C | Chapter 6.4 | Truth | Crack in the Lie

Entering through the employee entrance at the back of the restaurant, Ian made his way through the kitchen, casually responding to the usual comments from the staff like, “You seem a bit late today,” and “You don’t look well. Are you sick?” He brushed them off with light replies, heading to the locker room to change into his uniform before stopping by the restroom to fix his hair, which Revenant had messed up earlier.

He then stepped into the dining hall.

A slight sheen of sweat appeared on his forehead. The restaurant’s manager, who was forty-eight and happened to be the brother of the head chef, glanced at Ian’s face and immediately frowned.

“What’s with your face today?”

“What about it?”

“You’re pale. Are you feeling alright?”

“No, I’m fine… well, I have a bit of muscle soreness.”

“Oh, great. Please tell me you’re actually okay because the whole dining area is booked out tonight. We’ve got a full reservation for the entire evening. I can’t even begin to imagine how busy it’ll be. If you tell me now that you’re leaving, we’ll only have two people left to handle everything. It’s already going to be a nightmare, but without you…,”

The manager trailed off, shaking his head in frustration. Ian swallowed a sigh.

Maybe I should’ve just skipped out, even if it meant getting fired. I should’ve listened to Leo or Revenant when they tried to stop me.

Tonight is going to be hell.

The only silver lining was that the manager, too worried about the upcoming dinner rush, didn’t notice the bruise under Ian’s jaw. The restaurant’s dim lighting, meant to create a cozy atmosphere, turned out to be a blessing. The manager gave Ian a few pats on the back.

“Anyway, if you’re gonna be sick, hold off till later. Let’s just get through today. The kitchen is in emergency mode too, everyone’s losing their minds.”

“…I’ll do my best.”

Soon after, the guests who had reserved the entire restaurant arrived.

But contrary to the manager’s hellish expectations, the guests who booked out the entire restaurant consisted of only two, or maybe three people.

Two guests sat at the central table. One of them was Ian, who, in a waiter’s uniform, was sitting across from Revenant with a deeply uncomfortable expression. As they sat, the manager came over with a polite “Your meal has arrived.”

Then Georg, who was sitting at a nearby table, stood up, saying, “I’ll get it. Please stay seated, Mr. Winchell,” before heading to the kitchen.

The manager, Ian, and another waiter all wore expressions of discomfort.

Revenant took the wine bottle already set on the table and popped the cork himself. The manager, visibly uncomfortable, approached quickly, but Revenant waved him off with a casual hand gesture.

“Want a drink?” Revenant gestured to Ian’s empty glass.

Instead of answering, Ian put out his hand. “Thank you, but I’m on duty, so I can’t drink. Allow me to pour it for you, sir.”

Revenant chuckled softly and poured wine into his own glass.

“As I said, your job today is just to sit there.”

“…But I’m on duty.”

“I know. That’s why I’m handling your work for you.”

“But… I’m not the only one working.”

“Georg will take care of whatever the others need to do as well.”

Revenant added in a low voice, almost as if talking to himself, “To make sure you don’t end up with a bad reputation and get treated unfairly at work.”

“That’s probably already out the window…” Ian muttered, and Revenant gave him a dazzlingly charming smile.

“Then I’ll just reserve the place every time you’re on shift.”

Ian noticed the flash of shock and frustration cross the faces of the manager and the other waiter, who both clearly wanted to ask, “Who the hell is this lunatic?” Ian let out a sigh and asked Revenant, “I work here three times a week.”

Revenant took a sip of wine and nodded.

“I plan to have sex with you at least three times a week.”

“What…!”

Ian clenched the tablecloth, startled by the completely inappropriate statement, while the manager nearly choked, coughing in surprise, and the other waiter turned away to hide his reaction.

“And I don’t like the thought of you waiting on other people with a sore body after we’ve slept together. I’d prefer if you didn’t come to work at all, but since you insist, this is the only way I can help out.”

This was the first time Ian had witnessed such an absurd level of extravagance in real life. Seeing it first hand was surreal. Ian wanted to bluntly ask Revenant if he was out of his mind.

“I work here because I need to make money. With what you’re planning, you’d be spending multiple times… no, tens of times what I earn, maybe even more. Don’t you think that’s ridiculous?”

“I’m respecting your decision to work while also taking care of your body, which is strained from our time together. I think it’s a reasonable choice.”

Revenant put down his wine glass, smiling warmly as he casually spouted this insanity. And he kept slipping in the words “our time together,” as if to be purposely provocative.

“Another option was to buy out the restaurant entirely and close it down, but then you’d just find another job. After all, you said you wanted to make money. It’s not practical to buy every place you try to work at, so I thought this was a more balanced solution.”

Unfortunately, his “reasonable solution,” delivered with a completely straight face, was anything but rational.

“That’s such a waste of money! Do you know how much work I’d have to do to earn that kind of money?”

“Then quit. It’d be more reasonable for me to just spend that money on you directly.”

“I told you, I don’t want your money.”

“Then there’s no choice. You keep working, and I’ll keep spending on your workplace.”

At that moment, Georg, balancing a large tray on one hand like a seasoned waiter, approached the table and placed the appetizer in front of Revenant.

“Is there anything else you need?”

Revenant pointed to Ian’s empty glass. “Ian says he can’t drink on duty. Bring him something else.”

“Understood.”

As Georg walked off with his tray, Ian stared after him in disbelief. Revenant added calmly, “Georg is an international lawyer.”

“Lawy—What?”

Georg hardly seemed the type. In fact, he looked more suited to an enforcer role than a lawyer.

“He doesn’t just handle legal work. And his hourly rate is quite high. When I asked him to cover your duties today, he requested double his usual rate as a special fee. The amount he’s earning today alone is almost equivalent to what I paid to reserve this entire restaurant.”

Damn, these people are really something else.

“So, did you agree to it?”

“I had no choice. You’re insistent on working, and I genuinely want to respect your wishes, especially if you’re uncomfortable after being with me.”

Ian wanted to understand why Revenant’s words, though framed as “respecting his wishes,” sounded so much like a threat. Revenant took a bite of the appetizer, scallops topped with a mint-lemon sauce, alongside roasted asparagus, and commented.

“It’s lacking.”

He took a sip of wine, seemingly to cleanse his palate.

“No need to bring out any more courses.”

And with that, everyone else was effectively out of work. With the restaurant already fully paid for the day, every staff member from the hall to the counter, and even the kitchen, found themselves idly standing by, some even fidgeting out of boredom.

Ian heard the manager mutter, “Honestly, being swamped with work would be better than this.”

In the end, the manager concluded that sending Ian home early was the only way to resolve this situation, which was proving to be worse than hell.