Descent of the Demon Master

u opened a pizzeria in one of the busiest parts of town, didn ’t you? ”

“Yes, I did.”

“But now, you ’re trying to say you haven ’t done even a cursory investigation on the market before anything else and just decided to sell nothing but pizzas?”

“…!”

“Surely, you ’ve gone to another pizzeria with your girlfriend before?” Jeong Su-Yeon was taken aback by the look on Kang Jin-Ho ’s face.
“No way…?”

Kang Jin-Ho turned his head and stared at his two friends.
“We…”

“Don ’t have…”

“…Girlfriends.”

The mood in the pizzeria suddenly resembled a funeral parlor ’s.

***

Jeong Su-Yeon coughed to clear her throat.
“Although it ’s hard to believe, I ’ll try my best to believe you.”

“Thank you very much,” said Kang Jin-Ho.
Even though he wasn ’t sure what he should be thankful for, he still felt grateful anyway!

When Jeong Su-Yeon began questioning Kang Jin-Ho on why he didn ’t think about adding other dishes besides pizzas, he thought he had reverted back to being an elementary school kid sitting through a scolding from his school teacher.

Now that he had a moment to reflect, it seemed his gratefulness had stemmed from finally escaping that horrifying situation!

”In that case, I ’ll add the standard pasta types and drinks to our menu.
I ’ll have to make various pasta dishes myself, but you three will need to help me with the drinks when I ’m busy with something else.
So you all need to familiarize yourselves with the recipes. ”

“But, uh, I have two left hands, so to speak, so…” Park Yu-Min tried to sneakily escape the responsibility.

However, that only earned him a swift kick to his backside from Ju Yeong-Gi.
“Hey, you! Listen here—we all have to do it!”

“Fine, fine…”

Jeong Su-Yeon nodded in acceptance.
“However, we don ’t have any ingredients or basic cooking utensils at the moment, so adding them to the menu right now won ’t be feasible.
If you give me your permission, I can call a supplier I know and place an order for a batch of utensils and ingredients.
Will that be okay, Mister Kang?”

“Yes, that ’ll be fine,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

“It ’s going to cost some money, though…?”

”It ’s fine.
We make a ton of money, you see? ” Ju Yeong-Gi butted in while standing tall and proud.

Jeong Su-Yeon covered her mouth while giggling away.

’Hah.
How much can a store like this make anyway? ’

Honestly, Jeong Su-Yeon was previously working in a high-class restaurant occupying an entire floor of a skyscraper.
Of course, her specialty—and her limit—was cooking pasta, which meant she wasn ’t allowed anywhere near steaks.
However, that still didn ’t change the fact that she used to work in an establishment so famous that most people were familiar with its name.
That was the kind of person she was!

’A kitchen is a warzone. ’

People always wielded knives and set fire while yelling and screaming their heads off in a restaurant kitchen.
However, how many customers would come to a small pizzeria like this one? Jeong Su-Yeon scoffed inwardly.

“In that case, she can help Jin-Ho out with baking pizzas, then? Until the utensils arrive, that is.” Park Yu-Min rubbed his chin contemplatively.

Ju Yeong-Gi tilted his head.
“Mm? But will she even have a chance to help out?”

“Doesn ’t mean she ’ll wait on the tables, though.
I heard that it ’s a no-no to ask chefs to moonlight as waiters.”

“Really?” Ju Yeong-Gi nodded, looking convinced.

Jeong Su-Yeon listening to this exchange could only sigh under her breath.

’Does this place…
even make enough for my wage? ’

Depression threatened to derail her thoughts after she realized that she could get kicked out of here in less than a month if things were to go wrong somewhere.
However, Jeong Su-Yeon ’s worries were thrown outside the window and all the way to Andromeda Galaxy less than ten minutes after the pizzeria opened its doors for business.

***

’What the heck? What’s going on here?! ’

Jeong Su-Yeon ’s jaw dropped to the floor while staring at the jam-packed dining area.

Around thirty minutes before the opening time, the front of the pizzeria seemed to have gotten a bit rowdy for some reason.
And when the doors opened, customers poured in like a biblical flood.

’E-even my previous workplace wasn ’t like this…! ’

Of course, the majority of the customers frequenting Jeong Su-Yeon ’s former workplace made reservations ahead of time, allowing the restaurant staff to make adequate preparations.
That was why she felt this way, but in truth, both establishments should boast a similar number of customers entering as soon as they opened their doors.

The difference here, though, was that her old workplace was a large restaurant with over twenty staff members, while this small pizzeria only had three men until recently.
In other words, the two eateries shouldn ’t be having the same number of customers to serve!

What confused Jeong Su-Yeon even more was the attitudes of said three men.
As soon as customers started pouring in, Kang Jin-Ho making a nonchalant expression suddenly started scrubbing his hands like a madman before trudging into the kitchen.
As for Ju Yeong-Gi, he expertly received the customers’ orders, and he seemed pretty adept at doing it.

However, Park Yu-Min was…

”Over here, please.
Stand over here.
Yes, thank you.
If you stand in a queue here, you ’ll be blocking the next door ’s entrance, and that ’s not cool, everyone.
We got scolded by the owner yesterday, you see.
Yes, please stand over here. ”

He was even more adept at controlling the customers waiting outside in a queue.

’Hang on, they all look so used to this situation! But how?! ’

How could they be familiar with this craziness?!

‘No, you shouldn ’t be so laidback like that! Even with my work experience, I’m not used to this kind of situation, you know?!’

How should Jeong Su-Yeon describe this scene? Imagine a scene where a high-level MMORPG player, after a lengthy session of challenging raids, decided to stop by a starting zone just to blow off some steam.
The player then noticed some low-level brats in starting armor-and-weapon sets fooling around in a corner.
And then, a sudden field boss ’Dragon ’ popped out of nowhere…
only for said low-level brats to utterly destroy it in the blink of an eye.
Imagine what the high-level player had to be feeling while watching such a spectacle.

That was what Jeong Su-Yeon felt like right now…

’H-hang on, this place is really this popular? Why? Why is the business so good? ’

Jeong Su-Yeon hurriedly took another look at the menu board that had given her a culture shock not too long ago, and it said:

Bulgogi Pizza

Combination Pizza

Pepperoni Pizza

Cola

Cider

With only that much printed on it, this thing had no right to call itself a menu board.
No, it should have been called a menu memo instead! It was so simple and concise that if a difficult customer showed up one day, they would have yelled, ”You think I ’m an idiot who can ’t even memorize something so bloody simple? Is that why you brought me this hand-written memo?!”

Jeong Su-Yeon had never imagined in her entire life that she would get to see a pizzeria menu that was this simple.
Despite that, there were so many customers that a long queue had formed outside.
Why?

Jeong Su-Yeon ’s mind teetered on the edge of another meltdown once again.

’Wait, could it be that Mister Kang is a hidden master pizzaiolo? '[2]

But still…
Wasn ’t he too young for that? He couldn ’t have been baking pizzas for—well—the past seventeen years of his life or something, could he? Besides, even if his pizzas were stupendously delicious, this menu didn ’t seem to scream anything special.

“I don ’t know anymore…” Jeong Su-Yeon could only chuckle hollowly at this point.

Trying to understand something beyond her comprehension only made her head pound with a migraine.
For now, her priority should be on observing just how this pizzeria was run.
That was it.

“Jin-Ho! Three bulgogi pizzas! And one pepperoni, too!”

”Mm! ” Kang Jin-Ho nodded heavily.
He pulled out a dough container firmly wrapped in plastic from the fridge, then extracted four lumps of dough larger than an adult ’s fist.

Jeong Su-Yeon tensed up.

’D-do not miss anything, Jeong Su-Yeon! ’

If there was a secret to this place ’s success, it had to be here.
And when she finally witnessed how Kang Jin-Ho baked his pizzas, Jeong Su-Yeon ’s eyes popped out of their sockets and nearly fell to the sparkling floor.

1.
the raw said ’unnie ’, not noona ☜

2.
“Pizzaiolo” is another word for a pizzamaker.
☜