The Chef From the Apocalypse Enters the Food Industry - Chapter 30

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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 30. The Hustle
I had two dishes to prepare.
“Has the water come to a boil?”
“Of course.”
“When did you last say something like that? How outdated.”
“Ugh…! To say such things to me….”
“Stop complaining and make sure it steeps properly.”
“Yes, sir!”
One was ramen.
Ordinary ramen wouldn’t suffice.
I’d prepared a rich broth in advance to elevate the flavor sufficiently.
‘I can’t serve this to the Old Gentleman with sodium content too high.’
I hadn’t forgotten the finer details.
After all, tailoring each dish to the individual customer was the essence of my cooking.
While the water I’d set earlier came to a boil, my hands moved busily.
I was preparing the second dish.
“See the seaweed? This is exactly the right condition.”
“The color alone is different, isn’t it?”
“The Jang Owner procured it for me. Apparently, he has a relative who cultivates seaweed, and he went through considerable effort to obtain it.”
“Wow. He certainly has impressive connections.”
“Indeed.”
The seaweed the Jang Owner brought was unroasted.
Specifically, he’d brought premium intestine seaweed—extraordinarily expensive.
“It’s quite thick. Will it roll properly?”
“Haven’t I practiced this countless times? It’ll work.”
“Right. Phew….”
“Don’t be nervous. You roll one line for me.”
“Yes!”
The truth was, expensive seaweed alone didn’t guarantee quality in what I was making.
The seaweed I’d prepared needed the right thickness. If it was too thick, the seaweed flavor would overpower the taste of the fillings inside.
Finding that proper thickness had been difficult, and rolling it was harder than usual.
The pressure had to be just right.
I placed rice on the seaweed and carefully selected the fillings to layer on top.
I focused on vegetables that were easy to digest, and instead of meat, I added thick slices of seasoned egg strips.
“Success!”
“Well done. I succeeded too.”
“Wow. Two more lines in that time.”
“I’m the owner—I have to be fast.”
And so the completed dish was kimbap!
That’s right. The new menu I’d created this time was kimbap to complement the ramen.
‘In other words, focus and specialization.’
Just because the restaurant had grown larger didn’t mean I could forget my roots.
My roots? That would be ramen.
Expanding from this ramen was what mattered to me.
And that’s how kimbap was chosen.
By the way, kimbap is also my way!
Just the filling ingredients I’d prepared for it numbered over twenty.
Starting with the basics like tuna, kimchi, and ham.
I’d also prepared different varieties of egg strips, what people nowadays call keto kimbap.
This time, I’d chosen egg kimbap with a generous egg filling.
“Now, let me show you how to slice it.”
“Yes!”
I sliced the kimbap wrapped in roasted seaweed with a well-honed knife, cutting cleanly through.
I paid careful attention to ensuring each piece cut cleanly all the way through.
‘Kimbap with ragged, unclean cuts at the end. I can’t stand that.’
Think about eating kimbap when the end isn’t cut properly and you end up picking up two pieces at once.
That’s honestly annoying to eat.
The biggest problem is that it breaks your concentration while eating.
I disliked this, so I cut with meticulous care. It was the kind of detail that showed attention right to the very end.
Some might say what’s left is nothing special.
‘But cooking is something where the quality changes when you nail each of these little details.’
Whatever I serve, I believe that handling these small things is where cooking begins and ends.
I placed the three slices I’d made onto a pre-prepared plate.
Onto a plate that matched the casual restaurant style perfectly. And beside it, two bowls of ramen I’d prepared earlier were steaming away.
As a finishing touch, some homemade kimchi I’d prepared myself.
It was a well-made meal.
“There, complete.”
[A heartfelt 【Ramen Set】 is complete!]
[Two dishes with excellent compatibility are served together.]
[Your cooking ability receives a boost.]
[Fatigue recovery ability is imbued.]
A dish made with the help of Jin-woo, who’d agreed to assist with kitchen work.
The cooking was a success.
[You have successfully guided the cooking.]
[The assistant cook’s cooking experience increases.]
Jin-woo’s experience rose as well.
It was different from my awakening, but accumulating experience this way would yield results. After all, in my past life, cooking together with others always brought rewards.
‘Okay! We’ve taken a step forward.’
Good signs continued to emerge one after another.
* * *
Now that it’s complete, the next step is serving.
“Haran, could you serve this one table? I’ll handle the other.”
“Yes! Are you going together?”
“They’re our first customers, after all.”
“Oh, that’s right!”
“Let’s go.”
“Yes!”
Tap. Clatter.
Haran carries the finished dishes out.
She glances longingly into the kitchen as if wanting to go back inside, then picks up the plates and brings them to the Old Gentlemen.
I follow right after her.
I wanted to serve our first customers personally.
“Your order is ready.”
The faces of the two customers brighten.
They’re especially startled when they see the kimbap placed beside the ramen.
“Oh, kimbap.”
“My goodness, you serve kimbap too?”
“Thanks to you both, I expanded the store, so I had to expand the menu as well.”
“Hehe, now I’m really looking forward to this.”
“Please try it. It’ll be good for your health too.”
“Well then, let’s dig in.”
“Yes! Enjoy your meal!”
Serving my first dish to the first customers.
I’d never felt more nervous than in this moment.
The two carefully picked up their chopsticks and took a bite.
After tasting the ramen, they immediately went for the kimbap!
“Wow… it’s not too salty at all, and it’s wonderful? The seasoning is perfect.”
“Delicious!”
Their eyes widen in delight.
After that, both of them eagerly reached for more food.
Seeing that, I was certain.
This is a success too!
‘Excellent! This is great!’
A wave of happy accomplishment seemed to fill my chest.
* * *
As fulfilling as the achievement was, customers poured in just as abundantly.
“Welcome!”
“Oh, this is it, right?”
“Yeah? Come on, let’s go in.”
Customers who found their way to the new store.
“Oh? A restaurant here?”
“I wasn’t planning to go to the food street.”
“It’s not far. This place looks newly opened. Let’s try it.”
“Ramen and kimbap. Hong Kong home cooking, and a cafe?”
“That’s unique, isn’t it?”
“Hmm. The range seems too wide. Let’s go in.”
The so-called opening rush—curious customers drawn by the novelty of a newly opened store, along with regulars.
“Order here!”
“Yes! Order coming up!”
The store filled up in an instant.
“One order ready!”
“Five rolls of kimbap complete!”
“Three rolls here!”
“Ramen ready! Three bowls!”
“Water’s boiling, Owner. Finish it right away.”
“Got it. Setting up the kimbap.”
“Yes!”
We had to move fast to keep up.
* * *
“Business closed!”
“Whew…!”
“You worked hard today!”
9 PM. The time we close the store.
Some restaurants stay open until 10.
But we absolutely cannot.
We had far too many customers.
“So tomorrow we’re closed, right?”
“That’s right.”
“You’ll need to hire more staff. I’m seriously going to collapse.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“You should hurry. I can’t believe how a whole week just flew by.”
As Jin-woo said, it’s been six days since we opened the store.
Adding tomorrow’s closure, that makes a full week.
What started with just two old gentlemen as customers quickly became bustling.
Selling hundreds of bowls a day wasn’t even the main issue.
The menu itself expanded, and one thing leads to another.
“They eat ramen, then kimbap. After that, shouldn’t they go home looking for something warm like barley tea? But right after, they order a coffee—I mean, it’s insane. Really.”
“That’s not all. Hong Kong pudding goes out with it too.”
Three separate stores combined into one.
The customers weren’t separate anymore—they’d merged into one combined customer base.
Ramen and coffee.
Kimbap and coffee.
Coffee with pudding.
Instead of just one item, customers were ordering multiple things at once, which caused the average transaction value per customer to skyrocket. And the workload increased proportionally.
Perhaps because of this, Jang Owner had been complaining.
-I clearly opened a home-style restaurant… but everyone just wants pudding! It’s become a dessert shop.
-But isn’t it good to have customers?
-It is good. It is, but… ugh… I don’t know. It’s better than before when we had almost no customers at all.
Though there was happiness mixed into that complaint.
He was deeply worried because the main menu—the home-style set meal—wasn’t selling.
In any case, having these three restaurants together was creating synergy that exceeded all expectations.
“Jang Owner serves the pudding himself anyway, doesn’t he?”
“We have to clear the tables together.”
“Ah, that’s right!”
Both Jin-woo and Haran were visibly struggling.
There were two forces keeping them going.
“Ugh. I’m managing because he pays me a generous salary.”
“Me too. At first, I thought he gave me such a high salary because he was thinking of me, you know?”
“And then?”
“It seemed like he anticipated customers would come like this and prepared accordingly.”
“Of course. What merchant would take a loss? Haha.”
“Ugh… such a cunning boss. But you do pay well, so you’re not entirely cunning. Ugh….”
“Call me a good boss then.”
“Tch….”
First: money! An overwhelming salary!
I decided to pay them more than what they’d typically earn working at a regular restaurant.
Meals? I provide those too.
And then there was my second secret weapon.
After all shifts ended, I would serve them my new dishes whenever they wanted.
These two were people who loved delicious food before anything else. Every evening, they’d have a meal before leaving.
And I had added a hidden ingredient.
‘They probably wouldn’t have survived without the stamina recovery ability.’
I made sure to infuse the dishes I served with stamina recovery and natural recovery enhancement abilities.
Without these two effects, they both might have collapsed by now.
In Haran’s case, she had one additional means of recovery.
“It really is tough.”
“But it’s rewarding, isn’t it? Seeing customers happy as they enjoy delicious food.”
“… Yes. That’s what keeps me going.”
“That’s nice.”
That was precisely the expression of customers savoring delicious food and finding happiness in it.
Even when I’d sigh heavily from exhaustion, I’d find myself pushing through and working harder whenever I caught sight of her expression.
It was only possible because Haran was more sincere about cooking than anyone else.
‘I made a good choice.’
It was my decision, but I chose well.
At this point, I could afford to pat myself on the back a little.
Still, I wanted to help her more if I could.
Since she loved cooking just like I did, it would be good to find ways we could cook together.
I noticed how she’d look envious whenever Jin-woo came into the kitchen with me.
‘She wants to cook, so there must be something I can do to help?’
As I pondered how to help her further, another two weeks passed.
It was around the time the initial rush from opening was quietly fading away.
‘Huh?’
The first person I needed to help wasn’t Haran.

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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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