3 – World 11. Terms of the transaction (1)
I thought as I looked back at the eyes gathering one by one.
‘It feels like a slum.’
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Dark hazy sky.
A street with no lights on.
Eyes sitting on the sidewalk and slowly dying.
Just being here seemed to calm me down.
‘By the way, why is everyone huddled together?’
Considering the place where I first woke up and the abandoned building I took Ren into, it wasn’t that I didn’t have a place to stay.
However, it was strange that everyone gathered on this street as if they had promised.
‘I need to know what kind of world this is.’
Conversely, there was no concern for people.
To put it bluntly, it was because, for some reason, even if all the people here turned their eyes away and attacked, it was easy to organize.
It wasn’t just that I had crossed 10 dimensions so far.
I even moved in such a way that I got everything I could get.
Whether it was power or things, it was to the point where I could easily pass this situation on because I repeated it 10 times.
“This way.”
In the meantime, Ren started walking at a faster pace.
So I also took my eyes off the people and followed Ren’s steps towards the inner city.
Still, it seemed that no one was going to do anything about me because of my light clothes and the fact that I was broke.
Bubbly-
Anyway, let’s follow Ren for a while.
“Here.”
“here?”
A building resembling an iron fortress, tightly closed with thick steel shutters, appeared before my eyes.
A building like a 7-story building.
However, the entire building, including the windows, was covered with iron plates, reminiscent of a large canned food.
‘It’s not some kind of prison.’
Well, if you look at it well, it felt like a fortress.
Also, while I was looking at the fortress-like building and thinking, Ren approached the building’s door and pressed a button that looked like a doorbell.
beep-
There was nothing special until the doorbell sounded.
It felt normal, but what happened after that wasn’t normal.
[What kind of guys are they?]
Parbat!—
“…?”
huh?
Along with a voice, a green light spread from an unknown device on top of the shutter and scanned Len’s body.
I didn’t even think about avoiding it because the unexpected happened in an instant.
By the way, what light is it?
On the contrary, Ren opened his mouth with a nonchalant expression.
“I brought guests.”
[customer? Does that mean the guy next to you is a guest?]
“You will regret it if you miss it.”
[Ha, what regrets.]
The harsh, heavy voice hinted at the reaction as if it wasn’t even funny.
Even if I was barred from the doorstep, I was able to go to the brightly lit building as originally planned, so I waited leisurely.
Fortunately, the other side gave me an answer so that the wait was not colorless.
[Come in.]
rumbling-
At the same time, only the size of the side door of the steel shutter went up.
Beyond the raised shutters, as expected, there was an iron door.
“You can go in now.”
I nodded at Ren’s words and walked forward, grabbed the iron door and opened it.
The iron door slid open as soon as the handle was turned.
And let’s go inside…
‘workplace?’
Unlike the outside, there were scattered mechanical parts throughout the spacious interior illuminated by bright lights.
At first glance, it looked like a garbage dump full of machines.
‘Come to think of it, there wasn’t a single machine in the building I entered.’
I wondered where those machines had gone, and it seemed like they were all gathered here.
“What are you looking around for?”
As I was looking around the mechanical parts for a moment, I heard a rough voice from the front.
In front sat a tall man with slightly tanned skin.
‘He’s big.’
The size of the man with his messy gray hair gathered back in a ponytail was quite large even to me.
Maybe 2 meters 20 tall?
In addition, the body made up of large muscles created an optical illusion that made it look more than twice as large as normal people.
Before entering this place, Ren said he was the old man, but no matter how you look at it, his appearance was far from the old man.
“You’re empty-handed anyway.”
empty handed?
“Can I come empty-handed?”
“I guess that kid didn’t tell me anything.”
At my puzzled question, the tall man said with an annoyed face.
“It’s a simple story. Those who come to me should bring me some good food first.”
“…?”
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Delicious food?
What kind of food is this all of a sudden?
Thinking about it, I remembered the people who had been sitting on the street like beggars a while ago, and I roughly understood it.
‘Looks like a world where food is precious.’
Not only that, Ren said that the water to drink was getting less and less.
Presuming that it might be a world where food and water are precious, I nodded and asked again.
“Can I just serve food?”
“at all. If I like the food, I make a deal.”
“It’s a deal…”
In one part of my head, a thought crossed my mind that in a world where food was scarce, it would be okay to just throw in a piece of combat rations.
Then, he shook his head.
‘No, it won’t work as combat rations.’
He must have lived as long as Ren called him old man.
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Depending on the years, there was a high possibility that he would not be satisfied with combat rations, as he would have eaten only one or two foods.
‘Well, there’s nothing wrong with that.’
For your information, my cooking skills were world-class thanks to the ‘skill’ acquired in one dimension I had been through so far.
So, if you put your mind to it, it was easy to satisfy the man in front of you.
“Do you have any dishes you want?”
“Do you listen to everything I tell you?”
“The possibilities are great.”
Of course, since I didn’t know what kind of world this was, there was a possibility of failure.
Even so, I had nothing to lose.
If there is a need, it’s about time and a meal.
“Confidence is great. good. I haven’t eaten a single meal today because I worked from early in the morning.”
“You mean you’ve been hungry all day?”
“It’s still around noon, so not all day. Anyway, I hope it’s something I can eat to my heart’s content. Of course, it has to taste.”
Is it the taste and quantity?
As soon as I thought about it, a lot of food passed through my head.
Among them, you can eat a full meal and not get tired of it.
‘Well. That’ll do.’
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Deciding not to be difficult, I looked around again and pointed to a decently sized table.
“I’ll use that table.”
“It doesn’t matter if you use the table, but don’t you have nothing in your hands?”
With nothing in my hands, I seemed to think I would go back.
It might be better to show it once than to explain it with meaningless words.
So I put all the mechanical parts on the table down on the floor and moved the table towards the center.
It was also moved because there were no mechanical parts in the center to get in the way.
He was a big man, but he only looked at me to see how far I would go.
‘Then let’s start.’
With my thoughts, I opened the subspace and took out various ingredients including a portable gas stove and a large pot.
Then the man who was watching opened his eyes in surprise.
“Could it be a subspace?”
“do you know?”
“I know. It’s the first time I’ve actually seen it.”
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Do you know about subspace?
‘Is it a world with machines and magic?’
Suddenly, seeing my subspace, I remembered what Ren had muttered, ‘Player’.
What does it mean?
As a player, there may be many meanings…
‘No, let’s make food first.’
If you like my food, you can always ask.
So I put shiitake mushrooms, kelp, radish, onion, green onion, etc. along with well-trimmed dried anchovies in a large pot and poured water.
It was for making broth.
The man who was watching was curious again and asked.
“······There are also vegetables that I have never seen before. Did you buy it from District 1 with expensive money?”
“I just got them from all over the place.”
There was no problem even if he honestly replied that he had brought it from another dimension.
The power I possess now is such that I don’t have to think about the future.
You could blow up the planet itself if you put your mind to it.
However, I, who had no idea what to do with my strength, answered in moderation.
Anyway, the tall man and Ren couldn’t take their eyes off the pot bubbling over the high heat.
‘By the way, didn’t Ren eat three bowls of antelope porridge earlier?’
Is it already digested because it’s porridge?
Thinking with a tilt of my head, I used an expedient method to boil the broth quickly and strained the vegetables using a sieve.
Afterwards, the strained stock was poured into the pot again, seasoned with soy sauce and salt, and new vegetables and mushrooms were added.
“Is it too far?”
“It’s almost done.”
After making the sauce, I finally opened the subspace and took out the thinly sliced beef.
“Meat… is it really meat?”
“Do you have fake meat?”
“Isn’t it natural? Most of them are artificial meat.”
artificial meat?
I heard that fake meat was sold in this world.
Although the meat I took out is real.
And with that, the preparations are complete.
“It’s done, you can eat it now.”
“Well. But I have no idea what kind of dish it is. Could you tell me?”
It wasn’t difficult, so I nodded and briefly introduced myself.
“Beef shabu-shabu.”