Work Text:
The restaurant "The Grand Dumpling" opens at 8:00 hrs for the employees the restaurant, Their founder and principal chef, Yoo Joonghyuk, was already there when they arrived, and the menu for the day had already been decided and both the ingredients and the decorations would be waiting to be used. All the waitresses and cookers respect Chef Yoo, but there is some gossip coming back and forth all the time, some said that he worked so hard to impress someone, and others said that it was so the authorities wouldn't take his sister from him and others simply said he was just a workaholic.
Yoo Joonghyuk didn't care about gossip, he did things the way he preferred: perfect and on time, There was no one to impress he simply hated when things got out of hand, and that was exactly why he constantly checked everything was according to his liking at every moment.
At 9:30 am the restaurant was ready for the public, the most beautiful table cloths and decorations were already in place displaying the theme that Chef Yoo had personally chosen, every worker was in their place wearing impeccable uniforms and the clients were piling up near the entrance desk to get a table while those who got a reservation were eager to get assigned to their tables. As the waiters and waitresses started to get the orders, Chef Yoo Joonghyuk looked at the full table, watching the perfect order, and nodded to himself before going back to the kitchen, Today was going to be another predictable and orderly morning.
While Chef Yoo loved and adored his ordered schedule others struggled to even get a single hour of their life under control.
Kim Dokja a plain-looking salaryman who worked for the game company Minosoft was working extra hours almost every day, bringing work to do at home during his day off and sleeping from almost nothing to nothing at all thanks to using that time to catch up with his web novels.
He had been working late into the night, staying past his usual hours to finish some documents that had been assigned to him at the last minute. As he walked out of the office, he was already exhausted feeling like he could pass out at any moment, he made his way to a nearby store, and feeling worn out, he headed straight to where the kimbap and some instant ramen cups were. He checked out and trudged back home, just to encounter his only two friends: Yoo Sangah and Han Sooyoung running directly toward him.
"Tell me you are not about to eat that!" Sooyoung told him glaring at him
"But is food..." Kim Dokja said confused
"Bastard, you are going to die before 30 if you keep only eating this garbage," the writer told him.
Kim Dokja was about to protest when Yoo Sangah put her hand on his shoulder.
"Dokja-ssi, come eat with us please."
"Is your anniversary with Han Sooyoung, Sangah-ssi, I don't want to be a burden." The Salaryman said refusing the offer, "Besides, I don't have money to pay for a single glass of water in the places you both like"
"We invite," Han Sooyoung said holding Kim Dokja from the not of his tie forcing him to vent a little while her other hand was carefully holding her girlfriend's hand.
"Yes, it was thanks to Dokja-ssi that we met each other," Yoo Sangah said with a smile on her face "Without Dokja-ssi we wouldn't be so happy together, our anniversary also shows how much you helped us"
"Sangah-ssi and Sooyoung-ssi would had ended meeting each other even without me your love story was destinated to happen"
"Just shut up and accept the free food," Han Sooyoung told him still dragging him towards the nice restaurant where Yoo Sangah and her had made a reservation for their date.
They soon arrived at the front desk of the restaurant where a young woman welcomed them.
"Goodnight and welcome to "The Grand Dumpling", do you have reservations?"
"Yes, a reservation at 9 pm for Han Sooyoung" The writer answered letting go of Kim Dokja's tie.
The woman looked at her monitor, checking the reservation, then looked towards Sooyoung, then to Sangah, and finally towards Dokja. "Ma'am, her reservation is for two people"
"No is not," Sooyoung said making a perfectly offended and surprised voice, "I clearly said it was a table for three: my girlfriend, my friend, and me"
The receptionist checked the computer once more and then excused herself saying she was going to investigate what happened.
"Quick, made annoyed faces," The writer said "If we act like we are in the right they might end up believing us" After those words she crossed her arms acting cooky before looking towards Kim Dokja, who was looking extremely done with the situation "That's the attitude, who knew you could be such a good actor"
"I'm annoyed, I could be already at home, reading..." The Salaryman told her with a tired voice "But instead I have to see you trying to gaslight a receptionist"
"Come on Dokja-ssi, you have to admit is kinda fun to let her misbehave," Sangah told him trying to stop her girlfriend and his best friend from starting their never-ending bickering, her arms going around Sooyoung's shoulders to calm down the writer.
After the receptionist came back looking like she had seen a ghost and some more gaslighting was made the three of them finally were guided towards their table, ready to check the menu, neither of them noticing the figure of a tall man looking at them like they had insulted his whole bloodline with their existence.
Chef Yoo was not pleased when the receptionist of his restaurant told him that there was a possibility that she had made a mistake while booking a reservation that had been made 2 months ago, which meant that his perfect organization and planning for the night was ruined, they had to put an extra chair in a table for two, breaking the flawless atmosphere he had so carefully crafted and prepared for the night.
He wanted to fire the receptionist but doing that would only cause more trouble and chaos, he should called every person who made a reservation to confirm, maybe making an internet page so people could make their reservations would be best...
"Master?" A young inter named Lee Jihye called him, taking him out of his thoughts "You are glaring at the clients again..."
"Call Han Donghoon when you can, we can't keep having mistakes about the reservations," He said walking back to the kitchen ready to make sure every dish was perfect, both in presentation and flavor. He remembers when he started his restaurant some years ago, with only three recipes; muring dumplings, omurice, and Kimchi-jjigae. The restaurant was really small back then, with only 4 tables and only him was the only person working there, but thanks to the extremely delicious food and the help of his few friends, Uriel, Lee Seolwha, and Lee Hyunsung, his restaurant had expand from just a small corner and what was now.
"Table 51 wants an order of Dumplings to share, a Kimchi-jjigae, Japchae and Naengmyeon," the waiter said giving the order to the sub chef.
"Oh, two of the three classics!" Uriel said taking the order before showing it to Joonghyuk with a smile, the chef only looked at her slightly annoyed when she put the paper almost in front of his face before using her sin-song voice "Come on, I know you want to prepare this one~"
He took the paper from her hand and just walked towards his work station, he already had everything to serve that order so, if putting everything in plates was enough to get rid of Uriel's crazy idea that he was a sentimentalist, then he will take care of that order, and if his employees pretend that they didn't notice with how much detail he prepared the dishes it was their decision. Soon the full order was ready and the waiter took the food to table 51.
"It was about time," Han Sooyoung said when the Japchae was put in front of her, She could feel her mouth-watering "It smells so good"
"Thank you so much," Yoo Sangah said to the waiter when she received her food.
"I never thought the Kimchi-jjigae would look this delicious" Kim Dokja said looking at the stew that was served in front of him and that both Yoo Sangah and Han Sooyoung had ordered for him, the dish was well served, with a lot of tofu in bite size cubes the red and green beautiful contrast serve in a white porcelain plate was simply perfect, the green onions cute so fine and scattered with so delicacy that it shows how carefully it had been serving. He finally took a small bite, afraid of running such a divine presentation, his eyes opening wide as the rich and harmonious flavors touched every single one of his taste buds "Oh my God, this is amazing "
"Give me," Han Sooyoung said trying to take a bite from his food.
"No, back off, this is mine," He said blocking her advance.
"Asshole, I'm the one paying"
"Then order some for yourself"
Yoo Sangah chuckled at their antics when she noticed someone looking towards their table "Ah, I think one of the Chef is looking at us"
"Shit..." Han Sooyoung whispered, "Do you think he knows we sneak the bastard with us?"
"He is glaring at Dokja-ssi," Sangah said making Kim Dokja freeze for a second.
"Should I look back so he knows we saw him?" He asked.
"Yes, if he has a problem with us he will come to us and if not he will go back to the kitchen," Han Sooyoung said sure of her words, and seeing that confidence Kim Dokja finally looked back towards the Chef. He was not ready to see such a handsome man looking at him, his thoughts running wild the moment he saw that strong yaw line and perfect frowning eyebrows or two eyes that seemed to be carved off the most...
He looked back towards his plate of food, his cheeks burning like fire as he gulped down.
"Dokja-ssi?" Sangah called him and he just covered his face with his hands.
The picture of the chef glaring at him with powerful arms crossed over a strong chest was tattooed in his mind, just a glance of such a perfect adonis of a man had been enough to make him feel like that man knew all his sins, so he had to back away before those eyes set him on fire.
"No way..." Han Sooyoung said looking at him and then towards the chef who had now a soft blush on the tip of his ears, Kim Dokja was slowly starting to eat again, taking some tofu before she open her mouth again "Well, now we know that if that Chef throws us out of the restaurant Kim Dokja can lend his ass to get us out of trouble"
Kim Dokja coughed at those words and kept coughing when he felt he was choking, he guided a hand towards his neck trying to get his friend's help, he felt tears forming in his eyes as he coughed and coughed, Was this his end? Was he going to die in an expensive ass restaurant thanks to some tofu?
"Dokja-ssi!!" Sangah said when she noticed he was chocking on his food, she yelled to get the attention of someone that could help her friend Han Sooyoung tried giving some strong pats to Dokja in the back to help him stop choking, but before one of the guards could get close a pair of strong arms pulled Kim Dokja out of his chair and experienced hands made pressure on his upper abdomen successfully applying a Heimlich maneuver, saving him from the most ridiculous death ever.
Kim Dokja coughs a little more before resting the back of his head over the shoulder of the person who had saved him as his breathing slowly goes back to normal.
"Shit, are you okay Kim Dokja?" Han Sooyoung said worried "If I had known that my comment was going to almost kill you I would have shut up"
"I'm okay," He said feeling his throat burning as he moved away from the person who had saved him, he looked behind ready to thank the man but his eyes widened when he noticed that it was the Chef that had been glaring at him, damnit, jut his luck "Thank you Chef-nim"
"... Yoo Joonghyuk," The taller man said to him with a deep voice that almost made him fall to his knees "Are you okay?"
"Yes...sorry for the scandal," Kim Dokja said panicking, he looked at his friend from the corner of his eyes and saw Sangah covering Sooyoung's mouth with her hand
"Did something on the food make you choke?" Joonghyuk asked, Dokja noticed some hint of worry in his voice, the Chef was probably nervous at the idea of someone blaming his restaurant for Kim Dokja's near-death experience.
"Ah, no, it was my friend..." He said trying to ease the Chef "She was joking and..."
"I see," The Chef said looking at him, black eyes going up and down over his tiny body as Sooyoung's words played on his mind "Either way, is the restaurant's responsibility to make sure all the clients are okay, I'll call a friend so she can check on you"
"Oh, is not necessary" Kim Dokja insisted as Chef Yoo asked the waiter to call a doctor named Lee Seolwha "I just need to rest a little and I'll be fine"
"Mmh..." Yoo Joonghyuk looked at Dokja checked the pockets of his white apron and took out a small notebook, Dokja looked at him intriguer as he got offered the notebook and a pen "Write your number"
"Eh?"
"Your phone number, in case you feel chest pain, the Heimlich maneuver can cause a bruise to appear "
"Ah! Right! Sorry" He wrote his phone number and gave back the notebook to the chef, his cheeks still burning with embarrassment after all that happened.
Yoo Joonghuyk nodded and then looked toward the waiter "Don't charge them anything, is on the house", and before anyone could say anything he left towards his office, probably to update his lawyer.
"... Damn... I was joking before but... I think he wants to rail your ass" Han Sooyoung said the moment Sangah took her hand away from her mouth
"Sooyoung-ssi..."
"I'm not joking this time," She said with a shiny grin "That gap moe will be perfect for a character, if you both end dating I'll write a whole ass noble with both of you as the protagonist"
Kim Dokja groaned in embarrassment and pain as Sooyung and Sangah kept talking.
Yoo Joonghyuk entered his office and closed the door behind his back, his hand was clenched on the notebook and he felt the blush expanding from the tip of his ears to his cheeks, he could still phantom the feeling of holding such a thin man between his arms, how that soft skin was slightly cold. He took a look at the small notebook and sighed, he knew right now that this was not going to be his last time seeing that man
The abnormal who had brought some chaos to his restaurant.
The guy with whom he had fallen in love, not at first sight, but at first Heimlich