Chapter 86

Chapter 86

Chapter 86 We're All MeTube Stars (9)

It had been a while since I'd brought Sani and Lia to the supermarket.

Usually, Sani, who couldn't use transformation arts, was more or less forced to stay behind and watch the coffeehouse, but there was no longer any need for that. The Elder Nine-Tailed Fox, who hated troublesome errands, stayed behind instead, while Sani and Lia became my shopping assistants.

Of course, they weren't particularly helpful. No, this giant supermarket, with food endlessly displayed everywhere, was the worst possible place to bring Sani.

“Ooooooh! There are tons of sausages over there! Those only need to be grilled, so they're pretty good too!”

“Really? Should we buy some?”

“The ones with cheese inside would be better.”

Before Sani, sitting inside the cart, could get even more excited, I hurriedly pushed the cart closer to the sausage section.

-Thump. Thump.

“Wait! Stop putting them in.”

“Twenty people are coming! We need at least this much!”

“We're not only eating sausages.”

I put half the sausages Sani had swept into the cart back onto the shelf.

“We still need to buy other things too. So if you see something that looks delicious, tell me right away. Got it?”

“Leave it to me!”

That was how it went.

At least Lia was doing her part by taking charge of pushing an entire cart.

But Sani wasn't.

He kept adding dishes that weren't in the plan, making things difficult for me.

“That beef jerky over there looks delicious too!”

“Enough now. If we buy too much, we'll just end up throwing it away.”

“That can't happen!”

“Then we're going to buy meat now, okay?”

This was the second time we'd officially(?) hosted a large group of guests at the coffeehouse, so I was somewhat familiar with the amount of food we needed to prepare. The number of people wasn't very different either.

There was nothing stingier than running out of food during a feast, so we needed to prepare a little extra. But if I gave in to every one of Sani's requests, it was obvious we'd end up with a disaster involving even more food waste.

And today's main dish wasn't going to be something as trivial as cheese sausages.

After rejecting several more of Sani's desperate proposals, I finally managed to reach the butcher section.

“Hello. I called yesterday and asked for a whole sirloin...”

“Ah! Just a moment! Manager! That customer is here!”

“What? Really?”

Before I could even finish speaking, the employee shouted toward the inside of the large refrigerated room.

The man who came out after opening the refrigerator door had exactly the warm, hearty appearance one would expect from someone working in a butcher section. Perhaps because he handled meat for a living, his sturdy build made him seem even more trustworthy.

“Goodness, this isn't exactly cheap. If you're buying the whole thing, wouldn't it be better to go to Majang-dong? Haha. We didn't even take a deposit, so we honestly wondered if you'd really come.”

“I had points. And there's a discount.”

“A discount? The current sale is on the Australian beef over there.”

“This.”

I took a gold-coated coupon out of my phone case and held it out.

“Huh? Good heavens! A VVVIP coupon!”

“Manager, what's that?”

“You idiot! You don't know this? They give these coupons to the customers who spend the most money each year!”

“This is one of those?”

It was a little embarrassing, but I hadn't actually received this coupon myself.

When I'd said I was preparing food for Wooju's concert, someone had practically forced it on me, saying, ‘I'm planning to eat until I burst, so use this!’ The things that had been piled into the car on the way to the orphanage were probably what earned this coupon.

The discount rate was an incredible fifty percent!

Since it only applied to a single item, this meant I was making a rather sensible purchase right now.

Because the barcode receipt was printed based on the weight per gram, even buying it whole like this theoretically counted as a single item.

Which meant premium two-plus-grade Korean beef was now half price.

I'd originally planned to simply fry some pork cutlets, but half-price Korean beef changed the story.

“Hyup! It came in early this morning after your call, so don't put it in the freezer. Eat it right away.”

-Thud.

Only when four enormous chunks of meat were actually placed into the cart did what I was about to do finally feel real.

Tomorrow, I was going to prepare the most luxurious food in the history of our coffeehouse.

And using a method I'd never tried before.

________________

The next day, at the cafeteria of Daecheon Group headquarters.

The officially designated lunch break began at exactly noon, but as with any company, there were always departments that came down early and enjoyed a leisurely meal.

Of course, only departments that had a good excuse ready in case a superior asked, ‘Why are you already eating when it isn't lunchtime yet?’

And the Strategic Planning Team, which could use meetings with other departments as an excuse, was relatively free from the crowded lunch hour.

“Wow, what's with the pork cutlet in the cafeteria today? The people eating outside are going to feel cheated.”

“Pork cutlet is pork cutlet. What could be so different?”

“No, Manager Lee, look at this. It's incredibly thick. This is practically Japanese-style pork cutlet.”

“Oh my! You're right!”

The thick pork cutlet Department Head Park lifted with the tongs was easily thicker than two finger joints.

“Assistant Manager Joo, don't take too much again. Last time, the cafeteria ladies had to cook twice because they ran out of pork ribs. Hm? What? Why aren't you taking any? No, I didn't mean don't eat any at all.”

“Come on, Assistant Manager Joo. It's fine. The department head was just joking.”

People often said there was nothing sadder than being criticized for how much one ate, but the remark had only come because his portions went far beyond merely having a hearty appetite.

Perhaps that amount of food was inevitable for maintaining his enormous body, but Joo Dohyeok's cafeteria tray served a different purpose from everyone else's.

He boldly skipped the soup bowl.

And the space where the soup bowl should have gone was always piled high with meat.

But today was different.

The amount of rice on his tray was the same as always, yet he hadn't taken even a single piece of the unprecedentedly high-quality pork cutlet.

“Are you sick?”

“No. I'm going to eat real pork cutlet for dinner later.”

“Huh?”

‘Today, I'm finally going to eat the pork cutlet Hyung fries himself. I can't ruin my appetite with something like this first.’

Pork cutlet appeared fairly often at Jinseong's coffeehouse.

Sani especially loved pork cutlet, and since it was easy to make by simply using plenty of oil and frying it, Jinseong enjoyed making it too.

Unfortunately, however, Dohyeok had somehow been strangely unlucky when it came to Jinseong's pork cutlet.

He'd happily eaten spicy stir-fried pork, fried rice, and sometimes even simple meals of kimchi and bossam, but for some reason he'd never had the chance to taste the pork cutlet.

For Dohyeok, born into a chaebol family and having never encountered anything money couldn't solve, it was enough to drive him mad.

His gluttonous image was already firmly established, making food-related conversations awkward enough, and he simply hadn't been able to bring himself to say that he wanted to eat Jinseong's pork cutlet.

But today was different.

Because he'd heard Jinseong say clearly with his own ears, ‘Dinner on the day of the concert? I'll just fry some pork cutlet.’

“I can finally eat it... Finally...”

“Assistant Manager Joo, are you sick today? Your eyes look weird. Assistant Manager Joo! Assistant Manager Joo!”

_________________

(Old men! Old men!)

A term that seemed utterly impossible to hear in the skies of the Celestial Realm rang out loudly.

It was none other than Yongman's voice as he flew back from the mortal world.

“Heh heh, that fellow never seems capable of learning manners.”

“We've told him countless times that learning Go would calm his disposition, tsk.”

The four immortals, who knew perfectly well who Yongman meant by ‘old men,’ wore expressions full of displeasure.

-Thud.

But Yongman deliberately dropped straight down onto the pavilion, kicking up a cloud of dust.

“Old men! Did you hear the news? They're holding a feast at the coffeehouse.”

“A feast?”

They'd intended to sternly rebuke Yongman for his lack of manners, but the news he brought was so unexpected that they asked again instead.

“They're preparing food, and apparently that singer who visits the coffeehouse often is going to sing.”

“You mean that performer who sings those strange songs in the building across the way? I heard he couldn't stand in front of people.”

“Jinseong probably fixed him!”

“Heh heh. How admirable.”

Wooju always bowed in greeting and immediately went into the office, so they'd never had the opportunity to speak with him, but they weren't entirely unaware of his unfortunate circumstances.

“If it's a feast, then let's bring plenty of fruit.”

“That would be best, wouldn't it?”

The customers of Dangsan-ri Coffeehouse were about to taste fruit from the Celestial Realm, literally said to possess the taste of heaven.

______________

At the same time, in an office inside the Palace of Yama.

“But is it really okay for us to go?”

“They invited us, so wouldn't it be rude not to? Besides, I heard immortals and even a dragon are coming from the Celestial Realm anyway.”

The two grim reapers, who had unintentionally ended up handling Dangsan Enterprises' funeral support business as well, stared at the text message displayed on their phone and fell into deep thought.

“We did already meet this week's quota...”

【This Month's Souls Guided Onward】

『Manager Gangnim: ●●●●●●●●●◎

Assistant Manager Shin Jihye: ●●●●●●●●●◎

Deputy Manager Kim Dongsik: ●●●●

Employee Jang Chiwon: ●●●○

...』

Among all the names written on the office whiteboard, the magnets beside the two grim reapers' names were overwhelmingly higher than everyone else's.

An average of ten souls guided onward per month.

For three consecutive months, the two grim reapers hadn't missed being named Employees of the Month even once.

It was thanks to Jinseong.

Because Jinseong never hesitated to provide enormous support whenever he asked them to help bereaved families in difficult circumstances, it had become much easier to guide resentful souls onward.

On top of that, the two grim reapers were using Jinseong's money to make themselves look good, printing respectable business cards bearing the name Dangsan Funeral Services and roaming funeral halls across the country.

Which made it even harder to ignore the invitation.

From the funeral wreaths, food, and manpower needed to guide a single soul onward, not one part of their operation could function properly without Jinseong's help.

If they attended, they weren't exactly the sort of guests who would be welcomed at a feast.

If they didn't attend, they would feel awkward around Jinseong.

They were trapped in an impossible situation.

At that moment, a shadow fell across the table where they'd left their phones.

“What are you two talking about so seriously?”

“Aaagh! Your Majesty!”

The owner of the shadow was Yama.

“What? Did you see a grim reaper or something? You're grim reapers yourselves.”

“No, it's just... If you'd said something before coming...”

“They said I have to charge this glass board thing, but none of the judges know how. And what's this? You're talking like I'm somewhere I'm not supposed to be.”

“That is not what I meant...”

“Whatever. Just hurry up and charge this thing for me. It says I absolutely have to watch it.”

“I'll do it!”

Employee Shin Jihye respectfully accepted the tablet Yama held out and quickly plugged it into a power strip.

“Anyway, what were you talking about so seriously?”

“Pardon? Us?”

“You were staring at this and talking for ages.”

Yama waved Gangnim Doryeong's phone, which she'd snatched from the table while the two grim reapers were startled and stepping backward.

“Aaagh! Your Majesty! When did you take that!”

“Let's see... Concert? Huh? Dangsan-ri Coffeehouse!”

Yama's eyes widened, and she opened her notebook.

『Two hundred fifty-three. Visit Dangsan-ri Coffeehouse again.』

The sentence ‘Visit Dangsan-ri Coffeehouse again’ was clearly written inside.

“I have to go here!”

“Pardon? No, you are going, but... before that, you need to watch that tablet first...”

“Oh, right. It would be awkward to go empty-handed, so should I bring something? We have that travel money we've collected, don't we? Let's take that.”

Amazingly, even before watching the video, Yama had not only decided to visit Jinseong's coffeehouse but had even thought of bringing along the travel money.

And so it was decided.

A concert of death, attended not only by divine beasts and immortals from the Celestial Realm, but also grim reapers who had guided tens of thousands of souls to the underworld, and even the ruler of that underworld herself.