Chapter 22: I Came to Deliver Good Ne... (2)

Chapter 22: I Came to Deliver Good Ne... (2) It was not the first time that Kim Ki-Rok had approached the Five Siblings of Mapogu. This was why he had no intention to have a conversation with them in front of a cafe or nearby convenience store. I'm amazed every time. [The Time Rabbit nods his head in agreement. "I think that one amazes me the most. How does his menu preference change every time?"] The reactions of the five siblings were always the same when he went to meet them after having provided the mana-breathing technique. The second-born female swordsman and the third-born shield warrior bickered. The fourth-born, long-range specialist stood there watching and sighed. The fifth-born archer would try his luck. However, each time they met Kim Ki-Rok throughout the various Attempts, one particular sibling would always act differently. "It's time for pizza?" "Bossam[1]?" "Beef?" "Indian curry?" On every Attempt, the eldest sibling would have a different craving. "I see you can't use chopsticks." The eldest Hunter said, looking at Kim Ji-Hee. "Yeees. It's hard." "I see. Then we'll use a fork." Kim Ji-Hee picked up her fork. "Yeees!" "Now, stab it." Following the eldest's instruction, her fork went through the boneless chicken. "Next, dip just a third of it in the sauce next to you." She based the mouth-watering red sauce on the chicken. "Now eat." "Mmm." "Make sure you chew. Oh, and try stabbing this radish." Plop. "Now eat." "Mmm, mmm." Kim Ji-Hee shook in her chair and swung her legs back and forth as if she had been deeply moved. The eldest son nodded at Kim Ji-Hee's reaction and picked up his chopsticks. After putting some leeks on three pieces of chicken, he picked all of it up, lightly dipped them in the sauce, and shoved it all into his mouth. "Hmm! This place was the answer, after all." He said with a mouthful. "The... answer!" Kim Ji-Hee chimed. "That's right, the answer." Nodding his head, the eldest continued putting leeks on more chicken pieces. Kim Ji-Hee, also nodding her head, pierced another piece of chicken with a fork again. The huge man and very small girl ate like they were filming a mukbang[2]. "Hey, if they're part of DG Guild..." "Oh, the one that did the crazy livestream." Although the siblings spoke in a very soft voice, almost whispering in each other's ears, they realized they couldn't avoid the acute hearing of a Hunter. "I-I'm sorry." "Haha! I understand. Our livestream was pretty wild," Kim Ki-Rok replied. The short-haired woman wielding a longsword let out an awkward laugh. "Hahaha..." "Since you seem to have heard of the DG Guild, we can quickly get to the point, but I think it's best to start with introductions. I am the Guildma..." "Mister. Ahhh..." Kim Ji-Hee cut Kim Ki-Rok off. Kim Ki-Rok stopped after she had pulled at his sleeve and watched her poke another piece of chicken. "The hyung here wants you to chew it thoroughly." Kim Ji-Hee informed. "Okay, okay." After chewing and swallowing the chicken, Kim Ki-Rok looked back at the four of them. "I am the Guildmaster of DG Guild, Kim Ki-Rok. This is our Ji-Hee." "I'm Kim Ji-Hee," she said. After sipping on her cola, she stood up on her chair to bow at everyone, then sat down and went back to poking at the boneless chicken with her fork. "I am Level 38, D-Class Hunter, Yoo Seh-Eun. I use a longsword." The second sibling of the longsword users, introduced herself. "Oh, I'm Kang Seh-Hyuk. I use a shield," the third sibling said. "I'm Lee Ji-Ah. I have an awakened ability related to ice." She was the fourth sibling with ice abilities. "The name is Nam Dong-Wook. I use a bow," the fifth sibling said. Kim Ki-Rok and the four others turned their heads. "Hmm... Jeong Man-Kook," said the first sibling who ate a lot. "Hm!" Jeong Man-Kook pressed the bell on the dining table, and in response, a waiter came around to ask, "Yes, do you need something?" "Can I get some dumpling soup?" Jeong Man-Kook requested. "Oh, um..." "Yes?" "But this a fried chicken place?" The waiter said, confused. "You don't have it?" "Nope." "That's a shame." Jeong Man-Kook licked his lips and started eating the chicken again. "Dumpling... soup." Kim Ji-Hee muttered. "Dumpling soup. It's delicious." Jeong Man-Kook said it matter-of-factly. "Dumpling soup." she repeated. After uniting under the thought of dumpling soup, Jeong Man-Kook and Kim Ji-Hee resumed their mukbang once more. The other four siblings looked dumbfounded, but Kim Ki-Rok nonchalantly continued the conversation. "I know things took an interesting turn, but since the self-introductions are over, shall we get straight to the point?" The four siblings looked at each other and nodded seriously. "Um, yes." "Do you have any thoughts on taking on a request?" "I'm sorry. We're still not sure about joining a gui... Sorry?" The third sibling seemed flustered. He had thought that Kim Ki-Rok was making a guild recruitment offer. "A request?" "That's right, a request. We will have some Gate activities in a week. Since it is located within the jurisdiction of the Incheon Protection Guild, we will not proceed with the Gate destruction process, but we plan to stay at the Gate until our objective is achieved." "And by objective, you mean..." "That's a secret for now. Of course, I will tell you once you accept the request." Kim Ki-Rok smiled and added, "The Gate is C-Class, and four participants from the DG Guild, including myself, will be participating." "So, the nine of us will stay at the Gate and hunt monsters until the objective is achieved?" asked the fourth sibling with the long-range ice ability. "That's correct. Originally, we planned to move only as the DG Guild, but we are short on manpower." "I heard a rumor that Guildmaster Kim Ki-Rok and your Elementalist are both low-class Hunters, but your skills are at the level of A-Class Hunters," one of the siblings added. "That's correct. However, the other three are the issue." In other words, he meant that although four people would not enter the Gate, only one would be a Hunter capable of fighting monsters. "Ah, the other three are production-class Awakened." The third sibling, a shield warrior, nodded in agreement. "That's not it." Kim Ki-Rok said. "Huh? Then..." Kim Ki-Rok stroked Kim Ji-Hee's head. "What?" "Yes." "You're not serious." "Oh, but I am." "For real?" "For real." *** As they parted ways, Jeong Man-Kook waved his hand toward Kim Ji-Hee, who was currently sitting snugly in Kim Ki-Rok's arms. "Let's have dumpling soup next time," he said. "Okay! Bye bye!" Kim Ji-Hee replied cheerfully. "Today was fun... No, we just ate today." Kim Ki-Rok said. "Chicken!" Kim Ji-Hee exclaimed. "Yeah, yeah." Kim Ji-Hee laughed and hugged Kim Ki-Rok as he lifted her up and down. Just looking at them made everyone feel at ease. "Hey." The second sibling, Yoo Seh-Eun, called out to Jeong Man-Kook as Kim Ki-Rok disappeared underground to catch the subway. "Hmm." Jeong Man-Kook said. "So, what do you think?" "Hmm..." Jeong Man-Kook slowly spoke with a serious expression, "It was delicious." Thwack! Yoo Seh-Eun smacked Jeong Man-Kook on the back of his head with her fist. "I wasn't asking about how the chicken tasted!" "You weren't?" "The request!" Yoo Seh-Eun spat out a small curse, looking at the others while Jeong Man-Kook tilted his head as if he had just heard this for the first time. "What do you guys think?" she asked the others instead. The third and fourth siblings, Kang Seh-Hyuk and Lee Ji-Ah, looked at the fifth, Nam Dong-Wook, who wore glasses and had a bow on his back. He had been fiddling with his phone the moment Kim Ki-Rok and Kim Ji-Hee disappeared from his view. Without looking up, the fifth said, "It sounds fine. Leaving everything else aside, they have experience carrying out a criminal suppression operation with the Shine Guild and Golden Lion Guild. We could trust the guild to some extent, but that's not the problem." "Then what is?" "The fact that they will stay in the Gate until they achieve their goal." Hearing Nam Dong-Wook's comment, Lee Ji-Ah nodded. "Ah, right, an indefinite period of time." "Ahh, an indefinite period of time, just like the love I had for my first love. She was so cute when she smiled.[3]." Kang Seh-Hyuk reminisced. Thwack! Yoo Seh-Eun struck Kang Seh-Hyuk on the head with her longsword, but that didn't stop him from rambling on. "Oh, Ji-Ah. You are my first love." "Shut up!" Lee Ji-Ah tried to continue the conversation after suppressing the nonsense. "What else?" "That's it." Nam Dong-Wook said simply. "That's it?" "Yeah. Trust is the most important thing in a request, and since they are on good terms with Shine Guild and Golden Lion Guild, DG Guild is trustworthy." "What about the difficulty level?" "Their Guildmaster and the Elementalist are estimated to be A-Class Hunters based on their skills. They also mentioned before that we would be going into a C-Class Gate. So, there wouldn't be any problems," Nam Dong-Wook replied. The issue is how long they will stay in the Gate. "They asked us to get back to them by Saturday. What day is it today?" Yoo Seh-Eun asked. Before leaving, Kim Ki-Rok had requested that they visit DG Guild on the weekend if they were willing to accept the request. "Today is Tuesday," one of them replied. "Then we have until Friday. Let's gather more information by Thursday and contact them on Friday," Yoo Seh-Eun concluded. Kang Seh-Hyuk, Lee Ji-Ah, and Nam Dong-Wook nodded in agreement, while Jeong Man-Kook looked at the subway station solemnly and called out to one of the siblings, "Seh-Eun." "What?" "Let's go eat pig's feet." Thwack! The one who smacked him, Yoo Seh-Eun, was the second sibling and leader of the Five Siblings of Mapogu. However, people would always think Jeong Man-Kook was their leader because of the brake incident in Mapo District. At that time, Jeong Man-Kook had saved the most people and killed the most monsters out of all of them. *** A man and a little girl were on the way home, and as he spoke, she repeated. "Dump." "Dump." "Pling." "Pling!" "Soup." "Soup!" "That's right. Dumpling soup." Kim Ki-Rok said. "Dumpling soup!" Kim Ji-Hee exclaimed. After patting Kim Ji-Hee's head, Kim Ki-Rok hugged her tightly. "Did you have fun today?" "Yes!" "Was the food good?" "Hehehe. Yeees." "What was the most delicious dish you had?" "Chicken!" "Yup, yup. Chicken is the best." "The chicken was the best!" Smiling from her overflowing cuteness, Kim Ki-Rok tightly hugged Kim Ji-Hee. "Mister." "Yes?" Kim Ki-Rok responded. "What are we doing tomorrow?" "Tomorrow?" "Yes. Tomorrow." "Hmm. What should we do tomorrow?" After considering the request, the five siblings decided it wasn't a bad idea and agreed to meet Saturday evening. Since the date was set in advance, all parties would finish their tasks before then. Lee Ji-Yeon would be submitting her Gate activity application form, and Kang Woo-Hyuk would focus on his classes. "Hmm! What should we do tomorrow?" "Mister, mister." Kim Ji-Hee said urgently. "Yes?" "Fish cake soup." "Fish cake soup?" "Yes. The fish cake soup that the oppa said." Smiling at Kim Ji-Hee, Kim Ki-Rok nodded. "No dumpling soup?" "Dumpling soup is with the oppa." "So, fish cake soup?" "Yes." "Hmm! Alright! Let's go eat fish cake soup tomorrow!" Kim Ji-Hee raised both arms in excitement and cheered. "Yay!" 1. Bossam is a Korean dish consisting of thinly sliced pork shoulder. ☜ 2. An online trend originating from South Korea where content creators would make videos or livestreams of themselves eating a large quantity of food. ☜ 3. The name "미정" pronounced Mi-Jeong is the same as the word used for indefinite. ☜