ISMFWC 02

Chapter 2

Sehee almost swore, but her body was being brutally honest.

“And what? There’s a penalty for failing, too?”

Her gaze returned to the system window.

“What does ‘annihilation’ mean? You’re not just going to kick me out, are you?”

She reread the message, hoping it didn’t actually mean what it sounded like.

It wasn’t as though she could simply log out like in a game.

“So if I don’t run the shop, I really disappear?”

A short sigh escaped her lips.

“Fine. I’ll do it. I will, okay?”

Sehee quickly took the items out of her inventory.

But there was one major problem.

“Wait a minute. Where’s the gas burner?”

Still clutching the bag, Sehee hurriedly searched through the inventory window.

“What am I supposed to do with just ramen? Am I supposed to boil it or not?”

Instead, a message she had never seen before quietly appeared at the bottom of the inventory window.

[Current Cooking Environment: Unsecured]

[Purchase cooking equipment or secure an alternative means of cooking.]

Sehee almost laughed because the whole thing was so absurd.

It was telling her to buy something when she had zero points.

There were no explanations, and there wasn’t even anyone she could talk to—only a pack of wolves.

“Isn’t this consumer fraud?”

She complained, but as expected, the system remained silent.

“What am I supposed to use to buy something right now?”

At that moment, Sehee’s gaze fell on the chunk of metal wedged between the twisted trees.

It was the truck that had hit her.

“If it’s a truck…”

As the thought occurred to her, her heart began beating a little faster.

Sehee took a step toward the truck.

The wolves immediately began growling louder.

She gritted her teeth and hurriedly searched through the truck’s cargo bed.

Then she spotted a familiar-looking metal container inside.

A gas burner and a pot.

“…Seriously?”

The moment she reached out her hand, the inventory window reacted.

A warning appeared, stating that the items were dangerous due to external damage.

“Is this really the time to worry about whether it’s dangerous?”

Without hesitation, Sehee grabbed them.

For a brief moment, the corners of her lips lifted.

It was an expression that had appeared without her realizing it.

The very same smile she had always worn in front of clients.

At the same time, the system conveniently chimed in.

[Special Skill Unlocked]

[The Capitalist’s Smile (A)]

: When displaying a sales smile, there is a certain probability of increasing the customer’s desire to purchase.

“You’re telling me about this now?”

Before she could even finish speaking, something changed.

The leader, which had been holding one of its front paws up, trembled ever so slightly.

Its growling stopped.

Instead, the tip of its nose briefly tilted toward the pot on the ground.

Its front paw, which had been poised to attack—

It didn’t lower completely, but it stopped advancing.

“I know, I know.”

Sehee spoke quietly without letting the corners of her lips fall.

“You think I’m prey.”

That was when it happened.

Immediately afterward, one of the wolves kicked off the ground and charged at Sehee.

Its forepaw cut through the air.

It came so close that it nearly brushed the tips of her hair.

“Wait, wait…!”

It was the very moment the wolf that appeared to be the leader of the pack opened its jaws wide, seemingly ready to tear her apart.

With trembling hands, Sehee turned the lever on the gas burner.

There was no time to think.

Click, pop!

A blue flame split the darkness of the forest.

The wolves flinched at the sight of the fire and backed away.

Sehee didn’t miss the opportunity.

She quickly poured the bottled water into the aluminum pot.

There was no way she was going to become wolf food even after coming to another world.

The water seemed to take far longer to boil than usual.

The wolves circled around Sehee, waiting for an opportunity.

Bubble, bubble…

At last, the water began to boil.

Sehee tore open the packet of Manseong instant noodles.

Her hand trembled almost uncontrollably as she poured in the soup powder, but her mind was gradually becoming cold and clear.

The moment the soup powder touched the boiling water, something strange happened.

Fwoooooosh—!

An aroma erupted, instantly driving away the forest’s foul, bloody stench and oppressive atmosphere.

A spicy heat that stimulated her senses down to her bones, combined with the deep, savory richness of beef bone broth.

It was the very essence of capitalism, distilled from seventy years of accumulated know-how.

“This is the smell.”

The aroma didn’t simply spread through the air.

It seemed almost alive as it pushed its way through the mist of the forest.

“…Huh?”

Perhaps because of the savory scent, the wolves that had been about to attack suddenly stopped moving and began twitching their noses.

Among them, the leader’s yellow eyes flashed brightly before becoming fixed on the noodles cooking to a pleasantly firm texture inside the pot.

“You want to eat this, don’t you? Stay still until it’s completely cooked, okay?”

Sehee kept an eye on the wolves in case they attacked her midway through.

But instead of looking ready to attack, every single one of them looked like a dog waiting for its dinner.

[Environmental Effect Activated: Stimulating Aroma Spread]

“What? No, this is just ordinary Manseong instant noodles! It’s all because of the soup powder!”

No matter how she looked at it, it was still just Manseong instant noodles.

Waterfall-like streams of drool poured from the wolves’ mouths.

The creatures that had seemed ready to pounce on her at any moment were no longer looking at Sehee.

Their eyes had shifted to follow the tip of the chopsticks in her hand.

“It’s almost done.”

Sehee scooped a small amount of noodles onto the lid of the pot.

The steaming noodles were the only warm, glowing thing in this hellish forest.

She picked up a strand with her chopsticks and carefully blew on it.

Hoo, hoo—

The moment she put it into her mouth, a familiar flavor spread across her tongue.

“Mmm. Perfect.”

The noodles weren’t too soft or undercooked.

The broth clung to them just right.

Sehee nodded and looked down at the pot.

“That’s strange. It said my cooking skill was F-. But this turned out fine.”

No matter how she thought about it, this was obviously cooking.

Yet it didn’t feel as though her cooking skill had had any effect.

“Does ramen not count as cooking?”

The moment she finished speaking, a blue window appeared in the center of her vision, as though it had been waiting for that very question.

[Hand of Destruction (EX)]

: When cooking food yourself, all food will be ruined.

However, cooking items purchased from the System Shop is an exception.

“EX?”

In another world, an EX-rank skill was usually something completely overpowered, wasn’t it?

It was a skill that obviously sounded impressive.

But…

“Wait a second.”

Something felt strange.

Sehee read the description again.

Slowly.

Very carefully.

“If I cook something myself, all the food gets ruined? That’s not a terrible cooking skill. That’s a curse!”

Sehee froze with the chopsticks still in her hand.

“So that means I didn’t make it well…”

She paused, then arrived at the most realistic conclusion.

“The ramen is just that good.”

Sehee deliberately took a step backward.

She briefly considered the worst-case scenario and calculated how far she would need to run.

In the middle of the silent monster-infested forest, the only sound was the bubbling of the ramen broth.

When the broth boiled over once more, Sehee made up her mind.

“All right. Eat.”

She placed the finished ramen, pot and all, in front of the leader of the wolf pack.

The wolf didn’t immediately pounce on the ramen.

Instead, it lowered its head and brought its nose to the edge of the pot.

It sniffed the aroma, then briefly ran its tongue through the steam before cautiously pulling out a strand of noodles.

“Woof?”

Once.

Then again.

The wolf’s eyes widened.

After cautiously sniffing the food, it suddenly rolled its eyes in delight and began slurping down the noodles.

“Woof! Woof-woof!”

A short while later, the wolf, having devoured the ramen like a storm, lay down on its stomach at Sehee’s feet.

“You’re lying there pretty comfortably.”

The creature clung to the empty pot and refused to let go.

Its tail swept across the ground twice.

Taking that as a signal, the other wolves also lowered themselves to the ground one after another.

Once all the wolves were lying flat, the system reacted as though it had been waiting for this moment.

[Basic Settlement Equipment Granted.]

[One-Person Automatic Tent Installation Complete.]

“Equipment?”

Before she could finish speaking, the space right beside Sehee began to distort with a crackling sound.

An old tent appeared.

Sehee stared at it for a moment.

She couldn’t tell whether this was a reward or merely a minimum survival kit.

It was a bizarre tent that looked completely out of place in the forest, with a banner roughly painted in red reading:

[Sehee’s Supermarket]

On top of that, the tent poles were slightly bent, and the fabric showed signs of wear in several places.

“Well, it’s better than nothing.”

As Sehee muttered to herself, another window appeared.

[First Customer Secured! Reward Granted!]

1 Old Parasol, 3 Maximum Gold

“Coffee, too?”

A familiar sensation could be felt through the bag in her hand.

Maximum Coffee.

The very lifeline that had kept her alive during countless all-nighters at work.

Sehee slowly exhaled and looked down at the wolves sprawled out before her.

Among them, the leader had settled down right between her and the tent.

As if this were its territory.

“Don’t tell me…”

Sehee spoke very carefully.

“You’re not planning to stay here, are you?”