30 Years Have Passed Since the Prologue
chapter-126

Before carrying out the operation with implicit permission from Elizaveta, Ivan had to deal with the second most important part of his daily routine. It was Isabelle’s dinner. (The first most important thing is grooming time.)

Since last night, Isabelle had been holding a kimchi pasta party once a week. For example.

“This week, it’s pasta dressed with stir-fried kimchi!”

“Wow…”

Or.

“This week, we’ll have beef tenderloin bourguignon with wine-marinated kimchi!”

“Kimchi stew…!!”

Or.

“This week, we plan to serve bacon-wrapped kimchi risotto, which we had last time!”

“Uncle, are you crying now?”

“Hmm.”

It was truly a feast of hometown dishes (not). The kimchi he remembered was now different in shape, cooking method, and ingredients. But anyway, kimchi wasn’t that, was it?

Come to think of it, even on Earth, kimchi was roughly treated as a similar category made from vegetables and fermented. Whether made with carrots or cabbage, it meant the same thing.

So, Isabelle’s kimchi, despite its primitive form seasoned only with salt and fermented fish sauce, with a white color reminiscent of Baek Kimchi, could still be called kimchi.

Most kimchi becomes tastier when fried or steamed, even if it’s slightly undercooked. This has been proven by frozen pork belly restaurant owners on Earth several times.

Therefore, at this point, Ivan naturally began to think such thoughts. He wanted to implement the forbidden vision that contained the desire of all Koreans.

“Can’t we wrap spam in kimchi and eat it?”

There was kimchi, and there was spam, wasn’t there? Spam was actually a type of pressed ham, which was a compressed military ration made by mixing minced meat with flour.

(https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_(food))

And there was a food product designed with a very similar concept.

“Nutrition bar…!”

A product of this perfect nutritional design, where minced meat is mixed with grains and solidified in lard to increase preservation, just like spam.

The advanced food, created by condensing the civilization technology of modern humans, can be considered a kind of pressed ham. The way it’s made and the result produced aren’t significantly different.

So, what would happen if we fried or steamed it with kimchi?

“Eeewww–.”

“U-uncle…Uncle…You’re trying to…kill me, all of us!”

“Do humans also eat dog food? Or was dog food originally meant for humans? Then wouldn’t that be human food instead of dog food? If so, why didn’t I stop that person back then? We could have just been happy together in the dungeon, couldn’t we?”

The confused students were ignored. Ivan was an excellent agent, and agents must seek solutions before lamenting over failure.

In operational situations, minor failures and resulting disruptions from colleagues are constants. It means things that can always happen.

So, the solution Ivan found was like this.

“You want… me to make this edible?”

“Hmm.”

“Do I look like an alchemist to you?”

“You look like a hero.”

“!!!”

At this moment, you are greater than your father.

With that sentiment, and a spoonful of reverence when the masses elevate the hero who stands before the demon king.

To the pioneer of K-food who first established the concept of “edible kimchi dishes,” to the Tylesse people.

“Let’s give it a shot!”

Isabelle resolved to create “Kimchi Spam Stir-fry” by mixing Ivan’s “spam (not really)” and “kimchi (not really).”

That was last week.

And today, they would taste the result.

“This feeling… it’s been 10 years.”

Ivan muttered absentmindedly, lowering his trembling hands.

Today’s “survival tactics” class recorded only 13 dropouts out of a total of 42 students, ending successfully.

It’s inevitable that the class became somewhat hazardous. When full concentration cannot be achieved, this kind of class can seriously threaten the safety of students.

“Oh, Big Brother!” (Eugene)

After class, among the staggering students leaving, Eugene popped out. He approached shakily and whispered quietly.

“Are you going today too? Isabelle’s dinner?”

“Hmm.”

“Uhm, uhm, can I join in too?”

“Hmm?”

If you’re from Earth, you can’t miss this opportunity.

Ivan quietly sighed. It seems he still doesn’t miss the taste of home food, not long after being possessed.

It’s regrettable. If things continue like this for about 30 years, he’ll end up lamenting on his own.

“Well, we’re not the ones who want Isabelle to feed. We can just ask her for some leftovers later.” (Eugene)

“You’re supposed to eat food when it’s warm to enjoy it.” (Ivan)

“Well, usually you eat something like a chunk of wood and say such things… Isabelle likes you. We’re just nuisances.” (Eugene)

“…?” (Ivan)

Ivan let out a wry smile at Eugene’s words.

As he had reflected before, he epitomized self-objectification, embodying qualities of being unbiased, rational, and reasonable. Among the few flaws he had identified in himself, there was no excessive self-consciousness.

“I keep getting nagged by my dad’s friend,” or “The professor keeps asking me out for meals together, what should I do?” He couldn’t be the protagonist of such a story.

Isabelle is 15 years younger than him, and on average, humans find it difficult to feel attracted to someone more than 10 years older within the sample population.

Moreover, he had served in the military for a long time. Soldiers always tend to look older than their age. Even if commanding officers looked like they were in their 60s, they were actually in their 40s.

Even if he had attracted attention with his long and full beard, the absolute age difference was still a huge barrier in itself.

Ignoring these conditions and seriously thinking, “Does she like me?” over a small favor was already too much considering all he had been through.

Even if the other person’s affection was genuine, it was the same. Everyone who had liked him, and whom he had liked, had died, and he had no desire to experience such a situation again.

Aren’t they people who must eventually leave someday?

“Don’t talk nonsense. You should also consider Isabelle’s feelings.” (Ivan)

“Uh…? Huh?” (Eugene)

After shutting up the foolish possessed with some adult advice, Ivan wrapped up cleaning the classroom.

***

“Hmm…”

Generally, the information displayed in the status window includes [Name], [Age], and [Race], along with [Level]. Other information is gradually unlocked based on [Affection] and [Understanding], as is typical with status window systems in general.

So, from Eugene’s perspective, it meant that he could now view the information of someone he had become “sufficiently familiar” with.

[Isabelle de l’Etoile]

[Hero]

[lv.37]

[Magic Detection lv.3

Survival Instinct lv.2

Master of the Blade lv.1

Swordsmanship Style: Hero lv.7

Tyllese-style Cooking lv.9]

In this way, if you know the person, you can roughly confirm the skills in the skill window. And if a bit more [Understanding] is added….

“Isabelle likes you.”

Ding!

[Affection of the individual has increased.]

[Individual: Affection of Ivan Petrovich Yermov]

[91 (Extremely Friendly)]

“It seems like I’m right…”

Scratching his head, Eugene moved on.

Well, there’s no need to help Isabelle, and even if I did, it wouldn’t necessarily turn out well considering the nature of my big brother.

“Does my big brother like Isabelle?”

[Ivan Petrovich Yermov]

[Individual: Affection of Isabelle de l’Etoile]

[27 (Neutral)]

“Aha.”

With a wry smile, Eugene organized his bag. Just before leaving the empty classroom, he suddenly stopped and looked into the air.

“Status window, what does my big brother think of us?”

[Individual: Affection of Yevgeny Nobikov Karamzin]

[21 (Neutral)]

[Individual: Affection of Oswald Eastberfen]

[20 (Neutral)]

[Individual: Affection of Yuri Frank]

[20 (Neutral)]

“Wow.”

It’s quite bland.

Eugene chuckled and shook his head. Gender issues, being from the same world, weren’t really significant factors, he thought.

“Does my big brother have someone he likes? Someone with an affection level over 50.”

Without much expectation, he threw out the question, and the status window immediately flashed green.

[Individual: Affection of Ivan Sergeyevich Krasilov]

[99 (Absolute)]

[Due to the target’s death, this value does not fluctuate.]

[Individual: Affection of Raela Cherenovika]

[87 (Very Friendly)]

[Due to the target’s death, this value does not fluctuate.]

[Individual: Affection of Alexey Berzhsky]

[83 (Very Friendly)]

[Due to the target’s death, this value does not fluctuate.]

Eugene stared blankly at the bright blue light filling his vision for a moment.

Carefully reaching out, he scrolled down. The list was arranged in descending order according to the affection level, and it continued down.

Due to the target’s death.

Due to the target’s death.

Due to the target’s death.

Those sentences were always attached to the end of the names, which varied greatly in names and affection levels.

After scrolling for a while, Eugene finally turned off the status window and bowed his head quietly.

“Well, it’s okay to get to know more from now on, right?”

Nodding cheerfully, Eugene lifted his bag. From tonight, let’s try to help Isabelle a bit. Well, things will change somehow, he thought.

*Author’s note (Author’s commentary)I apologize for the confusion regarding the perspective at the beginning of this episode. It’s been a few weeks since the last dinner with Isabelle in the timeline.

I deeply apologize for the confusion caused by the lack of explanation. It’s my own inadequacy.

Cherenovika: The last cleanup unit agent who died in Ivan’s arms (16. A person going to conflict areas for an overseas trip during vacation (9))

Cherenovika liked roses. (8. A Night of Counting Stars (10))

Alexey: Sasha, an cleanup unit agent who fought against Abiditas until the end with Cherenovika (6. The status window opened on the first day of school (3))

*See the next episode.