I clearly came as a guest, but I'm working.
"huh?"
When I came to, I was standing in front of the mirror wearing a white chef's uniform.
Me in the mirror, wearing transparent plastic gloves on my hands and a white hood on my head.
Malik looked at me blankly in the mirror with a proud smile and said to me.
"It suits you well."
"yes?"
"He said it suits him well. I'd like to tell him to be buried here for the rest of his life."
I looked at the gloves on my hands and asked.
"What is this?"
"It's work clothes."
"So, why am I wearing this?
“Didn’t you say you came to eat?”
“Didn’t you say you’d give me food?”
"I have no intention of feeding you for free."
Malik spoke to me as if it were a given. He'd called me, but he wasn't going to give it to me for free, and he was spouting off some novel nonsense. I figured even Gomtang, the dog I'd left at the dog hotel, would be more articulate than that.
I took off the gloves on my hands and greeted him naturally.
"It was nice meeting you. Well, that's all for now."
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going home."
"Um... I don't think I should go."
Malik blurted out something meaningful.
Malik, who was looking at the Ferrari No. 1 that the young lady was riding and exclaiming, “Wonderful…”, took out a small piece of paper from his jacket pocket and showed it to me.
[Friends of the Forest (Snack) - Settlement]
Recipe provided: 500,000 gold
10% of sales: 50,000 gold
Other. Idea Profit: 100,000 Gold
Total: 650,000 gold
"?"
It was just a receipt with a few numbers on it, but was it my imagination that it glowed? I rubbed my eyes and looked at the receipt in Malik's hand.
"I can't see it very well because of the boss's gracious halo, but can I see it up close?"
"Then is it okay if I remove a few '0's?"
"No, sir."
I carefully put on the plastic gloves I'd taken off and finished getting ready for work. Where else can you find a workplace where the start time is 3 p.m.? I smiled happily at the early departure.
"A worker who becomes a visual. A worker with tireless stamina. I, Ricardo, am here. Who are you planning to hire?"
"It's only for one day. The chef had to take a vacation due to an urgent matter."
"If you just call me, I'll lick your feet."
Malik said with a dirty expression.
"I refuse."
"I don't like it either."
"...?"
"I was just saying it out of courtesy."
Leaving Malik behind, who was flustered, I looked at the girl patting her stomach and said.
"You can just sit here and watch. I'll make some delicious tteokbokki and bring it to you."
"yes."
Malik shook his head, gently grasping the girl's wheelchair handle.
"Princess Olivia will play along with me."
"yes?"
"I need to taste the mint chocolate flavored tteokbokki that's coming out soon and hear your opinion on the first Pexxri."
The girl nodded vaguely and muttered at Malik's polite speech.
“Ricardo told me not to follow anyone I don’t know… right? I saw him last time, so he’s not someone I don’t know.”
"We won't go far. We'll just chat in the break room behind the kitchen."
"Don't speak informally."
"You shouldn't speak informally either."
"This is..."
"So Ricardo... what should I do?"
The girl looked at me with eyes that seemed to be asking for permission. I gave her a small smile and said.
"Am I the only one working again?"
"huh"
"...Have a nice trip."
That's how I got to work.
I've always dreamed of opening a restaurant using my own recipes, but I never thought the day would come when I would actually do it.
I felt a strange emotion as I watched the crowd of customers flocking in.
I feel like I've accomplished one of my bucket list items, but strangely, I feel like I'm missing out.
Thinking about the receipt I kept in my heart gave me a surge of energy, but thinking about the reality that I had come to eat and ended up becoming a laborer made me depressed.
"Next guest."
"Oppa! You're handsome!"
"I know."
A female student in an academy uniform shouted at me. Judging by her young face, she must have been a freshman this year. She wasn't excited or happy. She had to focus on work.
I, who was not feeling well, put almost three times the amount in the girl's bowl.
A female student looking at me with a puzzled expression.
"uh...?"
"The student is also pretty."
"thank you!"
I winked and accepted the next customer.
The next customer was a boy who appeared to be about the same age as the girl from earlier. He looked at me expectantly as he watched the girl leave with a full bowl. He spoke in a booming voice.
"Brother...! You're handsome!"
"yes."
I put the tteokbokki in the boy's bowl, just the right amount. The boy looked at me with a pitiful look.
"Is this so?"
"I'm sorry. It's our store's policy to serve only the correct amount."
"..."
The boy sat at the table with a gloomy look in his eyes.
If Malik saw it, it was a way of running a store that would be extremely cruel, but what could he do? If he trusted me with the store, he should pay the price.
I feel sorry for CEO Malik, but I hope he understands that there is nothing he can do about it in this age of gender discrimination.
I shouted loudly as I looked at the long line.
"Next guest!"
Since it has come to this, let's work hard.
Because the work is not as hard as you think.
Perhaps because I had worked mainly in restaurants in my previous life, I felt like I wasn't burdened by the customers who seemed so far away, but as I served them one by one, and because I had a strong body, I started to gain speed at work.
I was growing into a food service monster, able to fry tempura and make tteokbokki with both hands.
'By the way... that's amazing.'
I was amazed as I watched the staff silently replenishing the missing ingredients.
There are four employees in the store, including me.
A clerk in charge of taking orders and serving food.
One person in charge of kitchen assistance.
There were three people in total, including the cashier.
It was clearly a small number to handle so many guests, but I believed Malik's proud words that told me not to worry, but I didn't expect it to be this much.
The employees' work ability was beyond excellent, it was admirable.
Employees moving as one body.
The attitude towards hospitality is also like that.
His ability to deal with the truth was also outstanding.
'How much do those people get paid?'
They were certainly talents that Malik could be proud of.
That's how one team is.
Two teams.
Ten teams.
The moment when we received over 20 teams.
"Next customer, would you like to order?"
"...I am"
A familiar voice came to my ear.
A voice that seems to contain refreshing juice.
Reflexively, I raised my head. Startled by the voice of someone I hadn't expected to meet here, I looked up and saw a girl with pink hair.
"Huh?"
A pink-haired schoolgirl clutched an old pink purse. He spoke, looking at the girl who was looking at the price tag and pondering deeply.
"Huh? We meet again, Yuria."
The protagonist of this novel.
It was Yuria.
*
I could read the emotion of bewilderment in Yuria's expression as our eyes met.
Yuria, who was cringing and licking her lips as if she had committed a sin, seemed to have no intention of ordering.
The longer Yuria hesitated, the more the cries of the people behind her could be heard in her ears.
-what.
-Why don't you order?
-Oh, it's cold. Hurry up and do it.
The cries of hungry customers.
Some people who had become slaves to the tteokbokki I made emptied their bowls and stood in line again.
I asked Yuria carefully, out of consideration for such slaves.
"Excuse me. Yuria."
"..."
"Yuri?!"
"yes!?"
Yuria, who had come to her senses, was startled by my call.
I carefully pointed with my finger at the screaming guests.
"You have to order."
"Ah... that"
"Personally, I recommend adding fried food to the original tteokbokki. What do you think?"
"Ah... yes."
Yuria hesitated for a moment, then corrected the content of the order.
"Is there anything like the taste I had at the academy last time?"
"At the academy?"
"Yes... It's something you did at the academy before."
"Ah. Just a moment."
I looked back on old memories.
I think it was around the beginning of the semester when Yuri was being bullied by her friends.
It was called Eun-ta for short.
A bad thing that is done by secretly ignoring others.
I knew that when Yuria came into the class, the noisy students suddenly became quiet, and that Yuria had never come to the school cafeteria.
Because I can see the mood.
When it was lunchtime, I would quietly go outside and eat my packed lunch or skip meals.
At that time, I was also being secretly bullied, so I remembered that I often cooked for Yuria, who ate alone.
I remember secretly calling her to the dorm and cooking for her.
At that time, I was a bad student who skipped class to get my chance at the academy.
I immediately remembered what Yuria was saying and nodded.
"Are you talking about rose tteokbokki?"
"Ro...je?"
"Spicy and creamy tteokbokki. Made with a light red sauce."
"ah..."
Yuria nodded.
"I think that's right."
I gave Yuria a small smile and whispered.
"It's not on the menu, but I'll make it specially for you, Yuria. And there you have it."
I looked at Mikhail and Ruin, who were standing awkwardly behind Yuria, and said.
"Go hungry."
"what?"
"Next guest!"
I decided not to sell it to those two because I knew they would say it was tasteless.
"Get out!"
Mikhail and Ruin looked at me with dumbfounded expressions.