Click.
Unlike the bright day, it was a dark night with no moonlight.
A man came out of his room after waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness.
He was not wearing his usual white chef’s uniform. Nevertheless, in case someone else found him in the restaurant, he did not forget to wear the black clothes that chefs usually wear under their uniforms.
He showed his professionalism by tying up his hair tightly instead of wearing a conspicuous chef’s hat to prevent his brown hair from flying as much as possible.
“Whew, it seems a bit noisy today.”
Was there no need to sneak out like this? Should I just say that he was asked by another family to bring him some food? The one who came out and looked around the hallway was none other than Chef Dustin.
“What the hell is this?”
While he was mocking himself, he tried his best to keep his presence quiet as he headed to the restaurant. What he was after was neither the vision of Duke Orobas, who may or may not exist, nor expensive luxury goods.
The new and expensive ingredients are flown in from all over the continent for this banquet!
And it was enough to cook 3-4 servings.
“...”
Where else would the chefs steal ingredients and sell them to make money, he didn’t have the stomach for that.
In fact, no one would blame a chef for practicing cooking.
After all, he didn’t steal ingredients, and he could say that it was part of his job.
However, he was especially nervous because he knew that the chefs of the Orobas family often lost their jobs for all sorts of trivial reasons.
“...”
If I get caught, I might get fired too!
Even though he thought that way, he couldn’t stop this addictive behavior.
It was amazing how his clumsy fingers, which couldn’t even draw a seasoning bottle properly, could create picturesque results. He wanted to try making more works with more diverse flavors and ingredients.
Slowly and quietly.
That’s why Dustin eventually headed to the restaurant.
“Yeah, what else could there be here besides this kind of pleasure?”
The Orobas family wasn’t a very good place to be a servant.
The pay is low, and the surveillance is thorough. On top of that, it’s common for people to get fired if they’re caught with even a small offense. The chefs who were fired a while ago were juniors who worked hard and didn’t know how to disobey the owner.
However, they were kicked out because they got on the butler’s nerves when they asked if they could pay their salaries on time. Of course.
“We found evidence that they stole ingredients.”
It was only natural that the butler made up that reason. It was no use shouting that it was unfair.
The Duke of Orobas, who had been living alone since his mistress died a long time ago, had been so anxious lately that he had left all matters related to his servants to the butler.
“Ugh.”
At this age, no place would accept me even if he got kicked out. Dustin wiped off his cold sweat and approached the restaurant.
At that moment.
Clang.
A strange sound was heard from the small passageway connected to the restaurant. Dustin, the chef, had heard it often, but it was a sound that shouldn’t have come at this late hour.
“... No ingredients are coming?”
It was none other than the sound of a food cart. He glanced outside.
And then he saw a black shadow pulling a cart and disappearing somewhere. The cart was heading toward the food storage.
Was there something that hadn’t come this afternoon?
He paused, feeling a strange sense of foreboding. Could it be that he would see something strange again?
“..”
However, this food storage and food were also related to his job. Rather than getting caught in a book, it would be better to figure out what happened and deal with it in his own way.
...Unless it was something strange.
In the end, he put down the cutting board and knife he was holding and quietly headed toward the passage.
“No.”
Just in case, he picked up the kitchen knife that he had put down.
Clang.
The secret passage where the food was moved was in a remote place where people rarely came and went, so only the cooks knew about it.
Sometimes the porters pulling the cart got lost, so he quietly hid the knife behind his back and walked toward the exit of the passage.
That was when.
“How many are left?”
“I think we only need about seventy more.”
The voices of people passing by in the passage could be heard. Dustin paused.
...What kind of groceries do you need seventy carts for?
If that much was missing, there was no way he wouldn’t have known.
It was the moment when he peeked his head out of the passage.
“...!”
He saw the black-robed figures disappear into the bushes.
“?”
Was there a passage there? He looked closely and saw something like a black hole in the bushes.
Where does it lead?
Dustin swallowed hard. There was no food cart among the carts they were pulling. He could have just ignored them. But, curiosity piqued his curiosity. Where did it lead?
In the end, he made as little noise as possible and headed into the bushes. There was a passage that he could enter by bending down slightly.
The wide passage on the side seemed not to be a passage for human use, so it was somewhat uncomfortable to pass through, but he bowed his head and walked carefully, half out of curiosity and half out of fear.
And.
“?”
He witnessed something strange inside.
When he thought he had gone quite a bit further inside, the wide space that suddenly appeared was a space on the verge of collapse.
No, upon closer inspection, the paint on the wall was peeling and cracking, but it didn’t seem to have collapsed. There seemed to be a set rule, but Dustin had no time to worry about that.
“How long until the rest arrives?”
The one asking was none other than Duke Orobas.
While Dustin’s eyes widened, one of the cart pullers answered.
“About two days.”
“That should be enough for the main banquet. Hurry up to prepare for the unexpected.”
“Your orders are followed.”
The robed men moved again and placed the cart’s contents against the wall.
Thud.
What came down with that heavy sound was none other than a coffin.
Dustin opened his mouth. Why a coffin there? Above all, they didn’t seem to be treating the coffin properly.
Wait, a coffin?
Wasn’t the story I heard a while ago also related to a coffin? It was while he was thinking.
“You know you have to come before it rots, right?”
Thud!
With those words, he lifted the large cloth covering the corner of the room, and what was there was.
“Huh.”
Dustin involuntarily took a breath. There were a great number of monsters there that he had never seen in his life.
Animal corpses that seemed to be covered in purple spots, but each one had a strange shape.
He could tell they were monsters right away.
Click.
Maybe because he was so surprised, he didn’t even notice his chef badge being scratched on the wall.
The sound that echoed through the silence immediately drew people’s attention to the passageway.
“Who is it?”
“!”
Dustin, startled, pulled away from the wall. And he started running without realizing it.
“Catch him!”
He didn’t have time to scream or be surprised. He started running without thinking.
He didn’t have time to care about his head being hit and scratched on the narrow passageway.
If I get caught, I’ll die!
That thought was the only thing that made his feet tick. Where should I run?
He didn’t have time to think. As soon as he got out of the bushes, he quickly ran into the passageway used by the chefs.
“That chef!”
And his figure caught the eyes of his pursuers.
Oops, but it was too late.
“Catch him!”
He felt his pursuers getting closer. He even recognized the voice. It was one of the people who had been talking in the restaurant at that time.
“It’s the brown-haired chef!”
The other person seemed to recognize him.
“Somehow I didn’t like the way he looked at me back then! Was he a spy?”
What spy? He was just a loyal cook who had been with Orobas for over ten years.
After all, something suspicious had happened. He shouldn’t have just come here! If something happened, how could I solve it?
Oh my! Curiosity is killing me!
He ran down the dark secret passage until his breath was out of his mouth.
Bam!
Someone grabbed his nose and mouth and pulled him out.
“!”
Got him! Dustin tightly closed his eyes, his pounding heart threatening to spill out of his mouth.
“Get him!”
“Search him thoroughly! He couldn’t have gone far!”
But the voices of his pursuers were getting farther and farther away.
“?”
Dustin slowly opened his eyes. And.
Thump, thump...
He stared blankly at the flames burning in front of him, no, below him.
Now that he thinks about it, it’s a little hot...
“Ugh... Ugh, ugh!”
It's not in the fireplace!
He felt the wood crackle under his buttocks and trembled.
But the person covering his mouth remained calm.
"It's not burning, so don't move."
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