Chapter 30
It’s All Written on Your Face
No way… no way… I never even dreamed that the system would be colluding with the newspaper, scheming some kind of insidious trap.
And “How have you been all this time?”—what kind of pitiful, wretched words are those?
“Huh. This is a big deal.”
Amidst his disbelief, the system window greeted Sori.
“I’m so frazzled I could die.”
By now, the system window was no longer surprising. The system steadfastly displayed its message, undeterred by Sori’s grimace.
Congratulations!
Achievement “Serve 100 Customers” unlocked!
Reward: Avalon Pistol x1
It was the same achievement window that had disappeared yesterday.
But wait a minute… the reward seemed suspicious.
“Avalon Pistol?”
John, who had been quietly trying to steal back the raspberries Sori had snatched, perked up and shot upright upon hearing the words “Avalon Pistol.”
“Did you say Avalon Pistol?”
He repeated, and Sori answered while still staring at the floating achievement window.
“Yeah. What is it? Is it good? If it’s a gun, do you use it to kill monsters?”
“Oh! Finally, you got the Avalon Pistol, Awakened One! Things are going smoothly!”
Sori didn’t understand why that was such a big deal.
She clicked to view the explanation.
Avalon Pistol (C)
—Can cook 5 ingredients simultaneously.
“What? It’s a cooking tool?”
Despite the fearsome name, it was a cooking tool. Still, being able to cook five ingredients at once was appealing. Like John said, it might actually be a pretty handy tool.
“Meal prep is going to be so much faster now!”
Sori opened her inventory and pulled out the Avalon Pistol.
“Oh, are you going to use it for cooking right away?”
John asked with interest.
“No.”
She just wanted to see what it looked like.
But the pistol was sleeker than it appeared, and… it really did look like an actual gun for cooking.
It had a trigger. It looked exactly like a gun you’d see on TV, black and shiny.
“Wait, it’s really a gun?”
Sori asked John, surprised.
“You’re going to cook with this?”
A restaurant owner using a gun to cook.
‘Sounds kind of sensational, I guess.’
“Don’t be too prejudiced by appearances, Awakened One.”
John shook his head, scolding Sori.
“No, still… who would use something that looks like a gun for cooking…?”
Since it looked more like a gun than a cooking tool, wouldn’t it be better suited for killing monsters?
In that case, she could roast five monsters at once.
‘Awesome.’
Sori’s face lit up.
The restaurant officially opened.
Another day had begun.
“Ah, I need to get ready to serve customers!”
She rolled up her sleeves and saw a blinking light in front of her.
There is 1 unread section.
The newspaper announced it. Sori had never encountered such unwelcome news.
“Now what nonsense is this?”
She furrowed her brows and dismissed the alert.
Ding-ding.
Already a customer?
Sori was excited to see how a customer would react to the newly transformed, dazzling restaurant.
‘Oh, the restaurant looks like a hotel!’
Would that be the reaction?
Her heart raced just imagining it.
Step by step.
“Welcome…!”
She greeted them enthusiastically, but her voice suddenly dropped.
“Yo…”
It was Gijun.
‘Of all people, the first customer?’
Her eyes met exactly with Gijun, dressed in his hunter outfit. His expression was unreadable.
“The restaurant’s changed a lot, hasn’t it?”
Gijun spoke in a low voice, commenting on the upgraded restaurant.
“Leveled up, maybe?”
There was a hint of sarcasm in his tone.
“Yeah. Leveled up, got some money… just changed things for a change of pace.”
Even after seeing the chandelier and marble walls, he felt nothing?
“Hmm. The Awakened One is the Awakened One, huh.”
Muttering a few words, Gijun looked up at the ceiling before lowering his head. His gaze met Sori’s again.
Sori tried to avoid his eyes, but Gijun didn’t.
He even seemed to move his eyes following hers today.
Sweat beaded on his forehead, as if he’d just come out of a dungeon. Could she finally encounter him there again? Amid her surprise, Sori recalled what he had said.
‘So… it’s finally settled.’
Whether it had been a bug or not, she didn’t know.
Then a memory from just earlier came to mind.
Quest Name: Greet Your Ex with Sincere Words
Hahaha.
Sori couldn’t help laughing naively.
“You came from the dungeon… right? Want to sit here?”
She guided him to a seat more awkwardly than yesterday. Her passive skill triggered immediately.
A-Table Customer’s Current Mood: -50!
Sori nodded. Entering in a negative state was now normal.
She still didn’t understand why he kept coming despite the stress.
“I didn’t come here because I wanted to.”
Whoa.
She thought it silently, but it came out anyway.
“It’s all written on your face.”
Gijun mocked Sori’s expression, noting her look of thinly veiled hostility.
She scratched the side of her head. Still, he was her ex—so of course it was awkward.
“You feel the same way, don’t you?”
Sori retorted. Gijun sat silently, staring at her for a while.
The mood felt tense from the start.
Ahem.
Sori cleared her throat.
“Seeing as you can’t answer, I guess I’m right.”
Her tone snapped more sharply than yesterday.
‘This isn’t right.’
Sori thought of the quest. In this atmosphere, there was no way she could ask “How have you been?”
But it wasn’t her fault either.
‘The one who spoke first was at fault.’
Still, she sighed. But the quest wouldn’t disappear just because of that.
A-Table Customer’s Current Mood: -70!
This was bad.
“Anyway, I found this place from the dungeon today. Did you use some skill?”
Gijun’s tone remained unchanged.
“No. Didn’t do anything. Didn’t even have time.”
She didn’t even know what she was supposed to do.
“It’s not easy to come here. Thought you might’ve done it on purpose.”
Gijun spoke cryptically as Sori handed him a menu.
“What do you mean?”
“Hiding it like a mirage? When did you change it?”
Hiding it? She hadn’t expected that.
“I never changed anything… I said I didn’t do anything.”
“Really?”
Their eyes met again, an odd tension filling the air. Businesslike, yet overly personal.
Sori wanted him to decide quickly.
“Give me the Golden Salad.”
Gijun ordered the same dish Cha Yunmin had yesterday. Could he have overheard?
He continued.
“Why are you thinking like that? That’s what guy ordered yesterday, right?”
She was right. Gijun always acted confident outwardly while thinking something else inside, both before and now.
“Haha. No way. There were too many customers yesterday; I don’t even remember who ate what. Just tired, that’s all. I’ll bring water.”
Sori quickly turned and started walking with the menu. She felt his gaze on her back.
Gijun in his hunter outfit… it had been a long time. Why was her heart pounding? How irritating.
“John.”
As she entered the kitchen, she called for John.
“What is it?”
John adjusted his tiny glasses with a smaller finger. He seemed to have found a new hobby, leafing through a magazine he’d picked up.
The magazine was full of…
Thwack!
Just as Sori tried to look closer, John slammed it shut. Cute. Sori chuckled and asked.
“Can you hide this from me?”
“I don’t understand what you mean.”
John shrugged. Judging by his wide eyes, he truly didn’t understand.
“Why, did the author say so?”
John nodded and gave a mischievous smile.
“Yeah. But we didn’t do anything.”
Considering no hunters except Gijun had visited the Happy Restaurant recently, it might have been the maze’s influence.
“I have no idea, Awakened One.”
John adjusted his glasses again and shook his head.
Since even John didn’t know, Sori decided to start cooking.
“Let’s see, John. Get the Stephanie leaf powder.”
Sori instructed John and opened the upgraded B-class refrigerator.
“Hmm… let’s see the belly fat of the Flame Mole… there should still be some here.”
The fridge was nearly empty. She’d have to go back to the dungeon to hunt monsters—and to try out her new weapon. She’d only hunt near the door.
Then—
Bang!
Chara-rara!
“John, are you okay?”
Sori spun around. Did John drop something?
But it wasn’t John.
“Ah, what! John!”
It was the half-bottle of Stephanie leaf powder. It shattered completely.
“You break it after I asked you to get it?”
“It’s not my fault! I tried to get it, but it suddenly slipped…!”
John, glasses half off, flustered, panicking.
Even the assistant and low-level manager, John, could cause accidents. Well, he was a hedgehog—mistakes happen, right?
“Uh-oh.”
This might be a bigger problem.
“This was the last of the Stephanie leaf powder?”
It was an essential ingredient for the Golden Salad. Sori urgently opened the Hunter Market.
