The Deliveryman from the Martial World
Episode 4
Episode 4. Stranger, Arriving at Yangchun-gak (2)
At those words, Yu Suntae, who had been staring blankly at Gangso, heaved a deep sigh.
“Indeed, if you ate a meal in that state, sir, you might fall ill. Please bathe first. Follow me.”
Gangso followed Yu Suntae up to this floor, and he guided Gangso to the bathroom.
“Once you have bathed and come out, I will have clothes prepared.”
Gangso looked around.
‘Is this room, tiled with smooth white stones, the bathroom? I see no water—how am I to wash?’
Then, something caught his eye.
It was a white lidded object, shaped like a spring made of porcelain.
It was the first time Gangso had seen such a thing, and since water was pooled in the center, it was understandable that he mistook it so.
But the amount of water was absurdly little for washing.
Gangso opened the door and spoke to Yu Suntae, who was standing outside the bathroom.
“Forgive me, but the water seems insufficient for washing.”
“What?”
“The amount of water is far too little.”
Yu Suntae looked where Gangso pointed and startled.
“Ack! That isn’t water for washing—it’s a toilet!”
“If it is a toilet... do you mean a privy?”
“Yes.”
Gangso inwardly marveled.
‘A privy can be this clean! Then those things I have seen since arriving here that looked similar to this—are they all privies?’
Yu Suntae continued.
“You turn the faucet to get water...”
Just in case, Yu Suntae asked,
“By any chance, do you know what a faucet is?”
“...I do not.”
Even if he had been to a public restroom, he would have known what a toilet and a faucet were, but Gangso had never even thought that a public restroom was a bathroom.
Because it was far too clean compared to the privies he knew.
Yu Suntae tilted his head.
“Just where and how have you been living?”
“I came out of a cave and wandered, and so I ended up here.”
“Don’t tell me... are you an isolated person?”
“What is an isolated person?”
Isolated people.
They were those who had been unwillingly cut off when Gates appeared and demon beasts began their invasion.
Among those discovered while reclaiming land from the demon beasts, there were occasionally people who did not even know what civilization was.
Scholars said the cause was being isolated either in a state of having never been exposed to such things, or having lost memories due to shock.
At any rate, society did not exclude them.
Because there was no reason to exclude them when the population was already lacking.
Thanks to Yu Suntae’s explanation, Gangso began to understand the world he was in a little more.
In order to live here, it seemed best to say that he too was an isolated person.
“I see. Then I too must be an isolated person.”
“Anyway, to get water, you do it like this...”
Yu Suntae explained how to use the bathroom step by step, and Gangso stored that information in his mind.
‘To think I can use hot water without boiling it in a cauldron! Truly amazing and convenient!’
Since the bathroom was not difficult to use, Gangso was able to bathe and come out by himself.
“You should wear this.”
Yu Suntae gave Gangso his own clothes and also explained how to put them on.
Gangso was once again astonished by how much easier these clothes were to put on and take off compared to what he had been wearing.
“Wow!”
Seeing Gangso cleanly washed and changed into new clothes, Yu Suntae and Im Soyeong exclaimed in admiration. They hadn’t known when he was dressed like a beggar, but now that he was bathed and dressed in fresh clothes, they saw that he was incredibly handsome.
“Then please come down to the restaurant and eat.”
At Im Soyeong’s words, Gangso nodded.
“Thank you.”
They came back down to the restaurant, and as they sat at the table, Yu Suntae spoke as he entered the kitchen.
“You seem very hungry, so I will first make my specialty dish, which is also the quickest.”
Yu Suntae busily moved about the kitchen.
Sizzle-! Whoosh-!
Gangso grew curious as to what kind of food would come out.
A moment later, Im Soyeong placed pickled radish, onions, and kimchi on the table, then set a bowl of hot food, freshly brought from the kitchen, in front of Gangso.
“More food will come out soon, so please eat this first.”
For a moment, Gangso was bewildered.
‘Hmm... what in the world is this dark, lumpy stuff?’
White noodles sat in the bowl, with something pitch-black poured over them.
And atop that, three green peas and julienned cucumber.
That was all.
Gangso’s eyes wavered at the bizarre appearance of a food he had never seen before.
‘If they treat a benefactor to such food, could it be that this place only looks splendid but its fare is poor?’
The food before his eyes looked so miserable that he was reluctant to even place his chopsticks against it.
Had he been certain that this place was hell, he would have been equally certain that this food was cuisine from hell.
‘Looking at this jet-black stuff reminds me of when I trained in survival in the swamp. I was so thirsty that I drank foul-smelling swamp water and suffered for days.’
Im Soyeong looked at Gangso.
Seeing him simply stare at the jjajangmyeon without picking up his chopsticks, she felt uneasy.
‘Why isn’t he eating? Is the food not to his liking?’
Gangso came to his senses the moment he saw her face.
‘Damn! You worthless fool! To think such petty thoughts while looking at food they prepared so sincerely for me!’
Discarding his prejudice, he noticed a sweet, sticky oil aroma, and the smell made him even hungrier.
Then, Yu Hayeong, who was sitting in front, spoke.
“Huh? Big brother! Why aren’t you eating? Don’t you like jjajangmyeon?”
“Jjajangmyeon? This food is called jjajangmyeon?”
“Yes! It’s my favorite!”
“This... how does one eat it?”
“Follow my lead!”
Yu Hayeong neatly took one chopstick in each small hand and mixed the jjajangmyeon.
“You have to mix it well like this!”
“Like this?”
Gangso also took one chopstick in each hand and mixed the jjajangmyoen.
“Good job! Now just eat it deliciously.”
Yu Hayeong ate the jjajangmyeon with clumsy chopsticks.
“It seems more gets smeared on your mouth than goes in.”
“Daddy said jjajangmyeon tastes better when you get it on your face while eating.”
“I-is that so?”
Gangso carefully picked up a chopstickful, put it in his mouth, and chewed cautiously.
Munch, munch.
‘Mmm! Th-this flavor!’
Gangso’s eyes snapped open wide.
A sweetness gently wrapped around his tongue, intertwined with a strange saltiness.
Plump, fleshy pork and sharp onions waged a fierce battle on his tongue.
At the end of that fierce battle, the two became good friends and ran together across a black field where yellow pickled radish flowers bloomed.
‘D-delicious!’
Before he knew it, Gangso’s bowl was completely empty.
This was the day Gangso first encountered jjajangmyeon.
“Please have some sweet and sour pork as well.”
While Gangso was eating the jjajangmyeon, various other dishes had come out and been laid before him.
But Gangso was more drawn to the jjajangmyeon he had just eaten.
“Excuse me, if I may, might I have another bowl?”
“Of course.”
The second bowl of jjajangmyeon that Yu Suntae set down also disappeared into Gangso’s stomach in an instant.
Seeing this, Im Soyeong’s expression finally relaxed completely.
“Big brother, wipe your mouth.”
“Thank you.”
Gangso wiped his mouth with the tissue Yu Hayeong held out, then asked Yu Suntae,
“By the way, that sign on the door says ‘Part-timer Wanted.’ What does it mean?”
“Ah, that means we are looking for someone to work. The person who delivered food from our restaurant quit.”
“What is delivery?”
At his question, Yu Suntae briefly explained delivery to Gangso.
Gangso had an intuition that he would not be able to return easily to where he had lived.
If that was the case, he had no choice but to stay here, but no matter how much he thought about it, adapting to this chaotic place alone was a difficult task.
There were too many words he could not understand and too many things he did not know.
Right now, the help of Yu Suntae’s family was desperately needed.
They were the first people he had met here who were favorable to him, and since he had saved their daughter, the likelihood that they would help him was high.
But loafing around and being a burden was something Gangso’s pride would not allow.
To him, worrying while eating jjajangmyeon, that job posting felt welcome.
“I wish to do that work.”
“What? You, sir?”
“May I not?”
Yu Suntae scratched his head.
“It’s not that it can’t be done, but if you are an isolated person, you likely don’t have an ID... then under sanitation laws, it would be difficult to go through the procedures...”
Then Im Soyeong spoke.
“But how can it not be possible for the person who saved our Hayeong’s life?”
“Hmm...”
At Im Soyeong’s plea, Yu Suntae fell into thought.
He remembered a program he had seen on TV called *The Man Who Wants to Know*.
To recover an isolated person’s identity, a guarantor was necessary.
Without a guarantor, the Association would vouch for them, but that was only for Awakeners; for normal people who were not Awakeners, the Association would connect them to a guarantor, but that process took quite a long time.
In the end, some isolated people who could not find guarantors were driven into back alleys...
‘Damn it!’
Yu Suntae, whose thoughts had reached that point, raised his head.
If the benefactor who had saved his daughter were to live such a miserable life, the guilt would torment him for the rest of his life.
Although there would be the burden of becoming a guarantor...
‘I don’t even know anymore!’
In the end, he let out a sigh.
“Alright.”
“Thank you, dear!”
Im Soyeong was overjoyed, and Yu Suntae let out another sigh as he explained the isolated person identity recovery procedure to Gangso.
“...So, I will become your guarantor.”
Gangso couldn’t help but be surprised at those words.
A guarantor was not something one became lightly.
“No, do you know who I am...?”
“You are the one who saved my daughter.”
“That is a reckless decision! People are not to be trusted so easily!”
“I don’t think anyone who speaks like that is a bad person. And my gut is telling me that you are someone who can be trusted, sir.”
Yu Suntae was a former Gate porter.
It had been a dangerous profession where one had to survive for a long time on gut instinct, and since he had lived for ten years without incident relying on that instinct, his gut was quite accurate.
Gangso cupped his fists in salute and spoke to him.
“If you say so, I shall endeavor to live up to that trust. Truly, thank you.”
“Ah, in return, please work hard.”
“Do not worry about that!”
Yu Suntae, who had been scratching his head, spoke.
“Ah, come to think of it, I haven’t introduced myself. My name is Yu Suntae, I am thirty-five, my wife is Im Soyeong, and the daughter you saved today is Yu Hayeong.”
In response to Yu Suntae’s introduction, Gangso smiled and replied.
“My name is Gangso. I too am thirty-five.”
At those words, Yu Suntae cried out in surprise.
“N-no way! You only look about twenty... Are you truly thirty-five?”
“As far as I know, yes. If not, I may be several years older, but that is all.”
For a moment, Yu Suntae felt an inexplicable sense of defeat.
“Then, what should I call you? Would you prefer Brother Yu? Or perhaps Hayeong’s father?”
Im Soyeong said,
“Since you’re the same age, why not just be friends?”
“Friends?”
“Why not?”
“That’s right. Nothing wrong with that.”
Yu Suntae cautiously spoke to Gangso.
“Then... just call me Suntae. Let’s drop honorifics. I’ll also just...”
“It is Gangso. I do not remember my surname. So just call me Gangso. That is my name.”
“Alright. Gangso. Gangso... it’s a good name.”
Gangso had finally found a place to stay.