Chapter 114

Chapter 114: The Hunter Shop Becomes a Hot Spot

Rin began decorating the completed guild building with morning glory vines.

If the vines grew too thickly on a building, they ruined its appearance.

Without regular care, vines could overtake a building before you noticed.

But Rin and the dwarves would tend to them regularly, so there was no such worry.

The guild members looked at the vine-draped guild branch exterior and exclaimed in admiration.

"The vine decoration makes it even more beautiful."

"The morning glories are blooming on the vines, too."

"It's a work of art."

"It suits the Wind Forest Guild mark and logo perfectly."

Our guild mark was an emerald green wing shape.

Looked at closely, it was a wing made of leaves.

The hanja for 'wind-forest' were inscribed alongside in stylized font, with 'wind forest' in English beneath.

So some Hunters were shortening our guild's name to 'WinFor Guild' in English.

"Haaah...!"

Rin, finishing her work, took a deep breath.

"Well done, Rin."

I stroked Rin's hair.

"Hehe! Papa!"

Rin wiggled her arms, asking to be held.

I lifted Rin onto my hip.

Watching the two of us, the guild members broke into warm smiles.

"Lady Rin is too cute."

"I envy the Guild Master. A beautiful wife and a cute daughter."

"When I only heard about her, the fact she was a non-human species felt a bit strange, but in person she just seems like a person. No—not a person, like a fairy."

"I spoke with Rin once—she's genuinely good-natured."

"I went over to say hi while she was growing trees next to the elder Sword Saint, and she gave me a full ninety-degree bow. It was really adorable."

Rin was slowly becoming our guild's mascot.

At first, I had tried to keep Rin hidden from the Hunters as much as possible.

But I gradually began bringing her into the Rift to help her adjust to people and develop social skills.

Now she was coming with me to work every day.

'Bringing her along, yes—but I'm still anxious, so I always have a bodyguard with her.'

Usually, the elder Sword Saint stayed by her side.

When the elder was otherwise occupied, Santos or Eriksson took over.

Or one of the male Knight Trio.

And Bell, Rin's best friend, was always at her side too.

If anything unexpected happened, Bell would protect Rin no matter what.

Rin spoke up.

"Papa, Rin wants to gwow the twees!"

"All right, let's go grow the trees."

A tree similar to the giant sequoia that Rin was growing.

Its proper name was 'Giant Leaf Tree.'

Once Rin and Bell had grown the trees enough, a rank appeared on them, revealing the name.

The eleven trees had already grown to nearly five meters.

A bit more growth and we'd be able to build the tree houses atop them.

Rin could not only grow plants but also inhibit their growth.

That was why the Applecherry tree didn't grow taller than three meters at its maximum.

And so, the plan to build tree-top lodgings was progressing smoothly.

***

Perhaps because the outpost had its walls now,

the number of Hunter guilds and parties staying at the outpost kept increasing.

'The walls have an effect, but there's a bigger reason.'

That reason was that two more Third Floor dungeons had recently been cleared.

Previously there had been only one route; now there were three.

In particular, the Third Floor dungeon near the European Second Floor outpost had been cleared.

That Third Floor dungeon's path to the Fourth Floor was shorter than the other routes and featured less dangerous monsters.

So a safer, shorter path had opened.

The Hunter community cheered the new route.

—Our guild can finally challenge the Fourth Floor!

—But what's the point of going to the Fourth Floor? Going out to hunt is dangerous, so you'd spend most of your time at the outpost anyway.

└Having Fourth Floor experience helps when joining parties.

└Exactly. Even just going as a Porter, it counts as impressive experience, and parties and guilds snap you up.

—I'm emptying every last won in my account to eat stat dishes.

—Looks like everyone commenting here is at least B-Rank. So jealous.

└Info) The average rank for domestic Hunters is D-Rank.

Even with a safer, shorter route opened, the danger remained.

So you still had to be at least B-Rank to be taken on even as a Porter.

In any case, the number of Hunters staying at the outpost had increased.

Currently, there were 157 of them.

Which meant more customers.

"Ji-young, set things up a bit faster."

"Yes, Chef!"

Today's lunch menu was Chinese food, for the first time in a while.

I continuously stir-fried and boiled fried rice, jajang, and jjamppong.

On top of that, I was frying tangsuyuk.

Ji-young boiled the noodles, portioned them into bowls, and ladled the jajang and jjamppong on top.

On top of that, she plated the tangsuyuk I'd fried and set out the sauce and pickled radish.

The kitchen was going nonstop.

Seated customers chose one menu item—fried rice, jajang, or jjamppong—with tangsuyuk as a standard side.

"Jajangmyeon is the best."

Jajangmyeon really was deliciously bold.

"I like fried rice. How is it this fragrant?"

Because I had used Drake Lard, prized for its extreme savoriness.

"A man has to eat spicy jjamppong."

A Hunter brandishing his spice tolerance was drinking the broth straight from the bowl.

Everyone had different tastes.

Even while cooking, I kept an ear out to gauge the customers' reactions.

"The kitchen is a war zone today, too."

"Indeed. So many customers."

Said Ashley and Fenrir.

I dropped a bombshell on the two of them.

"I'm too busy to grill meat for you today. You'll have to wait until the lunch service ends. I'll grill it then."

But the two didn't seem to mind.

"You look busy—we understand."

Then they turned their interest to the Chinese dishes.

"Forget the meat. Today I'll order one serving each of the menu."

"Same order for me."

That was unusual for them.

Ordering something other than the meat menu for once.

Well, the aroma was rich enough even meat lovers couldn't resist.

And tangsuyuk was a meat dish to begin with.

"Got it."

Ji-young portioned cooked noodles into a bowl and I topped it with ganjjajang sauce, stir-fried in Drake Lard.

Ganjjajang with chunky cubes of Grade 2+ Korean beef chuck flap.

On top, Ji-young added four thin slices of truffle.

Ji-young also ladled out the jjamppong right after.

An upscale jjamppong with abalone, scallops, octopus, and Korean beef brisket.

And a crab meat fried rice made with real red snow crab meat.

And tangsuyuk as well.

When Ji-young served it, Ashley and Fenrir began to taste the food.

Fenrir started with the crab meat fried rice.

"Mm, not bad. Particularly, the flavor of this ingredient is good. What is it?"

Fenrir scooped some crab onto her spoon and asked.

"That's the meat of a crab—a crustacean seafood. Seafood's delicious once you try it, isn't it?"

"Still not as good as meat."

Stubborn as ever.

Then Ashley tried the jajangmyeon first.

After one bite—

she snapped her eyes wide and began moving her chopsticks rapidly as she ate.

'She's getting it all over her face.'

Just like a child eating jajangmyeon.

"You really are a messy eater."

Unable to stand it any longer, Fenrir wiped the corners of Ashley's mouth with a napkin.

"Ahem! It's so delicious that I couldn't maintain my dignity as a great being."

"Is it that good?"

Fenrir, skeptical but curious, gave it a taste—then snapped her eyes wide and began inhaling the noodles rapidly.

'Looks like jajangmyeon is the most to those two's liking.'

Perhaps because a lot of meat had gone in.

I should make it for them occasionally, even when the menu wasn't Chinese.

The dish the two liked the least was, predictably, the seafood-heavy jjamppong.

'Hardcore meat lovers.'

After the lunch service,

Ji-young stretched and said,

"Today, thanks to the Chef, I learned a lot about Chinese cuisine."

"Feel like you're learning?"

"Of course. With a different menu every day and dishes from various countries around the world, my cooking spectrum keeps broadening."

"Right, study hard. So you can hold down the kitchen when I'm away."

"Pardon? That's a lot to ask."

"You're nearing six years of experience, aren't you, Ji-young? No need to be nervous. When I'm away, we'll only sell simple menu items, and the front-of-house staff will help in the kitchen. We'll also charge half-price for meals, so don't feel pressured."

"Understood. When you entrust me, I'll do my very best!"

***

The Hunter Shop began selling buff food items.

Because of that, the area in front of the building was always bustling with people.

By regulation, only Hunters could enter a Hunter Shop.

Hunter IDs were checked at the door.

So even though civilians couldn't use the shop, it had become a hot spot.

People snapped photos in front of the shop for SNS.

Another reason was—

"Look over here, please! Chef An Seon-u!"

"Eek! I'm a fan!"

"You're even better-looking in person!"

the rumor that I frequently popped up at the Hunter Shop.

The reason I kept coming to the Hunter Shop was that the items sold out quickly.

So I was there to restock the shelves.

'It's the opening-week bump, but it's something.'

It was generating insane revenue.

At Hunter Shops, taxes were fixed at 9% of sales.

No matter how high the sales, it was 9%.

That was why so many Awakened entrepreneurs wanted to open a Hunter Shop.

But getting approval was like plucking a star from the sky, so no matter how much one wanted to, they couldn't.

'Which is why some press outlets are aiming their arrows at me.'

Several critical articles had appeared, saying that I had used my fame and connections to obtain a Hunter Shop license for a cramped twelve-pyeong shop, that it was unfair.

The articles weren't entirely wrong.

Since half of it was true, I didn't bother to rebut.

Besides, the voices defending me overwhelmingly outweighed the critics.

—Aren't the ones who most want Chef An Seon-u's buff dishes the Hunters?

—He's selling various buff food items that you'd otherwise have to go all the way to the Fourth Floor of a Rift to eat—wouldn't Hunters be grateful, Mr. Reporter?

—Chef An's Hunter Shop sells Glace Mushroom concentrate far cheaper than a Highest-Grade Potion. It's comparable in price to a High-Grade Potion. But the recovery is on par with Highest-Grade Potions. From a Hunter's standpoint, being able to buy an item equivalent to a Highest-Grade Potion at a lower price is a total win!

In the comment sections of news articles and in communities, the voices siding with me were overwhelming.

The Hunter community was hot with it too.

—Dungeon Wild Grape Pie's buff option is a 50% boost in Growth Stat growth speed for 10 days...? This is literally Hunter-exclusive natural steroids. This whole time, only B-Rank-and-up Hunters who'd been to the Fourth Floor got to enjoy this?

—Agh, I got seriously injured and had to borrow a Highest-Grade Potion from a teammate and went through hell paying it back. And now it's saying, for the price of a High-Grade Potion, we can have Highest-Grade Potion effects? I'm going through some serious déjà vu.

└You won't be able to buy any anyway. Pie in the sky. The Hunters who open-run buy it all. Even when the shelves are restocked, it's gone fast.

└Literally, if you don't open-run you can't buy any...

The Hunter community was alight with this kind of content.

Being at the center of the buzz like this, the products kept flying off shelves.

'The stock's depleting faster than I anticipated, so I'll have to close for two days starting tomorrow to secure inventory.'

So tomorrow, I'd entrust the restaurant's lunch service entirely to Ji-young, and spend the whole day at the Rift house making food and drinks to sell at the Hunter Shop.

The one relief was that, with the exception of dungeon wild grape, the stockpile of ingredients was plentiful.

I had stored over three hundred Glace Mushrooms,

and had Applecherries that totaled over ten kilograms—about two hundred fifty boxes' worth.

A-Rank vegetables were ample as well.

Then I restocked the empty shelves, went outside, and offered fan service to those waiting—signing autographs and taking photos.