An Old Man Restaurant Owner Is Unparalleled by Relying on His Old Tricks. It Turns Out, He’s the Legendary Dungeon Conqueror. - 50

Chapter 50: I Think I Can Take a Lot of Shifts

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

My part-time worker plan ended in failure. It seemed working part-time at my place was impossible for regular people. 

“I knew it. I guess I will just need to run the whole place by myself…”

I sighed as I was about to take down the help-wanted sign after closing for the day. But then, I heard a voice.

“Umm… This restaurant is hiring part-time workers, right?”

I turned around and there stood a young woman. She had a refined, elegant look, like someone from a good family. Judging from her appearance alone, she seemed to be in her mid 20s. She looked a bit more mature than a normal college student. She exuded the mature air of someone in their third year of working as an adult. 

“Ah, no. Actually, I was just about to stop hiring.”

“Huh? Really? Ah… But… I was planning to apply…”

“You? Applying to become a part-timer at my place?”

I had to ask again because she didn’t look like the kind of person who would want a part-time job at a small restaurant like mine. 

“Yes, I really want to work here as a part-timer.”

Her response was a resoundingly clear “yes.”

“Well… To tell you the truth, I’ve fired a few part-timers before, but all of them quit after just a few days. It seems the workload is too hard here and they couldn’t keep up with the pace.”

I felt bad for her, but my conscience told me to tell her this outright so she would think twice. This was far better than hiring someone only for them to quit after a few days. Besides, it also saved me the hassle from doing the paperwork. 

“Is that so? But I’ll be fine. Believe it or not, I’m confident in my stamina.”

“Even if you’re a bit confident, it’s probably at the level of regular people, right?”

“No. Actually, I used to work as an explorer. I don’t think my stamina is at the level of a regular person.”

It turned out she was an explorer. What a surprise. 

“Although I look like this, but I’m actually an A-rank explorer. Well, it’s nothing to brag about compared to Nishida-san. You’re an S-rank explorer after all.”

“You know who I am?”

“Yes. I like watching Ken-Channel.”

She smiled warmly before she continued on. 

“Ah, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Mao Osaka, 24 years old. I became an explorer right after graduating from university and worked at an explorer agency, but due to certain things, I’m now a freelancer. I think I can take a lot of shifts as a part-timer here.”

◇　◇　◇

“One hamburg set!”

“Grilled chicken, please!”

“I’d like a banana curry!”

“One hamburg set, please!”

“I’ll have a hamburg set too!”

“I want the crab set meal!”

“One banana curry!”

“I think I’ll go with an omelet rice.”

“Seriously? You’ve come to this place only to order omelet rice? You should’ve gotten the meal with ingredients from the dungeon!”

“Is that so? Then I will cancel my omelet rice. I will order banana curry instead. Oh. I hope I can cancel my order just fine?”

The sounds of orders could be heard from all corners of the shop. I quickly began cooking at full speed without missing a single order. Of course, the cancellation right after an order could be handled without any issue either. I placed the completed dishes one after another on the counter attached to the kitchen. 

“Are you really okay with the workload?”

“Fufu~ I’m fine. I remember exactly who ordered what.”

Although I was worried about her, but she nodded confidently, looking completely unfazed. I had decided to hire Mao Osaka as a part-timer. I told her the tasks she would need to do and today was her first time on the job. In order to handle the large influx of customers pouring in, my restaurant didn’t have the usual ordering system. Instead, the customers just had to shout their orders from their seats. However, this made it difficult for the regular part-timers to serve the dishes. I had to assign numbers to each table and told which table number ordered what when I gave the food to the server. And yet, Mao Osaka insisted that she didn’t need the numbers. While I was preparing the next dish, I kept my eyes on her, wondering if she would be okay and to my surprise, she was able to move around each table and swiftly delivered the dishes accurately without any sign of hesitation. She was really fast, faster than I expected.

All five part-timers I had hired couldn’t keep up with the pace. The dishes I had made would get piled up on the counter, but the same couldn’t be said about Mao Osaka. As soon as I placed a completed dish on the counter, Mao Osaka would pick it up and take it away swiftly. She also handled the payments and cleaning up along with serving the food. 

“Excuse me, but you haven’t paid yet, have you?”

“Ah, right! I almost forgot!”

She didn’t miss a single customer either. If there was a customer that tried to sneak out without paying, she would call them out. To be honest, I had been suspicious about this. The sales and the payments weren’t adding up recently, but because of how busy I was, I hadn’t been able to get down to the root of it yet.

“Osaka-san, you can take a break now. I made some lunch for you, so please eat it while it’s hot.”

“What about you, Manager-san?”

“I’m fine. I can just snack on whatever while cooking.”

Then I will eat while working too.”

Furthermore, her stamina was on a whole different realm compared to the regular part-timers. She didn’t look exhausted at all even after working from opening to closing time without a single break. I gave her lunch and dinner, but she never sat down to eat it. If I were to take my eyes off the plate for a second, the food would diminish gradually and by the time I noticed it, she had already finished her meal.

“How was it? Did I do well?”

“Not just ‘well’. You exceeded my expectations! You were a huge help! There were several moments when I could completely stop moving my hands! This was the first time I could be this relaxed since my livestream went viral!”

“Fufu~ I’m glad I can be of help. So? Do you think I can keep working here?”

‘Of course! In fact, I’d love for you to come every day, but of course, your convenience comes first! You can just come clock in whenever you can!”

“Well, like I mentioned before, I have plenty of free time right now. I can definitely come to work every day!”

And so, Mao Osaka started coming everyday. Moreover, she didn’t just take several shifts. She took all of the available shifts by working from opening to closing time. I never expected I’d get to hire someone as great as her… Of course, I was well aware 2000 yen/hour was way too low for her. I raised her wage to 5000 yen/hour but even then, I felt like I was still paying her too low since she could easily do the work five part-timers couldn’t manage. 

“But still… She definitely can earn more money by doing dungeon exploring. Just why would she want to work part-time here? Well, everyone has their own circumstances. It’s not right to pry too much, especially when I need all the help I could get since I’m running the whole thing myself.”

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

T/N: Is she the self-proclaimed NUMBER 1 FAN??? I thought the self-proclaimed NUMBER 1 FAN is that muscle brain guy Σ(°ロ°)