~Chapter 3~
Egg Rich
Near Lee Seojin’s home, in the entry zone of a Field Safe Area.
Irael took a deep breath after returning from the Field.
“…Haaaa.”
Just now, as she exited the Field, she’d run into Lee Seojin face-to-face—right as he was about to enter.
Their timing overlapped at the exact same point: her exiting and him entering.
But the moment had passed too quickly for either of them to get a clear look.
Startled, Irael pressed her chest with one hand.
This was a safe zone almost no one else came to, so she’d been using it regularly.
But just now, a new, unfamiliar Awakened had entered from here.
As she debated whether she should find a new safe zone, her phone buzzed.
Seeing the caller’s name on the screen, her face lit up.
—Youngshim Unni♡
“Hey, unni~”
She answered sweetly, full of affection. From the other side, Jang Youngshim’s smiling voice came through.
—You gonna keep calling your mom “unni”?
“Come on, you like it. Are you done with work?”
—Yeah.
“I told you to quit working at the restaurant. I’m the one making money now. I’ll be paying off the debt soon too.”
—What kind of mom would just relax while her daughter risks her life working? Where are you, at home?
“No, I just finished work too.”
—Then you know that dumpling shop near the restaurant? I’m picking some up there. Can you come?
“Okay! I’ll be right there, unni~”
Irael left the alley with light, cheerful steps.
[Items brought from your world cannot be used in the Parallel World and have been stored in your inventory.]
With a message, Seojin’s inventory window popped up.
Inside were his underwear, socks, smartphone, and wallet—all stored away.
He’d heard about this kind of thing before, but seeing it firsthand was fascinating.
‘So this is the Field?’
He looked around.
He stood in a forest filled with greenery.
Though the trees, flowers, and grass looked a little unfamiliar, nothing felt particularly strange.
But their properties were vastly different from Earth’s.
Some Hunters had tried taking wood from the Field back to Earth to craft things. But Earth-made tools couldn’t process the material.
Only Hunters’ skills could cut and handle the wood.
The problem was, their powers only worked in the Field.
One person even made a makeshift bed with Field wood, but had to throw it away.
The broken wood kept releasing toxins.
And no method on Earth could neutralize it.
So even the few production-class Hunters gave up on making furniture to improve life quality.
Seojin had read about this online, so he stayed away from the trees—breaking a twig and getting poisoned would be the worst outcome.
Keeng-keeng.
Kyeng! Kyeng!
“Huh?”
Strange sounds echoed through the forest.
Pig-nosed lizards were hiding in the brush, watching Seojin.
It was his first time seeing monsters, and he flinched.
The lizards had pig-like noses and were about the size of a grown man’s forearm, moving like they were doing push-ups.
‘So those are monsters…’
Names floated above their heads:
[Pig-nosed Lizard]
It all felt like he’d stepped into a virtual reality game.
He was scared, but remembered—these lizards were completely non-aggressive.
Calming his nerves, Seojin took a cautious step.
The lizards panicked and scurried away.
Just as he’d heard—they feared humans and never attacked.
That let him relax a little.
‘Okay, I’m here… but what do I even do?’
He’d come because of the money he’d spent, but he didn’t really have a plan.
The forest looked like any forest, and the sky was the same as Earth’s.
Except—high in the sky floated the words “Pig-nosed Lizard Forest.”
Seojin wandered a bit inside the forest, making sure not to cross the safe zone boundary.
That’s when he bumped into something with his foot.
“Huh?”
It was an egg.
Text floated above it:
[Pig-nosed Lizard Egg]
The egg was about the size of a chicken egg, with a beige shell speckled with black.
‘I’ve heard this thing is nasty.’
Every Hunter who had tried it expecting a normal egg taste had been horrified.
Some had tried boiling, frying, seasoning—but the more they cooked it, the worse it got.
Now no one even touched them.
Seojin, curious how bad it could be, picked one up.
Just then, a message popped up:
[Would you like to use the skill ‘Hand Taste’ on the lowest-grade ingredient: Pig-nosed Lizard Egg?]
“…!?”
This was his chance to use the skill.
“Yes.”
A radiant light flowed from his hand into the egg. The black specks vanished.
Now, it looked like any normal egg.
[The ‘Pig-nosed Lizard Egg’ has become delicious.]
Even the name floating above it changed:
[Purified Pig-nosed Lizard Egg]
He cracked the shell gently and sampled a bit of the egg white with his front teeth.
He was nervous—this egg was infamous. Could his skill really fix that?
Slurp—
Gulp.
“…Huh?”
It tasted just like a regular egg white.
No, even better.
He gained confidence and slurped the whole raw egg.
Munch. Munch. Gulp.
“…It’s delicious?”
The yolk was rich, creamy, and savory—top-quality.
In Korea, raw eggs aren’t usually eaten straight, but this one had a lightly salty, nutty flavor—like it already had soy sauce and sesame oil on it.
It could compete with high-end specialty eggs on Earth.
‘This is totally edible.’
He picked up another egg nearby.
This time, he didn’t use the skill—he wanted to test the original taste.
“Let’s see…”
He cracked the egg—and recoiled.
“Ugh!”
The stench pierced his nose.
Inedible.
Stinky tofu? Surströmming? Durian? Fermented skate?
He’d experienced all of them during cooking school.
But this egg was worse.
He quickly used Hand Taste.
And just like that, the smell vanished.
He slurped it down and was impressed.
This skill was amazing.
Useless in battle, sure—but in terms of food utility? Outstanding.
Then he noticed—eggs were scattered all around the forest.
A thought popped into his head:
‘You can bring Field items back in your inventory, right?’
If he used Hand Taste on these eggs, he could bring back dozens of delicious eggs.
That meant he could save on food costs.
Seojin, low on funds, went into a frenzy gathering the eggs.
After purifying and storing about 50 eggs—
[Your proficiency with Hand Taste has increased. The skill has been upgraded.]
[Hand Taste – Active]
Improves lowest-grade ingredients from the Field.
If multiple of the same ingredient are visible, up to 10 can be purified in one use.
Further use enhances the skill.
‘Oh!’
Now he could purify 10 at a time—perfect!
He used it repeatedly, gathering more and more.
After a few more rounds:
[Hand Taste proficiency has reached a new level.]
[New sub-skill acquired: Seasoning]
‘Seasoning?’
[Seasoning – Active]
Add lowest-grade salt or flavor salt to food at will.
“…!”
Incredible.
Unfortunately, there were no cooking tools or fire in the Field.
So he left, hoping this skill would be useful later.
Sizzle—
Back home, Seojin fried three eggs in a pan.
The smell was mouthwatering.
Gulp.
He sprinkled flavor salt and finished a perfect sunny-side-up egg.
He popped one in his mouth.
The white was tender and mild, the yolk rich and creamy.
The weird texture and faint smell from earlier? Gone.
Munch munch. Gulp.
“Delicious!”
Best eggs he’d ever had—even compared to the most expensive gourmet ones.
‘I can’t stop here.’
He scooped a bowl of rice, added the two remaining eggs, poured soy sauce and sesame oil, and mixed.
It was a classic Korean dish: soy sauce egg rice.
“Let’s eat.”
Even with no one around, he spoke out loud and took a bite.
“…Whoa.”
It was insane.
The best version of the dish he’d ever had.
He fetched some well-fermented kimchi from the fridge and laid out a proper meal.
With each spoonful, he paired it with crunchy, tangy kimchi.
Crunch. Crunch.
“Mmm.”
Kimchi was the perfect match for egg rice.
One bite, two bites, three—before he knew it, his bowl was empty.
His face lit up in satisfaction.
“I can survive off these eggs for a while.”
There are endless dishes you can make with just eggs.
Fried eggs, steamed eggs, egg rolls, boiled eggs, egg soup…
And if he got bored, he could tweak things—use gochujang instead of soy sauce, for example.
“I was feeling hopeless, but now I’m alive again.”
He looked at his hand.
He’d thought Hand Taste was useless—but it wasn’t.
It couldn’t make him a combat Hunter, but it solved his biggest problem: food.
And more than anything, as a chef, it made him happy to cook delicious food again.
He opened his inventory.
Hunter powers didn’t work in the real world—but the inventory was an exception.
Inside it: over a hundred purified pig-nosed lizard eggs.
He really was egg-rich.
‘Inventory storage is unlimited, and items inside don’t spoil.’
So no need to worry about food going bad.
Looking proudly at the eggs, he had a new idea.
‘These came from the Field… so if I cook with them and store the food, I can eat proper meals in the Field too, right?’
“Let’s try it.”
He fried some eggs and stored them.
Then he left for the Safe Zone.
Back in the Field, Seojin wore a makeshift mask.
He’d torn off a sleeve from his monster-material clothes, poked holes in it, and pulled it over his face.
He didn’t want to be identified by government-affiliated Hunters.
If they found out, he’d have to register his skill and take their assignments—something he hated.
He opened his inventory and pulled out a fried egg.
“It worked!”
It appeared in the Field with no issue.
He was excited—until he realized:
‘So what? What now?’
It wasn’t anything amazing.
Feeling a bit silly for getting so excited, he was about to leave.
Then—
“Hey, is that a fried egg?”
There hadn’t been anyone there moments ago, but now a stranger spoke to him.
“Huh?”
Startled, Seojin turned. A clean-cut man pointed at the egg.
“Is that really a fried egg?”
“Ah, yes.”
The man then pointed at one of the pig-nosed lizard eggs nearby.
“Don’t tell me you made it from that?”
“Yes…”
“Why would you do something so insane… Wait, sniff sniff.”
The man leaned in and sniffed.
A rich, savory smell wafted through the air.
It was definitely coming from the fried egg.
“But those eggs get worse when you cook them…”
He gulped.
Seojin didn’t feel like chatting with a stranger and was about to leave when—
“Hey! Would you sell me that egg?”
“Uh… I don’t mind, but you can’t really use money in the Field, right?”
“No one uses cash here. How about this?”
The man pulled out a Field item worth 5,000 won back on Earth.
Seojin’s pupils trembled. Goosebumps spread across his skin.
He had just sold food—for real money.
No shop. No building. But it was real.
‘Maybe…’
He thought—
Maybe here, in the Field, he could achieve the dream he’d failed to reach in the real world.
