Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 253

“Haaahhhhm.”

Park Yu-min yawned widely and stretched.

The cleaning was done perfectly. Kang Jin-ho was the type of person who valued cleanliness, so cleaning was tough, but seeing the place sparkling like new filled her with satisfaction.

In the kitchen, Kang Jin-ho and Joo Young-gi were busy with preparations.

“We need some customers today…”

She felt like she should sweep the front yard. Even if a clean yard didn’t bring in more customers, it was better than doing nothing. With that thought, she grabbed a broom and went outside.

“It’s so quiet.”

It was early morning, and there weren’t many people on the streets yet.

“We need to make some money today…”

If business continued like this, it wouldn’t just be about Joo Young-gi and Park Yu-min’s wages. They’d struggle to pay the rent. Of course, Kang Jin-ho had plenty of money, so he could cover it, but they couldn’t just keep pouring money into a business that was supposed to make money.

“I need to sweep thoroughly.”

Since there wasn’t much else she could do, she decided to focus on cleanliness and started sweeping.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes?”

“I heard there’s a pizza place around here. Do you know where it is?”

Park Yu-min turned around with a strange expression. A group of three women were looking around.

“This is it.”

Park Yu-min pointed to the store, and the group frowned in unison.

“What, this place?”

“The map said it was here!”

“This doesn’t look like a pizza place. I thought it was a bar. It looks like a pub.”

Park Yu-min realized one of the reasons why business had been so slow.

‘Authentic’ my foot.

She should have seen this coming when Joo Young-gi, who had never been to America, insisted on an ‘authentic American’ interior and sign.

It was wrong from the start to claim that the ‘authentic’ pizza place was American, not Italian.

“Is it open?”

“Yes, we’re open.”

Park Yu-min quickly answered their muttering and opened the door with the broom in her hand.

“Welcome.”

“Oh, you’re the staff.”

The group hesitated instead of coming in, then asked Park Yu-min in a small voice.

“Is this… the place run by that person?”

“That person? Who are you talking about?”

“You know, the one from that drama.”

“Ah, you mean that. If you’re talking about Jin-ho, then yes.”

After Park Yu-min confirmed, the group started jumping up and down, exclaiming, ‘Oh my god! Oh my god!’ and looked at the store with excited faces.

“Is it true that you get a photo if you order pizza?”

“…I’m not sure about that.”

Park Yu-min bowed her head and watched the group enter the store with a satisfied smile.

“Anyway, it’s good to have customers.

I hope this brings in a lot more customers.”

But less than two hours later, Park Yu-min regretted what she had said.

“…What in the world is going on?”

The hall was packed, and the line of people stretched far down the street. Because the line was blocking the road, complaints started coming in, and Park Yu-min was outside, doing traffic control, something she never imagined she’d do.

“It’s like they’re possessed by a goblin…”

Considering how empty the place was at this time yesterday, it was impossible to understand why so many people were suddenly here.

The reason was already clear, though.

“Can you take a picture with us?”

“When will the owner come out?”

Joo Young-gi stepped back, overwhelmed by the flood of questions.

“Hah, please ask one question at a time.”

“Do you take pictures?”

Joo Young-gi had a gut feeling.

The rise or fall of this place depended on how he answered right now.

“Our motto is simple. If the customer wants it, we’ll even sell Jajangmyeon [Korean-Chinese noodle dish]!”

Joo Young-gi shouted with blazing eyes.

“If you want a picture, we’ll take it! But only with a large pizza or bigger! If you order a large pizza, the chef will bring it to your table and take a picture with you.”

“St-stop!”

Kang Jin-ho, who had been watching the situation from the kitchen, reached out his hand, but words couldn’t be stopped by a hand.

“One large pizza here!”

“Two here!”

“One for each of us!”

Joo Young-gi swallowed his tears at the flood of orders.

‘This is just the beginning!’

He didn’t know what was going on, but the important thing was that customers were pouring in. Even though Kang Eun-young hadn’t done a performance, the fact that so many people had come made him feel like the store was finally going to do well.

“Hehehehe. I’m counting on you, Jin-ho.”

Kang Jin-ho took a step back, unconsciously, as he saw Joo Young-gi turn around with a sinister smile.

“Cheese.”

“…Cheese.”

Kang Jin-ho smiled awkwardly and took a picture. Joo Young-gi, who had taken a picture of Kang Jin-ho with the women posing on either side, smiled and handed back the phone.

“Here you go.”

“Hmm, I think I look weird?”

“No, it’s not the picture, it’s because there’s an ugly squid next to you.”

“Ah…”

“You can just blur your face.”

“Okay.”

Kang Jin-ho quietly backed away as he watched them critique the photo.

He needed to get back to the kitchen, quickly.

“Wait a minute, Mr. Owner!”

“Yes?”

“I really enjoyed the drama!”

“…Thank you.”

Kang Jin-ho bowed his head. After all, they had come because of him, and they were customers. He had to be polite to them.

“Could you take off your hat for a moment?”

Kang Jin-ho shook his head.

“I’m sorry. I can’t take off my hat because I work in the kitchen.”

“Aww, then you should wear a bandana. The newsboy cap doesn’t show off your looks. Well, you’re still handsome, though.”

“The hat…”

“I’ll change to a bandana starting tomorrow.”

Kang Jin-ho’s opinion didn’t matter. The customers clapped as Joo Young-gi gave an immediate answer.

“And could you sign something for us?”

“A signature?”

Kang Jin-ho smiled awkwardly.

“I’m sorry, but I’ve never signed anything before.”

“Ah…”

At that moment, Joo Young-gi grabbed Kang Jin-ho by the back of the neck and pulled him back. Then, with a gentle smile, he said,

“You can just make a signature. We’ll give the owner’s autograph to those who take a large pizza to go.”

“St-stop it!”

“We’ll take it to go!”

Joo Young-gi smiled triumphantly as he saw them nod with determined faces. Three pizzas went out from the table with three women. This was a sales record that no franchise could achieve.

“Hehehehe, we’re going to be rich.”

Kang Jin-ho sighed as he watched Joo Young-gi, who was so happy that his mouth was stretched to his ears.

‘It’s good that business is doing well, but…

I’m going to die at this rate.’

The customers who had suddenly poured in weren’t interested in the pizza, only in Kang Jin-ho.

They asked for pictures, talked about the drama, asked when he would be on TV again, and even asked him to say a line from the drama.

‘That was dubbed.’

Kang Jin-ho had at least some sense. He knew that if he opened his mouth here, the good illusion would be shattered, so he had no choice but to politely refuse to say the lines.

Even after lunch and dinner, the customers didn’t stop coming. So many customers were coming that even though Kang Jin-ho was making pizzas like crazy, Joo Young-gi and Park Yu-min couldn’t keep up with setting and clearing the tables, and they couldn’t rotate the tables properly.

If Kang Jin-ho hadn’t been making pizzas at such an incredible speed, they wouldn’t have been able to handle even half of the customers.

“Hehehe, if we keep this up until midnight, how much money will we make today?”

Joo Young-gi was lost in a happy fantasy, but the world wasn’t so easy.

“Young-gi.”

“Yeah?”

“We’re out of dough.”

“…What the hell are you talking about?”

They had a line of customers waiting, and they were out of pizza to sell!

“Can’t you just make more?”

“The dough needs to be aged, so there’s no time.”

“Does it really have to be aged?”

“You can’t use it if it’s not aged.”

“Ughhh.”

Joo Young-gi frowned, then looked at Park Yu-min with a determined expression.

“There’s no other way. Yu-min, let’s use the last resort.”

“Huh? Last resort?”

“…Call a pizza place and order some pizza for delivery.”

“Stop it, you crazy bastard!”

Joo Young-gi shed tears of blood, but he couldn’t make pizza out of thin air. When they told the waiting customers that they were out of ingredients and couldn’t make any more pizza, some were disappointed, and some were annoyed.

They couldn’t appease everyone, so they took a group photo with the waiting customers and finally managed to send them away.

Screech.

Kang Jin-ho, who had opened the door and entered the store, slumped down on the nearest chair.

“I burned out, completely.”

Kang Jin-ho’s body trembled.

‘It would be better to train.’

Physical training was hard on the body, but this was mentally exhausting. He felt like he had taken at least 150 pictures today.

“This can’t happen tomorrow! Dough! Prepare the dough! And the toppings!”

Joo Young-gi was still furious that they couldn’t sell more pizza.

If he had studied with that kind of determination, he would have gone to a prestigious university.

“It was really hard, Jin-ho. I don’t think we can do this with just the three of us?”

“We don’t know when the customers will suddenly disappear, so we can’t hire part-timers.”

“Hmm, what should we do?”

Park Yu-min was seriously worried, but Joo Young-gi answered as if it was nothing.

“You’re worrying too much. Isn’t it the kids’ vacation now?”

“Yeah. It started recently.”

“Tell the kids on vacation to come here and work part-time. Give them a daily wage. Then they can work on the days they don’t have plans.”

“Ah…”

Park Yu-min stared blankly, and Joo Young-gi asked back.

“Why?”

“You seem really smart sometimes.”

“Sometimes?”

Joo Young-gi’s face turned red.

“I took in these inhuman creatures and took care of them, and you say ‘sometimes’? You guys wouldn’t be able to function as humans if it weren’t for me!”

“Yes, yes.”

“Anyway, we really need to sell properly starting tomorrow. I don’t know if it’s the drama or what, but if the water’s coming in, we need to row the boat!”

As Joo Young-gi clenched his fist and burned with passion, Kang Jin-ho’s phone started ringing.

“Hello?”

“[Mr. Kang Jin-ho, do you have time this evening?]”

It was Jo Gyu-min.

“I didn’t before, but I think I do now. What’s going on?”

“[I think we need to meet for a bit. The item has arrived.]”

“Item?”

Kang Jin-ho tilted his head. What item?