Welcome to Dungeon Hotel

I have come to realize that the right to recruit staff is different from the right to select staff.

The right to select staff is to bring new spirits into our hotel, but the right to recruit staff is to recruit people as hotel staff. 

And to sign a ‘contract’ to recruit as an employee, it seemed that some conditions were required.

Miyeon just passed that condition.

“Then first…” 

Miyeon started muttering to herself.

I support the decision not to remain a career-break woman, but I’m a little worried about being selected as an employee at our hotel! 

I looked at Miyeon’s burning eyes and avoided her eyes. 

“I got a call after seeing some of the seafood I posted on my account and asked if I was selling directly. I guess I’ll give it a try.”

“Yes?” 

I opened my eyes wide as I looked at Miyeon’s cell phone, which she held out.

On the screen she held out, there was a picture of delicious food from Yonggung Sashimi Restaurant.

There were hundreds of comments on the angle, color, and lighting of the professional scent.

-jj_ming: You can’t see such a Daehajang and Gejang in Seoul. ㅠㅠ Does the boss not take delivery orders? 

-dkfladl: I came in with the tag. Is this a travel account? Or a gourmet account? Whatever it is, please give me the contact information of the owner of that store.

The food looked appetizing even to me, and crab soup and salted rockfish soup were delicacies that were hard to find in Seoul.

So it was only natural that a lot of people left comments asking for detailed recipes and asking if there was a way to get seafood delivered by courier.

I’ve seen Miyeon post various travel photos on her account before, but I didn’t expect her food photos to be taken so well.

Even I, who often eat at Yonggung Sashimi Restaurant, got hungry when I saw this picture and thought, “Tonight is Yonggung Sashimi Restaurant!”

“First of all, I will look into the distribution of seafood. I’ll have to think about whether a meal kit-like format is better than direct sales and discuss it with my mom.”

Miyeon poured out her professional knowledge as she had experience in work related to Internet distribution in the past.

She was ready to write a business plan right now and take it to the head of the women’s association.

Well, why would a person with such marketing skills suddenly want to work at a hotel?

I felt strangely regretful at the same time as I thought that I was imagining something useless.

‘Am I the one who acts instead of being swept up in feelings?’

It was because I thought it would be nice to work with someone with a personality like Miyeon.

This… am I being caught up in the demonic power of the system?

As a result of watching Miyeon from the side, it is true that she is a sincere and good person, but if I were to recruit an employee, I would prefer to hire someone who doesn’t have S-class solicitor abilities for the visitors.

My goal was YOLO. YOLO! Come to your senses!

Then Miyeon asked me.

“Do you have any plans to sell Yeongchunjang coffee outside of Yeongchun-myeon, boss?”

Uh, I think I’m going to get into the problem of illegal potion distribution, not the coffee sales?

I replied with an awkward smile.

“I much prefer keeping Yeongchunjang small now.”

Miyeon looked disappointed at my words.

I told Miyeon to eat her ramen quickly before it got too soggy.

As Miyeon ate her ramen deliciously, she took out her laptop from the bag she always carried with her and started writing her business plan immediately. 

She said that she would have to write a SWOT analysis first, so I quietly got up and left her to think about the business’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

What a workaholic is—isn’t that what you’re talking about with such a person?

It was then.

Jan looked at me as he walked down the stairs and greeted me with a bright smile.

“Good morning. Boss. To have such a refreshing morning… I think it’s been a long time.” 

It was when I was about to ask Jan if he would like some ramen.

Someone peeked out through the window.

It was Hyeyu and Hyejin.

“Grandpa! We’re here!”

Hyeyu put on her boots and hat and waved at Grandpa. 

“Let’s go to the mud flat together!”

Jan smiled broadly at Hyeyu, who was clearly speaking in Korean and nodded.

“Okay. Let’s go together!”

…? 

Just how do you have a conversation? Huh? 

I was a little surprised at how perfectly they communicated in each other’s native language and suddenly looked down at Miyeon.

She was immersed in her laptop again, begging her kids to play a little and come back.

‘Even if I don’t use Miyeon as an employee, the right to recruit employees is essential to me now.’

It’s not easy to run the Dungeon Hotel and Yeongchunjang at the same time.

To do that, I had to raise Jan Schultz’s satisfaction level, but I was in a situation where I wanted to avoid approaching Jan Schultz openly. 

An S-Class Paladin— it’s burdensome.

But if I received Miyeon’s help…

‘If Jan Schultz had a daughter, she would be about the age of Miyeon.’

If Jan Schultz came to Korea for his daughter, the key to increasing his satisfaction lay in his daughter’s story.

Even if it’s not that, is the most satisfying thing for a person who retires and comes down to such a rural town to enjoy leisure time?

There is a difference between Miyeon taking a break to make a new step forward and a retired person taking a break.

A break for a new step forward has a fixed time limit, but a break for a retired person has no time limit. 

In other words, for retired people, large and small events that can prove their usefulness in small ways are more relaxing than simple rest.

And Miyeon is the right person to make that case happen.

I made that decision and decided to use Miyeon a bit.

“If you’re not busy, would you like to go to the mud flats together to collect clams? I want to serve delicious vongole to my guests for dinner. It’s a bit like coffee, but if you’re thinking of developing something like a vongole meal kit, I think we can try it together.” 

Miyeon looked a little bit tempted when she heard what I said.

‘A meal kit with vongole would appeal to most people on social media.’ 

It was the eyes that could be read. 

As expected, she’s a workaholic. 

* * *

“Hey, I won’t let you go!”

“What will you do if you won’t let me go, Lee Hyeyu is a dummy!”

“You guys, stop fighting! Stop!”

Jan Schultz squatted on the mud flat and watched the mother and daughters start fighting without picking up clams.

Junghyo was also busy following the mother and daughters, picking up the shells they spilled and putting them in the bucket.

Hyeyu was running away far away, shouting, “Grandpa, help me!” so Jan could do nothing to help.

Jan just smiled happily at their friendly appearance.

He thinks of the time when his daughter, Sophie, was the same age as Hyeyu and Hyejin. 

Sophie

I told you I don’t want to see Dad’s face again. Don’t look for me.

Jan Schultz recalled Sophie’s text message, which he contacted after 10 years in Korea.

Sophie’s husband gave Jan their home address, but after receiving the text message, he didn’t have the courage to go there.

Sophie followed Jan when she was young, just like Hyeyu and Hyejin followed their mother. Since when did the father-daughter relationship become so far apart?

As expected, is it from that day?

‘Sophie! Albert! Melanie!’

During the disaster 20 years ago, monsters attacked Jan’s home in the west of the United States. 

At that time, Jan’s son and wife died, and only Sophie and Jan survived.

And Jon awakened. 

The characteristic was a Paladin, and his rank was as high as S-Class. 

An S-class paladin. 

It was a name that really didn’t suit Jan at the time.  

At that time, Jan was engulfed in anger toward the monsters.

He didn’t start leading the Hunter Federation to save the world and his country, as everyone knows now.

He was delighted at killing those who had taken away his wife and son and was bent on killing more monsters more freely than belonging to a particular guild or a particular country.

While he is so crazy about his work, he doesn’t even know that Sophie’s feeling is getting hurt little by little. 

‘Ever since my brother and mother died on my 20th birthday, Dad never celebrated my birthday. Don’t you remember?’ 

‘It’s not like that… I was just busy fighting monsters….’

‘You were resentful that I survived alone at that time, right? Every time you see my face, you think of that time…’

‘No, it can’t be. That’s…’

‘Just as Dad doesn’t need me, I don’t need Dad anymore. I’m getting married. I’m going to live somewhere other than America, where my dad is.’

Jan couldn’t even make a proper excuse as he saw Sophie’s eyes welling up with tears.

You are my precious daughter.

You have no idea how grateful I am that you survived.

Why couldn’t he just say that simple thing? Why? 

No way…was there really a little bit of resentment against Sophie in his heart?

Jan was afraid.

In his fear, he buried himself more and more in his work.

He reached out to help when countries around the world needed the touch of the federation and earned the title of ‘The Great Paladin’.

Sophie says she doesn’t need her Dad anymore, but there are so many places in this world that need him. 

That was a ray of consolation that would save him from his fears. 

He fell madly into that one ray of comfort and worked like crazy.

Until he abruptly made his retirement.

Since he served as head of the federation until the age of 75, it is time for him to step down.

Even though he thought so, he felt a bit bitter in his heart. 

It was because of the thought that no one in the world needed him anymore.

So what is he to do now? What kind of person is he?

Jan was confused.

And around that time, he received a long email from Sophie’s husband. 

Sophie gave birth to her second child at a late age, cried a lot after giving birth, and seemed to miss her father a lot inside.

There was even a picture of Sophie and her two children attached.

His daughter’s face hasn’t changed at all in 10 years.

Jan impulsively boarded the plane to Korea.

He wanted to see his daughter right away. He also wanted to hug the two children, who looked just like Sophie. 

He wanted to say something to Sophie that he couldn’t say then.

You are my precious daughter. You have no idea how grateful… I am that you survived.

He wanted to say that.

And then—. 

He can’t say anything like that, and he’s here after all.

Jan felt bitter again about the beautiful sea view.

When he came down to Yeongchun-myeon, he didn’t always feel refreshed, even when he stayed at a hotel that allowed him to see wonderful things, eat delicious food, and even get a good night’s sleep. 

While Jan was lost in thought for a while, feeling the cold sea breeze, someone suddenly brought something like tea in a thermos. 

Jan lifted his head and looked up at Miyeon, who held out a thermos bottle.

“This…” 

“It’s seaweed soup. Oh, it’s similar to the seaweed you ate deliciously… seaweed. You know, right? My mom made it….” 

Miyeon couldn’t bring herself to say that she fought with her mother in the morning and made seaweed soup for Hyeyu and Hyejin, so she blurred the end of her words.

“Oh, yes. I know.”

Jan nodded at Miyeon’s fluent English and took a bite of seaweed soup. Jan’s eyes widened.

“It’s really delicious!”

“Is that so? In Korea, it is given to mothers who have given birth, so they usually eat seaweed soup on their birthday.”

“So it’s a Korean soup for mothers who have given birth to children. My daughter also had a child, and she must have eaten this.”

Jan drank the soup with a bitter face.

Miyeon sat down next to Jan.

So this person also has a daughter.

For some reason, Miyeon felt a sense of similarity.

She easily felt similarity with others and had strong empathy and understanding.  

Perhaps because of this, people used to be easily influenced by her words.

‘Thanks to it, I often hear ‘Ojirap’.’ (t/n : 오지라퍼 means a person who is too nosy. a person who always meddles in other’s things, asks something over and over again and is interested in others too much, which annoys others.)

She asked again, feeling her heart go to Jan. 

“You said you came on a trip after retirement, right? How do you feel when you retire?”

“Well… A little lonely, a little relaxed…” 

“I envy you.”

At Miyeon’s words, Jan tilted his head.

“Does a young person envy retirement already?”

“Rather than retirement, I envy that loneliness and leisure. I have to start working now, but I don’t know how to balance the time I spend with my children and my work… I’m worried.” 

Jan suddenly remembered the times he hadn’t been able to spend with Sophie.

He pondered together in front of Miyeon, who had a genuinely troubled face.

He couldn’t just say that if he went back in time 20 years, he would spend 24 hours with Sophie and not work.

As an S-class Paladin, he belonged to the Hunter Federation, and his work was rewarding enough for him. 

Also, it wasn’t simply a matter of time that his relationship with Sophie worsened. 

“When you can be together, you just need to love each other enough. Just because I’m busy, because I’m having a hard time, if I don’t ignore the pain of the children… That’s how you do it. I couldn’t do that, but…”

After saying so, Jan felt emotional without even realizing it.

His heart is tired. 

His body is busy.

It reminded him of the past when he turned away from Sophie.

Maybe the reason why he couldn’t tell Sophie that she was his precious daughter wasn’t because of his painful past, but because of his present, who couldn’t afford to comfort Sophie?

It was the moment when Jan thought so and shed tears without realizing it.

Miyeon was surprised for a moment when she saw Jan’s face and soon remembered someone in his face.

‘It’s my fault. I should’ve raised you a little more when I was young. What’s so urgent about business….’

When her mother heard that she was getting a divorce, she cried and said it was her fault.

‘Stop talking like that! Even though Mom raised me alone, I grew up well! I didn’t fail in life, I just got divorced!’

When Miyeon remembers how she ended their conversation with just a shout, she couldn’t help but cry with Jan.

She asked Jan cautiously.

“I… Perhaps… May I hear what’s going on?”

So the two of them talked for a while while being blown by the sea breeze.

Not noticing that Junghyo kept looking at the two of them, pretending to dig clams with Hyeyu and Hyejin from afar.

Junghyo was somehow preserving the time between Jan and Miyeon by diverting the children’s attention whenever Hyeyu and Hyejin went to show off their shells to Miyeon.

“Kkyu… !(Does the boss have any plans?)”

Toto, who came out of Junghyo’s front pocket, said with surprised eyes.

Junghyo pretended to be innocent and turned her eyes.

‘About what?’

“Kyu kkyu…(The boss is a bit scary.)”

‘Scary This is all for guests’ satisfaction.’