## Chapter 27 – 27. Martial Arts (4)
#27. Martial Arts (4)
Even I thought my inventory was a ridiculously overpowered ability.
Even with a weight-reduction enchantment, a tent is still a tent. Its inherent bulk made it difficult to carry multiple tents in a bag.
But with my inventory, I could carry tons of the same product in a single slot.
Which meant I had several more of those one-person tents in my inventory.
It seemed a bit excessive, but you can never have too many spares.
“Are you such a man that you can’t even offer a lady a place to sleep?”
Seriously?
“Now you’re calling me a man? Where did the lecher who was calling me names earlier go?”
“Ugh…!”
For the record, I’m not the type to hold grudges or be petty.
This bickering wasn’t some childish revenge for what happened during the day; I just wanted to tease Chun Yeo-hwa, who seemed so strong-willed.
When else would I get the chance to tease Chun Yeo-hwa? Normally, I wouldn’t even dare to talk to her.
“If you really want to sleep in a tent, you can sleep with me.”
“You finally reveal your true colors, you lecherous fiend!”
“Trust me, I’ll just hold your hand.”
“This lady has no brother like you! And we are certainly not on hand-holding terms!”
“Too bad.”
See, the reaction is better than I expected.
She’s like a cute doll that squishes down when you press her, making her fun to tease.
“Then you can sleep outside.”
Of course, if you asked if I had no feelings about being called a lecher all day, that wouldn’t be entirely true, but teasing Chun Yeo-hwa was just more fun.
Chun Yeo-hwa seemed to be racking her brain, not expecting me to be so unyielding.
“…What do you want?”
Now trying to bring me to the negotiating table, Chun Yeo-hwa had a determined look on her face.
The way she clutched her collar tightly showed a gap moe that didn’t quite fit her identity as the Heavenly Demon Sect’s princess.
“What I want? I told you earlier.”
“S-Sleeping together is out of the question!”
Chun Yeo-hwa’s face was so red it looked like it would explode.
What is this girl even thinking?
“Sleeping together?”
“Didn’t you say earlier that you would just h-hold my hand and sleep…?”
“I was talking about why you’re going to Xi’an? I asked you earlier, but you didn’t tell me.”
“…What?”
At that moment, Chun Yeo-hwa’s sharp eyes widened.
“Of course, I was just joking about sleeping together.”
When I said it playfully with an innocent expression, Chun Yeo-hwa’s face crumpled.
“Eek…!”
She glared at me fiercely, as if she was very upset, then turned and stormed into the tent.
It was like a cat claiming its spot.
Before I knew it, I had lost the tent.
As I stared blankly at the scene of a tenant taking over the house, the setting sun completely disappeared beyond the mountains.
I was wondering if I should take out another tent when my stomach growled, demanding food.
Come to think of it, I hadn’t eaten a single meal since entering this martial arts world. But I had been walking all day, so there was no way my stomach wouldn’t start a massive peasant revolt.
‘But isn’t she hungry?’
Even for a martial artist, Chun Yeo-hwa’s level shouldn’t be high enough to skip meals.
She’s not on a diet, is she?
“Aren’t you going to eat dinner?”
“…”
Chun Yeo-hwa, who had nested in the tent, didn’t answer.
She seemed to be sulking.
‘Was I too harsh?’
Thinking about it, it might have been a bit rude to the Heavenly Demon Sect’s princess.
I might have been too modern in my approach.
But I had no idea how to appease a woman.
‘Would making her something delicious make her feel better?’
Considering how happy she looked whenever she ate chocolate, it wasn’t entirely impossible.
So, what should I make?
‘What ingredients do I have with me?’
For the record, time stops for ingredients inside the inventory. If you ordered jajangmyeon and put it in the inventory right away, time would stop, and you could enjoy noodles that never got soggy.
But filling the inventory with delivery food felt a bit much since I had eaten so much of it while living alone. I didn’t want to eat delivery food for every meal here too.
Instead, I had swept up expensive beef from the supermarket, something I would never normally eat. I also had various spices and butter.
Of course, having more ingredients meant the inventory was getting tight, but I didn’t want to worry about that when I was doing it to eat well.
The ratio of high-calorie emergency rations to expensive and hard-to-get ingredients like beef in my inventory and bag was 6:4.
About 40% of the emergency rations were packaged delivery foods. To be honest, there wasn’t much good stuff to fill it with emergency rations.
But I was too lazy to cook every day, so I didn’t want to increase the proportion of ingredients.
Even if I got tired of eating it every day, the familiar stuff was still the best in the end.
‘I’ve decided.’
The menu for the Heavenly Demon Sect’s princess tonight would be 1++ Korean beef, using the sirloin, which is the least polarizing cut.
Of course, I had never eaten steak before. I had only ever had the front leg for soup.
Naturally, I had never cooked steak before either.
But I wasn’t too worried.
‘This isn’t a restaurant, just put some olive oil and salted beef on the grill.’
I had seen it a lot on the internet.
After washing my hands briefly, I put a large grill pan over the fire. While waiting for the pan to heat up, I took out the sirloin I would be eating today.
It was about 2kg.
Usually, one serving of steak is about 300g, so this should be enough, right? It seemed like a lot, but my appetite had increased since becoming a wizard, and Chun Yeo-hwa was a martial artist, so I figured she would eat a lot.
I sprinkled salt on both sides of the beef on the cutting board. I thought about adding pepper, but I heard that pepper can get in the way if the meat is good, so I skipped it for now.
After the simple seasoning, I left the meat for a while and generously drizzled olive oil on the heated grill pan.
‘Time to put it on, right?’
I carefully placed the beef on the grill pan.
Sizzle—the sound of meat frying in oil echoed through the quiet forest. The tantalizing sound made my stomach growl even more.
And there was no way Chun Yeo-hwa, a martial artist with heightened senses, couldn’t hear this delightful sound.
As if her hearing was tormenting her sense of taste, Chun Yeo-hwa endured by forcibly blocking her ears.
But then Kang Hyun-woo melted butter on the grill pan, and her sense of smell began to torment her sense of taste. The savory smell stimulated her nose, and Chun Yeo-hwa couldn’t take it anymore.
Kang Hyun-woo smiled brightly when he saw Chun Yeo-hwa, who had come out of the tent like a possessed person and approached the grill pan.
“You came out?”
“…Ah.”
Chun Yeo-hwa’s face turned red as if she was finally realizing the situation.
“Are you very hungry? Just wait a little, it’s almost done.”
Kang Hyun-woo either didn’t notice or pretended not to notice Chun Yeo-hwa’s reaction and turned back to focus on cooking.
Chun Yeo-hwa felt a little grateful for his consideration.
Before long, the rested meat was cut into appropriate sizes and placed on a plate.
The garnish was a salad I bought from a café. I brought it just in case, and I’m glad I did.
It wasn’t really necessary for me, but it felt wrong to just give a woman meat.
“Where did you get this kind of meat…? Is this magic too?”
“Something like that.”
Chun Yeo-hwa chuckled at Kang Hyun-woo’s shrug.
“I can’t guarantee the taste, but try it. Tell me if you need more.”
“…Thank you, I will enjoy it.”
The smell was savory, and the visual was properly medium-rare. Actually, I wanted to make it medium-rare, but I thought Chun Yeo-hwa, being an old-fashioned person, would be horrified, so I cooked it to minimize the redness.
Yum, I put a piece of meat in my mouth.
‘Wow, what is this? It’s so delicious.’
Even though it sounds like self-praise, it was really delicious without exaggeration. It didn’t have any gamey smell, and it wasn’t tough at all.
The rich juice and tender texture were a pleasure to chew.
“Mmm! This is really delicious! I never imagined you would be a cook!”
“I’m not a cook, it’s just the ingredients.”
Chun Yeo-hwa also seemed satisfied with the steak.
We were able to finish a satisfying dinner with smiles.
Except for the fact that we ran out of meat in the middle and grilled an additional 2kg.
After roughly cleaning up, it was finally time to sleep. Considering I would be walking all day tomorrow, I would have been short on sleep even if I had fallen asleep earlier.
I’m a wizard, not a knight.
There was a limit to maintaining my stamina with magic because I didn’t know when I would have to fight.
“Sleep well.”
“…Then where do you intend to sleep?”
“Me? I’ll just…”
I thought that if Chun Yeo-hwa found out I had an extra tent, she might sulk again, so I put her in the tent first, and I was planning to set up my tent a little further away and sleep.
“Anyway, don’t worry about me, go in and sleep first.”
Full and tired from walking all day, I felt like I would collapse any minute.
“W-Wait…!”
I had no choice but to stop when Chun Yeo-hwa suddenly grabbed my sleeve.
What’s wrong with her?
“Th-That…”
“Huh? What is it?”
Chun Yeo-hwa’s hesitant and stammering appearance was unfamiliar.
I hadn’t known her for long, but she had always been the type to say what was on her mind.
The problem was that her words often included scathing criticism of others.
“If you have nothing to say, can I go? I’m a little sleepy now…”
“Y-You too!”
Chun Yeo-hwa interrupted me and leaned in close, her cheeks flushed redder than ever.
“Won’t you sleep in the tent with me…?”
***
The forest at night was truly silent.
Whether it was the season or not, there wasn’t even the sound of crickets chirping.
Thanks to that, our breathing became clearer in the narrow tent as time passed.
“…Are you asleep?”
Chun Yeo-hwa must have felt the same way.
“No.”
“Didn’t you say you were sleepy earlier?”
“I guess so.”
I strangely couldn’t fall asleep.
Was it because I was nervous?
No matter how hard I tried not to touch her, I couldn’t help but brush against Chun Yeo-hwa’s back from time to time. Every time that happened, I felt like I was going crazy from the warmth of her soft skin.
‘Ah… Primal Celestial Venerable…’
I hadn’t read the Tao Te Ching, but there were two prominent Taoist sects nearby, so I tried to take advantage of the location.
Like how praying in a church feels different from praying at home.
Of course, it didn’t work.
“…Thank you.”
“Huh?”
A slightly trembling voice came from behind me.
“If you weren’t here, I would have gone hungry and slept on the dirt floor again tonight.”
I wondered what she was talking about, but the topic was heavier than I expected.
“…Weren’t you a rich daughter?”
“Do I look like one?”
“At least in appearance?”
“Hehe, you’re rudely honest.”
Her clothes were definitely made of high-quality fabric, but there were signs of wear and tear in places.
She must have been wearing them for quite a while.
“You probably think I’m a superficial and troublesome woman with many secrets.”
“I didn’t really think that.”
Chun Yeo-hwa’s body flinched slightly at my words, which came out without a second thought.
“Thank you, even if it’s just words.”
Her voice was strangely excited.
“To be honest, I was suspicious of you.”
“Of me?”
“To be exact, I thought you were an assassin sent by the First Young Master to kill me.”
“You said ‘was,’ so you don’t think that now?”
“There were too many openings I showed you for you to be an assassin. And…”
What is it?
The tent suddenly became quiet.
I thought Chun Yeo-hwa had fallen asleep, but judging from her still erratic breathing, she didn’t seem to be asleep.
Why did you stop talking?
“…It’s nothing.”
Ugh, damn it.
“Hey, I don’t know if you know this, but do you know the two ways to piss people off?”
“Hmm? What are they?”
“The first is to start talking and then stop.”
“The second is?”
I’m suddenly sleepy.
“Hey? What’s the second way?”
Until just now, I couldn’t sleep because I was nervous about being in a narrow tent with Chun Yeo-hwa, but now that the tension was easing, all the fatigue that had built up was hitting me at once.
“Why did you stop talking?”
“Cough…”
“What’s the second way??”
“Umm…”
“Hey!”
