The Heavenly Demon's Penalty Game (4)
Anyway, to finish this game, it seemed I had no choice but to follow whatever this girl ordered me to do. Do not worry, I thought. I only intend to escape this hell as quickly as possible.
The girl kept stealing glances at me. Whether it was fear or a stronger sense of duty that won out, she eventually began explaining what I needed to do.
“First, when a customer comes in, you say ‘Welcome meow! Master!’ Try it, nya!”
It was the standard greeting used whenever a guest entered. “Welcome meow. Master.”
I repeated it, thinking it wasn’t too bad, but the girl immediately pouted.
“That’s not right, nya! You have to be cuter… No, nya! Never mind, nya! I said something stupid, nya!”
I simply stared at the girl as she kept changing her mind. She quickly read the room, lowered her head, and fell silent. If she didn’t have the nerve to see it through to the end, she shouldn’t have brought it up in the first place.
“Hic. I don’t like this, nya. It’s scary, nya.”
“Next. There’s still so much I need to teach you, nya.”
I wished she would stop making that pitiful face and just get on with it. The girl looked up at me with a wronged expression, but that changed nothing. As an NPC and the owner of this café, she had a job to do.
“When you serve food to the customers, you must cast the mandatory ‘make it delicious’ spell, nya. I’ll demonstrate first, so follow along, nya. Become delicious~ Become delicious~ Moe Moe Kyun☆”
She formed a heart shape with her hands, winked with one eye, and delivered the line in a voice so sickeningly cute it could rot teeth. Watching her, my mouth tightened into a firm line.
Did this mean I, the Heavenly Demon, had to act like that toward others?
“I know you don’t want to, but you have to, nya! If you don’t, we’ll have to deduct it from your pay, nya!”
She must have seen the disgust on my face. The girl let out a near-scream. At that moment, a message window appeared before me.
The magical spell is mandatory for maids!
If you refuse to act cute or make a mistake and your pay for today becomes zero, it will result in GAME OVER!
If you wish to clear the game, become a flawless maid!
“Isn’t this illegal?”
This wasn’t the martial world; it was the modern era. Unpaid labor? These people were treating the laws of the world like a joke. Remember this well. In this world, there is something called the minimum wage. Anyone who fails to uphold it must be dragged away and punished by the authorities!
“Right. It’s a game.”
There was no point in arguing about laws or regulations here. Even I understood that. I was simply so frustrated I couldn’t endure it otherwise.
Sigh. What could I do? I had to do it.
“Does it really have to be cute, nya?”
“Of course, nya. The cuter you are, the more I’ll be impressed, and you’ll get a bonus! Cute is best, nya!”
I see. Very well. Wait a moment. With my current dry, emotionless voice, it would be difficult to sound cute. I would need to make some adjustments.
“A. A. A.”
There was a time when I had to flee from pursuers and hide my identity. If I had used my real appearance or voice, I would have been discovered immediately. So whenever I entered a village, I always changed them. In short, this was a skill I had learned for survival.
“Aah. How is my voice now, nya?”
I had imitated the voice of a child I had met while wandering the world. Did she like it?
Judging from the viewers’ reactions, my voice seemed acceptable. Then I might as well try doing what the girl asked. Laying down a steel plate of shameless self-justification was one of my specialties. This is something the game is forcing me to do. It has nothing to do with my own will. Yes. I was simply acting. Did the performers on stage feel ashamed of their roles? Of course not. The more natural the performance, the greater their pride.
I had never acted cute toward others before, but I had seen plenty of people who did. How many had thrown away their pride and desperately flattered the strong just to survive? Recalling those memories and recreating them wasn’t difficult at all.
“Become delicious~ Become delicious~ Moe Moe Kyun☆”
Based on past memories, I added movements that would look good to others and presented the best version possible. Hmm. I thought it wasn’t bad. What did you all think?
“Huk.”
What now? Why was she making that face again? I hadn’t even threatened her this time.
“It’s perfect, nya! You were the cutest cat I’ve ever seen, nya! Full marks, nya! I’m crying from how moved I am, nyaaaa!”
Oh, really? That’s fortunate.
Watching the chat reactions made my head spin. Their positive feedback suggested my acting had been successful, yet the thought of this moment being spread everywhere made it impossible to feel any joy. Sigh. Let it go. What could I do now that it had already come to this?
“Next! Let’s try the next one, nya! There’s still so much left, nya! The most important thing is this full aegyo course, nya! This is…”
Perhaps inspired by what I had just done, the girl seemed to forget her fear entirely. Excited, she began teaching me one thing after another. Setting aside personal feelings and evaluating purely on merit, her actions were packed with deliberate intent to appear cute. To put it simply, it felt like she had taken the exaggerated behaviors of manga characters and brought them into reality. Because it was so over-the-top, I didn’t feel ashamed so much as like I was performing. That made it easier to follow her instructions.
“Perfect, nya! Hwaryong is the cutest cat in the world, nya! You’re so good at this, so why did you act like that at the beginning, nya?!”
Of course, finding it easy to perform didn’t mean I wasn’t embarrassed. Especially every time I saw Enri’s name spamming the chat with cheering emojis, my head felt like it was burning. I needed a long pipe to chew on right now.
“Nya. Don’t you have a long pipe or something, nya?”
“A long pipe? You mean a cigarette?! That’s not allowed, nya! Maids are fantasy beings! You can’t do that, nya!”
Hmm. It was necessary for my mental health. I tried to persuade the girl, but she was stubborn. When she declared that if I was caught smoking, she would deduct my entire pay, I had no choice but to concede. What could I do? The best option was to finish the game quickly and then put a long pipe in my mouth.
Jingle.
The café door opened, and the sound of a bell rang out.
“Now, it’s time to greet them, nya? One. Two.”
““Welcome meow. Master!””
The first customer to arrive was a refined-looking woman who didn’t seem like the type to visit a place like this.
“Go on, Hwaryong-nya! Go serve the customer, nya!”
Shouldn’t she demonstrate first? I had no experience working in a place like this. Although I had learned the words from her earlier, learning through speech and actual practice were completely different. I would do as ordered for now, but I hoped she wouldn’t blame me if something went wrong.
“Hello, nya. I am Hwaryong, who will be guiding you, Master, nya.”
“Yes. Please take care of me.”
“Here is the menu, nya.”
The woman glanced at the menu and ordered an omurice and a drink without much hesitation. It seemed she had visited this place more than once or twice. I relayed the order to the kitchen as I had been taught, and the food came out shortly after. Carrying the tray, I set the dishes down in front of her and picked up the ketchup bottle with both hands.
Now it was time to reveal my artistic sense. Behold. This was the adorable cat I would draw.
“Wow.”
As I drew the picture in a single fluid motion with ketchup, a gasp of admiration escaped the woman’s lips. How about that? This was my skill.
“That’s amazing.”
“Thank you, nya.”
“Um… but the spell…”
Do not worry. I am not so foolish as to have already forgotten what I learned moments ago.
“Become delicious~ Become delicious~ Moe Moe Kyun☆”
After learning so many things from the girl earlier, I had long since abandoned my dignity. Once you let go, the rest came easily. When I performed the cute act, a bright smile bloomed on the woman’s face.
* Ara, aren’t you doing way better than I expected?!
Enri, the very person who had caused this situation, was watching Ara’s stream with a sense of responsibility. If anything went wrong, she would take the blame. She had even been prepared to redirect the heat from Ara’s broadcast to her own if it blew up. But her resolve turned out to be meaningless. Ara was performing the maid role far better than Enri had anticipated.
Ara’s acting was so natural it made one suspect she had actually worked in the industry before. Enri couldn’t help but be impressed. The person who always looks so serious and carries herself with the calm of an experienced elder is doing this… It’s fascinating.
Does she like cute things so much that she already knows how to become cute? Eugh.
It’s interesting to see a side of Ara I’ve never seen before, but this isn’t what I wanted! I wanted her to be embarrassed and awkward about it! If she’s even good at this, what am I supposed to do?! My ultimate move prepared to mess with Ara has been completely neutralized like this!
When Ara had first shown clear displeasure, Enri had still held some hope. Although she was quite afraid of the aftermath, what was done was done. She had wanted to see Ara struggling and blushing. However, Ara had betrayed those expectations. She was proving that the only thing she couldn’t adapt to was new technology.
Eugh. Is it truly impossible for me to ever mess with Ara?