Welcome to Dungeon Hotel Chapter 367 - Webtoon Side Story: Welcome to Dungeon Hotel Branch 4 (38)

Webtoon Side Story: Welcome to Dungeon Hotel Branch 4 (38)

 

Vincent sat in the dining room and thought.

 

‘What a very bizarre hotel.’

 

As a businessman, Vincent could proudly say he had stayed in all the best hotels in Europe.

 

Because he was such a person, his standards for good and bad hotels were naturally clear.

 

Does the hotel clearly understand the needs of each individual guest and can they satisfy those needs? Or not.

 

No matter how much a place advertises itself as a luxury hotel, and no matter how good its restaurants, swimming pools, and lounges are, there are places where you can’t feel any consideration from the people working there.

 

Places that seem to say, ‘This is top-grade food, and this is top-grade wine. So it can’t taste bad,’ rather than trying to figure out what the person actually wants.

 

Regardless of how many stars such a place had, Vincent never went back there.

 

Then what kind of place should he call this Liber?

 

“Is the ramen to your liking?”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

Vincent lifted his face from the ramen bowl he had been eating with his nose practically buried in it.

 

Only then did he realize he wasn’t ‘savoring’ the food, but ‘inhaling’ it.

 

“Well… uh…”

 

He hadn’t even thought about whether it was to his liking or not.

 

Honestly, when he first saw Liber’s dinner, he was disappointed.

 

Actually, the appetizer was very surprising.

 

Oysters came out right away as an appetizer.

 

But on top of that expensive and precious ingredient, something weird like ketchup was sprinkled.

 

‘Are you sprinkling ketchup on oysters?’

 

‘Ah, this isn’t ketchup, it’s called chogochujang. If you don’t like it, shall I change it to something else?’

 

‘Cho Gochujang?’

 

Seeing Vincent’s flustered expression, Manager Kang Miyeon told him with a determined face to just try it first.

 

‘No matter how I think about it, I find it hard to accept lemon juice on oysters.’

 

‘What do you mean hard to accept…’

 

Vincent put the oyster in his mouth without understanding her words.

 

Instantly, something sweet and sour entered his mouth.

 

‘…?’

 

Sweetness on an oyster.

 

And on this precious raw oyster at that!

 

He furrowed his brow.

 

It was then.

 

Kang Miyeon smiled at Vincent as she brought a large colander full of oysters to another table.

 

‘Please let me know if you need more.’

 

‘Without an additional charge, you mean?’

 

‘An additional charge? Ah… We have oysters…’

 

She pondered for a moment on how to say ‘We have so many it’s a headache to deal with them’ without it sounding weird.

 

‘Come to think of it, oysters are expensive in Europe.’

 

These weren’t even oysters Kang Miyeon had brought.

 

They were oysters Junghyo had received from the Dragon King of the West Sea this morning using the master key.

 

Dungeon Hotel Branch 1 was already reaching a saturation point with oysters left over even after making eoriguljeot (T/N: salted fermented oysters with hot pepper).

 

So it was suggested they make an appetizer using oysters here—

 

Vincent, not knowing this, looked at the pile of oysters with surprised eyes.

 

Unlike in Korea, oysters are an expensive ingredient in Europe.

 

To serve such oysters in heaps so nonchalantly like that.

 

She was even making oyster soup with rice for the employees.

 

‘Boiling oysters…!’

 

Vincent couldn’t help but question the Liber Hotel’s method of using ingredients.

 

Boiling precious oysters, eating them smothered in this strange sauce that is sweet, sour, and even spicy…

 

‘Um, shall I give you some more?’

 

It was then.

 

Vincent noticed new oysters being placed on his empty plate before he knew it.

 

Realizing he had inhaled the oysters slathered in chogochujang in an instant, he furrowed his brow.

 

‘J-just a little more, please.’

 

‘Shall I give you more sauce too?’

 

No, I don’t need it.

 

He definitely should have said that, but…

 

As Vincent hesitated, a large red sauce bottle was placed on his table without delay.

 

‘T-this is…’

 

‘It’s cho Gochujang. If it’s not enough, you can have more.’

 

‘…!’

 

He felt a sense of shame toward himself, who had taken pride in being a gourmand of sorts while visiting numerous luxury hotels.

 

What in the world is this sweet, salty, spicy, and sour sauce.

 

That I’m having this sauce again…

 

Squeeze.

 

Without hesitation, he generously squeezed the bright red sauce over the oysters.

 

And began to inhale those oysters.

 

If that was the appetizer, next was sashimi.

 

‘You eat the fish raw?’

 

‘Yes. If you don’t like it, it’s possible to grill it too. In Korea, eating fish raw is called ‘hoe’ (sashimi), and I’m quite good at slicing it. And if you dip the sashimi in this red sauce you see here…’

 

‘Let’s try it.’

 

At the mention of the red sauce, Vincent promptly stepped up to try it.

 

At his words, Kang Miyeon smiled warmly.

 

As the official successor of the Dragon Palace Sashimi Restaurant, she couldn’t help but smile warmly.

 

Because it was the recipe she was most confident in.

 

Cho Gochujang and sashimi.

 

The cho Gochujang used at the Dragon Palace Sashimi Restaurant in particular had a special recipe.

 

It was a bit sweeter and more sour than the ones sold on the market, yet it paired well with sashimi.

 

Vincent, of course unaware that such a secret recipe was in the chogochujang, began to inhale the dish called ‘hoe’ to an embarrassing degree as well.

 

To eat fish raw.

 

He was a bit bewildered at first, but the white flesh completely drained of blood, the fatty red flesh, and finally the chewy flesh of the squid were too delicious.

 

Even down to the soy sauce mixed with wasabi that came out just when he was about to get tired of the chogochujang.

 

‘I didn’t know you ate even squid raw.’

 

‘I like squid sashimi the most. Ah, this is abalone sashimi.’

 

‘Does this come out endlessly like this?’

 

‘Ah… we bring this together from the place where the oysters come from, and we have a lot…’

 

Kang Miyeon recalled the numerous sashimi ingredients Junghyo brought from the Dragon Palace of the West Sea Dragon King that morning.

 

Since the Dragon Palace was a kind of farming dungeon, she was able to bring in a massive amount of seafood in an instant.

 

Moreover, although this place is also coastal, the seafood from the West Sea is completely different from what is used in French cuisine, so it would have its own unique characteristics.

 

Kang Miyeon fully understood why Vincent was surprised.

 

But Vincent’s surprise didn’t stop there.

 

Why?

 

Because the food that came out after the sashimi was a spicy ramen with seafood in it.

 

And Vincent, who had clicked his tongue asking how the food served right before dessert could be so stimulating, was currently emptying the ramen down to the broth.

 

Watching Vincent like that, Kang Miyeon smiled softly and said.

 

“We don’t have a proper chef right now, so we are cooking it with the recipes we have. So I was wondering if it would suit your taste…”

 

Saying that, Kang Miyeon naturally poured soju into a soju glass and served it.

 

Seeing that, Vincent tilted his head and pointed at the soju.

 

“Is this for drinking?”

 

“Yes. Ramen originally goes with soju.”

 

Normally, a French course meal would pair with wine or cognac, but seafood ramen goes with soju.

 

This is just a set rule that absolutely cannot be broken.

 

Thinking that, Kang Miyeon avoided the resentful gazes of the Greys.

 

And soon after drinking the soju, Vincent’s eyes widened.

 

“…It’s bitter.”

 

Vincent, whose expression wasn’t very bright, drank another spoonful of ramen broth to neutralize the bitterness.

 

Vincent’s spoon stopped there.

 

“…?”

 

Vincent stared at the empty spoon, then brought the half-empty soju glass back to his lips.

 

Then he frowned again and brought the spoon back to the ramen broth.

 

One bite of ramen broth, one sip of soju.

 

Repeat, and repeat.

 

That was the endless cycle.

 

Before he knew it, Vincent had emptied both the soju and the ramen broth and looked up at Kang Miyeon with bewildered eyes.

 

“…This truly is a strange place.”

 

“If it’s strange, what…”

 

“I don’t think this is what I wanted, but then again, when I think about it, maybe it was. Should I say it’s challenging.”

 

The good hotels he had thought of until now were places that figured out the guest’s needs and satisfied them, but this place, even if it figures out the guest’s needs, has neither the ingredients nor the recipes to satisfy them.

 

But instead, it gives a bizarre sense of satisfaction.

 

Like this languor felt all over the body after drinking this soju he tried for the first time.

 

Should he call this a good hotel? Or not.

 

Vincent was pleasantly confused.

 

Of course, that didn’t mean the ‘reason’ he came here was resolved.

 

‘If I meet them again…’

 

He stared at the empty soju glass with clouded eyes.

 

It was then.

 

Pitch-black eyes appeared before his eyes.

 

“Mr. Vincent. If it’s alright with you, I was thinking of serving the refreshment table in the chapel on the 5th floor.”

 

“A refreshment table?”

 

“Yes. You can think of it as dessert and tea.”

 

He looked at the woman with pitch-black eyes.

 

Lee Junghyo, was it.

 

Even he, who lived with a wall built against the internet and Hunter rankings, roughly knew her name thanks to his attendant knight.

 

He heard she was the operator of a famous hotel.

 

He didn’t know how a hotel operator became a Hunter, but she was a world-class ranker.

 

When he first heard that, he imagined a woman with an immense presence, but looking at her now, she didn’t seem to have a particularly strong presence.

 

Rather, should he say she’s used to erasing her presence.

 

Like a black cat erasing its presence in the dark, she roamed this hotel well without a trace.

 

Then she would abruptly appear in front of the guests and offer exactly what they wanted at that moment.

 

So rather than a world-class ranker, she seemed to be someone more suited to being a ‘hotel operator’.

 

Because that quiet warmth strangely had a way of making one let their guard down.

 

It was the same now.

 

He was about to say he just wanted to finish his dessert here, but stood up at her single sentence.

 

Because he felt there must be a scenery of the chapel she wanted to show him.

 

The thought that, just like this unexpected meal, something else unexpected might satisfy him.

 

As he stood up, one of the housekeepers quickly stuck by his side.

 

He knew it was an action taken in case he needed help climbing the stairs.

 

Only then did he realize.

 

‘Consideration.’

 

Right.

 

This place is indeed a good hotel.

 

Even if he couldn’t find the real ‘ghost’ here, the fact that this is a good hotel remained unchanged.

 

Even without good ingredients or excellent recipes, they were doing their utmost to satisfy him.

 

He smiled slightly and leaned his body against the housekeeper.

 

At that, Grey flinched and squeezed his hand tightly.

 

“P-please be careful. Sir.”

 

It was when Vincent nodded and touched the back of Grey’s hand.

 

Junghyo saw it.

 

Grey’s satisfaction level rising together with Vincent’s satisfaction level.