Chapter 70

Chapter 70: Evening Business Begins: Assorted Jeon and Makgeolli

The two newly arrived guilds set up camp around the restaurant.

As a result, the S-Rank trio no longer needed to guard the restaurant and camp at the Bedrock Zone.

Because if monsters invaded, the other guilds would fend them off.

However, to maintain a deterrent against inter-guild disputes, they agreed to take turns leaving one member behind.

"Gwampa!"

Rin happily greeted the Sword Saint, who had come to the Rift house after several days away.

"Rin, you've grown a little since I last saw you. Haha!"

"Rin got biggeh."

"Your Korean is improving too. Well done."

"Hehe."

The Sword Saint and Rin remained as close as ever, like grandfather and granddaughter.

Ria asked me when I returned from work.

"Seon-u, you said there's evening service tonight too, right?"

"Yeah, there is."

"What's on the menu tonight?"

"Assorted jeon."

"Assorted jeon? That sounds delicious."

"Want to come by tonight for a drink, Ria? Come to think of it, you've never had makgeolli, have you?"

"No, I haven't. You said it's wine made from rice, right? I'm curious what it tastes like."

"Come by later and try it."

"Okay. I'll help out while I'm there."

At the mention of jeon and makgeolli, the Sword Saint swallowed hard.

"Jeon and makgeolli—I should visit as a customer too."

"You're welcome anytime."

Before starting evening preparations, I went to check on the Glace mushroom cultivation site and did some work there.

I also toured the Horn Rabbit Breeding Ground.

The creatures seemed to have settled in, looking perfectly at ease.

They had even started breeding, and baby horn rabbits were visible.

'Benny is managing things well.'

I then looked in on the living quarters of the four-member knight squad.

Neville personally gave me a tour of the house.

I was impressed by what I saw inside.

It was more modern and well-built than I had expected.

"Wow...... the house looks great. I can't believe you built this yourselves. That's impressive."

"It's thanks to you supplying the materials."

The second floor was bedrooms, and the first floor was living space.

Roughly thirty-six pyeong combined between both floors.

Plenty of room for four people.

"It is a bit messy, though. You should clean up."

Clothes and miscellaneous items were strewn everywhere.

"I clean often, but Ruina keeps making a mess."

"Ruina......? Ruina is extremely tidy and meticulous."

At our Rift house, Ruina handled most of the cleaning and housework.

She did such a thorough job that not a speck of dust was visible.

And yet she kept making messes here?

"She only does her maid duties for Captain Ria cleanly. Once she comes back here, she doesn't lift a finger. She just creates messes. She's like a princess, honestly."

"I see......"

A completely different person after clocking out.

Neville continued.

"Oh, and we're going to start building the house for the hunter trio in the forest."

"Won't it be tiring to start right after finishing your own house?"

"Nah, it's not tiring at all—it's fun, actually. Compared to our knighthood days, it's so relaxed it's almost a problem. This leisurely life isn't half bad."

How grueling must knighthood life have been for this to feel relaxed?

Ria had often said similar things.

That she had never even dreamed of such a comfortable, easy life before.

"Between Ria and all of you, the knighthood days must have been really tough."

"They were. Anyway, I'll do my best building the house."

"Thanks, I appreciate it."

Before long, the S-Rank trio would be able to leave their tents behind and live in a proper house.

Additionally, Vice Commander Garrett and Benny said they had too little to do and too much free time, and offered to take turns helping with security at the restaurant alongside the S-Rank trio.

Since Ruina had crafted accessories imbued with the Sigil of Wisdom for the entire knight squad, the language barrier had been eliminated.

So there would be no problem handling security duties.

I accepted their offer.

***

The sun began to set.

I took Ria and the Sword Saint through the Gate portal to the restaurant to prepare for evening service.

'At lunch, I had sold hamburgers and French fries.'

Every member of the newly arrived Union Guild from the United States and the Frost Flower Guild led by Han Se-a had purchased hamburger sets from my restaurant.

Union Guild Master Blake had marveled that he never expected to eat food like this inside a Rift.

Both the Blade Saint and Blake alike wondered how a restaurant could exist in such a place.

But as always, I kept my secrets.

Setting that aside.

I began prepping ingredients for making jeon for evening service.

Starting with the donggeurangtteng.

I minced pork very finely.

'Hand-minced meat tastes far better than machine-ground.'

For convenience, using ground meat was the easier choice.

But in flavor and texture, hand-minced was far superior.

The same applied to dumpling filling.

'I'm a chef, after all—I can't very well use machine-ground meat.'

So I minced it by hand.

TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP—!

A knife in each hand, I worked the dual blades in rapid rhythm.

Watching this, both Ria and the Sword Saint—two blade wielders—were visibly impressed.

"Your knife work is truly amazing no matter how many times I see it, Seon-u."

"That's remarkable rhythm and ambidextrous control. Are you ambidextrous, by chance?"

"Yes, I am."

In terms of skill between hands, my right was about a ten and my left a nine-point-five.

It was not innate, but the result of practice.

'Injuring my right wrist in high school and training to cut with my left hand helped a lot.'

Among chefs, dual-knife mincing was viewed negatively, dismissed as a flashy show-off technique.

And sloppy dual-knife mincing was indeed just for show.

But once one surpassed clumsiness and achieved complete mastery, it was a different story entirely.

As I had.

I finished the mincing and transferred the meat to a bowl.

I brought out another cutting board and diced onions.

After the onions, carrots, green onion, and a little Cheongyang chili pepper.

Then I minced garlic, added everything to the bowl, and seasoned it with sugar, mirin, dark soy sauce, prepared mustard, salt, perilla seed powder, sesame oil, and pepper.

For the finishing touch, I added a small amount of potato starch and kneaded the mixture with food-safe gloves.

'The potato starch prevents dryness and adds a chewy texture.'

It also helped the patties hold their shape.

For the donggeurangtteng coating, I used rice flour instead of regular wheat flour or frying mix.

I dipped them in egg wash and began pan-frying on an oiled griddle.

SIZZLE!

Ria and the Sword Saint both swallowed at the aroma.

Ria spoke up.

"Seon-u, want me to take over the frying? I've made jeon several times, so I can handle it."

"Would you? Then I'll keep preparing the other jeon."

"Yeah!"

I handed the spatula over to Ria.

I quickly began preparing the remaining varieties.

Perilla leaf jeon—donggeurangtteng-base meat filling stuffed inside perilla leaves.

Pepper jeon—meat filling stuffed inside peppers.

Five-color skewer jeon—ham, imitation crab, scallions, pickled radish, and bell peppers threaded onto skewers.

Pine mushroom jeon—wild pine mushrooms thinly sliced.

Standard tofu jeon and hobakjeon.

Mung bean jeon, kimchi jeon, potato jeon, and seafood scallion jeon were all prepped and ready to be pan-fried on the spot.

"Ria, I'm going to open up now."

"Got it."

I finished preparations and opened the restaurant doors.

And then—

"It's open......!"

"That smell is incredible."

"Don't cut in line."

Since I had announced the evening service in advance, people were already lined up waiting.

"How many in your party?"

"Four."

"I'll show you to a table for four."

Groups of three or four were seated at four-person tables.

Pairs were placed at two-person tables.

Solo customers were seated at the bar.

The bar had six seats total.

There were eight four-person tables.

Two two-person tables.

Forty-two seats in all.

'Most restaurants allocate sixty to seventy percent of their space to seating, but mine is eighty percent.'

The reason was that I did not need a storage room for ingredients.

I had Acresia, which served as a mobile ingredient storage unit and refrigerator.

All I needed was a spacious open kitchen to cook in.

So out of forty pyeong, thirty-two were devoted to seating.

'With thirty-two pyeong for seating, most restaurants could fit ninety seats.'

Packing them tighter could reach a hundred and twenty.

But that would be too cramped.

Even ninety felt like too many, so I had placed only forty-two—less than half.

I was considering rearranging later to expand to fifty if customer demand grew.

"Don't fight. There are plenty of seats."

"That's right, lots of seats here."

"We can all get in, so stop pushing."

There was a small commotion outside.

The three guilds combined totaled only thirty-three people.

Eleven from the Emperor Guild.

Twelve from the Union Guild.

Ten from the Frost Flower Guild.

So even with everyone inside, seats would remain.

In the end, everyone was guided to their seats.

"I'll take orders in the order you lined up."

The food menu was unified.

All jeon.

Orders were taken only for drinks.

And the only drinks available were varieties of makgeolli.

Plain makgeolli, chestnut makgeolli, corn makgeolli, and strawberry makgeolli.

"What's this makgeolli thing?"

A Union Guild hunter asked me.

"It's a Korean rice wine. It's smooth, sweet and tangy with a light carbonated kick. Pairs perfectly with jeon."

"Yeah? Then I'll try all four flavors."

"Sure. Just wait and I'll bring them out with the jeon shortly."

I took the first three tables' orders, then returned to the kitchen to start cooking.

Together with Ria, I fried various jeon and plated them.

Donggeurangtteng, perilla leaf jeon, pepper jeon, five-color skewer jeon, pine mushroom jeon, and tofu jeon were arranged on a single platter as assorted jeon.

Then mung bean jeon, potato jeon, kimchi jeon, and seafood scallion jeon were each cut into quarters and arranged on a plate like a pizza.

The most delicious item, yukjeon, was served separately on its own plate.

That made three full platters of jeon per table.

I loaded them onto a kitchen trolley along with pickled onions, the ordered makgeolli and drinking bowls—portioned by table size—and served them out.

"Enjoy."

"Wow......"

"This is insane."

"Smells amazing."

I explained that the jeon should be eaten together with the pickled onions.

I then served the remaining tables in turn.

I also served the table where the three guild masters and the Sword Saint were seated together.

Union Guild Master Blake reached for a piece of yukjeon first with his chopsticks.

"So this is supposed to be really good?"

"Freshly made jeon is exceptional. Yukjeon especially. Try a piece. Eat it and then take a long swig of makgeolli."

At the Sword Saint's recommendation, Blake nodded, then tasted the yukjeon with pickled onions.

"Hmm......?!"

His eyes lit up.

"This is wonderfully savory and delicious. Well then, let me try......"

He took a sip of makgeolli.

His face twisted.

"......I'm not sure if I like this makgeolli stuff. It's a bit hard to drink."

"Haha! It can be like that at first. Push through a few more sips and it'll go down smooth."

Blake took another tentative bite of jeon, then downed another swig of makgeolli.

He nodded.

"Hmm, it definitely pairs well with greasy food. I can see how you'd just keep drinking this endlessly."

"That's exactly why you have to be careful. The buzz creeps up on you, and before you know it, you're drunk."

The other guild masters also began eating jeon.

The Blade Saint tried the yukjeon first and clicked his tongue.

In a good way.

"Incredible. This is even better than yukjeon from specialty jeon restaurants or high-end Korean places."

"Mmm, the donggeurangtteng is so savory and chewy, it's amazing."

Han Se-a also ate the donggeurangtteng with evident enjoyment.

The Sword Saint watched them with a satisfied expression.

"Naturally—even the same jeon tastes different when it's made by Korea's finest chef."

He was giving me too much credit.

I watched their reactions for a while, then headed back to the kitchen.

"Ria, stop frying now and sit down to eat. I'll handle the rest."

Ria had come for dinner but had done nothing but work.

"No, I'll keep working and have a drink with you later when everything's done."

"But still......"

She had helped during the lunch shift too.

And after returning home, she had been busy with her own tasks without resting even once, and now she was helping with the evening shift.

Ria continued.

"Helping you is what makes me happy."

"Ria......"

What an impossibly lovable wife.

"Then let's have a drink together when it's all over."

"Sounds good."

We continued making and frying jeon, serving makgeolli whenever orders came in, over and over.

The customers enjoyed jeon and makgeolli late into the night.

The Magical Light-Emitting Stones that Ruina had crafted kept the restaurant bright even after dark.

"Ahh, this is the life......!"

"I'm so full I can't eat any more, and that's the only thing I regret. HIC!"

"This jeon thing is incredible......! I want to eat it again next time."

"You'd think the grease would get to you, but paired with makgeolli it just keeps going down......"

The Union Guild members from the United States, in particular, were smitten with jeon and makgeolli.

One by one, they stumbled drunkenly back to camp.

"They drank that much—what are they going to do if monsters attack? Tch! I guess I'm standing guard tonight."

Blake grumbled.

As he rose from his seat, he swayed on his feet.

"Huh, what's going on......?"

"Your legs gave out. You're drunk, my friend. Haha!"

"This can't be......"

The Sword Saint spoke to him.

"Don't worry. Santos and I will stand watch, so rest easy and sleep."

"I appreciate it......"

With that, all the customers had left.

Total sales: fifty-six servings of jeon.

Sixty-one bottles of makgeolli.

Each serving of jeon was two lowest-grade magic stones.

Each bottle of makgeolli was one lowest-grade magic stone.

The evening had generated over 51.9 million won in revenue.

'Compared to stat dish sales, it's a small amount, but it was still a great time.'

As a chef, nothing made me happier than customers enjoying my cooking.

And having my beautiful wife working beside me made it twice as fun.

With that, the Rift restaurant's first evening service was a resounding success.

"Good work, Ria."

"You too, Seon-u."

We held each other and gently rubbed each other's backs.

"I'll store the dirty dishes in Acresia for now. I'll come back in the morning to clean up. It's late, so let's head home and have that drink."

I had already made our own jeon and stored them in Acresia.

All we had to do was go home and eat.

"Okay."

We closed up the restaurant and returned to the Rift house, where we ate jeon and drank makgeolli.

Ria initially wrinkled her nose and tilted her head at the makgeolli, but after a few rounds paired with jeon, she grew accustomed to the taste and kept pouring herself more.

Of the four makgeolli flavors, corn makgeolli and strawberry makgeolli suited Ria's palate best.

I, on the other hand, preferred the plain variety.

Having drunk our fill, we were thoroughly tipsy and spent the rest of the night being lovey-dovey before falling asleep.