Part 1, Chapter 10, 17

July 1, 2020, 10:48 AM, US Robbins 31.

Lee Giwoo, who was preparing the store for opening, slumped into a chair with an exhausted face.

“Oh, my wretched life….”

Just two months ago, he had been operating a convenience store owned by his parents in Incheon. After the dimensional gate opened in Gwanak, he strongly insisted on leaving Incheon and moving down to New Seoul.

Giwoo’s parents also instinctively felt that Incheon would be dangerous now that even a dimensional gate had opened, but they couldn’t give up their real estate. In the end, Giwoo’s parents gathered all their remaining cash and sent only Giwoo down to New Seoul.

“Should I have just stayed in Incheon…?”

Following Gwanggeom’s death and the subjugation of the snake at City Hall, Seoul and Busan became the safest cities in Korea. Giwoo succeeded in moving down to New Seoul, but he couldn’t leave New Seoul.

His parents told him to come back to Incheon, even if it meant hiring a Hunter, but he couldn’t readily muster the courage to do so.

“Ugh, I need to save up money quickly.”

If he could get a scalped ticket to Seoul, it would be easy to go to Incheon. Giwoo searched the network for any bus scalped tickets, but the prices had already skyrocketed to an extent Giwoo couldn’t afford.

“Should I be cheering for those protestor bastards….”

Five buses a day. The demand for buses, which could transport about 200 people, reached hundreds of times that. The government and the association deliberately limited the number of buses operating through negotiations, and citizens wanted more buses to run.

“They’re scared the entire population of New Seoul will leave, those dirty bastards.”

Giwoo was certain.

How many of those who went up to Seoul would truly return to New Seoul?

Even if 200 people went up to Seoul every day, fewer than 10 of those 200 returned to New Seoul. Including private cars that went up to Seoul accompanied by Heroes or Hunters, nearly 500 people were going up to Seoul every day.

“Tsk. I should just get ready for opening.”

Giwoo checked the 31 tubs of ice cream. He frowned as he checked the new tub that had arrived for July among the 31 flavors.

“No matter how much I want to make money, selling toothpaste, seriously….”

Giwoo shook his head and checked his uniform. Now quite accustomed to the service industry, he adjusted his hat, turned on the lights, and then stepped out from behind the counter to open the locked front door.

“……What?”

Why were so many people bustling around? The area in front of the store was teeming with a huge crowd. Giwoo was anxious, wondering if today’s protest site for the demonstrators would be in front of his store.

“The Heroes are controlling… them?”

Giwoo tilted his head, seeing Heroes he often saw on YouTube lined up in front of the ice cream shop. Was someone important coming? Giwoo looked around even as he unlocked the door.

Opening time: 11 AM.

As the clock hands reached the hour, the chaotic noise outside subsided.

Ding-a-ling.

As the door opened, a woman wearing a beret entered the store first. The woman with bloodshot eyes and deep dark circles beneath them, Praetor Baek Heea, dazed, pointed to the counter for the woman following her.

“Please choose what you’d like to eat….”

Baek Heea was clearly out of it. The world was spinning, and her head was throbbing, needing immediate rest, but the driving force behind her was her sense of duty as a Praetor.

“Hmm. Just a moment.”

The blue-haired woman who followed Baek Heea in, Cheonghwa, scanned the 31 types of ice cream with her eyes. After checking a few, she clapped her hands and approached the counter.

“Can I buy one as a gift first, before I get mine?”

“Buy as you please. As you wish.”

“Thank you, Praetor-nim. Puhuhu.”

Cheonghwa smiled broadly, pointing to the tub in front of her, as if finding something amusing in the Praetor’s listless gesture of raising the watch on her wrist.

“I’ll have one half-gallon size packed.”

Click! Click!

Reporters who had followed the two in stood against the wall, taking pictures of Cheonghwa’s back as she chose ice cream. Heroes, led by Fire Fist, formed a wall around Cheonghwa and the Praetor to prevent the reporters from acting out, allowing Cheonghwa to choose her ice cream without any disturbance.

“Wow.”

Giwoo screamed internally at the crowd gathered beyond the glass window. The glass, which he had painstakingly cleaned before leaving work yesterday, was now covered with all sorts of marks from people pressing their faces and hands against it. Giwoo had no idea how to deal with the single VIP who had brought this massive crowd.

“What flavor would you like? Please choose the first flavor.”

Giwoo placed his hand on the screen with a stiff voice. He didn’t know what flavor of ice cream Cheonghwa would say, but a plan to use this opportunity to sell out all the ice cream flashed through his mind.

“…nt Chocolate.”

“Huh?”

Giwoo unconsciously asked back. Unsure if he had misheard, thinking about going to Seoul to meet his parents in Incheon, Giwoo swallowed his embarrassment and asked again.

“……Puhuhu.”

Cheonghwa, finding something else amusing, constantly beamed and pointed to the poster featuring the new menu item.

“Mint Chocolate.”

“…….”

Giwoo struggled to hide his true feelings. He had cursed when putting up the new menu poster, and he had verbally spewed profanity even when he sampled it out of curiosity.

“Uh, um, you can sample the new menu item, so why don’t you try a taste-“

“Mint Chocolate.”

Cheonghwa’s voice slightly lowered. As Cheonghwa made a slightly displeased expression, Baek Heea, who had been dazed, glared daggers from behind Cheonghwa, giving Giwoo a warning look. Fortunately, Giwoo quickly composed himself and continued the order.

“You’ve chosen Mint Chocolate. Next flavor-“

“Mint Chocolate.”

“…….”

Giwoo nodded internally. Since there were six flavors, it was possible to choose the same flavor for two of them. Brainwashing himself in this way, he cleared his throat and pointed to another ice cream on the counter.

“You’ve chosen Mint Chocolate for the second. How about our menu item from last month for the third flavor? It’s packed with strawberries.”

“Then that s… Mint Chocolate.”

“Huh.”

Baek Heea let out a hollow laugh. Cheonghwa’s action of filling half of the half-gallon tub with mint and chocolate was nothing short of an atrocity. He was curious about the taste, but it was hard to imagine mint and chocolate combined into one.

“It’s a new item, are you sure you want to go that far…? Cheonghwa-yang, how about ordering some other menu items too?”

“Why? It’s so delicious! Praetor-nim. Would you like to try a sample?”

Cheonghwa pointed to the ice cream tub with sparkling eyes. Baek Heea’s lips twitched, but he couldn’t bring himself to refuse Cheonghwa’s offer. Figuratively speaking, he was merely in a position to entertain Cheonghwa, who was a top-priority buyer.

“Yes. …Just a little.”

Baek Heea stared at the small scoop of ice cream Giwoo had put in a cup for him for a long time. Cheonghwa’s eyes sparkled more than ever with anticipation, and the Heroes and reporters also whispered about the new menu item, imagining its taste.

“What’s mint?”

“Is it green tea flavored ice cream?”

“Since it has chocolate, it must be chocolate.”

“…….”

The reporters focused their cameras on Baek Heea’s hand and mouth. Someone was already waiting for Baek Heea’s tasting with the momentum to even come up with a title like Praetor Eats Ice Cream at Cheonghwa’s Suggestion.

“……Haa-eum.”

Baek Heea gathered his courage and put a large spoonful into his mouth.

“…….”

Thud.

Baek Heea swallowed the ice cream in his mouth with a gulp and gave a faint smile.

“It’s a taste that really wakes you up. Yes, figuratively speaking…. It tastes like brushing your teeth after waking up.”

Baek Heea’s analogy became data by the hands of the reporters and spread in all directions. No one saw Baek Heea’s black hair, peeking out from under his beret, trembling as if in a spasm.

“Puhuhu, tastes like brushing your teeth. That’s true. Oh, I’m sorry. I’ll choose the fourth flavor.”

Cheonghwa picked up the cup Baek Heea had eaten from.

“Mint Chocolate.”

“I can’t believe it…. This is absurd…. No, you’ve chosen Mint Chocolate for the fourth flavor.”

“Mint Chocolate.”

“…And you’ve chosen Mint Chocolate for the fifth flavor.”

Giwoo swallowed hard and checked the screen. On the white screen, five emerald-colored lumps flaunted their presence, leaving only one space white.

There was no turning back now. Giwoo emptied his mind and asked the final question.

“What would you like for the sixth flavor?”

“For the last one.”

Everyone’s gaze gathered on Cheonghwa’s mouth. Now the choice was no longer 1/31, but reduced to a 1/2 chance of either choosing it or not.

“Of course, Mint Chocolate.”

“Yes.”

Giwoo nonchalantly took out an empty tub and picked up the ice cream scoop. From a worker’s perspective, she was an easier customer.

He filled the tub, which was like a blank canvas, completely with emerald light. The chocolate chips embedded here and there flaunted their presence like small archipelagos in a blue sea. Giwoo, with a mind free of thought, filled a tub with Mint Chocolate and placed it on the counter.

“Would you like it gift-wrapped?”

“Yes. I know someone who really loves this. Oh.”

Cheonghwa smiled brightly and made an X with her fingers.

“Please box it, but you don’t need to put in dry ice.”

“Huh?”

“Just do that. They’ll eat the whole tub in one sitting anyway. Puhuhu.”

Upon hearing Cheonghwa’s words, Baek Heea instinctively knew, seeing Cheonghwa’s intention to gift this flavor that made him want to rinse his mouth immediately.

This person was a true villain.

“Ah. Praetor-nim. Since we’re here, can I buy one for myself separately?”

“Yes. Of course.”

“Then I’ll buy one in a cone.”

Cheonghwa began to choose her ice cream more carefully than ever before.

“Hmm…. What was it again….”

While Cheonghwa was pondering, Baek Heea began to consider all sorts of possibilities in his head.

Surely, after gift-wrapping it, she wasn’t planning to eat it all herself once she got to Seoul? Or was this the preference of the war god who followed her invisibly?

“Ah. This was it. I almost forgot. Puhuhu.”

About 5 minutes. After pondering for a whopping 5 minutes, Cheonghwa finally succeeded in choosing one flavor.

“Give me this one.”

“Yes. Single size, in a cup, Strawberry in Love for you.”

Giwoo truly felt relieved that at least one different type had been chosen. Cheonghwa picked up the spoon with a happier face than ever.

“Heheheh~”

Humming a tune, Cheonghwa put the strawberry-flavored ice cream into her mouth.

***

To be clear about one thing, I neither like nor dislike mint chocolate.

It’s just that having eaten it so much, the aversion has simply disappeared a lot.

The Azure Flame Phoenix is strawberry.

Seok Harang, who corresponds to Rusalka of Snowy Night, is blueberry.

Gifts for heroine capture naturally have the effect of raising or lowering affection levels. Just as individual likes and dislikes vary, heroines also had diverse preferences for gifts-especially food.

And there is one human, no, one Spirit, in the world who is obsessed with mint chocolate.

Fenrir of Gale Wind.

As a wind-attribute Spirit and the first executive encountered in the original work, Fenrir is lured by mint chocolate milk from the very first capture attempt and begins to follow the protagonist’s party.

She approached as a spy but hesitated to fight due to the warm experiences she had with the protagonist’s party. She then fought in a weakened state due to the protagonist’s party’s strong persuasion and was recruited as an ally.

I don’t know where Fenrir is.

I only know that she’s somewhere in Northern Europe, or perhaps not even in Northern Europe.

One thing is certain: the trigger for Fenrir waking from her slumber is ‘hunger.’ She had been dormant in monster form for a long time, her mana depleted, and she begins her full-fledged activities by seeking food.

It was quite unexpected that her first prey was Russia’s Round Table, and that it was Anastasia, who was possessed by Rusalka. Nevertheless, I wanted to find and awaken Fenrir, who could be awakened right now.

The first step was mint chocolate ice cream.

I planned for Fenrir to wake up on her own by causing a mint chocolate syndrome worldwide.

Dubbed Project Mint Chocolate Challenge.

Naturally, I wasn’t the only one doing this 6-mint rush.