Surviving on the Northern Front with Gukbap

Chapter 39 : Upgrade

039. Upgrade

Profit Increase,

Product Discount,

Effect Expansion,

Time Extension.

Out of these four, the lowest priority was 'Effect Expansion'.

That was because so far, I had no complaints about the strength of the buffs from the [shop window] ingredients.

'Of course, I'm not sure if this [Effect Expansion] makes the effects stronger or adds other effects altogether.'

Anyway, leaving out Effect Expansion, three were left,

and among these three, the best seemed to be,

'[Product Discount], obviously.'

Increase revenue, or reduce spending.

Between the two, I chose to reduce spending.

'That's because points can be earned without using [shop window] ingredients.'

As long as the customers were satisfied and recognized it, points flowed in.

For example, even potato stew made without [shop window] ingredients would earn points.

In short, as long as I was running a business, earning points was relatively easier than spending them.

So it would be better to make the spending more efficient.

'The problem is, how much will the discount be.'

Honestly, this was the main reason I was agonizing so much.

If I could know the numbers in advance, I could run the calculations and choose the better option, but—

'There's no way to know the numerical value.'

Unkind as my system was, I had no choice.

In times like this, you just have to take a chance.

I moved my finger to the second item on the upgrade list, [Product Discount].

Tting.

〈 Would you like to upgrade 'Product Discount'? 〉

〈 Consumes 1 Upgrade Point 〉

'Level it up!'

〈 You have used an Upgrade Point. 〉

〈 Please select an item from the [shop window] purchasable items to apply the discount to. 〉

〈 Purchasable items 〉

[Rice (150g): 5pt]

[Napa cabbage (1 head): 3pt]

[Radish (1ea): 3pt]

.

.

.

Suddenly, my brain sounded an alert.

'Stopping all functions. Shutting down.'

So this is what brain freeze feels like.

I thought it would be an all-items discount, but—

'It wasn't an all-items discount?!'

Had I known it was this inefficient, I definitely would have chosen 'Profit Increase.'

I tried looking for an undo or cancel button to retract my choice—

'Damn it!'

Of course, there was none.

My system was unkind and merciless.

At this point, the only thing to hope for was a large discount percentage.

Let me wipe my tears for a moment.

'Then, which of these should I pick?'

Endless worries and choices.

I narrowed down the discounted items to three.

'Salt, garlic, rice.'

Salt, naturally, was picked for the generous cash flow it provided when sold.

Garlic—essential in all Korean cuisine, so that made sense too.

'Plus, I'm curious if discounting garlic, which is 1pt, would make it a decimal, or zero.'

Lastly, rice.

The strength stat from rice was beyond first-rank, practically zero-rank,

and since I was going to sell plenty of rice under the name Gukbap from now on, it made sense.

"Hmmm."

Salt, garlic, rice.

All good options, but I decided to choose the one that suited my shop's name.

'Rice, it is.'

The new name I chose for my shop was Happiness Gukbap.

I was going to put gukbap—rice soup—front and center.

Rice sales would increase even more.

Having decided, I pressed rice.

〈 Product discount applied to rice. 〉

〈 Upgrade complete. 〉

As soon as I confirmed that the upgrade window had 0 points, I immediately clicked on the [shop window] tab.

[Rice (150g): 2pt]

The rice that had been 5pt was now 2pt.

That's a 60% discount.

Whereas before, I could buy two for 10pt, now I could buy five.

And yet—

'Still not sure.'

I wasn't certain if this was worth '1 Upgrade Point'.

It wasn't even clear when or how I could get more 'Upgrade Points'.

Maybe these too could only be obtained via quests.

'Hmm. Come to think of it—'

I recalled that after clearing the 'Grow the Inn (Stage 2)' quest, a new quest had appeared.

Now, it was time to check that quest too.

[Quest]

-------(Quest List)-------

〈 [1] Promote Korean Cuisine (Stage 1) 〉

└ Goal: Earn satisfaction points 10 times by selling Korean food. (Progress: 2/10)

└ Reward: Add 1 regular customer slot

〈 [2] Grow the Inn (Stage 3) 〉

└ Goal: Impress a customer. (Progress: 0/1)

└ Reward: Unlock 'Impression' in [shop window], upgrade Point

〈 [3] Survival (Stage 1) 〉

└ Goal: Reach 3rd-rank in preparation for the impending war.

└ Reward: Increased buff application rate for regular customers and general customers

The Grow the Inn quest had progressed from Stage 2 to Stage 3.

'This time it's a quest to impress a customer.'

Since 'Impression' would be unlocked in the [shop window], it was probably a new point unit.

Satisfaction was 1pt, recognition 10pt, so I wondered how many points an 'Impression' would be.

Maybe 100pt?

That would be amazing.

'Of course, it'll be much harder to achieve.'

Additionally, the quest reward was an 'Upgrade Point'.

It looked like Upgrade Points could be gained from quests.

I then noticed the third new quest.

Survival, stage 1: The goal was to reach 3rd-rank.

And the reward—

'Even improved customer buff application rates.'

This, too, was an excellent reward.

My guess was that the commander appointed me as cook because of the buffs my food granted.

If my buff performance improved even further?

That would solidify my usefulness—,

'And further strengthen my position in the village.'

Truly a jackpot.

Either way, I had to raise my rank eventually.

To enter 'that dungeon' soon to open, I'd need to be at least 3rd-rank.

But adding such a sweet reward as an inheritance bonus—what a windfall situation.

'Selling Korean food is just a matter of time: I'll have to focus on impressing a customer and reaching 3rd-rank.'

With such thoughts in mind, I arrived at Flaco's house.

Bang, Bang.

I performed the door-knocking skill that I'd learned from Flaco.

"Flaco. Are you there? It's Ian."

Bang, Bang.

But there was no answer.

At this hour, Flaco was probably still out hunting.

"Naba? Are you inside? It's me, boss."

I spoke gently, and, a moment later,

clink—the door opened.

"Boss!"

The voice of a child I hadn't heard in a while.

A brown-haired kid greeted me with a bright smile—.

"?!"

"You're back!"

Naba spoke cheerfully, but

I was so startled, I was at a loss for words.

Naba was holding a dagger in his right hand.

And there was red liquid.

"There's no way... Is that all blood?"

A 100% chance it wasn't kimchi juice; it was blood for sure.

Now that I looked closer, there were blood spatters across Naba's face too.

Yet Naba answered nonchalantly, as if it were nothing.

"Oh, this. Hehe."

The kid giggled, like they were proud of something.

"You little brat. Why are you holding a blood-soaked dagger?"

"I was going to show off to you when you came back, boss."

"What? Show off?"

"Please, come in first."

Naba opened the door wide and went inside.

The smell of animal flesh, musk, fresh blood, and a lonely bachelor all mixed together and filled the house.

I debated covering my nose, but

Naba walked straight to a worktable in the corner.

On the worktable lay a deer-like beast, half-skinned.

"Want to see?"

Naba, barely able to reach the tabletop, beckoned me, and—

"?!"

Began skinning a wild boar.

And did so with impressive skill.

Slice, scrape. Slice, peel.

Watching that scene,

I remembered what my mother had said the day I first cut kimchi as a child.

― My boy, you've got good knife skills."

Is this what she meant, mom?

Our Naba has great knife skills.

*

On the way home with Naba.

The kid, super proud, beamed and said,

"Flaco was even more surprised than you, boss."

Flaco, apparently, hadn't wanted to let Naba do anything.

But Naba begged for any task, and

with a snort, Flaco told her to go skin a beast,

pointing at the rabbit on the worktable.

But then—

slice, slice, swish—

Right from the start, Naba was able to separate meat from hide skillfully.

"Even though Flaco didn't teach you?"

"Yep! I just kind of put the knife wherever looked right, and it just came off smoothly."

Just the other day, I'd failed at butchering the Ice Bear.

Separating an animal's skin from its flesh is never easy.

Who would have thought this kid had such talent.

'Then maybe, you could skin the Ice Bear as well?'

It wouldn't be easy, but if she could, that'd be fantastic.

Even when we harvested meat, I wouldn't have to depend on Flaco anymore.

With this hope, I brought Naba back to the shop.

I wanted to show her the Ice Bear corpse right away, but

first, there was something to do.

Introducing Employee No. 1 and Employee No. 2.

"Well, say hi to each other. This is Employee No. 1, Naba. And here is Employee No. 2, Plerine."

I introduced them to one another—

Kang. Kang. Kang.

But Employees No. 1 and 2 only stared at each other in silence,

while the sound of hammering echoed throughout the shop.

Hmm, was Plerine really looking at him?

"You two will be eating, sleeping, and working together from now on, so introduce yourselves."

"......."

"......."

An awkward atmosphere hung between them.

A battle of nerves, maybe?

"So you did have an employee, boss. A kid, really?"

Plerine was the first to speak.

'Hmm. Did I never say it was a kid?'

Not to be outdone, Naba chipped in,

"There are even rude employees who don't use honorifics with the boss."

"......."

"......."

My parents never taught me how to handle employees.

What am I supposed to do here, father, mother?

I miss you.

'Didn't expect them to be at odds from the start.'

Why were the two of them clashing like this?

I decided, as the adult, to pull Plerine aside for a quiet word.

"What's wrong, picking a fight with a kid?"

Plerine kept her blindfold turned toward Naba and spoke.

"That kid is hiding something."

"Huh?"

What sort of nonsense was this?

"What is he hiding?"

"I don't know exactly. But there's something inside that kid."

Given her own secret as a mage, I wished she'd worry about hiding it herself, but—

"......"

The blindfolded girl looked deadly serious.

Hmm.

She's not the joking type about things like this.

"You're sure?"

Plerine nodded slowly.

"Yes. There's something dark inside her."

Really?

I let out a silent sigh.

"He's a kid who's been beaten down by the village thugs. It'd be weird if she was all sunshine inside."

"That's not what I mean."

Plerine sounded frustrated with me.

"There's a strange energy coming from inside that child."

Energy?

"What kind of energy?"

That sounded like something else entirely.

"It's definitely not mana. It's not a spirit either."

"......?"

"What I mean is, that little kid... he's dangerous."

Hearing Plerine's words, I looked back at Naba.

That little kid—dangerous?

Just a few weeks ago, he'd almost been beaten to death by bullies.

Then,

'Huh?'

Among the brown at the back of Naba's head, I saw something strange.

Two oddly colored streaks of hair sticking out from his dark brown hair.

One hazelnut color,

The other a dark, reddish purple.

'Those colors....'

Two completely different and mysterious shades,

'Hero Rio and Demon King Nabas?'

They reminded me of the easter egg characters I'd sometimes seen when playing the game Belkhazium.

Naba's full name,

Nanabas Lokario, included those two.