New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Chapter 975: Special Server

Everyone tried a bit of everything, from the mild to the fiery, before clear favourites were designated in the selection. As for the broths for the hotpot, it was made clear to all present that they didn't have the stomach for the hottest broth.

Even Jin-Sil, someone who was used to spicy foods, wasn't keen on eating from that one too much.

As the first serving quickly ran down, a fact that both impressed and confused the young server, Jun-Seo, they asked if it was possible to dilute it a little with another broth, to soften it up.

"Of course. I will bring some regular beef broth with your next order. Should I dilute the other spicy one as well?" he asked, a swift smirk passing his lips.

But he was quickly pushed back, as the men around the table, either from actual enjoyment or misplaced pride, told him that one was fine.

"Alright. I will bring your order to the kitchens right away. In the meantime, let me clear out a few of the empty plates for you," he said, his wide smile reappearing.

Jun-Seo pulled in a cart from the hallway, on which he proceeded to pile all the empty plates of meats and vegetables that the group had already eaten. He did so with a deftness and agility that did not fail to show his vast experience.

But Alex noted another kind of agility in his movements. Something that wouldn't come just from servicing tables for a few years.

With every slide of his foot, every pivot of his hips, and every extension of his arms, Jun-Seo had always kept his center of gravity anchored to the ground. Be it by lowering his stance, or shifting his weight around with some light extension of his legs, his core always remained stable.

It was uncanny, to say the least.

Looking to his right, he saw that David had also caught this, as his gaze was locked on the young man's movements.

'Maybe he practices martial arts? Being this stable on your feet is not just an innate thing,' Alex thought.

So, to test out his theory, he picked up a piece of pickled daikon.

As Jun-Seo lowered himself in between Aapo and Killian, at the other end of the table, Alex called out to Killian.

"Hey, Killian. Have you tried this Daikon? It's amazing!" he said, shooting the vegetable across the table at Killian.

The move was done with enough speed that any normal person wouldn't know what hit them until it was too late. And the trajectory was perfect, as well.

It was well aimed enough that Killian could catch it by simply lifting his hand, but happened to have Jun-Seo's face lowering in the way at the same time.

But before the piece of daikon could even reach the young man, he had already lifted one of the empty plates he was picking up and set it between his face and the veggie. And with an agile motion, he stopped the momentum of the projectile before sliding the plate with one daikon on it before Killian.

Everyone at the table stopped moving for a second, as a flash of malice crossed Jun-Seo's eyes, his head snapping toward Alexander.

But the malice quickly vanished, replaced by his best customer service smile once more.

"Sir. I would appreciate it if you didn't throw food inside our establishment. Had you asked me, I would have gladly brought the vegetable to him. We don't tolerate bad table manners in our restaurant," he said, straightening up and brushing his clothes off.

Alex looked at him, his gaze icy, before he put on a fake apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think this through. It won't happen again."

As he said his last word, Alex activated his mana vision and used his extremely sensitive senses to peer into the young man's body, trying to see if he was hiding traces of mana.

Lo-and-behold, inside his head, he found a lump of mana, too weak to be a mana lobe yet, but enough to be considered an awakened player.

Alex said nothing about it, and the young man didn't seem to notice the deep scan on his person, but there was no mistaking it.

Seeing the man apologize, even though he could tell it was fake, and that the throw had been done intentionally at him, Jun-Seo finished picking up the empty plates and left the room to go give their second order to the kitchens.

On his way there, he wondered what that oppressing feeling had been when he and the foreigner's eyes had locked, but brushed it off as adrenaline.

He had a moment of fear of being discovered, but these tourists didn't look like people who would know anything about awakened players.

If he had known how wrong he was, he probably wouldn't have kept serving them. Alas, news from outside Korea rarely made it inside, and he had no way of knowing that at least three of the people around the table were notorious people.

Back inside the room, Alex's gaze became stony again as he looked at Kary and David.

"I would ask why you threw something at him like that, but I can tell there was a reason. He's one of us, right?" Kary asked, her tone suddenly less cheerful.

Alex nodded, looking at David.

"Did his face or name ring a bell to you? Should we worry about finding an awakened so close to where we have to hunt monsters?"

David shook his head, closing his eyes for a second.

"His name doesn't ring a bell. Neither does his face. But I had a nagging feeling when I first saw him. I don't know if maybe I crossed paths with him before inside the game. In any case, I doubt he's a threat."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The three of them tried talking as low as possible, to not disturb the younger ones' enjoyment, but it was a wasted effort, as their senses were sharper than most.

"Should we ask for a different server?" Jin-Sil asked, worried this might devolve into something more serious.

"I like that idea," Rì-Chû said, grimacing.

"No," Alex interjected.

"It would only make him suspicious. Let's just keep acting like we have been until now. If his attitude shifts, I'll be the first to react. Until then, let us just enjoy this meal. We have a hard hunt to do after this. We might not have time to enjoy ourselves for a while..."