Chapter 227
The bar’s neon lights sparkled against the popping candy rimming the glass, and inside, the bright red cherry-colored drink sloshed alluringly, bubbling with carbonation.
For now, the visuals passed before my eyes. Even compared to what the Valedictorian Bartender Sey made herself, there didn’t seem to be much of a difference.
Mr. Bing seemed to share the same thought as he smirked and looked my way.
“The color is decent for a start. Just looking at the exterior, she’s quite a beautiful woman. Looks appetizing.”
“Thank you.”
“But we’ll have to taste the inside to know. The outside can be decorated and altered as much as you want. From those bastards who change their skin color and features to imitate an East Asian just because they want to change their race, to those bastards who chop off their dicks and attach a made-up pussy because they want to change their gender… It’s a beggar-like world where you can’t just blindly believe someone is a beautiful woman.”
This was a point I strongly agreed with.
I didn’t even have to look far; just looking at Ms. Kim proved it.
Just looking at the exterior, she was a neat, beautiful woman shining with boyish charm.
The only problem was that her boyishness was so strong that she possessed a body part normal women didn’t have…
“Even in a world like this, the inside is hard to alter. In the end, you can see what’s what once you taste it yourself. Whether this pussy is a fake pussy, a delicious, chewy, and tight natural pussy, or a natural but loose, gaping pu…”
“A-Ahem!”
Man, why did this Ajje have to speak so vulgarly?
When I coughed loudly while glancing at Sey on the other side, Mr. Bing laughed like a rascal and said:
“Tsk, anyone can tell you’re a virgin… getting all shy. Shall we then have a taste of our beautiful woman? Let’s see if the inside is as sexy as it looks.”
Mr. Bing lifted the glass. As he brought it to his lips and tilted it, the red liquid flowed.
Gulp.
That wasn’t the sound of Mr. Bing swallowing the cocktail, but the sound of me swallowing dry saliva.
Unlike when I was singing my own praises about being an experienced apprentice Bartender, I became extremely tense when this moment arrived.
Even though it wasn’t my first time serving a cocktail I made myself to customers, I felt nervous every time. It was even more so because Mr. Bing seemed like he would be harsh with his evaluation in this regard, unlike his easygoing demeanor.
There was also something I was slightly anxious about.
It was because of Mr. Bing’s mention of that fake “female genitalia” that were different on the inside and outside…
Come to think of it, a lot of fake ingredients went into this Cherry Popper I made as well.
The lime juice and grenadine syrup were like that, and I knew the carbonated cherry crystals were artificial too.
Should I say it was a relief that I used real cherry pulp, even if it was frozen?
It couldn’t be helped. What could I do when we didn’t have the ingredients? It wasn’t like our bar was a high-end Classic Bar in the upper levels where nobles frequented.
It wasn’t like I could magically create ingredients we didn’t have, and wouldn’t Mr. Bing understand that much of the situation? Probably.
In my head, I thought I did my best with the available ingredients… but in my heart, a fear arose that I might receive a harsh review because of it.
Gulp.
This time, it was genuinely the sound of Mr. Bing swallowing the cocktail.
Sizzle -
It felt as if I could hear the sound of the highly carbonated Cherry Popper, stinging and refreshingly coating his throat as it went down.
I wasn’t drinking it, but since I had tried it before, I could imagine the taste.
To use the “feminine analogy” that Mr. Bing liked, the first taste of the Cherry Popper brought to mind a strong-willed woman.
The intense taste of the cherry-flavored popping candy, the soda drink mixed into the cocktail, and the carbonated cherry crystals met and seemingly caused an explosion as they sizzled in the mouth.
The food of the 22nd century was on a completely different level of stimulation compared to that of the 21st century, as could be seen just from the cocktail “Cold Heart” I made previously.
Someone unaccustomed to it might consider it a bizarre sensation of their esophagus burning. I, too, thought, “What is this?” at first.
But once you get past that sharp mouthfeel, you can feel the pleasure of a really sweet, refreshing, and smooth cherry drink coating your mouth.
If the woman encountered first was rough and fierce, the more you drank, the more it brought to mind a soft, sweet, and elegant image instead.
Just like Mr. Bing said, it was different on the inside and outside, only not in a bad way but in a good way.
With such a sweet taste, a high alcohol content, and even a large volume, it was truly a cocktail that perfectly suited its reputation as a pickup drink called the “Virgin Opener”.
Labyrinth it was my personal preference, but I thought a cocktail with such a twist in taste was far sexier than other cocktails.
'Though I don’t know if Mr. Bing shares the same thought.'
“Whew, that’s strong.”
Mr. Bing, who had flinched for a moment at the rough taste of the cherry carbonation, grabbed the glass again and drank the cocktail.
Was it just my imagination that his stiff expression seemed to relax at the smooth taste hidden behind the carbonation?
Mr. Bing, who had been gulping down the cocktail, set the glass down with a clack and said.
“I admit it. Cherry Popper… it’s a very sexy cocktail. Not just the outside, but the inside too. How should I put it? It’s like buying in a hurry just any woman in the back alley of Sprawlfield or Costco, and this bitch who looks tough like she’s been around the block turns out to be a virgin with pink, tender, smooth pu…”
“Please stop with those bizarre analogies…”
At my appalled reaction, Mr. Bing smirked.
“Anyway, it’s a very delicious and erotic cocktail. I enjoyed it. You said you’d show me what an apprentice Bartender at dragons' Lair is like, and as expected, it’s on a different level from other ordinary back alley joints. However, if there’s one disappointing thing…”
If there was one disappointing thing?
My relieved face stiffened once again. What didn’t he like?
Was the carbonation too strong? Or was it because of the artificial syrup after all? Was the artificial sweetness disgusting?
Mr. Bing paused to beat around the bush for a moment before speaking.
“Unfortunately, it was a little lacking to cure a middle-aged man’s chronic illness. It was erotic, but I don’t think it was quite that erotic. You’ll have to try a little harder, eh?”
My tension melted away.
I was so happy I felt like I could fly at having been acknowledged.
In particular, the more I chewed over the review Mr. Bing gave, the better it felt.
Setting aside the unnecessarily obscene analogies and just thinking about the underlying meaning, I could tell that he had fully felt the taste and intention I had imagined while making the cocktail.
To a bartender, could there be another customer as enjoyable to serve as a customer who fully enjoyed the cocktail he or she crafted?
Yes, it was enjoyable.
I had been working hard all this time, but honestly, I had never felt like being a bartender was my calling or that mixing drinks was crazy fun!
It was just because the company ordered me to, and because I had to adapt to dragons' Lair, so I simply did my best to learn what the people here taught me and do my part.
But now, I thought, “Ah, this is the taste of being a bartender.” I felt a certain small passion welling up inside me.
“Thank you for the compliment. It gives me motivation.”
It wasn’t empty words, but one hundred percent pure sincerity.
I felt that starting tomorrow, I should work hard again on my Cocktail Study, which I had been neglecting a bit recently.
“I will hone my skills further and make it erotic enough to cure your… chronic illness next time, Mr. Bing.”
“Right. I really hope so. I hope your… virginity issue is resolved by then too.”
Playfully firing back at a joke with a joke.
…I’m definitely going to meet a woman, if only out of spite because of that damn teasing about virginity, seriously.
“Come to think of it, about the workplace issue you mentioned last time… did you decide not to change jobs in the end?”
When I suddenly remembered and asked Mr. Bing, who was drinking the Cherry Popper, he pondered for a moment before speaking.
“No? I did change jobs. The advice you gave me back then was quite helpful. Thanks.”
“It’s nothing to be thankful for…”
What did Mr. Bing say back then?
I couldn’t remember exactly, but I think he said it was a situation where he had worked incredibly hard to get promoted, but he was going to be pushed out because a member of the Royal Family, the esteemed Chairman’s daughter, took the spot as a nepotism hire.
Even if it wasn’t me, I felt like anyone would consider changing jobs in such a beggar-like situation.
It was just surprising that Mr. Bing’s reaction seemed as if he hadn’t thought of it at all until then.
“Anyway, that’s great. I heard you were struggling with a project, so I thought you hadn’t changed jobs yet. You just moved companies not long ago, but they already decided to deploy you to such a big project?”
“Yeah. I’m the Project Leader. The adjustment period wasn’t really an issue. The industry work is all much the same, and the last task I handled at my previous workplace was similar too. It’s just that my perspective has changed a bit… and the need to be proactive has arisen.”
Mr. Bing said that and drank his cocktail once again.
Seeing that the wine glass containing the Cherry Popper was almost emptied in that short time, it seemed he really did like the taste.
“Your expression looks good; I guess the company you moved to is much better for getting promoted?”
At my question, Mr. Bing shook his head.
“I don’t know about that yet. It hasn’t been long since I moved, after all. However…”
However?
“If this Project succeeds, things will take shape to some extent.”
In the end, it circled right back to that Project again. Judging by how he spoke of it to that extent, it seemed it really was important.
Did he say the chance of success was 48.71 percent?
“I hope you succeed.”
At my lightly tossed words, Mr. Bing smiled crookedly.
“That would be nice. And it probably will be.”
What did he mean?
“Even if I have to force it to work, I’ll make it succeed no matter what.”
It was truly a declaration full of ambition and confidence.
At that moment, a certain charisma could be felt from Mr. Bing.