My Girlfriend Chose a Rich Man, Then My Money Started Multip

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Noah found Ethan in the kitchen, standing in front of a rail crowded with unfinished orders. The customer satisfaction score on his phone was still stuck at 89%. They had two hours left before the mission expired, and the number hadn't recovered.

"How many are we behind?" Noah asked.

Ethan pointed toward the rack on his left. "Three tables have been waiting for over half an hour. Two other orders are almost ready, but if another server takes the wrong plate to the wrong table, I'm sending everyone home."

Noah checked the tickets. Some had been sitting there since before Daniel fell ill. With Ethan covering an extra station, new orders had kept coming in until the backlog became unmanageable.

"Which ones can we get out first?"

Ethan tapped two tickets. "Those. They just need the finishing sauce. After that, I have to get back to the Golden Roast."

"Get those two out now. Tell the servers to double-check the table numbers before they take anything."

Noah flagged down a passing server and handed over the tickets. Once the first dish was on its way, he studied the menu.

"We need to limit new orders for dishes that take the longest to prepare. Leave the orders we've already accepted alone. For new arrivals, offer alternatives until we clear the backlog."

Ethan considered that for a moment, then nodded.

"I'll tell the front staff. Don't expect everyone to be happy about being told their favorite dish isn't available."

"Better to tell them before they order than make them wait forty minutes."

Ethan raised a hand in agreement and returned to work.

Noah left the kitchen and found Maya near the reception desk. A customer was complaining about a missing order. She listened without interrupting, then asked a server to check its status.

As soon as the customer returned to his table, Noah approached her.

"How bad is it?"

"Table eight has asked about their food twice. Table eleven is getting impatient, too." Maya closed the reservation list on her tablet. "I've offered complimentary drinks, but they want to know when their meals will arrive."

"Then give them an honest estimate. Don't promise five minutes if the kitchen needs fifteen."

Maya glanced at him. "And if they're still angry?"

"We listen. At least they won't have to spend the rest of the evening wondering whether we've forgotten about them."

She sighed, though a faint smile tugged at her lips.

"I'll check on table eleven myself. You handle the outstanding reservations. If anyone's still on the way, ask them to arrive a little later. We can't take everyone at once while the kitchen is struggling."

Noah took the reservation list and started making calls.

Several customers agreed to delay their arrival by thirty minutes after he explained the situation. Others were already on their way and couldn't change their plans. He didn't pressure them. Instead, he asked the staff to have their tables ready as soon as they arrived.

Back in the dining room, Noah watched a server deliver two dishes to the correct table. A moment later, Ethan emerged from the kitchen looking exhausted but no longer surrounded by staff demanding answers.

"If you're going to help, don't stand in the servers' way," Ethan said, reaching for a glass of water. "Check the tickets and table numbers. I don't want an expensive main course ending up in front of someone who ordered a salad."

"I've been doing that."

"Good. Keep it up. I don't have the energy to cook anything twice tonight."

Noah was about to answer when another server approached with two new tickets. He stepped aside to clear the walkway, then checked the table numbers against the completed orders.

The task wasn't difficult, but it required concentration. He was beginning to understand how quickly a small delay could throw the entire kitchen off balance. One unfinished dish kept a server waiting. The server's delay frustrated the customer, who then called for assistance. Every complaint pulled someone away from their duties, leaving other work unfinished and creating another problem.

When Noah checked his phone again, the number had finally changed.

[Customer Satisfaction: 90%]

He let out a breath, realizing only then how tense his shoulders had become.

[Target Maintained.]

[Time Remaining: 1 Hour.]

"We're back at ninety," he told Ethan.

Ethan took another drink of water. "Don't celebrate yet. We've still got an hour to go."

"I'm not celebrating."

"You look like you just survived a car crash."

Noah slipped his phone into his pocket. "At least no cars were involved."

Ethan chuckled and set down his glass.

For the next few minutes, the kitchen settled into a more manageable rhythm. The backlog continued to shrink, and the front staff managed to spread out the arrival times of incoming customers instead of letting everyone crowd the entrance.

Noah was about to check the tables near the windows when a kitchen assistant approached them.

"Chef Ethan, we've got a problem with the Golden Roast."

Ethan turned. "What now?"

"We're almost out of the main ingredient. There's enough left for about twelve portions."

Ethan stopped drying his hands.

"How many Golden Roast orders do we have tonight?"

The assistant checked his tablet. "Forty-three portions."

Ethan looked at Noah. "It's our best-selling dish tonight. If we run out, we'll have to ask customers at half those tables to choose something else."

"Why wasn't the stock checked earlier?" Noah asked.

"We checked before service started," Ethan explained. "We had enough for an ordinary night. Then several tables ordered two portions each, and the numbers changed. Daniel usually keeps an eye on the stock while he's working his station."

There was no point wasting time assigning blame. Noah asked to see the inventory records, then called their main supplier.

The answer wasn't encouraging. The next delivery wouldn't arrive until the following morning.

Maya tried two other suppliers. The first couldn't provide ingredients of the quality they needed. The second could deliver that night, but not for several hours.

Noah kept searching until he found a company that promised delivery within an hour. There was one catch: the price was almost three times the usual rate.

Maya showed him the quotation.

"The quality checks out, but they want full payment upfront. If we buy everything they have available, we'll be spending far more than we budgeted for tonight."

"How much stock do they have?"

"Enough to cover our orders, with a little left over."

Noah glanced at the reservation list on the reception desk. Forty-three portions of Golden Roast had already been ordered. Going from table to table to arrange replacements would take time, and some customers might decide to leave.

"Order what we need. Get them to confirm the delivery time before we finalize the payment."

Maya called the supplier again, making sure the ingredients would arrive within an hour and meet the restaurant's standards. Once they confirmed, she completed the transaction.

"If they're late, I'm calling them myself to find out why," she said, putting her phone away.

"Fair enough."

Noah returned to the kitchen and told Ethan the additional ingredients were on their way.

Ethan rubbed his face.

"I'm starting to understand why Maya lets you get involved in operations."

"Because I agreed to pay three times the normal price for ingredients?"

"Because you agreed to pay three times the normal price without asking me to change the recipe to disguise the difference." Ethan pointed toward the preparation counter. "Once the ingredients arrive, I can finish the rest of the orders. But if they taste different, I'm blaming you."

"Just make sure they don't."

"Get out of my kitchen, Noah."

Noah laughed and moved away before Ethan could throw him out for real.

His phone vibrated.

[Business Crisis Resolved.]

[Customer Reservations Maintained.]

[Special Bonus Awarded.]

He glanced through the notifications. The system had registered the inventory crisis as resolved and confirmed that the reservations had been preserved. He left the bonus details for later. A server had just informed him that two tables needed assistance.

There was still work to do.

---

By closing time, the restaurant had finally begun to empty.

Not every customer left satisfied, but no one had been forced to cancel a Golden Roast order because the restaurant had run out of ingredients. A few customers still complained about the wait, and Maya made a note of the tables that needed follow-up the next day.

After the staff finished their final tasks, Noah settled into a seat near the window and checked his phone.

Customer Satisfaction: 92%.

He smiled at the number. They'd made it through a night that had nearly fallen apart without losing all the customers who had ordered their signature dish.

Another notification appeared.

[Mission Complete.]

[Level 3 Unlocked.]

Noah waited for the next update.

[Multiplier: 50× → 100×]

He read it twice.

"One hundred times," he muttered.

With the upgraded multiplier, a purchase worth a thousand dollars could generate a hundred thousand dollars in rewards. Even after everything that had happened since the system entered his life, the numbers still seemed absurd.

Noah closed the notification, but his phone vibrated again.

[New Feature Unlocked.]

[Special Purchase Rewards.]

He frowned at the screen.

"What now?"