The Chef From the Apocalypse Enters the Food Industry - Chapter 7

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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 7. True Win-Win! (1)
“Here, one kilogram of coffee beans.”
“Oh. Thank you so much. How much should I pay for the beans?”
“Forget it. You’ve been throwing in all sorts of extras with the ramen anyway, right? I knew those were special services.”
“You noticed?”
“How many years have I been in business!”
“Oh. You’re a business genius.”
“Ha ha. Stop flattering me!”
This man was one of my most loyal regulars, stopping by whenever he had the chance.
Jin-woo handled my top customer, so this gentleman was second. Though calling it a ranking felt awkward—1.5 was more accurate.
My so-called one-point-five customer.
All the small gestures I’d shown him over time had come back to me as coffee beans.
The coffee shop owner, who’d been smiling during our casual conversation, suddenly grew serious.
Then he looked at me with anxious eyes and asked.
“But I did bring the beans… What exactly are you planning to do with already-roasted coffee?”
“I thought it would be good to work with the beans a bit.”
“What do you mean, work with them?”
“Just a little.”
The owner circled around the question before asking directly.
“Don’t tell me you’re switching your business to coffee? Gulp!”
His eyes squeezed shut.
‘He’s worried.’
I understood.
The owner himself had been struggling because of the food court signs.
And now I was switching from ramen to coffee?
‘That’s not something to dismiss.’
Normally, I’d assume someone knew nothing about roasting and ignore it.
But this was my 1.5-ranked customer.
‘The owner knows my skills well.’
They say if you see one thing, you understand ten, don’t they.
My ramen, made with all sorts of ingredients.
Through that, the owner had been carefully observing my abilities for quite some time.
That’s why he was anxious.
Coffee and ramen were quite far apart, completely different categories.
But I could see the worry—what if I, this person, could actually do something with it?
‘His instincts are sharp.’
It was best to answer quickly before emotions took root.
“Me and coffee? No way. That wouldn’t be honorable. I’m only selling ramen until I open my own place.”
“Ah, is that so? Ha ha… I was worried for nothing.”
“Why? Were you afraid I’d start making coffee?”
“Hmm. A little?”
“Haha. Surely not.”
The boss’s anxiety melted away.
Now he wanted to change the mood, it seemed.
He asked something different. His large eyes, uncharacteristically, gleamed with curiosity.
“But if you’re not making coffee, why are you looking for coffee beans? Don’t tell me you’re putting them in ramen?”
“No way. That would be disgusting.”
“Then why are you searching for beans? Do you know coffee well?”
“I know a bit.”
“Oh yeah? How? Do you have a certification or something?”
“I don’t have a certification.”
“But you still know?”
“I have experience.”
“Experience?”
“That’s right.”
That experience—from my previous life in the apocalypse.
Can a person live on rice alone?
When you have rice, you crave meat; when you eat meat, you want fish. That’s human nature.
Would I want to eat only staple foods?
‘Cold Americano. That’s a taste I’d never give up, even in death.’
Not staple foods—coffee!
A cold iced Americano so crisp it made your head ache on hot summer days!
I wanted to drink it.
At first, I endured and held back, but as time passed, the craving grew stronger.
‘Just one sip of that and I’d have no regrets!’
This drove me mad.
No, I was definitely mad back then.
But how could I get that in the apocalypse?
In a world where there was nothing to eat and I had to chew and swallow monster meat!
There were no coffee beans.
Even when I barely managed to find some, they were in terrible condition.
All the aroma had vanished, leaving only stale, musty remnants.
Even when I tried to brew them carefully, all I got was a bitter poison. Not coffee, but acrid, murky sludge.
So I’d give up?
‘There’s no way I would.’
I didn’t give up. I couldn’t.
I tried everything imaginable.
In the end, I managed to revive the aroma from those rotten beans!
It was the result of long research.
‘Ah… that taste from back then! I’ll never forget it!’
I savored every last drop of coffee beans, sipping them slowly and carefully.
But when I finally couldn’t find any more beans?
I decided to make a breakthrough.
‘I researched ways to substitute for coffee beans.’
I roasted barley I barely managed to find to recreate the flavor, and even ground up monster corpses to experiment.
I discovered coffee’s taste through all sorts of unconventional methods.
With that much experience, even without a certification, shouldn’t I deserve to be called a self-taught barista?
Unfortunately, I couldn’t speak of those experiences.
“Well, what should I do then?”
“Just watch me. Hehe.”
But I could show them instead.
* * *
‘Have some faith in me.’
Sizzle—
I confidently placed the coffee beans onto the heated pan.
The boss’s eyes widened like a cow’s at the sight.
“What!? What are you doing!?”
She wasn’t someone to dismiss just because I ran a coffee truck.
She had limited capital, but she was genuinely passionate about coffee. Her dream was to open a café where she roasted beans herself someday.
To someone like her, what I was doing looked insane.
“I’m re-roasting them.”
“What? Re-roasting!? Those are already roasted! You’ll only make them more bitter!”
“Please, just watch.”
Re-roasting.
Roasting is the process of roasting and developing raw green beans.
Re-roasting is literally the technique of roasting once more.
‘It really is crazy.’
This hardly qualifies as a technique.
Normally, 99 out of 100 attempts fail.
Re-roasting already well-roasted beans like this makes the failure rate even higher.
Literally destined to fail!
Yet, I was confident.
‘Let’s begin.’
The moment the pan reached the desired temperature, my hands moved with precision.
I roasted while applying heat evenly.
And simultaneously, I aimed for two things.
‘Activating the Maturation skill.’
[Skill 【Maturation】 activated.]
[Accelerating maturation speed.]
Maturation is crucial for coffee beans too.
The taste of the same beans varies depending on when and how long I allow them to mature.
I elevated this process into a skill.
I inhaled the aroma carefully, waiting for the precise moment I desired.
Then, when that moment arrived.
‘Now. Stop.’
[Skill usage has been halted.]
[Maturation has been completed.]
‘First stage complete.’
I had finished the maturation at just the right level.
But I couldn’t stop here.
Achieving the perfect maturation level wasn’t the end—it was merely the beginning.
“What’s that supposed to be?”
“Black peppercorns and cinnamon. Though cinnamon isn’t technically used as a medicinal ingredient.”
“I know that. Cinnamon and cassia are technically the same thing, but people usually call the non-medicinal variety cinnamon, right?”
“Well, something like that.”
It sounds like wordplay, but it’s genuine.
A Jindo dog and a Chihuahua are both dogs, but they’re different breeds, aren’t they?
Cinnamon and cassia were distinguished in much the same way.
Ultimately, they’re the same thing, but since there’s no other way to call them separately, we do.
“But why the black peppercorns?”
“I’m trying to enhance the flavor profile. They also add a subtle spiciness.”
“…You realize that doing this during re-roasting is absolutely insane, right?”
“I do.”
“Ugh… This is driving me crazy. These are premium beans.”
“Just wait and see.”
Crack, crackle.
I added a small amount of black peppercorns.
But adding them wasn’t enough.
‘Flavor enhancement.’
[Skill: Flavor Enhancement is being activated.]
[Ingredients black pepper and cinnamon have been detected.]
[Their distinctive flavors are being enhanced.]
Flavor—literally, the fragrant taste of food.
I greatly amplified this through my skill.
With both maturation and flavor enhancement working in perfect harmony, the effect was far greater than I’d anticipated.
‘Aroma is part of taste, after all.’
Especially during delicate work like roasting, even this small addition of enhanced flavor could dramatically transform the taste.
“Sniff sniff. The aroma is certainly good, but…”
“That’s exactly what I’m going for.”
The anxious owner, without realizing it, became so intoxicated by the aroma that his concerns melted away.
Crackle, crackle—
I meticulously roasted the coffee beans placed on the pan.
Once all the roasting was complete,
I ground the re-roasted beans in a grinder and prepared the drip.
‘Careful. Careful.’
I concentrated just as I had during the apocalypse.
Pouring water into the drip bag with meticulous care, I extracted every last drop with precision.
It was finished.
[Congratulations!]
[You have completed a coffee with enhanced flavor.]
[You have expanded the range of your cooking.]
[You have obtained the title 【Pioneer of Cuisine】.]
[Your inspiration for new dishes has been strengthened.]
[Your understanding of flavor has increased.]
‘Excellent!’
Leaving the notifications as they appeared,
I carefully poured the coffee into a pre-prepared cup.
“Is it finished?”
“Yes, please give it a try!”
I presented the coffee with confidence.
The boss held the cup in his hand, though still anxious.
“I’m worried about this…”
* * *
“Whoa! What is this?”
With a single sip, his anxiety vanished completely.
The boss looked at me with astonished eyes,
and I smiled contentedly as I asked.
“How is it?”
“How is it?! Wow…! I thought the aroma was different when I saw it, but how did you make it like this? How did you manage this when the roasting was already complete?”
“Just as you saw.”
“I still don’t understand what I saw.”
“It’s know-how… it would be difficult to explain anyway. It’s a kind of intuition.”
Re-roasting. It wasn’t something you could accomplish with just the skill alone.
The culinary sense I’d honed over years was equally important.
Passing this on would be difficult, even for me.
“This is far beyond just ‘know-how.’ Wow, who would think this is a 2,000 won coffee?!”
“Right?”
“One taste and… that’s it. Wow…! This is truly….”
He continued to exclaim in amazement.
I told the boss what I had aimed for from the beginning.
“Take this and sell it.”
“Huh? What? Eh?”
The owner looked startled.
I understood—he was shocked that I was asking him to sell beans he’d just made.
Setting aside his surprise for now, I explained further.
“Of course, you’ll need to blend it.”
“Blend it?”
“Like a blending process. If you mix it with your existing beans at a four-to-one ratio, it should be perfect, right? I’ve already adjusted it that way.”
“Wait, so you’re saying I should make five kilos total?”
“Yes. You usually use about twenty grams per cup, don’t you?”
“How did you even know that?”
“I estimated by eye.”
“You can’t estimate that just by looking. But you’re right.”
“So five kilos should yield around two hundred fifty cups, shouldn’t it?”
“That’s true, but… you don’t normally sell that much!”
“This time, you will.”
“I, I suppose it could work…”
“Right? Just putting ten cups in espresso cups and distributing them should show immediate results.”
“Definitely!”
Ambition sparked in the owner’s eyes.
A sandwich board sign wouldn’t even be necessary.
His mouth stretched wide with anticipation of today’s sales.
Then he looked at me again with a worried expression and asked.
“Actually, I’m still not sure if I should accept this… but setting that aside, what are you planning to do, Manager Kim?”
“Me?”
“Yeah! You need to make your business work too, don’t you?”
“I do.”
“At this rate, customers will come, but… prices will skyrocket.”
I couldn’t deny that.
“You must have another method in mind, right? That’s why you helped me?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“What is it?”
I immediately explained what I had in mind and made my proposal.
“For this method, I’ll need your help today. Want to give it a try?”
“Deal!”
The owner’s response was bright and refreshing.
Like the promising future ahead of us both.

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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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