The Outcast Writer of a Martial Arts Visual Novel-Chapter 264: Guild Head - 4

“Spirit-trained homing pigeon? A pigeon that has mastered qi? What in the world is that?”

The escort agent stared at the white pigeon in his friend’s hand, which had a tuft of blue feathers on its head, and asked.

Mastered qi? Was that thing supposed to use martial arts or something?

“You’re really out of the loop, aren’t you? I get that escort work keeps you busy, but now that you're back in Wuchang, you should at least know what’s going on in the world.”

“To think you’ve been living without even hearing about the spirit-trained homing pigeon, something that’s practically a miracle of nature. Tsk tsk.”

His friends shook their heads and clicked their tongues, as if they were disappointed.

“How am I supposed to know what it is if you don’t explain it?”

“That’s exactly why you’re too slow to become an escort captain. Now hold on! I’ll show you a whole new world of cuisine today. Let’s see... Where did I put it?”

The friend holding the pigeon looked around.

“Looking for the menu? It’s over here!”

One of the others immediately caught on, reached into a corner, and tossed over a wooden menu board.

“A menu?”

The escort agent furrowed his brows, confused.

Wasn’t the menu something the shopkeeper handed out at a guesthouse? Did these guys have sticky fingers or something? Why on earth did they bring a guesthouse menu board all the way here?

He just couldn’t understand it.

“Well, since this guy’s buying, let’s get four jjajangmyeon and one large sweet and sour pork.”

“I prefer jjamppong, though.”

“It’s a hassle to clean up. Just go with four jjajang.”

One of the men scribbled something down with a fine brush on a piece of paper, opened the window, and released the spirit-trained homing pigeon.

“Now sit down and wait!”

“What the hell is even going on here...”

As he was dragged to a seat by his friend, the escort agent still couldn’t grasp the situation.

A spirit-trained homing pigeon? What even was that? It seemed like something only the escort captains at the bureau would use, like a carrier pigeon. What did it have to do with food?

It wasn’t like some mythical swallow from a fairy tale that brought food when its master was hungry.

Were these guys planning to starve him because he was late? He couldn’t think straight when he was hungry. Were they trying to make a fool out of him today? Or were they just messing with him?

As the escort agent was still trapped in unresolvable confusion, a knock came at the door.

“Is this the place that ordered four jjajangmyeon and a large sweet and sour pork using spirit-trained homing pigeon number 53?”

A Joseon man wearing a bamboo hat knocked on the room’s door, where the four men were gathered.

“Here, here! Bring it in this way.”

The escort agent’s friend opened the door, welcomed the delivery man, and guided him to a table where the food could be set down.

At this point, the escort agent finally began to understand the situation.

“W-Wait... did you just order food using a homing pigeon?”

He asked in a stunned voice.

“Exactly. And you still hadn’t figured it out?”

“What kind of nonsense is this...”

He couldn’t even close his mouth.

Ordering food with a homing pigeon? Not just in Wuchang—he had traveled across countless provinces and had never seen or heard of such a thing.

“Where should I set the food?”

“Right here, on this table.”

The black-haired delivery man placed a strange-looking black box on the table, lifted a vertical wooden panel that had been slotted in, and began taking out food.

“That’s a weird-looking bag! Never seen one like it.”

It was a black box with a handle. The interior had compartments like drawers, and food could be pulled out from it.

The escort agent looked the wooden bag over with amazed eyes.

“Our guesthouse owner made it. We call it the iron bag.”

“Iron bag? You mean it’s made of actual iron?”

If it were really iron, it’d be way too heavy. Was this Joseon man some kind of martial artist? The escort agent eyed him suspiciously.

“It’s made from fine wood, lacquered multiple times, so it’s sturdy like iron.”

“Oh, I see. Made to hold plenty of food inside. Whoever thought of this is a genius.”

The iron bag wasn’t just oddly shaped—it was clearly well-crafted. Without a doubt, it had to be the work of a skilled artisan.

“Haha. Our guesthouse owner’s an amazing guy. That’ll be four silver for the four jjajang and one large sweet and sour pork.”

“What?! Four silver?! That should only be three at most!”

At the delivery man’s words, the escort agent’s look of wonder vanished, replaced by outright shock.

No guesthouse would charge more than three silver for that. Charging an extra one? What kind of rip-off was this?

“Come on! If we were going to eat at the guesthouse, we would’ve gone there! Why do you think we had it delivered!”

“Don’t embarrass the delivery man! Sorry about this—he just doesn’t think before speaking!”

Seeing the agent’s harsh expression, his friends scolded him.

“No, but still...”

“If you don’t want to pay, just say so.”

“N-No, I’ll pay.”

A man couldn’t go back on his word once spoken. The escort agent quickly pulled some coins from his pouch and handed them to the Joseon man.

The delivery man felt the trembling in his hand but said nothing, taking the four silver coins calmly.

“Just leave the dishes outside and we’ll pick them up. And here’s your spirit-trained homing pigeon number 53, returned safely.”

He took the homing pigeon that had just flown in and handed it back from his iron bag.

“Thanks! We’ll order again soon!”

“Yes. With spirit-trained homing pigeons, we’ll deliver anywhere! The people’s delivery service! Operated by Joseon folks at Woon-gi Guesthouse! We look forward to serving you again!”

The delivery man cheerfully recited his slogan and then left the room.

“I can’t believe... the food actually got delivered.”

Even as he stared at the food on the table, the escort agent still couldn’t believe what had just happened.

“Amazing, right? Until now, delivery food was something only rich folks with servants could enjoy. Or regulars who made arrangements in advance. But now, even guys like us can order delivery.”

It wasn’t like delivery didn’t exist in this world. But it had always been limited to rich households with staff or big orders for VIPs.

It had never been something four average guys in a rented room could do.

“So, if you send a spirit-trained homing pigeon, the order reaches them instantly?”

“Yep. You see the number on the pigeon’s leg? The guesthouse writes down which pigeon goes where. When you write your order and send it with the pigeon, the delivery guy comes here.”

“And it gets here before the food goes cold. Amazing.”

“It’s pricey, yeah—but it’s convenient. These days, everyone’s scrambling to get one of these pigeons for themselves.”

“Not just anyone can get one, huh?”

“There are some conditions. You’ve gotta be a regular customer. And if you’re not gonna order again within half a month, you’ve got to return the pigeon.”

His friend added that if the homing pigeon dies, they’d have to pay a penalty—so it’s better to send it back if you're not going to use it.

“Ha... who even came up with this?”

Ordering food through a carrier pigeon. The escort agent always considered himself well-traveled and worldly, but even he was stunned by this.

“No one really knows. Raising one of those pigeons is something only a few artisans can do.”

“Well, who cares who made it? As long as it works!”

“You guys... You’re not thinking of playing mahjong after eating, are you?”

“Of course we are! Gotta play while we eat!”

The four men laughed and dealt out mahjong tiles while eating jjajangmyeon and sweet and sour pork.

No need to waste energy going out to eat. They could enjoy their meal and their game at the same time.

No need to worry about other people’s eyes, either. They could relax and eat—and gamble—all in the comfort of their room.

The friends laughed, joked, filled their bellies, and played mahjong in high spirits—there was no greater bliss for the escort agent.

“Delivery food... this is amazing.”

The escort agent said this while contentedly rubbing his full belly.

“Once I started ordering delivery, I didn’t want to go to restaurants anymore!”

“Same here!”

“Come to think of it, considering the delivery fee, the price is actually reasonable.”

In a satisfied and cheerful mood, the escort agent recalculated the cost.

He had paid quite a bit because they ordered food for four people and a large sweet and sour pork—but for one person, it wasn’t that much after all.

Instead of wasting time going to the guesthouse, it was much better to eat in the room and play mahjong.

He had finally realized the full advantage of delivery food.

“Right? Isn’t it great?”

“By the way, that spirit-trained homing pigeon... think I could get one too?”

“If you apply by today, you can get one right away. After today, it'll take a few days.”

“What?! And you’re only telling me this now?!”

This wasn’t the time to be sitting around.

The escort agent suddenly jumped to his feet.

“Hey! You’re not even finishing your hand before leaving?!”

“I’ll be right back!”

***************

The trial distribution of the spirit-trained homing pigeons had been a success.

“Chairman! We’ve got another order! Four jjajangmyeon and one large sweet and sour pork!”

“Don’t rush, you’ll hurt yourself. Go down carefully.”

I gently told the shopkeeper’s assistant descending from the third floor with the order form tied to the homing pigeon.

“Yes, sir!”

The guesthouse’s third floor had already been renovated to allow the spirit-trained homing pigeons to come and go. Dividing the pigeons’ reception point from the guesthouse would’ve only slowed things down.

“This... it really works. But how on earth did you even think of something like this?”

Im Ha-yeon, watching the assistant head downstairs, looked at me in astonishment.

“Wuchang is the provincial capital of Hubei. It’s the largest city in the province, and because it borders the Yangtze River, there’s no shortage of jobs.”

“And what does that have to do with the pigeons?”

“People from all over come to Wuchang alone looking for work. With all the good jobs, they’ve got money to spend. And men with money tend to buy their meals rather than cook them.”

Even in modern Korea, it wasn’t long ago that elders would yell about cutting off a boy’s manhood if he stepped foot in the kitchen.

Unless you worked professionally as a chef, it wasn’t a world where ordinary men cooked at home. So once delivery food entered the world, demand was inevitable.

“How could you think so far ahead of everyone else?”

“It’s all thanks to your spirit-trained homing pigeon, Ha-yeon.”

Just like how 300 troops can’t pull off a crushing encirclement tactic against 5,000 unless they can each swing a 6kg dagger—none of this would’ve been possible without Im Ha-yeon’s pigeons.

As a breed dubbed “flying rats” in modern Korea, these pigeons grow fast and breed well.

Because they were bred to travel long distances and deliver messages, they could go for long periods without food—meaning they could survive even if customers were negligent with their care.

That made them the perfect communication method for a delivery network.

“I was going to just release them all if we didn’t find a use... who knew they’d come in handy.”

Originally, the spirit-trained homing pigeons weren’t worth keeping.

While rare exceptions like Goo-goo were born with spiritual awareness and could understand human speech, most were simply above-average pigeons. What mattered was Im Ha-yeon’s skill in training them.

Besides, once you released them into nature, they quickly turned into wild scavengers, so she never had much attachment to them.

“If a customer sends an order, the delivery person can just return the pigeon afterward. If they don’t order again within a set period, we take it back. That’ll minimize losses.”

“Even if we lose a few, it’s not a big deal. As long as we keep a few like Goo-goo, they’ll multiply quickly.”

Each one was a source of revenue—no reason to give that away.

“But customers need to believe these pigeons are valuable, so let’s keep that part a secret.”

“Sure, I get that. Also, I think the Joseon folks are a huge help.”

Im Ha-yeon glanced at the hard-working Joseon people in the guesthouse and remarked.

“There’s a reason I was made chairman.”

All I had to do was shout, “Chairman’s orders! Joseon Assembly!” and I could get any workforce I needed.

I hired Korean craftsmen to build the iron bags, had them remodel the guesthouse, and brought in Korean cooks with real culinary skills just in case staff ran short.

I paid the Joseon staff doing shop work or with good local ties to help promote the pigeons.

Then, after a thorough selection process, we handpicked delivery runners—which allowed the delivery food service to stabilize easily.

“We seem to be making a lot of profit, but... do you think we’ll be able to turn more than the original capital in time?”

Though amazed at the idea, Im Ha-yeon couldn’t hide a trace of anxiety.

No matter how solid the business was, passing the Merchant Guild Leader’s test within the deadline was another issue entirely.

“This venture is destined to succeed.”

Don’t worry. I spoke with full confidence and looked down at the long line of customers stretching across the first floor.

“E-Excuse me! Is this the guesthouse giving out the spirit-trained homing pigeons?!”

The ground floor was packed with people eager to receive one.

“Give me a pigeon too!”

“We’re taking applications here. As long as you have a verified identity and confirmed residence, we’ll...”

“I’ll sign up first!”

“Out of the way!”

“I’ll pay ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) for it! Just give it to me now!”

My idea. Im Ha-yeon’s talent. The power of the Joseon people.

All of it had come together to create the ultimate food delivery system.

The more customers used the spirit-trained homing pigeons, the more they would experience overwhelming convenience.

And once someone experiences that convenience, they come to a single conclusion:

“Once you’ve had delivery... there’s no going back to a world without it.”

Now it was time to rake in the money—by the handful.