The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 95

I clearly came as a guest, but here I am working.

“Huh?”

When I came to my senses, I was standing in front of a mirror wearing a white chef’s uniform.

In the mirror, I saw myself wearing transparent plastic gloves on my hands and a white bandana on my head.

Malik, who was looking at me with a proud smile as I stared blankly at the mirror, spoke to me.

“It suits you well.”

“Pardon?”

“I said it suits you. Honestly, I’d like to tell you to spend the rest of your life here.”

I looked at the gloves on my hands and asked.

“What is this?”

“It’s a work uniform.”

“No, I mean, why am I wearing this?”

“Didn’t you say you came to eat?”

“Didn’t you say you’d give me food?”

“I never said it would be free.”

Malik spoke as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Malik, who had called me here but now spouted this absurd nonsense about not giving anything for free. Even Gomtangi, who I left at the pet hotel, would probably make more sense than this.

I naturally took off the gloves I was wearing and greeted him politely.

“It was nice meeting you. I’ll be going now.”

“Where are you going?”

“Home.”

“Hmm… I don’t think you can do that.”

Malik said something cryptic.

While marveling at Fairy Unit 1, where the Young Lady was seated, and muttering “Magnificent…,” Malik pulled a small paper out of his jacket pocket and showed it to me.

[Friends of the Forest (Snack Bar) – Settlement Statement]

Recipe Fee: 500,000 Gold

10% of Sales: 50,000 Gold

Miscellaneous Idea Contribution Revenue: 100,000 Gold

Total: 650,000 Gold

“?”

It was just a receipt with a few numbers written on it, but was it just my imagination, or was it glowing? I rubbed my eyes and looked at the receipt in Malik’s hand.

“Boss, your radiant aura is making it hard to see. May I take a closer look?”

“So, would it be fine if I removed a few zeros?”

“No, Boss.”

I carefully put the plastic gloves back on and finished preparing for work. What kind of job starts at 3 p.m.? The thought of an early finish brought a happy smile to my face.

“A worker with good visuals and tireless stamina—this Ricardo is here. Who else would you hire?”

“It’s just for one day. The chef had an urgent matter and had to take leave.”

“If you call me, I’ll even lick your shoes.”

Malik made a disgusted face and said.

“Rejected.”

“I don’t want to either.”

“…?”

“It was just a polite remark.”

Leaving a flustered Malik behind, I looked at the Young Lady, who was patting her stomach, and said.

“Young Lady, please stay here and enjoy the view. I’ll make you some delicious tteokbokki and bring it over.”

“Okay.”

Malik lightly grabbed the handles of the Young Lady’s wheelchair and shook his head.

“Lady Olivia will slack off with me.”

“Pardon?”

“She needs to taste-test the mint chocolate tteokbokki we’re launching and give her opinion on Fairy Unit 1.”

At Malik’s polite explanation, the Young Lady nodded vaguely and muttered.

“Ricardo said not to follow strangers… Wait, no? I’ve seen him before, so he’s not a stranger.”

“We’re not going far. Just to the break room behind the kitchen to talk.”

“Don’t speak informally to me.”

“Then don’t speak informally to me either.”

“Eeeek…”

“So, Ricardo… What should I do?”

The Young Lady looked at me with pleading eyes. I gave her a small smile and said.

“I’m the only one working again, aren’t I?”

“Yep.”

“…Have a good time.”

And so, I ended up working.

In my previous life, I had thought about opening a restaurant with my recipes, but I never imagined the day would actually come.

As I looked at the crowd of customers, I felt a strange emotion.

It felt like I had checked off an item on my bucket list, but for some reason, it also felt like I was losing out.

Thinking about the receipt tucked in my chest pocket gave me a surge of energy, but the reality of coming to eat and ending up as a worker made me feel gloomy.

“Next customer.”

“Oppa! You’re so handsome!”

“I know.”

A female student in an academy uniform shouted at me. Judging by her youthful face, she seemed to be a freshman this year. But I didn’t feel excited or happy. I had to focus on work.

Without much enthusiasm, I served her nearly three times the standard portion in her bowl.

The female student looked at me with a startled expression.

“Uh…?”

“You’re very pretty too, Miss.”

“Thank you!”

I winked and moved on to the next customer.

The next customer appeared to be a male student around the same age as the previous girl. Watching the girl walk away with her full bowl, he looked at me expectantly and said in a loud voice.

“Hyung…! You’re so handsome!”

“Yes.”

I served him exactly the standard portion of tteokbokki in his bowl. The male student looked at me with pitiful eyes.

“Is this all?”

“I’m sorry. According to store policy, it’s the rule to serve the standard portion.”

“…”

The male student sat down at a table with a dejected look.

It was a store operation style that would make Malik furious, but what could I do? If he trusted me to run the store, I had to pay the price.

I felt sorry for my boss, Malik, but I hoped he’d understand that my tendency for gender discrimination was something I couldn’t help.

Looking at the long line of customers, I shouted energetically.

“Next customer!”

At this point, I might as well give it my all.

Surprisingly, the work wasn’t too difficult.

Maybe it was because I had experience working part-time at restaurants in my previous life, but as I served the seemingly endless line of customers one by one, it didn’t feel overwhelming. And with my strong body, I even started to pick up speed.

I was growing into a monster of the culinary business, capable of frying tempura with one hand while making tteokbokki with the other.

‘Still… This is impressive.’

I marveled at the clerks beside me, silently replenishing the ingredients I was running low on.

Including me, the store had four staff members.

One clerk handled orders and serving.

Another assisted in the kitchen.

And one managed the register, making a total of three.

It was clearly a small number to handle so many customers, but I had trusted Malik’s confident words not to worry, and now I understood why.

The staff’s work efficiency was beyond excellent—it was awe-inspiring.

The employees moved as if they were one body.

The attitude in serving customers was impeccable.

Their ability to handle troublesome guests was also outstanding.

‘How much do people like that get paid?’

They were certainly talents Malik could boast about.

One team.

Two teams.

Ten teams.

By the time we had served over twenty teams—

“Next customer, may I take your order?”

“…I”

A familiar voice reached my ears.

A voice as clear and sweet as freshly squeezed fruit juice.

Instinctively, I lifted my head. Startled by hearing the voice of someone I never expected to meet here, I looked up and saw a girl with pink hair.

“Huh?”

A pink-haired student tightly clutching a worn pink wallet. She was staring at the price tags, deeply contemplating, as I spoke to her.

“Oh? We meet again, Miss Yuria.”

The protagonist of this novel.

It was Yuria.

*

I could read the emotion of bewilderment on Yuria’s face as our eyes met.

Like someone caught doing something wrong, she shrank back, her lips trembling as if she wanted to say something but couldn’t.

The longer Yuria hesitated, the more the grumbling of the people in line behind her reached my ears.

-What’s going on?

-Why isn’t she ordering?

-Ugh, it’s freezing. Hurry up already.

The complaints of hungry customers.

Some of them, now addicted to the tteokbokki I made, had emptied their bowls and lined up again.

To accommodate such loyal “slaves,” I cautiously addressed Yuria.

“Excuse me, Miss Yuria.”

“…”

“Miss Yuria?!”

“Yes!?”

Yuria, snapping out of her daze, flinched at my call.

I carefully pointed at the grumbling customers with my finger.

“You need to place your order.”

“Ah… um.”

“Personally, I recommend adding fried toppings to the original tteokbokki. What do you think?”

“Ah… okay.”

Yuria hesitated for a moment before correcting her order.

“Is there any chance you have the flavor I had at the Academy last time?”

“At the Academy?”

“Yes… the one you made back at the Academy.”

“Ah. Hold on a moment.”

I searched my memory.

It must have been around the time Yuria was being subtly bullied by her classmates at the start of the semester.

They called it “subtle bullying” in short.

A nasty act of quietly ostracizing someone.

I remembered how the students would suddenly go silent whenever Yuria entered the classroom, and how she avoided the school cafeteria during that time.

Because she felt self-conscious.

During lunch, she would quietly go outside to eat a packed meal or skip eating altogether.

Back then, I was also being subtly ostracized, so I often cooked for Yuria, who ate alone.

I recalled sneaking her into the dormitory to cook for her.

At that time, I was a delinquent student skipping classes to chase fortuitous encounters at the Academy.

Realizing what Yuria was referring to, I nodded.

“Are you talking about the Rose Tteokbokki?”

“Ro…se?”

“The tteokbokki with a creamy, spicy flavor. Made with a light red sauce.”

“Ah…”

Yuria nodded.

“I think that’s the one.”

I gave Yuria a small smile and whispered to her.

“It’s not on the menu, but I’ll make it especially for you, Miss Yuria. And as for you two back there—”

I looked at Mikhail and Ruin, who were awkwardly standing behind Yuria.

“Go hungry.”

“What?”

“Next customer!”

I decided not to sell to those two, knowing they’d just complain about the taste.

“Get lost!”

Mikhail and Ruin stared at me with expressions of utter disbelief.