The little Miss looked at us with a bright smile.
“Um! Yes. This is a small village, so there aren’t many restaurants. My house… I mean, the restaurant… customers haven’t been coming much lately… but the advantage is that the food comes out right away.”
‘Um… the sales pitch seems to have gone a bit off-track at the end…’
“Then, little Miss, would you mind leading us there? In return for the lovely gift, I’ll order a ton at the restaurant you recommend.”
“Haha, I’m confident in my eating ability.”
“I’m quite hungry too…”
The three of us, being kind souls, each expressed our hunger to the girl.
The girl’s face brightened. She took my hand and led us somewhere.
The place we arrived at was a fairly spacious restaurant… no, it was an orphanage.
The orphanage had a sign that read ‘House of Angels’.
I saw several children. On one side of the orphanage was a building that served as the restaurant.
Two children who were in the restaurant noticed the presence of customers and scurried out. It seemed the children also ate their meals here.
“Welcome.”
A young man who looked a bit sharp yet haggard greeted us. He looked to be in his late 30s or early 40s. He gave off the vibe of a scholar.
I sat at a table and ordered.
“Hello. What is the most delicious thing here?”
When I greeted him in a gentle tone, he replied with a flustered expression.
“Ah… just something delicious? Our place only has two menu items: lasagna and oatmeal…”
‘Since it’s a small restaurant, it must be a one-food—no, two-food—specialty place. Of course. It’s common knowledge that making one menu item with the spirit of an Artisan has a lower chance of failure than trying too many things. I’m looking forward to it!’
“Then please give us three lasagnas and three oatmeals, for a total of six.”
I ordered two per person, just as I had promised the girl. Suddenly, Hyde’s expression turned serious.
“William. Isn’t your appetite too small! Can you really get full on that? Order three more lasagnas.”
‘Hey… Hyde, you’re not even the one paying. We don’t have much money right now.’
However, we were young boys in our growing phase.
“Then I’ll order six lasagnas for a total of nine dishes.”
“Nine dishes?”
The Director, Brutus, seemed even more surprised.
“It’s fine. We did some intense physical training this morning, so we can easily eat this much.”
I suddenly thought of the eating-show YouTubers in the Republic of Korea. Most restaurant owners reacted this way when they visited.
In this Otherworld, oatmeal and lasagna were relatively common foods. Oatmeal was the epitome of health food.
It felt similar to porridge or scorched rice. If eaten plain, it was one of the foods that didn’t suit my taste at all.
However, it could be collaborated with various items like honey, fruit, soy sauce, and milk; if combined well, it became delicious.
Lasagna was a dish made by layering wide, thin pasta sheets. It was baked with layers of sauce and cheese sprinkled on top, so you could think of it as a pizza with toppings but without the dough.
Both were dishes frequently seen in restaurants in this Otherworld.
‘By the way, why are they staring at us?’
Before I knew it, the children were huddled together outside, peeking through the window at me. They must have seen me being led here by the girl.
Sigh… perhaps the appearance of a group of beautiful boys, which they rarely saw in such a small village, was a rare event. Of course, Hyde was a bit below the level of Slot and me…
Still, it was a bit embarrassing to be watched while eating. But among them was a boy looking at me with a pitiful expression. He seemed to be saying something with his mouth.
‘Um… Poop?’
It seemed like that was the pronunciation?
“The meal is served.”
Three oatmeals and six lasagnas. A total of nine dishes arrived. The table looked packed.
“Wow! It looks delicious.”
“Thank you for the meal.”
The meal had finally arrived. It looked very simple. The oatmeal seemed to have something like honey added, and the lasagna looked like it was made by baking cheese in an oven, but the color looked a bit dark.
‘Now, shall we film an eating show?’
To meet the children’s expectations, I took a large spoonful and put it in my mouth.
‘Ugh, what is this flavor?’
The oatmeal smelled like raw fish.
‘No, how can it taste like this?’
The oatmeal was a failure. It tasted so bad I couldn’t possibly eat it. I should just eat the lasagna.
Blegh.
I spat out what I was eating immediately.
“No! What kind of poop-flavor is this!” Hyde shouted out loud.
“Haha. At this level, it’s clear they are attempting an assassination.”
Slot held his fork elegantly but firmly.
In an instant, many things were visible. I saw the middle-aged man who brought the order flinch. Then, I saw the boys handing something over as if they had made a bet, and the girl who brought me here had a tearful and apologetic expression.
Finally, when I looked at the boy from earlier, I realized his exact pronunciation.
‘DON’T EAT IT!’
That was it. This was the “poop-flavored” restaurant of Brutus, who ran the House of Angels orphanage and restaurant where people spat out what they ate.
Feeling threatened by the “assassination,” we were about to draw our weapons and take battle stances. The taste was just that disastrous. But then, the owner suddenly prostrated himself.
“I am truly sorry. I will not accept any money.”
We felt an impulse to commit murder, but seeing the girl who introduced us, we decided to listen to him for now.
“My name is Brutus, and I run this restaurant. I didn’t intend to run a restaurant at first. It just turned out this way…”
The story was long and winding, but to summarize, he didn’t plan to run a restaurant from the start. He had been discouraged after being kicked out of his previous work.
Still, he had some assets, so he managed to get a house in Mistrail, where he intended to end his life.
Then, he met an orphaned brother and sister who had broken into his house because they were hungry.
By raising these siblings, he realized he was still useful. He changed the name of the house to the ‘House of Angels’ and began running an orphanage.
At first, he had enough money saved up to endure. But as time passed, the number of children increased, and he realized he wouldn’t last long with a structure that only involved spending.
Thinking he had to do something, he recently renovated a part of the orphanage and opened the restaurant.
The biggest expense was the food for the children, so he planned to run the restaurant to both earn money and reduce costs. However, the food was so tasteless that it was actually ruining the orphanage’s image.
At first, some acquaintances visited, but since the food was so bad, there were no returning customers, and the place was deserted.
The locals avoided the restaurant, but since travelers wouldn’t have that information, the girl at the orphanage had brought us here to help Brutus.
“Do the children eat this food well?”
They had been enduring this taste?
“Yes. The children don’t have much of an appetite, but they’ve been eating it well.”
It was health food after all, so the children seemed to be forcing themselves to eat the poop-flavored food.
“The siblings from the story are Lara and Lan.”
Lara was the girl who had given us the Flower Bracelet and invited us, and Lan was the boy who had told us not to eat it.
‘That boy Lan… his conscience won out in the end.’
I asked Lan.
“Lan. Why did you tell us not to eat it?”
Lan was a young boy about 7 years old.
“That’s because people who eat the Director’s food curse him and try to hurt him. I don’t want them to eat it so the Director won’t get in trouble…”
‘So it was for the Director’s sake…’
It was a heartwarming orphanage. Having grown up as an orphan in a Communal Living Area on Earth, I knew that creating such an environment required great love.
“I see. Mr. Brutus, I’ve heard your story well.”
After hearing the story, we had no choice but to slowly unclench our fists. I was from an orphanage, Slot aimed to be a righteous Knight, and Hyde was a Monk. All three of us were the type to be weak against kind people.
“Haha. Thank you for listening to my long, trivial story.”
‘Don’t smile. My mouth still feels numb…’
Looking around, the children were huddled together as if pleading for us to forgive Brutus. Seeing the children looking on with worried eyes made my heart ache a bit.
But was he lacking somewhere? How could he make food taste like poop to this extent?
“What on earth did you do?”
“Pardon?”
“How can you make it this tasteless?”
“Ah… well. I was experimenting with this and that to make it more delicious…”
“Ex… experiment… oh boy.”
I felt my blood pressure rising. To think he was creating monstrosities in an attempt to make it more delicious…
“Organization Leader. What are you going to do?”
“William. You have a secret plan, right?”
‘Wh… what?’ Everyone’s gaze suddenly turned toward me. Brutus also asked curiously.
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t worry. Our Organization Leader knows how to make food so delicious it can heal the soul.”
“You were a chef!”
“No, I’m not a chef…”
“William’s cooking skills are the best. What we ate yesterday was so delicious it was mesmerizing.”
In an instant, Brutus’s eyes also filled with anticipation. Since everyone was praising me… well… should I help out a little?
***
After borrowing the kitchen from Brutus, I made Chicken Soup just like yesterday. I brought out some spices from the horse-drawn carriage.
Bubble, bubble.
The Chicken Soup made a delicious sound. The aroma was good, and it was a masterpiece no different from yesterday.
“Here, try some.”
“Mr. William. This is truly delicious! How can it taste like this?”
Brutus spoke in surprise. It was clear he had never eaten truly delicious food before.
“This is a very interesting flavor. May I ask what ingredients you put in?”
‘It’s not a mother’s touch… it’s thanks to the recipe of the radiant Teacher Baek.’
“Right? We were also impressed when we ate it.”
“I’ll teach you this. First, set aside the current menu items of oatmeal and… what is presumed to be lasagna, and start with a One-food Strategy.”
“A One-food Strategy?”
“Yes. Many famous restaurants actually focus on a single dish.”
“Ah, yes… I see.”
“Oh… I don’t mean you should only do one dish for the rest of your life. You should cook other things for the orphanage children. It’s just that right now, what’s important is getting used to running the business, so my opinion is that you should sell just one well-made dish. You can gradually increase the menu items while selling the one dish.”
The One-food Strategy was something often seen on Earth. It was a bit grand to call it a one-food marketing strategy, but it referred to a marketing approach focusing on a specific food or drink.
This approach could reduce the choices for customers entering the restaurant. It allowed for quick turnover and left the impression that the restaurant had the best quality and taste for that specific menu item since they only sold one.
“Yes. Come to think of it, I only had two items on the menu anyway. Everyone will surely love it if I just sell this Chicken Soup.”
“Learning it isn’t hard either. You’ll be able to master it quickly if you just follow the recipe. However, there is a condition.”
“What is it?”
“Please remember this! You must learn only to cook exactly according to the recipe.”
And so, the one-food lesson began. Passing on the one-food recipe and having him cook it exactly as instructed shouldn’t be too difficult.