They Told Me to Build Good Karma by Selling Side Dishes - Chapter 4

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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4. Hyang-suk’s Side Dish Shop (4)

I blinked at the tutorial window before me.

“Wash and dry the peppers, and… surely you’re not asking me to make red pepper powder from scratch?”

Hae-tae cracked open one eye and replied.

“Why? Don’t you want to do it?”
“No, it’s not that… I’d be happy if I could. It’s just overwhelming to do everything from the beginning.”
“Red pepper powder made from peppers you harvested with your own hands will taste entirely different.”

Hae-tae said his piece and closed his eyes again. I muttered something about him having it easy and turned my attention to the pile of freshly harvested peppers.

I scratched my philtrum as I examined the peppers carefully.

[Pepper Infused with Sunlight (S)]
[Delicious Pepper (A)]
[Ordinary Pepper (B)]

‘Now I can see everything clearly.’

Upon completing the first stage of the tutorial, the grades and conditions of the ingredients, which had previously appeared irregular, now came into sharp focus.

Memories flashed through my mind—those days at the Restaurant when I’d wander through dawn markets and search across the country’s farming regions in pursuit of the finest ingredients.

I smiled with satisfaction and rubbed my aching lower back.

“Good. Let’s give this a try.”

***

I retrieved burlap sacks from the shop’s storage and sorted the peppers by grade. Then I carried them all to the Yard, filled a red basin with water, and paused to catch my breath.

I wiped the sweat beading on my forehead with my forearm and looked up at the sky.

‘It’s been such a long time since I’ve worked up a sweat like this.’

I’d always perspired just as much in the Restaurant kitchen, yet no one had ever acknowledged my effort.

Bittersweet memories from those days crept unbidden into my mind, but I shook my head and cast the thoughts aside.

‘That’s all in the past now.’

I submerged my hands in cool water and gently rubbed the surface of the peppers clean. As I lifted them into the colander, they glistened in the sunlight, still clinging to droplets of water.

Nowadays people use dehydrators, but it was utterly unthinkable that Hyang-suk’s Side Dish Shop would possess such a device.

So in the end, I decided to do it the way Grandmother had always done it—by hand.

‘Ji-gu, you must dry the peppers thoroughly after washing them, or mold will grow. And it’s best to split them lengthwise so they dry evenly in the sun.’

Grandmother’s voice seemed to echo in my ears.

***

For nearly an hour, I bent over and meticulously dried five hundred peppers, one by one. Gazing at the glossy, lustrous peppers, a satisfied smile bloomed naturally across my face.

“Phew, all done!”

I stretched and worked the stiffness from my aching shoulders. Now only the drying process remained.

I spread a large waterproof tarp across the Yard floor and carefully arranged the peppers on it, ensuring none overlapped. Otherwise, those spots would stay damp.

As I finished this task, a translucent window materialized before me.

[Washing and sun-drying peppers in the Yard (40%)]

‘Still sixty percent left? Ah, that’s right. I need to cut them.’

I retrieved scissors from the Kitchen and began removing the pepper stems and splitting them lengthwise. I had to brace myself for the sting that would come to my fingers.

“Grandmother Hyang-suk taught you well, meow.”

Hae-tae, who had awakened from sleep at some point, approached and wove around me with a swishing tail.

“Right? Grandmother taught me all sorts of things when I was little.”

One might have expected such a young granddaughter to be a nuisance, yet Grandmother had patiently instructed me with meticulous care, one lesson at a time.

“I simply passed on what she taught me, meow.”
“…So Grandmother’s secret techniques were actually yours?”
“Exactly! I’m Grandmother Hyang-suk’s teacher, meow.”

At Hae-tae’s words, my eyes widened in surprise.

“Really?”
“Of course. How else do you think she learned, meow?”
“…I always thought our grandmother was a genius.”
“Huh, meow?”

I smiled softly and continued.

“Ever since I was young, I thought our grandmother was a genius—the entire world to me. She was like a magician, conjuring anything with a snap of her fingers. But I never knew there was such a wonderful teacher behind it all, meow?”

At the word “teacher,” Hae-tae’s ears perked up sharply. His tail shot skyward with unbridled joy.

“Is that praise, meow?”
“Want me to take it back?”
“How can you take back praise, meow!?”
“Ha ha. Just joking. Joking.”

As I exchanged these trivial pleasantries with an increasingly emboldened Hae-tae, I realized the final pepper was already in my hands.

I carefully split its belly and laid it flat upon the waterproof sheet.

“Achoo! Achoo…!”

Even as successive sneezes erupted from me, a satisfied smile lingered at the corners of my mouth.

All that remained now was to collapse this aching body onto the bed.

Yet Hae-tae seemed to have something more to say, lingering before me with restless intent.

“Why are you just standing there?”
“Aren’t you going to feed me lunch? My belly’s touching my spine!”

Right. Food. I’d completely forgotten.

“Sorry. I’m just so exhausted… Could you wait until I sleep and wake up?”

My eyelids felt impossibly heavy, but Hae-tae let out a sharp hiss and expressed his displeasure with his entire body.

“If you woke me up, you’re responsible for feeding me.”
“Fine, fine. I’ll do it now.”
“Hurry up!”

Hae-tae turned his head with an air of indignation and walked toward the Shop’s Back Door, tapping it lightly.

“Open it!”

It was silent pressure to open the door and get to cooking. I let out a quiet laugh at his audacious back and forced myself to my feet.

“Coming, coming…!”

***

-Wake up! You have to wake up! You’re the pride of South Korea!

I lifted my eyelids at the blaring smartphone alarm.

‘Right, I’m the nation’s honor…’

Blink, blink.

I rubbed my gritty eyes and looked around.

I’d fallen asleep in the Kitchen without even making it to my room. After feeding Hae-tae…

My eyes began to blur closed again.

With only two hours of sleep, my eyes kept shutting on their own.

“Aren’t you going to wake up?”

Something soft jabbed sharply into the center of my cheek, and my eyes flew open. It was Hae-tae’s gelatinous paw pad.

“Why didn’t you go back to the Dimensional Space?”
“You locked the door!”

Ah. After preparing dinner and locking the Shop’s Back Door in my exhaustion, Hae-tae must have been trapped inside the shop.

“Sorry.”
“Hmph.”

I brushed away the remnants of sleep and gently stroked Hae-tae’s back. As the soft fur whispered between my fingers, my mood lifted.

Right on cue.

With a soft chime, a tutorial Quest notification appeared.

[Wash and dry peppers in the Yard (60%)]

As I gradually regained my senses and looked around, I tilted my head in confusion.

“…Why is it so dark?”

I’d fallen asleep when the sun was high overhead, yet the window now showed the dim twilight of evening.

“Get up quickly! Dark clouds are rolling in. That’s why I woke you.”
“Dark clouds…!”

I bolted upright. If the peppers I’d been carefully drying got soaked by rain, it would be a disaster.

“Thank you, Hae-tae!”

In the same motion, I scooped Hae-tae up and dashed toward the Shop’s Back Door.

“P-put me down!”
“Just hold on!”

I needed someone beside me—it was the only way my heart would find peace.

I arrived at the Yard, breathing heavily, and lifted my head. Clouds gathered one by one until they blanketed the entire sky.

Soon, rain would pour down.

“Oh!”

Dark clouds swept across the heavens at a terrifying pace. A cold, damp wind rushed in. Rain was imminent.

I set Hae-tae down on the ground and rolled up my sleeves.

‘I have to move them!’

The only suitable place was inside the shop. I grabbed both ends of the waterproof tarp, wrapped the red peppers, and began hauling them inside with grunts of effort.

Then, the sound of raindrops began pattering against the canopy overhead—pitter-patter, pitter-patter.

“Ugh! It’s freezing!”

A cold raindrop striking my scalp jolted me awake.

I gritted my teeth and managed to safely bring the last of the peppers inside before collapsing onto the floor.

Sweat and rainwater streamed down my entire body. I didn’t have the strength to move a single finger.

“Phew….”
“You did well, meow.”

Hae-tae approached and tapped my thigh gently with her front paws. I burst into laughter at her words.

“Without you, this could’ve been a disaster. Farming really isn’t for just anyone.”
“Work involving nature is always the most grueling, meow.”

Now I finally understood in my bones why vegetable prices fluctuated so wildly.

“Still, the red pepper powder made after all this hardship will definitely be delicious, meow.”

Hae-tae tapped one of the peppers, slightly damp from the rain. The cat’s eyes gazing at me held a peculiar warmth of approval.

“Your effort will be recognized by these vegetables, Ji-gu. Vegetables are honest—they repay your care with flavor.”
“My effort….”

Would they really recognize it?

“I hope so.”

It was something I’d never heard from anyone but Grandmother.

I gently lifted a red pepper that had grown slightly damp from the rain. The water droplets clinging to its crimson skin felt like the warmth of living breath itself.

“Vegetables never lie.”
“Is that so?”
“It is.”

Then, catching sight of the Quest window that had appeared before my eyes, I laughed with hollow resignation.

[Wash and Dry Peppers in the Yard (55%)]

The rain had cost me 5% progress.

***

Exactly one week passed in that struggle between rain and sun.

Every morning when the sun rose, I spread the peppers across the yard; every evening, I gathered them back inside the shop. In the spaces between, I swept and cleaned.

Grandmother’s utensils, marked by her touch, began to gleam with renewed luster, and the peppers in the yard, having weathered several crises, drank in the sunlight and dried to a perfect crispness.

[Wash and Dry Peppers in the Yard (99%)]

Only 1% remained. I called out loudly toward the entrance of the Dimensional Space.

“Hae-tae! I need your final inspection!”
“Are they all dried?”
“Yes! Check them for me!”

Hae-tae appeared with a yawn, and I held up the perfectly dried peppers in both hands, shaking them to show.

“Mew-ow-ow!”

In that instant, Hae-tae’s eyes widened as he reared up on his hind legs. Then, like a predator stalking prey, he swiped his front paws toward the crisp dried red pepper I held in my hand.

“Oh my?”

Mischief seized me, and I shifted the dried pepper to my left.

“Meow, meow!”

Hae-tae’s body lurched leftward as he batted at the pepper with his paw like a savage beast. Unable to suppress his feline instincts, he flailed after the pepper, and I burst into laughter at the sight.

“Oh? So even a divine being cannot escape the call of a cat’s nature.”

I had thought that being a divine creature meant transcending feline habits, but it seemed a cat was simply a cat, no matter what.

Hae-tae suddenly snapped back to awareness at my teasing.

“…Are you making fun of me right now?”
“No, I was just checking if it dried well by shaking it.”

Hae-tae examined each dried pepper meticulously with a disgruntled expression.

“Ahem, it’s dried well, you say? It passes.”

The moment Hae-tae’s approval fell, the translucent window blazed brilliantly like fireworks erupting in celebration.

[Tutorial: 2. ‘Wash and dry the red peppers in the yard’ has been completed.]

And the tutorial was far from finished.

[Tutorial: 3. Make kimchi using red pepper powder! (0/1)]

Now I had to make kimchi…?

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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