Although livestock farming had disappeared, people still wanted meat. A substitute was needed.

To win the war against monsters, extensive research was conducted on the monsters themselves. One area of study was whether their meat was edible.

Hardly anyone wanted to eat bipedal monsters that resembled humans. However, among the beast-like monsters, there were quite a few that could be eaten without much resistance. Some insect-type monsters also yielded a bit of meat, but the amount was too small to be practical.

In that world, people ate the meat of beast-type monsters instead of beef or pork.

Of course, they didn’t eat it because it was delicious. They ate it because they had no other choice. There was nowhere else to get meat except from slaughtered beast-type monsters. Eating monster meat was necessary to build strength and fight against them.

Monster meat tasted terrible. Despite extensive research into cooking methods to improve the flavor, calling it delicious was still a stretch.

Seo Jung-woo had eaten beef when he was a child. In his memory, the 20th century was peaceful. Back then, people could afford the luxury of grilling beef at home.

But now, here was a restaurant selling that precious beef. The real taste of meat that he had once experienced came rushing back to him.

“Alright. I’ll take the risk.”

He stepped into the restaurant. Since it was past lunchtime, there were no other customers.

The staff member approached him.

“How many in your party?”

“Uh… I’m alone.”

“Ah. Our portions are quite large for a single person…”

The staff gestured toward the menu on the wall. Seo Jung-woo checked the menu.

“Order one geun, and get another geun for free.”(TL/N:Geun is Korean unit of weight. 1 Geun is about 600 grams.)

It was surprising enough that they sold such precious beef in a restaurant, but they even sold it by the geun.

Then he saw the price.

“Only fifty thousand won?”

He suddenly realized that the value of money might be different in this world.

He quickly pulled out his wallet—the one he had taken as loot from the bank robber. He opened it to check the bills inside.

“King Sejong is still here. The design has changed a bit… Huh?”

A yellow bill caught his eye.

“Wow. So there’s a fifty-thousand-won bill now. But who’s this woman? Why is she worth more than King Sejong—Ah, that’s not important right now.”

The price on the menu was fifty thousand won. The bill he held was also fifty thousand won.

Seo Jung-woo grinned widely.

“I can eat it all by myself.”

“Uh… Ah, okay.”

If a customer wanted to order as much as several people would, the restaurant had no reason to refuse.

“If you can’t finish it, we’ll pack the leftovers for you.”

Seo Jung-woo turned on the gas grill and rubbed his hands together in anticipation. Soon, the beef was served.

There was no longer any doubt.

“Wow. It’s real meat.”

Monster meat never looked this good.

He had spent years trying to make monster meat taste better. On the battlefield, it was common to cut up slain monsters and grill them for food.

The grill was already hot enough. He used his combat-honed skills to cook the beef.

Even the short wait for it to cook was unbearable, but he held on.

Finally, the beef was perfectly grilled. He picked up a piece and put it in his mouth.

The rich, fatty flavor filled his mouth. The umami was unmistakable. These were tastes that monster meat could never provide.

“Ah!”

Seo Jung-woo’s eyes welled up with tears as he ate the beef.

“This is so good it’s making me cry.”

The staff member whispered to the restaurant owner.

“I’ve never seen anyone grill imported beef with such devotion.”

“Yeah. Not even for premium Korean hanwoo ribeye.”

“Should we give him some hanwoo ribeye? He might kneel down and cook it with both hands in reverence.”

“And deduct the cost from your salary?”

The staff member quickly shook their head.

“No way. You don’t mess around with a customer’s food like that. That’s asking for divine punishment.”

“Still, he’s really enjoying it. And eating a lot too.”

A happy customer meant a happy owner.

“That much meat must be getting greasy. Bring him a complimentary cola.”

“Yes.”

The staff set down a glass and a bottle of cola in front of Seo Jung-woo.

“This is on the house—Uh, sir?”

Seo Jung-woo’s hands trembled as he stared at the cola.

“T-This is! C-Cola! The legendary cola!”

“Um… It’s just regular cola?”

“No, it’s the legendary cola!”

“No, I mean… Just… Enjoy.”

The staff member slowly backed away. The owner asked, “What’s wrong?”

“That customer… He’s talking like he hasn’t seen cola in twenty years.”

“Maybe he quit drinking soda for health reasons?”

“Oh!”

Seo Jung-woo inspected the cola. Up until 1999, he had loved drinking cola.

But in his world, all cola factories had been destroyed by insect-type monsters. After that, cola had completely disappeared. The secret to making it was lost.

In some places, people had rebuilt factories after wiping out the monster nests. However, instead of making cola, those factories now produced missile fuel and military rations.

In that world, cola was a legendary drink found only in books.

Seo Jung-woo poured the cola into the glass. When bubbles fizzed up, he panicked and hurriedly took a sip.

The sweet, tingling sensation rushed down his throat.

“Kraaaahhh!”

The exclamation burst out on its own.

“Yes! This is the taste!”

Seo Jung-woo spoke with deep sincerity.

“I really like this world!”

Thanks to the beef and cola, he was certain now.

“The skill I just awakened isn’t useless—it’s absolutely amazing.”

When a bank robbery occurs in South Korea, the police go on high alert. If the robber is armed, the situation becomes even more serious. If the gun is actually fired, it turns into a major crisis.

And such an incident had just happened in the heart of Seoul.

From the police’s perspective, it was a disaster.

“Block all interviews until we figure out the situation!”

“That’s impossible! More than half the bank customers have already left the scene!”

“Find them and stop—”

“N-News just aired a victim interview!”

A detective holding a phone hurriedly grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. A customer who had been held hostage was being interviewed by a reporter.

– So, the robber spun the shotgun like this, and then that masked guy whipped out his pistol and went bang-bang! He was insanely fast.

– Did he hit the target?

– Of course! That’s why I’m here giving this interview! Two shots, straight into the robber’s shoulder and leg! Bam, bam! And when he shot the second robber coming out of the vault…!

The man being interviewed stretched his arms out to the sides.

– The robber swung the shotgun around like this, but that masked guy just whipped out his pistol and went bang, bang!

– Without even looking? Did he miss?

– I just told you, I’m alive because he hit his mark! The robber got shot and went down right there.

– I see. That’s a relief. Then, do you happen to know who this unidentified man is?

– No idea. We thought some kind of elite special agent had come to save us. But I guess not?

– No such reports have come in yet.

– Then maybe he’s a my… Ah, never mind.

The police officer in charge covered his face with his hand.

“This is driving me nuts. What are you all doing? Find out who that masked guy is right now!”

The forensic team investigated the scene. A bank robbery itself was a big deal, but the fact that someone had fired four rounds from a pistol in the middle of downtown Seoul was an even bigger problem. The higher-ups were putting immense pressure on them.

The investigators didn’t even have time to calmly analyze the collected information. Every little detail they uncovered had to be relayed to the detectives in real time.

Detective Oh Moon-seong frowned.

“The bullets that hit the robbers were armor-piercing rounds? From a pistol?”

His partner, Lee Seong-hoon, responded.

“Yes. Pistol-grade armor-piercing rounds. Should we start investigating how they were obtained?”

“Only our police and military use pistols in this country. Do you really think armor-piercing pistol rounds are just floating around? What’s there to investigate? This isn’t America.”

“Then could the suspect be American?”

“Hey, you.”

Oh Moon-seong glanced around before scolding Lee Seong-hoon.

“If a reporter hears you calling that guy a ‘suspect,’ it’ll be all over the news, and you’ll get a ton of praise, right?”

“Ah, no.”

“Then why are you calling him that?”

Lee Seong-hoon looked aggrieved.

“Still, he illegally possessed a firearm and fired four shots.”

“But he caught the bank robbers. So let’s give him a name that won’t cause any trouble… Let’s just call him Iron Mask.”

“We don’t even know if his mask is made of metal.”

“Just go with it.”

“Uh… Okay.”

“First, check the shell casings. That should tell us which country the bullets were made in.”

Lee Seong-hoon hesitated.

“About that… There aren’t any.”

“What do you mean, there aren’t any?”

“There are no shell casings.”

“Huh? Then did he use a six-shot revolver? That can’t be. Witnesses described a semi-automatic pistol with a magazine.”

“Yes, they clearly mentioned that. They also said there was a muzzle flash every time he fired, so it’s definitely a semi-automatic.”

“Guns always have a muzzle flash. What’s so surprising about that?”

“So I thought… Maybe it’s a gun that doesn’t use shell casings?”

“Caseless ammunition exists, but…”

“Then that’s what he used! Isn’t he really some kind of special agent?”

“But do you know what the problem is?”

“What?”

“Caseless rifles were developed but never put into practical use. And a caseless pistol? Do you really think something like that exists?”

“I looked it up, and apparently one was made a long time ago.”

Lee Seong-hoon showed a picture on his smartphone.

“That thing looks bulky and rough, clearly not a mass-produced model. It doesn’t match the witnesses’ descriptions. That’s not it.”

“Then where did the shell casings go?”

“That’s what we need to find out. Let’s go! We need to talk to the witnesses. Since he fired four shots, there should be four casings. Someone must have seen him pick them up. Let’s hope he dropped at least one.”

“Ah. If he picked them up, then he’s not American but former Korean military.”

“Makes sense.”

Seo Jung-woo successfully ate two whole geun of beef by himself. His stomach was uncomfortably full, but he couldn’t stop.

He hadn’t just eaten beef; he had also devoured all the unlimited side dishes.

“Side dishes made from vegetables… for free?!”

Even in the other world, vegetables were available. But monsters didn’t avoid rural areas. Farming in the countryside required defensive measures and enough firepower. Even with those, fields often got destroyed.

So vegetables sold in stores were quite expensive.

Most people kept pots on their windowsills or rooftops to grow lettuce instead of flowers.

The same applied to rice.

“Wow, real rice. Not synthetic, but real white rice!”

He even ordered two extra bowls of rice and finished off a bowl of soybean paste stew.

Seo Jung-woo staggered as he left the restaurant. The owner beamed as they handed him a coupon.

“Come again!”

Outside, he could barely walk from being too full.

“I must endure!”

After eating such rare food, throwing up was not an option.

He checked the state of his Parallel Dimension Teleportation skill. It had recovered even more.

“The cooldown time is definitely one day.”

At the very least, he had to stay here until tomorrow’s lunchtime. But he didn’t mind one bit.

“I’ll make the most of today before heading back! But first, I need to see how much money I have…”

He had 40,000 won left from what he took off the bank robber. He still had his original money, but it looked different, so he couldn’t use it.

“I don’t know the prices here, so I have no idea how far 40,000 won will take me.”

Beef was too expensive in the other world to use as a reference.

For now, he started walking, checking the price tags displayed in store windows along the way.

“40,000 won might not be enough for a night’s stay. Should I just sleep outside?”

He wasn’t too worried about finding a place to sleep. On the battlefield, he often had to dig a hole in the mountains and sleep in it. To him, this peaceful city was full of comfortable sleeping spots.

A pigeon strutted across the pavement ahead of him.

“That thing’s tasty… No, wait. I shouldn’t eat pigeons here. I need to spend the day like an ordinary, law-abiding citizen.”

Detective Oh Moon-seong asked in disbelief.

“There’s not a single shot of Iron Mask on the bank’s CCTV?”

Detective Lee Seong-hoon checked with the team reviewing the footage.

“No. All the bank’s internal cameras were destroyed, and the security server was wrecked.”

“Was that Iron Mask’s doing?”

“No. One of the two robbers seemed to know the building’s layout well. It was his work.”

“What about external cameras? He must’ve been caught on something when he left.”

“That’s the strange part. There’s no footage of him anywhere.”

“How is that possible in the middle of Seoul?”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out. He might not be human.”