Chef Inquiries via DM, Please
Exorcist Wonhyul headed to the Management Bureau with Gu Gitae to track down the other exorcists.
Popo and Kuku, both in need of rest and rearmament, returned to the basement.
And I arrived at that fancy Gangnam apartment complex — the Demian, or whatever it was called.
After sleeping my fill, I opened my eyes to find a little ball of fluff curled up beside me.
"Mokgu?"
"Woof!"
"Yeah, yeah. It's Mokgu. Sleep well, Mokgu?"
"Woof woof!"
"Wow. Full of energy first thing in the morning, aren't you? C'mere."
Mokgu's fur was impossibly soft. That puppy smell was enough to short-circuit my brain. Just petting him without a single thought made everything feel better. The emotional stability this dog provided was no joke.
For the record, I'd already told Mom about Mokgu. Maybe becoming a daughter instead of a son had pushed her past the point of enlightenment, because she took a three-eyed puppy in stride like it was nothing. My mother's mental fortitude never ceased to amaze me.
Anyway — this was too peaceful. This was what a day off looked like. This was a real vacation. A day of petting a dog with zero worries in the world.
"Yaaawn. Morning, Mom."
"Our Cheonwoo's up? Hi, Mokgu! Cheonwoo, go wash your face and come eat. I made egg rolls, kimchi stew, and all your favorites."
"Whoa."
Mom. Calling me "our Cheonwoo" in that impossibly warm voice? You're going to give me goosebumps.
But was this the power of money? The smile on her face just wouldn't go away. It looked really good on her.
"What the — why are there so many side dishes?"
"My Cheonwoo finally gets a day off. Of course I'm going to feed you properly. Come on, eat up."
"Yeah. Thanks for the meal."
This was practically a birthday spread. And Mom's skin looked better, too. She just looked so happy!
"Aigoo, don't even get me started. My friends are losing their minds. The second they heard you became a hunter, they were all congratulations this, so jealous that."
"Really?"
"I'm telling you. Thanks to my kid, I got to move into a place like this. I even heard something about government subsidies?"
"Hell yeah. Lifetime of filial piety, completed in one shot."
"Right? Thanks to my Cheonwoo, Mom's living a life she never even dreamed of. I've been doing Pilates lately — I feel like I've gotten ten years younger. Hohohoho."
Satisfying. My one and only family, properly taken care of. It genuinely felt like there was nothing left to worry about.
Popo and Kuku really did good work. Looking at the news, it seemed like everyone had just marched themselves down to the police station. Honestly, if an eight-foot-tall ghost and a guy in a red mask showed up saying they were going to kill me, I'd run to the cops begging for my life too.
"Oh my. The world's gotten so scary these days, hasn't it, Cheonwoo?"
"Yeah. It really has. Everyone should just live nicely."
Mom, those guys turning themselves in? That was all my handiwork. Korea's streets, fully normalized overnight.
Foreign criminals? Hunter-composed crime syndicates? Yeah~ get caught and it's straight to the basement~
Even I, the Manager, had no idea which basement floor the people Popo and Kuku grabbed actually ended up on.
Wait. Where do they all actually go?
Popo had sworn she never ate anyone. She just said she threw them into the basement. So then where the hell did all those criminals disappear to?
Suddenly I was a little scared.
Mental Filter has been activated.
Well, they probably went somewhere nice~ No follow-up stories meant their lives were just over, basically. Whatever happened to a bunch of criminals wasn't my problem. They were trash who preyed on civilians. Think of it as a trip to the waste processing plant and call it a day.
"Oh, right. Cheonwoo — a package came for you."
"Did it? Ooh."
"The delivery guy left everything by the front door, so check it after you eat."
"Okay!"
I'd gone on a shopping spree before heading into the basement. The break room was, well — environmentally suboptimal, let's say. Sleeping on the couch every night was wrecking my back, so I'd ordered a foldable bed.
I'd also gotten an espresso maker for the Salaryman, a whole stack of romance novels for the Librarian, assorted snacks, and a game console. Things to kill the free time with. The basement had no internet, after all — short of browsing the gallery, there really wasn't much to do.
And also...
"Ohh...!"
"Bark!"
"Mokgu, this is exercise equipment."
Exercise gear! Dumbbells as a baseline, a pull-up bar, a punching bag, and more. I was planning to put all of it on Basement Floor B1. Working out with Kkingkkingi sounded like it could be fun.
"Hehehe."
"Woof?"
"Yeah, yeah. Mokgu can work out with us too."
"Whine..."
Even with this soft, squishy body, sitting still in the break room made me restless. Stay idle too long and you turn into a lazy human being.
"Bark! Bark!"
"Our Mokgu really is a dog — of course you love balls."
Balls and dog toys for Mokgu had arrived properly too. I'd bought rackets as well, so badminton with Kkingkkingi was fully on the table.
I'm actually looking forward to this.
Before I knew it, my head was completely occupied with thoughts of going back to the basement. Was this what loving your job felt like? A sense of ownership? Somehow, I'd become a corporate drone.
"Oh, right. I still need to check that, too..."
Yesterday's rewards. The Chef King's Spatula and three geun of Ritual Meat.
I still had no idea what the Ritual Meat was for. But the Chef King's Spatula?
Change your class?
Basement Manager → Chef King
"No no no!"
Ah. This was one of those. Same category as Agni's Heart — a class-change item that let you transfer into Chef King.
So what exactly did the Chef King class do?
I fired up the gallery and searched for "Chef King."
Based on information compiled from statements by high-end merchants in Landing City and head chefs at three-star restaurants and above:
Chef King is presumed to be some kind of hidden class. Given that cooking-related jobs have been almost nonexistent until now, and that every production class so far has had absurdly broken performance — Chef King is likely an all-time cheat-tier class.
An all-time broken cheat class!?
It had probably unlocked when food started circulating from the basement. Slap on Chef King, open a restaurant in Landing City, sell food — wouldn't you just become the richest person in the Tower? Even skimming commissions alone would pile up wealth like crazy.
"Mom."
"Hmm? What is it? If something came wrong, Mom can file a return."
"No, not that. Mom — have you ever thought about climbing the Tower?"
"What? The Tower? Come on. Mom's getting old. It'd be too hard."
"Yeah, figured."
Even if it was a broken class, sending her up the Tower and having something go wrong would be a disaster. And becoming Chef King would mean cooking all day every day. Asking a mom who was finally enjoying her retirement to lock herself in a kitchen would be the height of unfilial behavior.
The Chef King's Spatula, huh.
Too valuable to just dump on the market. I couldn't use it myself. Giving it to an entity wouldn't do anything. And as for handing it to a Subordinate...
Hyeji was mid-Tower-grind with Agni's Heart, so she wouldn't take it. Haesol seemed extremely satisfied with her current class, so she was out. Wonhyul had to keep the Exorcist class for his double-agent work.
Wait — that left only one candidate. Nadim, the foreign worker!?
Another peaceful day in Pakistan...
No. Absolutely not. Above all, Nadim was Muslim — he couldn't cook pork. And I loved pork. No tonkatsu, no jeyuk, no gukbap? Automatic disqualification.
Still, maybe I should ask out of courtesy.
I casually sent Nadim a private message.
What the hell!?
Nadim wasn't just any Muslim! A Muslim who ate sundae-gukbap, tonkatsu, jeyuk, and washed it down with soju? He was already fully Korea-localized — a secular, progressive Muslim!!!
Okay. Disqualified.
Honestly, good thing he couldn't cook. One wrong move and I almost would have staged a religious conflict in the middle of Landing City.
"No choice, then."
I'd have to find someone to give the Chef King's Spatula to on the gallery. First, post a notice...
Picked up an item called Chef King's Spatula in the basement. Looks like a class-change item for Chef King.
Looking for someone who wants to become Chef King.
Requirements: Master of tonkatsu, jeyuk, and gukbap-type dishes. Bonus points if you can make good kimchi.
If you can't cook at artisan level, don't bother applying.
Alright. Let's wait for the response.
Two minutes passed.
Five minutes passed.
•
•
•
Fifteen minutes passed.
"Hmm. What's going on?"
Why weren't there any comments? Normally people would have swarmed in singing my praises by now. Not a single person was savoring my post. I was a little sad, honestly. Had I gotten too used to living under excessive attention?
"Ah. My username changed."
I used to post as BasementManager. Today I'd posted as ReformedManager — that was why there was no reaction!
"Okay. Time to spam."
I was bored anyway. Perfect. You people are the ones who dropped me the day after I reformed... that's on you...
Yeah. This was the stuff.
After a long-overdue purge, I felt a little more at ease.
Accident-free day count: zero.
Let's start over.