Seungah's Song and the Tanghulu Rush
"You're here, sunbae?"
When I returned to the Business Administration department's stall, Lee Yujin greeted me as if a maid were welcoming her master.
"Yeah. Nothing happened while I was gone, right? Where's Choi Seungah?"
"She hasn't come back yet."
"Where on earth did she go to promote that she's still not back?"
Choi Seungah had gone out wearing a maid outfit with a signboard hanging around her neck, claiming she was going to promote. Even as opening time approached, there was no sign of her. Since I was in charge of overall operations, things could run without her, but having her around was definitely better than not.
"Sunbae, what should I do?"
Lee Yujin approached and asked.
"Just stand next to me, move the tanghulu I make, and hand them to customers when they come. If I need something, bring it over. When you get tired, switch with Choi Seungah and rest."
"Understood, sunbae."
I assigned Kim Eunha, who worked at the cafe, to the counter. Choi Seungah, as the vice president of the student council, would handle overall management and switch with anyone who got exhausted. Lee Yujin was given the role of assisting me. In other words, from now on, she was my personal maid helping me.
I complimented her maid outfit again.
"The maid outfit suits you well. Is it uncomfortable or anything?"
"No, it's not uncomfortable at all. It fits perfectly. Thank you for making such a pretty outfit for me."
Her calm, gentle smile and elegant, dignified demeanor reminded me of the maids I'd seen in the imperial palace back in the other world.
While Lee Yujin and I stood together chatting about this and that, someone kept glancing our way. When I looked, it was Kim Eunha at the counter, pretending not to watch while glaring in our direction.
Soon after, Lee Yujin also noticed her gaze.
I asked her, "Do you two not get along?"
"No? We were close, actually. We've never fought or argued or anything."
Given Lee Yujin's personality, it made sense that no one would dislike her. That meant the glare was directed at me. Apparently, she didn't like how well I was getting along with Lee Yujin.
"What about you, sunbae? Did something happen with Eunha? She never even acknowledged guys before, but lately it seems like she's been getting to know you."
"There was some trouble a while back, and I helped her out then."
"Like you did for me?"
"Something like that."
It wasn't on the same level as when Kim Eunha was kidnapped, but I had once stopped a professor from forcing her to drink when she was a freshman. From my perspective, it was just something I had to do as someone overseeing new students, but she had told me that realizing how big a deal it was to stand up to a professor made her start liking me from that moment on.
After hearing my explanation, Lee Yujin calmly met my eyes and said, "Did you two do it?"
"Uh, what...?"
"You did."
"......"
Caught off guard by her sudden question, I failed to come up with an excuse. I could have just denied it, but looking into her calmly shining eyes, I realized any excuse would be pointless.
"Are you mad?"
"Of course not. As long as you're by my side, sunbae, I'm fine with anything."
Her words said she was fine, but her eyes told a completely different story.
'She's fine... right?'
—At this rate, am I going to get stabbed and end up with a [Nice Boat] ending?
'Don't raise weird flags. It's scary. There's no way someone as well-behaved as Yujin would do that.'
—Don't you know that the quiet ones are the scariest?
I tried to ignore Seria's voice in my head.
While I was thinking of excuses, Lee Yujin smiled softly as she watched me fluster.
"I'm just joking, sunbae. I really won't resent anything you do as long as you don't leave my side."
"R-really?"
"Yes. Even if you asked me to do it with another woman, I wouldn't mind. Should I practice in advance?"
Because she was usually so serious, I couldn't tell if that last part was a joke or not. The silver lining was that she didn't seem particularly bothered by the idea of me being with other women.
—Wow, this one is a keeper. Did you save a country in your past life?
'I don't know about my past life, but in this one I saved another world as a hero.'
After finishing our conversation, I focused on making tanghulu.
"Shall we start making them now?"
Since I didn't expect a huge crowd from the start, I only prepared a moderate amount. No matter how delicious the tanghulu was, it wouldn't draw customers all at once. That was something I'd learned well while running the cafe.
'How do I attract customers?'
While I was pondering, a pleasant singing voice reached my ears from somewhere. It sounded like a participant in the singing contest on the central field stage. Whoever it was, they were quite good.
When I perked up my ears at the singing, Lee Yujin did the same.
"That's Seungah's voice."
"Choi Seungah is singing?"
In disbelief, I looked toward the stage set up in the central field. There, a woman in a maid outfit was singing cheerfully. Her voice had always been nice, but her singing skills were on another level. A pretty girl who could sing well, wearing a maid outfit that was rare to see in everyday life—people passing by who weren't even watching the performance turned their heads toward the stage.
The gazes of the people around her focused on her. Standing on a stage full of strangers required considerable skill and courage. Yet even while wearing a maid outfit and carrying a signboard, there wasn't a hint of nervousness from her. She was clearly born for the stage.
—Waaaaah!
When her song ended, the many people who had been listening burst into applause and cheers. Someone shouted for an encore, but of course there were no encores in a contest. The host approached and asked if she had anything she wanted to say. She shook her signboard and shouted, "Come eat the tanghulu made by our Business Administration department! It's really delicious!"
After perfectly finishing her final promotion, she came down from the stage. Proudly swinging the signboard around her neck, she returned triumphantly to the stall.
"Ta-da! I'm back!"
Like the Pied Piper, she had brought back a huge crowd of customers. On top of that, the students from our department also arrived right on time for opening. As a result, the audience from the stage and the Business Administration students gathered in front of the stall, forming a long line.
"Hehe, how about that? I did well, right?"
Once one line formed, more and more people joined out of curiosity, creating an even longer queue. Even though the tanghulu I'd prepared in advance sold out, the line showed no signs of shrinking. If a restaurant has no customers, people hesitate to go, but if there's a crowd and a line, they unconsciously join it too. It was a kind of herd mentality at work.
'Plus, it's delicious.'
Since the main customers were university students, if it hadn't tasted good, bad rumors would've spread quickly through SNS or group chats. But because it was delicious, good word-of-mouth spread just as fast.
"It's seriously so good. Yeah, yeah, I'll hold your place in line, so hurry up and come."
"I'm not kidding. If it tastes bad after you try it, I'll take responsibility."
Customers who had already eaten once lined up again shortly after, bringing their friends along. The customers poured in like a flood, making me feel foolish for having worried about how to attract them just moments ago.
* * *
The sweet, sugary scent spread around, tempting passing students. Though morning had ended and it was now lunchtime, the line showed no signs of shrinking—in fact, it had grown even longer.
I kept making tanghulu without rest. But there was a limit to how much I could produce, so supply couldn't keep up with demand. When people waiting in line started buying strawberry juice as well, Choi Seungah's lips curled into a wide grin.
"Sunbae, did you see the expressions on those International Trade kids next to us? It's only just starting, but they already look half-dead."
Our rival, the International Trade department right next to us, had an atmosphere like a funeral home. While everyone else was enjoying the festival, they alone looked like they were at a wake. Being right beside us, they couldn't help but notice how well we were doing no matter how much they tried to ignore it. Their business seemed decent enough, but we were selling everything we made. Plus, since customers were taking the tanghulu to go instead of sitting at tables, our turnover rate was in a completely different league.
Choi Seungah happily picked up a tanghulu and took a bite.
"Kya, no wonder it's selling so well. How do you even make this?"
"Trade secret."
In reality, even if I told her, she couldn't make it without Sex Power, so I just brushed it off as a secret.
"Can't you at least tell me? It looks super simple. I want to make it at home later."
"Even if I told you, you couldn't make it, so stop talking nonsense and just move the finished ones. The customers are waiting."
As time passed, the strawberry boxes gradually emptied. The once-abundant strawberries were slowly running out. Choi Seungah, who had questioned whether we'd ordered too many earlier, scratched her head with an awkward expression.
"Looks like we need to order more strawberries?"
"Got it."
I called and ordered the same amount of strawberries as in the morning. Not long after, a truck loaded with strawberries arrived. The first-year male students, who thought they were finally done, were horrified to see the boxes being stacked up again. The guys who had been shouting energetically in the morning now looked completely drained.
When the unpaid slaves showed signs of rebellion, I immediately gave Choi Seungah a look. She nodded in understanding.
"Alright, alright, our first-years. You know I trust you, right? I'll buy you something delicious when we're done, so hang in there a little longer! Hoo-ah!"
""Hoo, hoo-ah...!""
Choi Seungah immediately suppressed the slaves' revolt. The effect seemed weaker than in the morning, but it still worked to some degree, and they got back to work diligently. Hoping they'd last until tomorrow, I was about to start working myself when I noticed something strange.
The truck that had delivered strawberries to our stall had now stopped at the International Trade department's stall and was unloading strawberries there as well.
'What? Do they even need strawberries?'
The International Trade department sold meals during the day and alcohol at night. There was no menu that would involve strawberries. Yet a considerable amount of strawberries was being brought into their stall. On top of that, a student I'd never seen before was filming me making tanghulu from quite a distance.
'Don't tell me they're trying to make tanghulu too?'
As if confirming my suspicion, a standing signboard reading [Strawberry Tanghulu] was set up in front of the International Trade department's stall.
Choi Seungah came running over with an urgent expression.
"Sunbae, this is bad! Those guys are making tanghulu..."
"Leave them be."
"Why? There's a limit to bad manners. This is basically a declaration of war! Let's go confront them right now!"
"They're trying to score an own goal on their own. Why should I stop them instead of cheering them on?"
"...What?"