The hunters aboard the Hunter Train were mostly A-grade hunters recognized by the nation, not just some low-tier C-ranks.
They had sufficient strength and resources. While A-grade hunters lived without envy compared to high-ranking officials or rich people in their homeland, they weren’t free from the cravings for food and gourmet experiences. As time passed while docked at Green City, the hunters’ hunger grew more intense.
In the end, hunters had to force themselves to explore Green City or utilize the leisure space provided on the Hunter Train to distract themselves from their cravings and hunger.
“Ah, I’m so hungry…”
Of course, there were limits to this as well.
Although hunters could survive longer than ordinary people without meals, the cravings for fine food loomed large for those accustomed to gourmet dining.
“If you’re hungry, just eat canned food, yo. Bitch.”
“I’m sick of it.”
“This fucking bitch always complains about food. If you don’t like it, I’ll eat it all, yo.”
“Agh, damn it. That piece of shit always makes noise.”
“You, what did you just say, yo?”
“Your dick is 3cm, you fucker.”
“OK. Today, I’ll teach you the duties of a female, yo. How dare you use yards and not centimeters!”
“Shut up already. We’re hungry and haven’t eaten, stop fighting.”
From the operations committee’s perspective, the food compartment getting contaminated was a big issue enough to halt the train’s operation, but for the hunters, it was quite the headache.
The food compartment responsible for satisfying the palates of numerous hunters just happened to get contaminated by the corpse of an Uranium Dragon. Because of that, they had to endure the long docking period with nothing but tasteless preserved food and canned goods.
Thanks to that, even after settling in Green City for a while, the options for delicious food available to the hunters were extremely limited.
In fact, after several explorations, hunters realized that food suitable for human tastes didn’t exist in this city at all.
“If it weren’t for that fog…”
The dense green fog enveloping Green City was a minuscule yet transformed mana mist.
It was toxic to the point where ordinary people found it hard to breathe, but it caused no harm to A-grade hunters with a basic resistance to mana and toxicity.
“The problem is that the mutated green fog sits over the city constantly, gradually altering any organic matter exposed to it…”
And this organic matter naturally included various foods and ingredients. Although it was still possible to eat contaminated food, the taste was horrifically nonexistent.
In some cases, soups or porridge that simmered for a long time could evaporate the altered mana due to heat energy, making them somewhat okay, but there weren’t many hunters who preferred porridge or soup.
“Anyway, even if we go out to eat, it’s gonna be garbage, so just sit down and play blackjack.”
“Guild Master, this guy sucks at blackjack for a black guy, it’s boring.”
“What? You fucking bitch. Come sit down, yo. I’ll show you what blackjack is, yo.”
“Nah, I don’t play with trash.”
At that time, new news came to the wandering hunters of Green City.
“Hey, I heard one of the hunters opened a restaurant?”
“A restaurant?”
“A restaurant? Hey, Guild Master, is that true, yo?”
“It’s real. Earlier, someone… Was it Kim Hana? An A-grade hunter in Korea posted in the hunter’s group chat on the train.”
“Hah, a restaurant here? What kind of crazy person is that?”
Hunters weren’t fools either, and they had thought about trying to make delicious food using the ingredients here.
But with the mutated mana fog covering Green City, even if you made the most delicious dish, it would quickly spoil or taste bizarrely twisted.
No matter how confident one was in their cooking skills, it was impossible to eat tasty food without solving the fog issue.
“Did they just dump a ton of purification potions onto the food?”
“One purification potion costs over a million won, you think they’d just dump that on food?”
“If they’re S-grade hunters, it wouldn’t be odd for them to waste money like that.”
“What a stupid thought. S-grades don’t cook. They’re all excessively eccentric people.”
“Guild Master, should we go?”
“Ugh, it’s probably going to taste terrible anyway.”
“Scared?”
Nevertheless, hunters are fundamentally those who challenge the unknown.
“Let’s go right now.”
—
The weather was peaceful.
The sun was green.
The fog settled.
Rusty bullets made of bolts and nuts flew around the back alley today as well. When the corpses of the non-human gangsters washed up near the restaurant, Menelapie cleaned them up.
Meanwhile, Teresa was busy setting the table, her mouth full of curses. Although she said herself that she was the mascot, Lilybet, with her cybernetic S-grade enchantment abilities, had built large metallic walls and ceilings for the Grasshopper’s restaurant, which had customarily been just a simple street stall.
To ensure hygiene, the dining area was separated from the cooking space, constructing a sizable restaurant building that could easily be seen outside of dungeons. Meanwhile, the Mint Queen was adjusting the sign that read [Alley Shia’s Restaurant – Open for Business] with her mechanical wings spread wide.
Inside the kitchen filled with the meat of various monsters and a variety of cooking ingredients, Shia and the Grasshopper Chef were constantly chopping green onions and garlic.
The basics of cooking start with the consumption of base ingredients like onions and garlic, so preparation was essential.
“Chop! Gallery Master, you really… chop… horribly… just let me do it.”
“Ah, nah… I’m practicing, it’s practice…”
“Chop… just… Gallery Master, do what you’re good at… Chop!”
“Hmph…”
Gradually, Shia had come to speak comfortably with the Grasshopper Chef, but from the standpoint of the Grasshopper Chef who could chop a green onion in ten seconds, it was extremely frustrating to watch Shia, struggling for over a minute without chopping properly.
Eventually, Shia decided to take on the role of periodically firing purification beams at the ingredients rather than chopping green onions.
Purification Beam.
It was a miracle that Shia playfully cast, but its effects had extensive power capable of transforming the paradigm of the hunting community.
It could purify all forms of dirt, including poisons, viruses, bacteria, contaminants, and impurities. This miracle of purification could restore the distorted internal structure of the meat and cooking ingredients affected by the green fog overlaying the city back to their original delicious taste.
Thus, the restaurant opened in anger was gradually spreading through word-of-mouth around the back alleys.
Rumors spread quickly.
Unlike the non-humans of Green City, rumors and information circulated almost immediately among the hunters equipped with Hunter Assist Drones and smartwatches. Kim Hana, the first customer of Alley Shia’s Restaurant, spread the word to various hunters she met while wandering around Green City about Shia opening the restaurant.
Of course, this was all due to the close-to-blackmailing demands of Menelapie and Teresa, and the owner Shia consumed all the food while Hana was left with just her money.
However, the word-of-mouth effect through the hunter group chat was indeed potent.
Not long after Hana left, new customers arrived.
Hunters naturally liked tasty things. After enduring canned goods and preserved food, hunters gradually began to crave delicacies just like a young apprentice who entered the training camp felt euphoric over a plain cracker without a candy. Meanwhile, when Hana announced in the hunter group chat, “A hunter named Isia opened a restaurant in Green City!“, it definitely piqued interest.
“Where… If you turn west from the back alley of District 7… Oh, is this it?”
“Oh, it’s real?”
“[Alley Shia’s Restaurant]… it’s definitely someone from our side.”
There were three hunters in a mixed-gender party.
Seeing that they wore dusty hunter suits, it seemed they just came back from battling after exploring Green City.
The trio was curiously glancing at the sign that read [Alley Shia’s Restaurant], which oddly seemed out of place in the back alley, and they locked eyes with Menelapie standing at the door.
“Oh, are you Miss Menelapie?”
“Are you customers?”
Menelapie, leaning against the restaurant wall dressed in a black mafia suit like a guard, gathered attention.
Not only her stunning appearance and warrior aura, but in the Blood Swamp, she had single-handedly cut down over ten thousand mutant slimes with a single sword.
Having displayed such an extraordinary feat, it would be strange if she didn’t become famous.
“That’s right, that’s right!”
“You’re the one who did an amazing job in the Blood Swamp, right?”
“You have beautiful blonde hair and saved our party! Do you remember us?”
“Were you the 5th Vanguard Party?”
“Yes, you remembered! We didn’t get to say thank you back then—if you hadn’t helped us, we would have been dead.”
“I remember indeed. It was impressive how you didn’t retreat even when the protective gloves on your face were melting.”
“Oh, it was just luck in the end; I barely survived thanks to your help.”
“Don’t undervalue yourself. The mere fact that you endured in a situation where you could have lost your eyesight or even died shows you are courageous.”
“Hahaha! Thank you for saying that!”
“And such courageous people surely deserve to enter this restaurant.”
Saying so, Menelapie slightly moved aside as if inviting them in, signaling the hunters to enter.
Since they had already received great help from Menelapie in the Blood Swamp, the hunters were filled with excitement even without having peeked inside the restaurant.
“Hello!”
“Is this the restaurant?”
Upon entering, the hunters were greeted by Teresa, who was staring at them with a sides-eye.
“Welcome. Owner, you bastard.”
“Huh?”
“Let me show you to your seats, owner.”
“Ah, uh… yeah…”
It was somewhat odd to have a child in such a dangerous city, but there were many hunters whose appearances looked childish due to their various mana puppets, so the hunters decided not to harbor any prejudice.
Being guided by Teresa, the hunters were shown to a wooden table seating.
“Bladed Centipede Soup? What is that?”
“That’s a rather scary-sounding dish, isn’t it?”
“Ew, um… these dishes look a bit frightening…”
As they looked at the menu, the hunters couldn’t help but close their mouths at the bizarre names exceeding their thoughts.
If they were regular viewers of Shia’s broadcasts or frequent visitors to the genre dichotomy forums, they would have a clue, but these three hunters had been hunting dungeons so diligently they could be called workaholics, knowing nothing about Shia at all.
They were completely unaware of the grotesque dishes created by her.
“Umm, what kind of monster dish is this?”
“Should we leave?”
“But still, we should eat something for Menelapie’s sake, right?”
“I guess so…?”
“It might actually be okay. Hunter Kim Hana from Korea just said in the chat that it tasted good.”
“Oh, how about this one?”
One of the female hunters pointed to something at the edge of the menu.
“I looked it up with my smartwatch, it’s, um… something chicken?”
“Chicken?”
“Chicken generally sounds good.”
“Hmm, it’s been a while since I had chicken…. Alright. Let’s go for that.”
“It should be fine since it’s chicken.”
As they were waiting for their order with a lackluster attitude, Teresa approached the hunter, holding a record board.
“Have you decided on your order, owner, you bastard?”
“Huh?”
“It’s nothing.”
Thank goodness the language barrier saved them from properly interpreting the curse.
“We’ll just go with… uh, chicken.”
“Oh…”
Teresa’s gaze became somewhat strange at the choice of chicken.
“Why?”
“No, it’s just that you guys are the first to order that since we started the restaurant.”
Yes, it had to be the first.
After not long since opening the restaurant, that is.
“No, it’s nothing… Hey! Pig! The chicken order came in!”
“Really!?”
A voice brightening from the kitchen caused the hunters to turn their heads.
Glancing over, a person with flowing white hair and a beaming smile, carrying a large mana pouch, appeared.
“Wait, is that Isia?”
“The returnee from Korea who ranked 1st in contributions in the Blood Swamp?”
“It’s really her.”
Although they hadn’t watched the broadcasts, Isia was already somewhat known because she had ranked 1st in contributions in the Blood Swamp.
“You really ordered chicken!?”
“Um, yeah… yes….”
“Is there a problem?”
“No, none! I’ll make it extra diligently since it’s your first time!”
Saying that, Isia stepped out not into the kitchen but past the hunters, heading outside the restaurant.
“Huh?”
“Where is she going…?”
“Maybe they’re storing the ingredients outside.”
“I didn’t notice anything on the way here.”
“Ah, but chicken… it’s been so long since I had it…”
“With the food situation in the Hunter Train, there was no way to eat it.”
“That means all the cooks have become unemployed now.”
Chicken is loved by everyone, regardless of the nation.
In 2088, the fame of Korean chicken was still widespread, so the three hunters knew Shia, who was from Korea, and had considerable expectations.
As the minutes passed, five… ten minutes…
No signs of cooking could be felt inside.
Though the smell of oil used for frying chicken wafted through, hunters, more sensitive to smells than ordinary people, realized that the cooking hadn’t even started yet.
“What’s going on?”
“Why is it taking so long…?”
Bang!
“Sorry! I’m back! Gotcha!”
Shia burst through the door.
And next to her…
“K-coo…”
There was a human-sized chicken-human.
“Uh…?”
“Isn’t that… a chicken monster?”
“That seems to be the case…?”
As the three hunters exchanged incredulous glances between the chicken-human that Shia brought and Shia herself, who wore a blank expression, Shia took the chicken-human’s hand and walked briskly into the kitchen.
And as the chicken-human disappeared beyond the kitchen, it shot the hunters a pitiful glance.
“W-What…?!”
“Wait, did it just call us enemies?”
“Is it saying we’re its enemies…?”
Why was this happening exactly? Why did Hunter Isia bring that chicken monster?
The hunters looked at each other in bewilderment, shrugging their shoulders, unsure of what was occurring.
Shia, who suddenly went outside to catch a human-sized chicken monster, and that chicken monster, being pulled into the kitchen by Shia.
Hmm, they wondered—could it possibly be true that since the chicken monster could fry chicken well, it was being made to do the cooking?
Squash!
“C-ckook!!!”
“What was that sound?”
Squish!
Thump!
“……”
“Hii…!?”
Sounds of something breaking, smearing, gasping for air, and then falling silent echoed from the kitchen, causing the hunters’ faces to harden.
And soon, silence fell.
Accompanied by the delicious smell of something frying.
