Behind Dark Doors

The man in the room asked without bothering to look at the report in front of him.

"How much did our profits drop?" 

Manager Sam sweated in fear, not knowing how to explain the business reports of the Starlight restaurant owned by the nobleman in front of him.

Seeing that Sam could not speak, the nobleman said in a cold voice, "I asked you a question."

The nobleman took off the white glove on his hand and examined his obviously well-groomed fingers.

In a low voice, "70% down..."

BAMMM!

Sam cowered in horror as he realized that the table with the reports he had just prepared on it had been smashed to pieces.

Moreover, the thing that smashed the table was nothing but the glove that the nobleman had just taken out of his hand.

"A table made of wood from the sea of monsters... what a pity." The nobleman looked at the table with a calm face.

Sam could tell how angry the nobleman was, even though his expression and voice were emotionless.

The cold aura emanating from his body seemed to kill him on the spot.

The nobleman nudged the remains of the table with the tip of his foot and looked at Sam with cold eyes.

"Isn't the man who undermined my business also the one who sells salt cheaply?"

Sam nodded in agreement "Yeah, he stopped selling salt a while ago, but suddenly he's selling this food called hamburgers."

"I see, why didn't you tell me about this?"

"At first I didn't think it would affect our business because the sales volume was very small, but gradually the sales volume started to increase..."

"Hamburger... Interesting, I wondered about this hamburger thing."

Hearing his master say that he was curious about hamburgers, Sam immediately stood up. Even though his master did not tell him to go and get a hamburger, Sam, who had served the nobleman for a long time, understood the nobleman's intentions.

Since the nobleman could not go and eat in public like a peasant, Sam was going to get a hamburger for his master.

As Sam closed the door to the room and left, the man did not look back. His attention was staring out of the window at the sky as if he had seen something very important.

"Hamburger..." a smile appeared on his face.

"I smell an opportunity."

...

Luck was in good spirits as his sales in Gliese steadily increased and his profits shot up like an arrow.

Even though he hadn't yet opened his shop in the world, the labourers Albert had hired had already begun preparing and stocking frozen meat for him, so Luck was able to keep a steady supply of food coming into Gliese without having to order it every day.

Glancing at the clock on his wrist, Luck decided to call it a day, and after receiving his last customers, he reversed the sign on the door to read "closed".

"Boss, we're not out of stock yet, we can get back to work!" said Velma behind the counter, who had noticed Luck flipping the sign.

Velma Stone was the woman Luck hired to do both cleaning and cashiering.

Since Velma had started working in Luck's shop she had noticed that they only stopped working when they ran out of food, but today it looked as if Luck was going to close the shop before they ran out of stock.

Luck smiled when he saw Velma still full of enthusiasm for work "It's getting late and you need to rest"

Hearing Velma and Luck talking in the kitchen, Liam came out of the kitchen door and showed his muscular arms, "We can work harder, boss."

Liam's bragging mood was interrupted by a hand coming out of the kitchen and pulling him inside.

Devi's voice boomed from the kitchen "You muscle head! Get back in the kitchen, I'm not cleaning this greasy counter by myself!"

Locking eyes, Velma and Luck burst into laughter.

Their employees, who were timid at first, started to get used to Luck as they spent time with him and revealed their true nature.

While Can was always more calm and thoughtful, Liam was impulsive in the opposite way. Devi was impetuous and active.

Devi, Can and Liam, who had been skinny and tired easily in the early days of the business, had become muscular and strong because they could eat all the time, so much so that in his world they would leave most of the bodybuilders, the so-called Greek gods, in the dust.

They could have continued working tirelessly for a few more hours as Liam had said, but Luck decided to go home because he wanted to be home before his mum arrived.

'I'm not as weak and feeble as I used to be,' Luck thought, realizing the difference in himself.

Unlike the first time when he used to add the red devil's flower to his food when he consumed the red devil's flower afterward, there was no big difference, in fact, it was as if the red devil's flower had lost its effect.

But as he traveled back and forth to Gliese or ate star-beast meat, his body had improved over time and was comparable to the physiques of elite athletes.

DING!

The door of the closed shop opened.

Luck noticed the man walking towards the counter and said, "We're closed, come back tomorrow." 

The man continued walking without a care and came in front of Luck.

"Hello Mr Luck, do you remember me?"

Luck was surprised by the man's question for a moment and looked carefully at the man's face.

The man's familiar face brought back a memory in his mind.

The man in front of him was Sam, the manager of Starlight and the manager who had cheated him in the sale of salt.

"Director Sam..." Luck involuntarily made it clear that he recognized the man.

"It's an honor for you to remember me." Sam fawned over Luck.

Luck said in a neutral voice, "We're closed Mr Sam, if you want a hamburger, please come back tomorrow."

"Hamburger..." Sam looked thoughtful for a moment but it was short-lived.

"Your hamburger is delicious Mr Luck, I love the taste!"

"Have you had a hamburger?" Luck was surprised. He didn't remember that Sam the manager had come and ordered a hamburger.

"Yes! I didn't come here to order a hamburger."

"Then what did you come here for?" Luck was confused.

"If you didn't come to a burger joint to order a burger, why did you come? To work here?' That's what he was thinking.

"My lord wants your hamburger recipe, don't worry, he'll reward you handsomely for it!"

Luck froze for a moment.

Sam's voice wasn't the voice of someone bargaining for something. It sounded more like the voice of someone giving orders.

'Did he come to ask me to give him my hamburger recipe?'

'He didn't even try to negotiate, he just talked to me like he was ordering me around'.

Luck was pissed off.

Luck squinted, "What if I don't want to give you my recipe?"

Sam was surprised as if he had heard something interesting "If you don't want to give it to me? Are you disregarding my lord's goodwill?"

Sam measured Luck from head to toe, "You don't want to upset my lord, Mr Luck, hand over your recipe and accept the reward my lord will bestow upon you."

The hidden threat could be heard in Sam's voice.

"What if I refuse to accept the reward your dear lord has bestowed upon me and refuse to hand over my recipe?" Luck asked sarcastically.

Sam's eyes widened with contempt as if he were looking at an idiot. "You think you have that chance...hahaha."