Victory Cooking Club: Join Now for Unpaid Labor! #2
Dungeon exploration, new menu development, and recruiting new club members. Handling all sorts of tasks made the weekend fly by in the blink of an eye.
“Monday again…”
“I hate lectures. Did you finish your assignments over the weekend?”
Listening to the gloomy chatter of students heading to school from the dorms actually lifted my spirits. Monday. A fresh start to the week.
“Victor, you look cheerful for a Monday!”
“Nike, don’t ask the obvious. I simply want to show the students the new product we worked so hard on all weekend.”
“We really did work hard! I wonder if it’ll sell?”
“It will. One hundred percent. Let’s meet in front of the new school building at lunch.”
“Got it!”
Nike and I had met briefly before class to finalize today’s sales plan. Eager for lunch to arrive, I stepped into the classroom only to find it filled with injured, miserable-looking students.
“Ugh, it hurts…”
“…Mine hurts too…”
I wondered why so many were wounded until I remembered that our homeroom teacher, Verjurac of Class A-1, had assigned a weekend dungeon run as homework. Still, several faces looked rather bright, suggesting they had succeeded in their raids. The only place these students could reasonably tackle would be something like the Goblin’s Den of Greed.
“Good morning, Victor.”
Someone sat down beside me.
“Enio. You seem to be in a good mood. Did something pleasant happen over the weekend?”
“How did you know I had a good weekend?”
Anyone smiling on a Monday morning was either insane or had enjoyed an exceptionally pleasant weekend.
“Well, I’ll only show it to you.”
Enio slipped a hand into her skirt pocket. What was she about to reveal? Finally, her clenched fist extended toward me and opened with a flourish.
“Ta-da.”
Spirit of Play.
In her palm rested a round marble.
“A Spirit of Play, I see. Did you visit a dungeon over the weekend?”
“You know that tropical dungeon? I hunted ants there. The Emperor Ant didn’t appear, but I caught a different big one instead. A Queen Ant, I think?”
She had planned to invite me along but ended up going separately. Probably with the three sisters. This time the mid-boss had been a regular Queen Ant rather than the Emperor. Defeating its minions would be simple enough. Still, the fact that she had cleared a dungeon on her own clearly delighted Enio.
I spoke up. “If you obtain any more fruits in the future, bring them to the club room. I’ll buy them at a fair price.”
“Should I?”
If Enio and the three sisters supplied fruits steadily through their dungeon runs, it would be nothing but profit for me. Fruits were a key ingredient in cooking, after all.
With that, Monday’s classes began.
“Quite a few of you succeeded in your dungeon raids. It seems not all of you are completely useless. More importantly, this is…”
Radiant Spirit of Play.
Verjurac frowned even more darkly than usual as he examined the assignment on my desk.
“Student number fifteen, Victor.”
“What is it?”
“Not bad.”
“Then give me a good grade.”
“Your attitude remains as rotten as ever. However, Ludens judges solely by ability. You, Victorica, and Enio all receive an A on this performance evaluation.”
Excellent. The Radiant Spirit of Play must be rarer than it appeared. That prefix alone explained the high mark. I had expected as much. With this momentum, securing a scholarship next semester would be simple if I performed well on the midterms and finals.
* * *
Teacher Verjurac was dying a little more each day.
Once a student at Ludens himself, he had taken up teaching after graduation filled with bright hopes. He had dreamed of nurturing outstanding students like his senior, Chiron, and leaving his mark on Ludens’ history. Reality proved different. Year after year, student quality declined. No one like the valiant Siegfried or Arthur ever appeared. So he simply withered day by day.
Then that boy had begun to irritate him in a peculiar way.
Verjurac opened the faculty office door after morning classes. The teachers inside looked as miserable as ever on a Monday. He held out a round object toward them.
“Does anyone know what this is?”
It was a marble with a crimson glow. A middle-aged man wearing glasses lit up.
“That’s a Radiant Spirit of Play. I haven’t seen one in ages. Where did it come from? Surely you didn’t go into a dungeon yourself, Verjurac.”
“Chiron, a student brought it in today.”
“No way…! Well, you wouldn’t lie to me after all these years. How interesting. Is this the Victor boy you mentioned?”
“It is.”
“Come to think of it, one of my students showed me the same marble. A boy named Nike. Perhaps the two visited the same place.”
A student from Class C? The teachers who had been quietly listening stirred. A small commotion broke out among them. Two students had started some kind of “club,” and the food sold there was supposedly as delicious as anything from the mainland restaurants.
A lively chatter filled the weary Monday faculty office. Teachers were only human; they couldn’t help getting excited when they spotted promising students.
Then someone spoke.
“…Heh. That Victory Cooking Club still has no faculty advisor, correct?”
The teachers’ chatter stopped dead at the languid, strangely seductive voice. Turning, they saw a woman with long, deep navy hair like the night sea, a faint smile playing on her lips.
‘…Domina.’
Verjurac despised her as a fellow teacher. So many promising students had crumbled in her hands.
“Second-years bringing back a Radiant Spirit of Play? They may have done something illegal. That cooking club sounds suspicious too. Verjurac, may I look into it?”
“…Do as you please.”
Verjurac answered curtly, the image of a blunt male student rising in his mind.
‘Don’t resent me. If you can’t escape Medusa Domina’s grasp, then that’s all you are. But if you overcome this trial…’
A cloak flashed through his thoughts, along with a confident smile and a club gripped in one hand. Verjurac shook his head and gave a self-deprecating laugh.
‘No, that’s getting ahead of myself. They’re still just kids.’
* * *
While working part-time at the snack shop near school, I had noticed one thing: women loved tteokbokki far more than expected. You could even call it an obsession. The spicier it was, the more popular it became. I never understood why they enjoyed tormenting their tongues with heat, but for me it was simply profitable.
“First, prepare the Bomb Sauce we set aside earlier. Then stir-fry the rice cakes and sausages we bought from the Underground Market. The key is to keep the sauce simmering with just a little liquid.”
Sizzle, sizzle—
The sauce, rice cakes, and sausages bubbled on the griddle.
“Arnoi, are the boiled eggs ready yet?”
“Why must Arnoi follow Victor’s orders…? Arnoi is an eighth-year student…! Victor’s senior, in fact—ip-ni-dat…!”
“If you behave today, I’ll give you one serving to take home for dinner.”
“Arnoi will bring lots of eggs—ip-ni-dat…!”
After adding the boiled eggs and mixing everything together, the tteokbokki looked surprisingly excellent even to me. My experience from the snack shop hadn’t gone to waste. Practice and time never betrayed you.
Nike, however, eyed the unfamiliar red dish with obvious worry.
“…Will this really be okay? Will it taste good…?”
“One hundred and twenty percent delicious.”
This tteokbokki wasn’t just spicy. Eating it increased base attack power by 1 and maximum HP by 30. Modest compared to the HP restoration and 200-point boost from Scented Soup, but people didn’t eat food for stats alone. They ate for taste.
“One serving for one Rene.”
Honestly, the price was steep for tteokbokki, but they would understand after trying it.
Strangely, no students approached. Was the bright red, elongated food too unfamiliar?
“Hey, look at that. New menu?”
“It looks tasty… but probably super spicy. I couldn’t even handle the Bomb Sauce Bulgogi…”
It reminded me of foreigners hesitating over delicious seasoned chicken simply because it was red. No helping it.
“Arnoi.”
“Why do you keep calling Arnoi?”
“Go fetch Victorica. She should be in the student council room right now.”
“Why must Arnoi obey such an order?”
“I’ll grant you the honor of being the first to taste the fruit juice we’ll make next.”
“Arnoi will bring her right away—ip-ni-dat…! But remember, it is not because of the tasting rights—ip-ni-dat…!”
Arnoi dashed off and soon returned with Victorica in tow. Victorica grumbled, “What is it, Victor? Dragging a busy person out like this. Do you think you can summon me whenever you feel like it?”
Yet she had come anyway. I spoke to her.
“A newly developed menu. Victorica, would you like to try it first? Of course, you’ll have to pay.”
“Me?”
She swallowed hard while staring at the red dish. Victorica loved spicy food; she wouldn’t be able to resist. And if she enjoyed it visibly, others might think, “I should try some too.” That was exactly why celebrities appeared in advertisements.
Victorica’s narrowed eyes swept the surroundings.
“You didn’t call Enio?”
“You’re the first taster, Victorica.”
Unfortunately, Enio wasn’t fond of spicy things.
“Hmm, so I’m first. Well, if you insist that much, I suppose I can eat it. I haven’t had lunch yet anyway.”
Victorica looked remarkably pleased. As expected, she couldn’t refuse spicy food. The long red rice cake disappeared between her parted lips. Her eyes widened as she chewed.
“It’s not even that spicy? Actually… it’s a little sweet…? I thought it would be like the Bomb Sauce Bulgogi, but it’s different.”
“Your tongue isn’t ordinary. I adjusted the seasoning with a fruit I acquired recently.”
Plain spiciness alone wouldn’t sell. It had to be deliciously spicy. Mastering that balance had taken me months of watching the snack shop owner. No one else could replicate it.
“So? Is it good?”
Victorica, tell the truth!
“Hmm, well, it’s not bad enough to refuse. I could eat this every day. The rice cakes are pretty filling too.”
She polished off the entire bowl while speaking.
“Whew, but it is spicy.”
Victorica stuck out her red tongue and fanned herself, revealing her white teeth and pink mouth in full view.
“No need to show me the inside of your mouth.”
“W-who showed you anything? Don’t look! More importantly, I wish I had something to drink…”
“I have something like a juice knife, but it’s still a prototype so I can’t sell it.”
“Juice knife…?”
Whether thanks to the viral marketing using Victorica or not, students began lining up to buy tteokbokki.
“Arnoi, your hands stopped moving. Collect the money quickly.”
“…Arnoi never heard that club members had to do this kind of work—ip-ni-dat…! This is clearly fraud—ip-ni-dat…! Arnoi never expected it to get this busy—ip-ni-dat…!”
“You never asked.”
“Hieeeek…!”
What a strange girl.
Clink, clink. The earnings piled up rapidly. I kept cooking, tossing in rice cakes, sausages, and vegetables without pause. Meanwhile, Nike brought over desks and chairs from nearby to set up makeshift tables.
“Victor, the tables for customers are ready!”
It was a bit rough around the edges, but everything was proceeding smoothly.
“It’s spicy.”
“But it tastes good.”
“Try the egg too.”
“I thought it was expensive, but it’s better than the school lunch…”
“I feel like I’ve got some energy now…”
At last, it felt like a proper club activity. At this rate, hitting four million Rene in sales today wouldn’t be a problem.
While I was quietly cooking, a languid yet strangely alluring voice spoke.
“You children. Whose permission did you get to sell food here?”
It carried the weight of experience, unlike the fresh voices of Ludens students. Probably an adult woman.
Students began backing away, murmuring, “Geh… D-Domina…”
A woman approached with the sharp click of high heels. Her hair was a deep navy like the night sky, and she wore a form-fitting suit that made even me uncomfortable. I knew her name.
“Domina, I presume.”