[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

Youngling Training

Jisung, Chenle, Shotaro, and YangYang stood in front of Taeil and Yuta in the kitchen, confused why they were called up there. It wasn't that odd to be called up from the basement to help, but it was never them. Or at least never them in the kitchen.

"Why are we here?" Chenle asked abruptly, Jisung elbowing him in the side to be nice.

"I was put in charge of training you guys. The cafe keeps getting bigger and we need more help to keep up." Taeil explained, tossing an apron at each of them.

"I'll go get the rest of the 00 line then." YangYang turned to go downstairs, Taeil grabbing his wrist to stop him.

"Please don't."

"You're just saying that because you're scared of the power we hold."

Taeil sighed, thinking about the best way to go about this. "No, there just isn't enough room in here and they already know how to do certain jobs."

"What you really mean is we're freeloading a bit too much and we need to start helping." Jisung commented, Taeil sighing once more as Yuta laughed at his predicament.

"No and yes? We really do need more help."

"Then why's Yuta here?" Shotaro asked.

Yuta was actually standing on the window sill and leaning against the frame, watching. He had been sitting on the counter, but Taeil pushed him off so they could have counter space. The only reason they were even allowed to be in the kitchen when the usual kitchen team was busy was because they were stuck with the smaller kitchen. The one typically used for making meals for themselves.

Yes, they had two kitchens on the upper level. It was one of the changes they had to make to the cafe when they used the old kitchen space on the cafe floor for more seating.

"Because this will be entertainment."

"Yeah, why doesn't he have to help? I swear he's always doing nothing." YangYang complained, motioning vaguely in Yuta's direction.

It's not that YangYang was complaining about having to help because he loved running the register, he was just prepared to bring down everyone with him.

"I help!"

"He's good at cooking, he just never does." Shotaro added, as if that helped explain something.

"We're scared to ask him to do something, so he just does whatever he wants." Taeil admitted, Yuta smiling cheekily.

Everyone always forgot that Mrs. Suh had banned him from being in the kitchen probably over ten years ago. He had probably redeemed himself by now, but they had already gotten used to subconsciously knowing he shouldn't be there.

"I think Mark should be here too." Chenle pointed out, the other three nodding.

"I'm training the entire 99 line tomorrow. If I did everyone at once I wouldn't have enough eyes to keep the kitchen from burning."

Deciding that was enough questions and stalling, Taeil made them put on their aprons they were just holding. All the ingredients were already out on the counter, so all he really had to teach them was how to tell if batter was the right consistency, how to decorate and all that good stuff.

"How do we know how much to put in?" Shotaro asked, his hand slightly raised as if he was in a classroom.

"I already measured it out. Just dump that in."

"Yeah, but how do we know if you're not here to do that for us?"

Yuta pulled down a giant binder filled with recipes in plastic sleeves, all organized by category before Taeil could mention it.

The binder had a very fancily lettered cover that read "steal these and you die." It looked like something Ten might have done one of those summers he came over when the cafe was first starting up.

"Everything we make is in here. All the recipes have either been passed down for generations or adapted. Mostly adapted or created from scratch."

"Probably the most important things your eyes will ever see." Yuta added, putting the binder back where it came from.

"In case of fire save that before ourselves kind of important?" YangYang asked, both Taeil and Yuta nodding solemnly. Not what they were expecting.

The kids just nodded, going back to what they were doing. As a team, they ended up making some pretty good pastries. They had to stop Chenle from eating almost everything at every moment, and Sungchan came in and snuck some dough when they weren't paying attention, but it turned out amazing.

In fact, it was so great that it ended up going down to the cafe and they never got to try it.