City of Witches

1.

The alcohol that Takasho eagerly served Periwinkle was none other than Dom Pérignon.

With this, Siwoo was able to confirm his obsession toward the drink.

Wearing white gloves in his hands, Takasho pulled the bottle out of the ice bucket that it was in and held it as if he was holding an expensive jar.

“The moment you said that you’re willing to help me, Ms. Periwinkle, I immediately ordered the boys to chill this bottle for you. Since champagne bottles need to be thick enough to protect its content from carbonation, it takes a longer time for it to chill down compared to regular wine.”

He carefully wrapped the bottle, which had been cooled down to a temperature that was perfect for drinking, with a napkin.

“This one over here is Dom Pérignon 1973 P3 Plenitude Brut, a highly regarded champagne even among the legendary vintage lineups of the 70s.”

“Now, that’s what I call quality.”

Siwoo could swear that he saw Periwinkle’s eyes shone for a moment there.

He didn’t know much about vintage champagne.

However, when he looked at the bottle’s powerful presence and Periwinkle’s satisfied reaction, it was clear that this was no ordinary liquor, even among the high-end ones.

“I’ll open it now.”

“Sure, sure.”

Takasho held the bottle close to his chest in a disciplined motion, as if he was a soldier holding his firearm.

Then, he cut the bottle’s neck with a knife that seemed more like a ceremonial sword.

This was sabrage, a method to open a champagne bottle using the pressure coming from the champagne’s bubbles, using a cut from the bottom of the bottle’s to its tip.

-Plop!

That gentle sound concluded his beautiful performance.

When the bottle’s neck flew away together with the cork, Periwinkle clapped her hands.

“That was a nice show.”

“Thank you.”

Takasho held the bottom of the bottle with one hand while holding its body with a handkerchief with his other hand. Then, he carefully poured its content into Siwoo’s and Periwinkle’s glasses.

The champagne had a heavier golden color than the previous ones.

Seeing how the carbon dioxide bubbles were still running around inside the champagne, even though its age was older than 50 years old, was a fascinating thing in itself.

“You drink it too.”

When the lighting hit the bubbles through the luxurious champagne glass, the bubbles shone like a sea of stars, strengthening the luxurious vibe that it gave off.

Clearly in a good mood, Periwinkle raised a glass to Siwoo.

“This thing looks too expensive for me to drink…”

“Does it? Madame, how much is it?”

“Including Gehenna’s tariff, we bought it for 24 pounds, but we sells it for 35 pounds.”

“See, if you bring this out instead, those rich witches would be pleased with you.”

Siwoo’s mouth was wide open.

Gehenna’s currency worked differently compared to the Modern World’s, so it was a little hard to tell how much exactly 1 gold pound was worth.

However, he could still have a rough estimate based on his experience living here as a slave; His estimation was 1 pound equal 840,000 won.

Which meant, a single bottle costed more than 20 million won.

Rather, it was close to 30 million won in total.

As Siwoo was staring dumbfoundedly, Takasho continued his fluent explanation about the champagne itself.

“This champagne has the unique taste that came with its brand. It lacks the fruity scent of rose like the other ones of its kind have, instead, it has the scent of nuts and creamy bubbles from the roasted almonds.”

“You surely are knowledgeable about this, hm?”

“I figured that I’d need to educate myself at least this much to provide the customers with the best service. Of course, I made sure that the other hosts studied just as much.”

“Good, good.”

Periwinkle smiled contentedly before bringing the glass closer to her lips.

“I like your spirit. Even though your business isn’t going too well and I am a friend of your friend, you still provided me with the best service that you could provide. Honestly, I would be disappointed if you didn’t do at least this much.”

“How could I not give you the best service when you’ve provided me with such valuable advice?”

Although just a moment ago he was hit by her relentless criticism, Takasho still went all out.

Siwoo knew that if it was him who was in Takasho’s shoes, there was no way that he’d go all out because of how bad the business was going at the moment.

Whatever it was that Siwoo was thinking about, accompanied by the bottle of champagne, the consultation continued.

“Alright, where should I start? Hm, why don’t we take a look at the documents again.”

“Please, go ahead.”

2.

“First thing first, get rid of the admission fee. Like I said, keeping it in will only make them feel that they’re being divided into classes. As for the champagne that you provide based on the admission fee’s level, make them free of charge.”

“Understood.”

“Huh?”

In contrast to Takasho, who nodded gently to that suggestion, Siwoo tilted his head in confusion.

He was also looking at the documents that Periwinkle was reading.

Although the champagnes in question were cheaper than the high-end champagnes, they weren’t cheap soju or canned beer.

They were still worth 3 pounds at the very least.

“But, won’t we be losing money if the witches only drink those free champagnes?”

“If you look at it on the surface, yes.”

Periwinkle crossed her hands, there was a meaningful smile on her face.

“But, like I told you, rich witches are prideful and arrogant. Our goal here is to take advantage of that.”

Generally, witches in Gehenna were wealthy.

Especially those who were staying in Lenomond Town and went to Malkuth Gallery to have fun.

“There’s just no way that those arrogant witches would only drink the free champagne and leave, especially considering that there would be other witches around them too. Not only would they degrade themselves by doing that, other witches would also perceive them as cheap.

“And if they were to do that, the other witches around them would definitely laugh at them. There’s no way that they’d dare to show their faces again for a long time after that kind of humiliation.”

“I see.”

“Jeez, my cute Siwoo is hopeless isn’t he? I need to explain everything from one to a thousand so that you can understand.”

Periwinkle pinched Siwoo’s cheek as she said so before adding an explanation.

“Anyway, make sure to work hard so that you’d get tips instead of relying on something like an admission fee. There’s a difference in nuance between a satisfied customer who ‘appreciates’ your service and a customer who ‘purchases’ your service to satisfy themselves.

“While the Dom Pérignon you serve is a little expensive, it isn’t so expensive that you can’t give it out for free. Those witches will give you tips above the price of the drink at the very least, as their token of appreciation. Of course, only under the condition that you managed to satisfy them.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“One more thing. You need to give more ‘meaning’ to the present that the customers can order.

“Reduce the amount of the cheaper cognac, whiskey, brandies, whatever, and provide them with more of the most expensive alcohol. That way, it’ll give them the feeling that they were giving you something special. The champagne that you served me a while ago would work great. Remember, the harder the thing is to get, the better.”

“Just reduce the amount of the cheaper alcohols? What can we do with them?”

“No need to do anything special, just reduce its number, but make sure that you always have them in stock. If you only have the most expensive ones available, they’ll think that you’re just trying to squeeze their money away from them. Also, having the cheaper alcohol in stock will make it easier for them to compare between the items.”

As he diligently noted down Periwinkle’s words, a slight embarrassment rose up on Takasho’s face.

“But, it won’t be easy for me to get all those high quality alcohols in a short time. Money aside, there just aren’t enough of them circulating in the market.”

Even with his connection to Countess Adonai, Takasho still wasn’t in a position where he could just willingly buy a bunch of high quality alcohol.

“You got a point. Alright, I’ll help you out with that. I can introduce you to some of the suppliers for my hotel in the Modern World.”

“A-Are you sure that’s okay?”

Takasho’s eyes, which were showing a hint of dejection, widened in surprise.

He bowed his head over and over while expressing his gratitude to Periwinkle.

“Of course it’s okay. You are a close friend of Siwoo, are you not? I’m here because I have something to take care of, so this is the best I can do for you, but don’t worry. On my next visit, I’ll help you out myself. Until then, this should be enough.”

Her generous offer of support completely erased the worry on Takasho’s face.

Despite how much he acted cheerfully on the outside, it seemed like he really was under a lot of stress because of his business.

After all, if this business really went under, it was doubtful that he could even keep his life intact.

Periwinkle wasn’t done though. After all that, she still pointed out one or two things more to him.

She mostly provided him with a rough outline of the types of alcohol that he should order each month and she also promised him that she’d introduce him to some companies in Gehenna where he could rent some art pieces he could use to decorate the place.

“Also, consider holding special events frequently. You need to keep things fresh for them.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve already considered that.”

“After the business has grown more stable, start implementing membership service. Make it so that it’s hard for them to join the membership so that they’d think it’s something truly special.”

“I hadn’t thought about that. Understood, I’ll consider that.:

“Also, the margin rate is too low compared to the operating cost.”

“But, we’re already at 40-50% margin.”

“Well, you’ll need to raise the price, provide better service overall, change the interior decoration frequently to keep things fresh and so on…”

Three hours passed by since they started this business talk.

To summarize, the issue with Takasho’s approach was that he was using the common people’s mindset, which didn’t fit his expected customer base, but Periwinkle had fixed that problem.

“And one last thing…”

Though, not everything had been solved yet.

One last problem had remained unsolved.

“How do you attract customers? In Gehenna, normally, if there’s a new business, they will spread the news by mouth, but you’ve missed the timing for that, Madame. If anything, there’s a good chance that bad things about this club are circulating among the witches.”

“Hmm…”

“Also, both Hydrangea Garden and Levana Grand Bath have been around for more than a century. It’ll be hard for a new business like this to compete against them, especially when we have to consider the fact that we need to draw in regulars.”

“So advertisement is still a problem, huh?”

As Takasho failed to provide a clear answer, Periwinkle let out a snort of disapproval.

“What if we advertise it in the newspaper…?”

“No, that’s way too bland for our standard. Right, I forgot about this, but make sure to get rid of the signboard outside.”

“Okay.”

Siwoo, who had been watching quietly, stepped forward.

In fact, the first time he heard about Takasho’s situation, he already had an idea on how he could help him.

Of course, he was the one who called Periwinkle here and that also counted as a help, but that was that, this was this.

“Ms. Periwinkle, about the advertisement thing…”

“Hm? Oh, right. You’re here!”

Periwinkle’s face instantly lit up when she saw him, but Takasho could only tilt his head in confusion after seeing her reaction.

“How could I forget…! We can advertise this club as the place where they could meet with the first male witch!”

Here, Siwoo’s fame was beyond the level of any celebrities’ in the Modern World.

Just like what happened in Border Town, he was like the Pied Piper of the witches; His mere presence could make the witches flock to him like a horde of rats.

With the heavy reliance on mouth-to-mouth advertisement in Gehenna, what would be a better way to advertise the business than this?

Siwoo figured that since he couldn’t walk like a normal person outside due to all the rumors anyway…

He might as well go balls deep and use this fact to help out his friend.

“Uh, I know that Siwoo is handsome, he can serve the customers well and he can use magic, but how would that be helpful for the business…?”

“There’s no one more popular than him in Gehenna right now. At the very least, the witches staying in Lenomond Town will come to visit just to look at him once.”

At that, Takasho sent Siwoo a strange look, as if asking him, ‘Is she for real?’.

“Believe me, I don’t want to be this popular either. But I guess this is a blessing in disguise…”

“What on earth have you been doing…?”

Cutting Takasho—who had dropped his formal tone due to how dumbfounded he was—Periwinkle stated her final advice for the day.

“Alright, well, there’s no way that we can start doing everything tomorrow, since we still need to take care of more things, so we’ll start the host club’s revitalization project the day after.”

With that, Periwinkle, who had been giving Takasho various advice, left the club with a satisfied look. She even paid for the champagne as a tip.

After that, Takasho proceeded to teach Siwoo about table manners, attitude he needed to take towards the witches, simple topics to keep conversations going, and Gehenna’s current state of affairs so that he could handle more in-depth conversations.

“Memorize everything.”

Table manners like, when he placed the ice into the glass, he had to make sure that the concave part of the ice was facing the side.

He also needed to avoid putting his hands under the table.

When putting the glass down, he had to use his fingertip so that it wouldn’t make any noise.

Making sure that whenever he was pouring alcohol, the mouth of the bottle wasn’t facing the customer’s direction.

He also learned how to light up someone else’s cigarette properly.

And many more.

Though relatively short, this course of table manners was quite tricky for him to understand.

Other than table manners, there wasn't anything else that Siwoo found difficult to learn, though he got some good tips from Takasho regarding how to handle the witches’ temper properly.

He also had his five years experience as a slave, so he was familiar with a witch’s mindset and how to treat them well.

After spending all night receiving the special training from Takasho…

It was time for the Grand Opening of Gehenna’s one and only host club, the Rose Glass.