Chapter 118

Chapter 118: Recruiting Talent

Over the course of several days, I had sold 110 bottles of Arcana Mana Potion Juice.

It made the news.

An article claimed I had made hundreds of millions of won in just a few days by selling mana potions worth eight million won a bottle in bulk—that I was profiteering off my fame.

'As expected, that same reporter.'

The one who had first written articles claiming it was unjust that I had obtained the Hunter Shop license.

This time too, he had filed an article criticizing me.

The comments on the article were still favorable toward me.

—Trash journalists, at least do some research before writing. Profiteering lol. Chef An's Hunter Shop mana potion juice is significantly better than the Highest-Grade Mana Potions sold at other Hunter Shops, so selling at the same price is the deal of the century.

—Reporter, take the article down. It's embarrassing.

—Reporter, are you getting paid by other Hunter Shops? The ones profiteering all this time are the other Hunter Shops lol.

—I'm embarrassed on his behalf.

And that article took nothing but criticism and was taken down within a few hours.

The article came down because another article went up about how Ria and I had donated new appliances, replacing all the old ones, at several domestic orphanages.

'I had no intention of making that public.'

I'd simply believed that the more one earned, the more one should give back to society, and had donated on that basis.

But several orphanages that received the appliance donations had banded together and tipped off a reporter.

With negative articles about me appearing repeatedly, the orphanage directors had been unable to stay silent.

The article even contained interviews with the directors.

Summarizing the interviews: I had replaced all the old appliances, and from time to time I'd also visit to cook for the children and volunteer.

So the conclusion was that the mana potion juice was selling so well that a smear article had been written about it.

'All thanks to Rin.'

A dutiful daughter in every sense.

That dutiful daughter got up, came out of her room, and approached Ria and me as we stood looking out the window.

"Mama, Papa... Good mowning."

Rin rubbed her eyes as she gave her morning greeting.

"Did you sleep well, Rin?"

"You're up, Rin."

Rin smiled brightly as she came over, extending her hand to place it on Ria's belly.

"Did my sistaw sweep weww?"

She never forgot to greet her sibling either.

***

At the outpost township, the dwarven smithy, bakery café, and fusion bar buildings were completed.

After the smithy was built, the pace of the outpost township's development accelerated.

The bakery shop and the fusion bar were being held back from opening for now.

The reason was that there were no staff to run them.

'I can't run the restaurant and a bakery shop and a fusion bar all at once.'

It would be great to have three bodies, but unfortunately I only had one.

I could grind my way through two venues,

but I wanted to finish work early and be by my pregnant wife's side.

So I needed staff.

Accordingly, we posted job listings for staff—and potential guild members.

'One pâtissier or baker Hunter, one Hunter with a bartending certification, and one cook.'

Many Hunters applied.

Even foreign Hunters applied for the baker position.

Hunters of Japanese and French nationality.

They said they could fly to Korea for the interview.

Ten days after the posting went out,

I began interviewing the Hunters who had passed the paperwork round.

The interviews were held in the third-floor conference room of the Wind Forest Guild headquarters.

The interviewers were Ji-young and me.

First, we interviewed candidates for the bakery café.

"I worked at Jongseongdang for three years as a baker."

A female Hunter in her twenties.

Three years of baking experience at the famous bakery Jongseongdang wasn't bad.

But there was a candidate whose experience was incomparably greater.

A French Hunter by the name of Louis Simon.

"I worked for eleven years as the lead pâtissier at a dessert specialty shop called 'doux week-end' in Paris."

That was a dessert restaurant I knew well.

A restaurant that had received a Michelin star.

To have been lead pâtissier at such a place for eleven years was an impressive record.

It was also a place I had visited on my world tour.

The portfolio he had submitted included photos of him working at the shop and the desserts he had made.

'There are ones I've tasted.'

I asked him,

"With such a strong résumé, why did you apply for the bakery café I'm going to open?"

"My hobby is playing monster-hunter-type console games. Then the Rift crisis occurred, and one day I opened my eyes to find I was Awakened. So I quit my job and became a Hunter, bravely entering the Rift—only to realize grimly that games and reality are different."

They were different.

In a game, death was just a restart.

In reality, one death and it was over.

"After a few near-death experiences, I realized I wasn't suited to being a Hunter. Just as I was thinking of giving up, Chef An Seon-u, whom I respect, was recruiting a baker for a bakery café inside a Rift, so I applied. I, too, want to go to the Fourth Floor outpost where only the chosen few can go and bake bread inside a Rift like you do, Chef An."

Respect was a strong word...

Was it lip service?

The gaze he fixed on me shone with sincerity—it didn't seem to be a lie.

"I see."

Louis Simon had the best résumé and the best story of any candidate so far.

His skill also looked the best.

Sensing she would be outmatched, the female Hunter who had worked at Jongseongdang raised her hand.

"Excuse me!"

"Yes, please, if you have something to say, Hunter Yoo Jeong-hyun."

"Well, I also have a barista certification and extensive part-time café experience, so I could work as a barista as well!"

"I see."

That wasn't bad.

The shop would have to sell not just bread, but coffee and beverages too.

'Hunter Yoo Jeong-hyun: age 26, C+-Rank Hunter. Louis Simon: age 35, B-Rank Hunter.'

I had interviewed two groups of five, but these two stood out.

I had originally planned to hire just one, but hiring both might not be a bad idea.

Louis Simon as the lead baker, Yoo Jeong-hyun as baking assistant and barista.

"Then I'll hold a officer meeting in the afternoon and notify you of the results by text."

After the baker interviews,

next came the interviews for the fusion bar's bartender and cook.

There were three bartender candidates, including an acquaintance Director Jang had recommended.

'Connections matter.'

Besides, his skills and experience looked the best.

He had placed third in a world bartending competition.

Next was the bar cook interview.

The biggest pool of candidates.

'It's hard to choose based on the interview alone.'

I'd need to check their cooking skills directly.

Picking three candidates with the best experience, I took them to the fourth-floor lounge for a cooking test.

I ordered just one dish.

Yukjeon.

'A very simple dish, but one with a huge variance in taste depending on who makes it.'

I had once been stunned by the taste of yukjeon at a famous Korean restaurant in the country.

Afterward, I tried to imitate that taste and it had taken me more than two weeks to reproduce it.

The cut and grade of beef, the heat level, the degree of doneness, the oil used, the type of egg, the blend of flour, and more.

A simple yet extremely delicate dish.

'Not just yukjeon—most Korean dishes are like that. Easy to make, but extremely difficult to make well.'

These days, Korean fine dining was beginning to be recognized worldwide.

There was a Michelin three-star Korean fine dining restaurant in New York, and recently, the first domestic restaurant to receive three stars since Pungjeong was also Korean fine dining.

Which meant that, when made with refinement and detail, Korean food could compete globally.

I observed the candidates carefully from ingredient preparation through the cooking process.

'First candidate: eliminated.'

He used the tendoned meat I had slipped in as a trap, without removing it.

The other two candidates removed the tendoned meat.

Of those two, the second candidate used only wheat flour for the batter.

The third candidate used a blend of wheat, corn starch, and soybean flour.

'Not bad.'

If poorly blended, it would be worse than using wheat flour alone—but if well-blended, it produced a richer, nuttier flavor.

At a glance, the blend looked good.

As for cooking, the second candidate, who used only wheat flour, used a small amount of oil and cooked slowly over medium-low heat,

while the third candidate, who had blended the flour, used plenty of oil and seared quickly over medium-high heat.

All three candidates' dishes were completed.

"Then, I'll taste them."

I tried the first candidate's dish.

The first candidate looked nervous.

One bite in, something stood out right away.

"There's tendon in this."

"That was because the pre-sliced meat you provided contained such..."

Blaming preparation.

"I deliberately mixed in tendoned meat among the thinly sliced meat as a test. The other two excluded it from their jeon, but you used it as-is. And the seasoning isn't properly balanced, either."

Despite fine dining experience and eight years in food service, his cooking skills were a mess.

Not just this person—many cooks, when asked to cook in a sudden, unfamiliar setting, were awkward like this.

I passed over the second candidate's dish and tried the third candidate's yukjeon first.

The candidate who had blended the flours.

'Nutty. The meat is also tender.'

This was quite well-made yukjeon.

"It's delicious."

"Thank you...!"

The third candidate was moved.

Next I tried the second candidate's yukjeon.

"The seasoning is fine, but the meat is slightly overcooked and has gone tough. And the batter absorbed a lot of oil, so it's a touch greasy and soggy."

"Greasy? I used little oil, though..."

"You did use little oil, but the heat was too low. When frying jeon, if the heat is too low, the batter absorbs too much oil and becomes soggy. So frying quickly at appropriately high heat with the right amount of oil actually results in less oil absorption and less sogginess."

"Ah..."

During the holidays, some households fry jeon that come out particularly greasy and soggy.

Homes that use little oil and fry at low heat.

The second candidate had made the same mistake.

Ji-young, who had been silently observing as a co-interviewer, tasted all three yukjeon as well.

"I'm of the same opinion as the Chef."

With that, the successful candidate was decided.

"Congratulations on passing, Hunter Son Han-su."

I informed the third candidate of his acceptance on the spot.

"Thank you...! Then, does that mean I'll also be part of the Wind Forest Guild?"

"Yes, of course."

"Ugh...!"

Hunter Son Han-su let tears stream down as if he'd just been hired by a major corporation.

Was it something to cry over?

The failed candidates congratulated Hunter Son Han-su with a hint of regret and took their leave.

That evening, after a brief meeting with the elder Sword Saint, Director Jang, and Han Se-a, we sent hiring notifications to the successful candidates.

Two successful candidates for the bakery café.

We had chosen two—one baker and one assistant baker and barista.

And one each for the fusion bar's bartender and cook.

Now we had the staff to open the bakery café and the fusion bar.

Opening was scheduled for ten days later.

But there was one remaining task.

'If we want to have a live bar, we need to recruit Hunter Damon.'

I had been quietly laying groundwork for his goodwill in the meantime.

I had invited Damon to the evening service once more and had him perform live, paying him generously.

On top of that, I had also invited him to the staff dinner and eaten and drunk with him.

After the dinner, I had even sent him off with a basket full of fruit like dungeon wild grapes and Applecherries to snack on.

***

The next day.

After the lunch service ended,

I told Damon I had something to discuss and asked him to spare me some time.

We sat down across from each other at a restaurant table.

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

Damon asked.

I spoke to him directly.

"I'd like to hire you, Damon, as a vocalist at the fusion live bar that will soon be opening. And I'd appreciate it if you would join the Wind Forest Guild as well."

Given his freedom-loving personality, I felt he might instead feel resistance if I beat around the bush.

So I took the direct approach.

"..."

He stared at me blankly, opening and closing his mouth.

So he was going to decline after all, then.

He'd rejected countless guild offers before, so the odds were likely.

Even if he declined, I hoped he would work at least a year at the live bar.

Then he gave an unexpected answer.

"Of course. I've been waiting on pins and needles for you to bring it up."

Huh...?

"You'll accept my offer?"

"Of course."

"Weren't you a free-spirited bard at heart, Damon?"

"I am, but this outpost feels like the end point of a wanderer's life. Not just anyone can come here—where else is there a place this romantic?"

"That's true..."

"When I'm here, songs flow from me. And I'm a fan of yours, Master Seon-u, since you're the one who opened this outpost up. And now with a hiring offer on top of that, plus being invited into the world's best guild—of course I couldn't refuse."

I hadn't expected this level of favorable response.

It felt silly that I had been fretting about him declining.

"Thank you for accepting. I'll be counting on you going forward."

I extended my hand.

"The pleasure will be mine, Guild Master."

He took my extended hand.