Come Closer to Me, Part 2
Chime!
Silvere opened the door to the restaurant, leading Flare inside.
"Welcome! How many in your party?"
"Just the two of us. We have a private room reserved under Kim A-yeong."
"Of course! One moment, please. Let me check that for you."
"Ah, yes, I see your reservation. I'll show you to your room right away."
Flare followed Silvere as they were led to their reserved room.
"Here is your room. Please press the call button inside when you're ready to order."
With that, the employee who guided them bowed and slipped away.
"So, what should we start with, Flare?"
"What do you usually start with, Silvere?"
"Hmm... I usually start with pork, but since we're both dragons... shall we just eat first and think later?"
"How about we start light with eight portions of pork belly?"
As she spoke, Silvere pressed the call button and ordered eight portions of pork belly to start.
"Could we get eight portions of pork belly first, please?"
"I'm sorry, did you say... eight portions?"
The server stared at the two of us, looking utterly incredulous that two women were ordering eight portions right off the bat.
"Are you... sure?"
"Of course. Why else would we order it?"
Silvere smiled warmly, completely unbothered, as if this amount was nothing more than a light appetizer.
"Don't worry, we won't leave a single bite behind."
Just as Silvere was about to reassure them, another woman came rushing over, panting heavily, and bowed deeply to Silvere in apology.
"I am so sorry! This employee only started a week ago and didn't know. Please forgive us! We just need to check our meat inventory first, so would you mind waiting a brief moment...?"
Silvere looked at the breathless woman and smiled. "Oh, my. You got here fast."
"Since she's a new hire, well... it's understandable. Normal humans don't eat like this, after all."
"We'll start with the eight portions of pork belly, then."
Silvere handled the situation with practiced ease, finalizing the order before stepping back into the private room.
Being a manager meant overseeing the staff.
In that sense, the manager felt incredibly lucky to have hired such a great worker recently. She was quick on her feet, worked hard, and was never late.
Having a staff member who required zero micromanagement made the manager's life easy, and it was comfortable for the employee too. A perfect win-win.
The manager was enjoying a brief moment of rest when the server from the front hall suddenly burst into the office.
"Manager! It's a Code Red!!"
A Code Red? That was an incredibly rare occurrence.
"What's going on? Did a local gang show up for a company dinner or something?"
"No!"
"The gray-haired lady who's been here a few times before just walked in!"
"What?! Say that again! The gray-haired lady? You mean the one who ate over a hundred portions by herself last time?!"
This was a disaster. The kitchen might run out of meat entirely.
"Go to the kitchen right now and tell them to check the meat inventory! If you tell them it's a Code Red, they'll understand!"
With those urgent instructions, the manager bolted out of the office to greet the customer.
Meanwhile, a threat level equivalent to an air raid siren hit the kitchen.
Thud, thud, slam!
"We have an emergency!"
"The manager said it's a Code Red!"
[CODE RED] ISSUED BY MANAGER
Status: Initiate immediate meat inventory audit.
"What? A Code Red?!"
"He sent me to tell you to check the meat inventory right now!"
The kitchen descended into absolute chaos as the staff scrambled to count every single cut of meat.
After speaking with the manager, Silvere returned to the private room.
"Phew... It's always such a hassle. I come here often, but since I'm a dragon, I usually eat at least a hundred portions before I leave."
"Flare? You can eat about that much too, right?"
At Silvere's question, Flare replied.
"Yeah, of course. Even if we use Polymorph to look human, our fundamental nature as dragons doesn't change."
"That's a relief. I easily pack away a hundred portions here, so you'll have to match me, Flare."
"Isn't that the bare minimum to satisfy a dragon's appetite anyway?"
"Naturally."
As they spoke, a soft knock sounded at the door.
Knock, knock.
A server wheeled in a cart loaded with side dishes and the initial order of pork belly.
"Oh, it's here."
The server set up the meat and side dishes on the table and quickly departed.
"Shall we start grilling?"
Silvere laid a thick strip of pork belly onto the grill.
Sizzle!
The moment the pork belly touched the hot metal, its rich fat began to melt under the intense heat.
With the practiced ease of someone who had done this countless times, Silvere began laying down several more strips.
Flare watched the pork belly on the grill, quietly swallowing her saliva.
"Flare? It's going to take a little longer. Even though it's pre-seared, it still needs some time to cook through."
Flare watched Silvere flip the meat and asked, "Silvere, you've lived on Earth for a very long time. You must have witnessed the entire evolution of human culinary culture."
"Of course. I've seen it all."
"Modern people might not realize it, but even back then, culinary culture wasn't primitive. In fact, it was surprisingly sophisticated."
Silvere reminisced about the past as she spoke.
"People ate raw meat and fish even in ancient times. Though... parasites were incredibly common back then, so the average life expectancy was rather unfortunate."
"Still, the level of gastronomy wasn't inferior to modern times at all. Since I'm a dragon, I didn't have to worry about parasites, so I tried all sorts of things."
"One of the most delicious raw dishes I ever had was called Naengchihoebang. It's a traditional winter pheasant sashimi where the meat is frozen solid on snow or ice, then sliced paper-thin."
"It was an incredibly high-end delicacy, so I only managed to eat it four times, but it was a true masterpiece."
"Do the dragons back in your world still hunt wild beasts raw to satisfy their hunger?"
At Silvere's question, Flare nodded.
"Yeah. It's always full of the taste of raw blood. We're a species that doesn't really need to cook our food, so it's only natural."
"Well, that's just how dragons are."
Having both adapted to modern life, the two dragons nodded in mutual understanding.
Silvere placed the fully cooked pieces of meat in front of Flare, laid more raw strips onto the grill, and gestured for her to eat.
"They're done, Flare. Go ahead and eat. This won't be nearly enough, so we'll have to order plenty more."
"Thanks, don't mind if I do."
Flare picked up her chopsticks, grabbed a thick, generously cut piece of pork belly, and popped it into her mouth.
Mmm...
The perfectly rendered pork fat and tender meat, seared beautifully over the fire, delivered a burst of rich, savory umami that coated her tongue.
The fat melted effortlessly with a tender chew, while the lean meat remained incredibly juicy, creating a flawless harmony of textures.
Normally, popping a piece of meat straight off a scorching grill would burn a human's tongue, but Flare was a dragon—such heat was laughable to her.
She picked up two pieces of pork belly, dipped them in savory ssamjang, and placed them onto a fresh lettuce leaf.
What should she add next? Raw garlic? Onions?
There was no need to overthink. She added a slice of raw garlic, wrapped the lettuce tightly, and stuffed the whole wrap into her mouth.
Mmm!
The crisp crunch of the lettuce, the rich oiliness of the pork belly, and the sharp, slightly sweet bite of the raw garlic enveloped her senses.
As she chewed, she glanced across the table at Silvere.
Two pieces of pork belly with ssamjang... this is absolute heaven.
Glance.
She watched Silvere casually double up on her meat as well.
I guess Silvere isn't exactly a delicate eater either.
Besides, the grill was far too small by dragon standards.
With only half the meat left on the grill, Flare picked up another lettuce leaf. This time, she peeled off a layer of raw onion.
She grabbed a particularly large piece of pork belly, placed it on the onion, and piled on ssamjang, raw garlic, and a slice of green chili pepper.
Well, as long as no one else sees me eating like a beast, who cares?
She popped the massive onion wrap into her mouth.
Crunch!
The crisp onion was the first to yield under her teeth.
Then came the sharp, sweet burst of onion juice.
The savory pork belly mellowed out the onion's bite, while the raw garlic and mild green chili pepper added their own distinct crunches, blending together in perfect harmony.
After swallowing, she looked up to see Silvere pressing the call button, having finished her portion at almost the exact same pace.
"We'd like to order another hundred portions of pork belly, please."
The server who came this time must have been a veteran; they took the absurd order with a calm nod and stepped out.
They had just polished off the entire mountain of pork belly.
Silvere scanned the menu, seemingly making up her mind, and looked up at Flare.
"Flare, shall we order some beef? I'm still nowhere near full. What do you think?"
"Beef sounds good. How much are you thinking?"
"Hmm... Let's start light with fifty portions. It's a bit small for two dragons, but it's just so nice to enjoy a meal with one of my own kind."
"Dragons live for such an incredibly long time. It's hard to truly share moments like this with anyone other than our own kin."
"And for an exile like me, the only dragons who ever seek me out are pursuers."
Silvere let out a soft sigh. "Sigh... I suppose I've wandered for too long. I must have been lonelier than I thought, saying things like this to you."
"In that spirit, why don't we lonely, wandering dragons just eat and drink to our hearts' content tonight?"
After ordering that massive feast, Silvere pulled out her card to pay the bill in full, a bright, satisfied smile on her face as she spoke.
"Thank you, Flare."
"For spending time with an exile like me."
"I thought I would spend the rest of my days focusing only on that child. I never expected to meet another dragon here, let alone share a meal like this."
The fate of most exiles was grim—either hunted down and killed by pursuers, or forced to spend eternity in hiding.
"Well... I enjoyed it too, Silvere. Today was fun, and it's nice to have another dragon I can actually talk to."
"Let's get along well from now on, Silvere."
"I'd like that, Flare. Let's look out for each other—the only two dragons on Earth."
As the night deepened, so did the bond between the two dragons.
