An Old Man Restaurant Owner Is Unparalleled by Relying on His Old Tricks. It Turns Out, He’s the Legendary Dungeon Conqueror. - 85

Chapter 85: There’s a Limit to How Much You Can Change Your Image, You Know

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“Please hire me as a part-timer!’

The one who showed up at my door after I had to let go of my only part-timer and was in desperate need of help was Tanaka Masanori, an A-rank explorer who I had met during the promotion exam. I had been moving at lightning speed from morning until late, and only after the last customer had left and I had closed the restaurant was I able to catch my breath. But just as I was about to gather myself to clean up and prepare for tomorrow, he suddenly walked into the store.

“Believe it or not, I have experience working in customer service!”

He proudly declared, but his hair was silver, his ears and lips had piercings and he had tattoos on his face. He was definitely not the kind of person you’d expect working in the customer service industry.

“Thank you for offering yourself to become my part-timer, but you’re still attending university while working as an explorer, right? I doubt you still have free time to work a part-time job at a place like this. Plus, I don’t think I can offer you much in terms of pay.”

Apparently, this guy was living in Tsukuba and she was actually a student at the Tsukuba University despite his appearance. 

“HYAHAHAHAHAHA! Don’t worry about my university! I’m only in my third year, but I’ve already completed most of my credits!”

“…So you’re a really diligent one despite your appearance?”

When I was a fourth year student, I was still lacking almost half of the credits I needed to graduate… My last year was really tough, especially because I had to balance between dungeon exploring and my lectures…

“I’m planning to continue working as a dungeon explorer after graduation, so I don’t need to worry about job hunting! That means I’ve got all the time in the world! I can adjust my schedule accordingly!”

By the way, being a college student also meant he wasn’t employed in any explorer company. He was a freelance explorer. Reaching A-rank at such a young age made him an exceptionally talented explorer among all the gifted explorers. Despite his appearance, it seemed he had received offers from various places. He probably could choose any job he wanted. 

“Haaa… Alright, let me be frank. I really can’t let you work here with that appearance. I get that you’re actually a diligent and upright person, but not all customers can be that understanding… If you’re willing to change your appearance to a look more suited for customer service, then I can let you in.”

“HYAHAHAHAHAHA! Of course, I’m going to change my look for this gig!”

“That’s right. People who dress like that usually have a strong sense of identity tied to their appearance. There’s no way you’d change just for a part-time job… Wait, what did you just say?”

“Of course I will have a complete makeover! Like Mater said, there’s now way I could work in customer service looking like this!”

For real?

While I was caught off guard by his unexpected reply, Tanaka Masanori walked out of the shop.

Then came the next morning, just before opening time…

“Good morning!”

“..Huh?”

Just as I was getting ready to open the shop, a polite and gentle-looking young man approached me. 

“Excuse me, we’re not open yet.”

“Hahaha~ I’m not a customer, Master. It’s me, it’s me.”

“Master..? Do-Don’t tell me…”

The mysterious young man flashed me a refreshing smile as he called me ‘Master.’ There was only one person I could think of, but the difference in appearance between this young man and the person in my mind was so great that I couldn’t believe my mind. 

“That’s right. It’s me, Tanaka Masanori. So? How about it? I can work part-time here now, right?”

“No, but what’s with your appearance?! The change is too drastic!!”

I couldn’t stop myself from shouting. He had changed his silver hair to black. He had removed his piercing and he was wearing normal civilian clothes right now. Those things didn’t surprise me much, but the tattoos! The tattoos that had been etched all over his face were completely gone and even his speech and whole demeanor had undergone a total transformation too! His first-person pronoun had gone from “Ore-sama” to “Boku,” for crying out loud…

“Wait, you’re really Tanaka Masanori…? No-No way… Tha-That can’t be, right…? You must be someone else entirely, right…?! You must be trying to fool me!”

“It’s me, it’s really me. Uhh…It’s kind of embarrassing to act like this, though…”

He said while giving me a slightly bashful smile, but then, his expression changed again. 

“HYAHAHAHAHA! Of course it’s me!”

“Ah, it’s really you.”

I said, finally convinced. As soon as I acknowledged this person was truly Tanaka Masanori himself, his expression immediately softened. His cheeks turned red from embarrassment. 

“…I-I’m glad you believed me. It’s really embarrassing to act like that in this appearance…”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. My original personality is actually more like this. I thought I finally received a chance to break out of my shy shell when I entered university. I decided to change my image, so to say.”

“No, no. There’s a limit to how much you can change your image, you know?”

Apparently, his image-changing project had gone so far, to the point his personality and manner of speech had undergone a complete makeover as well. But now that he was back to his original look, his personality had reverted to what it used to be.

“Where did the tattoos go?”

“I hid them with a concealment skill.”

He actually went this far just to work at my restaurant…

“Alright. If you’re that motivated, I think I should be the one to ask you to work here myself.”

“Really?! Yay!”

“But you know, my place is really, really busy.”

“I know! I’ve come here to eat a few times in secret. It looked so busy I didn’t want to bother you.”

This person… He’s way too kind… 

And so,  he started working that very day.

“Uni rice bowl!”

“Hamburg steak!”

“Squid set meal!

“Grilled chicken!”

“Uni!”

“Banana curry!”

“Grilled lamb!”

“Fried chicken!”

“Squid!”

“Fish set meal!”

The relentless barrage of orders came rushing in as usual. While I was preparing dishes one after another and placing them on the counter…

“Thank you for waiting! Here’s your uni rice bowl!”

“Thank you for waiting! Here’s your Hamburg steak!”

“Thank you for waiting! Here’s your Squid set meal!”

“Thank you for waiting! Here’s your Grilled chicken!”

“Thank you for waiting! Here’s your Uni!”

“Thank you for waiting! Here’s your Banana curry!”

“Thank you for waiting! Here’s your Grilled lamb!”

“Thank you for waiting! Here’s your Fried chicken!”

“Thank you for waiting! Here’s your Squid!”

“Thank you for waiting! Here’s your Fish set meal!”

He-He was perfect…

“Is the crab set meal no longer available?”

“Yes. Unfortunately, that was a limited-time menu that has already ended.”

“Seriously? I actually came here hoping to get that.”

“Our deepest apologies. Instead, we’re currently offering the squid set meal and uni ice bowl set. These two menus are also limited-time items that we will offer until we run out of the ingredients. The uni rice bowl is especially popular, so it seems we’re going to run out of ingredients within the next few days.”

“I see! I will order the uni rice bowl then!”

“Thank you for your order.”

He was absolutely flawless with how he handled the customer too. This person might be the best part-time worker I could ever hope for.

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