The Chef From the Apocalypse Enters the Food Industry - Chapter 1

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

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Chapter 1. An Abrupt Beginning
Kim Un-hyeon.
A Hunter who awakened suddenly while cooking monsters to survive.
The profession I gained as a result was Chef.
Living true to my survival instincts, I transcended a single person’s worth and became a ranker.
Then I volunteered for a large-scale subjugation.
My entire body was crushed by the attack of a calamity-class monster.
Along with unbearable pain, I lost consciousness and believed everything had ended.
But now.
Kim Un-hyeon’s memories are seeping into me thoroughly.
Shaking my existing self.
Then what am I….
Did I not die? Or did I die and come back to life again?
Reincarnation?
I couldn’t tell.
I wondered if I’d gone insane.
[You have awakened.]
The message that appeared before my eyes was speaking.
That I hadn’t gone mad.
* * *
“Head home early today. Go to the hospital too. As for the industrial accident claim… ah, never mind. We’ll sort out the complicated stuff later.”
“…Yes.”
The Logistics Warehouse Manager looked at me with concern.
Clearly, he seemed troubled about how to handle the situation.
I bowed my head to him out of habit and left the Logistics Warehouse.
My vision was still cluttered.
Not because my head was foggy, but because of the messages appearing vividly before my eyes.
[You have awakened for the first time.]
[As an initial reward, you are granted 10 stat points.]
[You acquire the skill 【Memory Correction of Past Life】.]
[You obtain all memories from your past life.]
[You inherit the profession from your past life.]
[You awaken as the profession 【Chef】.]
[You obtain the skill 【Absolute Palate】.]
[You obtain the skill 【Ingredient Reinforcement】.]
[You obtain the skill 【Material Combination】.]
[You obtain the skill 【Utensil Reinforcement】.]
[You obtain the skill 【Toxin Removal】.]
[You obtain the skill <…
.
.
[Mental Protection Function Activated!]
[You have acquired the skill 【Composure】 through system calibration.]
[Your understanding of awakening has been calibrated.]
'Let me organize this for a moment.'
Thanks to the effect of the skill 【Composure】, perhaps.
My body walked toward the studio apartment while my mind gradually settled into clarity.
If I'm not insane, then I've awakened to my past life.
In my past life, I was a Hunter.
It wasn't exactly a promising profession. The world was collapsing, after all.
'It was literally an apocalypse.'
I was one of the Hunters who remained until the very end of that world.
My survival was entirely thanks to my profession.
I desperately tried to devour monsters and awakened to the profession of Chef.
This profession became the lifeline of the apocalypse.
That said, I wasn't without combat ability either.
'In a dying world, as combat power approached zero, death drew ever closer.'
Whether reinforcing utensils or poisoning enemies with my cooking, I did everything imaginable.
And so I survived.
In any case.
In a collapsing world, I volunteered for a catastrophe-class monster subjugation, hoping to turn the situation around.
Then I died gloriously.
The cause: my entire body was crushed.
They say a dog learns the ways of the world in three years at a temple—having survived the apocalypse, even in that moment of death, I was recording the cause in my mind.
"Ha…."
And so I awoke here again.
Awakening to my past life from being hit by a falling object in a logistics warehouse—what are the odds?
'Does this make sense?'
No matter how I think about it, it's absurd.
I wondered if I'd lost my mind.
"Is this some kind of parallel dimension? This is South Korea too, but there are no monsters or Hunters here."
Perhaps because of the situation itself.
Even with the effect of 【Composure】, I doubted this was real.
My mind was still dazed.
* * *
Click—
I arrived home in that state.
A small studio apartment of about 230 square feet with a bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom all set up.
Once inside, what I needed to do was already determined.
It was proof of my abilities.
'If I'm not insane, I should try cooking.'
Even completing a simple dish would serve as proof.
Whether I've truly awakened, or if I'm simply mad.
'Let's do this.'
The dish I chose was ramen.
The simplest meal I could prepare in this cramped studio apartment.
Whoosh—
Perhaps because my sanity hung in the balance.
My movements as I tore open the ramen packet were reverent, almost sacred.
'This is a test.'
An experiment to determine whether I'm mad or sane.
Using ramen to assess mental health seemed absurd.
But if I was going to do this, I'd do it properly.
I poured 550ml of water into the pot.
The moment the water boiled, I added the noodles. Simultaneously, I dumped in the seasoning packet.
I waited for it to come to a rolling boil.
Cooking is cooking, even without monster ingredients.
As the ramen bubbled and churned, the awaited message appeared.
[Cooking has begun.]
"Oh… it's appearing!"
I'm not insane.
That's half the battle won.
Wait a minute!
Mental illness could be far more detailed than I'd imagined.
Wasn't there something like that?
To outsiders, someone would clearly be mad, yet the mad person themselves believes their logic is flawless and complete.
'What if I've gone insane and everything up to this point is just manifesting automatically…? Or maybe I'm just imagining it all.'
I had to resist jumping to conclusions.
I hadn't confirmed everything yet.
Smack—
I slapped my own cheek and snapped back to attention.
Then tedious time crawled forward.
One minute. Two minutes. Two minutes thirty seconds.
More than enough time for the noodles to cook through.
Now came the final touch.
'True completion of cooking is in the plating.'
Plating.
Literally, cooking isn't finished until it's served in a bowl!
If I was going to cook, I'd do it right.
I transferred the ramen into the bowl I'd prepared beforehand.
I sprinkled the chopped scallions on top and finished the dish with a dusting of pepper.
[Dish 【Ramen】 Complete!]
[This is your first dish completion after awakening!]
[Your cooking ability has been enhanced.]
[Stamina recovery ability has been infused.]
[Natural healing ability has been infused.]
"Ramen with stamina recovery and healing buffs? This is insane."
The messages blazed across my vision the moment the dish was complete.
If what they say is true, this ramen could heal the head wound from that object and still have power to spare.
That settles it—I'm not the one who's gone mad.
"Phew… phew!"
I lifted the noodles with my chopsticks, blew on them gently, then inhaled them straight into my mouth.
The moment they touched my tongue, the springy noodles and their perfectly absorbed flavors struck my palate like a revelation.
To call this the taste of ramen that some doctorate holders painstakingly created would be…
'Insane! Is this really the same ramen I used to eat?'
It was overwhelmingly intense!
The umami and smoothness were several times richer than usual—a fantasy as if I were tasting the finest delicacies from land and sea. The sensation flooded my entire body with euphoria.
If I'm mad for feeling such happiness over mere ramen…
'Maybe madness isn't so bad after all?'
At this rate, my overall happiness with life itself was skyrocketing.
Still, I needed to see this through to the end.
If this were combat, I'd just landed a critical hit.
I had to finish all the remaining noodles and slurp down every last drop of broth to land the finishing blow and truly end this battle.
Slurrrp- slurp-
I devoured the noodles hastily, even doing the noodle-slurping I normally despised.
I swallowed the remaining broth in one go, regardless of whether it scalded the roof of my mouth.
A complete finish!
My entire body flooded with satisfaction.
[You have completely consumed the food 【Ramen】.]
[You gain natural healing ability for 1 hour from the food's effect.]
[You gain stamina recovery ability for 1 hour from the food's effect.]
The messages chimed in.
In truth, there was nothing more to confirm from the messages.
I could feel it in my body.
'I'm being healed!'
Whoooosh-
Energy surged through my entire body alongside the overwhelming satisfaction.
The energy spread throughout my whole frame, promoting recovery.
Most of that energy concentrated on my head where the object had struck.
The dizziness that had plagued me cleared away.
The moment I achieved complete healing, certainty crystallized within me.
"Wow… Is this really happening?"
[Your body has been completely restored through the effects of cooking.]
With my body perfectly healed, my mind became luminous.
I felt the lingering anxiety that had persisted until now finally dissipate.
That's right. I wasn't insane.
I had truly undergone what they call an awakening.
'Why?'
I couldn't even begin to fathom the reason.
Was it a reward for my desperate struggle to survive until the very end in my past life?
Or perhaps a cruel twist of fate?
Maybe it was the universe's mercy, allowing me to resolve the lingering resentment from my previous existence.
'I don't know. That's too complicated. It does involve me, but… does it really matter? It doesn't seem like monsters will appear like they did in my past life.'
I decided not to overthink it.
It seemed the pragmatic nature of my past life—brushing aside anything unrelated to survival—was manifesting itself.
Not my concern.
Instead, I grasped reality and envisioned my future.
"Let me calm down and think this through. According to the system, I'm the first awakened one, right? And my profession is chef. Hmm, with this…."
I looked down at my two hands.
With the abilities these hands possessed, my cooking would invariably be delicious.
No—it would become delicious.
And there was also the buff that accompanied every meal made with my cooking.
It transcended medicinal tonics; calling it an elixir would be entirely appropriate.
Delicious food? An elixir?
With just these two elements combined, my path forward was already clear.
I had to venture into the food service industry!
My future was guaranteed if I simply pursued cooking-related work.
Should I look for a part-time job then?
No.
I shook my head.
'That would take too long. With no experience, they'd never hand me the kitchen. It's possible with fast food chains, but… do I really need to go that route?'
I despised taking the long way around.
Immediate profit—that was my method.
For that to happen…
"Ah! That's an option!"
A method that was both quick and directly beneficial to me.
And it was right within reach.
* * *
For the awakened me, the food service industry is destiny.
The fastest way for me to plunge into this industry was, surprisingly, closer than I thought.
It was simple.
'There's no law saying a business has to stay in one fixed location.'
I had two million won in my possession.
That amount would only cover a deposit on a small shop and nothing more.
Interior design? Completely impossible.
But there was a way to find something that not only solved the interior problem but could generate income immediately.
To make it happen, I spent considerable time searching online before heading straight to the trade site.
Fortunately, the trade site was nearby.
In front of the truck parked at the trade site.
I spoke with confidence there.
"Let's do thirteen hundred."
"Thirteen hundred is too cheap! As you know, I was looking to get eighteen hundred. You can't come after agreeing to a trade and do this!"
For reference, the trade target I was talking about at thirteen hundred was a truck.
"If it had been as written in the marketplace listing, I would've given eighteen hundred too. But…"
"Why?"
"The condition of this…"
I approached the truck that had been quoted at eighteen hundred.
Thud—
I placed my hand on the spot I'd already examined through my appraisal skill.
The bumper, precariously holding on.
The moment I touched it, one side fell to the ground.
It wasn't because I applied force.
I'd merely given it a slight touch while it was barely hanging on.
The other party frowned at the sight.
The look of someone caught red-handed.
'This person knew this was broken.'
How infuriating.
"See, the bumper fell off here. No matter what, if you're going to use a truck for business, you need to repair it."
"What repair for business? We're just propping it up and selling it anyway."
"What if the bumper falls off while doing business? You'll have an accident with a customer. So it needs to be fixed! The repair costs don't seem cheap, do they?"
"Hmm…"
"So let's do twelve hundred."
"The price dropped by two hundred just like that?"
"Want me to check the other side? I don't mind leaving and coming back later. I think there's more damage here."
"…Sigh. You came prepared for this. Fine. Let's make the deal."
"Good. Once I handle the remaining process quickly, I'll transfer the payment."
"Understood. After the deal is done, no further complaints, agreed?"
"Of course."
The brief transaction ended quickly.
Truck repairs?
I inspected the condition and handled the simple tasks with my own hands.
I leveraged my experience from the apocalypse to make it look convincing.
With miscellaneous expenses added, the total came to 12 million won.
On the second day, I completed the finishing work and filed for business registration.
While preparing materials next, I scouted for a location to operate.
And so, by the third day.
I obtained the business license and completed all preparations.
"Preparations for business complete."
Food Truck.
My first shop was ready to open.

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

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