The Chef From the Apocalypse Enters the Food Industry - Chapter 66

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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 66. Exposing the Truth! (1)
VROOM—!
An engine-shattering roar.
PD Ga pressed the accelerator like a madman.
The car tore through the dark road at breakneck speed, its engine screaming.
“Hey! Slow down! Slow down a bit!”
“What? The limit’s 60, and I’m doing 60!”
The voice from the passenger seat was actually louder.
A man gripping the door handle above the passenger window like a lifeline.
Choi Yang-rok PD, the main producer of “I Want to Know That in 60 Minutes.”
His face had gone completely pale.
“This is speeding! Why are you, a producer of an exposé program, scared of this?!”
“I’m naturally timid!”
“And yet you go around exposing things? You crazy bastard who charges straight at conglomerates on camera.”
“Because I have to!”
“You’re insane.”
“You’re the craziest one at the station!”
PD Ga laughed at the trembling Choi PD.
“How did you manage that car chase last time, anyway?”
“The assistant director did all that.”
“Oh come on. Power-tripping assistant director?”
“Helping out! Why would only you do it?”
“I’m doing great, aren’t I? My assistant director loves me so much.”
“Love my—ugh! Fine! Just slow down!”
His grip on the steering wheel was ruthless and unyielding.
“No.”
“…Damn it! Anyway! Why are you dragging someone out of the editing room like this?!”
“I’m just trying to hand-feed you something good, hyung.”
“Hand-feed? What?”
The moment he mentioned hand-feeding him something, Choi PD’s eyes lit up.
‘This broadcast maniac!’
It was the kind of madness that even PD Ga found exhausting.
When he didn’t answer, Choi PD pressed again.
“What? You have a solid source?”
PD Ga’s lips curled up wickedly.
The perfect bait to catch a big fish.
“You’ve been digging into those ruffians lately, right?”
“Ruffians? Oh yeah. Those bastards should need licenses to work, right? None of those guys are worth a damn. They’re the absolute worst of the worst.”
“Right? They’re scum, aren’t they?”
“Yeah! These crazy bastards don’t care if people die. They fabricate evidence that doesn’t exist. It’s completely unethical. Unethical!”
“Aren’t we just as bad as they are?”
“Not quite as bad as them! Anyway… You’re saying this is related to them?”
“Yeah. That’s right. Why? You don’t like it?”
“No, not at all. I’ve been wanting to expose them anyway… but we don’t have solid evidence or footage from the scene, you know? Something feels like it’s missing that last 2%.”
“That 2%.”
PD Ga gripped the steering wheel tightly and shouted.
“I’ll fill it in completely for you.”
“How? Eek…!”
That was the moment.
Screeeeeech-!!!
The car lurched to a violent stop with the harsh screech of tires.
This time the impact was severe.
“Ugh!”
The seatbelt tightened sharply, pressing against Choi PD’s chest.
Choi PD gagged and looked out the window with a resentful expression.
“…Huh?”
The place where the emergency brake had brought them to a stop.
It was the Factory Canteen located on the outskirts of the New City District.
* * *
The store door swung open and two men rushed in urgently.
PD Ga breathing heavily and Choi PD with a pale face.
I was the one who greeted them.
Beside me stood Ra-hee, her face completely wrapped up with a hat pulled down and a mask covering her features.
“Welcome.”
“Yes! Owner! This is PD Choi, the big catch we’re reeling in together. He’s in charge of the current affairs exposé program.”
“I’m Choi Yang-rok PD. Undeservedly, I’m currently in charge of that sixty-minute program.”
“This guy’s being modest. But wait, who’s the person next to him?”
“My partner. I’m covering my face due to circumstances, so please don’t mind it. Haha.”
The covering was Ra-hee’s request.
She didn’t want to reveal her face to the broadcast station people, apparently.
In fact, her face wasn’t visible on her YouTube channel either.
I wondered why she’d show it to me though.
‘She did the same thing in her past life too.’
For some reason, she seemed to think it was okay to show me her face, so she did.
A kind of intuition, I suppose.
It’s funny that this intuition exists in both her past and present lives.
Anyway, this wasn’t the time to be dwelling on such things with customers present.
“Ah, yes yes. Well, of course.”
“It doesn’t matter. When it comes to current affairs exposés, there are plenty of cases where faces can’t be shown.”
The two PDs let it pass easily.
It seemed like broadcasting had exposed me to all kinds of people, which was probably why I could read situations like this so well.
“By the way, an exclusive source to fill that remaining 2%? What on earth is it? Don’t tell me it’s here?”
PD Ga pointed at the laptop in front of me, breathing heavily.
“Let’s just watch.”
Rather than launch into a long explanation, I turned the laptop screen toward them.
I pressed play on the highlight reel that Ra-hee had edited together.
On screen, men with hats pulled low entered with grim determination.
Then one of them dropped an entire roll of tissue into the broth and flailed about in panic.
Another tripped over his own feet and crashed to the ground hugging a trash can.
One more sneezed while opening a sauce container and got his own face covered in filth.
The footage was consistently ridiculous.
PD Ga’s expression hardened subtly as he watched.
He looked disappointed.
“Hah… these guys are entertaining, but… they’re a bit weak for an exposé, aren’t they?”
PD Ga swallowed his disappointment internally.
He’d rushed over with high expectations, thinking these were malicious ruffians staging a setup.
But this was just stupid people doing stupid things.
‘I was sure this would definitely fill that 2%. But these idiots won’t look good on an exposé program.’
Seeing how skillfully he’d captivated people during the mukbang, I’d thought he had natural broadcasting talent.
But perhaps orchestrating the bigger picture, setting up the stage and directing everything, was beyond what an ordinary person could do.
‘Maybe I had too high expectations for the Owner. This is a bit disappointing.’
PD Ga was just turning his head away in regret when it happened.
“…Huh?”
Something was wrong with Choi PD standing beside him.
He had thrust his face at the monitor and was staring with his eyes wide open.
He was trembling, barely able to breathe properly.
Whoosh. Huff.
He was hyperventilating.
It was Choi PD’s trademark reaction when he spotted a scoop.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you? Did you not get over your motion sickness?”
“Th, these people….”
“What?”
“H, how did all these people gather like this?”
Choi PD’s voice trembled uncontrollably.
PD Ga furrowed his brow.
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“That guy getting sauce all over him! That’s the 100k Youtuber Fact Hunter! And that bastard dropping bugs is Justice Hammer!”
“Huh?”
Choi PD began rattling off the names of the people on screen.
A few more names spilled out.
They were all named ruffians—the worst of the worst—whose names I’d heard whispered by investigative reporters and PDs alike.
“Huh… Every single one of them, I know their names.”
It’s not easy to remember ruffian faces. But seeing them so often had made their features familiar to me.
PD Ga found the situation utterly absurd.
“But these bastards can only manage this? Guys with actual reputations?”
Choi PD stared back and forth between the monitor and me in disbelief.
“These assholes aren’t normally this pathetic.”
“Then?”
“They’re demonic bastards who take the tiniest speck of dust—or even fabricate one from nothing—and blow it up a hundred times, a thousand times over to manufacture scandals! That’s their specialty!”
“But here… why are they acting like this?”
A hollow laugh escaped from Choi PD’s lips.
“…I know, right? It’s pure comedy.”
* * *
Choi PD muttered while wiping his face with his hands.
“Anyway, these bastards. They’re definitely the named ruffians we’ve been so desperate to expose. Real big fish, these ones.”
“Oho. If you’re saying that, then it’s certain.”
PD Ga stroked his chin while alternating his gaze between the screen and me.
“But what are we supposed to do with this comedy footage? We’re not just going to broadcast it and make fools of them, right?”
“Of course not. If we just ended it with simple mockery, there’d be no point in setting up the whole operation. We wouldn’t have even looked for them if that were the plan.”
“Then?”
“We need to expose that these ruffian bastards orchestrated this systematically and were acting under someone’s orders.”
“Ooh… now that’s the bigger picture?”
“Exactly.”
Choi PD nodded at my answer but raised a concern.
“That is our program’s objective, but… how do we do it? This footage alone only proves these guys are idiots. It’s not quite enough evidence to show there’s a mastermind behind them.”
That’s when it happened.
“Don’t worry about that.”
Ra-hee, her face completely wrapped up, stepped forward.
Her finger pointed precisely at one flailing figure on the monitor.
“See that guy there? The one who got the sauce container dumped on his head? Start with him.”
“Fact Hunter? Why him?”
“He’s got the loosest mouth in the industry. Plus….”
Ra-hee turned her head toward Choi PD.
“Choi PD. That guy’s been slapped with a yellow strike lately, right? His financial situation is really tight?”
At those words, Choi PD jumped in surprise and answered.
“What? That’s right! I heard he got his monetization disabled after doing reckless targeted broadcasts and ended up buried in debt. How did you….”
“So what does that mean?”
PD Ga’s eyes gleamed as he asked. Ra-hee’s lips curved into a smile behind her mask.
“If we target the weakest link—the one desperate for money—he’ll spill everything about his backers without us even asking. Isn’t that right?”
“…!”
“So, what do you think? I’ve given you all the sauce, haven’t I?”
Silence hung in the air.
By severing the weakest link, I would dismantle their alliance and uncover the mastermind behind it all.
It was a perfect strategy.
“Wow….”
Choi PD’s eyes began to gleam with unbridled intensity.
It was madness.
He couldn’t contain his excitement and shouted at me.
“Owner. Who exactly is your partner here? Your planning and target analysis completely outshine our news division’s main writer!”
“Ha ha… well… it seems they’re just naturally gifted at this sort of thing. So, what’s your answer?”
“Of course we have to do this! Even if it kills us, we’re doing it!”
“How long will it take?”
“Let me see. I was already editing related content anyway, so if we just nail this one piece… it should come together pretty quickly?”
* * *
Not long after, Choi PD kept his word.

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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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