The Chef From the Apocalypse Enters the Food Industry - Chapter 80

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 80. Resolution
“Well, that works out perfectly.”
“Works out perfectly?”
“Yes! It seems like the timing is just right.”
His eyes were luminous.
The eyes of someone who had shattered the shell of obsessive constraint with his own hands.
A person with eyes like that could accomplish anything.
‘He’s exactly the person I need right now.’
With my customer base exploding, I was desperately short on hands.
Could I find a more reliable and reassuring talent than this anywhere else?
I tapped the table lightly and spoke.
“Would you perhaps be interested in working with me?”
“…What?”
Lee Seok-jin’s eyes widened like lanterns.
He wore a dazed expression, as if doubting his own ears.
‘Showing is faster than explaining.
‘
* * *
“Let’s go.”
“What? Where to?”
“You’ll understand once you see. Haha.”
I led the dazed Lee Seok-jin toward the factory district.
Late at night, the factory district lay quiet under the darkness.
Yet traces of the final interior construction work remained clearly visible inside.
“This place….”
“It’s a factory. Or rather, it used to be one.”
I brought him to a corner of Building C.
It was a space that had been independently prepared with newly erected partition walls.
Though not all the fixtures had arrived yet.
The kitchen workflow and the cozy hall layout were perfectly established.
Seok-jin wore a blank expression in that very space—the one Jang Owner and Older Brother had been so curious about just recently, examining the construction blueprints and wondering whose place it could be.
“…I understand. But why are you showing me this place?”
Lee Seok-jin murmured as he carefully looked around the interior.
His gaze lingered on the walls finished in a rustic yet warm tone, and below them, the spacious kitchen stove area designed perfectly for simultaneously cooking stews and various side dishes.
‘Looking at the stove first—he’s truly a chef through and through.’
Standing there in a daze.
I spoke to him in a calm voice from beside him.
“I’ve shown you what I needed to show. How about working together here? In the place where your father used to eat home-style rice and soup.”
“Ah…!”
A short, trembling gasp escaped from Lee Seok-jin’s lips.
His eyes began to tremble uncontrollably.
* * *
This was none other than the factory where his father had devoted his entire life, pouring his sweat.
‘I never thought I’d come to this place like this….’
Wearing work clothes stained with grease.
A space where his father’s youth and beads of sweat lingered—the man who smiled brightly as if he possessed the whole world over a single spoonful of humble stew served on a tray.
This was the precious ground he had tried to sell off to a large corporate franchise when he felt his limits, fleeing like a coward.
‘Why couldn’t I have thought of cooking here?’
Even while dreaming of succeeding as a chef.
Even though I came to have that dream while looking at my father.
This was something I never considered at all.
Kim Seon-woo not only preserved it completely but even offered it to me as a proper white rice bowl restaurant.
“This is a space I intentionally left empty from when I was drawing up the blueprints.”
“…From when you were drawing the blueprints… before you even saw me?”
“Yes. That one chance encounter was all we had.”
“You were already thinking about it from then?”
“Yes. I believed that someday, someone would come to fill this place with a truly human-scented white rice bowl restaurant.”
He had thought of something I never considered beforehand.
There was not a single lie or exaggeration in those eyes.
Rather, Kim Seon-woo asked in return.
“Shouldn’t a factory canteen have at least one white rice bowl restaurant?”
“Ah….”
As if it weren’t the most obvious thing.
Seok-jin belatedly realized that he had failed to think of something so obvious.
‘How foolish….’
This should have been my place from the beginning. My first restaurant.
Perhaps.
My father could have readily offered this place first.
Telling me to do well.
That he would trust and eat the white rice bowls I made.
He would have said that.
‘…Because he was that kind of father.’
I realized it far too late.
A stranger realized it first, not me.
“…Sigh.”
Lee Seok-jin slowly approached the wall.
With trembling hands, he carefully wiped the pillar where the rough concrete texture of the old factory still faintly remained.
Thud. Thud.
Tears he had held back fell ceaselessly once more across the back of his thick hands.
A prison of recipes and measurements determined by others.
The aching sorrow of those past days when I was trapped and lost myself.
And my original dream—to make with my own hands the warm, home-cooked meal my father used to eat.
All of those emotions were intersecting perfectly within this space.
“Ugh… Hnngh… Hwaaaaagh….”
Without even turning to look at Kim Seon-woo,
he collapsed in the middle of the kitchen where he would soon stand, his shoulders trembling as he wept aloud.
‘I can do this… here at least… I can do this. Somehow….’
A gratitude deeper than any lengthy words and a resolute determination.
It was a hot, heavy sob.
Kim Seon-woo quietly watched as he poured out every last knot of anguish from his heart and wept freely.
‘This feels like I’ve filled it perfectly.’
The last empty space in the restaurant.
The moment that space was filled with the warmth of the person who belonged there most.
A firm resolve was heard.
“I will do it. I will absolutely do this… and see it through.”
* * *
“I will do it.”
KBN Entertainment Bureau Chief’s Office.
It was a short and definitive answer that came from PD Ga’s mouth.
‘Ho. This guy?’
Just days ago, PD Ga had been the one insisting it was absolutely impossible, going on about the essence of planning and getting all worked up.
At his refreshing answer, the Department Head sitting at the head of the table’s face brightened.
“Oh! You finally bent your stubborn will? Good thinking. That’s right—what good is an entertainment PD if he ignores the power of capital!”
The Department Head laughed heartily and slapped his desk.
PD Ga opened his mouth while meeting the Department Head’s gaze with a composed expression.
“However, there are conditions.”
Oh boy. Conditions.
Right. This guy isn’t the type to skip conditions.
But the Department Head had already anticipated this much.
“Conditions? You’ve already been promised that enormous budget and support—what conditions.”
“Still, I have to do what I need to do as a PD.”
“As a PD? Fine, let’s hear it. I’ll accommodate most things.”
All that matters is getting him started. After that, I can always step in if needed.
The Department Head believed that getting the ball rolling was what mattered most.
“As you mentioned, I will proceed with the program’s overall framework as a survival format.”
“Yes. Yes. That’s right.”
“However!”
“However what!”
“The detailed rules, the progression method, and the nuanced direction will be entirely my decision. I will not accept any external interference in this regard.”
“Hmm….”
The Department Head’s eyes darted rapidly.
What Jang On-gyu wanted was simple.
To drag Kim Seon-woo in and crush him.
He’d said it didn’t matter if it didn’t work out.
‘He said even without Kim Seon-woo, it’s a win. That Jang On-gyu—a scoundrel is a scoundrel, no matter what.’
Either way, Jang On-gyu held the winning hand.
‘But here he’s saying he decides the details of the survival show? Hmm….’
If the broad framework remained a survival format, it would satisfy Jang On-gyu’s tastes.
And it would also give PD Ga’s ego a proper boost.
On the surface, it wasn’t a bad arrangement.
‘This guy being paired with Kim Seon-woo… that does give me some pause.’
The capital came from Jang On-gyu anyway.
If the details didn’t sit right, he could always fix them later.
Fine. It’s best to agree readily at this point.
Clap clap clap—
The Department Head applauded vigorously and spoke.
“Aha! Of course that’s the case! The directorial details are the PD’s exclusive domain—why would I meddle? In fact, I like that!”
It was a hearty acceptance.
At this, PD Ga’s smile deepened.
“Good. Then go ahead and construct something truly provocative and entertaining on your own terms! You can even make one person a sacrificial lamb and eliminate them cleanly. I’ll take responsibility for it!”
“You’re saying it’s fine to make one person a sacrificial lamb and eliminate them?”
“That’s right. Hehe. What makes good broadcasting? First, that’s what makes it provocative, isn’t it?”
“Provocative. Exactly. Exactly. A scene where someone dies isn’t a bad look at all.”
Though I’m not sure if that one person will be who you think it is.
PD Ga didn’t bother adding anything more.
He simply wore an expression of delight that things were unfolding as he wished.
“Thank you. You can look forward to it. I’ll deliver something truly spectacular.”
“That’s our PD Ga for you!”
PD Ga bowed respectfully and turned to leave.
The solid silhouette of PD Ga walking toward the office door.
The Department Head gazed at that retreating figure with a deeply satisfied smile.
‘Kid. I don’t know what you’re thinking… but no matter what, things won’t go your way. You and I operate on different levels. Different.’
The Department Head wore the smile of a victor.
But the Department Head failed to notice.
The thick, sinister smile that bloomed on PD Ga’s face as he grasped the doorknob.
‘A survival show? Yes, I’ll give you a real survival show. Let’s see how far Jang On-gyu’s money can be stripped away with your own funds.’
Click. PD Ga closed the door and left.
Then deep silence returned to the Director’s Office.
“Hehehehe. Excellent. Excellent.”
Alone now, the Department Head hummed to himself and picked up the smartphone on his desk.
Click, click—
I quickly found the number and dialed.
The call connected after just a few rings.
-Yes. Department Head. I’ve answered.
“Ah, yes! Representative. It’s me.”
The Department Head’s voice instantly shifted to a deferential tone.
“Yes, yes. PD Ga just left. He’s agreed to do things your way after all. He’s become very compliant.”
-Is that so? That’s good.
“Haha. It is good. With the holidays coming up soon, it seems PD Ga is giving us quite the gift.”
-A gift. Right. A gift. But will he actually follow through?
Satisfied with the response on the other end of the line, the Department Head’s mouth spread wide in a grin.
“Don’t worry about it, sir. Things seem to be going very well.”
-They’re going well?

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————