Have a Meal Before You Go - Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Editor: Stomatopoda, Nets,

Cheol-ho looked at the man in front of him .

The battlefield was a hellscape of devastation . In the centre of the destruction stood a man with purple eyes .

The King of the World .

He opened his mouth .

“Is it you who summoned me to this level?”

The whole body of the man glowed violet . Cheol-ho tilted his head in response .

“You’re saying nonsense . ”

Cheolho kicked the ground, and turned , running away .

Rumble rumble!

The sky screamed, thunder and lightning striking the ground . The sound of the very world splitting oppressively smothered the surroundings .

.

.

.

.

.

.

Boom boom!

Boom boom!

Cheol-ho snapped open his eyes .

His pupils instantly sharpened, his body rising to alertness . A blue-colored energy flowed out of his body, covering him like mist . His bloodthirst increased, along with the will to slaughter anything that dared to hold enmity towards him .

Suddenly .

Cheol-ho saw the sun .

“…Ah . ”

His pounding heart slowly found its rhythm . Cheol-ho hoisted himself up from his mattress .

“…what are you doing?”

In the corner of the room, Khan was squatting and staring at him .

“You, why are you breathing like that?”

“What?”

Cheol-ho smiled bitterly .

“I’m sorry . ”

“…”

Khan only then relaxed his guard .

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing . ”

Cheol-ho pushed himself up from his bed, grumbling glumly .

“Even if it’s been ten years since the bloody war was over, I still do this sometimes . ”

It felt like it would be a grim morning .

* * *

Hyung hyung!

Tangerine was smiling in the warm sunshine .

She plopped herself down on the floor .

The marble floor was cool, and the plump chubbiness of her body was flattened on it, providing considerable comfort . Tangerine tried scooting herself along with her four legs .

It was a new game that she had come up with .

Tired of the play, Tangerine laid down on her back and stared at the wooden ceiling .

Then her eyes set on the newspaper on the chair .

Tangerine climbed up the armrest of the chair, picking up the newspaper .

Dad used to always read this .

Small letters in a jumble are too hard to read . Tangerine pouted while flipping through the newspaper, until she found the boldly written letters .

“Oh, tu-dais recom-mend-ashion men-wu . ”

She read it one word at a time .

[Today’s Recommendation Menu]

“Ha?”

There were pictures of food under the letters . Wide-eyed Tangerine carefully licked them… but they had no taste .

“… . ”

It was a picture . Tangerine laid back on the floor with disappointment, a bitter cheated expression on her face .

Suddenly, she remembered the crayon that her brother had given her as a present not long ago .

* * *

Tangerine was staring intently at the flyer spread out next to her . Beside to it, she sat drawing something on the floor .

She was holding something in one hand . It was a crayon . Someone gave this little rascal a crayon .

Tangerine was using the floor as a drawing sheet

“…”

Tangerine hummed with delight .

When she finished each painting, she grinned .

Cheol-ho watched her from afar .

The floor was a mess .

She had scribbled a lot on the floor . Times like this made him think she really was a baby .

So he decided to peer over , for him to see what she had drawn .

Looking closely at the picture, Cheol-ho crossed his arms .

The first thing he saw was a dragonfly? He was expecting to see a vague picture . Instead it looks like a two-legged man with wings, or maybe just an insect?

He could see other drawings, too .

She was drawing the food pictured on the flyer . Cheol-ho looked closely at the image on the flyer, and then at the picture Tangerine had drawn .

Heung heung~

Tangerine was humming and drawing hard . Cheol-ho hoisted her up .

“You son of a bitch . ”

“Papa!”

Tangerine’s two front legs waved in excitement . She grabbed Cheol-ho’s  cheeks and patted them with her small hands .

“Papa!”

Cheol-ho couldn’t hold back his smile

He couldn’t bear to scold her .

“What did you draw?” Cheol-ho asked .  

“Yumm . “

Tangerine rubbed her belly and smiled

“Hmm?”

“Yumm . “

Tangerine shook her head as she rubbed her belly . Then opened her mouth .

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no . ”

“…”

What ?

Cheol-ho thought seriously, then answered .

“What do you want to eat? Are you hungry?”

Tangerine nodded . It was only then that the flyer came into sight . One of the foods on the flyer had been drawn on the floor a lot . Cheol-ho looked at the drawing, then the flyer, then back again, nearly 30 times .

“You know what this is?”

Tangerine shook her head .

“Does it look delicious?”

Tangerine nodded . She looked back at the flyer, drooling .

“…”

Looked like she was craving it .

“Okay . I’ll make this for you as your breakfast . ”

“Yes!”

“But this has to be cleaned, okay?” Cheol-ho added with a solemn look .

Tangerine tilted her head with an innocent look on her face .

“Dad?”

“Khan!”

Khan wandered out of the room, yawning .

“What’s the matter?”

“Teach Tangerine how to clean today . ”

“Huh?”

Khan’s eyes widened, as he stared at the drawings on the floor . He sighed .

“Ha… you’ve been in trouble again . ”

Tangerine ran into Cheol-ho’s arms, smiling loveably .

“Daddy, Daddy!”

Cheol-ho felt like hugging her tightly, but he controlled himself .

“You…”

Khan glared at Cheol-ho .

“Why are you more familiar with Tangerine than I am?” he shouted .

Cheolho rolled his eyes and handed Tangerine over to Khan .

“Just keep an eye on the house . I’ll go grocery shopping . ”

* * *

The market was especially lively today .

First, Cheol-ho headed to the butcher . The dish Tangerine wanted to eat so desperately was an expensive type of meat . It had been a while since he used money . Cheol-ho was going to buy a lot, this time .

“So much?”

The butcher’s mouth hung agape . Cheol-ho nodded and brought out his wallet .

“Yes, there are people who eat a lot . ”

To put it precisely, they were not human .

Hearing Cheol-ho’s words, the butcher began to pack the food with a smile, as if he were excited .

“Even though I’m having a bad day, there’s still a festive atmosphere . ”

“Festival?”

“Oh yes . Oh, you haven’t seen the guest yet? Go to the local square, they’re still running tests . ”

“Running tests?”

Cheol-ho tilted his head and picked up the bag . After buying a lot of ‘meat’, he appraised the other stores . He had planned to return to the restaurant after shopping for the rest of the things he needed .

“Wow!”

A cheer was heard from down the street . It was towards the end of the market, around where the broad square was .

“Hmm?”

Cheolho wandered leisurely towards the crowd of people gathered around the square .

It seemed there were awakened people guarding a stage, controlling the number of people pushing at its base .

A hulking monster stood in the centre of the stage, the focus of the crowd’s gaze .   It had the form of a human, and appeared unrestrained .

Puff Puff~

Steam spouted, and the giant figure moved .

“Oh-ho . ”

It was a golem .

Looking at the energy of the magic stone in the golem, the golem was using a first-class stone . He seemed to have used quite a few of them, more than just one or two first-class stones .

Golems generally had a form similar to a human appearance . However, this one seemed as if it were hewn from rock . It hadn’t refined its appearance yet .

“Oh, hello boss!”

Before Cheol-ho knew it, someone had appeared next to him and was chatting in a friendly manner . Glancing beside him, it was someone who looked familiar .

“Ah, good morning . ”

It was Shadow Cat .

“We’re having a test run of the new ‘Oger’ . It’s a ride-type golem made using precious stones . ”

“Oh?”

Even in the labyrinth of the Esfan continent , there were ride-type golems . They were like robots that were controlled by humans .

Anyway, the power of the Golem was strong but it had limits . It was difficult to operate with fine control, so it was better fighting huge monsters than small and fast monsters .

Also, not just anybody could pilot one .

“If it’s a ride type… you mean someone’s on board?”

Shadow Cat laughed merrily at Cheol-ho’s question . Cheol-ho thought her laugh was very pretty .

“It’s Gearwalk… he’s a first-class awakener . ”

“Ah . ”

The reason not everyone could pilot the golem was simple . One must be able to withstand the energy emitted from it . There was a specific type of  awakener born with a special constitution that could withstand it .

It was a class called ‘Golem Master . ’

A natural awakener of the class could ride on golems powered with high class magic stones .

Golem Master was a much more useful ability than he thought .

And Golem Masters had a profound impact on the development of the magic stone engineering technology . Perhaps the more they improved their class attainment, the more convenient and developed they would make the world .

Science was developing!

At some point .

The head of the giant golem opened, and a man leaned out .

Wow!

People cheered . The man named “Gearwalk,” the first-class awaker, was engraved in Cheol-ho’s eyes . He smiled brightly and opened his arms wide, waving wildly .

Well .  

Now that Cheol-ho had lost interest, he decided to head back .

“He looks like he’s having a hard time . ”

Cheol-ho turned to the voice .

“Hi again . ”

“Mr . Boss, the restaurant will be open again today, right?”she asked .

Cheol-ho nodded in response .

“Yes, it’s open all year long unless something special comes up . ”