The Chef From the Apocalypse Enters the Food Industry - Chapter 18

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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 18. Cooking Competition (3)
“I received this as an invitee judge, so I’ll use it.”
“Pardon?”
Jang On-gyu spoke in a low voice.
At his words, Bang Owner’s eyes wavered uncontrollably.
What did he receive? Money? An appearance fee?
There was even a local TV station here.
Was it that?
It was neither.
Something completely unexpected emerged.
“A Super Pass, sir. I’ll be using that.”
“Ah…!”
A pass? Such a thing existed?
I’d never heard or seen anything like it.
Bang Owner’s mind grew tangled.
“…!?”
“A pass? What’s that!?”
Everyone was the same. Bang Owner and the other owners were all flustered.
The remaining two were exceptions.
Jang On-gyu nodded as if he already knew.
The MC also slapped his head as if he’d just remembered.
Only Lee Sae-rom seemed unaware.
“A Super Pass? What is that?”
“The people I select can advance past the preliminaries.”
“Huh? Isn’t that favoritism?”
“It’s not favoritism since it was predetermined in the regulations.”
“I see? If it was decided beforehand, there’s no problem then.”
She accepted it readily.
Hmm. Professionals really are different.
She seemed completely convinced by Jang On-gyu’s logic.
Only Bang Owner grew more bewildered.
‘There were regulations for this too?’
It was difficult to argue against this.
It had already been announced!
This is why you need to read instructions to the end.
But Bang Owner, who never even glanced at documents back in the day, wouldn’t do that.
‘Damn it…! If I’d known beforehand, I would’ve stopped it!’
Grind. He gnashed his teeth, but there was nothing he could do.
Things were unfolding in an unpleasant direction.
“It’s also to prevent occasional misfortunes, you see.”
“An unforeseen circumstance?”
“There is such a provision.”
Jang On-gyu mentioned the unforeseen circumstance while glancing at the owners.
His gaze carried considerable weight.
The atmosphere grew cold.
It was the MC who broke the tension.
“There was such a regulation, yes. Wow, I never expected you to invoke it here.”
“I received it just in case, but I didn’t expect to use it here either.”
“My, how thorough! Is this what makes a genius?”
“Ha ha. You’re too kind.”
The MC’s bright tone quickly eased the tension.
Jang On-gyu responded in kind.
“As I traveled between regional festivals, I found myself needing this. There are always talented people who don’t deserve to be eliminated.”
“People who don’t deserve to be eliminated?”
“Yes. People with genuine skill who can’t even pass the preliminaries.”
“Really? Why is that?”
“I’m not sure why myself. But coincidentally, there’s someone like that this time too.”
“Ah, that’s unfortunate.”
Jang On-gyu now openly glanced at the owners again.
‘Wait, why is he looking at us while saying that?’
‘Tsk. So he’s a star. He’s trying to show off here.’
‘Ha. Disrespecting local residents.’
It looked like he was deliberately targeting the owners.
The owners flinched.
But suspicion without evidence was all they had.
They wanted to confront Jang On-gyu directly.
But not in such a public setting.
‘Tsk. That’s why we planned to eliminate him in the preliminaries.’
‘Damn it…!’
‘Is this ruined? Are we ruined? No, surely not?’
The sudden appearance of this rule was unexpected.
It was difficult to make another move here.
“In any case, since it was announced beforehand, it’s neither favoritism nor problematic.”
“Right?”
“Yes. Then you just need to choose. Will you do it right now?”
“Of course.”
Still, the owners held onto one last hope.
“You received a total of five passes, correct?”
“Yes, that’s right. But I’ll only use two. It seems to fill out exactly twenty.”
He had five but would only use two.
‘Please. Please don’t pick us.’
‘There are plenty of people who didn’t make it, right? Surely they wouldn’t pick us…?’
As long as the Food Trucks don’t get selected among those two.
Besides the Food Truck, there were so many people who had been eliminated.
So there was hope.
There definitely was….
‘My hands are trembling….’
‘Damn it…!’
The owners were restless for some reason.
In the meantime, Jang On-gyu reached toward the participant list.
Tap. Tap.
“These two. These two right here.”
Jang On-gyu pointed to exactly two people.
[Participants]
Kim Seon-woo
Jang I-su
Both were Food Truck owners.
The bomb had detonated perfectly.
* * *
Judging time.
It was only about thirty minutes at most, but most people oscillated between heaven and hell.
“Will it work? It has to work, right?”
“Yeah. It has to. But of all people, those guys had to show up….”
“Arghhhh…!”
Everyone was worried about whether they’d pass or fail.
“I’m confident about the next budget round…!”
In particular, the Jang Owner from the Food Truck was trembling the most.
His resourcefulness was remarkable.
But it’s not easy to demonstrate resourcefulness during judging.
That’s why he was even more nervous.
‘I don’t think I’m any different, really.’
You could say I’d been completely caught off guard.
I’m in a similar situation. This doesn’t seem to be about skill at all.
Still, there was no point in letting the atmosphere turn sour.
The Jang Owner, wringing his head in distress.
I gently tried to reassure him.
“I didn’t know you’d bring Hong Kong cuisine to a home-style competition.”
“When I went to Hong Kong before, the dishes were quite impressive. So I studied them.”
“You can just learn it like that?”
“The internet is great these days, right? If you search slowly through it, you can find everything.”
“Oh!”
Learning from the internet. I had brought it up as a way to console him, but I hadn’t thought of this angle.
Intellectually, I knew the internet was overflowing with information.
‘I just haven’t utilized it well, probably.’
I hadn’t actually considered how to properly leverage it.
Since my awakening, I’ve been too overwhelmed digesting and developing my abilities to have thought of such things.
But watching Jang Owner, it seemed quite useful indeed.
‘A realization that comes anew.’
Next time, I should utilize the internet too, I thought.
Jang Owner struck with a keen sense as sharp as his resourcefulness.
“No, why are you so amazed by something like that?”
“Really?”
“Yes. People say Kim Owner sometimes acts like he’s just come back from some island or something.”
“Hmm….”
An island, he said.
Well, the apocalypse wasn’t exactly an island.
But there was similarly no exchange with the outside world.
For him to pinpoint that so precisely.
“An island, yes. I did go to a place similar to that.”
“Where? Some deserted island?”
“No, not a deserted island. Just… a place where the internet didn’t work very well.”
“Ha ha. Where on earth is such a place? You really do tell some bland jokes sometimes.”
“That’s right. Just a joke.”
Did I smile bitterly? Or was the tension finally easing?
Jang Owner was being considerate toward me instead.
“Anyway… aren’t you nervous, Owner?”
“I’m nervous too.”
“No way. You don’t look nervous at all.”
“Why? Does it show?”
“Thanks to you, I’ve relaxed a bit. But I’m still trembling. I wasn’t like this before….”
“Because of those people coming, right?”
“Exactly. Why did such a person suddenly become a judge?”
“Well, maybe they mobilized their connections.”
“Connections, connections! How could anyone without them even survive?”
“Exactly.”
Jang Owner was trying to ease my tension in return.
He’s a good person, all things considered.
Just as he said, I found it difficult to let go of my nervousness.
I wanted to let it all go.
I knew my skills weren’t lacking.
‘…The situation isn’t looking good, is it? Tsk. This Quest might be a wash.’
Disgustingly, people were the problem.
Then again, during the apocalypse, people were always the problem.
Share a little, help out, look out for each other—yet there were plenty of bastards who’d only grab what was theirs and die anyway.
This time was no different.
Tsk.
My mouth tasted bitter for no reason.
‘I don’t want to give up, though?’
I wasn’t lacking in skill.
There was no way I could be lacking.
If the problem lay beyond skill, I was prepared to raise an objection.
Even if it meant taking a detour, I didn’t want to give up so easily.
So I was racking my brain over this.
[Congratulations.]
[You have achieved the Quest condition.]
[You have received recognition from the experts.]
“Huh?”
An unexpected notification chimed.
The meaning of the notification was clear.
‘I passed? Through those judges?’
Did someone cast magic or something?
Either way, this works.
Once I pass the preliminaries, the finals are practically mine to lose.
I was certain I couldn’t lose in a competition decided by absolute taste.
So I thought what came next would be boring.
‘Do I even need to watch the preliminary awards ceremony?’
The ceremony for passing the preliminaries.
I questioned whether it was worth sticking around for.
‘But I did pass, so….’
Even if it was a hassle, I should see it through.
Thinking that way, I waited for what came next. But then.
* * *
‘This is fun, isn’t it?’
It was more entertaining than I expected.
The MC appeared the moment the ceremony began. Then the judges came out one by one.
Jang On-gyu. Jang Han-su. Lee Sae-rom.
Up to this point, nothing particularly interesting. They were fresh when I first saw them, but that was it.
The fun came after this.
‘Wow. They look absolutely terrible.’
Wang Kkot-ne, the first to make an appearance.
Even beneath heavy makeup, his expression was deeply furrowed. The thick cosmetics crumpled, revealing the deep wrinkles etched beneath with stark clarity.
Tteok Master, who had positioned himself as the establishment’s elder at the rice cake shop, wore a thoroughly gloomy expression.
And finally, Bang Owner. He was the one who sealed the matter.
‘My, he’s not even bothering to hide it.’
At first, he had concealed it well enough.
But now his entire body had flushed crimson, his arms fully emblazoned with tattoos that he made no effort to conceal—instead displaying them openly.
As if he might burst at any moment!
He glared about in all directions as though the entire world had become an irritation.
‘Goodness. That temperament won’t change anywhere.’
It seemed his quiet scheming hadn’t worked, and that was why he was like this.
Everything else was fine, though.
Even if this renowned celebration venue had nothing good to eat, one shouldn’t hurt other people’s feelings, should one?
Looking around with such hostility, shifting his gaze this way and that, only dampened the pleasant atmosphere.
What could be done? In times like these, stepping in was simply human nature.
I gathered my mana and hurled it toward Bang Owner.
[Hey, drop that expression, will you?]
“Hup…!”
Not an attack, but a message delivered gently.
Bang Owner’s body trembled at this small display of power.
After frantically glancing about in all directions, he looked toward me.
Bang Owner spoke to me through the shape of his lips.
‘You? You. You… You… ?’
Just moments before, he had been radiating anger in every direction.
Now he trembled as he spoke.
I confirmed it for him clearly.
[Yes. It’s me. Let’s drop the expression. It’s a good day, isn’t it?]
“Kyieek…!”
Along with Bang Owner’s strange cry.
“Well then, we conclude today’s preliminaries!”
The cooking competition preliminaries had ended.
And right after.

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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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