༺ S0. Tour of Modern Civilization – 2 ༻
“Isn’t this thing called kimchi too salty and spicy?”
“갈(喝)1it’s a meme in anime and korean manhwa that basically signifies, “GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER!”!!!”
“I-I thought you didn’t have this type of character, though?!”
When it came to protecting the spirit of the Korean people, character didn’t matter. Seizing the opportunity, I shouted out loud and clear. The Tower Master might have a sense of taste that matched the cuisine of medieval fantasy; but even if she couldn’t understand the deep flavors of Korean cuisine, the soul that was contained in the cooking should be respected, shouldn’t it?
“T-Then could you respect the 100-year history of the Purple Magic Tower a bit……..?”
Compared to the five millennia history of the Korean people, it was like comparing a piece of paper to a log. Also, I was the type who generally didn’t listen to orders from those weaker than me.
“You’re twice as weird as usual…….Ah, this is delicious.”
“Ahhhh, I see. It seems you don’t know── That is something called 『Soybean Paste Soup』.”
“…….There’s nothing weird in this, right?”
It seemed she was worried if there were hallucinogens in the food because I was continuously breaking character. But in the first place, there couldn’t be hallucinogens in virtual reality food manifested by an illusion, right? How absurd.
Mm.
I was in a pretty good mood because it felt as if I had actually returned to Earth. Even if all of this was an illusion created by magic, of course.
That was why my spirits were so high.
Nearly 20 years had passed since my sudden otherworld reincarnation. I had finally gotten to walk in a properly recreated South Korea after smelling nothing but medieval cow dung for 20 years.
If that wasn’t deeply moving, what was?
There was another reason for my emotional uplift. Koreans had this DNA that felt satisfaction when babies ate food heartily. Add to the fact that she was a foreigner, and the satisfaction tripled due to the buff of national pride.
Despite being older than me, the Purple Magic Tower Master looked like a student, didn’t she? After 20 years worth of a dried-up soul, this feeling of national pride was like sweet rain, filling my heart with indescribable fulfillment.
“This also tastes mysteriously good……”
The Purple Magic Tower Master was eating grilled back ribs with a fork and knife, savoring each bite. Her meticulous tasting made me realize she truly was a noble.
Nobility generally meant being a gourmet, right?
Even in her unbalanced way of eating back ribs, there was a sense of noble elegance; the way she applied force to the knife with her slender fingers had a certain softness that was permeated into her actions.
Just like how people admired an actor’s performance on a theater stage, there was a certain gracefulness in her noble etiquette that mesmerized the people watching. It really was nice to see her eating.
As such, I manipulated the surrounding customers(NPC) to praise her.
“Woaaaaah, look at that foreigner…….She’s eating so elegantly!”
“Is this what they call gracefulness? Damn! It’s a territory that us working class folks can’t compete with……!!”
“She’s cute like a hamster. Perhaps she’s a celebrity- So, what I mean by that is that perhaps she’s a person who pursues a career in entertainment and gains popularity among the public, thus becoming an object of admiration.”
As the praises poured in from around, the Tower Master’s ears warmed up to an adequate temperature. There were two types of people in the world: those who danced when praised and those who creaked. The Tower Master was the latter.
Seemingly bothered by this, she overreacted to appear more noble, but now, instead of a blonde foreigner who was unquestionably a noble, there was only a girl left, clumsily handling a knife.
“Woaaaaah, look at that foreigner…….She’s being so clumsy!”
“I think I can hear the sounds of her joints creaking. Damn! It’s a territory that us working class folks can’t compete with……!!”
“She’s cute like a hamster. Perhaps she is a hamster- So, what I mean by that is that perhaps she’s a mammal that belongs to order Rodentia, the family Cricetidae, and the subfamily Cricetinae.”
The Tower Master slammed the table with the hand holding the fork.
“…….S-Stop it! You’re the one who did this, aren’t you?”
“No.”
“Unless it was on purpose, it’s unlikely that a person dining next to us would suddenly start explaining everything about a celebrity, a word I’ve never heard before!”
It was truly like the Tower Master to have stayed quiet when praised, but only started to nitpick now that I teased her a bit. The Purple Magic Tower Master Yuna was still at an age where she was hungry for compliments.
As a TRPG Master, one must find the right balance between what they want and the player’s demands. Originally, my plan was to show the landmarks of South Korea to the Tower Master.
But if she was hungry for compliments, it might be better to increase the ratio of praises in future developments. And so, I asked the Tower Master, who was gulping down water after trying a piece of kimchi. (It seemed like she started to like it the more she ate.)
“If you wish, should I make it so that, ‘Receiving confessions from handsome men without reason due to the pheromone ability I got after falling into another world unexpectedly?!’ is the next scene?”
The Tower Master spurted water from her nose. Out of respect for her dignity, I will not describe the details further.
“Puheukeuk, UWAAAAAAAAH……!”
Choking on food with red chili powder like kimchi could cause severe damage to the nasal mucosa. It seemed like the Tower Master’s nose was stinging, since she grabbed her nose bridge, crying out a scream that was close to Kkeuanggg.
Since it seemed she was surprised by my abrupt words, I added more of an explanation.
“Originally, the theme of this experience was…….Yura’s excitement and anxiety after falling into an unfamiliar world. Seeing a completely different civilization and realizing how different it is from her world, but despite that, discovering that some things remain unchanged. In essence, it is for you to reaffirm the intrinsic value of humans before returning to your original world.”
“Cough, Cough…….”
“But I thought you might be more satisfied with dating handsome men in a relationship of one-sided superiority.”
“W-What do you even take me for?! We can do that later, so for now…….Just do what you want. You have something you want to show me, right?”
This person didn’t outright deny the ‘confessions from handsome men for no reason blah blah blah’ part, and even suggested doing it later. It seemed like a sophisticated way to apply for a follow-up blind date, didn’t it? A very pleasing matter, indeed.
This world had many shortcomings. It needed many tests and if the Tower Master joined, it couldn’t have been better. Even if practicality was disregarded, playing together with the Tower Master was enjoyable.
I answered with a smile.
“I’m already showing you what I want to show. A bustling city night, a table filled with various seasonings, and a day accompanied by exhaust fumes polluting the air. What happens on top of that isn’t important.”
I just needed a friend with whom I could share the same sentiments.
Wasn’t it the same with games? When recommending a game, how a friend enjoyed it wasn’t the critical point. Whether it was a playthrough filled with romance or a playthrough for extreme efficiency, it didn’t matter.
After all, what was important was the fact that we were playing the same game. I actually wished the Tower Master would enjoy it a bit more.
“Reversely, is there anything you’re curious about? Like something you want to see more in this world.”
“……I’d like to visit a clothing store.”
“That’s unexpected. You usually only wear your Magic Tower hood. That’s why I bet with the seniors about how many sets of clothes you actually have.”
For reference, I bet on five sets. Wearing one for each weekday and washing them all on the weekend seemed likely, after all. Perhaps she took this as a challenge to her femininity, seeing as how the Tower Master was outraged.
“I have other normal clothes too, alright?!”
“Then why don’t you wear any of them?”
“Because it’s embarrassing……!”
It seemed there was a lot to be embarrassed about when it came to her.
“Very well, let’s go together.”
===============================================================
“Uh, hey…….Is it common in your world to wear s-such promiscuous things……?”
“Mmm…….”
The resources of the Republic of Korea, recreated by my Illusion Magic, came from my mind. Basically, what it meant was that I couldn’t implement things I didn’t know or had never seen.
Having honed my eyes to have good taste through the hellish discipline of waiting three hours for my ex-girlfriend to finish shopping, I knew the basics. I had an idea of what typical women’s clothing was.
However, I wasn’t knowledgeable enough to entirely fill a huge department store with clothes. So, I had to make a choice.
Either I filled the space by copying and pasting the same clothes…
Or filled the empty space with……‘other knowledge’.
I chose the latter. Even if not used later, it was better to have it than not.
In a way, there was a cold calculation too. A space known as a department store could often cause dizziness and confusion to those with low female power. A person confused in both mind and body would escape the department store, saying, ‘Let’s stop looking at clothes and go see something else.’
When calculating the Tower Master’s female power, someone who usually just threw her socks around carelessly, I thought she would be overwhelmed after just two stores.
‘I-I guess clothes from a d-different world are like this, mm…….’
Was what I thought she would say before suggesting to go eat chicken instead.
But the Tower Master went through a whopping six stores, and from what I remembered, all the ‘typical women’s clothing’ was only to that point. From the seventh store onwards, I filled it with ‘atypical women’s clothing’.
Clothes that would resonate with a man’s heart; I’m talking about reverse bunny, bandage, slingshot, bikini, feather bundles, and the like.
“These aren’t popular clothes. It’s for when, on the bed……”
“So, pajamas? Even so…….there are a few that look uncomfortable to wear, I think?”
“It’s for when, on the bed, two people move as a pair………..”
“⋯⋯⋯⋯.”
The Tower Master hung back the Santa costume she was holding. It seemed like she finally understood the purpose of the slit in the underwear.
“I’ll wait outside the store.”
I made an emergency escape from the situation, where any slight misstep could be construed as sexual harassment. About three minutes after I came out, the Tower Master also emerged from the store.
Although ‘I’ came out, this world was Illusion Magic implemented by me. It meant the entire world was in the palm of my hand and I could see everything happening inside as if looking into it.
I decided to ignore the fact that the Tower Master was seriously interested in holding and looking at lewd lingerie.
===============================================================
After that, we tried various things. I even had her play Starcraft, a folk game embedded with the spirit of the Korean people. (She said she learned military tactics before being banished from her family, which explained her extraordinary skills.)
We also ate seafood pancakes and had a glass of makgeolli. (Since intoxication wasn’t implemented yet, it was impossible to get drunk.)
Then, as we did so, a conversation about how such tall buildings could be constructed in a world without magic led to a light science lecture.
“So, you mean to say, matter is assembled from very small particles……and this Earth is just a tiny speck in the unimaginably vast void known as the universe?”
“Yes.”
Stunned by a direct hit of modern science, the Tower Master fell into a groggy state.
TL/N:
Hello! TL here! Welcome to this new novel we picked up! It’s currently one of the hottest novels on Novelpia and I hope I have TLed it well enough for you guys to understand why! There is a lot of slang, a lot of Korean references, memes, and the like! It’s really funny and the MC is super relatable in a sociopathic way LOL. I hope you guys have as much fun as me while TLing it.
That being said, the information you have all been waiting for….Release schedule! Just like my other novels, the chapters will release on Tues, Thurs, Sat, and Sun! 4 ch/week. Our paid readers will obviously be getting more chapters! Look forward to it!
Please give a lot of love and support! Happy reading and Merry Early Christmas!
Dominus
