Chapter 76

It wasn’t a bad start.

I sold skewer after skewer to customers frightened by the chain letter.

Having only a single menu item dramatically shortened ordering time.

The twins and Mo Haein frantically carried plates back and forth, while system windows appeared like crazy.

The maximum sale price with a full tip was 700G, but right now every sale was hovering around 500G.

Maybe because the restaurant environment wasn’t very good, the tips weren’t high.

Honestly, it wasn’t even an environment where tips should be coming in. The food alone was somehow earning them.

But squeezing out a few extra coins in tips wasn’t what mattered.

What mattered was speed.

If I pushed sales with overwhelming speed, there’d be no reason to worry about tips.

I quickly looked outside the restaurant.

The line just kept getting longer. Compared to that, the customers inside were eating far too slowly.

Of course, considering the menu, they were eating faster than an average meal, but it still wasn’t enough for me.

Once they finished eating, they should leave immediately, but instead they were leaving empty skewers on their plates and chatting for ages.

One of Sla2Plate’s flaws was that food could only be sold inside the restaurant.

Back in the game, I’d tried everything—putting tables in the front and back yard, extending the restaurant carpet all the way outside—but in the end, sales only counted if they happened inside the building.

In this situation, the only option was to increase table turnover even more.

‘I’ve even got three employees now.’

Hiring the twins meant labor costs were substantial too.

And although business hours were set until 8 PM, I planned to close early once all 500 prepared skewers were sold.

That way I’d have time to take care of other things and head into the dungeon that night to clear the upper floors.

I decided to prescribe a drastic remedy.

“Captain Mo.”

“Welcome… You’re about to say something insane again, aren’t you?”

“No. I just want to improve turnover a little.”

I whispered to Mo Haein.

“Let’s get rid of the chairs.”

Mo Haein’s eyes shook violently.

“Get rid of… the chairs?”

“Yes. Starting now, this is a standing restaurant.”

From then on, every time customers left, we removed the chairs and piled them up on the second floor.

Sure enough, once the chairs disappeared, customer turnover increased dramatically.

Customers who had planned to sit around chatting after finishing their skewers couldn’t adapt to the outrageous setup and awkwardly drifted out instead.

But even that wasn’t enough for me.

“Captain Mo.”

“What…?”

“Let’s get rid of the tables too.”

“…Is this even a restaurant?”

“It’s a standing restaurant.”

Once we removed all the tables as well, the restaurant became packed shoulder to shoulder.

People ate their skewers and promptly left.

The excellent turnover sent sales soaring endlessly.

But the endless stream of customers was hell for the rookie part-timers.

The Flame Dragon twins, who’d spent their lives intimidating adventurers outside the dungeon, already looked half dead.

Even so, they worked hard.

Ella fluttered her wings while serving from the air, and Ellun hurried busily between customers.

“Plates! We’re about to run out of plates! Little Lamb, what should we do?! Ah, welcome!”

“Skewers… skewers… skewers…”

The two of them scrambled around carrying skewers and clearing plates.

I took the stack of plates Ella had been carrying and headed into the kitchen.

Standing before a mountain of dirty dishes, I put on my rubber gloves.

The crafting speed bonus applied not only to cooking but to dishwashing as well.

I tore through the dishes at incredible speed, finishing them in no time.

I loaded the clean plates with skewers, and the twins rushed them out to customers.

Watching everything run smoothly, Dominic commented,

“Roasted Chestnut, an industrial revolution is taking place in this restaurant.”

Was that a compliment?

Maybe not.

I decided to take it as one anyway.

Mo Haein and the twins were so busy they didn’t even glance toward the kitchen.

I quietly whispered to Dominic.

“Thank you, Dominic.”

Dominic chuckled softly before asking,

“Do you need more customers?”

“Yes. The more the better. And more tips too.”

“I see. Then I should contribute a little.”

His ominous remark instantly put me on alert.

The Pudding Slime was just about to cause trouble.

“It’s alright, Dominic. I’ll manage on my own. I’d feel embarrassed if I kept relying on your help.”

Before Dominic could even respond, I showered him with praise about what an incredible companion he was.

Only after I finally got him to answer, “I’ll trust you and wait, Roasted Chestnut,” did—

Riiing!

A classic telephone rang.

‘Right. This game had phones too.’

Sometimes customers called to order food, or villagers phoned with important information.

Of course, 90% of the calls were either prank calls or completely pointless conversations.

Still, since it was the first call, I figured I’d answer it.

Picking up an old-fashioned telephone instead of a smartphone felt strangely unfamiliar.

“This is the restaurant.”

The other party didn’t speak for a while.

Only static crackled through the line, and I was just about to hang up, assuming it was a prank.

Then suddenly, a voice came through.

—Ah! Finally connected! Communication fails so often that I wasn’t expecting it to work this time either!

It was a man’s voice, sounding overly refined while somehow smug at the same time.

My instincts told me he wasn’t one of the village NPCs.

As I listened, what he said was surprisingly normal.

—I’d like to place a food order through delivery. Is that possible?

The connection was terrible, with constant noise making him difficult to hear.

Did he live somewhere incredibly remote?

The skewer stock had already dropped below 150.

Even without delivery, we’d probably sell out by afternoon.

Business was booming, but since it was the first delivery order, I considered sending him one as a commemorative gesture.

Taking out a memo pad, I asked,

“Please tell me your address.”

—Please send it to PSR B1919+21! The Pulsar Sector!

“…”

Apparently, my customer was an alien.

As Sla2Plate’s restaurant prospered, its reputation eventually spread beyond the village.

Customers gradually came from farther away—cities, foreign countries—and once restaurant reputation exceeded 990 points, alien customers even appeared.

They only showed up briefly as an Easter egg right before the ending.

But now, on the restaurant’s very first day of business, I was getting a delivery order from an alien.

‘I’ve never tried mail-order delivery to aliens before.’

Even in the game, they were just an Easter egg, so the alien customers’ appearances were never described.

All I knew was that hooded aliens paid generous tips when buying food.

Sla2Plate had been full of glitches ever since I’d entered it, so I answered cautiously.

“Um… I’m sorry. Today’s our first day of business, and our restaurant doesn’t deliver into space.”

—What? Impossible! I was certain somewhere as close as PSR B1919+21 would be within your delivery range! Is there really no way?

I had no idea where “PSR” was, but I certainly had no way of shipping food into space.

“I’m sorry.”

The caller started sobbing.

Literally making crying noises with his mouth.

He probably wasn’t a very normal alien.

Mentally distancing myself, I signaled that I was about to end the call.

“We’re very busy right now. If you visit the restaurant next time, we’ll provide excellent service.”

—I’m afraid I can’t come in person. It can’t be helped.

The dejected voice muttered before suddenly breaking into laughter.

—Still, I’m happy I finally got to hear your voice! Hahaha!

‘Should I hang up?’

I’d humored him just in case he showed up in a spaceship, but since he said he couldn’t come himself, it seemed safe enough to end the call.

Just as I reached to hang up without hesitation—

As though he could somehow see me, he hurriedly shouted,

—I’ve been your fan for a long time! I’ll continue watching you, Little Lamb! Until next time…

Beep… beep… beep…

The call ended.

I stood there silently for a moment, still holding the receiver.

“Roasted Chestnut?”

“…Ah, Dominic.”

“Was it someone you know?”

I didn’t know how to answer.

He seemed to be an NPC that didn’t exist in Sla2Plate.

So where exactly had that call come from?

His strange mental state aside, the last thing he’d said kept bothering me.

A longtime fan…

That wasn’t an expression you’d use for the chef of a restaurant that had opened only today.

The most unsettling part was that he’d said he’d continue watching me.

It reminded me too much of the black block notification that appeared whenever a Trial ended.

[■■ ■■■ admires you! Fascinated beyond measure, it continues to watch you.]

Remembering the most recent black block notification, I suddenly lowered the receiver.

“Trainee! We’re out of plates!”

Mo Haein’s shout snapped me back to reality, and I hurried over to the sink.

Now wasn’t the time to dwell on strange phone calls.

Resolving to pay close attention to whatever message appeared when this Sla2Plate Trial ended, I started washing another mountain of dishes.

All 500 skewers had sold out.

We had become incredibly rich.

Now we could head down to the village and enjoy a luxurious shopping spree.

But before that, there was something simple to deal with.

The moment I announced we were closing, the customers erupted into chaos.

“Skewers! I have to buy skewers!”

“Nooo… I’m going to have bad luck…”

Because of the chain letter, they were obsessed with the idea that they had to buy food.

I gathered everyone together.

“Oh my, something like that happened? Our restaurant has absolutely no knowledge of such a thing. In fact, such malicious and horrible wording… perhaps it was the work of a competing restaurant?”

First, I completely denied knowing anything about the chain letter.

“Now, if you read the letter carefully, it says you must visit the restaurant during today’s business hours. Didn’t all of you visit during business hours? Then everything’s fine. You don’t have to worry.”

I reassured them that they didn’t actually have to buy food.

“If you come back tomorrow, we’ll serve you something even more delicious.”

Finally, after calming them down, I finished with a business smile and a bit of promotion.

The maximum reputation was 1,000.

Even after turning it into a standing restaurant, we’d still earned 20 points.

That was a remarkable success.

The food had to have been delicious.

Feeling proud of my lizard skewers, I looked around the dining hall.

Mo Haein and the twins were completely exhausted, sprawled across the floor.

“Everyone worked hard today.”

Mo Haein looked at me, but apparently lacked even the energy to say anything. She simply sighed and slumped back down.

After selling 500 skewers on their very first day as part-timers, the twins were already nodding off with sleepy eyes.

Still, everything was going according to plan.

‘Tonight I’ll make something even better for the Captains and the twins.’

Especially the twins—they’d only had skewers so far.

I wanted to really show them what I could do.

Just as I was about to tell everyone I’d make a quick trip to the general store while they rested—

“…?”

A system window suddenly appeared.

Displaying an utterly unbelievable quota amount.