Shia broadcasted a dish called “Fried Bladed Centipede”… to be precise, she deep-fried a giant segment of the S-grade monster, Centipede Dragon, that lived hidden in Rotten Mountain in a large fryer.
And this was on her first broadcast.
With her official debut showcasing how deliciously she cooked one of the ugliest and most horrific monster bugs, ranked in the top five of disgusting monsters, news about what kind of person Isia was spread widely on the net, including the Hunter Gallery.
This time, as Shia cheerfully smiled and suggested eating Bladed Centipede with the party participants in the broadcast, surprisingly, some viewers thought it might not be as bad as they expected.
First off, although it was fried Centipede Dragon, or Bladed Centipede, the actual cooked and deep-fried dish turned out to look better than expected.
Sure, the legs, sharp as blades, were a bit off-putting, but the important part was that Shia removed the poison and created a taste akin to a half-lobster, half-crab meat fried delight.
The name might bring a horrible prejudice, but many agreed that in terms of taste and appearance, it didn’t look bad at all.
In fact, right after Shia’s shocking first broadcast aired, there was a case where a wealthy hunter made fried Bladed Centipede using dried Centipede from the Hunter Market, and despite its horror-like appearance, he remarked that it actually tasted better than expected.
“Yeah, it’s not strange… Well, fried Bladed Centipede is definitely strange, but surprisingly tasty, right?”
“Honestly, I think it might actually taste good…”
“Thank goodness I didn’t have to deal with that Menelapie woman anymore…”
“When else would I get a meal from the Gallery Master like this?!”
“Hehe, n-nn…”
Yeah, frying is acceptable.
If things end up like this after crossing the line, then it’s better than nothing.
Who knows? If every time you could get forgiveness for bad deeds like this, then maybe forced party participation would actually become the Gallery Master’s content. Wouldn’t there be many opportunities to meet the Gallery Master in person?
Of course, peeling back that thick skin is no easy task, but just seeing Shia and that golden-haired Menelapie woman in real life would be a treat for the eyes.
Is it possible to receive easy forgiveness for minor misdeeds and get treated to food too?
It’s a profitable business.
If I play my cards right, I might be able to often enjoy the presence of the Gallery Master in the future.
That was the viewers’ thoughts.
However, soon after, Shia pretended to be sad, her eyes sinking as if acting.
“I learned a great lesson once.”
Her footsteps were lighter than an angel’s feather, and the voice of someone who has gained enlightenment was purer than the dew awakening a lake at dawn.
The former Mangja Seongnyeo, who had felt ashamed for not being able to hide herself, shed her past self and, with a new goal and newfound knowledge, smiled with joy.
“Humans naturally become accustomed to what they already know… to the familiar.”
Familiarity can become a custom and a long-standing habit.
It limits flexible thinking and removes adaptability to the situation.
That’s not good.
If one doesn’t accept the new, believing the existing to be good, it leads to stagnation, and before you know it, you stop learning.
“Thus, I will impart an important lesson as a Mangja Seongnyeo.”
Humans must always change and evolve; denying one’s very essence would be foolish.
“Meat isn’t always tasty just because it’s grilled!”
Clap, clap, clap
Only Menelapie’s applause broke the awkward silence, yet Shia shrugged her shoulders as if satisfied or proud.
“Whatever Shia says is right!” Menelapie applauded without any hint of cynicism, but on the flip side, those forced into this participatory broadcast, including one viewer manipulated by Yeonseo, seemed speechless.
[….]
[?]
[F*ck, what’s she talking about?]
[What even is this?]
“……..”
“Uh, I’m not following…?”
“What is this…?”
People looked confused by Shia’s sudden abstract musings.
“Hey, it’s simple! Let’s deny the existing common knowledge that any sort of food… especially meat, is delicious just by grilling it over fire!”
“Yeah?”
“And so…?”
“However, following the previous common sense, I’ve already seen great bloodshed. When I grilled the rare and tasty Unicorn meat according to the usual rule, it turned into nothing but a tough, chewy mess, didn’t it?”
That completely negated the common sense that meat is delicious when grilled! Right?
“That meat was just weird…”
“So today, we won’t be grilling meat.”
“Aren’t we just going to fry Bladed Centipede again like last time? It didn’t look bad at all…”
“Right! Can’t we just do what we did before?”
“Oh! I said we need to break the rules of common sense!”
“No…….”
So, after a long-winded explanation, that was the conclusion.
No frying Bladed Centipede.
They were going to do something else.
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[ㅋㅋㅋ Why does our Gallery Master always talk nonsense?]
[For realㅋㅋ]
[Seriously spouting nonsense]
[Crazy talk on]
“Um, yeah, I guess I should get right to it without long talk, huh?”
Boom!
Not wanting to waste any more time, Shia slightly bent down and shot like a missile towards the middle of Rotten Mountain, while the drone camera filming her flew off in her direction.
“Oh, no…”
“Wow, that’s fast…”
“Fast or not, isn’t this kidnapping!?”
“Yeah, and if it’s evil, shut up.”
“You’re evil too, so stop talking nonsense!”
The party participants who couldn’t even properly protest could only watch as Shia quickly disappeared from their sights.
“I might ask you this for my own curiosity….”
As the silence began to bubble over with complaints, Menelapie wore a chilling smile.
When the vibe of intimidation returned to fill the air, the party participants, once thinking they could easily get away with their misdeeds, promptly closed their mouths again.
“Shia is right. I believe the foolish and scheming ones who claim that they don’t want to eat what she brings them are now gone from this place!”
“………”
“Y-yeah…”
“Hehe, Noona… your voice is just too good…”
That guy is something else.
Even after becoming a party participant, for him to say such things in front of reality is something else altogether.
“Mm, hmm~”
With that, Shia began to hunt for Bladed Centipedes deep in Rotten Mountain.
This mountain was basically crawling with innumerable Bladed Centipedes.
Bladed Centipedes were among the more prolific monsters in terms of reproduction. It seems many more had chosen to breed in numbers since the Centipede Dragon was gone, which gave Shia the chance to face a horde of Bladed Centipedes that charged at her courageously.
Eeeek!
Crunch!
Kiiiii..!
“Hehe, number 32….”
She was capturing them really well.
If they had been like Lucky Bladed Centipede Yane, darting between trees, soil, and rocks, it would have been difficult to catch them, but these Bladed Centipedes were rather brave, coming forward to fight instead.
Later, Shia learned that the breeding period made Bladed Centipedes extremely aggressive.
[A crazy what? Why is she ripping them apart like bean sprouts?]
[Those are actually average B-squad monsters…]
[No, it’s like they’re being pulled out like plantsㅋㅋㅋ]
Shia grabbed the head of a Bladed Centipede, biting at her hair, and twisted it 180 degrees to start stacking them aside.
Shia’s method of catching Bladed Centipedes was not difficult at all.
Originally, the sharp fangs, teeth, and claws of Bladed Centipedes had much less hardness compared to Shia’s skin, which boasted steel superiority.
The defining strength of a Bladed Centipede lay in its venomous fangs and claws, and even then, they couldn’t even cut through Shia’s skin or hair, so she simply lifted them up like pulling up seaweed.
It seems that since this was a newly birthed Bladed Centipede, they had no idea how terrifying Shia was.
That was good fortune for her.
Had the Bladed Centipedes been remembering the fear of being devoured by the Centipede Dragon, they might have been fleeing en masse, avoiding Shia.
However, now, thanks to the next-generation Bladed Centipedes that had forgotten fear, Shia was able to slice, chop, twist, and chew the ones charging at her, collecting ingredients necessary for a meal for her party participants.
“Mm, but what should I cook with this?”
Although she had boasted about what a grand meal she would prepare, she had no idea what to actually cook.
[Just grill it.]
[What the hell? Not fried Centipede but grilling? That’s a bit much, thoughㅋㅋ]
[What about boiling?]
[They say it can be used for herbal medicine.]
[That’s a regular centipede, not a Bladed Centipede…]
“Guys, think seriously. This isn’t just for me; others from the party are eating too.”
[But aren’t they all evil?]
[Trying to be nice to those evildoers?ㅋㅋ]
“That’s true, but they’re still my fans! They’re just immature and express it poorly.”
[Aaaaah! Surprise halt!]
[It’s a chat room for those who haven’t matured yet; please take it down!]
[Sudden surprise strike!]
First off, grilling and frying were out of the question.
After all, Shia had just said as a Seongnyeo to impart enlightenment while rejecting the standard cooking methods that involved frying, so if she tried to play it safe with grilling or frying again, she wouldn’t create any memorable experiences.
“Umm, what about making Bladed Centipede Kimchi Stew?”
[Ugh;]
[When you hear that, it should just hit you as is. That sounds disgusting, right?]
[For realㅋㅋ]
[If you make kimchi stew with Bladed Centipedes, it’ll just smell rotten and have a poison so that the pot can’t be used again.]
[Just imagine the bright red soup bubbling with the Bladed Centipede legs crawling around: Oh boy~]
Sigh, was there anything decent… anything suitable?
[Then, how about making katsu using Bladed Centipede?]
[Centipede katsu…?]
[Centipede katsu sounds notable?]
[Why does that sound tasty?ㅋㅋ]
Katsu…
That could work, but if she really made katsu, it would be fried despite the different cooking method and ingredients, violating the previous statements.
“Ah…!”
Speaking of katsu, I can’t do that, but there’s a perfect pairing for it.
That would be soup.
In the past, it’s like how Western-style katsu came with soup to whet the appetite.
While katsu itself tasted great, funny enough, the soup served alongside was even tastier.
“Great! It’s soup! I’ll make Bladed Centipede soup!”
[Ah…………]
[I can’t even imagine what that would taste like now ㅋㅋ]
[Ugh, drinking poisonous soup and dying…]
The soup essentially starts with making a ‘roux’.
Roux isn’t just for soups; it’s a basic cooking element for Western-style dishes and sauces, and the method of making it isn’t that hard.
“First, I need butter and flour in a 1:1 ratio… How many of us are there again…?”
Including Menelapie and me, we had 29 people in the party.
To make enough roux for this crowd, uh…
“I guess I’ll just use an entire bag.”
○○○○
“By the way….”
“What’s up?”
“I’ve been overwhelmed by the atmosphere since earlier, but who are you, miss?”
At that remark, the other party members turned to Menelapie with ‘Oh…!’ expressions.
Caught in her aura and eloquence, they had completely forgotten that they had no clue who this Menelapie was or what her role was to Shia.
“Oh, speaking of which, who are you?”
“Are you the Gallery Master’s sister? A broadcaster?”
“…….”
Suddenly, as the party members’ gazes landed on Menelapie, she shrugged as if she had no intention of answering.
“Hmph, what do you think I might be?”
“Uh…….”
“No, how would we know.”
“Shall we take a random guess?”
“Is she maybe Isia’s sister?”
“Perhaps the Gallery Master’s mom…?”
“Are you stupid? She was there when we went to eat Unicorn meat last time; the Gallery Master’s mom showed up. Even accounting for the recognition filter, her voice and body type are totally different.”
“Or judging from how she looked at the Gallery Master earlier, the sweetness oozing makes her seem like quite the viewer hotspot…”
Crash!!!
“……………”
A gigantic mark was carved into the ground right where the party member who yelled ‘viewer hotspot’ stood.
The earth was neatly sliced, as if a tofu was cut, and the party participants were momentarily left speechless.
“Just what was that you said?”
Before anyone could comprehend, Menelapie’s sword glimmered with a faint golden aura, having quickly drawn it and sheathing it without anyone noticing.
“…It was nothing.”
