TCBMF 05

Chapter 5

2,400P.

Still…

It was much better than before.

“I can finally afford the frozen pork belly.”

Before she even realized it, her hand had already moved.

The space in front of her warped for just a moment, and a vacuum-packed piece of meat dropped into her hand.

There was no mistaking it.

It was frozen.

“Wow…”

The wolf reacted to the sound.

Its ears perked up, and it stared intently at what Se-hee was holding.

“Ah.”

She awkwardly scratched the back of her neck and looked through the list again.

• [Ssamjang (200g)] … 300P

• [Pack of Lettuce (10 leaves)] … 120P

“This is crazy.”

Adding ssamjang and lettuce to the pork belly would eat up quite a lot of points.

At this rate, I’m going to run out in no time.

Even so, her hands were already moving.

At that moment, Cassian’s gaze turned toward the meat.

“What is that?”

Cassian asked as he looked at the meat in Se-hee’s hand.

“Food.”

“I know that without you telling me.”

“Hmm…”

Se-hee thought for a moment.

“Have you… never seen meat before?”

Cassian’s eyebrow twitched very slightly.

“No.”

“Then why are you looking at it like that?”

Cassian looked at the meat for a moment before answering.

“It smells unusual.”

Unusual?

There didn’t seem to be anything strange about it.

Watching Se-hee’s reaction, Cassian spoke again.

“Monster meat has a particularly strong smell.”

“This is pork.”

“Pork?”

“You don’t… eat pork?”

Cassian looked at the meat for a moment, then shook his head.

“I simply don’t go out of my way to look for it.”

He nodded toward the forest.

“There is plenty of monster meat in this forest alone.”

After a brief pause, he added,

“There is no reason to hunt ordinary animals like pigs.”

“Ah…”

Se-hee casually changed the subject.

“By the way, if you’re going to eat with me, you have to pay in advance. This isn’t a favor. It’s a transaction.”

“Pay in advance?”

“Yes. The food, plus a fee for using the place.”

The points she was spending were money she could earn again anyway.

“So don’t feel too pressured.”

“How much?”

“I said it’s payment in advance, but I can’t be too heartless.”

He looked at Se-hee once, then at the meat.

Then he took out some gold coins and handed them to her.

Seven.

“I’ll settle the rest afterward.”

“Huh? No, that’s already way too much.”

She couldn’t return the coins, either.

The system had already exchanged them.

Feeling awkward for no particular reason, Se-hee handed Cassian a pair of chopsticks.

“You don’t need to give me any more.”

Cassian didn’t answer.

Instead, he watched Se-hee as she busily moved around.

Se-hee tidied up the area and, instead of a grill, took out a suitably flat stone and placed it over the fire.

Finally, the moment she put the meat on it—

Sizzle―

The sound spread through the forest.

The meat began to crackle over the fire.

“Wow… That smell.”

Just then—

[Environmental Effect Activated: Spread of Meat Aroma]

“What? Again? It’s starting again.”

Se-hee raised her head.

It was smoke, but it was a little different from before.

Cassian, who had been sitting across from her, was already gripping the hilt of his sword tightly.

“What’s wrong?”

When Se-hee asked, he answered without taking his eyes off the surroundings.

“Flames.”

“Huh?”

“It sounds like the crystallization of flame magic.”

Se-hee looked at the meat for a moment, then nodded seriously.

“Yes. It’s high-grade magic made from pigs.”

“I see.”

At that answer, Se-hee stopped flipping the meat and looked at him.

I was joking.

There wasn’t even a trace of humor on Cassian’s face.

Instead, the tension in the hand gripping his sword eased ever so slightly.

At the same time, Cassian’s throat moved just a little.

At this point, Cassian still didn’t know.

This meal would not end as a simple act of kindness.

Gulp―

As the pork belly cooked, smoke rose once more.

When the sizzling sound died down, Se-hee took the meat off the stone and placed it on a flat leaf instead of a plate.

Naturally, she made her own portion first.

She placed a piece of meat on a lettuce leaf and casually popped it into her mouth.

Crunch.

The rich, savory aroma of the oil spread through her mouth as she chewed.

“……”

At the same time, she felt a gaze from across the fire.

It was Cassian.

He silently watched the meat, the lettuce, and Se-hee’s hands in turn.

As if he had no idea where or how he was supposed to start eating.

Ah.

Se-hee finally realized.

He doesn’t know how to make a lettuce wrap.

It felt awkward to simply leave someone who had just casually handed over seven gold coins sitting there.

“Wait a second.”

Cassian’s body stiffened instinctively.

Se-hee was approaching him.

And she was doing it quite naturally.

Unaware of Cassian’s reaction, Se-hee placed some meat on a lettuce leaf and spread a little ssamjang over it.

This should be fine, right?

Her hands moved more naturally than she’d expected.

She never thought her six years of living alone would come in handy for something like this.

Se-hee folded the lettuce firmly into a large wrap and held it out toward Cassian without a second thought.

“Here.”

“…?”

Cassian stared at the hand for a moment.

Meat wrapped in lettuce.

His gaze moved from the wrap to Se-hee’s face.

A brief silence followed, impossible to tell whether it was caution or hesitation.

“You eat it like this?”

“Yes. All at once.”

She looked as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Cassian stared at the lettuce wrap for a moment.

Ever since he had been cursed, food had been nothing more than something he could chew.

Besides, having someone feed him this way was unfamiliar.

As far as Cassian knew, such an act could not happen without some degree of intimacy.

“……”

Cassian briefly looked away before looking at the wrap again.

Steam was rising from the meat.

The smell had become impossible to ignore.

If he stayed like this any longer, he felt like his reason would give out first.

Cassian cautiously lowered his head.

Without giving it a second thought, Se-hee placed the wrap directly into his mouth.

“Ah, open wider. Yes, like that.”

The moment her fingertips touched him, Cassian’s shoulders stiffened ever so slightly.

The greasiness of the meat and the salty taste of the ssamjang filled his mouth at once.

It was the first time since he had been cursed.

“……!”

Cassian’s eyes widened.

This wasn’t simply a matter of the food being delicious.

What is this…?

With every chew, the flavor became deeper.

Cassian unconsciously muttered,

“There is such a taste?”

Only after saying it aloud did Cassian realize how embarrassing it sounded.

The moment he became aware of it, he grew even more flustered.

His mouth was full, making it difficult to speak properly, yet his heart was beating unnecessarily fast.

It felt as though the sense of taste that had been frozen by the curse was coming back to life.

A strange warmth spread through his body.

Cassian’s gaze naturally turned toward Se-hee.

Toward the hand that had just offered him the wrap without the slightest hesitation.

…Could it be?

Cassian couldn’t tell whether this sensation had returned because of the food or because of Se-hee, the person who had given it to him.

Meanwhile, Se-hee was thinking about something completely different.

Isn’t his reaction a little too much?

She glanced at the empty container of ssamjang.

Was there not enough ssamjang?

Maybe the piece of meat had been too big.

Or perhaps the lettuce was too large and overwhelming for someone eating it for the first time.

“Are you okay?”

Se-hee asked, her face genuinely concerned.

“Is the ssamjang a little too strong?”

“I don’t know what that is, but it was delicious.”

Cassian barely managed to swallow the wrap still in his mouth.

After taking a moment to catch his breath, he raised his head.

“…This food.”

“Yes?”

“Does it normally affect the senses this strongly?”

Se-hee tilted her head.

“Strongly?”

Cassian hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“I… can barely taste anything.”

“Huh?”

“Because of a curse.”

Se-hee was startled for a moment, but she quickly composed herself and spoke as calmly as she could.

“Ah… So that’s why you reacted like that earlier.”

Cassian silently nodded.

“So you’ve been like that even before you came here?”

“Yes. I collapsed earlier because of the curse, too.”

“Ah…”

Unable to think of anything else to say, Se-hee offered him more pork belly.

“Then have some more.”

“What?”

Cassian’s face reddened, and he couldn’t take his eyes off Se-hee.

Se-hee narrowed her eyes slightly as she watched him.

…Is that a symptom of the curse?

After observing him for a moment, she casually picked up another piece of meat.

“If you eat it again, maybe you’ll be able to taste it again.”

At that moment—

A familiar window suddenly appeared right in the center of Se-hee’s vision.

[Congratulations!]

Se-hee blinked.

She checked the position of the window again.

Right in the center of her vision, boldly floating there.

She rubbed her eyes once and even shook her head slightly, but it didn’t disappear.

Why… is the timing like this?

She couldn’t exactly say she’d done nothing, considering how strangely things had just played out.

For a moment, Se-hee couldn’t tell whether this notification was a joke or whether the system had simply made its own judgment again.

[You have fallen into a misunderstanding equivalent to a romantic relationship after a single lettuce wrap.]