Reset Life with Infinite Talents - Chapter 113

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Infinite Talent Reset Life Episode 113

 

 

”Oh! And then?”

“They stayed far away, just watched, and then left.”

“…The people who invested 12 million dollars?”

On a bench at Fairmont High School under the autumn sunlight.

Johann’s friends, who had been listening intently to the episode with bright eyes after hearing he started filming, furrowed their brows.

“Yeah. The people who invested 12 million dollars.”

They took photos and gave autographs, but that was all.

Everyone just watched politely and then left with satisfied smiles.

“Oh, they also encouraged us to film well.”

It was closer to a request than encouragement, but it wasn’t coercion.

Everyone basically had faith that the movie would do well.

“Wow. That CEO must have incredible connections.”

“He’s been making movies for decades.”

It’s trust built up over decades.

“But can a movie really be made with 18 million dollars?”

It’s a disaster movie, no less.

CG will definitely be used extensively.

“Don’t they usually spend at least 100 million these days?”

At Lucy’s words, Johann scratches his cheek.

“It’s not enough.”

Mark Wahlberg’s fee makes it even more so.

About 8 million dollars.

He heard this was already a reduced amount due to CEO Chris Panning’s friendship with him.

If not, all the production budget they’d gathered would have gone to his fee alone.

For reference, Johann’s fee is 800,000 dollars.

Although he charted on Billboard, since his filmography is nonexistent, this amount was set. That’s the surface reason, but actually Johann’s fee was set as conservatively as possible to secure the production budget.

“Should, should I invest too?”

“…It’s okay. I’ll just accept the thought.”

Johann, who was patting Mason’s shoulder, suddenly exclaims in admiration.

“Ah, it was the smell of soft tofu stew.”

“Huh?”

“One of the investors I met yesterday smelled like Korean food, but I couldn’t remember what dish it was.”

It just came to him now.

It was the smell of soft tofu stew that Mason’s mother had made when he occasionally visited Mason’s house.

He remembers not being able to eat even half because it was too spicy.

“That was the main smell.”

Besides the soft tofu stew smell, there were various other smells mixed in.

As if food smells had permeated into the skin.

“…That damn dog nose of his.”

“Wolf nose.”

“Wolf nose is…”

Among the friends shaking their heads, Emily speaks up.

“Then you’ll be absent and leaving early often from now on?”

“Well, that’s how it’ll be.”

Fortunately, they agreed to count it as attendance since it’s job-related activity.

They even actively encouraged it as an opportunity to promote the school, saying he didn’t need to attend classes as long as he submitted exams and reports on time.

“That’s fortunate. Hmm. Then it’ll be hard to do volunteer work too.”

“Volunteer work?”

“We need to decide on that soon.”

A month has already passed since the job experience ended.

Even though they’re only 9th graders with plenty of time, it’s better to do these things in advance.

“Isn’t the volunteer work done in 12th grade worth the most points?”

They highly value the diligence of doing volunteer work while studying for college entrance exams like the SAT.

“That’s one thing, this is another. It’s better evaluated if you do it consistently. What university would highly evaluate someone who rushes to do volunteer work at the last minute?”

“That’s true too… Hmm, should I join the volunteer club? That sounds annoying though…”

The volunteer club’s principle is to go out for volunteer activities every weekend.

Because of this rule, many students join the volunteer club only to quit later.

“No! You don’t have to come out!”

Everyone looks at the Black Boy next to them in surprise.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Gender Howard, an 11th grader and vice president of the volunteer club. You guys are them, right?”

The 9th grade queens, no, the high school queens Emily, Lucy, and Joy.

The tyrant Flash and his friends who are starters on various sports clubs.

Mason, who always places in art competitions.

And their leader, the genius Johann.

If you didn’t know them at Fairmont School, you could be called a spy.

‘If I could just get these guys to join?!’

“You only need to come out once a month. There won’t be any pressure, and you can go to volunteer locations of your choice!”

Everyone looks puzzled.

Even though many students quit, the volunteer club is among the top five clubs in the school in terms of member count.

“Did the club’s support budget get reduced?”

“No.”

“Did the number of students applying to the club decrease?”

“That’s not it either.”

“Then why?”

Gender Howard avoids Emily’s round, wide eyes.

Her face is too pretty to look at directly.

“The number of students quitting must have increased.”

Flinch!

Gender Howard nods while looking at Johann.

“That’s right…”

Not only students who quit, but the number of ghost members is also high.

He doesn’t know how the traditional volunteer club ended up like this.

“Oh, I know this story.”

Everyone’s attention turns to Lucy.

“They said it’s because the current president runs it quite tightly.”

All clubs in the school operate on support budgets from the school and donations from alumni.

But the previous president of the volunteer club managed this budget very tightly.

Specifically, he almost eliminated the budget that should have been spent on members, such as food expenses, transportation costs, and laundry fees, and used the remaining money for the volunteer locations.

Anything in excess becomes poison.

No matter how much someone joined the club to do the good work of volunteering, if they had to pay for everything from A to Z with their own money, they couldn’t help but get exhausted.

This would be even more true for students with limited allowances.

He even heard that the rule of volunteering every week was also created by the current president.

Johann and his friends’ eyes narrow.

“You’re asking us to join even though such a person is the president?”

“Don’t, don’t worry! He stepped down yesterday!”

The volunteer club executives pulled him out because they were on the verge of closing the club.

“And we’re planning to change the operating rules too!”

Volunteer participation is once a month, otherwise it’s voluntary.

Originally it was once every two weeks.

“Hmm.”

Johann looks at his friends.

“Want to do it? I think I’ll be fine with it.”

If it’s once a month, it seems like he could spare the time.

“Really?”

“Hmm… once a month isn’t bad, right?”

“If we all go together, it’ll make good memories.”

“Where should we go? Childcare Facility? Homeless Center?”

“Let’s draw lots!”

As expected, these friends have amazing drive.

Johann looks at Gender Howard.

“Just sign here!”

‘He was carrying around club application forms.’

A bit disappointing.

‘If he’s this desperate, I could get something more out of… no, that’s not right.’

Gender Howard is just a student too.

There was no need to do that.

Johann clicked his tongue and shook his head.

 

* * *

 

“That’s unfortunate. They were such a big help…”

Women in their 20s and 30s express disappointment at the news from Fairmont School.

Fairmont School had provided much help in various ways over the past year with weekly volunteer work and supply donations.

“We shouldn’t feel disappointed.”

“Oh! Center Director.”

A stern-looking Elderly Man in his 70s pushes up his glasses.

“From what I heard, they’ve been covering transportation and laundry costs out of their own pockets all this time.”

“What?”

“That’s ridiculous.”

Even though Fairmont School is a prestigious private school attended only by the wealthy middle class and above, they’re still students.

No matter how much allowance they receive, such expenses couldn’t help but be burdensome.

Moreover, while people think the rich spend money freely, the Fairmont School students they’d observed weren’t like that.

They wore the same pair of shoes for over three years, still used flip phones, and rarely opened their wallets unless it was truly necessary.

This is because they learn proper economic and consumption habits from a young age.

“The students have been sacrificing for us all this time.”

So we shouldn’t feel disappointed.

We should thank them for their sacrifice.

“I’m, I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize to me.”

“Yes…”

“Still, the children will probably be disappointed.”

Yay!

Giggle giggle!

The women, no, the teachers at the Temporary Custody Protection Facility let out deep sighs at the innocent laughter coming from outside.

“When did they say they’re coming?”

“They said next Saturday.”

“Oh my, isn’t that the day?”

The teachers’ eyes widened as they remembered the event scheduled for next week.

 

* * *

 

“Ugh!”

Lucy tears at her hair.

“I absolutely hate little kids!”

Devils whose thoughts are completely incomprehensible.

Crybabies, tantrum-throwers.

Lucy isn’t the only one thinking this.

All the friends who have younger siblings scrunch up their faces.

Flash comforts Lucy.

“What can we do? That’s how the lottery turned out.”

“Whose side are you on right now?”

“Huh, what?”

As Flash suddenly shrinks back, Johann whispers to Emily.

“They’re not dating, right?”

“Not yet.”

They’re halfway to dating, but Flash hasn’t confessed yet as far as she knows.

“Halfway?”

“They did kiss.”

“…That was an accident.”

The two had kissed when they bumped into each other playing beach volleyball at the beach.

Come to think of it, they’ve gotten much closer since then.

Romantically, not just as friends.

“Probably with just a small trigger, like attending a house party, they’d start dating right away.”

House parties where they enjoy party drinks, delicious food, and music while building friendships.

Since physical contact is free, quite a few couples form.

Johann nods.

“Right. We’re already old enough for house parties.”

“No, Johann. We’re late.”

Usually house parties are held secretly from parents between 6th and 8th grade. As rebellious acts done behind parents’ backs, they happen quite frequently.

The reason they’re late is simple.

At least one parent is home every day, or even if not, there are employees around.

“A few kids from school did throw some… but they didn’t invite us.”

“Why?”

‘Because of you and Flash.’

Johann, who broke another school’s baseball player’s ankle in elementary school, and Flash, who was called a tyrant.

No one would invite those two time bombs.

“And…”

‘Because we’re rumored to be your girlfriends.’

“Huh? What did you say?”

“Oh, nothing!”

Johann tilted his head at Emily’s suddenly reddened face and clicked his tongue.

“That’s unfortunate. If I’d known, I would have gone to check it out.”

Usually house parties are parties you can attend even without an invitation.

‘It would have been a new experience…’

“Hey guys, we’re here!”

At the words of their supervisor, Gender Howard, they turn their heads to see a large building with an orange triangular roof.

A Temporary Custody Protection Facility where children who became orphans for various reasons stay briefly, for a maximum of one month, before going to Foster Homes.

It was also the place where Johann had almost stayed.

‘But…’

“Why is that there?”

A broadcasting station camera was filming a woman.

 

The identity of the woman being filmed by the broadcasting station camera was quickly revealed.

She was the owner chef of a fairly famous restaurant in LA.

“Did she come to promote her restaurant?”

“That’s probably likely.”

“Or maybe they came to film her because she’s someone who does good deeds. The broadcasting station camera had ‘LA Morning’ written on it.”

LA Morning, which is responsible for the mornings of citizens in LA and the metropolitan area.

It’s a program with high viewership among housewives and elderly people as it reports on overnight events, useful news, and various LA happenings.

“Oh, everyone came well!”

The teacher in her 30s greets them with a bright face.

Gender Howard looks at the students.

“You all know what you need to do, right?”

“Yes!”

“Cleaning is this way!”

“Laundry is this way!”

Perhaps because they’ve been volunteering here for a long time, the club members quickly form groups.

Gender Howard approaches Johann’s group and the new members.

‘These kids were definitely the right answer!’

When rumors spread that Johann and his friends had joined the volunteer club, as many as 50 students wanted to join.

“Is there anything you want to do? For now, taking care of children under five and teaching are the easiest.”

Everything else requires so much physical energy that it’s hard to say which is more difficult.

At those words, Lucy raises her hand.

“Then I’ll do cleaning.”

Taking care of kids is absolutely not her thing.

“Flash, you do laundry. It’s physical work, so you’ll be good at it, right?”

“Ha! What do you take me for!”

“Then Mason and I will teach!”

“Uh, okay. Got it, Joy.”

The other friends also say what they want to do.

“What about Johann and Emily?”

“I’ll take the kitchen! Johann, you help with kitchen work with me too!”

“Sure, why not.”

He already has experience with large-scale laundry.

Four years ago when he transferred, after fighting with Flash, he went to the homeless rehabilitation center.

“Uh… will that be okay?”

You can’t say which is harder between cleaning or laundry, but no one would disagree that kitchen work is the hardest.

“It’s fine.”

“Good.”

Gender Howard, who also asked the new members, claps his hands.

“Then let’s all scatter!”

Johann, Emily and others headed to the kitchen under the teacher’s guidance, while the students at the temporary custody facility watched them and then turned their heads away.

 

* * *

 

The kitchen, or rather, the cafeteria was built next to the main building.

“These are the ladies who come to volunteer every weekend, and these are students from Fairmont School who came to volunteer. You all probably know each other, but since there are new students, please greet each other.”

“Hoho, hello?”

“Hello!”

“Hello… huh?”

Johann is surprised to discover a familiar face among the women in their 40s and 50s who had arrived first.

‘That person is…’

‘Shh.’

The Asian middle-aged woman puts her index finger to her lips and winks.

It was that woman among the investors he had greeted at the first filming site, the one who smelled like Korean food.

While he’s bewildered by this incredible coincidence, the woman who guided them speaks up.

“Today, the owner chef of a fairly famous restaurant in LA has kindly agreed to cook for our children. So there’s more to prepare than usual.”

The teacher and people look at the ingredients placed on one side.

They were piled up like a mountain since they needed to prepare meals for about 100 people, including not only the children temporarily staying at the facility but also the students who came to volunteer today.

It was an amount that would make you sick just looking at it.

“Hoho. Don’t worry, teacher!”

“Right. Have we been doing this for just a day or two?”

“Come on, let’s start quickly! Students, wash your hands first.”

“Yes!”

When they came back after washing their hands, the ladies had already started preparing.

“Kids! Could you move the potatoes over here?”

“Carrots over here!”

“Onions this way!”

‘Tsk.’

He should approach the investor later.

Johann quickly stacked and moved the nearby potato boxes in four layers, and seeing this, other students also started moving ingredients quickly.

“Wow! You’re young so you have good strength!”

“What should we do next?”

“Do you know how to handle a knife?”

In American households, children usually start helping with kitchen work at age 5.

By age 9, they could make scrambled eggs with their eyes closed.

“A knife?”

How many chefs had he read or absorption-read in the forest?

“Should I just peel the outer skin, or peel down to the first inner layer?”

“…Oh?”

Words that only housewives whose main territory is the kitchen would know.

His posture holding the onion and kitchen knife also shows considerable skill.

‘Such a pretty-looking kid…’

The ladies’ eyes instantly filled with favor.

 

Slice! Chop! Chop! Chop! Splash!

He cuts the root part, uses the blade and thumb to grab the yellow, tough skin and peels it off in one go, then throws it into the water-filled sink.

‘Wow.’

‘Holy…’

‘Fairmont is a school for middle class and above, right?’

A student from middle class and above can even peel onions well.

Johann’s score rises even higher in the ladies’ hearts.

“What grade are you in this year?”

“9th grade.”

“I saw earlier that you’re strong, do you play sports?”

“I’m a coach at the baseball club.”

“A coach? A student?”

“There’s a bit of a story behind it. But more importantly, do you usually use such fresh ingredients?”

These kinds of temporary custody protection facilities are managed by the city government.

Even so, it was hard to understand how they could use fresh ingredients like onions, potatoes, carrots, and broccoli.

“Of course not.

Usually we use a lot of frozen food.

Frozen foods like nuggets and french fries, or clam chowder and chunky beef canned goods with just a bit of vegetables added.

It’s much cheaper than fresh ingredients.

“I figured as much…”

From what he heard earlier, an average of about 70 children stay at this facility. Supplying fresh ingredients for every meal to that many children would be realistically difficult.

“So I can’t tell you how grateful I am today.”

They were mothers too.

No matter that these were children they met through volunteer work, feeding them only junk food couldn’t feel good.

So they had been pooling their money together to buy some vegetables for cooking, but today they could use fresh ingredients without restraint.

All of it prepared by the restaurant.

“Whatever their intentions, they’re really doing a good thing.”

“That’s true.”

Johann recalled the children he had encountered on his way to the cafeteria.

‘Their eyes were all dead.’

This temporary custody protection facility was a place children only came to if both parents died, gave up custody, abandoned them on the streets, or went to prison.

In other words, most of the children here had the trauma of being abandoned by their parents.

‘There were also children exposed to domestic violence.’

The bruises and scars covering their exposed skin.

There was even a child with burns on their face.

With such painful experiences, could these children have eaten their meals with peace of mind?

And would the parents who abused these children have even properly prepared meals for them?

Though he’d never heard of this restaurant before, they were really doing good work.

‘But…’

Something seemed a bit strange.

He couldn’t see what should be there.

“Are these all the ingredients?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I don’t see any meat or fish.”

It wasn’t just meat. He also didn’t see ingredients commonly used in cooking like eggs or cheese.

At those words, the ladies looking around the kitchen were startled.

“You’re right?”

“Why on earth…”

Maybe they were planning to bring them before starting to cook?

‘No way. Meat and fish need to be prepared too…’

Just as he was puzzling over this.

“Good heavens! Eating animals! How can you think such barbaric thoughts?”

Johann blinked as he watched a woman in her 30s wearing chef’s clothing enter the kitchen along with cameras.

 

‘Barbaric?’

Johann looked at the female chef striding toward him.

“Why?”

“Because animals are living beings too! Just like we humans have the right to live humanely, pigs have the right to live like pigs, and cows have the right to live like cows! Ignoring those rights and killing them to eat is violence and murder! Do you understand?”

‘Ah, she’s vegan.’

Everything made sense now.

“Yes, I understand.”

Everyone’s values and beliefs should be respected.

Johann answered with a smile, and the female chef hesitated before smiling with satisfaction.

“You’re smart. Then do you also know this? That meat is the root of all diseases?”

The chef’s explanation continued about how colds, high cholesterol, and diabetes were all ultimately caused by meat.

“Cancer is all because of meat too!”

‘What nonsense is this?’

“I see. I didn’t know that. Ah, so that’s why you’re going to make vegan cuisine?”

“Exactly! You really are smart!”

“I hear that a lot.”

When Johann smiled wryly, the chef became even more pleased and began praising vegan diets to the camera and reporter.

As Johann turned around, Emily quietly approached.

“What’s gotten into you?”

She seemed surprised that Johann, who was usually quite assertive, was responding so meekly when she expected him to say something.

“In situations like this, it’s easier to just stay quiet.”

It wasn’t right to unconditionally criticize someone just because they had different thoughts from your own values.

Of course, there were those with values not worth respecting, but most of those people had stubborn beliefs that no one’s persuasion could reach.

Trying to have conversations with such people was only tiring, and since there was no reason to persuade them, it was meaningless.

“Now let me introduce today’s dishes.”

The chef waved a recipe book toward the camera.

“The first appetizer is a refreshing avocado salad, and the second appetizer is pot-au-feu. Pot-au-feu is one of the French home-style dishes, a stew where you can eat meat and vegetables together, but I’m going to make a vegan version of pot-au-feu!”

“Huh? That won’t taste good though?”

He agreed with Emily’s comment.

The essence of pot-au-feu was the broth made from meat.

No matter how long you boiled vegetables, it would be hard to match the rich umami of meat broth. Even adding plenty of spices, it would be difficult to imitate that taste.

“And for the first main course, I’ll make grilled cauliflower steak, and for the second main course, I’ll make a grilled pineapple burger for satiety.”

Flinch!

Emily looked at Johann in shock.

“Wait, Johann. You just said earlier. That kind of thing should just be ignored…”

“That crossed the line.”

‘How dare she touch burgers?’

If it were other dishes, he would have let it slide.

But hamburgers were off-limits.

Hamburgers, the most delicious food in the world.

Hamburgers, which held the memory of his first meeting with Emily.

That person had desecrated them.

Johann approached the chef who had finished introducing the almond milk ice cream dessert and was about to start cooking.

Then he snatched the recipe book and examined it.

“Hey! You!”

‘As I thought!’

“Wow. So you call this garbage cooking too.”

“…Huh? What did you say?”

“Say that again?”

This recipe was trash. All the chefs he had absorbed and read would say the same thing.

“There’s no thought to bring out pot-au-feu’s characteristic umami or various textures, the steak ingredient is just grass but the sauce is for meat, and the hamburger… wow, what is this? It’s just existing dishes with the meat, cheese, honey, etc. removed!”

They didn’t even think about replacing those flavors.

It was a recipe with no effort and no consideration.

“Hey, are you really a chef?”

Rather than dirtying his tongue eating this garbage, he’d rather eat delicious Korean food, even if it was the same vegan style, until he was full.

Bang!

Lightning had struck the kitchen.

 

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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