Chapter 68
[Day 2 at the restaurant!]
[How about starting a new adventure tonight? Try to stay up late?]
[Someone has visited the restaurant! They don’t seem to be a customer...]
[Let’s head down to the first floor.]
I woke up to a twinkling notification sound.
’He’s here.’
As soon as I saw the system window before my eyes, I knew the time had come.
Once you reach Level 10, the owner of the restaurant visits the following morning to grant permission to enter the dungeon.
And that is when the daily quota is unlocked.
My heart already felt heavy at the thought of offering my blood-like gold to the owner.
If only it weren’t for the quota, there are so many things I could do overflowing like a river.
I was just getting out of bed, thinking about money, when...
"...?"
Dominic was nowhere to be seen.
After glancing around for a moment, I practically leaped out of bed.
I searched every inch of the room.
"Mr. Dominic? Where are you? Please answer me, Mr. Dominic..."
I muttered his name while searching everywhere, but he was gone.
It seemed he wasn’t in the room.
I hurriedly opened the door and sprinted down the hallway.
’He must be downstairs, right? He has to be’
Until now, Dominic had never once been apart from me.
A sudden, terrifying thought filled my mind.
’What if he regained his memories?’
I had turned him into a pudding, but he was the most terrible calamity of all.
He would regain his memories eventually, but not now. Not yet.
I hadn’t prepared any countermeasures.
At this rate, I would be the one who summoned the calamity with my own hands and unleashed it upon the world.
’And I’ve already destroyed the place he could return to.’
Samra said that 3Clean had been shut down.
The butlers were ultimately beings subordinate to the Trial, so it was highly likely they vanished along with 3Clean after pushing me into Call of the Void following the ending.
In this state, if the ’Master’ regained his memories now...
He wouldn’t leave me, the Special Task Force, the Trial, or perhaps even the planet Earth alone.
The ’Master’ had made it very clear to me in Call of the Void what kind of existence he was.
The sight of him slicing open his own palm to show me.
Those moments of repeating death and resurrection...
No! Don’t think about it! No! No! No!
I stopped halfway down the stairs and leaned against the wall.
My vision blurred, making it impossible to step forward straight.
I desperately tried to regulate my breathing, but the strength had left my legs.
My body swayed.
Just as I was about to collapse down the stairs...
"My! Be careful."
Someone caught me.
"Your footwork is quite clumsy."
I immediately made a foolish expression.
"Roasted Chestnut! Are you alright?"
A pleasant, deep voice spoke with urgent concern.
Dominic was...
On the first-floor table.
Still in the form of a pudding slime.
The moment I saw his squishy body, a wave of relief washed over me, leaving me feeling completely drained.
’I still have time.’
Having regained my composure, I finally looked at the person who had caught me.
A long-haired man with fiery red hair cascading down to his waist helped me stand upright.
I could see thick, hard horns protruding from both sides of his head.
"Ho, so you are the new chef. Still a mere fledgling, I see."
The man, who had reptilian eyes, smiled, revealing his teeth. An arrogant voice followed.
"I am the owner of this place, Infernum." I looked up at the restaurant owner with blank eyes.
It wasn’t the worst-case scenario I had feared.
But it wasn’t the expected scenario either.
A slime and a fire dragon together. I never thought I’d see such a combination in my life.
For now, almost by reflex, I started with a greeting.
"O Great Lord of the Fire Dragons. A mere mortal dares to offer his greetings. I am the Lamb." The dialogue, trained through countless repetitions of the game, was something one normally learned in the latter half of S2P.
Since I threw out a line that one only knows after completing various sub-quests to learn dragon etiquette, satisfaction spread across Internums face.
He praised me, showing his emotions without reservation.
"Impressive. You are one with discernment."
His brilliant red eyes, like embedded jewels, captured me.
"But you are not a mortal, are you? You are a newborn little thing."
The expression ’newborn little thing’ didn’t quite fit a twenty-four-year-old adult man.
Furthermore, the comment about not being a mortal.
Internum perceived me as something other than a human.
I recalled the new title I had received.
Young God...
Since it was a title that didn’t really resonate with me, I had been thinking of it as something like a second class promotion.
’Come to think of it, why hasn’t he given me the Epic Quest?’ Surely closing three Trials wouldn’t be the end, but there had been no word.
It seemed related to the system window mentioning something about exhausting its power.
Hoping the Epic Quest would arrive before clearing S2P, I pondered Infernum’s words again.
’Young God’ isn’t an expression an ordinary NPC would use.
’Then again, if he were a normal NPC, there would be no reason for Dominic to be with him!’
In Call of the Void, Dominic had treated NPCs as beings lower than insects.
There must be a reason why he left me to go down to the first floor to meet Infernum.
I voiced the most plausible hypothesis for the current situation.
"Forgive my presumption, but... is the Lord a god?"
As soon as he heard my question, Infernum laughed loudly.
His flame-like, curling hair swayed along with his laughter.
"Hahaha! I am not a god. But I am a being infinitely close to one."
Can Dominic see him because he possesses ’Status’?
I still couldn’t properly understand the meaning of Status.
I first thought of the most intuitively visible external element.
I compared Kwak Han-mook’s red hair with Infernum’s, but they felt completely different.
’Well, Captain Kwak’s hair is dyed.’
I remembered him grumbling about needing to get his roots touched up.
Regardless, other than the red hair, there were no distinct commonalities between the two beings.
At least, as far as I knew.
"Little thing. How did you come to be in my restaurant?"
I pushed aside the thoughts of Kwak Han-mook and focused on Infernum again.
"I wished to become a chef, so I have taken up residence in Lord Infernum’s domain."
"Hmm."
Infernum frowned and snapped his fingers.
With a flash, sparks flew in the air, and a contract appeared.
It was the restaurant lease agreement.
Beneath the large text stating the monthly rent of IG, I saw a tiny print.
However, upon commencement of business, the timing and amount of rent payments may vary, and any changes shall be determined entirely by the owner.
The rent of 1G was only until the business started.
The moment I entered the dungeon to gather ingredients and began operating, the monthly rent would change to a daily quota, and the amount would increase as the number of business days grew.
The hellish daily grind was about to begin.
If you failed to meet the quota, you had to offer a team member as food for the monster. If you lost even one person from a five-man party, conquering the upper levels of the dungeon became impossible.
From the moment a teammate was lost, you would be unable to handle the ever increasing quota, and one by one, you would be eaten by the monster until total annihilation became your destined future.
And that monster was...
The Fire Dragon Infernum, sitting right in front of me.
S2P was, in essence, one giant restaurant for Infernum.
"Little thing. Have you read the contract clearly?" I answered with a stinging heart.
"Yes..."
"From today, I shall grant you permission to enter a new domain. However, little thing, it would be best if you did not enter such a dangerous place."
Instead of advice, isn’t there a special discount for children? Like a drastic quota reduction?
I suppressed the nonsense wanting to burst out and smiled.
"Thank you for your concern. However, I wish to achieve my dream of becoming a chef."
Infernum clicked his tongue.
Just then, Dominic, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, moved across the table toward me.
"You were sleeping so soundly that I could not wake you, Roasted Chestnut."
"Mr. Dominic..."
My heart almost dropped this morning.
From now on, I wanted him to wake me up even if he had to beat me.
If physical strikes were difficult for a slime, he could just block my airway.
I looked back and forth between Infernum and Dominic and spoke cautiously.
"I wonder what you two were discussing so early in the morning..."
As I spoke, I checked the time.
It was strange that Jae Hyun-oh and the Captains hadn’t come down while we were chatting like this on the first floor.
Checking the time via the system window, I was shocked.
5:30 AM.
In S2P, players sleep at midnight and the day begins at 6:00 AM.
Sleeping and waking are forcibly managed by the system, but I had woken up before the system-set wake-up time.
’Wait, why?’
I didn’t know what kind of error had caused this.
Dominic answered politely.
"I was entertaining the guest on behalf of the sleeping Roasted Chestnut. Should a high-end restaurant not be more meticulous? Mr. Infernum’s knowledge is vast in many fields, so it was an enjoyable time."
"Indeed, little thing. I felt an unusual energy and came to visit early, and this gentleman greeted me."
Infernum looked at Dominic with eyes containing a hint of respect.
"I heard you are traveling with this person; you are quite unlucky to have entered my domain of all places."
Infernum didn’t seem to know Dominic’s exact identity.
It felt as though Dominic had hidden himself.
Regardless, since he said he was entertaining the guest in my stead, I had nothing to say.
’He must have some purpose.’
Since I couldn’t ask him openly in front of Infernum, I let it slide and brought up something else
"Um, Lord Infernum. I have one request."
"What is it?"
"Could you please grant me permission to enter the dungeon during the day as well?"
"The day dungeon, you say?"
Infernum asked back, sounding surprised.
The reason players entered dungeons at night in S2P was because of the heat.
During the day when the sun rose, the heat of the dungeon intensified, and the stats of the monsters under the Fire Dragon’s rule increased drastically.
A monster on the 1st floor of the day dungeon would possess combat power equivalent to a monster on the 99th floor of the night dungeon.
Therefore, in the original S2P, the day dungeon was content to be enjoyed additionally after seeing the ending.
I was currently asking Infernum to open a place that one usually entered only after reaching the max level of 99.
Infernum clicked his tongue and tried to dissuade me.
"The midday dungeon is too dangerous for a little thing to enter."
It was certainly a dangerous act.
If you died in the dungeon, you were immediately swallowed by it and became Infernum’s food.
That was one of the reasons why S2P’s difficulty was so high.
Outside, you could die several times and revive at the restaurant lodging, but in the most dangerous place the dungeon-you became monster food the instant you died.
The probability of death was especially high in the day dungeon.
However, the rewards were proportional to the risk.
"Let us have a cup of tea here. I heard you brew tea well."
Surely he isn’t talking about the leaf tea.
The only tea I had brewed since entering S2P was leaf tea.
When looked at Dominic, he flicked his ears as if he knew nothing about it.
I requested again in the most polite tone possible.
"It is mere leaf tea, so it is insufficient to serve Lord Infernum. I intend to make the restaurant prosper further and serve you wonderful dishes in the future."
"Hmm."
"My skills are humble, but fortunately, my companions are exceptionally skilled, so I believe we can obtain precious ingredients from the midday dungeon without much trouble. I beg of you, Lord Infernum."
Infernum gazed at me intently.
"Little thing. Do you know what happens if you die in the dungeon?"
"I know."
"Do you mean you wish to become my food?"
His pupils narrowed even more sharply. Infernum did not take his eyes off me for a long time.
In front of my silence, he narrowed his eyes and muttered.
"Yes, if I could eat you, it would be enjoyable for the first time in a long while.."
The blunt remark, not hiding his appetite, was eerie, but I didn’t feel great fear.
It was because I had already experienced true terror the moment I woke up this morning.
And it was something I had fully expected.
I knew Infernum’s nature.
"Ah... no matter how much I swallow, my hunger is not appeased. Roasted Chestnut will bring me the supreme delicacy."
In the game, Infernum would not hesitate to do anything for the sake of his gourmet tastes.
As I stood there calmly, Infernum chuckled.
"Do as you wish."
He extended a finger toward me. A thin streak of flame flowed out and touched the back of my hand.
Along with a stinging pain, a red pattern was engraved.
The Seal of the Fire Dragon has been engraved. You may now enter the dungeon. I unconsciously glanced at Dominic.
Dominic was shimmering, looking displeased.
Since he and I were in a contractual relationship, I wondered if he disliked my connection with another being, and as expected, he seemed to feel unpleasant.
However, he seemed to overlook it, knowing it was necessary for conquering the Trial.
"Little thing. I shall look forward to the moment you ascend my dining table."
Infernum vanished in a burst of flames.
Now, only Dominic and I remained on the first floor of the restaurant.
I reached out my hand to Dominic on the table.
But instead of climbing onto my hand, he just looked up at me.
The pudding slime stared at me and spoke.
"About the dish you promised to serve me, Mr. Roasted Chestnut."
I felt a chill seeing the brilliant, shimmering glow.
Dominic requested politely.
"Could you make me that Fire Dragon?"