Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Episode 13. Someone's Actually Waiting for This to Drop?

Park Jisoo opened his eyes the moment the notification sounded.

He had not been sleeping deeply.

In fact, there was no way he could sleep properly in the first place. The inside of his right side throbbed, and his bandaged shoulder ached whenever he rolled over. The previous day, he had gone out to assist with clearing a small fissure gate and encountered a specimen stronger than expected. He had come back bearing the consequences.

He felt around for the phone beside his pillow and picked it up.

It was a little past midnight. A short message appeared at the top of the screen.

[An item on your watchlist has been listed.]

Park Jisoo’s eyes immediately changed.

His half-asleep expression, his half-closed eyes, and the furrow in his brow caused by the pain all vanished in an instant. He immediately opened the Exchange app. His fingers moved with practiced speed, but there was urgency in them as well. He had been waiting for that notification for the past several days.

A single item appeared in the center of the screen.

[Iron-Hoof Lord Mala Stir-Fry (Grade: D+)]

Quantity Available: 1

Purchase Price: 4,300,000 won

Park Jisoo checked the price first.

It was much more expensive than last time. However, he pressed the purchase button without hesitation.

Compared to his purchasing power, it was not particularly expensive. And even if it had been, it was not something he could afford to pass up. If he was even a little late, someone else might take it.

No, the fact that it had been listed at a higher price than before actually meant something. It could mean the effect was better, the ingredients were of higher quality, or at the very least, the seller had more confidence than before.

The payment took less than two seconds to complete. Only when the words indicating the sale was complete appeared on the screen did Park Jisoo let out a short breath. It was then that he realized how tightly his fingers had been tensed.

“Crazy.”

A low curse escaped him.

He leaned back against the bed and closed his eyes. His left hand naturally moved to the bandages around his side. It was still throbbing.

He had used recovery potions and received treatment from the guild’s dedicated healers. Their assessment was that he should be able to move around again after just one more day of rest. But Park Jisoo did not take their words entirely at face value.

After all, having a wound heal and being able to endure another fatal blow in battle were two completely different things.

And he had already experienced it once.

When a plate of yukhoe bearing the name of a Minolac, a monster considered D-Rank material at best, had accidentally come into his possession through the Exchange,

When he had thought it was a joke, only for his status window to actually update,

And when that had saved his life.

In any case, Park Jisoo had set up search alerts on the Exchange afterward. The seller’s name was private, so he could not identify them, but he had taken advantage of the unusual product category and effect description to configure the alerts so he could immediately catch another item of the same type.

That way, he would know as soon as something similar appeared again.

And now, a second item had appeared.

Iron-Hoof Lord Mala Stir-Fry.

Its grade was higher than the Minolac Yukhoe, and the price was higher to reflect that.

Park Jisoo opened his eyes and looked at the bedside table. A black lunchbox container that had not been there moments ago was now sitting on it. This was one of the strange things about the Exchange system.

Listed items were not delivered directly. Instead, they were transferred to the buyer through a particular method. Someone experiencing it for the first time might be startled as though they had seen a ghost, but Park Jisoo had already experienced it many times.

He opened the lunchbox lid. The aroma that surged upward was different.

The scent of spicy seasonings and oil struck his nose first. Then came the deep, rich aroma of meat beneath it. It was not simply a spicy smell. There was a pungent, tingling quality that seemed to numb the tip of his tongue in advance.

Park Jisoo picked up his chopsticks.

A piece of dark red meat glistened with seasoning.

“Iron-Hoof Lord, huh.”

He took a bite. His expression immediately stiffened.

“...”

At first, his tongue tingled.

The numbing sensation of Sichuan pepper awakened his palate. Then came the spicy heat. The stimulation was strong, but it was not shallow. When he chewed the meat, its firm fibers resisted briefly before breaking apart. It was not tough. It had elasticity. The more he chewed, the more the meat juices blended with the fragrant oil.

And the moment he swallowed.

A status window appeared before Park Jisoo’s eyes.

[Strength increases by 17.]

[Charge/Knockback Resistance increases by 10.]

Park Jisoo remained frozen for several seconds.

He slowly opened his status window. The numbers had definitely changed.

“...This is seriously insane.”

A quiet laugh escaped him.

The Minolac Yukhoe had been shocking too, but that had only increased stamina. Of course, even that was absurd, but there had at least been room to think of it as something related to survival. This time, however, was different.

Strength.

This was a stat directly connected to combat.

And it even came with Charge/Knockback Resistance. Although it was a defensive stat, it was something that fundamentally changed how well his body could withstand attacks inside a gate.

Park Jisoo put down his chopsticks and closed his eyes for a moment. Calculations ran through his mind.

‘How did someone turn this into food?’

It made no sense by ordinary standards, but status windows did not lie.

He immediately picked up his phone.

He tapped the name pinned at the top of his contacts. Since it was the middle of the night, he expected the phone to ring at least twice. But the other person answered before the first ring had even finished.

- What is it?

The voice sounded half-asleep. There was irritation in it too.

Park Jisoo spoke immediately.

“It’s appeared.”

Silence came from the other end of the line.

A few seconds later, Nam Taejun asked again.

- Are you sure?

“This one’s even better.”

Park Jisoo briefly steadied his breathing before speaking.

“Strength +17, Charge/Knockback Resistance +10. I checked my status window, and the effects are still active.”

This time, the silence lasted longer.

Even over the phone, he could sense that Nam Taejun was silently organizing the situation in his head. He had always been that kind of person. The more flustered he became, the less he spoke, and only after thinking things through would he ask precisely what he needed to know.

- Product name?

“Iron-Hoof Lord Mala Stir-Fry.”

- Grade?

“D+.”

- Price?

“4.3 million.”

-...

A very faint click of the tongue came from the other end.

It did not mean he thought the price was high. If anything, his reaction suggested the opposite.

Nam Taejun asked in a low voice.

- What do you think?

Park Jisoo did not hesitate.

“The ingredients aren't the issue.”

- Go on.

“Whether it’s an Iron-Hoof Lord or a Minolac, neither is normally an ingredient that can affect a status window like this. This is the cook’s ability. It’s either the same seller or, at the very least, an ability of the same type.”

- Any traces?

“None. The seller’s information is private. The Exchange listing times are too random as well. If I hadn’t set an alert this time, I wouldn’t have caught it.”

- Same time frame, same product category, same kind of effect description. This isn't a coincidence. Is there any chance a major player is behind it?

Park Jisoo looked down at the mala stir-fry inside the lunchbox again.

Even though the oil had begun to cool, its aroma remained unchanged. The spicy scent filling his room felt strangely real. What was the person who made this doing right now? Did they know that a single dish they had made had caused someone to start moving at the guild level?

The thought actually made him laugh.

“This is just a guess.”

- What is it?

“I think there’s a chance the person who made this might not belong to any organization yet.”

- Why?

“The pricing is too crude. It’s cheap for its effects, and the quantity is far too small. It’s almost like someone running a little cottage industry all by themselves.”

Nam Taejun let out a very short laugh over the phone. It was almost a soundless scoff.

- Good.

He spoke.

- Then we can snap them up.

The call ended. But Park Jisoo did not put down his phone.

He checked his notification settings once more. He carefully configured alerts again for similar product names, similar effect descriptions, and newly listed Exchange items. Finally, he looked at the mala stir-fry remaining in the lunchbox.

This was not simply expensive buff food.

A producer capable of transforming dungeon ingredients like this was valuable enough for an entire guild to offer an exclusive contract. No, it would be fortunate if things ended with a contract. There were more people in the world who wanted to take the entire source for themselves than people who simply wanted to buy good ingredients.

Park Jisoo picked up his chopsticks again.

There was no reason to leave delicious food uneaten.

____________

At that same time, Jinho was sitting on the floor of his studio apartment, looking at his bank account screen again. A faint mala aroma still lingered in the room.

Perhaps thanks to the Iron-Hoof Lord Mala Stir-Fry he had eaten earlier, his body felt much more solid and stable. Ever since confirming that the numbers in his status window had increased, a subtle excitement had refused to subside.

Name: Kang Jinho

Level: 4

Title: Novice Cook

Job: Dungeon Chef

Stats: Strength 22 Agility 7 Intelligence 8 Stamina 10

Special: Charge/Knockback Resistance 10

He had heard that hunters without special stats were recognized as D-Rank once their total normal stats reached 100 or higher.

He was still far from meeting that standard. His normal stats totaled only 47. Even so, things were certainly different from a few days ago, when he had been poring over the F-Rank classification chart.

At the very least, he was no longer at the absolute bottom of lower D-Rank, and he had even gained a special stat called Charge/Knockback Resistance.

On top of that, he had earned a tidy bit of extra income.

Looking at the bank account where the Exchange sale proceeds had been deposited, Jinho did some quick calculations. Things were definitely looking good. Especially compared to a few days ago, when he had been sighing over a balance of 3,200 won.

He could cover part of his overdue rent, his credit card bill, and his food expenses.

And then there was the Kim Jeseong Detective Agency.

The moment he saw that name again beneath the withdrawal history on the screen, Jinho unconsciously narrowed his eyes.

‘For now, I’ll keep the detective agency as it is.’

It was not because he regretted the money he had already poured into it. He simply felt that as long as he held on to even the faintest thread of hope, something might eventually turn up.

He moistened his dry lips with his tongue.

Then, suddenly, he remembered the Exchange sale from moments ago.

“Someone's actually waiting for this to drop?”

The sale had happened almost the instant he listed the item. That meant someone had been waiting for it.

Jinho slowly closed his eyes and opened them again. In that case, he had two options.

Either lie low or enter another gate.

‘I need to go back into a gate.’

The reason was simple. It was precisely because someone was waiting for him.

If Iron-Hoof Lord Mala Stir-Fry had effects like these, better ingredients were likely to produce even better results. But regardless of that, he was still far too weak. Even today, he would have died if it had been a straightforward head-on fight.

In a situation like this, if he immediately went into hiding and stopped entering dungeons just to protect himself, he might actually end up in even greater danger when he was eventually discovered. The other side would come fully prepared.

Of course, that was not the only reason.

Hunt monsters and obtain ingredients, cook them, eat them (or sell them), increase his stats (and make money).

Jinho slowly turned those four steps over in his mind.

For the first time in his life, he felt as though he had something resembling a business of his own.

He looked up at the ceiling. A few dead insect marks clung to the fluorescent light cover, and the corners of the wallpaper were peeling slightly. This place was still shabby.

But things like that could change from now on.

Depending on how hard he worked.