If You Don't Listen, I'll Go to Another Restaurant
"If you don't listen to me, I'm going to another restaurant."
[Yui, the Wandering Artist from the Fantasy World!]
The winner of Yui's cooking contest—a top-tier personal VTuber with 300,000 YouTube subscribers—had been decided.
The winner is Isekai_gochunen... fifty years nim's fresh blood sausage soup!
With concrete viewers at 2-3,000 and the first viewer cooking contest peaking at around 5,000 viewers a few months ago, today's count had surged by another 2,000. The biggest reason was the teaser for Health Restaurant featuring the part-timer who looked identical to Isekai_gochunen.
"What's this fairy crap... damn..."
The preview clip, uploaded less than 30 minutes ago, had already given Lee Haru a nickname.
Alright then, let's do a quick interview with our winner. Isekai_go... aigoo, that's too long. Earthworm! Can you hop into Discord??
Hidden behind her cute appearance, Haru's voice was like a helium-high kid with a lisp—not exactly pleasant to listen to. Worse, it was so distinctive that she'd be instantly recognized.
Her voice was so unique that even with modulation, the pronunciation would give her away. She decided to stick to chat only. If she just bailed, it would confirm that Isekai_gochunen from Yui's contest and Lee Haru from Health Restaurant were the same person—trouble. To take on disciples and run auto-moderation, she needed a master chef image; getting framed as a VTuber would derail her plans.
VTubers were booming in Japan right now, and Korea had corporate ones like KiraKira up to their 4th gen, but they were still niche in the shadows.
She agreed to a brief interview to clear things up.
Congrats on the win! Your prize is two mara chickens from VVQ. Can you DM me your address so I can deliver them personally?
Tch. Seems like you're watching the stream—did you catch the Health Restaurant teaser too??
She'd beaten around the bush, but it boiled down to: You're the Health Restaurant part-timer girl, right?
Aaah...
Phew. R-right... yeah?? Mama? Hehe...
She'd accidentally called her "mama" to the illustrator who hadn't even drawn pann-ttegi for Ferolong or other VTubers yet.
"Ow!!"
She flinched and dropped her phone on her face. It stung—a slight bruise forming.
So, our baby earthworm...
Yui seemed thrilled just by the "mama" slip.
Ah, Python's good—Python! How'd you know I love blood sausage soup and hate snakes??
Lee Ha-neul from her past life had entered VTubing via Ferolong, so he only knew about Yui from gallery digs and old clips. He'd learned about her snake phobia after reincarnating in fantasy and meeting her.
'Saying I've been a fan from way back would be safe, but then she'd pry into other stuff.'
Her Interest Points had jumped from 600 before the contest to +360 in under two hours.
'Broadcasting power is no joke.'
The military/tactics upgrade wasn't needed yet, and buying just the AI level-up would clear the big hurdle—no need to force more attention. Health Restaurant would bring plenty anyway.
'All sold out. "Refreshes in a few days," my ass—why so slow?'
She could buy Slot Refresh, but 300 points felt wasteful.
'Huh?'
As if reacting to her thought, the first slot refreshed.
"4000 points???"
But... the effect was insane. Combat or utility clone? Duration? She didn't know, but it was exactly what she wanted.
'In that case... time to attention-whore more!!'
Yui was curious how he knew her snake hate and blood sausage love. Time to answer.
She hit enter, then had a better idea and edited.
How far could she take this roleplay? Cleanup was Yui's job. Truth be told, she had gripes with Yui as Ferolong's mama and fellow KiraKira 5th gen. Yui's fate was as rough as Ferolong's. Jealous haters from her doujin days dug up her dark history and rumors to kill her career. She'd been doing pure RP as Ferolong's illustrator-mama when the red pill dropped, fans bailed, and she became company fodder.
'No matter how tough, she should've said something to management before Ferolong's body got that wrecked...'
Yui's whole body went cold at the loaded chat.
Eh?? I've never eaten blood sausage soup outside. What're you talking about??
The next day after trolling Yui's stream and binging Chibber Gallery posts till late, Haru met her handler Bang Aji at the villa gate, body languid from lack of sleep.
"Good morning, Haru-nim. Ngh!"
Aji's face twisted.
"What's wrong??"
"Haru-nim has a small bruise between your brows."
"Probably from lying in bed scrolling my phone yesterday."
"Glad if that's it, but... whether others will think the same..."
"What do you mean?"
"It's a bit dirty for Haru-nim to know. Let's head to the restaurant first."
'She remembers I was Lee Ha-neul—did she forget??'
Holding Aji's hand, she warp-gated to Bulpae Pochaa.
10:30 AM, an hour before 11:30 opening. Park Sun-ja, Lee Ha-seong, and Yoo Hee-yeon were all there.
"Haru you're he—ack???"
Ha-seong in the hall spotted the bruise and sobered up.
"What's up??"
"...Take a look at this."
Rumors about Bulpae Pochaa had spread across YouTube, SNS, and even Cooking Master Korea Gallery.
The so-called "Bulpae Pochaa fairy" girl from the teaser was an orphan from the Tower collapse, and the restaurant was providing room and board in exchange for work, then framing her for embezzlement and exploiting her.
"Our 4th Awakener Center is preparing rebuttals, but with Tower collapse victim response delayed due to heavy awakener duties."
'Tasty Grilled Mackerel owner most likely, then Seong Chan-ho or Shin Do-young...'
"Spreading this crap right before customers flood in..."
"Catching them will take time."
'What to do??'
Yui AI, upgraded to level 2 with 1,000 Interest Points yesterday, offered ideas.
Specialized in cooking but leveled up for better social smarts.
"Joining SeongGaNe Food would solve it. They scouted me before."
Haru's bombshell paled the faces of the three except Aji.
"Ah. Wait... I haven't mastered your jeyuk stir-fry yet!"
Hee-yeon's reaction was especially intense. In her past life, post-Seong Chan-ho downfall, they'd have scoffed, but now he was industry top-tier. No strong grudge yet since his franchise hadn't crushed their home yet. They knew Haru was key to food quality and draw— their income hinged on her, but she could earn anywhere.
"I could join SeongGaNe but still help here. Problem is not focusing solely here..."
Haru kept spouting insincere lines.
"Or another way... but short-term bleed."
The restaurant turnaround she'd planned was accelerating thanks to the rumor.
A few hours later, lunch rush. Customers flooded to see the "Bulpae Pochaa fairy" from the teaser. Health Restaurant crew cameras rolled in a hall corner.
Pat-pat-pat.
Watching Haru bustle between kitchen and hall in Slime Shoes, everyone beamed. Eye candy, but food taste was hit-or-miss. Sun-ja's old jeyuk was hell, Hee-yeon's from Haru's recipe average, Haru's direct stir-fry heaven.
Those who'd tasted hell got extra service.
Pat-pat-pat!!!
Haru dashed to a table that left over half of Sun-ja's jeyuk.
"Dye... is there maybe a reason you couldn't eat it?"
'Can't say!!!'
Most guys seeing Haru's sparkling eyes held back complaints.
"Texture's off, bitter from the chili powder—can't eat it."
A few sadists dropped truth bombs.
"Got it, I'll pass it on."
Haru grinned at the bad review.
'Pass it on? Out-of-body talk? Too harsh on a kid?'
"Um... don't take it too hard."
"Wasn't upset."
"Pardon?"
"That wasn't my jeyuk."
She went to the kitchen and stabbed Sun-ja in the back.
"Boss, lots of complaints on the jeyuk~~"
And it didn't end there.
"Son. Come here!! More crappy meat today too!!!!"