Chapter 5
If It Tastes Bad, Please Tell Me With Words
Hunters hold no prejudices. Even in a shabby, run-down little restaurant like this, if you served a 2,000,000-won steak, there would still be people willing to eat it.
In that sense, it was safe to assume that everyone who came to the Happy Restaurant was a hunter. Plus, its location was conveniently right next to a dungeon.
The man sitting at the table was wearing a Dojin Guild jumper. Though his clothing was neat, his hair was a mess—another common trait of hunters. His face, showing exhaustion, suggested he had just finished a raid.
Out of habit, he scanned the surroundings cautiously. But when he noticed Sori approaching, he seemed relieved and spoke.
“I’ll have the Bird Stew.”
His voice was completely drained.
“B…Bird Stew?”
Sori, the 26-year-old new awakener—specialty: can only cook instant noodles—swallowed hard and double-checked the menu.
Bird Stew was a dish the runaway manager had excelled at.
But I never asked how to make it.
It was too late for regrets.
“Uh… I’m sorry, but today…”
It was time to subtly guide him toward changing the order to ramen or rice.
“Oh, not today?”
Apparently, the man had arrived before Sori had even started her shift. Ah, that was lucky. As the man muttered, a system message popped up in front of her eyes.
A-Table guest’s mood status has changed to –90 points!
–90 points.
I don’t know what this means, but if I leave it like this, it feels like it’ll end badly.
But she couldn’t just do whatever she wanted. That would be deceiving the customer and could easily lead to losing them. Moreover, Sori thought that even serving a poorly made dish wouldn’t improve the guest’s mood.
“Well, the truth is…”
The man’s expression grew increasingly disappointed. At this rate, he’d hit –100 points. That’s when the system seemed to notice Sori’s inner thoughts.
The guest’s happiness is also the restaurant’s happiness!
The newly inherited Happy Restaurant wants to successfully welcome its first guest.
Quest: Achieve +50 mood points for the first guest
Reward: 300 gold, 150 exp, random skill draw ticket
So leaving him to wander in discontent wasn’t an option. Sori furrowed her brows.
What kind of nonsense is this? We’re at –50 already, and now +50?
The system butting in like this was annoying as always. On the bright side, at least it didn’t say anything like “Failure equals death,” she thought.
But she was a slave to rewards! And 300 gold was nothing to scoff at. Sure, she could just throw in the ingredients, boil it, and call it done. The rest she’d rely on her service skills to cover!
“No!”
A stubborn determination to just throw herself at it. The man’s eyes widened.
“I was about to ask for your understanding because it might take a little longer today.”
“I see.”
The tension in the man’s face eased.
“Today I have time to spare. Take your time.”
Fortunately, he was a generous man.
“Then I’ll bring you some water first.”
“Yes, thank you.”
He nodded lightly. Sori turned and walked back toward the kitchen, following John with her eyes.
“John, John! Come out here!”
Sori’s whisper echoed through the kitchen. It was John’s time to shine.
“You don’t know?”
Sori slammed the counter and glared at John.
“You’re supposed to be my assistant. What’s going on?”
What do you want me to do?
Honestly, she had been blinded by 300 gold, but she couldn’t hide the fact she had no confidence. She had never even chopped vegetables before—how was she supposed to cook?
“I’m your assistant, not a chef!”
John crossed his arms stubbornly. A small snort escaped his nostrils.
At least if there was a recipe, I could improvise… oh, the recipe?
She remembered the runaway manager had a recipe book somewhere.
“It should be somewhere here!”
She opened the cupboard the manager used frequently and searched. There were still some odds and ends left.
After digging through the clutter, she found the recipe tucked in the corner.
“Got it. Here it is!”
Luckily, the manager hadn’t been cruel enough to make it impossible.
“Good.”
John replied nonchalantly.
“Now you’ll help me, right? Bird Stew, Bird Stew… here it is. Cut the slime belly in half, then… slime? John, what’s slime?”
All John knew was the squishy slime. Sori had no idea what edible slime was.
John answered with an annoyed tone.
“It’s a monster, what else?”
“What? A monster?”
The rumor was true.
Sori forcibly closed her gaping mouth. There was no time to be shocked; she had to frantically rummage through the fridge.
“I don’t even know what that runaway manager did…”
The fridge, filled with all sorts of ingredients, was massive. She had no clue what a slime looked like—its appearance gave nothing away—but fortunately, John volunteered to identify the slime for her.
Well, at least he’s an assistant sent by the system. I can trust him on that much.
Still, no matter how much she searched, John only shook his head.
“Ah, seriously, where is it? I don’t have to pull everything out, do I?”
The fridge was as big as a small room. Sori was quickly growing tired.
But she thought she might as well keep searching a little longer.
Yes, in Kang Sori’s dictionary, giving up was not an option. There was still time.
…Not even ten seconds later, a white note stuck to the fridge suddenly wriggled.
The black lines on it twisted strangely, like a magical movie, forming letters and sentences.
To the hardworking novice restaurant owner Kang Sori,
I’m leaving a short note to apologize for not leaving you with everything you might need.
The main ingredient for Bird Stew, slime, is out of stock.
Finding this letter means you’re doing well, so hang in there a little longer.
—Former Owner of Happy Restaurant, Baek
“That old geezer’s insane.”
Holding back harsh words in this situation required immense patience.
He left without help, and the ingredient was gone—leaving only a note?
“Does this make sense?”
Sori was on the verge of exploding. Was this some sort of punishment for being greedy? Ridiculous thoughts ran through her head.
So my 300 gold… gone just like that…
Even though she had already earned 200 gold that morning, it felt like all her money had been taken.
Dirty world. Dirty…!
Her hands trembled.
“John. How do we get slime?”
Luckily, she hadn’t lost her mind.
“You’re the manager. Give me a solution.”
Desperation leaked from her command.
But John didn’t respond. Sori glanced toward him.
Somehow, he was munching on a frozen strawberry he had grabbed from the fridge.
“Really, carefree, aren’t you?”
The strawberry fell from his hand. With strawberry all around his mouth, John answered:
“First: enter the dungeon and catch slime yourself.”
“There’s no way I can do that right now. I’m not even a hunter.”
Her tone was objectionable, but at least it counted as part of the conversation.
“Second.”
John held up two small fingers.
“Use the Hunter Market.”
“Do they sell monster meat at the Hunter Market?”
It was surprising, but a good option she hadn’t considered. She remembered the 200 gold she’d received.
“They do. But not processed. Hunters sometimes buy monster corpses—for skinning purposes, for example.”
Sori furrowed her brows. That wasn’t exactly reassuring.
“So I have to handle it myself?”
She had no time. Her lips stuck out, desperation flashing in her eyes.
“Then you can at least handle slime cleaning, right?”
“….”
John seemed to dodge the question.
“You really trust me? How do I get into the Hunter Market?”
Sori was panicking.
“An awakened not knowing that… tsk. Just shout ‘Hunter Market’.”
Following John, she shouted:
“Hunter Market!”
Welcome to the Hunter Market!
The Hunter Market looked no different from a normal online shopping mall.
Weapons, monster by-products, even hair-loss medicine—everything was on sale.
Wow. I almost feel like I’m a real hunter now.
Of course, she was an awakener, but she wasn’t actually fighting in dungeons herself.
“Search: slime.”
As John said, there was a place selling frozen slime.
Frozen slime. Price: 150 gold.
“…What?!”
Looking at the other items, she had expected prices to be high, but this was more than she thought.
“That leaves me with nothing.”
Ridiculous. Bird Stew sold for 1,500,000 won. At least she had gotten 200 gold from the quest.
“Buy it anyway.”
The frozen slime instantly appeared before her eyes.
“First, we need to thaw it.”
John, who had been dodging answers, helped with the slime prep. Sori followed the recipe and made the stew as best she could.
Facing the completed stew, her eyes reflected pure terror.
“How do I even serve this…?”
She raised both hands and held her head, ready to tear her hair out.
“Who’s going to eat something that looks like spider-witch soup?”
The smell was off. Its appearance was nauseating, with floating chunks of slime meat. Clearly, it hadn’t looked like this when the manager made it—his Bird Stew had been fragrant and beautiful, like a heavenly dish.
Sori instinctively realized she was doomed.
“Well, it’s already made, so I have no choice. Ask for their understanding.”
John, calm as if nothing was wrong, advised her. But would asking really work?
She shook her head violently.
“No. I can’t serve this.”
“Now if you offer ramen instead, the guest might get angry.”
“Do you think they wouldn’t get mad at this?”
John nudged her forward.
“This is how you grow—by getting scolded!”
“You get scolded instead!”
Finally, after agonizing over it, Sori placed the spider-soup-looking Bird Stew in front of the man.
At least the seasoning seems okay, so I can bluff a bit.
“B…Bird Stew is served.”
You’ve been waiting a long time, haven’t you? That would have been an audacious thing to say.
The man stared at the stew for a long time. Sori couldn’t read his expression.
She fidgeted nervously; leaving was deceitful.
Then, the man—without hesitation—picked up a spoon and ate.
Slurp.
Sori couldn’t even imagine eating it herself, but the stew, which looked like spider-witch soup, went smoothly into his mouth.
“Sniff…”
Suddenly, tears began streaming down the man’s face.
This is serious.
His reaction was even more extreme than she had anticipated.
