The Deliveryman from Murim: Episode 7
Episode 7: The Part-Timer from Murim (3)
And so, he spent an hour learning the combinations of consonants and vowels, then looked at a book Yu Hayeong had brought him and learned about tricky letters.
For example, it was a book that explained things like the difference between *anda* and *anta*, word spacing, and so on.
Gangso closed the book after reading it all and said.
"I have learned everything there is to this Hangul."
At his words, Im Soyeong asked back in surprise.
"What? Uncle Gangso? You really memorized it all?"
Im Soyeong had decided to call Gangso uncle, and since Gangso had readily permitted it, she called him Uncle Gangso.
Gangso nodded at Im Soyeong's words.
"Yes. I have learned it all."
"What? You learned it all?"
Yu Suntae, who had just come up to this floor, also rushed over to Gangso in surprise.
"Is it true? You really learned all of Hangul? It's only been about three hours!"
At his words, Yu Hayeong said.
"It's true! I gave him dictation too, and he got a perfect score!"
Yu Suntae shook his head back and forth.
"You were a genius!"
"Just think of it as thanks to hard work."
In fact, one of Gangso's specialties was his outstanding memory.
In order to survive and return after completing an assassination, he had desperately racked his brain over and over, and his already good memory had improved even further.
'Because I had to memorize martial arts secret manuals after reading them just once or twice.'
Having tried so hard because he didn't want to die like that, he generally remembered anything he saw once.
Thanks to that, he was able to survive in an assassin organization with a survival rate at hellish levels, and earn the name Yeomwang.
"Actually, rather than me being smart, it's because this Hangul is a script that is easy to learn."
That was the truth.
Compared to the script he had used, Hangul was a script that inspired more admiration the more one wrote it.
"How could they create such letters! If he were alive, I would like to meet him once."
"King Sejong and the scholars of Jiphyeonjeon have already passed away, so you cannot meet them."
"That is truly a shame."
* * *
The lunch rush began.
While Yu Suntae and Im Soyeong busily served the customers, Gangso played with Yu Hayeong in a corner of the shop.
'So if you don't have a food handler's license, you cannot handle food? Well, that makes sense. Hygiene at a Chinese restaurant is important.'
Just then, Yu Hayeong tapped the back of his hand and spoke.
"Oppa! You have to be the prince."
In Gangso's hand was a male doll dressed in prince's clothes. And in Yu Hayeong's hand was a Barbie doll wearing a splendid dress.
So that was it.
Right now, Gangso was playing dolls with Yu Hayeong.
"Prince, hello. Princess Hayeong has come to play."
"Hem, hemhem. Welcome, Princess."
"I'm happy you're welcoming me."
From the kitchen, Yu Suntae watched Gangso with an expression that said he was about to die laughing.
After the lunch rush, Yu Suntae hung a sign in front of the shop door announcing break time.
And he saw Gangso lying face down on the table.
"You worked hard playing with Hayeong."
"I didn't know playing with a child would be this hard. Especially doll play was a game that required squeezing out imagination to the maximum."
"Hehehe, I understand."
Yu Suntae took off his cook's uniform and said.
"Let's go out. I'll show you around the neighborhood."
Yu Suntae went out in front of the shop and started the motorcycle's engine.
Vroom! Vroom-vroom!
With a loud noise, the motorcycle engine started.
"Catch."
Clack-!
Gangso caught the object Yu Suntae threw and asked.
"What is this?"
"A helmet."
Yu Suntae put on his helmet and said.
"You wear it like this. It's to protect your life in case of an accident, so you must wear it even if it's stuffy."
Gangso put on the helmet and smiled at the feeling of his head being snugly wrapped.
It was much more comfortable to wear than the helmets he had worn before.
Yu Suntae got on the motorcycle and shouted to Gangso.
"Get on behind me!"
As soon as Gangso got behind Yu Suntae, he said.
"Hold my waist tight! You'll get hurt if you fall!"
Soon the motorcycle they rode shot forward with a roar.
Vroooom-!
"Are you okay? Isn't it too fast?"
At Yu Suntae's words, Gangso tilted his head.
'They call this fast?'
This speed was slower than when Gangso leisurely used his lightness skill.
"What is the name of this cart?"
"It's called a motorcycle!"
"Why do you ride the motorcycle?"
"Because jajangmyeon is a noodle dish, so it gets soggy quickly! That's why we have to deliver it fast, and this motorcycle is perfect for that!"
"I see."
But Gangso did not feel much need for this thing called a motorcycle.
'It would be faster if I delivered on my two feet than this noisy, slow cart.'
Before long, they arrived at some apartment complex.
When demonic beasts had first appeared 25 years ago, apartments had been horrifically destroyed by them.
But as land was gradually reclaimed, the rebuilt apartments now even had self-defense systems combined with magic stone technology, so they remained intact against considerable impacts.
"This apartment is one of the places that orders delivery frequently. It's called Blue House, and the number written on the side of the apartment is the building number, while the first floor is units 101 and 102, the second floor is 201 and 202; the unit numbers change like this."
"I see."
Yu Suntae explained the local geography and addresses in detail.
"Hm, so an address is attached based on the road name?"
"That's right."
Gangso found it fascinating that each house had an address, but thought it was efficient.
In fact, addresses in the place he had been were nothing special. A place name or clan name was the address.
Yu Suntae soon stopped the motorcycle in front of a convenience store.
Screech-!
"Ah, talking so much made me thirsty! Shall we have a can of cola each before we go?"
At Yu Suntae's words, Gangso asked back.
"What is cola?"
"Hah, I'll show you a taste you've never experienced. Just wait a moment."
He went inside the convenience store, and when he came out a short while later, two red cans were in his hands.
"This is what you call cola. If you pull this ring up and tilt it back, a hole forms for the contents to come out."
Yu Suntae opened the cola can.
Fzzt-! Pshhh-!
With a refreshing sound, a hole formed on top of the can.
He held the cola out to Gangso.
"Here, try drinking it."
"Uh……."
Gangso accepted the can and cautiously swallowed a sip of cola.
"……!"
In that instant, his eyes grew wide.
He held the cola can and trembled.
"Kuk-!"
He shuddered.
From his throat to his stomach, he felt a stinging and electrifying pleasure.
He was feeling in this strange world right now the same shock as when he had finally attained enlightenment after agonizing over a martial arts technique for days on end.
He tried drinking the cola again.
"Kuuuk-!"
What he had felt was not an illusion.
There was even a cloyingly sweet taste that stuck to his mouth.
'Wh-what kind of demon artifact is this!'
He had once drunk a beverage with a similar popping taste before.
'The azure stone oil I drank at the Northern Sea Ice Palace also had this kind of popping taste.'
But this thing called cola in his hand was beyond comparison with those.
It was definitely sweet, yet there was a mysterious taste that could not simply be called sweet, constantly clamoring at him to drink more.
He could clearly feel it.
This beverage called cola was something that should never have been touched from the very beginning!
But contrary to his thoughts, Gangso's hands tilted the dark-colored cola into his mouth again.
"This is truly like a demon's temptation. My throat stings, yet I can't stop drinking it!"
Yu Suntae gulped down his cola and said with a smile.
"Hehehe, it's an irresistible thrill, right? Besides, when your digestion isn't working well, one can of this will clear you right through."
"Oh! Does this also serve as a digestive medicine?"
"As far as I know, they say this was originally made as a digestive medicine. Then it developed into this."
"Oh-! I see!"
Gangso, who had tapped every last drop into his mouth, threw the empty can into the trash bin in front of the convenience store.
Into the one labeled recycling, of course.
"By the way, there's something I'm really curious about: that motorcycle."
"The motorcycle? Why? You want to try driving it?"
Gangso shook his head.
"No, not that. Must I absolutely deliver using that motorcycle?"
"Why?"
"I just want to deliver on foot."
"Then you'll be late with deliveries and customers will complain……."
"Late?"
Gangso smirked.
"Me delivering on foot is much faster than that noisy vehicle."
Yu Suntae was about to scold him to say something sensible, but then he remembered Gangso's true identity.
Gangso was someone with abilities estimated to be at least A-rank.
"……You said you can really go faster?"
"Of course. We can test it."
"Hum…… then, you know where our house is, right?"
"I remember."
"Then let's test it. I'll take the motorcycle, and you go on foot."
"Understood."
Yu Suntae said with a worried expression.
"If you get lost, ask people where Yangchun Gak is."
"Don't worry and depart first."
Whether because he was worried, Yu Suntae kept looking back as he finally started the motorcycle.
Vroom-!
Gangso watched Yu Suntae fade into the distance and then chuckled.
"Well then, shall we go?"
Gangso stamped his foot once, and in an instant, his figure wearing the silver helmet vanished from the spot.
One of the reasons Gangso had earned the name Yeomwang lay in his ghostly movement technique.
The lightness skill taught to him by the assassin organization he belonged to was a movement technique called the Shadowless Body Method.
Literally, a movement technique that allowed one to move so fast that even one's shadow could not catch up.
However, Gangso had subconsciously realized that this technique was lacking in some way, and after several trials and errors, he had improved the Shadowless Body Method himself.
The Void Shadowless Body Method that Gangso currently used was precisely that.
'If I arrive too quickly, Suntae might be surprised, so I should move slowly at about one-star level.'
Even so, Gangso's speed was absolutely not slow.
No, his speed far surpassed that of the motorcycle. Yet the people he passed did not notice Gangso's presence at all.
The Void Shadowless Body Method was a movement technique that melted into nature, rendering one's presence undetectable; because it boasted not only speed but also outstanding stealth.
It was not for nothing that he was called Yeomwang.
Sssshhh-!
He felt the wind brushing past his ears.
He had already familiarized himself with the surrounding geography.
From killing an assassination target to escaping, it was difficult if one was not familiar with the terrain.
Therefore, Gangso had a habit of surveying the geography first, no matter when or where he went.
Tak-!
When he stopped, the sign of Yangchun Gak was visible before him.
He had arrived at a place that took about 20 minutes in just 5 minutes.
And even that was while deliberately going slowly.
Ring.
As the door to Yangchun Gak opened, Im Soyeong poked her head out.
"You're here?"
Beside her, Yu Hayeong said with a smile.
"Oppa's here! I've been waiting!"
In Yu Hayeong's hands were two Barbie dolls wearing dresses.
Seeing them, Gangso unknowingly stepped back.
In that instant, he regretted not arriving later.
* * *
A short while later, Yu Suntae came into the shop.
"You're back?"
"Dad, welcome back."
"You're here?"
Yu Suntae forgot to even respond to the greetings of Gangso, Im Soyeong, and Yu Hayeong, and shouted in surprise.
"When did you get here?"
Im Soyeong answered.
"Uncle Gangso arrived fifteen minutes ago."
"Whew-! That's incredibly fast! I guess you really can deliver on foot as you said. But…… what are you doing now?"
Gangso, holding a Barbie doll in a dress, answered.
"I was playing Cinderella."
"R-really?"
"It seems I am playing the role of the stepsister."
Gangso, he was a good babysitter.