Chapter 75

6:00 AM.

I snapped awake at the cheerful notification sound.

The first thing I did was check the Pudding Slime.

“Good morning, Roasted Chestnut.”

Dominic greeted me.

He was sitting quietly on top of my chest.

Despite having spent the night crumpled up on the corner of the straw bed, he didn’t seem to mind. It was probably because he’d stayed on top of me the whole time.

Still, there was no telling how long Dominic would put up with such poor sleeping conditions.

I really needed to replace the bed first.

I immediately picked up the Pudding Slime and rushed outside.

The others had all come out as soon as the 6 o’clock notification appeared as well, so we all ran into each other in the hallway.

The first person I checked was Je Hyun-oh.

I’d been worried whether he’d made it back safely last night, but as expected, he was fine.

Je Hyun-oh looked at the pair of Fire Dragon twins standing behind me.

For some reason, he showed little interest in the twins.

Instead, his gaze lingered on me.

I couldn’t see his expression or eyes, but he didn’t seem to be in too bad a mood.

I’d stared at those goggles and gas mask so much that I could now vaguely guess how he was feeling.

‘It doesn’t seem like he wants to kill me…’

Still, ever since we left the dungeon yesterday, his goggles had remained completely dark, which bothered me.

He’d said he was only sane when they displayed emoticons.

I kept watching him, worried he might suddenly pull out those wings again.

When our eyes met, Je Hyun-oh lightly moved his metal hand.

Seeing the blade gleam first thing in the morning, I quietly lowered my gaze.

As for Mo Haein—

“What are you doing, Trainee? Let’s go.”

She looked no different than usual.

She briefly glanced at the twins standing behind me, but that was it.

Still, judging from how Mo Haein had reacted before, I could make a rough guess.

She seemed to feel strong discomfort whenever I became deeply involved with NPCs.

It had been the same during Clean3, after all.

While I was lost in speculation, Kwak Hanmuk checked today’s slime and spent a moment in despair.

“It’s sparkling like crazy today….”

It seemed Dominic had added extra glitter just for him.

Anyway, everyone seemed fine.

I gave them a respectful bow.

“Then I’ll be counting on all of you.”

Today was the long-awaited restaurant opening day.

After exchanging only brief greetings, everyone moved according to the plan we’d discussed beforehand.

Mo Haein headed to the general store to buy the supplies we needed, while Kwak Hanmuk and Je Hyun-oh would gather ingredients in the daytime dungeon.

The twins and I stayed behind at the restaurant.

Kwak Hanmuk had promised to get me a new pair of oven mitts, so I would only be borrowing Je Hyun-oh’s Crow Gloves until today.

“Ellun-nim. How’s your wing feeling? I’ll change your bandages later.”

“I’m okay.”

Ellun, whose right wing was tightly wrapped, looked up at me.

“It’s late, but… thank you.”

“Little Lamb. What should we do? Are we roasting skewers again?”

“That comes later.”

I took the twins downstairs.

Then I handed each of them one of the lizard tail skewers I’d prepared yesterday.

“It’s breakfast. Please eat these while you wait.”

A system window appeared.

The twins looked at each other while holding their skewers, then turned back to me.

Ellun muttered awkwardly,

“Sorry… I don’t have any money.”

Apparently the system connected to the dungeon handled currency distribution.

I introduced the twins to the harsh realities of society.

“That’s your part-time wage.”

“Part-time wage…?”

“Yes. You’re going to be working in the restaurant all day today, so eat up.”

Unaware of the future awaiting them, the twins quietly sat down and began eating their skewers.

Yesterday Ella had run away saying she was sick of them, but now that she was actually eating one, it seemed she found it pretty tasty.

“Ellun. I grilled these skewers myself last night.”

“They’re good.”

I watched the dragons eating lizard tails before speaking to Ellun.

“Ellun-nim…”

I was about to ask if it wouldn’t be better for him to rest upstairs, but before I could finish, Ellun answered firmly.

“I’m fine. I want to work too.”

He looked straight at me.

“Little Lamb. We’re not humans—we’re Fire Dragons. This much is nothing.”

“I understand.”

I took out a handkerchief and wiped the sauce from the corner of Ellun’s mouth.

Then I left the twins chatting together and headed into the kitchen.

I opened the book sitting in the corner of the kitchen.

Using this book, I could configure various restaurant settings.

I selected ‘Begin,’ and another system window appeared.

Opening: 9:00 AM. Closing: 8:00 PM.

I set the maximum operating hours available, and another cheerful chime rang out.

Normally, the safest option was the tasting booth.

It steadily increased the restaurant’s reputation while attracting customers.

The eating challenge and free coupons cost too much in lost revenue.

Then there was the final option: malicious advertisements.

It was a double-edged sword.

The restaurant’s reputation would plummet, but terrified customers would flood in for a short period.

In other words, it was by far the best early-game money-making method.

I hesitated at the system window that appeared next.

In the game, once you selected the option, the advertisement was generated automatically.

But in reality, I had to write it myself.

An advertisement… I had no idea what I was supposed to write.

“Roasted Chestnut. What is this book for?”

At that moment, Dominic asked about the book.

Since he could only see the quest windows, it must have looked like I was simply flipping through a blank book.

“This lets you configure the restaurant’s… Wait a second, Dominic-ssi.”

A good idea came to me.

I stopped explaining and quickly entered the text.

Something this simple should be enough for the advertisement.

While explaining the book’s purpose to Dominic, I naturally continued the conversation.

“Dominic-ssi.”

“Yes, Roasted Chestnut.”

The twins stared at me strangely from afar as I whispered into empty air by myself, but I continued anyway.

“I was just wondering… Would you mind telling me what you talked about with Infernum?”

“It was nothing more than idle conversation.”

Back then he’d said Infernum was knowledgeable and enjoyable to talk with.

So it had all been lies after all.

“I merely met him because I thought it might help you, Roasted Chestnut. My memories are still incomplete.”

He’d only spoken with Infernum in hopes of learning something useful.

Maybe it was because I’d asked Dominic to teach me how to create system windows.

“That man didn’t even know what I truly am. He knew less than young Roasted Chestnut.”

It seemed they’d discussed other things too, but he didn’t want to tell me.

Right now, though, something else was more important.

“If… if we defeat Infernum in battle, but he tries to escape, would you be able to stop him? With magic?”

“Hm. If I need to bind him with magic, then I should use Abyss Chains from among my skills. Yes, that is possible.”

The Abyss Chains Dominic used definitely weren’t the Mage skill I knew.

They would probably be some cosmic abomination resembling blazing rays of light.

Still, there was no normal way to capture Infernum.

His escape after the battle was a scripted event.

I needed a way to twist the system and keep Infernum from escaping.

I’d thought about it for a long time, but in the end, Dominic was my only answer.

Of course, I was worried about whatever glitches he might cause…

But if we couldn’t capture the Fire Dragon anyway, Dominic wouldn’t leave me alone.

If that was the case, taking the risk was better.

Even so, I couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed.

‘I wonder if there’s anything I can do like Dominic can.’

As I sank into thought, Dominic pressed himself against my cheek.

“Roasted Chestnut.”

“Yes?”

“You may rely on me a little more. You are still young, Roasted Chestnut, and this is a time when you need help.”

His voice, sweet as refined sugar, spread softly beside my ear.

I blinked slowly.

“I do need help.”

“What do you need?”

Would you let me squish you just once? Really, just a little.

…If I actually said what I was thinking, I’d probably end up getting hit by those blazing rays myself.

Feeling Dominic slide from my cheek onto my shoulder, I answered,

“I’ll tell you later. It’s not urgent.”

“Trainee!”

Right then, Mo Haein arrived.

She was carrying a large shopping bag.

She’d bought the most urgently needed clothes, extra tableware, and plates first.

She’d also gotten new bandages for Ellun as I’d requested, so I replaced them immediately before dressing the twins in waiter uniforms.

Mo Haein changed into a waiter uniform as well, while I put on a chef’s outfit.

Even if the chef personally served customers, wearing chef’s clothing gave better reputation and tip bonuses.

The twins kept looking down at their clothes, fascinated by their waiter uniforms.

Together with the twins, now wearing bow ties, I plated food in advance while checking the item description.

“But can this many customers really show up on the very first day?”

Mo Haein looked worried as she stared at the mountain of 500 lizard tail skewers.

Every dish had an expiration date.

The skewers lasted for three days. Since I’d made them yesterday, all 500 needed to be sold by tomorrow.

“I made the advertisement a little… provocative. I think it’ll be fine.”

Thirty minutes before opening.

Customers gradually began gathering outside the still-closed restaurant.

As the number of people waiting for the grand opening kept growing, Mo Haein looked at me.

From her perspective—having only ever run restaurants where even five or six customers over an entire day had been a struggle—this was an incomprehensible sight.

Her eyes clearly asked what I’d done.

I answered honestly.

“I just ran an advertisement.”

By now, the line of waiting customers stretched all the way to the backyard.

Only the rookie part-time workers, the twins, who didn’t understand what that meant, looked excited.

“Little Lamb! There are so many customers. It’ll become a famous restaurant in no time.”

“The skewers are delicious. I think everyone will like them.”

After looking out the window at the customers, Mo Haein turned to me again.

“I really just ran an advertisement….”

Then came the grand opening.

The moment I opened the door, the customers rushed in like a zombie horde.

“Food! Give us food!”

“Just bring anything! Right now!”

“Anything’s fine, just give me the fastest dish you’ve got!!”

The flood of customers left Mo Haein and the twins standing there with their mouths hanging open in shock.

I took out the whistle I’d bought from the general store.

Pheeet!

The moment I blew the whistle, every customer looked at me.

“All right, everyone. Please take your seats in the order you arrived. If you don’t line up, we won’t serve you.”

The customers stumbled around at first, but gradually formed an orderly line.

“Trainee, what kind of advertisement did you run…? Welcome! We only have one menu item: Flame Lizard Tail Skewers.”

Mo Haein didn’t even have time to interrogate me before being swept away by the crowd.

Honestly, even I hadn’t expected the malicious advertisement to work this well.

It was even more effective than when I’d used it in the game.

The advertisement I wrote was simple.

It was a chain letter claiming that anyone who failed to visit the newly opened restaurant in the village during business hours today would be struck by misfortune.