Chapter 161: The Great Ancestor and Marinated Red Pepper Paste Grill 3
"Ugh, so sticky…"
The greatest advantage of Shia’s purification miracle was its versatility; it could cleanse all toxins and impurities from solids, liquids, and gases alike, but while it purified, it did not destroy substances.
Fortunately, just before jumping into the melted bedrock pit, Shia had quickly used her purification miracle, preventing the coat that Menelapie had given her from melting. Still, she couldn’t avoid the inevitable: her whole body became sticky, like she had fallen into a slime pond.
"Hold still. You can’t go out like this, can you?"
"Hnng…"
In the end, Shia had to endure quite the scolding from Menelapie, drenched as she was in now-clear liquid.
"By the way, Shia unnie, your hair is so long, huh? Sniff… smells nice."
"…Oh…"
Of course, neither Menelapie nor Olga disliked cleaning Shia’s hair and body.
Menelapie, for one, liked taking care of Shia voluntarily, and Olga, being part of Mangji Squad, enjoyed this legal opportunity to thoroughly inspect the Saintess of the Dead up close.
‘Haaa… joining Mangji Squad was the best decision ever… Will I ever get a body like this?’
Currently, even though Big Olgania, the leader of the elves, had a figure comparable to Shia’s, “comparable” still implied that Shia’s figure was slightly better.
Naturally, Olga was still very young.
As an elf, she matured more slowly than humans, and with plenty of years ahead, there was a chance Olga’s body would one day come close to Shia’s, if not exactly the same.
"Oh no… the ancestor has shrunk…"
However, as Menelapie and Olga scrubbed and touched her, Shia knelt down, clutching the remnants of the melted ancestor’s meat.
Since her clothes had melted completely, her knees hit the stone floor with a thunk, but Shia didn’t seem to feel any pain; she was fully focused on embracing the melted ancestor’s meat with reverence.
"At first, you were so big… how did it come to this… Decorator of the night sky… I came in the name of starlight to claim a piece of you. Your once-resplendent beauty that shone as bright as the stars has fallen, and your grand form, admired by all, has shattered. But even now, I hold firm in my belief that the legacy you left behind will forever remain as sustenance for those who walk the earth. But… why didn’t you leave a neck behind?"
"Because you broke it, unnie?"
"Quiet, Olga. In matters of prayer, intent is important."
Originally, the ancestor had been the size of a house.
With such a size, of course, there would have been plenty of meat. In normal circumstances, there would have been enough for Shia, Olga, and Menelapie to eat until they were full, with some leftover. However, after being soaked in the molten bedrock, the ancestor’s body had shrunk considerably.
If, at first, there was roughly 300 servings’ worth of meat, what remained now was barely enough for fifty. So, with tears in her eyes, Shia offered a prayer of lamentation.
‘Ugh… I didn’t mean for this to happen, but even the drone camera got wrecked… and now the meat’s shrunk. Today is just a bad day…’
However, she couldn’t let herself sit down and mope.
Even if 250 out of the original 300 servings were now inedible, there were still fifty servings left.
‘For the remaining meat, I have to pull myself together…’
"Ah, she’s recovered."
"Yes… I can’t just sit here forever."
"Shia, stay still; I’ll clean you up to your navel."
"Okay, thank you."
Thanks to Menelapie meticulously cleaning every inch of Shia’s body, all the sticky liquid was gone, and she was restored to her original clean state.
The coat Menelapie had lent her was wet, but it would dry soon enough with time.
"Ew, I wanted to eat with the viewers while streaming…"
"They’d probably love it anyway. They’d be all over the place saying it was even better, I bet."
"Huh? Why would they be happy? Don’t they join to eat with me?"
"Well, yes, but…"
‘Unnie already gave them something more appetizing than food…’
Naturally, Olga couldn’t say this out loud in front of Shia and Menelapie.
"So, what kind of dish will you make with that meat? Since the skin and fur melted off, it seems you just need to trim away any impurities, and it’ll be ready to cook."
After trimming off the parts fused with melted bedrock, what remained of the ancestor’s body was a hefty fifty servings’ worth of massive ribs.
Some meat clung to the back, and some on the loin section remained, specifically around the fatty tail area, which was considered highly prized in beef. Even just grilling it plainly would probably make for a delicious meal.
But grilling it plain felt a little too simple.
Sure, to appreciate the meat’s flavor, the best option would be to season it lightly and grill it as barbecue.
‘But since Olga has probably never tasted meat before, going straight to fire-grilled meat might be a bit overwhelming.’
Shia, though a firm believer in the virtues of meat and carnivorous diets, had learned during her time in the Great Forest that she couldn’t force her own culture onto others. Since elves were essentially vegetarians, she thought it best not to overdo the meat for Olga.
“So, in the name of the Meat Fairy, I declare that we’re doing marinated meat today.”
“…Marinated meat?”
“Well, I don’t know about anything else, but the Meat Fairy title is fitting.”
"Right? Should I give Menelapie a title, too? How about Hero Fairy?"
"That’s a bit too literal. Shia’s Fairy would suit better."
"You’re even more straightforward."
‘…These two unnie's have such perfect chemistry…’
Perhaps, even more than Yujin and Big Olgania.
‘Or maybe about the same…’
As a side note, Little Olga shared a mental connection with Big Olgania.
They shared thoughts, intense emotions, memories, or stimulating sensations, even if vaguely and at random.
In other words, Little Olga had some inkling of just how close Yujin and Big Olgania were.
Anyway, Shia had completed the preparations for her cooking by now.
"In the name of the Meat Fairy, I will now commence the marinated meat cooking, so Menelapie and Olga, stand back. Absolutely no touching."
"Yay, wow! Clap clap."
"Hehehe, I look forward to it."
Thus, Shia began her cooking, not in a naked apron, but dressed like a school trench coat exhibitionist—a short coat thrown over her bare body.
In truth, Menelapie was already satisfied, more by the sight of Shia struggling to prepare something for her than by the cooking itself.
‘Hmm, I was all confident, but now I’m nervous…’
Shia glanced at her smartwatch, where she had saved the marinated meat recipe, with a slightly anxious look.
"Let’s see… There are two types of marinated meat. The seasoned rib type… and the spicy red chili paste type…”
Of course, just because it used red chili paste didn’t mean it would be overly spicy, but as a human, Shia had been a notorious spice wimp.
She couldn’t even handle one bite of spicy noodles without crying, and she couldn’t eat even the less spicy new instant noodles that most people could easily enjoy; she chose the mild version of the more serious noodles.
For Shia, who was averse to chili paste, the seasoned rib option seemed far more appealing.
"But for eliminating the odor, chili paste works much better. It’s also the standard…”
Also, if she was going to marinate enough meat for fifty servings, that much seasoning would require a lot of ingredients.
She rarely used chili paste, so there was plenty left. But, because she had used a lot of ingredients earlier on the live slaneys, there was a risk of running out of ingredients for the seasoned rib marinade.
Marinated meat without proper seasoning would taste worse than plain grilled meat; it would have been better not to make it at all.
‘Ugh, no choice. I’ll go with chili paste marinade…’
However, actually making it was giving her major jitters.
Could she pull this off? Could she deliver a satisfying carnivorous dish to Olga, who had been part of Mangji Squad since the early days of her stream?
Could she make something Menelapie would enjoy without forcing herself to finish it just to be polite?
However, after declaring her intention to make marinated meat in the name of the Meat Fairy, there was no going back for Shia.
As a Saintess, she had an obligation to uphold her declaration. If she couldn’t keep her word even for a simple recipe, she would be a failure as a Saintess.
The die had been cast.
All that was left was to act.
"Then, in the name of the Father, the Son, the Meat, the Fairy, Mother Teresa, and the Starlight… Purification Beam!"
[Miracle—Purification]
A beam of white light cleansed all fifty servings of the ancestor’s ribs. At the same time, Shia immediately began her cooking.
The essence of marinated meat was simple: you knead the seasoning into the meat, hence the name “jumulleok,” which meant “to knead.”
The dish originated in the 1970s when a grandmother at a restaurant in Mapo, Seoul, ran out of pre-marinated meat. In desperation, she kneaded the seasoning into the meat on the spot and served it to the customer. That restaurant, called “Mapo Original Jumulleok,” was wiped out during the aftermath of the First Great Rift, but the owner’s descendants reopened the restaurant under the same name 20 years ago.
In any case, jumulleok was usually grilled over direct heat, seasoned on the spot rather than being pre-marinated.
Of all the seasoned meat dishes Shia could attempt, this was one of the easier ones.
‘First, chop the green onions… chop them a lot…’
But wait, considering she had fifty servings to make… chopping them might be unnecessary, right?
Thinking that she had more than enough to do, Shia tossed the unchopped green onions into a large pot after trimming the roots.
‘Good. Next is enoki mushrooms and onions.’
Enoki mushrooms were easy.
Just wash them, slice them to a reasonable size, and done.
Onions were the same: wash, peel, and chop finely.
Of course, Shia didn’t have any impressive knife skills…
"Menelapie, help me…!"
"Hehe, I will."
That’s right.
Shia, you should know, regardless of the outcome, your effort alone makes me happy.
Thinking about how Shia, who once stood idly in the palace halls knowing nothing, was now making a meal, Menelapie smiled warmly. She began chopping the onions with a knife infused with the aura of a hero.
Chop, chop, chop…!
"But, um… Hero unnie?"
"Why, little Olga?"
"Didn’t Shia unnie say earlier that no one should touch the cooking since she declared herself the Meat Fairy…?"
"Ah, Olga, you see… declarations, convictions, and vows are things that can adapt to the situation."
"Uh, really?"
Aren’t vows and promises meant to be kept?
"You’ll understand one day. As the child of the World Tree and future leader of the elves, you’ll be a politician guiding others. A leader can’t be bound by their words and promises, always taking a passive stance. Vows and oaths can be used as performances for others…"
"But, Shia unnie isn’t a ruler, right…?"
"That’s irrelevant. Let’s move on."
"Okay…"
Leaving Menelapie to handle the onions, Shia took out some chili peppers from the transport drone.
Since she hated spicy things, there were plenty of chili peppers left.
‘Wait… I have to chop the chili peppers too…’
But since Menelapie was busy with the onions, asking Olga to…
‘No… what am I thinking?’
Even if she could ask Menelapie, she couldn’t bring herself to ask Olga to chop chili peppers. So, Shia pulled out her tentacles.
The recipe said to chop them finely, but brute-force smashing them into bits would work just as well.
After all, the chili peppers were part of the seasoning, not the main ingredient.
With the finely chopped onions, roughly prepared green onions, and chili peppers crushed by brute force, the basic ingredients were ready.
"And… uh… for 600 grams of meat, it says 6 tablespoons of chili paste, 1 tablespoon of minced garlic, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon of plum extract, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce… 1 tablespoon of soju… a bit of ginger powder and black pepper…"
The biggest issue with the recipe was that it was based on 600 grams, which was barely a mouthful in Shia’s case. Adjusting the proportions for over fifty servings was the hardest part.
‘Hmm, looking at these ingredients… can’t I just dump the whole bottle in?’
Chili paste doesn’t get spicier the more you use it.
Considering how much meat there was, she’d need to pour in a ton of it.
Even simple calculations showed that 600 grams made four servings. For fifty servings, she’d need at least…
Wait…
"About seventy tablespoons should do…?"
Seventy tablespoons roughly meant she needed to dump all the chili paste she had in the transport drone.
Alright.
"God of Meat… please give me strength…"
Murmuring a small prayer, Shia began pouring chili paste into the pot.
Watching this scene from afar, Olga briefly thought, ‘Is this right…?’ but what could she do? She was a complete novice when it came to meat. All she could do was trust Shia’s judgment. And even if she said something to Menelapie, she’d just laugh, saying, "Hehe, I could even enjoy fugu poison if Shia made it for me."
‘She better not end up with a butter pork belly disaster like last time…’
That dish had been so greasy and awful that even Olga could tell it was bad.
While Olga trembled with worry, Shia’s process of making the marinade was steadily progressing.
She dumped two entire containers of chili paste. Since there was so much chili paste, she also emptied the rest of the minced garlic from the transport drone.
"Unnie… isn’t that too much garlic…?"
"It’s fine! Garlic loses its sharpness when grilled, and it tastes great! The more garlic, the better!"
"Really? Is that in the recipe?"
"……"
"Shia unnie?"
Shia avoided Olga’s gaze, pretending she hadn’t heard.
But really, more garlic was definitely better. Grilled or not, it was a flavor booster—based on Shia’s personal experience, anyway.
It was too late to take it out now.
Shia pressed forward with the process of making her giant marinade.
She poured an entire container of sugar and a bottle of plum extract.
Unsure how much sesame oil to add, she just poured the whole bottle in. She also emptied an entire bottle of soy sauce.
‘Haha, good, good. This is going smoothly… huh?’
Then, Shia noticed the label on the soy sauce bottle she was pouring.
"Co… cooking… soy sauce?"
Wh-what…
She thought it was regular soy sauce, but it was cooking soy sauce?
Cooking soy sauce was much saltier than regular soy sauce. Using the same amount of cooking soy sauce as regular soy sauce for meat marinade was a recipe for disaster.
And Shia had poured in a whole bottle, not just a few tablespoons.
"Hic, sniff… the onions must’ve gotten in my eyes."
"Back up a little, Olga. If you stand too close, your eyes will sting."
"What about you, Hero unnie?"
"I am the Empress. Something like this doesn’t faze me."
As she glanced at Menelapie and Olga massacring the onions, Shia wiped her cold sweat and turned her head back, pretending nothing was wrong.
‘I’m… I’m so screwed…’
Shia had already experienced a grand failure before when she confused cooking soy sauce with regular soy sauce while making wyvern egg jangjorim. Now, with a frozen smile, she felt her mouth drying up.
Didn’t Yeonhwa teach her a fix for this last time?
‘Oh, right! She said to add more garlic! And more sugar!’
Out of minced garlic, Shia pulled out whole garlic from the transport drone and tossed it into the marinade. She added half a container of sugar as well.
‘Uh, uh… and there was something else I was supposed to add here… No, this should be right… I think?’
In reality, the correct fix Yeonhwa had taught her was to add garlic, onion, sugar, ginger, cooking wine, and water to adjust the seasoning. However, unfortunately, Shia didn’t think to add water to adjust the seasoning.
Thus, the marinade, which was already showing signs of impending disaster, was starting to take shape.
"Alright, let’s just pour in all the cooking wine."
Since the alcohol and wine flavor would evaporate during cooking, it would just help eliminate any bad smells.
"Huh, there’s not enough cooking wine?"
Having run out of cooking wine, Shia checked the transport drone for an alternative.
She didn’t have…
"Oh, wine."
Wine.
Shia wasn’t a big fan of wine, but last time, Yeonhwa had bought a bunch of it for their drinking party, and there was still some left. Yeonhwa had stashed the leftover bottles in Shia’s transport drone.
‘Wait, can I put wine in marinated meat?’
But if you think about it, if you can put cooking wine, why not regular wine?
Wouldn’t it make it even better?
With that thought, Shia cracked open the cork, pouring the wine into the marinade.
The mix of various seasonings and red wine gave the marinade a dark, mysterious appearance—like something a dark witch would brew in her alchemical cauldron for decades.
‘Uh, this is… okay… right…?’
Sure, it’ll be fine.
The smell’s good, isn’t it?
Shia wasn’t an excellent cook, but she was a great foodie.
Just by smell alone, she could tell whether a dish was delicious or not, almost like a sixth sense.
"Hehehe, be delicious…"
"………"
Watching from a distance, Olga thought as Shia poured wine into the marinade.
‘I really hope I don’t die today…’
At this point, it wasn’t about the taste anymore—it was a matter of survival.
○○○○
The Cheongju Wansuh Research Institute in Shanxi Province was a large-scale research facility and industrial complex, funded by the Shan Guild and the Chinese government.
Though it appeared to be a regular industrial complex on the outside, in reality, it was a site where the Shan Guild and the Chinese government conducted numerous illegal experiments, breaching international law.
They had once captured live monsters carrying untreatable diseases, intending to turn them into biological weapons. There were even times when they collaborated with sentient undead Liches to research controlling the undead.
If the truth about this facility ever leaked to the outside world, it wouldn’t just attract the attention of one or two nations—it would likely turn the whole world against them, given the high-risk nature of the research being conducted there.
While such secret facilities existed in many countries, the scale of China’s operations crossed several lines.
Still, thanks to the sheer amount of research data accumulated, the Cheongju Wansuh Research Institute could develop a variety of inventions and results that benefited the nation. Furthermore, its proximity to industrial facilities allowed them to immediately mass-produce any research findings.
As a result, the Cheongju Wansuh Research Institute was one of the key facilities that had helped propel China into a superpower in the Hunter era. It was also where the Fragment of the Demon King lay dormant.
"Chief."
"What?"
Though the research center was dangerous, today was quiet, with no unusual occurrences.
As long as proper quarantine procedures were followed for the specimens and research subjects, there was almost no danger to the research center’s safety.
"Multiple unidentified flying objects are approaching."
"What..? How are flying objects getting through with all these turrets?"
Frowning, the security chief, who had been peacefully sipping his coffee in the control room, narrowed his eyes.
This wasn’t just any Chinese government facility.
Countless mechanized infantry, turrets, and radar systems were on constant alert, 24/7, to detect and defend against intruders. Anyone unauthorized who set foot here would be torn to pieces by a barrage of turret fire.
"What’s the shape of the flying objects?"
"Well…"
"What is it, damn it?"
"They’re… birds."
Birds? Birds?
"What?"
"I mean… birds. Large pigeon-like birds…"
"There shouldn’t be any living creatures here, you idiot. The Awakened have put up all sorts of barriers to keep wildlife away. Just put it on the screen."
When the screen flicked on, the chief and his team saw it.
Coo?
A massive pigeon flying in the sky.
Not just one or two but an overwhelming number of huge pigeons filled the sky.
Coo coo coo!
Wink
For some reason, the chief felt like one of the pigeons had winked at him, as if greeting him.
Of course, that couldn’t possibly be true. Still, he was certain the giant pigeon had made eye contact with the camera.
‘What the hell?’
Ptooey!
Then, simultaneously, all the pigeons on the screen spat out something from their beaks.
What they spat out was none other than…
"Corn…?"
"Corn kernels?"
Tiny kernels of corn.
What?
Countless corn kernels rained down from the sky. Soon, the grounds of the Cheongju Wansuh Research Institute were scattered with kernels dropped by the pigeons.
And that was it.
Nothing else happened.
Apart from the corn scattered across the grounds, nothing else occurred.
The janitors are going to have a hard time cleaning that up…
"Hah, I’ve seen it all now…"
"Could it be because of climate change?"
"Climate change?"
"You know, sometimes you hear about bees disappearing because of climate change or weird things like that."
"Oh, that must be it."
Nothing else made sense.
Realizing it was nothing serious, the chief returned to his seat, slouching back in his chair.
"Hah, what a ridiculous day… At least we have something unusual to report. ‘A flock of pigeons appeared and dropped corn kernels.’"
"Hah, do you think anyone will believe that?"
"Good point."
"Oh, chief?"
"What now?"
Beep beep beep!
"It’s an urgent transmission."
"Urgent transmission? From whom?"
"…Judging by the line, it’s from the Shan Guild."
"Those guys again? What is it this time? If it’s them nagging us about the research again, just reply that we’re doing our best. It’s not like we’re only working on their projects…"
"Um, it’s not that."
Frowning again, the chief tilted his head.
"Then what is it?"
"Uh… ‘That bird is a harmful bird.’ That’s all it says."
"What nonsense is tha—"
Boom!!!!
That day, the Cheongju Wansuh Research Institute, a secret underground facility in Shanxi Province, received a lot of ‘Greenery for You’ points.
A lot. A whole lot.