“What is this ramen made of?” Jin asked. Lynn playfully placed her finger on her lips while grinning widely. “It’s a secret.” However, after having fun seeing Jin frowning, she subsequently answered the question.
“The soup broth was made from only Red Snapper Bones. It’s a rather delicate shio (salted) soup ramen making it both light and sweet. But I did remove the blood and offal rather carefully from the red snapper before stewing them for roughly 27 hours.”
“27 hours? Oh, you used the time compression cooker.” Jin realised that Lynn did it in the store’s kitchen instance.
“The red snappers that were used in this soup were really top quality. I had to struggle to get it out when it was swimming inside the cabinet. Seriously Jin, if the inspectors ever saw the state of your kitchen, they would definitely be closing your store down.”
“Meh. It is a dimensional instance. They would never figure if it was real or not. That way, they would not be able to find anything at all. Hahahaha!” Jin laughed as he wiped his mouth after finishing the delicious bowl of Chashu Ramen.
“You are indeed mysterious, Jin.” Lynn smiled, and Jin could feel that Lynn had finally opened up and became more friendly with him.
“Speaking of mysterious, I have a letter for you.” Jin passed the letter to her and requested her to open it.
“Is it my retrenchment letter?” Lynn inquired casually although there was indeed some traces of fear in her voice, fearing that it was true.
“Nah, nothing of that sorts. In fact, it could be considered a promotion letter. Just that…erm brace yourself.” Jin took a step backwards and replied.
Lynn was curious but opened the letter as instructed. Suddenly, she felt a jolt of pain pulsating through her entire body. Lynn felt extremely exposed all of a sudden even though her clothes were all intact. The pain got stronger, but Lynn tried to endure it as warned by Jin but she still looked at him for help.
Nonetheless, Jin was simply standing there, not assisting her in any way at all. “What have you done Jin!?” Lynn screamed as she tried to reach him, but he was not responding at all.
“I am sorry, but you have to endure this pain.” Jin could only continue to look at Lynn struggling against the unspeakable pain that went through her.
After what felt like an eternity to Lynn, the pain finally stopped. She continued lying flat on the floor for a while before Jin went forward and poked at her shoulders.
“Are you alright?” Jin asked.
“Do I look alright? What have you done to me? Better yet WHY??? And what is this now??!!” Lynn felt something was moving in her body as she stood up with the assistance of Jin.
“System, is her integration complete?” Jin took out the phone and asked.
“Yes, 100% complete. System has also integrated the 1st grade of Perfectible Penguin Ruling The Kitchen Hell Cultivation into her body.” The System spoke through his phone.
“Hello, Lynn Arisato. Please pass your phone to Jin.” The System echoed, and Lynn’s head was in a mess. It was filled with feelings of anger, pain, relief, and a lot of confusion.
“What is happening? Who is that on the line?” Lynn was perplexed and started to be afraid. Did Jin betray her? Who is this System person?
“Look Lynn. Calm down. I will explain everything to you in a moment. Though first I would like you to pass me your phone. That should help you understand what is going on.” Jin tried to calm her down. Lynn hesitated at first after what had just happened, but she decided to trust Jin for now as she passed her phone to him.
It was an old flip phone which Lynn had been using for years. Not to mention, it was bought by both her parents as a birthday present. However, when she passed it to Jin, the flip phone suddenly changed its shape right in front of her eyes. As if it was some transmutation magic that was happening.
It was sleeker, blacker, and even had touchscreen functions on Lynn’s screen despite still being a flip phone. The buttons that were partially faulty due to wear and tear became usable again. There was even a mini analogue stick that enabled her to choose things quite easily on her phone.
“Here’s your new phone. I now officially welcome you to the System.” Jin said as he began to tell Lynn the rough gist of his shop’s true identity. Things started to make more sense for Lynn. Especially the Kitchen instance and many other things.
Jin even introduced the Bellators properly to her, such as Milk, Peppers and Zeru. “Lady Lynn, we meet again.” Zeru bowed a little.
“So you are all Jin’s helpers and guards at the same time?” Lynn tried to comprehend the amount of information that was being passed to her within this short amount of time. It was then that Yun appeared too and reintroduced herself to Lynn.
“Ohh..so you are like a sister to Jin that he never knew he had?” Lynn asked, and Yun nodded. Both Jin and Yun decided on the spot that it would be terribly awkward to let Lynn know about Jin’s true relationship with Yun. Sister was a good cover story for Lynn and the subsequent Sub System Users like Qiu Yue.
“If you need any help, do not hesitate to ask. As for your powers…ehh System?” Jin really had no idea what was going to be Lynn’s Sub System’s powers. He only remembered that Yun mentioned, it would help Lynn with her cooking, but she never shared the details with him. So he passed the baton to the System for it to explain to Lynn. At that moment, Lynn’s phone powered up, and the System spoke to her through that phone.
“Under normal circumstances, the System will only be talking to the User through text. Unless the System is positive that its position would not be compromised by talking through the speakers.” The System stated.
“Check your phone. There should be a weird looking app that you have never seen before.” Yun who was the System’s mouthpiece instructed Lynn.
“This panda looking app? Pandamonium?” Lynn asked, and Yun sniggered as she shook her head.
“No, no. In your case it is the penguin looking one.” Yun corrected her, as she could not believe Lynn could be this stupid cute. Lynn managed to find it and read the App’s name. ‘Penguin’s Food Bazaar’
“Before you activate the app, let’s go into the Kitchen Instance.” Yun held onto the other two’s collars and activated the System’s teleportation into the Kitchen Instance since they were in the Shop Level One Instance.
Lynn stabilised herself a bit before she flipped open her handphone and activated the Penguin’s Food Bazaar App. Within moments, multiple penguins suddenly came out of her phone. Their sudden arrival frightened Lynn so much, that she dropped her phone on to the floor. However, that did not seem to stop the penguins from appearing out of her phone.
Jin looked at the penguins and felt they were rather familiar. It was then he realised the models were exactly the same as the penguins he saw in the Hot Spring Instance. But there was something different with the penguins. Their eyes were like pure black beads which felt more comical in nature as compared to the penguins in the hot spring which mimicked the real life penguins. Not only that, the penguins that were summoned were all wearing an apron. Some of the penguins were also holding chopping knives, spatulas, a wok and other tools related to the kitchen.
“This is your personal Penguin Crew Lynn. They are rather professional, or so I heard, and you can train them in whatever way you like for they are all under your command. As you can see from their kitchen tools, they all have their own preferences, so you may keep that in mind when you assign them in the kitchen. I would advise you to get familiar with them. Unlike humans, these penguins pledge absolute loyalty to you and do the job as you ordered them. That way, you can not only utilise the kitchen instance to the fullest capability but start preparing orders for the restaurant instance which Jin promised you.” Yun looked at Jin as he was staring and patting one of the penguins which were being friendly with him. It then occurred to him that Yun was talking about him.
“Eh?” Jin paused for a while to process the words that Yun had said.
“EHHHHHHHHHHH?! Ow!” Yun hit him on the head for not following through with the act.
“Go do it now then! Create the Restaurant instance!” Yun ordered in Jin’s thoughts, and that made Jin somewhat reluctant.
“But I have yet to earn any dungeon dollars recently…I will be touching on my reserves if I do that…” Jin grumbled in his mind.
“So you want Lynn to underperform?” Yun gave an annoyed look at Jin, and he somewhat reluctantly agreed with some hesitation. After all, Jin understood that you had to spend money to earn even more.
“Boss, you don’t have to do that now…” Lynn realised the silent tension between them and tried to mediate them, but Jin shook his head.
“It’s okay, I will go and design it. I shall release the restaurant instance by evening at the latest.” Jin said but was later interrupted by Yun.
“Evening it is then. But I have a major job for you. Because of the new restaurant we are building, the current existing menu will be served in that restaurant instance. Quick bites are also managed by these penguins of yours now. The entire food department of Dungeons and Pandas is now at your command, Lynn.” Yun placed her hands on Lynn’s shoulders as if a substantial amount of responsibility was given to her.
“I will do my best.” Still, Lynn was unfazed by the influx of work and new powers she obtained as she folded her sleeves and welcomed the challenge given to her by Yun openly.
