Chapter 1142: Side Story – Late Love (3)

Kyungsook Sunbae looked at me quite curiously, seeing me getting along so well with the guild members.

Before I knew it, checking the meal menu took a backseat, and she instead started asking various questions about the relationship between me and the other guild members.

“I saw earlier you called out each name and responded; do you usually remember each guild member’s name?”

“Well, of course. They’re my guild members.”

“You’re quite diligent. But you should be careful about that. Right now, since it’s a guild with less than 50 people, you can memorize them all, but later, once the guild members exceed triple digits, it’ll be hard to memorize them all, won’t it?”

“Still, I’ll try to do as much as I can. They could easily work at other guilds, but they chose our guild, so I should at least memorize their names.”

In the first place, I didn’t really try to memorize them. It’s just that I’ve had deep physical relations with each and every person in Belle’s dungeon, so it would almost be apologetic if I couldn’t remember them.

Right now, just looking at the employees eating over there, their sexual preferences come to mind along with their names. Eunha-ssi feels it better if you tickle her body slightly with feathers or soft touches, and Gayoung-ssi likes role-playing, like doctor and patient or teacher and student. Dajeong-ssi has an eyeglass fetish, so to accommodate her, I even made a few pairs of non-prescription glasses.

I know best that the satisfaction from the act leads to the recovery of awakened abilities, thanks to my extensive experience. Since they belong to our guild, the growth of our guild members’ awakened abilities directly leads to the growth of our guild, so there’s no reason not to accommodate them.

‘In the first place, this guild also reflects my personal preferences to some extent.’

First of all, the most important factor when selecting guild members was ‘Do they meet my standards?’. Because it’s the foundation of our guild’s identity, the guild members of Hope City Guild mostly have young and pretty appearances.

Since I’ve gathered women who fit my taste, memorizing their names comes naturally. The hiring criteria probably won’t change in the future either, so it’ll likely feel similar.

“Because Master is highly respected among the guild members, Hope City Guild was also able to develop like this in a short period.”

“Taekyung Hubae seems well-respected… But, Master…?”

“Although it’s a new guild that hasn’t even been around for a year, according to the internal guild member survey results, guild satisfaction is 98%, and the number of members wishing to transfer is 0. If Master wasn’t suited for the Guild Master position, this would have been an impossible achievement.”

“…W-well, yes. It’s certainly not my field, so it’s not something I should interfere with…”

Kyungsook Sunbae nodded cautiously, seeming slightly flustered by Eunbyul’s behavior of calling me Master so openly. Eunbyul, too, showed no intention of changing her words and naturally maintained the title.

After chatting about such things and receiving our meals from the restaurant staff, Kyungsook Sunbae started the in-house cafeteria consulting in earnest.

“Multigrain rice, spicy stir-fried pork, braised potatoes, and soybean paste stew, plus seasonal fruit…”

“Salad, kimchi, and pickled radish are available from the self-serve counter. Shall I get them for you?”

“No need for kimchi and pickled radish, just bring some salad. I’m just going to check the condition roughly, so you don’t need to bring too much.”

“I’ll go get it, Master.”

In response to Kyungsook Sunbae’s words, Eunbyul got up first and headed towards the self-serve counter. Meanwhile, Kyungsook Sunbae, sitting next to me, carefully tasted each menu item and nodded cautiously.

-munch munch….

“The rice is fine, and the meat seems cooked adequately…”

-slurp.

“The soup should be a bit saltier. Hunters work physically demanding jobs, so if it’s too bland, it’s not good.”

“A bit saltier soup?”

“Yes, and looking at the side dishes too…”

“Here is the salad provided from the self-serve counter, Noh Kyungsook-nim.”

“Ah, thank you. This is as I expected. It’s fresh… Ah, do you provide the dressing already poured?”

“Yes, if everyone pours it themselves, the serving area tends to get messy.”

“In that case, put the dressing in small separate dishes and offer them separately. So they can take it to their own seats and pour or dip as they please. Are the fruits for meals fixed? Or do they change with the season?”

“If possible, we tend to provide only seasonal fruits.”

“Right, that’s good. But don’t just use anything because it’s seasonal; focus on those with high sweetness…”

From some point on, Kyungsook Sunbae was discussing improvements for the guild’s in-house cafeteria quite seriously. Clearly, she only tasted small amounts of the food itself, it seemed. Was there something only Kyungsook Sunbae could see?

After explaining the overall standards for using ingredients and the seasoning of the food, she then brought up the meal menu itself from a more fundamental perspective.

“Overall, the menu itself is good. With this kind of diet, they probably won’t feel hungry. That’s assuming this isn’t a hunter guild but a regular company.”

“…You mean for hunters, it needs to be changed more.”

“Right. First, it’s good to always maintain 3-4 types of carbohydrates on the tray. Right now, there’s only rice and fruit, so add things like toast, or noodles or udon. Also, don’t just provide overly sweet fruits; it would be good to occasionally include nuts as well.”

“Carbohydrates, basically, whether providing rice and noodles, or rice and bread, you mean provide them in various types somehow? And fruits must always be included?”

“Pretty much. You could use porridge instead of rice, or high-carb vegetables like sweet potatoes or potatoes are also okay. But if you give these raw, satisfaction drops, so it’s better to bake or fry them. Ah, and do you provide drinks?”

“Besides water, soy milk and protein shakes. Since it’s physical labor, we thought protein supplementation would be necessary.”

“…Using protein shakes is a good choice. And in the future, it would be good to offer coffee too. The caffeine component invigorates the body when it’s active. Also, when dungeon raids get long, there are times they stay overnight inside, so having bento box menus without soup dishes would be good. But this is just based on not knowing your guild’s dungeon scale, so take it with a grain of salt…”

…Indeed, having an expert gives a different perspective.

I thought I was managing it diligently myself, but hearing Kyungsook Sunbae, there were more than a few things to improve. Come to think of it, back when I attended Hunter Training High School, the meal menu often included rice and noodles together. At first, I wondered why they’d plan menus like that, but thinking about it now, it was definitely the optimal diet for the aspiring hunters back then.

“I think that’s about all I needed to say. Honestly, even with just this much food, there probably won’t be anyone complaining. But for hunters, if you provide good meals, their performance increases accordingly. I know from my experience as an active hunter.”

“You mentioned you were active in the same party as Eunyoung Noona and Owner Seo Ok-hee.”

“We were active together for a short while. And as I mentioned before, I was more of a cook and porter than a hunter. Still, I know what kind of meals hunters prefer when they’re served.”

“Thank you, Kyungsook Sunbae. This was very helpful. Soon, I’ll make improvements according to your suggestions.”

I handed the memo with the improvement points and precautions to Eunbyul. If I leave things like this to Eunbyul, she’ll handle them well.

“Regarding the ingredients, if you contact me, we can supply them. We’ll charge you, of course.”

“Of course, you should. I was planning to ask anyway. After I manage the menu soon, I’ll contact you again.”

From improving the in-house cafeteria to reorganizing the ingredient distribution network. This all happened less than an hour after Kyungsook Sunbae visited the guild. Of course, it will take a few more days to fully change the restaurant menu, but still, having an expert directly consult on-site makes a clear difference.

What Owner Seo Ok-hee said about guilds relying on connections felt real again. As expected, having reliable acquaintances around makes a huge difference.

‘For now, the matter of the in-house cafeteria seems to be settled somehow….’

The reason Kyungsook Sunbae came all the way down to our guild… No, more accurately, the ‘pretext’ has more or less concluded.

If that’s the case, it’s about time to repay her.

-rustle.

“…T-Taekyung Hubae?”

After finishing the consultation talk, as Kyungsook Sunbae began her meal in earnest, my right hand slowly rested on her thigh. Despite her busy schedule, she took time out to consult for our guild’s in-house cafeteria. So, I must surely repay her for that.