Chapter 75
[Day 3 of the restaurant!]
[How about we open the doors starting today?]
[Let’s try promoting the restaurant too!]
6:00 AM.
I snapped awake to the sound of a twinkling notification.
The first thing I did was check on the Pudding Slime.
"Good morning, Roasted Chestnut."
Dominic greeted me with a welcoming hello.
He was perched quietly on my chest.
Despite having slept crumpled up in the corner of a straw bed, he didn’t seem to complain, likely because he had spent the night staying on top of me.
However, there was no telling how long Dominic would tolerate such poor conditions.
I felt like I needed to change the bed as soon as possible.
I immediately rushed outside with the Pudding Slime.
Since everyone else had bolted out the moment the 6 AM notification popped up, we all bumped into each other in the hallway.
First, I checked on Je Hyun-oh.
I had been worried about whether he’d made it back safely last night, but as expected, he was fine.
Je Hyun-oh looked at the Fire Dragon twins standing behind me.
For some reason, he didn’t show much interest in the twins.
Instead, he kept his gaze fixed on me for a long time.
I couldn’t see his expression or the look in his eyes, but he didn’t seem particularly displeased.
Having stared into those goggles and that gas mask for so long, I felt like I could now roughly guess his mood.
’I don’t think he’s planning to kill me...’
However, I was bothered by the fact that his goggles had been pitch black ever since we left the dungeon yesterday.
He had said he was only sane when displaying emoticons.
I kept glancing at him, worried he might suddenly start plucking my wings again.
As we locked eyes during one of my glances, Je Hyun-oh lightly moved his metallic hand.
At the sight of the glinting blade so early in the morning, I quietly lowered my gaze.
And as for Mo Hae-in.
"What are you doing, recruit? Let’s go."
Her face was the same as always.
She spared a brief glance at the twins behind me, but that was it.
However, based on Mo Hae-in’s reactions so far, there was something I could roughly guess.
She seemed to feel a strong sense of displeasure the moment I became deeply entangled with an NPC.
It was the same back during 3Clean.
While I was speculating, Kwak Han-mook took a moment to despair after checking today’s slime.
"It’s fuckin’ sparkly today.."
It seemed Dominic had added some glitter for his sake.
Anyway, everyone seemed okay. I gave a polite greeting.
"Then, I’ll leave it in your hands."
Today was the long-awaited opening day of the restaurant.
After a brief exchange of greetings, everyone moved according to the prior briefing.
Mo Hae-in went to the general store to shop for necessary supplies, while Kwak Han-mook and Je Hyun-oh were tasked with farming ingredients from the day dungeon.
The twins and I stayed at the restaurant.
Since Kwak Han-mook promised to get new oven mitts, I planned to use Je Hyun-oh’s crow gloves only until today.
"Lord Elun. How is your wing? I will change your bandages later."
"It’s fine."
Elun, whose right wing was tightly bound, looked up at me and spoke.
"It’s late, but thank you."
"Little Lamb. What shall we do? Must we grill skewers again?"
"That comes later."
I took the twins down to the first floor.
Then, I handed each of them a lizard tail skewer I had prepared yesterday.
"It’s breakfast. Please eat these while you wait."
◆ Sub Quest: Prepare delicious food for the Fire Dragon twins, Ella and Elun! (1/66)
A system window popped up.
Holding the skewers, the twins looked at each other and then back at me.
Elun muttered with a deeply troubled expression.
"I’m sorry... I have no money."
It seemed the system paid out currency linked to the dungeon.
I gave the twins a taste of the bitterness of a cold society.
"That’s your wage."
"Wage..?"
"Yes. You’ll be working at the restaurant all day today, so eat up."
Unaware of the future awaiting them, the twins sat quietly in the chairs and began eating the skewers.
Ella, who had run away yesterday saying she was sick of them, ate well, finding the taste acceptable.
"Elun. These are the skewers I grilled last night."
"They’re delicious."
Watching the dragons tear into the lizard tails, I spoke to Elun.
"Lord Elun...."
I was about to ask if he wanted to rest on the second floor, but before I could even ask, Elun gave a firm answer.
"It’s fine. I want to work too."
Elun looked up at me intently.
"Little Lamb. We are not humans; we are of the Fire Dragon race. This is nothing to us."
"I understand."
I took out a handkerchief and wiped the sauce from the corner of Elun’s mouth.
Leaving the twins to chatter among themselves, I headed to the kitchen.
I opened the book placed in the corner of the kitchen.
Using this book, I could configure various settings related to the restaurant’s operations.
[Would you like to begin restaurant operations?]
When I selected ’Begin’, the next system window appeared.
[Setting restaurant operating hours.]
[9:00 AM Opening, 8:00 PM Closing.]
Once I set it to the maximum allowable time, a twinkling sound rang out.
[Restaurant operations have finally begun!]
[To celebrate the grand opening, one free promotion is provided. Which promotion would you like to try?]
- Set up a restaurant stall in the village and hold a tasting event.
- Free if you eat it all within the time limit! Hold a Big Eater Challenge event.
- Opening Special! Distribute free food coupons to the first visiting customers.
- Run a malicious advertisement to terrify the customers.
Normally, the safest choice is the tasting event.
Tasting events allow for a stable build-up of reputation and customer acquisition.
The Big Eater event or free coupons result in too much of a loss in revenue.
And the last option, the malicious advertisement.
This was a double-edged sword.
While the restaurant’s reputation would plummet, it would attract a large number of terrified customers in a short period.
In short, it was an unrivaled method for making money in the early stages.
You have selected the malicious advertisement. Please write the text to be used for the ad.
I paused at the system window that followed.
In the game, the ad was automatically distributed once selected, but in reality, I had to write the text myself.
I felt lost on what to do for an ad slogan.
"Roasted Chestnut. What is the purpose of this book?"
Just then, Dominic questioned me about the book.
Since he could only see the quest window, he seemed curious as to why I was flipping through what looked like a blank book.
"This is for setting up the restaurant operations... Wait a moment, Mr. Dominic."
A great idea occurred to me.
I stopped the explanation and quickly typed in the text.
I figured this much would be enough for the ad to proceed without a hitch.
While explaining the purpose of the book to Dominic, I naturally continued the conversation.
"Mr. Dominic."
"Yes, Roasted Chestnut."
From a distance, the twins looked at me strangely as I whispered to thin air, but I pressed on.
"I’m just asking, but could you tell me what you talked about with Infernum?"
"It was merely trivial chatter."
He had said Infernum was knowledgeable and that it was enjoyable, so this was clearly a lie.
"I only met him thinking it might be helpful to you, Roasted Chestnut. My memories are not entirely intact, after all."
He meant he had talked to him to see if there was anything he could find out.
It was probably because I had asked Dominic to teach me how to create system windows.
"That man did not even properly understand what kind of existence I am. He was inferior even to the young Roasted Chestnut."
It seemed they had discussed other things, but he didn’t want to tell me.
Actually, another matter was more important right now.
"By any chance... if I fight Infernum and win, but he tries to flee, could you catch him? With magic."
"Hmm, he must be held by magic. In that case, I should use ’Abyssal Chains’ from my skills. It is possible."
The Abyssal Chains Dominic used probably weren’t the same as the mage skills I knew.
They were likely a corrupted version of Abyssal Chains, something cosmic like his Blazing Ray.
However, Infernum cannot be caught through normal means.
This was because Infernum fleeing after the battle was a fixed event scene.
Being able to twist the system and capture Infernum...
I had pondered this for a while, and the only answer was Dominic.
Of course, I was worried about the errors he might cause...
But since Dominic wouldn’t leave me alone if I failed to catch the Fire Dragon anyway, it was better to take the risk.
Even so, I couldn’t help but feel a slight sense of longing.
’I wonder if I could do something like Dominic!’
As I sank into thought, Dominic clung to my cheek.
"Roasted Chestnut."
"Yes?"
"It is alright to rely on me a little. You are still young, and this is a time when you need help."
A voice that seemed to taste of refined sweetness spread softly in my ear.
I blinked slowly.
"I do need help."
"What do you need?"
’Can I just squeeze you once? Just a tiny bit.’
...If I had voiced those inner thoughts, I might have been the one hit by a Blazing Ray this time.
Feeling Dominic move from my cheek to my shoulder, I replied.
"I’lI tell you later. It’s not urgent."
"Recruit!"
Just then, Mo Hae- in arrived. She was carrying a large shopping bag.
She had purchased the most urgent clothing, additional cutlery, and plates first.
Since I had also asked her for Elun’s bandages, I changed them to new ones immediately and then had the twins put on waiter uniforms.
Mo Hae-in also changed into a waiter uniform, and I put on a chef’s outfit.
Even if the chef serves the customers, wearing chef’s clothes is advantageous for reputation and tip calculations.
The twins kept looking at their clothes, seemingly fascinated by the waiter uniforms.
Together with the bow-tie-wearing twins, I plated the food in advance while checking the item descriptions.
[Flame Lizard Tail Skewer (480G): A skewer of flame lizard tail cooked to perfect oneness.]
[Review: Crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside from the first bite! A proper harmony of spiciness and umami. Rating: (****)]
"But can we really get this many customers on the first day?"
Mo Hae-in expressed concern as she looked at the mountain of 500 lizard tail skewers.
This was because every food item had an expiration date.
The expiration date for the skewers was 3 days. Since they were made yesterday, all 500 had to be sold by tomorrow.
"I made the promotion a bit provocative. I think it’ll be fine."
8:30 AM.
And 30 minutes before opening.
Customers began to gather one by one outside the restaurant, which was still closed.
As the crowd of ’open-run’ customers grew with time, Mo Hae-in looked at me.
To her, who had only operated restaurants where five or six people were a busy day, this must have been an incomprehensible sight.
At the look in her eyes asking what on earth I had done, I answered honestly.
"I just ran an ad."
8:50 AM.
Now, the line of customers stretched all the way to the backyard.
Only the twins, novice part-timers who didn’t understand the meaning of this, were excited.
"Little Lamb! There are so many customers. We’ll become a popular restaurant in an instant."
"The skewers are delicious. I think everyone will like them."
After checking the customers through the window, Mo Hae-in looked at me again.
"I really just ran an ad..."
9:00 AM.
And the first opening.
The moment the doors opened, customers rushed in like a horde of zombies.
"Food! Give me food!"
"Just give me anything right now!"
"Anything is fine, just the dish that comes out the fastest!!"
Mo Hae-in and the twins gasped in shock at the flood of customers.
I pulled out the whistle I had bought from the general store.
[Whistle: Focus! Look here! (Defense +1)]
Tweet!
As I blew the whistle, all the customers looked at me.
"Now, please take your seats in the order you arrived. If you don’t line up, we aren’t doing business."
The customers fluttered about for a moment before gradually finding order.
"Recruit, what kind of promotion did you run...."
"Welcome. The only item on the menu is the Flame Lizard Tail Skewer."
Mo Hae-in was swept away by the crowd before she could even scold me.
Honestly, I didn’t know the malicious advertisement would be this effective.
It was more effective this time when I wrote the text myself than when the game did it automatically.
The ad text I wrote was simple.
’This letter first began in Mornvale, England...’
It was a chain letter stating that misfortune would befall anyone who did not visit the newly opened restaurant in the village within today’s operating hours.