Chapter 226: Chapter 31: Something’s Not Right
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Within the resort, Dojima Gin represented a certain degree of authority, his years of hard work here accumulating into a network and a wealth of experience.
In other words, wherever Dojima Gin went to eat on the Gourmet Street, he would subtly bring a reputation bonus to that restaurant.
"Oh? Sir, why are you here again?" Alice, in a terrible mood at the moment, said with remarkably "high" emotional intelligence to the middle-aged man who had returned. That "oh" was practically designed to infuriate someone.
Alice’s advantage was clear: she knew Renz’s cooking was delicious and had the undeniable power to attract customers. Eating Renz’s dishes, nine times out of ten, people would willingly pay for the food at this restaurant. But the problem was, this was Renz and Erina’s restaurant, not Alice’s. Her casual provocation, even if it drove customers away, wouldn’t affect Alice at all. Moreover, she actually found the returning customer somewhat unpleasant.
He hadn’t even tasted Renz’s cooking, leaving merely due to some strange personal opinions, and then, upon seeing Dojima Gin enjoying the delicious food, he decided to come back and try it. Wasn’t this a classic case of being a fair-weather friend?
Being practically called out by Alice by name, the middle-aged man showed a hint of embarrassment. Alice’s words were too sharp, leaving no room for an easy retreat. To be fair, his previous attitude had indeed been quite poor. He had dismissed the restaurant as "irregular" in a few words, leaving without even looking at the menu, which was a huge slap in the face to the establishment.
"I’ve reconsidered. Sometimes, overly hasty judgments
only cloud one’s true perception of things," the middle-aged man found an excuse for himself. He carefully scrutinized the voice that had just spoken, then looked closely. Short white hair, well-defined, refined features. The next second, his entire body slightly trembled. Miss Alice, how are you here?
Something... isn’t quite right? He began to recall the scene when he first entered the restaurant; he had only seen Renz. As for Alice, she seemed to be eating at another table, seemingly with a female companion. Now, he truly felt he had been too hasty. It turns out to be a restaurant liked by the Second Erina-sama. I’ve walked right into trouble! Fortunately, having been in the workplace for a long time, he still had the necessary thick skin. While Alice’s words were scathing, they hadn’t reached the point of being unmanageable.
"Waiter, please bring me the same dish as Mr. Dojima," he indicated with a slight nod. The waiter on the side nodded, preparing to check Mr. Dojima Gin’s order in the back kitchen and bring out an identical dish. "Thank you."
To make amends for his previous impolite behavior, he tried his best to maintain a gentlemanly demeanor.
Akira Hayama walked to Dojima Gin’s table and asked,
"Who was that?"
"Which one?" Dojima Gin was already happily sipping a rich soup, clearing the remains on the table.
"Just that thick-skinned guy," Akira Hayama said. "He
came to the store earlier, all arrogant, listened to the rules, thought they weren’t good, and left. Now he’s scurrying back to eat."
"Oh, you mean him. A picky eater," Dojima Gin actually knew this person. "That’s Ishihara Hira, acting head of the personnel group in the Totsuki Resort’s Hospitality Department."
"No way, he has that attitude and he’s in the Hospitality Department? Won’t he just infuriate guests?" Akira Hayama mumbled lightly. "And... he’s actually one of Totsuki Group’s own people." He continued, "He spoke to his own bossGrand son-in-law’s face like that. Doesn’t he
fear death at all?"
In both Japan and South Korea, the class system is rigid.
Especially in South Korea, superiors infinitely suppress inferiors, and it’s almost impossible for inferiors to rise.
Faced with conglomerates, ordinary people can only accept their arbitrary control; otherwise, they won’t even have jobs and won’t be able to afford food. Many conglomerates also cooperate with each other, blacklisting commoners together.
Some large companies will tacitly agree never to hire such a person, no matter how extraordinary their talent, they’ll simply grow old and die. Under the Korean system, whether one has talent or not is no longer important.
The situation in Japan is slightly better, but not by much. At least it doesn’t completely deny commoners the capital to advance. Cases of grassroots success still exist in Japan, unlike Korea, where such stories of humble origins rising are almost non-existent.
For example, the story in the TV series "Hanzawa Naoki" has real-life prototypes in Japan. However, Japan is not a socialist country after all, and many class conflicts are quite sharp. It’s just that these issues are intentionally or unintentionally guided elsewhere, making them less conspicuous.
"What did he say?" Dojima Gin, unaware of the earlier situation, was a bit surprised. But wasn’t it normal not to know Renz? Renz had been in seclusion for a whole year, and Erina hadn’t appeared in public with Renz. Even if they looked similar, no one would dare to recognize him as the son-in-law. At least, one would need confirmation before daring to recognize him.
What if he wasn’t the son-in-law, and they recognized him as such, only to run into the real son-in-law? That would be even harder to handle.
"Nothing much, just spoke impolitely, it sounded uncomfortable," Akira Hayama grumble. Renz had a good temper; he could still entertain guests in such a situation. If it were someone with a higher temper, it would be good if they didn’t just kick the person out.
If you let Erina handle it, with that attitude, would you still expect to eat here? Erina would directly call someone to "escort" you out, even taking your job. The eldest princess of the Nakiri family is not someone to be trifled with.
In fact, not everyone in the hospitality department is there to entertain guests. Some people’s jobs are to register and organize the identities of vacationing tourists; this is a very comfortable sinecure. Usually, to get such leisurely positions, one needs some background.
For a large group like the Nakiri family, it’s impossible for everyone to be dedicated, without any parasites. The larger the company, the larger the group, the more likely such people are to appear. Some groups have existed for over a hundred years; some people who started working for the Nakiri family very early slowly gained seniority and introduced their children through internal recommendations to work within the Nakiri family. From a human relations perspective, the Nakiri family wouldn’t completely disregard such connections. The catering industry also places the most emphasis on human touch.
At this moment, Dojima Gin wouldn’t say anything. It all depended on the person’s on-the-spot reaction. If he sensed something was wrong and quickly made amends, he might still keep his job. Whose fault could it be?
Meanwhile, several of Renz’s dishes were slowly being served. [Crystal Sweet and Sour Enoki Mushroom Salad], [Tornado Shark Fin Sausage], [Golden Seaweed Egg Drop Soup], [Sweet and Sour Fish Stick], and [Crystal Dongpo Pork].
As each dish was placed on the table, especially the Crystal Dongpo Pork with its glass-like fatty meat glistening under the lights, Ishihara Hira involuntarily swallowed.
"By the way, I’m curious about something: why are Western dishes also sold here?" Ishihara Hira asked after seeing Western dishes on the adjacent table and pondering for a moment. It’s normal for a restaurant to specialize in one type of cuisine. Western restaurants should only do Western cuisine. How could there be a restaurant that makes both Eastern and Western cuisine? A person’s energy is very limited.
Eastern and Western cuisine are clearly two major categories; it’s impossible for someone to master both completely, unless they’ve studied cooking for a lifetime. Moreover, even if they’ve studied for a lifetime, it would be difficult to master everything. Eastern Cuisine has too many varieties, with countless major culinary traditions. Just mastering the eight major categories of Chinese Cuisine is enough to make one’s head spin.
"Oh, the Western part is mainly handled by my wife," Renz simply replied. He also knew how to make Western dishes, and he did it well, but Erina had a higher degree of research in Western cuisine.
At this moment, Ishihara Hira’s somewhat uneasy state of mind rapidly transitioned to being very uneasy. More and more information made him feel a slight sense of "fear." Staring at Renz’s face, a conjecture slowly emerged in Ishihara Hira’s mind. This conjecture made Ishihara Hira take a deep breath.
This... head chef, he wouldn’t happen to be the main family’s son-in-law, would he?
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