After the scare that morning, Maria used her work to calm herself down.
As she fell into cooking the lunch orders, she slowly her heart slow back to its normal beating speed.
What she didn't know was that because of this event, there would be a sweep of Hunter City organized by many different S Rank Hunters.
The one thing that she did know was that Seul Ah had come to complain again.
"Maria, Ah Guang ignored me again! I tried giving him a few elixirs and a few talismans, but he just ignored them and went into the dungeon without me!" Seul Ah said with a tearful look on her face.
Even though she said it so casually, the few elixirs and talismans that she mentioned were all rare things that normal people wouldn't be able to afford even if they sold themselves. Just a single one of the elixirs or talismans would be enough to buy an entire mansion.
But she had said it so casually.
That just went to show the financial power that a S Ranker had.
Maria was still cooking, so Seul Ah wasn't holding her and was complaining through the window to the kitchen.
Maria was already used to this, so she smiled and said, "Ah Guang has always been shy like this, you don't need to worry about a thing. He's just not used to having someone confess their feelings directly to him."
Seul Ah still had tears in her eyes as she looked up at Maria and asked, "Really? But he's always acting like this, so I don't know what to do."
Maria didn't know what to say since she had already run out of excuses for Guang Liang.
Seeing how upset Seul Ah looked, Maria really couldn't help complaining about Guang Liang in her heart. She didn't remember raising him this way, it must be the bad habits that he picked up when he was outside.
It seemed like she would have to teach him some manners again…
While Seul Ah was crying, she was also watching Maria cook. After watching Maria cook for a bit, her tears slowly stopped and she had eyes that were filled with thought.
After a bit of thinking, she suddenly said, "Maria, teach me how to cook!"
Maria trembled when she heard this.
It wasn't because she was surprised by this sudden request, but rather because she was terrified by the thought of Seul Ah cooking…
This wasn't Seul Ah's first time asking her to teach her how to cook, but every time that they cooked together, Seul Ah would always lose her memories of the experience. That was because every time she taste tested her own food…she would always get knocked out by the taste.
It wasn't that the taste was so delicious that it knocked her out, rather…it was the opposite…
Every time she tested her own cooking, it was so bad that she would be knocked out and she would lose her memories.
Maria was only barely able to keep her consciousness with her Cooking skill which helped her endure the terrible taste. However, she would almost always be sick afterwards…
But Seul Ah was her friend, so she endured it each time.
To be safe, she dialed a number on her phone before going to the kitchen.
This was the number of one of her regulars who had awakened as a healer.
She always called this person whenever she had cooking lessons with Seul Ah.
When this person received the call, he couldn't help revealing a horrified expression when he remembered the horrors of the last cooking session. But he still agreed to help Maria after it was over.
Today the dish that Maria was teaching Seul Ah was a simple tomato soup, but even then…
It wasn't that Seul Ah wasn't smart enough or wasn't good enough at cutting to be a good cook, it was just her personality that created disasters.
She had a very brash personality and liked charging straightforwardly, so she always did things roughly.
Her vegetables were always cut into large chunks, so when it was put in the food processor to be pureed, there would always be chunks that were left. This would always create a strange texture when she cooked her soup.
But it wasn't just that…
When she added in her seasoning, she didn't follow the recipe Maria gave her at all. She just put her hand into the seasoning and grabbed handfuls, adding them in based on feeling.
Then there were her instincts…
From time to time, she would have flashes of inspiration.
She would suddenly think of something that she wanted to add and when Maria wasn't paying attention, she would add them into the pot…
Even though it was a simple tomato soup, by the end of it, there were chunks of meat floating in it. It no longer even had the red colour that normal tomato soup should have…
Other than herself, she had also called another taste tester because it was Seul Ah.
"Big sister, I'm here! What delicious dishes do you have for me?"
This was the first thing Guang Liang shouted the moment that he came into the store.
Then after coming in, he also saw Seul Ah who was standing behind Maria, acting shyer than usual he added, "Oh, Seul Ah, you're also here."
Maria pulled Guang Liang over to one of the tables and said, "Seul Ah is the one that made something for you today."
"Oh." There was a slightly disappointed tone in Guang Liang's voice, but he still asked Seul Ah, "What did you make today?"
Seul Ah fidgeted as she said, "Tomato soup."
Guang Liang just gave a nod in response.
Seeing the awkward interaction between the two, Maria couldn't help shaking her head. But she still said, "Seul Ah, let's get some tomato soup for Ah Guang."
Once again, Seul Ah gave a nod in a meek manner.
When they were in the back, Seul Ah slapped Maria on the shoulder which knocked her to the ground as she complained, "Maria, how could you do this to me? How could you invite Ah Guang without telling me?" Even though she said this, it was clear by her expression that she was happy.
Maria picked herself off the ground with a bitter smile before saying, "Isn't this what you wanted?"
Seul Ah still acted shy, but she didn't deny it.
Seul Ah quickly scooped a bowl out of the pot and then brought it out for Guang Liang.
Guang Liang looked down and could see that this wasn't a normal bowl of soup, but he didn't mind as he picked up his spoon.
He grabbed a full spoonful and brought it to his mouth before swallowing it without any hesitation.
As soon as he swallowed, his taste buds were overwhelmed. It wasn't that it was too delicious that it overwhelmed him, but rather his gag reflex kicked in and wanted to expel this foul liquid in his mouth.
But with every fiber of his being, Guang Liang forced it to stay in his mouth and go down his throat.
When he was about to say something, he couldn't hold back anymore and threw up right in front of the two girls.
Seul Ah immediately cried out, "Ah Guang!" Then she came forward to help him, but he raised his hand to stop her.
He took another spoonful and forced it down his throat before saying, "Deli…"
He could only get half of it out before his gag reflex kicked in.
Seul Ah looked more and more worried seeing this. She grabbed his arm to try and stop him as she said, "Ah Guang, there's no need to force yourself to eat it."
But Guang Liang didn't let her stop him as he went for a third spoonful.
Finally he was able to get the word "delicious" out before throwing it up.
Seul Ah picked up another spoon that Maria had prepared for them and ate a spoonful herself.
The moment that she put that spoonful in her mouth, her gag reflex kicked in and she immediately spat it out. However, that wasn't enough as a bit of it still went down her throat.
Her face turned pale and she threw it up immediately, but it had already taken its effect as she lost consciousness.
As she was fainting, there was the scene of Guang Liang saving her in that gate that appeared. It was that moment that she fell in love with him and the happiest moment of her life.
Maria, who had already expected this, just silently came forward to catch Seul Ah. She was about to ask Guang Liang for help, but she saw him pick up the bowl of soup. She could barely say, "Ah Guang, don't…"
Before she could finish, Guang Liang had already chugged the whole bowl.
He forced himself to keep it down, but that only lasted all of two seconds before he spewed it all out.
Just like Seul Ah, his eyes rolled back in his head and he lost consciousness after drinking this soup.
As he lost consciousness, he also saw the same scene of someone saving him, but this time it was Seul Ah.
Seul Ah didn't know this but before he had saved her, she had actually saved him when there had been a dungeon break. At that moment, Guang Liang had already been deeply in love with her since she was his hero that had dropped down out of the sky to block all the monsters charging at him.
He had never been able to forget how she looked at that moment…
So even if he acted cold to her, it was actually because he was just shy and didn't know how to act around her…
It was actually because of her and his big sister that he did everything he could to become a S Ranker. So she was actually the second most important person in his life after his big sister, but that margin was very small.
In truth, they basically had the same position in his heart.
But he would never be able to tell her since he was shy.
Seeing the two falling unconscious like this, Maria shook her head.
Seul Ah was her best friend and Guang Liang was her little brother. There was no one in this world that knew how they felt about each other…It was just they were too dumb to realize this sometimes…
With a sigh, Maria put Seul Ah and Guang Liang down in one of the reclining seats beside each other before calling her healer friend.
At the very least, she had spared the fate of tasting Seul Ah's cooking…
But since they were going to lose their memories, she was sure that she would suffer this torture once again.
The healer friend had been waiting at the convenience store next door, so he arrived right away and started healing Seul Ah and Guang Liang.
As they felt the warm healing energy cover them, both of them revealed smiles as if they were having sweet dreams. They even rolled up next to each other and hugged each other.
Seeing this, Maria couldn't help revealing a faint smile.
But it was all ruined by the door suddenly opening and a blond haired young man came in to say, "Maria, are you here?"
Then it was followed by, "What happened here?"