The Chef Who Cannot Cook
Episode 1. The Chef Who Cannot Cook
“Boss, I’ll be going after another delicious meal today.”
“Thank you for always visiting Yeonseong’s. Please come again.”
Ding-a-ling.
With a smile and a farewell to the last customer, and with the changing of the sign on the door to Closed, today’s business was over.
Yeonseong’s, a famous restaurant passed down for three generations since my grandfather’s time, had safely completed another day.
And I, Do Yeonseong, who shares the same name as this restaurant, had also safely finished my day.
The yeon of fate (緣) and the seong of accomplishment (成), together making Yeonseong (緣成).
The restaurant’s name, given by my grandfather with the meaning that connections lead to accomplishment, had, true to that name, maintained bonds with regular customers in this neighborhood for over sixty years.
And that bond remained unchanged even now, when the Gate Apocalypse had erupted, dungeons and monsters had appeared, and Awakened Hunters had to fight those monsters.
“Augh, I’m so tired… not really.”
I habitually stretched out wide, but my body wasn’t tired at all.
Running a restaurant is an infamously grueling job.
On top of that, since I was running the place alone, there was no way I shouldn’t be tired, so what was going on?
“What do you mean, it’s because I’m Awakened.”
That’s right.
In this day and age, gates opening, dungeons forming, and monsters and Awakened clashing in fire and blade had become the norm.
I too was an Awakened.
“Status Window.”
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Name : Do Yeonseong
Class : Chef
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Swordsmen, mages, priests, archers, even murim martial artists.
After the Gate incident, countless Awakened had gained their own classes and made names for themselves, but as far as anyone knew, [Chef] was a first for me.
“A chef? Is that a job that can fight?”
On the first day I awakened, when I told the Awakened Association my class, that was the first thing I heard.
Awakened were beings who entered dungeons and fought monsters.
Those who made a living doing this were called “Hunters.”
But a Hunter who was a chef? Even I thought that was a bit strange.
“If you wish to enter a dungeon, we can arrange for a guild or a commission, but…”
“It’s fine. I have no intention of becoming a Hunter.”
Even if it was a class that could fight, I had no intention of becoming a Hunter.
Hunters might be a coveted profession that could bring wealth and fame, but I had “Yeonseong’s.”
There was no way I’d give up this restaurant passed down since my grandfather’s time, where I had spent all thirty-three years of my life.
So although I had become an Awakened that others envied, my life was no different from before my awakening.
Ah, though there was one small change.
“Let’s see, did the items arrive properly? Oh, they’re here.”
Looking at the delivery boxes placed in front of the door to my two-room studio on the second floor of the restaurant, I grinned.
While anyone is happy when a delivery arrives, this was no ordinary delivery.
That was because the contents were:
‘Dungeon [North Sea Ice Palace] Human-shaped Snow Ginseng’
‘Dungeon [Oasis] Red Dates’
‘Dungeon [Death Mushroom] Black Mantis Mushroom’
‘Dungeon [Spirit’s Spring] Mana Water’
They were all precious medicinal herbs found only in dungeons, and water filled with mana.
They were byproducts of dungeon raids, difficult for ordinary people to obtain and incredibly expensive.
“The highlight is this.”
I took out a knife and opened a box marked with a hazardous materials symbol and tightly sealed.
What came out was a giant bird that looked to be over sixty centimeters in size.
No, more accurately, it was a bird with its neck cut, feathers and innards all removed, already prepped.
I checked the name of the contents written on the box.
‘Monster Cockatrice (neck removed)’
It was the corpse of a Cockatrice, a monster that used a terrifying petrification skill on those who looked at it.
Naturally, the eyes and head parts of the Cockatrice containing petrification mana had been removed.
They were dangerous, and also tremendously expensive materials for Hunters.
Had they been included, I could never have bought it even with my acquaintance discount and my bank balance.
“Even if I had the head, I wouldn’t have a use for it anyway.”
I smirked and read the memo attached to the box that had contained the Cockatrice corpse.
- Sent what you asked for. I don’t know what you’re going to use it for, but don’t order this stuff again.
Just from the handwriting, one could feel the coldness radiating from it. The owner of this memo was none other than my younger brother, Do Yeonjun, eight years younger than me.
Unlike me, Yeonjun had awakened at a young age and was an active Hunter with a promising future.
Thanks to that, even though I was an Awakened with no guild and no intention of entering dungeons, I could obtain these ingredients.
“That punk, acting all prickly just because I asked once.”
He used to cling to me, calling “Big bro, big bro,” like a piece of gum, but when did he become so cold?
Was it around the time he became a Hunter?
Ten years ago, Yeonjun, who awakened at the age of fifteen, had to leave home to become a pro Hunter, and my mother, who had been running the restaurant until then, went with him to support him.
I had stopped her from closing the restaurant then and inherited it myself.
“Still, since he did me the favor, I should let him know I received the goods.”
I took out my phone and called the number saved as “That punk of a brother.”
The signal rang a few times, but the call didn’t connect.
- The customer is not answering. Please leave a message after the tone.
“What, is he in the middle of a dungeon raid?”
When Yeonjun didn’t answer the phone like this, it was usually because he had entered a dungeon to raid it.
Since it takes at least three to four days once he goes in, I guess I won’t be able to reach him for a while.
So instead of calling more, I left a text.
- Thx. I’ll use them well.
It was a blunt text, but isn’t that what brothers are like?
I put my phone back in my pocket and carried the delivery boxes downstairs again.
Not to my house, but to the restaurant—and not just anywhere, but the kitchen. There was one reason I brought these dungeon byproducts there.
“Food must be cooked in the kitchen, after all.”
That’s right.
I was planning to cook with monster and dungeon byproducts.
And the dish I would be attempting now was none other than,
“Cockatrice samgyetang. No, should I call it sam-cockatrice-tang?”
Since it was a samgyetang made by boiling Cockatrice meat with mana water and dungeon medicinal herbs.
A short while later,
“Hmm…”
Standing at the restaurant kitchen counter, I found myself in deep thought, having placed not the Cockatrice corpse but the Cockatrice meat and various ingredients before me.
Because I couldn’t figure out how to cook these ingredients.
“I need to somehow make them edible, but…”
Ingredients infused with mana.
At first glance, they seemed like good things with rare value, like elixirs.
But the reality was the exact opposite.
For ordinary people who had not awakened, mana was a “poison” that caused damage as severe as radiation.
“In other words, a dish made with mana-infused ingredients is literally a ‘poison dish.’”
Then can’t Awakened people eat it?
Absurdly, even Awakened Hunters were not much different.
Awakened were beings who took mana into their bodies and used skills with it, unlike ordinary people, but even for them, the mana from dungeon ingredients was too overwhelming.
Even if they cooked with just a very small amount, every time a notification would pop up saying [Cooking failed.], and a bizarre, inedible result would come out.
It definitely wasn’t because my cooking skills were bad.
I had always satisfied customers while running this restaurant for over ten years.
Then of course the problem was with the ingredients. Yeah.
“In that case, I go the opposite way.”
If the limit that humans couldn’t eat was unavoidable, then conversely, I’d try cooking using only ingredients that humans couldn’t eat.
Naturally, this was a method no one had attempted because they were inedible.
I had tried every other method; this was the only path left.
“Then shall we begin?”
I placed the Cockatrice on the cutting board and raised my kitchen knife.
“First, I need to cut off the Cockatrice’s wing claws.”
Even if it’s dead, it’s a monster’s corpse, so it should be pretty tough, right?
The moment I swung my kitchen knife down with force, having thought that far,
Snap.
My beloved sword—no, my beloved kitchen knife that I had used for over ten years was cleanly snapped in two.
“…Damn it.”
* * *
After struggling for an hour, I was barely able to cut off the Cockatrice’s claws.
And that too only after breaking five kitchen knives and even bringing out an industrial cutter.
Looking at the two gleaming claws, I laughed hollowly.
“Ha, haha, if I sell these, will I at least make back the money for the knives?”
As if.
I let out a deep sigh, put the claws away, and lifted the Cockatrice.
Fortunately, prepping the Cockatrice ended there.
There was no way I, a non-combat class Awakened, could debone a monster’s corpse and butcher it for just the meat.
That’s why I had deliberately chosen samgyetang, a dish where I could put it in whole and boil it.
After stuffing various dungeon medicinal herbs into its stomach, I placed the Cockatrice in a large pot and poured in mana water.
I couldn’t boil the Cockatrice with ordinary water.
“It’s a monster. Of course it wouldn’t work.”
Monsters were creatures that endured Hunter skills and magical flames with ease.
If their flesh cooked in mere boiling water, Hunters wouldn’t need to suffer in dungeons—they’d just pour boiling water on them and they’d all die.
Therefore, to cook Cockatrice meat, I had to boil it thoroughly in mana water that boiled at over 380 degrees.
“Well then, shall we try cooking it?”
I was worried about next month’s gas bill, but I had already crossed the Rubicon.
After turning the ventilation fan to maximum to vent the mana steam produced by the boiling mana water, I sat and watched the pot containing the gradually heating mana water and Cockatrice.
As I repeatedly added more mana water when it reduced, waiting for the Cockatrice to boil,
Beep. Beep.
Hmm, what’s that sound?
I had dozed off without realizing it, and slowly opened my eyes to the loud sound ringing in my ears.
But had I set an alarm? I didn’t recall doing so.
Slightly bewildered, when I opened my eyes, a translucent blue screen floated before me.
“Status Window? I didn’t pull it up?”
I tilted my head and read the contents floating on the status window.
[The Farmer Who Cannot Plow has taken an interest in your cooking.]
“What? Could this be a Constellation…?”
The Selection of a Constellation.
It refers to receiving a message from a Constellation, something said to be available only to a very select few Awakened with exceptional talent.
Awakened who received this message could make a contract with the Constellation and gain even greater power.
That such an opportunity had come to me, a [Chef] who couldn’t even fight?
The moment I blinked in surprise,
[The Farmer Who Cannot Plow desires your cooking.]
[The Farmer Who Cannot Plow demands your cooking as an offering.]
The Constellation wasn’t offering a contract, but demanding my cooking.