Chapter 341 – Commander’s Banquet (2)
Ashling Buffet in the lower area was originally run for construction workers.
Now, this only remaining store has practically become the headquarters.
“If you’re going to do it, why bother with Ashling when you can have a more luxurious buffet?”
Artemis was displeased. She wanted to demolish this place and plant a more elegant, high-end company.
Of course, you may want to use the name and logo without permission, but it is a convenient world where you will not be sued for trademark rights.
“It’s the only buffet franchise that can completely secure recipes, raw materials, and operating methods.”
Since we were in the shelter from the beginning, we were able to secure all the data. It will be possible to operate with a quality higher than that of pre-war Korea.
“With the recipes and ingredients I have, it can be as good as a five-star hotel before the war. No, there is no need to use the pre-war company name. “At this point, we can create our own new brand.”
Treating guests directly determines the status of a family. The strict hostess frowned her pretty forehead.
“What’s wrong with Ashling? I like it very much. “When I started working here, I often went there to eat.”
But I can’t back down either.
“It is also a way to treat people in their own way, regardless of my preferences. It’s the only buffet that’s been in the city since the beginning, right? The intention is to ensure that it continues to exist in the future through that loyalty. So that the name Ashling is not forgotten.”
“You’re so needlessly loyal. “There are no longer owners or shareholders who would appreciate that consideration.”
“If you look closely at Juju, how many of them are alive somewhere in this country?”
“… Cook.”
Artemis chuckled.
“I guess that’s true too.”
After a meaningless couple chat, the host of the commander’s dinner was decided to be Ashling.
Artemis’ complaints were alleviated by changing her suffix to Goddess instead of Queens.
[The foreign guest advance party has arrived at the banquet venue.]
A stalker robot was sent out to report.
The figure wearing a black trench coat and conducting safety control at the cable car arrival point is reminiscent of a ski resort agent.
“It’s a robot! “Mom, be super brave!”
“Mom is watching too.”
“I watched a kid show! It’s so damn strong! “Mom, can I touch your arm?”
“No! “Be quiet.”
As expected, Stalker was very popular with children.
“What are you looking at like that?”
“No, nothing.”
In fact, it was popular with adults too. Because children have an instinctive admiration for robots, commanders could not take their eyes off them, drawn to their powerful combat power.
The only ones who kept their cool were the mothers.
The commander’s family, who got off the cable car and entered in order, were generally dressed similarly.
The husbands are all wearing army uniforms.
“I never thought the day would come when I would wear this again.”
This was the phrase I heard the most while shaking hands with commanders.
As the saying goes, there is no need to take out the uniform, so it is neater than old and tattered military uniforms.
It seems that the women who linked arms with their husbands also put together everything they had. However, there must have been many difficulties.
Unlike her husband, who only had to get a neat haircut, put on a uniform, and polish his military boots to a shine, a woman’s adornment required a lot of the spirit of civilization.
Now that the factory has stopped operating, the cosmetics we have are probably too old to be used.
Nowadays, even wives participate in farming and home crafts, so it is unlikely that they have something like a curling iron.
“I didn’t pay attention to this part, but it was good to hear what you said.”
“Heh! “You have nothing to lose by listening to me, hehe.”
Artemis’s guidance shined here.
When she sent her invitation, she also sent her women’s accessories.
Cosmetics were natural products made from hydroponic plants, so only basic makeup was possible. But it’s much better than nothing.
Women’s handmade shoes made at the Central Factory were also provided. As dexterous residents have been making it for over 3 years, it is now of a quality that would be acceptable even in pre-war society.
Since each shoe was sent in a different color and design, there was no situation where each person was embarrassed wearing the same shoes.
I thought about going one step further and sending some clothes, but Artemis stopped me. The reason was that it could give the impression that the dress code was being enforced according to one’s taste.
“Thank you for inviting me, Manager.”
“I’m really glad you came. “My husband reliably guarded the rear, so we were able to carry out the operation with peace of mind.”
The commander’s wives each came wearing the street clothes they had prepared for themselves.
For this day, some women opened the packaging of stockings that had been sealed since the infection war, while others wore scarves they knitted themselves.
“Oh! “That woman has a lot of force.”
The highlight was the woman who made a vest by skinning the animals her husband hunted. She wasn’t bad, but she looked more like a medieval chieftain’s wife than she was pretty.
“Welcome.”
Camilla and Ayla, dressed in women’s suits, greet guests at the entrance by greeting flight attendants.
An automatic door, which has become very rare in today’s world, let them in.
People’s noses react even before entering the hall. The smell of fresh meat, savory bread, and hot soup will waft in.
The golden light coming down from the ceiling was different from the cheap lights that were just meant to drive out the darkness. It was a decoration that stimulated the appetite and made the food stand out.
There are various fruits such as melons, watermelons, tangerines, avocados, strawberries, and geobong.
Like a regular buffet, it is not just an assortment of poor quality fruits due to the unit price. It is fresh because it was just picked and grown with plenty of nutrition.
High-quality meat and underwater crustaceans caught by underwater drones cannot be left out.
When you pass by a place where bread, cakes, and desserts are placed, you can almost feel intoxicated by the sweet and savory scent.
“Amazing.”
Even those who visited Prime several times could not keep their mouths shut.
This is because there is no buffet even in Prime.
Buffets were the ultimate luxury allowed only in shelters.
“Wow…”
“Wow.”
The exclamation heard every time a family entered the room amplified the anticipation of those lining up outside.
And they also expressed the same exclamation as those who entered first.
* * *
Although it is a banquet, I have no intention of making toasts or gathering commanders to socialize.
A handshake when getting off the cable car was enough to greet each other.
The purpose of today’s event is to provide a good time for garrison commanders and their families. That would be the best investment.
“Excuse me.”
Nymph waitresses under the control of Camilla and Ayla frequently delivered food and cleaned up empty plates.
Grumbling!
A chef droid uses a wok, a spatula, and a frying pan with flashy movements.
The robot vacuum cleaner moved around and immediately cleaned up food that had spilled on the floor as well as on the tables.
During this process, employees did not need to talk. There are no loud walkie-talkies or instructions given in loud voices.
They exchanged opinions through cyberspace and exchanged hands without saying a word.
“Hey! You can’t leave it behind!”
A child gets scolded by her mother for trying to scoop up endless amounts of fried chicken with her tongs.
Not leaving food behind at a buffet is a basic virtue, but here, it’s even more tactful.
Even though we tell them to take it easy, they have no choice but to be as careful as possible.
“Mom! “It’s not sushi, it’s sashimi!”
“Son, put this instead of that. “Flounder is the belly, but the flesh is the most delicious.”
Artemis accepted Ashling’s name, but she wasn’t 100% on the menu.
The place where there was sushi topped with thumb-sized rice for a low price was filled with a variety of sashimi and seafood.
Many children were scolded while scooping up chocolate and cake at the dessert corner.
“I want to eat a little bit…”
“More on that later! “Try this first.”
Mothers wanted their children to fill their stomachs with precious foods that could not be eaten now, such as king crab, grilled beef sirloin, or tropical fruits.
I understand that feeling. This is something I hear from Artemis all the time.
A song was playing above their heads. It’s a common song with nothing special.
These are things you could easily hear in any café or restaurant before the war.
But now times have changed. Listening to music while eating at a family restaurant with your family is a luxury that is hard to dream of.
Some of the women were in tears, embarrassing the child and her husband.
“Is it him? “In the invitation list, it said I had no family.”
I pointed to the commander who was eating alone.
“Lieutenant Colonel Kim Yu-han. “I left my wife and children in the metropolitan area and was serving in the Middle East when an infection broke out, and I was urgently called up.”
Artemis whispered in my ear.
“It will already be late when we arrive.”
“Huh. “I heard he was bereaved without even seeing his family for half a year.”
“My country should also step forward.”
I couldn’t just leave the commander eating alone because he had no family.
“Can we sit together?”
“No problem. “You are the owner.”
Lieutenant Colonel Kim Yu-han was eating bread dipped in soup containing plenty of crab meat.
I put down a plate of cream pasta, sesame salad, and takoyaki.
“Why don’t you eat some meat and raw fish?”
“It’s a bit awkward for me to leave my subordinates behind and just enjoy the meal.”
“Those are good words, but other commanders will be embarrassed to hear them.”
“I have no intention of saying anything bad about them. Because my situation is different. As the head of the household, I came with my wife and children, so of course I have to feed them good things.”
Even though we didn’t talk much, I already started liking the man in front of me.
“You don’t have to worry too much about the soldiers. A good sponsor made a huge donation. “We will make sure that this goes to the soldiers who suffer silently protecting our country.”
I thought of the cans of stew, cans of bread, and cans of cookies that I found in Kim Jong-un’s food warehouse.
Since it is an ultra-long-term preserved food, it may not taste as good as regular processed food, but by today’s world standards, each one is no different from a special meal.
“Hmm.”
Kim Yu-han took a sip of the cola in his cup. Wine and beer are available, but he doesn’t seem interested in alcohol.
“It looks like there was a lot of good preserved food in North Korea’s air-raid shelters.”
“How did you know?”
“Where is sponsorship in today’s world? The manager was probably joking about the food he had captured somewhere. “Suddenly, there is no place to get something like that except in North Korea’s air-raid shelter.”
Haha.”
He was a quick-witted man.
Since we were both comrades in the military, we talked about the countries we had stayed in the past.
There were overlapping countries, and even though the battlefield was different, they even fought against the same hostile forces.
As we chatted happily with each other, another commander slowly joined us.
Among them was a childless couple, and the widow, who was left alone, crunched her fork on her plate and then turned her gaze to Artemis.
Gulp.
“Uh, over there…”
Artemis treated the woman who approached her with determination
“…!”
“!!!”
The sight of the two wives chatting while sipping drinks naturally spread a subtle atmosphere to other tables.
The commanders’ wives began to gather around Artemis.
* * *
Even though about 50 minutes had passed, people were still bustling back and forth carrying plates. However, the tension is clearly relieved.
[It’s passing, everyone. Please do not block the road.]
When the serving robot that resembled R2D2 moved, children followed along. Naturally, traffic is inevitably interrupted.
Normally, mothers would hold them back, but now they are busy too.
“Thank you so much for the whitening cream!”
“How did it smell so good?”
“My skin type doesn’t take makeup well, but what you sent was just…”
They were sitting around a sofa arranged in a circle and chatting with Artemis.
The table is set with macarons, biscuits, and various drinks.
The sight reminded me of an officer’s wife’s social club that I happened to see while on active duty.
At that time, it was a breathtaking place to establish ranks, but the atmosphere at the meeting led by Artemis was much softer.
Meanwhile, children who were free from their parents’ control went crazy and ran wild.
“Kyahaha, suck!”
“Eup-eup!”
The boy’s hand grabbed the little gentleman’s shoulder, and the girl’s hand covered the little lady’s mouth.
“Falling behind?”
“Fizzle! Fizzle! “We’re getting scolded because of you too!”
Everyone had been carefully warned by their parents, and there was something about them noticing that they were a few years older.
If there was a child running around or making noise, they took care of controlling it among themselves.
It’s like a Taekwondo gym where older brothers and older sisters train.
“I will enlist next year.”
“I also participated in the defense of this truce line. “I want to continue to do my best to protect people.”
I briefly said hello to my older sons, and they all said they were planning to follow their father into the military.
This is not strange since the world has a 0% college entrance rate and there is no better career path than the military.
But what happens if you follow your father and become a soldier now that there is no Military Manpower Administration or military academy?
Is it going into a bottle? Or should I join as a non-commissioned officer or officer?
If we go with the latter, wouldn’t it actually be like hereditary feudalism? Question after question.
Hwang Jin, the commander of the Honam area, approached me.
“Thank you for inviting me today. “I haven’t seen my wife and children this happy since the war.”
“We will arrange a meeting often in the future. Welcome anytime.”
Since Hwang Jin controlled the Honam Plain, a food source, he had the strongest influence among commanders.
“I want to meet and say hello to my wife, but it’s not an atmosphere where I can get involved.”
At the place Hwang Jin pointed to, married women were gathered chatting and laughing.
“I’m also amazed. “Artemis has a very… Not sociable type.”
Surprisingly, Artemis seemed to really enjoy the banquet.
Another commander approached.
“I heard that you are planning to establish a military academy in the lower part of the shelter. Is this really happening?”
“Oh, that?”
I remember signing related documents in the past.
The place where Rose trained the Sleepless Unit for maritime prison operations. She planned to build a school to train human officers on the site.
“You’re right. There is nothing difficult about supplying soldiers, but competent officers are not created overnight. Supply has been stopped for over 5 years, right? “I have to think about the future.”
I especially felt it while fighting the Chinese army. The Chinese army’s officer corps played a significant role in encouraging the soldiers to break through the defense line in a battle that was no different from a meat grinder.
“I’m responding to what the manager said. We can recruit new recruits here and there, but we are short on cadres!”
“Isn’t it possible to entrust the platoon leader to just anyone?”
In particular, those who responded favorably were commanders with older sons.
It was already time for completion, and they were threatening to ask for tuition, so I barely managed to stop them.
Lieutenant Colonel Kim Yu-han, whom I wanted to talk to, disappeared into the beverage corner holding an empty cup.
Hehe.]
Accordingly, the beautiful sound of laughter penetrated into the brain implant.
Artemis, surrounded by married women, looked at me and smiled.
“…”
She suddenly felt her throat burning.
The meal continued for a long time after that. People ate and drank repeatedly for over 2 hours, reaching 3 hours.
“My stomach, my stomach feels like it’s going to explode.”
“Ugh… Mom.”
Outside the building after the banquet. The children, whose bellies were as puffy as tadpoles, had a hard time even standing.
Mothers who rub their children’s bellies or unbutton their pants also have unusually bloated bellies.
Artemis looked at that with a very satisfied face.
There seemed to be a slight hint of contempt in her eyes, but only I, who had been with her for a long time, could tell.
She was as slender as ever, as she had been drinking all the time, except for a little bit of fruit.
The first banquet to invite outside guests to the shelter was successfully concluded.
