“You called?”
“YEAH WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!?!” Qiu Yue shouted in the phone so loudly that Jin could feel her wrath transmitting through the phone.
“I erm… accidentally fell asleep in one of the workshop hangars after discussing some stuff with Rei and the others,” Jin replied with a guilty conscience. He felt like a little kid who had been out playing for too long, worrying his mother. What followed was an awkward pause in the conversation.
“Oh. Okay… No wonder the System did not allow us to call through. -Sigh- I guess we may have overreacted, but the System could have just told us that you had fallen asleep.” Qiu Yue sounded a bit calmer, but not by much.
Suddenly the System interjected: “System cannot verify whether User is truly asleep or cultivating. Thus, System has been unable to provide a definite response to your questions.”
“Dude. I know you are omnipotent, but don’t enter our conversations like this. It’s creepy. Like stalker creepy.” Qiu Yue complained, seemingly having found a new target for her rage and Jin laughed.
“Forget about that. You know it cannot help being creepy, right? The System monitors our every move no matter what we do. Is there any use pretending it doesn’t?” Lynn interjected on Qiu Yue’s end, but Jin could roughly hear her voice in the background.
“Yeah, it’s like the overprotective parents that Jin never had.” Qiu Yue accidentally commented something a little insensitive, forgetting that she was still on the line with Jin. “Oh oops, sorry Boss.”
“No need, I am not overly sensitive as you believe me to be.”
“What lies!” Qiu Yue thought to herself.
“Anyways, what’s the matter?” Jin questioned and Qiu Yue informed him that they had prepared a New Year Eve’s dinner with the bellators.
“Hmmm, that does sound like a good idea.” Jin looked at his watch, and it was nearly six in the evening. “Let me have a quick meeting with the space crew beforehand. We will be altering our timelines since Rei brought up some major concerns. If you don’t hear from me in the next hour or so, come to the conference room instance and drag me out. Thank you for reminding me about this.” Jin said as he hurriedly teleported to the conference room instance.
And before him, a sumptuous spread of gourmet food was laid ready by the chef penguins and the space crew was waiting rather (im)patiently for him. They collectively pointed at the helm of the table, which was still vacant.
“THAT was fast!” Jin saw the amount of food and wondered if the space crew could actually finish up everything, especially since the food was stretched from one corner of the table to the other end. No room was spared to ensure the maximum presence of gastronomic gourmet.
“It was Rei’s idea!” Deckkerhand immediately exposed the mastermind though Rei had never planned on denying it. It took a bit for the still sleepy Jin to realise what was going on. Since it was on Jin’s tab, they had thought to extend his generosity to not just the space crew but the other Orc and Goblin helpers who had assisted the team as thanks.
“You really think this is sufficient to satisfy those Orcs’ stomach? Their tummies are practically black holes walking around! Order more! And do get the penguins to join the feast too once they are done with the cooking!” Jin ordered and pretend to wipe out a credit card from his wallet, causing the crew to cheer even louder. (Even though it was not necessary, but the action of presenting his credit card somehow excited the entire space crew.)
Jin then beckoned Rei to gather the others to come in to join the feast while he asked the System to expand the conference room, allowing the insertion of another long conference table for the penguins to place their buffet. “For today only, enjoy the end of the year,” Jin said, indicating that that the initial discussion be postponed for the new upcoming year.
“Boss, are you not joining us?” Rei questioned, and Jin told him that his other family is waiting for him with dinner as well. “I better help out a little with the preparations or else, Lynn might kill me,” Jin confessed he had not been helping with the dinner preparations for quite some time because of his workload.
Only then, the dungeon supplier saw Rei’s quiet but troubled expression, prompting him to pick up the courage and placed his hand on the manga artist’s shoulders.
“Worry not. We will do our utmost to help you find your family, but as you said yourself. Some things can’t be rushed. Please give us some time too.” Jin promised, and given the recent turn of developments, Rei knew that his new boss would really try his best for his minions. Thus, he gave a slight smile in return as a sign of trust.
“Alright, then I shall hold you to your word. But for today, WE PARTYYYY!!” Rei picked up a beer can and shouted, giving the rest the signal to start. At the same time, Jin had requested his system to connect him to various monster leaders like Gold, Moloch, Derek and Ayse.
“Dinner is on me, order whatever you guys like and treat the entire group for New Year’s Eve. But it’s a little late, so give the penguins some time to prep the food too! We don’t want them to overwork themselves.”
“Actually, can we order from the Tree Mall? I seriously enjoy the penguin food, but I would love to try some of Earth’s cuisine too.” Gold asked on behalf of his werejackals, which made Jin somewhat flustered. The rest started to consider such an option too, and it looked like they reached an overall agreement.
“I don’t mind, though I cannot guarantee that the taste of the food out there will be as heavenly or spiritually filling. You guys still okay with it?”
“Yeah, we are fine with it. Besides, it would be unfair to the penguins if they always have to work so hard for us, especially when we are growing in numbers.” Gold replied, and Jin thought it was a good idea to give some business for the lower floors too.
“But you will be working the crap out of those penguins aiding the human chefs,” Moloch argued, and at that moment Kido joined the call.
“Actually, we can afford to have a few more penguins assist with the orders. We have already completed the analysis on those chefs’ way of cooking and should be able to replicate it. We might even improve on their version.” Kido currently represented the Kitchen since Lynn was preparing dinner for the bellators and Jin did not see the problem with that.
“Alright, I am fine with it, give your orders to the System which it will compile and split the orders between both the human chefs and the penguins. That way, the workload is slightly less straining to the human chefs. As for you penguins if it’s possible, work out a rotation system, so that at least a third of you can relax at a time.” Jin ordered and everyone was amenable to it. The call ended with much elation in the background, yet Jin decided to give Si Fang a heads up.
“Ah Jin, I am -WAIT WHAT?! Is this some kind of New Year Eve’s joke?!” Si Fang’s sudden shouting scared nearly all the customers in his Castle Tower Café instance, and he immediately apologised for his rude behaviour.
“Erm, yeah. I’m sorry, it’s so sudden. What was supposed to be an internal mini conference at my end ended up getting bigger than I imagined. A little unexpected but you know…how situations can be unpredictable.” Jin tried to bluff, and he succeeded with a poor excuse.
“I guess… We cannot say no to extra money, especially if it’s coming from the landlord himself. Sure, I will tell the others to be prepared for the massive order, but I cannot assist you if we run out of stock.” Si Fang warned, but there was this indescribable excitement running through his veins.
“Stock supplies? You do not have to worry about that. I can gurantee that as long as if the chefs are willing to earn money, there’s plenty of supplies to go around. I will get Lai Fu to assist with it.” Jin pointed out, and Si Fang immediately agreed to relay the message.
So what if it was New Year’s Eve? All of them were veterans in the Food & Beverage business, and they had long since been prepared to work extra hard for the added income during the holidays.
They just never imagined how absurd Jin’s desired quantity would have to be.
