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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Vine
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At those words, Yoo Soon-tae, who had been staring blankly at Gang-so, sighed deeply.
“Well, if you eat in that state, you might get sick. You should take a bath first. Follow me.”
Gang-so followed Yoo Soon-tae to the second floor, and he led Gang-so to the bathroom.
“I’ll have some clothes ready for you when you’re done.”
Gang-so looked around.
‘Is this white, smooth stone-lined room the bathroom? I don’t see any water, so how am I supposed to wash?’
Just then, something caught his eye.
It was a white, lidded, porcelain object that resembled a well.
It was the first time Gang-so had seen such a thing, and since there was water in the middle, it was understandable that he would mistake it for a well.
However, the amount of water was absurdly small for washing.
Gang-so opened the door and said to Yoo Soon-tae, who was standing in front of the bathroom,
“Excuse me, but there doesn’t seem to be enough water to wash.”
“Huh?”
“There’s very little water.”
Yoo Soon-tae was startled when he saw where Gang-so was pointing.
“Gasp! That’s not for washing, that’s a toilet!”
“A toilet… you mean a latrine?”
“Yes.”
Gang-so was inwardly impressed.
‘The latrine is this clean! Does that mean all the things I’ve seen that look like this are toilets?’
Yoo Soon-tae continued.
“You turn on the faucet for water…”
Yoo Soon-tae asked, just in case.
“Do you know what a faucet is?”
“…I don’t.”
If he had gone to a public restroom, he would have known what a toilet and a faucet were, but Gang-so didn’t even think that a public restroom was a restroom.
It was too clean compared to the restrooms he knew.
Yoo Soon-tae tilted his head.
“Where on earth have you been living?”
“I came here after wandering out of a cave.”
“Could it be… are you an isolated person?”
“What is an isolated person?”
Isolated people.
They were people who became unintentionally isolated when the gates appeared and the monsters began their invasion.
Among those discovered while reclaiming the land from the monsters, some didn’t even know what civilization was.
Scholars said it was due to being isolated without exposure to such things or losing their memories due to shock.
Anyway, society didn’t exclude them.
With an already insufficient population, there was no reason to exclude them.
Thanks to Yoo Soon-tae’s explanation, Gang-so began to understand the world he was in a little better.
It seemed better for him to say he was also an isolated person to live here.
“I see. Then I must be an isolated person as well.”
“Anyway, to use the water, you do this…”
Yoo Soon-tae explained how to use the bathroom one by one, and Gang-so stored the information in his head.
‘You can use hot water without boiling it in a pot! This is truly amazing and convenient!’
Since using the bathroom wasn’t difficult, Gang-so was able to bathe himself and come out.
“You can wear these.”
Yoo Soon-tae gave Gang-so his own clothes and explained how to wear them.
Gang-so was once again amazed at how much easier it was to put on and take off these clothes compared to the ones he used to wear.
“Wow!”
Yoo Soon-tae and Lim So-young were amazed to see Gang-so after he had cleaned up and changed clothes.
They hadn’t noticed when he was in beggar’s clothes, but now that he was clean and dressed in new clothes, they could see that he was incredibly handsome.
“Then please come down to the restaurant and have a meal.”
At Lim So-young’s words, Gang-so nodded.
“Thank you.”
They went back down to the restaurant, and as he sat at the table, Yoo Soon-tae said as he entered the kitchen,
“Since you seem to be very hungry, I’ll make you my specialty, which is also the quickest to prepare.”
Yoo Soon-tae moved busily around the kitchen.
Sizzle-! Whoosh-!
Gang-so wondered what kind of food would come out.
A little while later, Lim So-young placed pickled radish, onions, and kimchi on the table, and then placed a bowl of hot food from the kitchen in front of Gang-so.
“Other dishes will be out soon, so please start with this.”
Gang-so was momentarily taken aback.
‘Hmm… What is this dark, murky… thing?’
There were white noodles in the bowl, covered in something black.
And on top of that, three green peas and sliced cucumbers.
That was it.
Gang-so’s eyes wavered at the sight of this bizarre food he had never seen before.
‘If this is what they serve to their benefactor, does that mean this place is only flashy on the outside, but their food is terrible?’
The food in front of him looked so unappetizing that he was reluctant to even touch it with his chopsticks.
If he was sure this place was hell, he could be sure this food was also from hell.
‘This black stuff reminds me of when I was training as an assassin in the swamp. I was so thirsty back then that I drank the stinky swamp water and suffered for a while.’
Lim So-young looked at Gang-so.
She felt uneasy seeing him just staring at the jajangmyeon without picking up his chopsticks.
‘Why isn’t he eating? Does he not like the food?’
Gang-so, seeing her face, snapped out of it.
‘You fool! How could you think such lowly thoughts about the food prepared for you with care!’
Once he let go of his preconceptions, he could smell the sweet, rich aroma of oil, and the smell made him even hungrier.
Just then, Ha-young, who was sitting in front of him, spoke.
“Huh? Oppa! Why aren’t you eating? Don’t you like jajangmyeon?”
“Jajangmyeon? This food is called jajangmyeon?”
“Yes! It’s my favorite!”
“How… do you eat this?”
“Follow me!”
Ha-young skillfully held a pair of chopsticks in her small hands and mixed the jajangmyeon.
“You have to mix it well like this!”
“Like this?”
Gang-so also held a pair of chopsticks in each hand and mixed the jajangmyeon.
“Well done! Now eat it deliciously.”
Ha-young ate the jajangmyeon with her clumsy chopstick skills.
“It seems like you’re getting more on your mouth than in it.”
“Daddy said jajangmyeon tastes better when you make a mess while eating it.”
“I-Is that so?”
Gang-so carefully picked up a chopstick-full and put it in his mouth, chewing cautiously.
Munch, munch.
‘Hmm! Th-This taste!’
Gang-so’s eyes widened.
He felt a sweet taste that gently coated his tongue, combined with a peculiar salty taste.
The plump pork and pungent onions were engaged in a fierce duel on his tongue.
At the end of that fierce battle, the two became good friends and ran together through a black field where yellow pickled radish flowers bloomed.
‘It’s… delicious!’
Before he knew it, Gang-so’s bowl was empty.
This was the day Gang-so first encountered jajangmyeon.
“Have some tangsuyuk, too.”
While Gang-so was eating jajangmyeon, other dishes had been brought out and placed in front of him.
But Gang-so was more drawn to the jajangmyeon he had just eaten.
“Um, if it’s not too much trouble, could I have another bowl?”
“Of course.”
Another bowl of jajangmyeon that Yoo Soon-tae brought out also quickly disappeared into Gang-so’s stomach.
Lim So-young’s expression finally brightened as she watched him.
“Oppa, wipe your mouth.”
“Thank you.”
Gang-so wiped his mouth with the tissue Ha-young handed him and asked Yoo Soon-tae,
“By the way, what does ‘Help Wanted’ posted on the door mean?”
“Ah, that means we’re looking for someone to work here. The person who delivered our food quit.”
“What is delivery?”
At his question, Yoo Soon-tae briefly explained delivery to Gang-so.
Gang-so had a feeling that he wouldn’t be able to return to where he came from easily.
If that was the case, he had no choice but to stay here, but he found it difficult to adapt to this chaotic place on his own.
There were too many words he couldn’t understand and too many things he didn’t know.
Right now, he desperately needed the help of Yoo Soon-tae’s family.
They were the first people he met here who were friendly to him, and since he had saved their daughter’s life, they were likely to help him.
However, Gang-so’s pride wouldn’t allow him to just laze around and be a burden.
While 고민ing over jajangmyeon, the help wanted sign seemed like a welcome opportunity.
“I’d like to do that job.”
“Huh? You, sir?”
“Is that not allowed?”
Yoo Soon-tae scratched his head.
“It’s not that it’s not allowed, but if you’re an isolated person, you probably don’t have an ID card… Then it’s difficult to go through various procedures due to hygiene laws…”
Just then, Lim So-young spoke.
“But he saved our Ha-young’s life, can’t we do something?”
“Hmm…”
At Lim So-young’s plea, Yoo Soon-tae thought for a moment.
He remembered a program he had seen on TV before, ‘The Man Who Wants to Know the Truth.’
To restore an isolated person’s status, a guarantor was needed.
If there was no guarantor, the association would provide one, but only for awakened individuals. For ordinary people, the association would connect them with a guarantor, but it took a long time.
In the end, some isolated people who couldn’t find a guarantor were driven to the back alleys…
‘Damn it-!’
When he thought about that, Yoo Soon-tae raised his head.
If the benefactor who saved his daughter’s life ended up living such a miserable life, he felt like the guilt would haunt him forever.
Although there was a burden on the guarantor…
‘Oh, I don’t know anymore!’
In the end, he let out a sigh.
“Alright.”
“Thank you, honey!”
Lim So-young was overjoyed, and Yoo Soon-tae sighed again and explained the process of restoring an isolated person’s status to Gang-so.
“…So, I’ll be your guarantor.”
Gang-so was surprised by those words.
Being a guarantor was not something to be taken lightly.
“But you don’t know who I am…?”
“You saved my daughter’s life.”
“It’s a reckless decision! You shouldn’t trust people so easily!”
“I think people who say that are usually good people. And my gut is telling me that you’re someone I can trust.”
Yoo Soon-tae used to be a gate porter.
It was a dangerous job where he had to survive on his instincts for a long time, and since he had survived for ten years without any problems thanks to those instincts, his gut feeling was quite accurate.
Gang-so bowed to him and said,
“If you say so, I’ll do my best to live up to your trust. Thank you very much.”
“Ah, but please work hard.”
“Don’t worry about that!”
Yoo Soon-tae, who was scratching his head, said,
“Oh, I haven’t introduced myself. My name is Yoo Soon-tae, I’m thirty-five years old, this is my wife, Lim So-young, and the daughter you saved today is Yoo Ha-young.”
At Yoo Soon-tae’s introduction, Gang-so smiled and replied,
“My name is Gang-so. I’m also thirty-five years old.”
At those words, Yoo Soon-tae exclaimed in surprise,
“N-No way! You look like you’re barely twenty… Are you really thirty-five?”
“As far as I know, yes. If not, I might be three or four years older.”
Yoo Soon-tae suddenly felt a sense of defeat.
“So, what should I call you? Would you prefer Mr. Yoo? Or Ha-young’s father?”
Lim So-young said, “You’re the same age, how about just being friends?”
“Friends?”
“Why not?”
“That’s right. Why not.”
Yoo Soon-tae carefully said to Gang-so,
“Um, just call me… Soon-tae. Drop the formalities. I’ll just call you…”
“Gang-so. I don’t remember my last name. So just call me Gang-so. That’s my name.”
“Okay. Gang-so. Gang-so… it’s a nice name.”
Gang-so had finally found a place to stay.
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