The Chef From the Apocalypse Enters the Food Industry - Chapter 124

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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 124. Consecutive Thoughts
I felt a sense of accomplishment even though I hadn’t made it myself.
That was somewhat surprising.
It was an emotion I’d never experienced in the Apocalypse.
‘Hmm… Even without doing it myself, I can bring happiness through taste.’
While the production line ran, I could do something else.
I could even think about what comes next.
I could develop other recipes too.
As long as that line keeps running, dishes will keep coming out.
Once I set up the factory, hundreds of units roll out. Even without me being there.
‘But is that really cooking?’
Mass production. It was a direction I’d never considered before.
I’d always thought cooking was something done by hand. At minimum, I insisted you had to touch the ingredients directly, light the flame, and verify the finished product yourself.
But the results from the factory line running according to my settings—weren’t they the same taste as what I made at the competition?
‘Then it’s something I made, isn’t it?’
It was strange logic, but it wasn’t wrong.
‘Even if I make a hundred, a thousand of them, the taste remains consistent…’
Jin-woo was chattering about something next to me. I couldn’t hear any of it.
In that state, I continued cooking in a daze.
And then.
“Hm?”
I saw someone looking for me.
They weren’t an actual customer. Instead, they were someone related to cooking.
* * *
Meanwhile, in the Editing Room where PD Ga was staying.
The lights were still on.
“Sigh…”
PD Ga sat alone in front of the monitor.
Today, he wasn’t holding the mouse.
The timeline lay displayed on the screen, but his gaze didn’t reach it.
It was the feeling of looking without seeing.
“Is this what I became a PD for?”
His hands rested on his knees.
The image of the Department Head gripping the sofa’s backrest and clutching his head still lingered in his mind.
He’d clearly won.
The edit they told him to remove—he didn’t remove it.
There were viewership numbers this week, so he’d pushed back that way.
What happens later is another matter. But that doesn’t concern him now.
Everyone who needs to know will already know, and it’ll spread as far as it’s going to spread.
Yes, he’d won.
I clearly won.
‘This tastes bitter. Why does it taste bitter?’
It was something I’d swallowed back in the Corridor.
And it had followed me all the way to the Editing Room.
This wasn’t the first time something like this happened.
It had occurred several times before.
Each time, I’d just done what I was told.
‘That’s right. I did it, so I made it to this position. Now I can strut around as a Broadcasting Station PD, right?’
That should’ve been the case. But no. Was I even trying to show off? The moment I tried to assert myself even a little, all hell broke loose.
‘Sigh….’
PD Ga knew it too.
Some prestigious family, some conglomerate.
A single phone call from them could make things happen like this.
But today was different.
‘I’m sick of it.’
For the first time, I felt fed up.
Irritation welled up inside me.
‘It feels like my heart is stained with something murky.’
I wanted to throw the mouse in my hand across the room right then and there.
Click.
That’s when it happened.
The Editing Room door opened.
“What?”
“It’s me. It’s me!”
It was Choi PD. He was holding two cans of Convenience Store coffee in his hands.
‘You bastard….’
He knew I’d come back from the Director’s Office.
He must’ve come to look after me.
‘When we were doing the exposé show, he was a madman.’
But in moments like this, he was surprisingly warm.
* * *
“Catch.”
Choi PD tossed one of the cans at me.
I caught it and saw it was Lespresso. The cheapest one.
“Hey. Convenience Store coffee?”
“If it tastes bad, just throw it away.”
“How can I throw away something free?”
“Yeah. If you keep going on about freebies….”
“You’ll go bald?”
“No. You’ll get reported to me?”
“Crazy bastard.”
“Krkrkrk…”
PD Ga grabbed the can and popped the tab.
The hissing sound rang out loudly.
It wasn’t even carbonated, yet it made such a noise.
It felt like my insides were getting refreshed somehow.
Without even tasting it, I felt an odd sense of refreshment, and PD Ga took a large gulp.
It was lukewarm, but the sensation was utterly refreshing.
‘It’s good.’
Truth be told, this tastes better than I expected.
Not as good as the dishes Kim Seon-woo made, though…
‘Damn it. Kim Seon-woo again. I need to forget. I have to forget.’
But the harder I try to forget, the more it comes to mind.
Like how telling someone not to think of an elephant only makes them think of one.
Naturally, the viewership ratings and the Department Head came back to haunt me.
And with that, a deep sense of doubt wrapped around me again.
“Hey. I’m thinking about quitting the broadcasting station.”
Choi PD pulled up a chair and sat down, asking.
“Since when?”
“Today.”
“From the Director’s Office?”
“No, from the corridor.”
“Is that so?”
“In the Director’s Office, well… you could call it shared misery. The Department Head’s in the same boat, right? Bow if told to bow. Die if told to die….”
“Krkrk… that’s quite a way to describe the Department Head.”
“But it’s the truth. Anyway… it was fine until then, but once I stepped into the corridor, I’m done for.”
“Because it’s infuriating?”
“Yeah. It’s infuriating.”
Choi PD followed suit and opened his coffee.
Naturally. As if at ease.
I couldn’t tell what was going on inside, but at least he showed no sign of surprise.
That was what I appreciated most.
“It’s just one phone call.”
“Right. Just one phone call.”
PD Ga spoke up.
“One call came from the Jang Family, and the Department Head took it. No matter how much we blow up the viewership ratings, one call from above and the Department Head ends up like that.”
“I know, what can you do.”
“It’s not just here. Every broadcasting station is like this. Right?”
“What’s different about other places. I heard the cable networks are even worse. Their capital is… you know, right?”
“Where are there any broadcasting stations with good capital these days.”
“That’s true.”
Choi PD didn’t interrupt.
He listened while sipping his coffee.
“Within KBN. The higher-ups meddle with the editing. They blocked it this time. This time they blocked it, but.”
PD Ga paused for a moment.
“There’s no guarantee they’ll block it next time. Right?”
“Next week I’ll have to edit it. Whether I do or not, someone else will.”
“Yeah. That’s how it is.”
“So you’re quitting? Where would you go?”
“Either to a cable network or do it independently outside.”
“…Hmm.”
A brief silence settled over the room.
Choi PD spoke first.
“If you mean outside, are you talking about YouTube?”
PD Ga looked out the window.
“I don’t know. Not yet. Haven’t decided anything.”
“Is that so. That doesn’t sound like you.”
“Saying I’m quitting isn’t like me either, is it?”
“Ha. True.”
There was nothing particularly worth seeing outside the window. I was just looking at it.
Choi PD set his can down on the table.
“Just make what you want to make, hyung. Wherever you do it.”
PD Ga didn’t answer.
As the silence that had settled grew longer.
“…I suppose so.”
Choi PD stood up. Like someone with nothing more to say, he left the Editing Room.
The door closed.
It became quiet.
PD Ga looked ahead.
The monitor screen, switched to power-saving mode, had gone dark.
I turned it off completely.
Even the power-saving mode bothered me.
It was just like my current self, drained of all strength.
‘YouTube.’
Only that single word remained.
My phone vibrated.
A text message.
[Final Viewership Count — Record-Breaking Pilot Ratings Confirmed]
PD Ga looked at the screen.
“…Damn it. What am I supposed to do now?”
PD Ga flipped his phone face-down.
* * *
“I’ve come to eat.”
A visitor seeking me out. A visitor, yes, but not one who came merely for the food. It was Han Jae-won.
This time he wore business casual—a blend of professional and personal.
“…Again?”
“Yes. Again.”
“You were just here at lunch. Aren’t you busy?”
“Ha ha. Right? I’m busy, yet here I am again.”
Han Jae-won had become my most frequent visitor lately.
Well, truthfully, there were others like him too.
People who dropped by whenever they had a spare moment.
I was genuinely grateful for them.
I wondered if Han Jae-won would be surprised to know that.
“Actually, there are a few others besides Representative Han.”
“I know.”
“Pardon?”
“The YouTuber who filmed here first among all of them. That person comes by regularly, doesn’t he? So his name was…Hyeon-seung, right?”
“Huh….”
I’d meant it as a joke, but I was the one caught off guard.
How did he even know about Hyeon-seung?
His presence had certainly faded lately with Ha-yun and Sonny around, but he was still a regular who visited whenever he could.
I never expected him to know that.
It was strange not to be surprised.
“Do you investigate people’s backgrounds?”
“I’d call it partner management. I learned about it through diligent study. It’s not like you were hiding it anyway, right?”
“Wow. That’s a bit creepy.”
“Let’s call it competence instead.”
“Ah, I see.”
He remained unflinchingly confident throughout.
‘Why does he come in so boldly?’
Yet I couldn’t dislike him.
He was certainly an interesting person.
* * *
Jin-woo, who had been quiet, poked his head out and asked.
“Hyung, it’s Jae-won again.”
“Yeah.”
The kid. Perhaps because he had some rapport with Han Jae-won, he suddenly made an offer he hadn’t made before.
“Let me do something special for him! Really special!”
He seemed eager to show off his skills, but it was still something I couldn’t permit.
“Not yet. You know how picky he is, even if he doesn’t look it.”
“So… I’m not qualified?”
“Let’s say your training is insufficient.”
“Understood!”
“I’ll give you another chance next time, so don’t feel disappointed.”
“I’m not disappointed though?”
By the way, this fellow seemed to need training in his expressions too.
Recently, whether some knot in his heart had loosened or something,
his expressions had become remarkably expressive.
It was pleasant to see, certainly.
‘But managing one’s expression in front of customers is essential.’
At the very least, he should know how to conceal it in front of customers.
This fellow was still weak in that regard.
“Then why don’t you work on managing your expressions?”
“Tch… I’ll have the dishes ready.”
“I’m counting on you.”
A Chef from the Apocalypse Ventures into the Food Service Industry
Author |
Heung-haeng
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Samyang C&C
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Editorial Department
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G720:N+A063-20260206001
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No part of this book may be used in any form or by any means without written permission from Samyang C&C – Dream Books.

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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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