Chapter 132: Chapter 132
“… That’s what happened. I apologize, Sir.”
Ho Sung Lee hung his head low in shame.
Bowl was stuck to Ho Sung Lee’s leg.
Min Sung simply looked at them as if they were pathetic and sighed.
“This happened because you’re weak.”
“…”
Ho Sung Lee and Bowl both hung their heads like children being scolded.
“It’ll get more difficult from now on. You have to get your shit together and focus. You have to get stronger if we want to protect the restaurants.”
“… Okay.”
“… Yes, Master.”
Ho Sung Lee and Bowl mumbled their answers.
“Answer me properly,” Min Sung snapped.
In response, Ho Sung Lee and Bowl simultaneously chanted, “Yes, Sir!”
“Did you bring the recipe and ingredients?”
“Of course!”
Ho Sung Lee tapped himself in the chest and spoke confidently.
“Let’s eat.”
As soon as Min Sung made his command, Ho Sung Lee laid out the picnic blanket and took out the equipment from the item window.
First, he took out a rice cooker.
After that, it was a frying pan, pot, plates, and spoons.
Once he took out all of the equipment, Ho Sung Lee began taking out the ingredients.
What he took out was…
Rice, Kimchi, pork, onions, green onions, peppers, minced garlic, hot pepper flakes, soy sauce, and salted shrimp.
“Kimchi stew?”
Min Sung asked.
“Yes, that’s right. Since it’s my first dish, I figured I should make something easier. Chef Jang recommended it.”
Min Sung crossed his arms and nodded.
“Then let’s begin!”
Ho Sung Lee washed his hands and then proceeded to wash the rice.
As for the Kimchi stew broth, he poured in the water that washed out the rice into the pot.
He then added pork into the water and brushed off his hands.
“Hey, Bowl. It’s your turn to step up.”
In response, Bowl walked over.
“Don’t make the fire too strong, or it’ll burn. Can you do that?”
Bowl confidently drew a circle with his bone finger.
Ho Sung Lee sighed nervously.
If he didn’t control the heat properly, it would become hard to cook within the tower.
“Okay. Then let’s try it. Heat up the rice at medium-high heat, and for this Kimchi stew, make it stronger. Can you do that?”
“I don’t know. I’ll try.”
Ho Sung Lee watched Bowl and licked his lips nervously.
“You can’t make the fire too strong. Then you’ll ruin Min Sung’s meal.”
At that point, Bowl also tensed up.
Bowl knew very well just how important meals were to his master.
So he had to be very careful.
However, he had never used his magic this way before, so he hesitated.
“Bowl,” Min Sung called.
“Oh! Yes, Master!”
Bowl flinched and looked back at Min Sung.
“It’s okay if you fail.”
Min Sung’s words comforted him.
Bowl turned around toward the rice cooker and pot and controlled his magic with great focus.
Bowl’s eyes grew dark as Aura appeared at the tip of his bone fingers.
Manifestation of dark magic.
Flick!
Both the rice cooker and pot were lit by dark flames.
“Wow! You lit up both at once. You’re full of confidence, huh? And the fire is…!”
Ho Sung Lee smiled in awe and then got startled.
“Hey, hey, hey! It’s too strong! Turn it down.”
“Okay!”
Bowl used all his might to lower the intensity of the fire.
The fire began decreasing in intensity.
After seeing that Ho Sung Lee flinched.
Bowl’s dark magic flames were so strong that it began cooking the food in no time.
In order to not miss the right timing, Ho Sung Lee added Kimchi and Kimchi brine to the water and added minced garlic soy sauce, and hot pepper flakes according to Woong Jang’s recipe.
“Oh yeah. Salted shrimp.”
Ho Sung Lee found the salted shrimp and added it to the Kimchi stew.
After stirring it with a spoon, he took out the green onions.
Since the green onions weren’t sliced, he had to do it himself.
Ho Sung Lee went into the item window. He took out a knife and then began slicing the green onions.
The sliced green onions were added to the Kimchi stew.
The Kimchi stew already gave off a scent and steam.
Ho Sung Lee sighed with nervousness and watched the stew boil when.
“Oh yeah. The rice!”
He realized he never checked the rice.
‘I hope it didn’t burn.’
Ho Sung Lee carefully opened the lid to the rice cooker.
Bowl’s flames were majestic.
They were strong enough to cook the food at high speed, but it didn’t burn.
The fire was perfect.
“Good, perfect.”
Ho Sung Lee closed the lid with a satisfied smile on his face.
The rice was almost ready, and the Kimchi stew was almost complete as well..
“Bowl, you can turn off the fire under the pot now.”
In response, Bowl turned off the flame.
After watching the rice cooker, Ho Sung Lee lifted his hand.
“Stop!”
Ho Sung Lee exclaimed.
Bowl turned off the flame underneath the rice cooker.
“How did it turn out?”
Bowl asked as he looked down on the rice cooker.
Ho Sung Lee opened the lid.
As soon as he saw white rice underneath the steam, he sighed out of relief. He closed his eyes and fell over backward.
“We succeeded, Bowl.”
In response, Bowl cheered and ran round and round with his arms in the air.
Meanwhile.
Min Sung took a spoon and tasted the broth of the Kimchi stew.
Ho Sung Lee got back up. He looked at Min Sung and gulped.
And then…
Min Sung laughed.
“It’s delicious. You did a good job.”
Ho Sung Lee punched the air and expressed his joy.
Bowl must have been happy as well because he climbed onto Ho Sung Lee’s head and played with his hair.
“Agh! That hurts!”
While Ho Sung Lee tried to get Bowl to come off, Min Sung put some rice in a bowl and added Kimchi stew into another bowl.
“Let’s eat.”
In response, Ho Sung Lee threw Bowl aside and got ready to eat.
While Min Sung and Ho Sung Lee got ready to eat, Bowl also sat with them.
“It looks delicious.”
Ho Sung Lee laughed as he scooped Kimchi stew int a bowl.
“How would you know what’s delicious?”
In response to Ho Sung Lee’s teasing, Bowl’s eyes fired up.
“S-sorry.”
So Ho Sung Lee apologized while breaking into a cold sweat.
Min Sung took out a holystone from the item window and tossed it over.
Bowl opened his mouth wide. He chewed the holystone and then rolled on the ground with happiness.
***
The rice was more delicious than expected.
The white grains of rice shined as if someone rubbed them with oil.
Then what would the rice cook with Bowl’s magical fire taste like?
He got a spoon and tasted it.
The sweet flavor and the sticky texture teased the tip of his tongue.
‘Impressive.’
It was really delicious.
Min Sung scooped up more rice and added the Kimchi and pork of the stew on top.
He took a bite.
Gulp.
The rich flavor of the Kimchi stew filled his mouth and down his throat.
The deep flavor of the Kimchi stew along with the oily pork was phenomenal!
“Ho Sung. You did a good job,” Min Sung praised.
Ho Sung Lee laughed and tasted the Kimchi stew himself.
‘It feels like it tastes even better when I eat it here.’
The taste of Kimchi stew inside the Black Tower made for the most perfect meal.
Perhaps the impact of the Kimchi stew was even stronger because of the packed lunch they had eaten here before.
‘In any case, it tastes good.’
‘It was a good idea to cook here.’
The thick soup of the hot Kimchi stew reinforced the idea that he made the right decision.
The sensation of the Kimchi stew was warm and cozy.
By eating the Kimchi and pork with the rice, the rice disappeared in no time.
In particular, the thick pieces of soft pork diversified the meal’s taste.
It was not long before they emptied their bowls.
‘So delicious!’
It was a satisfying meal indeed.
As for the dishes, they used their magic to take care of it.
***
Ho Sung Lee hoped that if he told Min Sung about Wang Wei, he would kill him immediately, but that was all too hopeful.
Even while they ate, he showed no interest in it whatsoever.
Min Sung didn’t care even when he first heard it.
All he cared about was clearing the tower and eating in between.
‘Of course.’
Ho Sung Lee’s mouth changed shape into a frown.
‘That human doesn’t care if we die.’
‘He’s so cold!’
As Ho Sung Lee thought that way and passed the 9th floor…
A monster appeared.
On top of the monster’s head was the name, ‘Legendary Pirate Captain’.
It looked like Bowl
It was just bigger and taller.
The monster, which was dressed like a pirate from the Middle Ages, radiated with a blue Aura.
“Sir! Bowl and I will take care of that monster,” Ho Sung Lee suggested.
But Min Sung looked back at Ho Sung Lee as if he didn’t trust him at all.
“We can do it. Please trust us.”
Min Sung sighed and gestured them to go ahead.
After Ho Sung Lee and Bowl nodded at each other, they got ready for battle.
***
The reason why he was raising Ho Sung Lee and Bowl was just in case they were needed.
No matter how powerful he was, he wasn’t able to protect all the restaurants from the monsters alone.
However, the tower was too difficult for Ho Sung Lee and Bowl to handle.
It was bothersome, but he had no choice but to invest time into raising them.
Min Sung crossed his arms and watched Ho Sung Lee and Bowl fight.
Bowl used his slowdown skill.
After that, Ho Sung Lee ran toward the monster.
He was holding the Death Knight Sword.
Although the Legendary Pirate Captain was under the slowdown spell, he easily blocked the attack with his pirate sword.
Ho Sung Lee was taken aback, but he continued to make his attacks.
Bowl also used his magic attacks from behind, but it was not very effective.
Min Sung watched Ho Sung Lee and Bowl fight with a frustrated look on his face.