Chapter 372: Puppet’s Strange Habits

Joo Joowon could not figure out the logic behind this. He even began to suspect that something deeper might be involved, to the point that some being had deliberately intervened to conceal the fate of the Puppet Race.

That might explain why even a player like him, who followed the Fate Path, could not sense anything unusual when he came into contact with Kang Taewoo.

However, he also felt that he might simply be overthinking things.

He had genuinely selected an NPC at random from the recruitment pool. He had not used his fortune or any similar ability, nor had he experienced any particular feeling of familiarity or affinity when he first saw Kang Taewoo. He had simply thought that Kang Taewoo possessed several secondary professions and could do the work of two people.

Still, its recruitment fee was not exactly cheap.

Of course, it was not particularly expensive either.

Besides, in the game world, which rare race did not have its own troubles or deep secrets hidden behind it? But what did any of that have to do with him, a lord who had only temporarily recruited an NPC?

Kang Taewoo had never deliberately tried to get close to Joo Joowon, either. Apart from getting a little excited when it learned about the naming styles, it had never done anything else out of the ordinary.

Therefore, Joo Joowon did not really believe there was any conspiracy behind this.

He had not reached the point where he saw danger in every little thing.

Of course, it was also possible that he had only just begun learning the Fate Path and did not yet understand destiny deeply enough to recognize any problems.

"Lord, could you try this and tell me how it tastes?" Kang Taewoo asked, holding out a bowl that was even smaller than its palm.

The bear stood two meters tall, making it look genuinely imposing, especially with its round body. Just from its appearance, anyone could tell that it was quite heavy.

With a chef’s hat on its head and an apron around its body, Kang Taewoo actually looked rather convincing as a cook. However, it did not look like the kind of proper chef one would usually imagine. Instead, it looked more like the sort of chef from a horror novel who would skin people alive and eat their flesh.

Its black and red color scheme certainly gave it a rather sinister appearance.

Joo Joowon tasted the soup in the bowl. He did not know whether it was because Kang Taewoo was not from Gaia, but he always felt that the dishes it made were somehow missing that familiar flavor. However, it was not as though the food tasted bad. It simply lacked the kind of aroma and flavor that made someone think, "That smells delicious!"

He was not particularly picky about food, either. No matter what, Kang Taewoo’s cooking was still better than his own. Joo Joowon never followed recipes when cooking and simply relied on his instincts. At least Kang Taewoo had received systematic training.

Seeing Joo Joowon nod, Kang Taewoo put out the fire and carried the two dishes and one soup over to the table. It then removed its chef’s hat and took off the gloves it had been wearing.

Joo Joowon was quite satisfied with this level of "professionalism," although he would not have minded if Kang Taewoo had shed some fur while cooking.

Families that kept cats were already accustomed to finding one or two cat hairs floating in their food. They were hardly the sort of people who would develop an obsession with cleanliness over something like that.

Kang Taewoo did not seem accustomed to using modern kitchen appliances. It had prepared the meal using the iron pot it had brought with it, and it had even built the fire itself.

It did not eat together with Joo Joowon. Instead, it took its bowl and ate by itself off to the side. It did not use its mouth to eat. Rather, it unzipped the zipper on its belly and poured all the food inside.

Joo Joowon: "...."

Was that really considered eating?

Kang Taewoo explained the process to Joo Joowon with practiced ease. "Eating with my mouth would dirty all the fur around it. I don’t like the feeling of my fur getting wet. If you find it strange, my lord, I can switch back to eating normally."

When recruiting NPCs, most lords tended to choose candidates whose races were not too different from their own. For example, humans preferred humanoid creatures, while animal races generally avoided recruiting NPCs that fell within their own food chain. After all, they did not want to risk getting hungry one day and accidentally eating an NPC they had recruited themselves.

The Puppet Race, however, had living habits that differed from those of most other creatures.

As a result, every time Kang Taewoo was recruited, it had to explain the same things over and over again. It had grown used to it by now.

At least Joo Joowon was currently the only person who had shown this kind of curiosity. In some territories, the residents would gather around Kang Taewoo in large groups whenever they encountered it. Not only would they disturb its work, but they would also bombard it with questions.

"There’s no need. As long as you’re comfortable with it, that’s fine." Although the scene was rather shocking, there was nothing particularly bloody about it, so it was not enough to affect Joo Joowon’s appetite. He did not mind and continued eating as he asked, "By the way, do you shed fur?"

Kang Taewoo replied, "When the seasons change."

"Huh?"

"Which animal doesn’t shed fur when the seasons change?" Kang Taewoo could not understand why Joo Joowon was so surprised. It shook its bear-skin coat as though this were the most obvious thing in the world. "When the weather gets hot, having fur that’s too thick makes us feel hot, too."

"We also shed fur when we bathe." Kang Taewoo wore a solemn expression as it continued, "After all, we’re different from real living creatures. Our ability to clean ourselves is not very good. Whenever we get dirty, we have to scrub ourselves hard with a brush to get clean. This half of my bear skin was replaced by my mom because it had become too difficult to wash clean. My mom said black fur was more resistant to dirt and would look cleaner, too."