# Chepter 007

Soju and kimchi stew. It was a perfect combination, almost at the level of ramen and kimchi. As Gyungho was laying down after a hard fight against some demonic beasts, he thought of spicy kimchi stew and cold soju. Kimchi stew was an easy dish to make if well-fermented kimchi was available, but in the Spirit Realm there was neither kimchi or soju.

***

Respawn dungeon in Sector B-2, formerly University Road.

This was the dungeon that Gyungho had destroyed. It was also the dungeon that Sinhwa Guild’s Guild Master, Sungwon Lee, and his chief secretary, Jungsoo Park, were being debriefed about said destruction.

“Are you sure these are correct? We’re talking about billions of won, here. If our data is wrong, then our money goes to waste. We have to be more than correct.” Sungwon asked, tired and disappointed. They had been there since the night before, but the dungeon management team hadn’t managed to turn up anything useful. “Is there really nothing? No mana movement at all? And are we one hundred percent certain that there was no abnormality in the mana wave prior to the dungeon’s disappearance?”

“Sir, there’s nothing we can find. All heat signals and mana movements were normal. We can only conclude that there was an unknown issue within the respawn dungeon itself,” said Youngho Kwon, the manager who was responsible for watching over the dungeon.

Sungwon sighed. “And we have no way to prove that,” he said as he glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. It was a little bit past ten in the morning.

“Look at the time. You all must be tired,” said Sungwon.

“No, sir!” Every employee within the office shouted in unison, but they all looked exhausted. They had begun the meeting right after the dungeon disappeared, and it was already over ten hours since. Besides, they had nothing more to say or hear about the issue.

“Mr. Kwon, can you organize what data we have by tonight? We’ll have a meeting about it over the weekend. Mr. Park, go ahead and schedule a meeting for Monday too,” said Sungwon.

Everyone present had already stayed up the entire night, but no one complained.

“I will make sure to have it compiled perfectly, sir,” said Youngho.

“Then that concludes today’s meeting,” said Sungwon. As he stood, the employees of the dungeon management team dove into their tasks, compiling documents for the next meeting. Sungwon sighed and left the office. The morning sun was very bright.

“Ugh. The weather’s too damn nice today,” Sungwon ranted. His eyes were teary as he looked up to the sky, chewing on his lip.

“Are you okay, sir?” asked Jungsoo.

“You want the truth?” Sungwon replied.

“Of course.”

“I had never felt more like shit than I do right now. I’m sorry that you have to go through hell under a useless leader like me,” said Sungwon.

“That is not true, sir.”

“I’m glad you think that.”

“...”

Jungsoo understood how Sungwon felt, and didn’t say anything else.

“I thought I would finally get my father’s recognition, and look where it got us.” Sungwon laughed sarcastically at himself.

“But sir, if we talk things out with headquarters, I’m sure we’ll be able to recover the funds—” said Jungsoo, his sentence cutting off as Sungwon interrupted.

“And then we’re still stuck in the same place! Our growth is still limited without the respawn dungeon. Five hundred billion won is worthless compared to the dungeon,” said Sungwon.

Jungsoo knew this very well.

“Dammit. Why am I a C-Rank? I would have given up if I was an F-Rank,” said Sungwon. He thought that if he was an E or F, or even a D-Rank, he would have simply given up trying and just lived as the worthless son of the Shinhwa Family.

C-Rank Sorcerer with a specialty in lightning. It was a sufficient level of skill to be a hunter, but not more than that, and Sungwon’s ambition was much more. His rank wasn’t high enough to be a guild master, but he’d used his wealth to make himself one. He had wanted to show that he could manage it, but the limit to his growth was evident. Sungwon had already reached it..

“I’m sorry, Jungsoo,” said Sungwon.

“No, sir. The Shinhwa Guild is already a wonderful guild. You can be proud of it,” Jungsoo replied.

“Pride… I don’t think the word fits me. Shall we go home then?”

Jungsoo opened the car door, then turned to Sungwon. “Sir, should we have something to eat before we go home?”

Sungwon scratched his forehead and smiled bitterly. “No, it’s fine. I just want to go home and sleep. Can you cancel any appointments for today?”

“You may not know,” Jungsoo said plainly. “But you have a habit of scratching your forehead when you’re stressed.”

Sungwon took his hand off his forehead. “Do I? Stress, huh?” He thought about it, before nodding. “Let’s stop by a restaurant if there’s one on the way home. Let’s get ourselves a breakfast,” said Sungwon.

“Yes, sir.”

The car rocked severely as it drove across the uneven pavement. As Jungsoo looked around the ruined area, he found something curious.

“Sir, there’s a restaurant there. It seems to still be in business,” said Jungsoo.

The area was known for frequent appearances of demonic beasts and was in ruins, so it was interesting to see a restaurant still in business. Sungwon also became curious and turned to look at the restaurant Sungwon mentioned.

“Lucky Diner. That’s an interesting name. Think we can find luck enough to overcome this misfortune?”

“...”

Jungsoo was unable to answer Sungwon’s sarcastic remark.

“Yeah, let’s try there.”

“Yes, sir.” Jungsoo relaxed and drove the car toward the restaurant.

***

Gyungho was busily doing the dishes after finishing breakfast with his mom when he saw a car stopping in front of the restaurant.

“My first customer since my return to Earth,” said Gyungho.

Two men got out of the car, peered into the restaurant, then walked inside.

“Welcome to the Lucky Diner,” greeted Gyungho. He smiled brightly as he welcomed the guests. It had been ten years, but he found himself greeting customers as if it had been no time at all.

At the sound, despite having been told to rest, Jisook got up and made her way to the kitchen.

“Welcome.” she called. “Son, go take the order.”

“Okay, mom.” Gyungho walked into the hall and saw two men in suits, both seeming to be in a gloomy mood.

‘Interesting individuals. That man seems to have various specialties,’ thought Gyungho.

Snowball, who was crouching by the entrance to the kitchen, spoke to Gyungho through his head. “They are Awakened.”

Gyungho sensed the mana within them and nodded.

“Do you want to see their status window?” asked Snowball.

“Status window?” Gyungho couldn’t ask out loud, as it would look weird talking to a puppy, so he used his Telepathic Message skill.

“What is this? Is this some kind of telepathy?” asked Snowball at the voice he was hearing through his ears.

“Sort of. So, can we check their status?”

“Yes. I control the Awakening System, so I have the authority to see and share it. Here.” said Snowball.

Name: Jungsoo Park

Age: 30

Class: Swordsman [Common]

Level: 34

Strength: 62

Agility: 51

Vitality: 69

Mana: 437

Special Skills

Sword Mastery Lvl 4

Karma: 981 (Good)

Jungsoo’s status window popped up in front of Gyungho’s eyes.

“Nothing special,” said Gyungho.

“That’s within the top ten percent of all the Awakened. About the top thirty percent amongst hunters,” Snowball replied.

“That’s terrible. Let’s see the other guy.”

Gyungho then saw Sungwon’s status window popping up.

Name: Lee, Sungwon

Age: 32

Class: Magic Archer [Rare]

Level: 25

Strength: 52

Agility: 43

Vitality: 49

Mana: 324

Special Skills

Lightning Lvl 2

Penetration Lvl 2

Archery Lvl 1

Karma: 1781 (Good)

‘He has lower mana, but his class and skills are much better.’ Thought Gyungho as he nodded, confirming that what he had sensed was right. But he was also disappointed. These two were weaker than medium class spirits.

‘They can’t even fight against demonic beasts. A demon would easily massacre the pair of them.’ Gyungho thought, standing awkwardly as he observed their status window. Jungsoo noticed Gyungho’s awkwardness and began to doubt his choice in coming here.

‘Maybe I should’ve looked for a better place,’ thought Jungsoo as he looked around and frowned. Jungsoo was disappointed at a raggedy restaurant and turned to Sungwon with a whisper.

“Will you be okay here, sir?”

Sungwon, meanwhile, was not in a mood to care about the restaurant’s state. “Let’s just eat here. There’s nothing I can eat at home anyway,” said Sungwon.

The two of them sat down at the table closest to them and looked through the menu. There was only one option: a combination meal for 20,000 won.

“By combination meal, do you mean rice, stew, and a few side dishes? Is that right?” asked Sungwon.

“Yes, that is correct,” answered Gyungho.

“That’s very cheap. Can we have two combination meals, then?”

“Of course. Two combination meals coming up.”

Sungwon was surprised by the price of the meal. Inflation became a serious problem after the Cataclysm, and now even the cheapest food you could get was around 30,000 won. In comparison, 20,000 won for a combination meal was surprisingly cheap.

“Is there any particular reason it's so cheap?” asked Sungwon.

As far as Gyungho remembered, ten years ago it used to be 10,000 won. As such, he hadn’t thought 20,000 won was cheap, nor did he know the reason behind its price.

“Hold on a second. Mom!”

At Gyungho’s call, Jisook walk out of the worn kitchen, an apron now tied around her. “Yes, son?”

“This customer would like to know why the price is so low, and I don’t know the answer,” said Gyungho.

Jisook smiled. “Oh, I decided to charge just enough to keep the business running. I own this building which means there’s no rent, so we can manage.”

Sungwon became intrigued by Jisook’s answer. “I see, but would it not be better to make some profit, since it is a business? I’m sorry if I’m being nosy, ma’am,” inquired Sungwon.

“No, no. It’s quite alright. I do it because I want to help people out in these hard times. I’m sure it will pay me back someday,” said Jisook.

Sungwon smiled softly. “That is a wonderful reason. Thank you for answering my impudent question so kindly.”

“You’re most welcome.”

“Mom, we have two combination meal orders,” said Gyungho.

“Oh, yes,” said Jisook, then she went back to the kitchen. Soon, a savory smell began to come from the kitchen.

“Hmm, the smell of kimchi stew,” said Sungwon.

“Yes, sir. It smells good.”

Sungwon then thought of a soju with the smell of spicy kimchi stew.

“Jungsoo, should we have some soju?”

“I can’t, sir. I still have work to do, and we can’t call a driver over to this region,” said Jungsoo.

“Is that so? I still want one,” said Sungwon.

“You should have a drink. It might help you sleep better, sir.”

“Right? I think so too. I will need it to sleep,” said Sungwon.

Jungsoo nodded and turned to Gyungho. “Do you have soju here?”

“Of course,” said Gyungho.

“Can we have a bottle? We just need one glass,” said Jungsoo.

“Sure. I’ll bring out a side dish for you to have with it, as well.” said Gyungho.

Gyungho was surprised to find himself smiling. Of course, the restaurant was filled with happy memories, but it had originally been opened as a way to make a living.

‘I am really happy doing this,’ thought Gyungho. He hadn’t realized, but ten years of living in Spirit Realm had completely changed him. He had fought countless battles alongside Mir and the other Spirit Beasts, but he had never eaten with them.

‘I ate alone for ten years,’ thought Gyungho. There was nothing wrong with eating alone, but it was always nice to share a meal with others. It was the same for cooking. Gyungho had cooked many meals over the past ten years, but it was merely in order to survive in the Spirit Realm, never for someone else. As such, no meal had ever really made Gyungho happy.

“I never knew something like this could bring me happiness. Let’s try fixing up some snacks to go with the soju.”