I had been to this Brunch Café before.

Now, familiar faces were visible.

Is Team 2 not participating this time?

Well, considering they’ve stepped on the threshold of the afterlife, that’s probably normal.

If Team 1 had been dragged to the Demon Realm, they probably wouldn’t have even thought about filming another variety show.

“Hero Jeong Gyeoul! Nice to see you!”

“Thank you so much on the island. I don’t think I got to properly thank you.”

The production team erupted in cheers and gratitude.

Because of that, I couldn’t even step inside.

“It’s just what any hero would do.”

“Humility too! Looks, abilities, humility—what don’t you have?”

“Stop it… hehe.”

How far are they planning to take this?

At this rate, we’ll be going on a world tour.

Hehe.

In moments like this, I should wave my hand with a serious expression and act humble to look cooler.

But my lips curled up without a care.

It’s been a month, so it feels a bit excessive…

But still, since I’m practically their life savior, it’s understandable.

Feeling like a celebrity, I headed to the inner table.

There, real celebrities were sitting.

“Winter’s here?”

“How have you been?”

“Ahh, it’s Winter!”

“Hello.”

Even though I arrived a bit earlier than the scheduled time, the entire cast was already gathered.

A stark contrast from before.

‘Back then, I was the first to arrive and waited forever.’

I thought they were just busy with their schedules, but now it feels like it was just the entertainment industry’s hierarchy at play.

Anyway, the cast, whom I hadn’t seen in a month, looked a bit more relaxed.

After surviving life-and-death situations on the island, it’s natural for their outlook on life to change.

I hoped it would be a good turning point rather than a bad memory, and thankfully, it seems to have turned out that way.

“…But you didn’t order anything?”

If you call someone over, shouldn’t you have food ready?

Especially for your life savior? You terrible people.

“We already ordered. It’ll be out soon.”

Let me correct that.

These are good people.

I smiled and took a seat.

At that moment.

Yuna, sitting on my right, hugged me.

“Ahh! So cute!”

“…What are you doing?”

Yuna, you weren’t this kind of character.

“Stop it! Winter’s mine!”

Winter, sitting on my left, pulled me towards her as if she couldn’t lose.

Winter, you weren’t this kind of character either.

‘These guys, I think they’ve got their concepts wrong.’

***

Everyone at the Brunch Café looked shocked.

“Did I hear that wrong?”

“What do you mean… monster cuisine?”

“…Didn’t PD Choi tell you?”

I thought PD Choi would’ve given them a heads-up, but he only shared it with the production team, not the cast.

Once again, I was reminded not to trust the production team, and I tried to calm the shocked cast.

“There are already restaurants overseas that only cook monster meat… some even made it into the Michelin Guide.”

“…But that’s overseas, and not all Michelin Guide restaurants are good.”

“With such little faith… we even have a popular club at the academy called the Monster Cuisine Club.”

It was a club on the verge of collapse until Jeong Gyeoul and Lee Ha-yoon joined and barely saved it, but I conveniently left that part out and made it sound like a popular club.

Since hardly anyone knows the inside story of the academy, I could say whatever I wanted.

‘No student’s going to call me out on my lies.’

If there was such a student… that would be fun in its own way.

Like finding an owl among a group of owls.

“Really? Are heroes already eating monster cuisine?”

“…Well, if you’re in a dungeon and run out of food, you’d have to eat monsters.”

“…Your answer felt a bit delayed?”

I’ve been in dungeons with Jeong Ha-yul, but we usually cleared them in 5 minutes.

I’ve never run out of food in a dungeon, and I’ve never heard of other heroes doing it either, so I just made it up.

But Jeong Gyeoul’s words had some truth to them.

Sometimes, you’d have to reluctantly eat the plants and animals inside dungeons.

And in the worst cases, you’d even eat monster meat.

“Does anyone here know the hero industry better than me? Just trust me.”

“…Well, if a hero says so, it’d be silly not to believe them.”

In reality, they knew even less about the industry than aspiring heroes.

I was a student at the academy, then an instructor, and now just a guy with the title of instructor.

All I knew about the industry was what I’d heard from people around me.

‘…But I’m the strongest, right?’

That’s all that matters, I muttered to myself as I looked around.

“Anyway, that’s enough justification for the Monster Restaurant. Monster cuisine is a global trend now.”

“…You said we wouldn’t do it unless it was this, so it’s half a threat.”

PD Choi looked sad, but Jeong Gyeoul didn’t care.

‘This is your punishment for underestimating monster cuisine.’

Honestly, even if it were a regular restaurant, Jeong Gyeoul would’ve done it, but PD Choi didn’t know that and had no choice but to change the format to a Monster Restaurant.

The only saving grace was that whether it was a Monster Restaurant or a regular one, both involved cooking and serving guests, so only the ingredients and cooking methods would change—everything else would proceed the same.

“But where do we get the monster meat? Does Winter have to go hunt it herself?”

“Surprisingly, there’s a demand for monster meat, so much so that there are even monster butchers in our country. Mostly for export, but they’ve agreed to set aside a certain amount for us.”

Normally, suppliers wouldn’t bother with such hassle, but when they heard Hero Jeong Gyeoul was participating, they agreed to supply the monster meat at almost no cost.

During the uninhabited island shoot, just confirming Jeong Gyeoul’s name got us through pre-scouting and filming with ease, and even an escort from the British fleet.

Even though she knows next to nothing about the industry, her influence is massive.

“What about the location? Is the accommodation ready?”

“You’ll see when you get there.”

“…”

Kim Guk-min was speechless, and PD Choi smirked.

I cursed the damn production team under my breath, but they didn’t care.

“So, you’re not going to tell us anything, and we’ll only know when we get there? What’s the point of gathering then?”

“If that’s the case, why even have a pre-meeting? Just tell us we’re doing monster cuisine and call it a day?”

“Ah, it’s not like that. We wouldn’t waste production costs for no reason. You’ll be moving out right now.”

“…What?”

“Excuse me?”

“Right now?”

The cast stared at PD Choi in disbelief.

“We didn’t bring anything with us!”

“You said this is a month-long project! You have to give us time to prepare!”

“Your managers have already taken care of all the preparations, so don’t worry.”

They seemed a bit relieved hearing that.

But Jeong Gyeoul wasn’t about to stay quiet.

‘…I don’t have a manager.’

Should I raise my hand and ask to go home? As I was thinking that.

Baek Kang-woo’s face appeared among the production team.

‘What, didn’t you drop me off and leave?’

He gave a thumbs-up and showed off his luggage with a smug smile.

It was a moment where I couldn’t help but curse the damn production team.

***

We got into the van prepared by the production team and headed somewhere.

Thankfully, it didn’t seem like we were being taken to some far-off place like the edge of the country or Geoje Island.

We got out of the van not long after getting in.

In this vast land, there was only one building.

“…This place feels familiar.”

“Really? I feel like it’s my first time here. I didn’t know there was a place like this near Seoul…”

As I looked around, I realized where we were.

“Isn’t this where the poor neighborhood used to be?”

“Oh? That’s right. How did you know?”

“…”

The place where I first opened my eyes.

Where I first begged.

Where I almost starved to death.

Where I was first attacked by a monster.

I never thought I’d come back here.

But… where did all the shacks go? Now it’s just an empty field with one shiny building.

Did the heartless production team really mobilize a crew to bulldoze everything just to build one building?

Even though those people only left me with bad memories, that’s a bit…

“The poor residents were relocated through a government relief program.”

“…But was this originally the broadcasting station’s land?”

Just because the poor are gone doesn’t mean you can just build here.

Did the broadcasting station buy it?

“No, it’s Guild Leader Park Seol-hwa of the Daehyun Guild’s land. We asked to borrow the place, and she gave it to us right away.”

“Wow, PD, do you know Guild Leader Park Seol-hwa?”

“Not at all. I’ve only seen her from a distance once. All the calls were through her secretary.”

“Then why did she give you the land so easily?”

“…Probably because of Hero Jeong Gyeoul. When they heard her name, they asked if she was participating in this show.”

Everyone’s eyes turned to me.

Everyone was itching to say something, but Winter, being oblivious, spoke up.

“…Right, the Alchemist’s Doll.”

“…”

The nickname I had almost forgotten resurfaced.

I’ve decided you’ll be the first to taste the monster cuisine I make.