(Check out the youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SnowwindTCG/videos)
Delving into the details of Universe-1221's diet is unnecessary.
In a world where primary industries such as agriculture, livestock, forestry, and fisheries have mainly developed, secondary industries have advanced in the form of utilizing magic, such as spell-infused manufacturing, mining, and construction.
In other words, to put it simply, apart from some medieval elements added by magical means, the culture of diet is not much different from that of the Middle Ages.
So even spicy food mainly consists of spices such as cinnamon, ginger, and pepper.
But what if you suddenly discover the true spiciness of a chili pepper, like Cheongyang chili pepper?.
Or facing the ultimate test of courage with the Garlic race's infamous Buldak – a fiery dish that's whispered to extract confessions from heretics under the shroud of darkness.
“Um, it’s spicy, but not to that extent… Eh…?!,” As she cautiously rolled the red noodles with her fork and put them into her pink lips and tongue, her eyes soon became moist, and her face turned red.
If she hadn’t been a saint, she would have screamed as soon as it touched her tongue, and she would have drank anything that would soothe her mouth.
With tremendous faith and superhuman endurance, the saint managed to cover her mouth.
Still, the dizzying spiciness made her feel like she was going to lose consciousness.
In the end, the saint, who was enduring the excruciating spiciness with her immense faith and supernatural patience, was left panting and drenched in sweat.
Her body, glistening with sweat, may have looked alluring, but more than that, I felt pity for her suffering from the intense spiciness.
Watching this, the full-time worker at the U.C. convenience store thought to himself.
“I told you so.”
It was the only natural outcome of daringly challenging K-Spicy flavor without any fear.
********
[Cuisine of Universe-1221]
[Photo of white soup and bread, and salted meat]
“Although the quality of ingredients in Universe-1221 is excellent, the completeness of the dishes is regrettable. In other words, the food is too bland.”
[Master Baek’s Universe Food Fighter: Universe-1221 Edition]
[Characteristics]
[In a universe where only the ingredients are better than during the medieval era but not quite as good as the modern civilization of the 21st century. The tastiest dishes mainly consist of grilled or steamed dishes that bring out the natural flavors of the ingredients. For those who have lived in civilizations beyond the 21st century, it is a universe that evokes a longing for sweetness, spiciness, and saltiness]
In summary, the people of Universe-1221 are the type who use only a very small amount of pepper because they consider it to be spicy.
Similarly, they would use only half a clove of garlic in their ramen.
However, what would happen if they were to suddenly eat Fire Chicken ramen?.
Even with just half the sauce added, the result was this.
“H-How can anyone eat this...?,” Alencia said, bordering on fear at the thought of consuming a dish.
She trembled with both hands clasping tightly to the cross, seeking divine help, not due to the devil, but to endure the seemingly ordinary Fire Chicken Ramen, albeit with only half the sauce added.
Just one bite was enough to elicit such a response.
Had all the sauce been used, Alencia might have actually fainted.
"This goes beyond mere spiciness. They say not even the inquisitors in the heresy trials can endure torture worse than this..."
Alencia continued shedding tears, clutching the cross tightly as if in desperate prayer.
The spiciness was undeniable, but was it truly that extreme?.
“What kind of torture do the inquisitors perform?,” I curiously asked.
“They throw the criminals onto a scorching gravel field… or they restrain them on a triangular wooden horse smeared with a liquid that causes unbearable itchiness, only if they are accused of being a witch which is a bad sin…”
Well, setting aside unnecessary details, it’s a torture I know precisely from the medieval era.
So from now on, I must be careful not to utter any words that blaspheme against the divinity in front of believers of the church, especially in front of the inquisitors.
Actually, It would be better to not say anything at all in their presence.
“And the most cruel torture is to keep the prisoner confined in a dark, secluded room where not a ray of light enters until they repent of their sins… Of course, there is no water or food.”
Oh, it goes beyond being cruel, it becomes terrifying.
The first one was just torture, but the second one included crucifixion, and now the third one is a medieval European-style inquisitor torture!.
“But, How on earth can Mr.Hyunwoo put something like that in his mouth?!.”
Ironically, I must have seemed abnormal to Alencia as I calmly ate the spicy chicken without a care in the world, that was even more horrifying to her than such torture.
It is true that nuclear spicy chicken is quite hot to eat, but it seems that the original version with only half of the sauce in it was still spicy.
Now I can understand why those beasts wanted to kill me yesterday.
"Hold on," I said, unable to resist fetching some milk from a dubious dairy farm along with some cheese.
"What are you doing now?" Alencia asked.
"At least with some milk, the spiciness will be reduced. I'll make this as mild as possible for you."
Handing her a paper cup of milk, I poured a bit into the ramen.
Fortunately, after drinking it, she seemed to calm down, releasing her grip on the crucifix with a sigh of relief. However, she still hesitated to eat the remaining spicy chicken.
“It should be less spicy now, but if it’s still difficult to eat, just leave it. There were quite a few customers at the convenience store who couldn’t finish it and ended up throwing it away.”’
Usually, it was immature students who struggled. I often saw elementary school kids buying spicy chicken ramen, then desperately reaching for milk.
Sometimes, a child would accidentally spill it after taking a bite, unable to handle the heat.
The spicy chicken sauce doesn’t easily come off, no matter where it gets on.
But that's not allowed... Throwing away food is punishable. Well, this doesn't seem like perfectly good food anyway," Alencia remarked.
While her brain registered the food as something utterly inedible, I was eating it just fine, which seemed to confuse Alencia a little.
Her hand holding the new fork was trembling slightly.
And yet, she looked at me eating without a care, wondering if there was something wrong with me.
“Please pray for my safe passage.”
“I may not know God well, but I will pray to Him nonetheless.”
In the end, Alenca embarks on another difficult challenge.
From my perspective, though, the spicy chicken ramen before wasn't overwhelmingly hot; but with the addition of milk, it became a palatable combination.
“Oh Lord, I pray that I endure…” Alencia murmured before taking another bite of the spicy chicken.
Though her face still wrinkled from the heat, this time she managed to chew and swallow it properly.
Internally, I applauded, thinking, ‘Impressive.’
“…Phew, I managed to swallow it,” she sighed, taking another sip of milk.
“So, how does it taste now?” I asked.
“Thanks to you, it’s not as unbearably spicy as it was initially. It’s still spicy, but the taste is surprisingly good in its own way,” she replied, her breath labored and eyes slightly moist. The addition of milk seemed to provide a balanced neutralizing effect, elevating the fire chicken ramen beyond mere spiciness.
From that moment, little by little, the ramen started to get consumed.
While I was accustomed to the spicyness, having eaten it frequently since its release, I understood how challenging it could be for those encountering genuinely spicy food for the first time.
“I used to think I could handle spicy food well, but now I realize what I had before wasn’t really spicy at all,” Alencia remarked with irony.
Observing her reaction firsthand, I could vaguely understand why people seek out videos of people trying fire chicken ramen for the first time.
There’s an element of amusement in seeing their reactions to a novel spicy taste.
Next time, I’d like to feed Alencia the fire chicken ramen without milk or cheese next time, then try it with all the sauce added, and finally, witness her reaction to the nuclear fire chicken ramen.
“Actually, this one is particularly spicy. It’s about three times hotter than your typical spicy ramen,” I explained.
“How on earth do you handle this so well, Mr. Hyunwoo? My tongue is still burning,” Alencia exclaimed.
“Oh, me?.”
Well, truth be told, I wasn’t always good at handling spicy food.
Even in high school, when I felt like eating something spicy, I used to mix just half the sauce of the fire chicken with milk.
However, with stress building up from frequent visits to the convenience store, questioning why people live their lives as they do, my empathy seemed to dwindle, and I ended up seeking spicy food for stress relief.
“…I can tell by your expression, even without you saying anything. Dealing with people can be tough. I, too, face difficulties in dealing with people from time to time,” she empathized, her tone softened.
Oddly enough, I initially empathized with Alencia’s struggle in eating something spicy, yet now, she looked at me with pity.
Huh, this ramen is not spicy, but why are tears welling up…?
“You must have had quite a few challenging customers on your first day, right? But I’m sure next time it won’t be the same,” she offered comfortingly.
However, even before she arrived, a crazy magician with a gun had already visited. While she didn’t shoot me and even left a tip, I couldn’t shake the feeling of impending doom about what might happen tomorrow.
I wondered if I could survive for a few more days.
Working at a convenience store in a fantasy world felt more like a survival game than contemporary daily life.
What kind of convenience store requires survival skills?.
“Let’s both try to stay strong in the future,” Alencia suggested.
“Yes, let’s,” I agreed.
And so, we finished our lunch, tears of different meanings mixed in our meal. While Alencia initially found the dish too spicy to eat, with the addition of milk and cheese, she managed to succeed in consuming it somehow.
After cleaning up, I found the coffee she had been looking for and brought it to her.
“Thank you. This time, I’ll make sure to pay for the coffee properly. Since I got free lunch, too. It did hurt my stomach, but the taste was unexpectedly good, and even though it was excessive, it had a different taste,” she remarked.
“Initially, I said it’s too spicy, but in the end, I ate it and got used to it.”
“But for some reason, it reminds me of a familiar taste. It’s really strange,” Alencia added, her face somewhat brighter now and seemed calmer as the spiciness eased.
Sometimes eating spicy food is good for relieving stress since it stimulates the brain to produce endorphins and dopamine.
“Oh, speaking of which, have you ever seen a person like this, Mr.Hyun-woo?,” Alencia suddenly pulled out a photo and showed it to me.
The image depicted a woman I didn’t recognize.
“Who is this?.”
“I can’t tell you exactly who she is, but if someone like this appears in this store, be careful. And let the security know as soon as possible,” Alencia cautioned.
Though the photo was black and white, the noticeable features were the horns on her head and the wings on her waist, reminiscent of a succubi from fantasy games.
Looking at the picture, It unnerved me, leaving me unnecessarily anxious.
