I Quit My Job and Run a Café - Chapter 287



Only Krnovel

Quitting the company and opening a cafe Episode 287

The chattering guest soon became quiet.

Bipolar disorder.

That was exactly the situation.

It was the same when I looked at the text window.

[Im Soo-hyun]

*situation

─Early bipolar disorder

─Strong stress

The condition was just as bad as the aura.

But why did it suddenly become pizza?

There’s no way that customer would have heard that from Su-ah in the meantime.

First of all, he was a customer I had never seen before. Regulars were able to say things like that because I made them this and that.

Of course, it’s not usually done that way, but anyway, there was never a case where a first-time customer ordered something that wasn’t on the menu.

Especially in a cafe, not even a drink but pizza… … .

It’s a bit unusual, so I’d like to hear the story, but given the state of things, it seems like it would be difficult to talk to him easily.

then…….

“Would you like me to make you a pizza?”

“Huh? Yes? Really?”

“Yes, I can make it for you if you want. However, you have to order it as a set with a drink.”

“Yes! I’ll order a drink too!”

He was feeling depressed, but he quickly became cheerful again when I told him I could make him pizza.

But that lively appearance was somehow ambiguous.

If I were to put it in Soo-ah’s language, would I say it’s forced tension? It seems like it’s a manic state.

What kind of drink would be good in that case… … .

‘I think it would be good to have a cold personality.’

In that case… … I would like green tea lemonade like the one I made for Su-ah yesterday.

It relieves stress and also calms the body with the cooling properties of green tea. And I think this is the perfect drink to pair with pizza at our cafe.

“For drinks, there is a set menu with green tea lemonade. Would you like that?”

“Ah! Yes!”

I don’t know if she found the cola like Su-ah did yesterday, but she was startled by my words and answered.

Now that I’ve received the order, I’ll take my time finding out more about the status…

“Oh! If you don’t mind, can I turn on that wood stove? I’m going to use it to bake pizza instead of the oven, so I won’t be leaving it on for long.”

“Huh? Really? This is so great! Then can I have a fire drill too?”

“Are you a firefighter? Hmm… … The weather… … seems fine.”

I looked outside and it was cloudy.

In the fall, even if there are clouds like that, the temperature drops significantly, so it seems like we can endure the heat to some extent.

‘At this point, I can just open the door and smoke.’

Since you need to light a fire to make a wood-fired pizza, there was no problem with lighting a fire.

“Yes, please. I will tell you how to put in the firewood later, so please wait a moment.”

“yes.”

I quickly entered the kitchen after seeing the customer looking excited and then calmed down again.

Pizza, I think I’ll try that thing I thought of yesterday.

Margherita Pizza.

Compared to the pizza toppings in our country, it was a bland pizza with only tomato sauce, cheese, basil, and olive oil.

So, of course, the bread had to be delicious.

‘I made the dough yesterday.’

Among the tori’s oysters, I took out the dough that had been stored in the maturing room.

This was a dough I made after looking up a recipe.

Conventional pizza dough is actually just the regular bread dough that has been left to rest without going through a second fermentation.

Of course, that’s delicious too, but since I’m making it anyway, I wanted to try a recipe that’s specifically for pizza dough.

I was thinking of trying it and if there wasn’t much difference in taste, I would just use what I was using.

However, it is not that the ingredients are drastically different from the existing dough.

The ingredients were the same. However, the ratio of the ingredients and the process of kneading the dough were different.

Likewise, after the first fermentation, I took out the slightly puffed, round dough by letting it rest.

I pressed down on the center and stretched the dough to an appropriate thickness. Then I sprinkled fresh tomato sauce on top.

It was literally made by stewing raw tomatoes, and it was a sauce that brought out the savory flavor of the tomatoes to the limit by not adding much sugar or other seasonings.

Slice the cheese and put a lot of it on top… … .

‘Shoot this!’

Basil just picked from the garden. And the dough is complete when you add some high-quality olive oil that you ordered from Bae Jun-ho.

After putting the dough on the tray, I went outside.

A guest was seen staring blankly into the wood-burning stove, which was not even lit.

“I’m going to light it now. Would you like to take a look?”

“Oh, yes.”

“You can’t hold it with your hands here, but open it like this and put firewood here. Don’t put too many in, just one or two at a time so that the fire doesn’t go out. Right now, we need to bake the pizza first, so you can do that after you finish this.”

He briefly explained how to use the wood stove and started a fire.

Then, I pushed the moderately lit firewood to one side and when it started to turn into charcoal, I immediately placed the pizza dough in the empty space.

“Oh.”

A small exclamation of admiration was heard from the side.

Before I was depressed, now I’m emotional.

The uncontrollable state was definitely not normal.

How did it end up like that?

I was curious, but it didn’t seem like something I should ask right away, so I focused on the pizza.

Unlike an oven, pizza cooked in a wood-burning stove can end up burnt if done incorrectly.

Once one side was cooked properly, the pizza had to be turned over and cooked on the other side.

“Mmm~ It smells delicious! Wow! Awesome! Totally Italian!”

Does it smell like this in Italy? It’s a bit strange.

Sure, it imitates Italian pizza, but what about the smell?

I felt slightly embarrassed by the words of the customer coming in from the side, but I focused on the pizza.

‘Okay.’

I took out the pizza, which was golden brown.

“It’s hot, so be careful. Would you like me to cut it for you?”

“yes~”

He looked excited as if he was in a good mood just by looking at the pizza.

I placed the pizza on a large wooden cutting board I had prepared and brought a pizza knife from the kitchen.

Chuuk… … .

But in the meantime, the customer’s expression turned sad again.

‘This is serious.’

Can I cut this? I feel a little awkward.

I feel like I’m going to cut a pizza and then someone will ask me why I cut it.

Crispy!

First, cut it.

Luckily, there was no real trouble. He just looked at the pizza with sadder eyes.

“I’ll bring your drinks right away.”

“……yes.”

I ran to the kitchen and made some green tea lemonade and brought it out.

“Mmm~ Boss! This is so delicious! Isn’t this a pizza place and not a cafe?!”

The customer’s tension has changed again.

Now, I thought it was okay and offered the drink to the customer.

“Is the taste okay? It might be lacking since it’s not a specialty store.”

“No, no. It’s really so good! It’s the best pizza I’ve ever had in my life.”

It’s manic after all.

Of course it’s true that it’s delicious, but that kind of reaction…

“Take your time and enjoy your drink.”

“yes!”

“While you’re eating, you can also put firewood in the wood stove over there.”

“Oh.”

He looked like a sensitive hamster, with his mouth full of pizza and his overreactions whenever someone spoke.

Every little reaction is so fast and big hamster… … .

Instead, he sneakily left the seat for me so that I could eat comfortably.

Of course, just in case, I asked Soo-Jung and the spirits to keep an eye on it.

If anything happens, I’ll tell you.

‘If something had happened, it would have turned out like that.’

It doesn’t seem like a normal thing, but…

There seemed to be a variety of things in the world. I felt sorry for the crops in the garden that did not have any abnormalities such as bipolar disorder.

“huh?”

But why are the sweet potato fields so lush?

It wasn’t that big until yesterday, but has it grown again since then?

At that level… … the sweet potatoes might have grown quite a bit?

Just in case, I carefully dug one side. If you dig slowly in a V shape so as not to damage the sweet potato… … .

“uh!”

A vivid purple sweet potato appeared.

That was pretty solid too. Not a huge deal though.

‘Is this edible?’

There was enough to eat.

It hasn’t even been a week since I planted the sweet potatoes and they’ve grown so much.

“Should I just dig up this much for now?”

The joy of harvest is always good.

I wanted to dig them all up, but they still felt immature, so I just dug up the sweet potatoes from the part I just dug up.

There were so many hanging ones.

I could steam it all in one pot and eat it.

“They say it tastes better when it’s aged a bit.”

I was so curious that I couldn’t wait for it to mature.

I called Soo-Jung over and asked about the situation inside the cafe.

─Just sit there blankly!

“Really? Did you finish eating the pizza?”

─Yeah, yeah!

That’s right.

I went in carrying a sweet potato.

And while washing, I took a quick look into the hall.

Just as Soo-Jung said, I was blankly staring at the fire in the wood stove.

“customer?”

“… … Ah! Yes?”

“I just dug up some sweet potatoes from the garden in the backyard of the cafe. I was wondering if you’d like to roast them. Oh, and would you like me to pack up the leftover pizza?”

I asked her briefly to check how much of the pizza she had eaten.

I ate about half of it, so there was too much left to just throw away.

“Yes. Would you please do that? The sweet potatoes… … I would appreciate it.”

“What? Just wrap it in foil and put it in the wood stove.”

“yes!”

While I was wrapping up the pizza, the customer quietly wrapped a sweet potato in aluminum foil and placed it in the wood-burning stove.

‘My tension has dropped a lot.’

But if I had to point out something different from before, it would be that my mood didn’t suddenly get better like it did when I was manic.

I don’t know if it’s a good thing, but my mood swings have decreased.

I guess it’s because I’ve been enjoying a fire in front of the wood stove and my stomach is full…

“Here’s the packaging.”

“Thank you. The pizza was really delicious. I usually can’t eat pizza after one slice because I get sick of it. But I ate three slices of this.”

“… … You don’t usually eat pizza?”

But why did you order pizza at a cafe? Anyone who saw you would think you were crazy about pizza.

The guest seemed embarrassed and seemed to know that too.

“I’m sorry. Did I do something rude? I’m not in my right mind these days… … Actually, it was something like a fantasy. In Italy, I would just buy a pizza from a street pizza place I pass by and eat it on the street.”

“We all have those kinds of romances.”

Of course I don’t, but I sympathized.

Judging from the guests’ reactions, I thought I knew why things had turned out that way.

“Right? That’s why I was so excited to make that dream come true this time. Actually, we were planning to go to Italy for our honeymoon.”

“Oh! Are you planning to get married?”

But why the status? Even going on a honeymoon to a place you’ve always dreamed of?

I heard that some people feel mentally unstable before marriage. Is that true?

But even for that, it was severe.

“It was planned. We broke off the engagement.”

“……ah.”

“I planned the date, the meal, the dress, and even the honeymoon, but I ruined it all.”

“… … I see.”

This was an area I could not dare to sympathize with.

How would anyone know how I feel if they weren’t involved? It’s not something you experience often.

A broken engagement?

But then I suddenly wondered. What was the reason?

“The other person was a conman. He lost his property, his job, and even his family.”

“… …Are you a conman?”

“Yes. Now, while we were talking about the wedding dress and the gifts, the police station contacted me and said that there were already several victims before me.”

Suddenly, I felt like I understood the condition of the guest suffering from manic depression.

I don’t sympathize, but I think that someone who experiences something like that would inevitably become mentally unstable.

No matter how much the meaning of marriage fades, the fact that it is ultimately about choosing a life partner to spend the rest of your life with has not changed.

And that choice, of course, requires love, but it also requires faith and trust to match.

‘If the topic of marriage had not even come up and everything had already been done… … .’

The shock of that belief and trust being broken is indescribable.

Suddenly, when I saw the state of bipolar disorder earlier, I thought that I should have taken better care of it rather than just thinking that it was severe.

There’s no use regretting it now, so you should do your best now.

“I told you to go to Italy together and eat pizza… … Hehehe!”

Um… … First of all, I need to give myself a little more time alone.

I put a piece of firewood in the wood stove to keep it from going out and left it there. Then the flames in the wood stove crackled and made a comforting sound.

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