Kim Jin-Soo came out of the gate looking as if he had been marching for days, his clothes all worn out. The Other World Gate usually takes 3-4 days to clear, so by the end, his clothes were dirty, and since he couldn’t wash inside the gate, his hair was sticking out in all directions like a mess.
“Good work.”
“You’ve had a tough time.”
Next to him, an auntie who has a daughter starting high school this year greeted him. Since the gate had been around for so long, many hunters already had families. Just look at Kim Chun-Sik, who’s in his 50s and still active in the Hunter’s Guild.
If you look hard enough, you might even find hunters in their 60s still active. After all, as long as your body holds up, there’s no retirement age in this job.
“Good job, Jin-Soo~ Let’s meet again if fate allows~”
Kim Chun-Sik, the uncle next to him, also waved at Kim Jin-Soo with a smile. His smile showed a gap from a missing tooth, which was a bit awkward, but then you’d see the imported car he was driving and think again. Looks and personality aside, what really matters is wealth, right?
Kim Jin-Soo was also eager to get home and take a shower. He felt like he was radiating the smell of a lonely bachelor. Plus, he had monster fluids all over him from the hunt.
Once he got home, Kim Jin-Soo took a shower and sat down in front of his computer in comfortable clothes. A lot had changed while he was in the hospital. Of course, nothing had changed in the hunter-related fields, but there were a lot of changes when it came to food.
[Starlight Cherry Tomato]
Kim Jin-Soo searched for “Starlight Cherry Tomato” on the search engine. The results poured in, and all the reviews were overwhelmingly positive.
– “Really great. Perfect as a substitute when you’re traveling far or can’t eat a proper meal due to unavoidable circumstances.”
– “For hunters, Starlight Cherry Tomato is the best food. No more suffering with rice.”
– “As a student, I always use it when I’m too lazy to eat… The price is average, and it saves so much time on eating.”
“So it’s this good…”
Kim Jin-Soo could relate to these reviews since he had experienced the effects firsthand. Kim Chun-Sik, the somewhat older but kind-looking uncle, had shared some Starlight Cherry Tomatoes with him, which made him think even more highly of it. Normally, by the second day inside the gate, your appetite would plummet.
The unfamiliar environment, the dirty conditions where you couldn’t wash, and the tasteless instant food all combined to make you want to fast. And when you’re in the middle of a dangerous hunt, there’s no way your appetite would come back. Still, to avoid hunger, you had to force yourself to eat, but with this cherry tomato, all that hassle was skipped.
Kim Jin-Soo also searched for other food items. The green tea the auntie gave him was pretty good too. He poured hot water into a thermos and drank a cup of green tea, and it worked wonders. He felt more focused, and when hunting goblins, his vision felt noticeably clearer.
“Did Starlight Food really release such good products…?”
Judging by the name “Starlight,” it seemed like a top-tier company in Korea, but he had never heard of it before. If it were a company focused on heavy industry or products disconnected from everyday life, even if it were a famous conglomerate, it wouldn’t be surprising if ordinary people hadn’t heard of it. They probably operated on a B2B model, dealing mostly with other businesses, so it made sense that ordinary folks wouldn’t know about them.
But if it’s food, shouldn’t it be something people consume? Even if it had the name “Starlight,” it should have been famous enough for Kim Jin-Soo to have heard of it before…
“Did they just start making it this year?”
Upon checking, he found out that it was originally a snack and instant food company, but they had recently launched new products, as mentioned in the news. It was a company with promising growth potential. Kim Jin-Soo felt it firsthand. He quickly opened a stock app.
But the most important thing was that he couldn’t buy the stock. The company was 100% owned by the CEO. With a sigh, Kim Jin-Soo had no choice but to close the app.
—————————————————————
I was busy packing my bag. Today, I was going hiking. Of course, I wasn’t going alone. Maru and I had decided to hike a nearby mountain. Maru seemed to have lost a lot of stamina lately, so I thought I’d recharge her energy and go together.
I was going to exercise.
Of course, I wanted Maru to rest on her day off, so I scheduled the hike for a day she was working. Hiking on a weekday, not a holiday, seemed like a good idea. After all, being at the office just meant stress from work all day. Maru, being a woman, probably wouldn’t go bald from stress, but the male employees around her age might not be so lucky.
Anyway, I changed into some comfy hiking clothes. It was just a local mountain, so no need to dress like a professional mountaineer. The slope wasn’t too steep, and it was a short course that would take about an hour to reach the summit.
Of course, I had prepared cup noodles to eat at the summit. No matter how delicious other foods are, nothing beats cup noodles at the top of a mountain. I heard pork belly is great too, but unfortunately, I couldn’t bring that along.
I put on a wide-brimmed straw hat and rushed to the office. Inside, Maru greeted me, already dressed comfortably. The others seemed to have gone out for lunch.
“Hana, are you ready?”
“Yep! Just need to go!”
“Shall we head out then?”
I held Maru’s hand and stepped out of the building. We got into the car and slowly headed toward the mountain. It was too far to walk—if we tried, we’d collapse before even reaching the mountain.
“Hana, why do you suddenly want to go hiking?”
“Just because!”
There was no particular reason. I just really wanted to breathe in the mountain air. My body craved some fresh, clean air. The city was too noisy and polluted. Going on a little healing adventure like this wasn’t bad. In fact, it was great.
It’s no wonder the nature-loving mountain people on TV always seem so healthy. They definitely look stronger and more vibrant than city dwellers. Maybe mountains have some special power that energizes people. Otherwise, those nature folks wouldn’t look so healthy.
We parked at the entrance of the mountain. Since it was a weekday, there were fewer people than on weekends. Mostly middle-aged couples were around. Maybe they came together? Though they seemed unusually affectionate, even playful.
Maru was pulling a bag out of the trunk. Her bag was much bigger than mine. I wanted to carry a big bag too, but if I did, I’d probably fall backward. Her bag was heavier than my body weight. My small bag was manageable, but Maru’s was too much for me.
“Hana, why did you pack so much?”
Maru asked, eyeing the weight of my bag. I replied matter-of-factly. Of course, I had to pack a lot of food. We were only going for a day, so no need for extra clothes or other supplies. Just food and water.
“I packed ramen for the summit!”
I took the bag and showed her the cup noodles inside. Maru smiled and said,
“Can you make it to the summit? Hana, you can’t give up halfway, okay?”
“Of course!”
There was no way I’d give up before reaching the top. It wasn’t like we were climbing Mount Everest or anything. This mountain was practically a backyard hill for me. I could handle it even with heavier military gear.
“Let’s go!”
I slung the bag Maru gave me over my shoulder and headed toward the entrance. I started jogging ahead, with Maru following slowly behind. Maybe she thought I’d burn out if I started too fast. But for a mountain like this, starting quickly wouldn’t be a problem.
