ISMFWC 06

Chapter 6

“……What?”

Fortunately, Cassian hadn’t heard what she said.

He had, however, seen Sehee’s expression stiffen.

“No, what the heck!”

Even so, Sehee muttered sincerely,

“Is this thing crazy?”

She couldn’t tell whether this was a joke or some kind of error.

‘It’s talking nonsense.’

Concluding once again that this system was strange, Sehee decided to ignore it and flipped the meat over.

She tightly gripped the branch she was using in place of tongs, barely managing to swallow the curses that threatened to burst out.

The basics of running a business were understanding the customer’s needs—not fabricating a romance that didn’t even exist.

Apparently, this system didn’t have a program for that.

Meanwhile, the wolf sitting beside her was intoxicated by the smell of the pork belly, tapping its tail against the ground in rhythm.

At that moment, Sehee felt someone’s gaze on her.

When she looked up, Cassian was staring at her.

‘Ah, I must really look like a crazy person.’

There was no way muttering to herself at thin air or casually dropping pieces of meat could be considered normal.

Sehee pretended not to notice and turned her gaze back to the fire.

“Here you go!”

Cassian’s gaze shifted back to Sehee’s hands.

The hand that picked up a leaf of lettuce.

The way she selected a piece of meat.

Even the angle at which she dipped it into ssamjang—all of it was completely natural.

As though she had always done it that way.

The tips of Cassian’s ears turned very slightly red.

“There’s still plenty of meat, so keep eating.”

“……”

“Oh, if you’re uncomfortable, should I move the seat a little? So the smoke doesn’t bother you.”

“No.”

Cassian cut her off firmly.

“I’m fine.”

When he saw her nod and return to flipping the meat, an inexplicable sense of relief welled up from deep within his chest.

At that moment, another tiny window appeared before Sehee’s eyes.

[Warning]

The designated customer is currently in a state of maintained delusion.

“……Ha.”

Sehee let out a quiet sigh.

‘What does “maintained state” even mean?’

She didn’t even know whether there was a way to turn this off, and trying to understand the explanation would probably be even more difficult.

So Sehee decided to simply pretend she hadn’t seen it.

“Is this food always served this way?”

Cassian suddenly asked.

“Huh?”

Sehee raised her head.

“Oh, no. It’s just that today……”

She stopped halfway through her sentence.

Because when she tried to explain, she realized she didn’t really have anything to say.

“I just eat it because it’s delicious?”

At that answer, Cassian fell silent for a moment.

Because it’s delicious.

That simple reason effortlessly shattered all the interpretations he had come up with just moments ago.

“I see.”

Cassian turned his gaze back to the fire.

The sizzling sound, the smoke, and Sehee flipping the meat with a perfectly casual expression, as though nothing had happened.

He quietly became certain.

This was not merely a meal.

Cassian was convinced.

Perhaps the one and only being capable of affecting his curse had finally appeared.

And perhaps he was already one step too late.

Of course, Cassian still didn’t know exactly why.

But he could not deny the fact that something deep within his heart had already begun to stir quietly.

While Cassian’s misunderstanding continued to deepen, inside Sehee’s head, the sound of an abacus being furiously calculated was already ringing through the silence of the forest.

Smoke stung the corners of her eyes.

‘I should clean everything up as soon as he finishes eating.’

As her stomach filled, her eyelids grew heavy.

‘Just hang in there for a little while. Just a tiny bit longer.’

She endured the drowsiness while staring at the pink pork belly cooking over the fire and the fresh green lettuce leaves beside it.

‘I have to treat him well.’

The golden coins Cassian had handed her as advance payment earlier floated vividly across Sehee’s mind.

Even after the currency exchange fee was deducted, she had gained an enormous number of points.

To chase away her sleepiness, Sehee moved her lips slightly.

“These are all points. I have to handle them carefully……”

Sehee’s eyes gleamed more sharply than ever.

Her gaze immediately locked onto the grill.

Her hands moved faster as she flipped the meat, while the precision with which she selected lettuce leaves was almost like that of a gemologist examining precious stones.

“If I’m doing this anyway, I might as well collect as much as I can.”

Meanwhile, Cassian, who had been watching the entire scene from directly in front of her, had practically forgotten how to breathe.

Her lips were moving ever so slightly, but in a steady, orderly rhythm.

He couldn’t make out exactly what she was saying.

Only the faint rhythm of her murmuring mysteriously tickled his ears.

‘Just like that potion earlier……’

Looking at Sehee’s expression, Cassian thought seriously.

This woman treats people far too casually.

That very indifference only penetrated deeper into his heart.

For someone who had lived a lonely life, she was the first person who treated him simply as another human being without asking for anything in return.

Just then, Sehee picked out the juiciest, most perfectly cooked pieces of meat and slid them toward Cassian.

“Here, this is special service. These are much better cooked than the ones earlier.”

Sehee unleashed her professional customer-service smile.

Cassian picked up the meat with trembling hands and put it into his mouth.

He had intended not to eat any more, but seeing how much effort Sehee had put into taking care of him, he could no longer bring himself to refuse.

The meat, grilled while listening to the sacred hymn, struck his brain with a much more intense flavor than before.

“Sei.”

Cassian paused for a moment.

“Treating someone this well…… is dangerous.”

“Huh?”

Seeing Sehee’s completely clueless expression, Cassian stopped there.

The words that should have followed never came.

“No. I will come often. I will seek you out again.”

His words were so serious that Sehee felt embarrassed and immediately replied,

“It’s fine. Anyone would help if they saw someone collapsed like that, wouldn’t they?”

At that, Cassian shook his head.

“No. It is not something just anyone can do.”

He continued.

“Usually, there is a reason.”

Cassian took a short breath before speaking again.

“I will return here leading an elite order of knights.”

Then he added quietly,

“Of course…… I will come as well.”

‘An order of knights?!’

Sehee’s heart began to pound.

An order of knights would consist of at least dozens of people, and possibly hundreds.

Cassian calmly added,

“Even then, I would like it if you personally served us, just as you did today.”

After a brief pause, he added,

“Just like today.”

Sehee already had the expression of someone doing her next calculation.

“When you come, I’ll prepare a special set menu for you.”

Cassian nodded at the unfamiliar term.

“If it is something you have prepared, anything will do.”

He didn’t know the exact meaning, but he could tell from context that she meant she would treat his knights well.

‘Even if I charge just a coin or two per person, if there are a hundred people, how much money would that be? Converted into points……’

Even after the exchange fee was deducted, the remaining number would be enormous.

The more people gathered, Sehee thought, the closer she would be to finding her way home.

‘Oh my gosh, is this basically a group reservation?’

Sehee couldn’t hide the smile spreading across her lips, having completely forgotten about her approaching sleepiness.

But her pleasant imagination lasted only a moment before a blue alarm popped up in her field of vision with a sound.

[The store owner’s “counting your chickens before they hatch” level has reached a dangerous point.

It is not a virtue of a distributor to drink the broth before the customer has even ordered the meat.]

“Hey, read the mood, will you?”

When Sehee frowned at the air, a low growl sounded near her feet.

The wolf had approached without her noticing.

Until just moments ago, it had been drooling from a distance near the tent, but now it had settled down right beside Sehee.

It stood there with its fur raised, facing the forest as though it were the guard dog of this territory.

Sehee glanced at it before speaking again.

“Oh, by the way…… about that curse you mentioned earlier. If you don’t mind me asking, can I ask why you were cursed?”

Silence fell between them.

‘Ah, maybe I shouldn’t have asked.’

Cassian’s gaze briefly dropped toward the flames.

Only the sound of the firewood burning quietly filled the forest.

“……I was cursed during a subjugation mission. It is not something I am particularly proud of.”

After saying that, Cassian offered no further explanation.

It was as though he were someone who had no desire to hold onto that memory any longer than necessary.

Sehee simply nodded awkwardly.

“Ah…… I see.”

At the same moment, the atmosphere of the forest changed.