Post by Ren Wolff on Dec 31, 2018 20:18:29 GMT
Funny thing about abandoning your life and fleeing your family; someone still has to pay the bills. Ren figured that one out pretty quick. Sure, he'd saved up a decent chunk of change to help him get started, but without his family's wealth behind him, he knew that he'd have to pick up his own tab while he was still attending school. And so he'd made that one of his first priorities, starting to look for a job almost immediately after he'd left the entrance exams. The trouble was that he couldn't exactly give away his personal information when he was pretending to be someone else, so he'd needed to find a place that didn't ask a lot of questions, and was willing to pay in cash. Certainly not the easiest thing in the world for a fifteen year old kid to find, but Ren was pretty determined.
After a solid week of chasing down leads and asking around, the boy found his opportunity. A run down shack of a ramen shop nestled in alongside the river called Rin Rin Ramen. It was easy enough to tell at a glance that it wasn't the most reputable place around. The clientele that stopped by were frequently on the shady side, and the owner, a gruff looking man of Russian decent with one eye missing, was intimidating to say the least. It certainly took a bit to work up the courage and actually approach the shop, but once he did Ren found the job practically thrown at him. Apparently the owner, his name was Viktor Korzhakov, had just lost his seasonal employees and was hurting for help running the place.
Ren worked there full time up until the school year started, and Viktor paid him pretty well for a kid his age. He'd started off just working the counter and washing dishes, but after he'd given the man a sample of his cooking, he'd been allowed to start helping in the kitchen as well. That had both made the job infinitely more appealing to the boy, and earned him a bit more respect from his boss. With classes starting, Viktor allowed him to keep working there part time as long as he dropped by to help whenever he could, specifically on the weekends and any nights that he had free. It was arrangement probably wouldn't be ideal once homework started to pile up but that was something that Ren would just have to deal with. If he couldn't make enough cash to support himself, he wasn't going to get very far.
***
With a sigh, Ren stretched back and wiped away the sweat that had been forming on his brow. He really didn't like the heat, but that was something that you couldn't get away from in the culinary arts. In front of him was a fresh pot of stock that he'd been tending for about an hour now, mixing in all the seasonings to properly accent the base before he left it to sit and simmer. It wouldn't be ready for about three days, all said and done, but it was important to always keep the stores up. Normally this was something that was done at the end of the day, but they were in a lull just before the usual dinner rush and Ren had little else to do. He knew by now that any preparations he attempted to make for the inevitable flurry of activity would be futile, so he might as well use the time to be at least a bit productive.
It was strange, one would never have guess from looking at the place, but Rin Rin had quite a large influx of customers after the sun went down. The aging shack was just large enough to fit a rather cramped kitchen, with a small counter on one side that had enough seating for six, and a connected awning that covered a patio with 4 picnic tables. In the few weeks he'd been there, Ren had actually seen the place full to capacity a decent number of times, which helped explain why the owner had been so pressed to find extra help. Even with him there, they still had a hard time keeping up in peak hours.
Outside of those times however, it tended to be mostly deserted aside from the handful of regulars that hung around. Though 'shady' was indeed a rather accurate description of the general vibe of these customers, and Viktor had advised he make himself scarce around a few of them, the people that the boy had actually talked to were pretty interesting individuals. There was an old shogi master that always came by for a bowl of shio in the early afternoon, A couple that ran a nearby hardware store, and a man that came by and played an acoustic guitar every now and then. All in all, the job wasn't perfect, but it helped him get by and was far better than he had originally feared.
Ren dropped the lid back on the pot in front of him and glanced out over the counter. Right now there was only one person sitting out at the tables, some office worker from one of the companies downtown. The boss was in the back reading a newspaper, and some classic western rock softly wafted out of a radio in the corner. It was pretty peaceful right now, but the sinking sun and a 'Help Wanted' sign posted out front served as a reminded of just how busy they'd be getting. Probably a little less than an hour now.
After a solid week of chasing down leads and asking around, the boy found his opportunity. A run down shack of a ramen shop nestled in alongside the river called Rin Rin Ramen. It was easy enough to tell at a glance that it wasn't the most reputable place around. The clientele that stopped by were frequently on the shady side, and the owner, a gruff looking man of Russian decent with one eye missing, was intimidating to say the least. It certainly took a bit to work up the courage and actually approach the shop, but once he did Ren found the job practically thrown at him. Apparently the owner, his name was Viktor Korzhakov, had just lost his seasonal employees and was hurting for help running the place.
Ren worked there full time up until the school year started, and Viktor paid him pretty well for a kid his age. He'd started off just working the counter and washing dishes, but after he'd given the man a sample of his cooking, he'd been allowed to start helping in the kitchen as well. That had both made the job infinitely more appealing to the boy, and earned him a bit more respect from his boss. With classes starting, Viktor allowed him to keep working there part time as long as he dropped by to help whenever he could, specifically on the weekends and any nights that he had free. It was arrangement probably wouldn't be ideal once homework started to pile up but that was something that Ren would just have to deal with. If he couldn't make enough cash to support himself, he wasn't going to get very far.
***
With a sigh, Ren stretched back and wiped away the sweat that had been forming on his brow. He really didn't like the heat, but that was something that you couldn't get away from in the culinary arts. In front of him was a fresh pot of stock that he'd been tending for about an hour now, mixing in all the seasonings to properly accent the base before he left it to sit and simmer. It wouldn't be ready for about three days, all said and done, but it was important to always keep the stores up. Normally this was something that was done at the end of the day, but they were in a lull just before the usual dinner rush and Ren had little else to do. He knew by now that any preparations he attempted to make for the inevitable flurry of activity would be futile, so he might as well use the time to be at least a bit productive.
It was strange, one would never have guess from looking at the place, but Rin Rin had quite a large influx of customers after the sun went down. The aging shack was just large enough to fit a rather cramped kitchen, with a small counter on one side that had enough seating for six, and a connected awning that covered a patio with 4 picnic tables. In the few weeks he'd been there, Ren had actually seen the place full to capacity a decent number of times, which helped explain why the owner had been so pressed to find extra help. Even with him there, they still had a hard time keeping up in peak hours.
Outside of those times however, it tended to be mostly deserted aside from the handful of regulars that hung around. Though 'shady' was indeed a rather accurate description of the general vibe of these customers, and Viktor had advised he make himself scarce around a few of them, the people that the boy had actually talked to were pretty interesting individuals. There was an old shogi master that always came by for a bowl of shio in the early afternoon, A couple that ran a nearby hardware store, and a man that came by and played an acoustic guitar every now and then. All in all, the job wasn't perfect, but it helped him get by and was far better than he had originally feared.
Ren dropped the lid back on the pot in front of him and glanced out over the counter. Right now there was only one person sitting out at the tables, some office worker from one of the companies downtown. The boss was in the back reading a newspaper, and some classic western rock softly wafted out of a radio in the corner. It was pretty peaceful right now, but the sinking sun and a 'Help Wanted' sign posted out front served as a reminded of just how busy they'd be getting. Probably a little less than an hour now.
