the cluttered table, the furniture not yet organized, the empty kitchen, then looked at Gilbert who was holding his breath. Gilbert jumped in surprise, gathered his beard to half-cover his face, and hunched his body. Seeing that burly bulk shrinking like that, I almost let out a laugh without knowing the situation.
