Delivery Man from the Martial World — Episode 6
Episode 6. The Part-Timer from the Martial World (2)
At Yu Suntae’s words, Gangso nodded.
“That’s right. Shall I show you?”
“I thought…… it was something that only appeared in martial arts novels…….”
“Martial arts novels?”
To the curious Gangso, Yu Suntae explained the martial arts novels he knew, and Gangso found it fascinating.
“So in this place, that world is considered fiction. Yet it actually exists.”
“Anyway, I’ll keep my promise and be your guarantor. But are you really not going to act as an Awakened?”
“I won’t.”
“What! Why!”
“Because it’s a hassle.”
“Being an Awakened is a hassle…… a hassle?”
Gangso let out a sigh.
“Huu…… I have enjoyed all the wealth and glory I could.”
“With your abilities…… that makes sense.”
“But I was not happy. On the contrary, there were many troublesome matters. And after experiencing something so bewildering, I have realized it clearly. Such things are but a fleeting dream. What remains for me is…….”
It was the longing for the girl who had been his only family.
But he could not bring himself to speak those words aloud.
It was an emotion far too heavy to voice.
“Understood.”
Yu Suntae spoke.
“If that is truly your will, there is nothing I can do. Honestly, having a strong fellow like you around is good for me too. Should a Gate open here and a demonic beast appear, our family would be safe.”
“That is a realistic point.”
“I used to be a man with many dreams, but after becoming a father, I became more practical.”
They discussed their plans going forward.
‘As a recluse, my manner of speech and behavior are because I learned about the world by reading the martial arts novels that were the only things left behind…….’
It was a plausible reason that would not be doubted even by himself. However, Yu Suntae suggested that his manner of speech was quite awkward to use in this world, so it would be better to fix it, and Gangso decided to follow Yu Suntae’s advice.
“Ah! Honey! Did you finish cutting the cabbage?”
“Ugh! I forgot!”
“I’ll cut the onions.”
The two went into the kitchen and began busying themselves.
Gangso watched Yu Suntae and Im Soyeong in the kitchen.
They were truly good people, and so he thought he should protect them while he was here.
‘By the way, the fact that I used to be an assassin…… I suppose I need not reveal that.’
With a lightened heart, Gangso resumed cleaning.
About thirty minutes passed like that.
“Hmm! This is perfect cleaning!”
The inside of the store, once Gangso was through with it, was so clean one would believe it had been remodeled, gleaming and lustrous.
‘As expected, hot water is the best for removing dirt and polishing!’
Just as Gangso was nodding in satisfaction, the sound of a car came from outside the door.
Then, along with the bell, the door opened and a middle-aged man wearing a work cap came in.
“Boss Yu! The vegetables are here!”
At that voice, Yu Suntae, who had been preparing ingredients in the kitchen, quickly came out.
“Ah! Good morning, Boss Kim.”
The man called Boss Kim looked at Gangso beside him, and Yu Suntae quickly introduced Gangso.
“Ah, this is a friend who will be working at our store starting today.”
Gangso greeted Boss Kim.
“I…… I am Gangso.”
He was still not used to the speech of this world.
“Name’s Kim Jinseop.”
And he extended his hand.
But Gangso, who did not know what a handshake was, simply stared blankly.
The one embarrassed by this situation was Yu Suntae.
“I apologize. Gangso is a recluse, so he doesn’t know what a handshake is.”
“Ah? Is that so?”
Yu Suntae explained handshakes to Gangso, and Gangso quickly extended his hand and shook hands with Boss Kim.
“I apologize. I was unaware…….”
“Don’t worry about it! How could I scold you for not knowing?”
Yu Suntae said to Gangso.
“This is Boss Kim, who supplies vegetables to our store. He’s famous for supplying high-quality vegetables.”
“Hahaha! It’s not that I supply high-quality vegetables, but young Boss Yu inspects them so thoroughly that I have no choice but to give him the good ones. But…… the store looks brighter today. Did you perhaps replace the magic stones in the light bulbs with a higher grade?”
“No, we didn’t…….”
Only then did Yu Suntae realize that the inside of the store looked brighter than yesterday.
It was thanks to Gangso cleaning using his internal energy.
The stubborn fly specks on the walls and ceiling had completely disappeared, so it was only natural the store looked brighter.
However, Gangso merely smiled quietly.
He felt proud, sensing the reward of his cleaning.
“Today as usual, onions, cabbage, pumpkins, carrots, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms, right?”
“Yes.”
Boss Kim went outside, selected the vegetables to deliver, and moved them to one side behind the truck.
“I will hel…… p.”
Boss Kim pointed at the onion nets beside him.
“Then, please help with the onions. Just move ten of them.”
“Under…… stood.”
Gangso tried to lift the onions through the air, but soon shook his head.
He realized he shouldn’t show anyone other than Yu Suntae and his wife the sight of him using internal energy.
He had to show an ordinary appearance to others.
That was the way to prevent greater hassles.
‘If I carry three on each shoulder, won’t it look ordinary?’
That he was already carrying six nets of fifteen-kilogram onions, swinging them about, was not ordinary in itself, but realizing that was still a ways off.
Boss Kim and Yu Suntae were shocked.
“Hey! Isn’t that heavy?”
“It is not very heavy.”
“Hoo! The young friend is strong!”
Thanks to Gangso, they finished moving the vegetables quickly, and lunch business preparations were roughly wrapped up.
Finally, breakfast was set.
The breakfast menu was rice with egg soup, seasoned spinach, stir-fried fish cakes, and seasoned gim.
“Let’s eat! Hayeong, come eat!”
“Yes!”
At Im Soyeong’s call, Hayeong came running, and Yu Suntae tapped Gangso’s shoulder.
“Let’s eat.”
“Sure.”
Gangso sat at the table and looked at the food laid out on it.
He felt some kind of warm energy from that food.
When Yu Suntae picked up his spoon, breakfast began.
“Brother!”
Then Yu Hayeong called out to Gangso.
“Try this! It’s my favorite side dish!”
“What is this?”
“Stir-fried fish cakes! They’re really delicious!”
Yu Hayeong was speaking casually to Gangso without reserve.
But Gangso said nothing about it. It was Hayeong’s way of showing familiarity.
On the plate was a dish made by adding flat fish cakes to onions and paprika, seasoning with soy sauce, and stir-frying.
Gangso carefully picked up a piece of stir-fried fish cake with chopsticks and put it in his mouth.
Chewy.
Something elastic yet soft was felt on his tongue. It was the rich taste of fish.
At the same time, the sweetness of sugar, the saltiness of soy sauce, and the crunch of onions and paprika harmonized with the soft yet oily fish cakes.
‘Hmm…….’
But something was missing for it to be a perfect harmony.
As Gangso wondered what it could be, his hand moved toward the rice on its own.
That was it. What was missing was rice.
When the rice entered his mouth, a perfect harmony of flavors was felt.
“Ahh! Just as you said, this is truly delicious!”
At Gangso’s words, Im Soyeong smiled and said.
“I made a lot, so please have more.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Then something caught Gangso’s eye.
“Why is there black paper on the table?”
At Gangso’s words, Yu Hayeong giggled.
“No! Brother! This isn’t paper!”
Yu Suntae added an explanation.
“It is a food made from marine algae. It is called gim.”
“Where I come from, I think we rolled gim into circles and added it to dishes when cooking…… How peculiar.”
“Is that so? Try it.”
Gangso carefully put a sheet of gim in his mouth and was shocked.
‘Wh-what is this! This mysterious saltiness that calls for rice?’
A salty taste that was savory with a slight scent of the sea, along with a crunching sound that brought pleasure, was felt on Gangso’s tongue.
“Salty…….”
“Of course it’s salty. It’s seasoned with salt. Usually, you eat it like this.”
Yu Suntae placed gim on the rice, wrapped the rice with the gim, and put it in his mouth.
Gangso also followed Yu Suntae, wrapping rice with gim before putting it in his mouth.
Crunch, crunch.
“……!”
Gangso was shocked.
It was a wave of flavor.
The black wave endlessly devoured the white rice.
“If I have this, I feel like I could eat ten more bowls of rice.”
“But you must be careful when eating gim.”
“Be careful?”
“If you eat gim the wrong way, you become a fool.”
“Hm?”
Yu Suntae smirked at Gangso, who did not understand.
“Like this.”
Gim was stuck to Yu Suntae’s front teeth. Gangso saw that and nodded seriously.
“You certainly look like a fool. I shall be careful.”
“Hahaha…….”
After finishing breakfast, Yu Suntae spoke.
“By the way, you’re not bad with directions, are you?”
“I should not be bad with directions.”
“That’s a relief. Knowing the area by heart is essential when making deliveries.”
“If you teach me, I will memorize it diligently.”
“Then I’ll tell you the places that mainly order deliveries first, so write them down.”
At those words, Gangso made an awkward expression.
“……There is a problem. I can speak and read this country’s language, but I do not know how to write it.”
“What?”
“My apologies.”
The flustered Yu Suntae waved his hands.
“No, there is nothing to be sorry about. I didn’t realize because you speak Korean so naturally for someone from another world. I’m the one who should apologize for not noticing. But how can you speak and read Hangul?”
“It is thanks to a spell I happened to learn before. But that spell only conveys meaning rather than language itself, so I cannot write characters. Is this place’s language called Hangul?”
“The country we live in is the Republic of Korea, or Korea for short. And the language is called Hangul.”
Yu Suntae continued.
“Then, you must learn Hangul today.”
At his words, Yu Hayeong spoke.
“Brother, you don’t know Hangul? I know Hangul!”
Yu Suntae’s eyes sparkled.
“Yes, you can learn from Hayeong. She’s five years old, but she has already fully mastered Hangul, so she will make a good teacher.”
It happened to be Saturday, so it was a day Yu Hayeong did not go to kindergarten.
Hayeong scurried to her room and brought back a sketchbook and colored pencils.
“Today, Hayeong is the teacher! Brother has to call Hayeong ‘Teacher’!”
At that cute appearance, Gangso smiled warmly.
No matter how young Yu Hayeong was, there was no reason he could not call her teacher.
If there was something to learn, she was a teacher.
“This Gangso shall request instruction from Teacher Hayeong!”
“Hehe, Teacher will teach you Hangul well!”
Yu Hayeong wrote consonants and vowels in the sketchbook, a bit crooked but diligently.
“To learn Hangul, you have to know the basic consonants and vowels. Consonants and vowels combine to make letters.”
Though she was five, Yu Hayeong explained quite coherently and taught Hangul.
“Then I’ll show you how consonants and vowels combine!”
Yu Hayeong wrote combinations of consonants and vowels in the sketchbook and taught him the pronunciations.
“When giyeok meets vowels like this, ga, gya, geo, gyeo…….”
Gangso listened intently to Yu Hayeong’s explanation and admired inwardly.
‘Compared to learning to write as a child, this is no different from drinking cold porridge!’