Part 2 Chapter 156: I'll Give You a Special Chance to Work in the Kitchen at My Wedding. / 880
TL: Hanguk
"Yoppi, you got it? A man's gotta have cool, aloof charisma! Not 'Hey, you wanna eat this?' It's 'Found this on my way over. Eat it if you want.' That kind of vibe. You understand, Yoppi?"
Sejun, who had never once shown a charismatic side in front of Aileen, was emphasizing charisma to Yoppi.
But
"Yes! Master! Hey. Found this on my way over. Hmph. Use it if you want. Like that, right?"
"Oh. Quick learner. You'll be married in no time."
"Yohyohyo. Thank you."
Yoppi took it all at face value. Somehow, it felt like Yoppi's lifelong-bachelor streak was about to get a whole lot longer.
"And then, every once in a while, you cook something delicious to show her you're not just charismatic, you've got a domestic side too."
This one didn't fit Sejun at all either. It wasn't every once in a while; he was cooking five meals a day, after all. Sejun was severely lacking in meta-cognition. There was a substantial gap between his real-life self and the version of himself in his head.
"For that, you'd have to be good at cooking, right?"
"Yes! But how do I get good at cooking?"
"Don't worry. I've got a whole plan."
"Oh! As expected of Master Park!"
"Yoppi, to get good at cooking, you've got to do a lot of it, see?"
"I see! So I have to cook a lot..."
Yoppi jotted down Sejun's words.
"But normally, you don't get many chances to cook a lot. Even at most, you might make a hundred servings a day. You need to make at least a million servings to really get a feel for cooking. And the cost of ingredients isn't anything to sneeze at, you know? You've got to get married too, and if you blow all your money on ingredients, you won't have any left for the wedding."
"That's true. So what should I do?"
"Heh heh. But Yoppi, you've got me. I'll give you a special chance to work in the kitchen at my wedding."
Sejun made it sound like a generous gift, when really he was just signing him up for free labor.
"Oh! Really?! Thank you! I'll go and learn hard!"
"Sure. Then come to Black Tower Floor 99 in three days."
"Yes!"
Heh heh heh. One kitchen assistant, snagged!
This was the build-up the whole time.
And just like that, Yoppi, who had been stuck in nothing but Solo Hell, became Sejun's kitchen assistant and took his first step into the Cooking Hell party of making 50 million servings.
If there was one consolation, it was this: Solo Hell had to be endured alone, but Cooking Hell would be endured by many people together, so at least it wouldn't be lonely.
***
After parting with Yoppi
"Cuengi, you and Iona search for Torch from the sky."
Kueng!
"Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Yes."
Cuengi and Iona rose into the sky and looked around, and
Kueng!
[Dad, I can see Black Torch over there!]
Cuengi found Black Torch.
Following Cuengi's guidance, they moved along, and then
[Park Black's Food Stall]
Black Torch is running a food stall?
Didn't he say he was going off to train?
'Nice name for the place, though.'
He could see the rabbits running the food stall.
Black Torch did the serving, Fatty did the cooking, and Shak waited tables until orders piled up, then helped Fatty prep ingredients and boil noodles.
At first, all three of them had cooked together, but Black Torch was easily the fastest, so this arrangement had naturally taken shape.
Ppyak!
[Three carrot noodles!]
Ppip!
[Five carrot noodles, ready!]
Black Torch, Shak, and Fatty were so swamped with customers they didn't even notice Sejun had arrived.
There are quite a few customers. The line's long too.
The waiting line stretched over five hundred meters.
Our Black Torch, running a popular eatery.
For some reason, that made Sejun feel warm inside, and
Don't want to interrupt business.
"Meow?!"
"Kyoot?"
Kueng?
Kking?
"Hehe."
He quietly pulled out hats, put them on himself and his companions, and stood at the back of the line.
Let's see how good it actually is.
With an excited expression. Somehow, he'd ended up as a Restaurant Verification Team.
After waiting about an hour and a half, when it was finally Sejun's turn,
Ppyak! Ppyak?
[Welcome! What can I get you?]
Black Torch came over to take the order.
"Ahem. Ten carrot noodles, ten carrot tempura, and five carrot juices, please."
Sejun deliberately changed his voice when ordering so Black Torch wouldn't recognize him, and
Ppyak! Ppyak! Ppyak...
[Yes! Please wait just a moment! Fatty! Ten carrot noodles and...]
Black Torch, none the wiser, relayed the order to Fatty in the kitchen.
Ppip!
[Got it!]
Crunch. Crunch.
Fatty munched on a carrot as he ladled out the broth he'd prepared in advance and rolled the noodles into it,
Crunch. Crunch.
Then pulled out another fresh carrot to munch on as he laid julienned carrots and green onion on top as garnish.
Eating the carrots seemed so natural it was as if it were part of the cooking process.
A short while later.
Ppyak!
[Your order is ready!]
Black Torch carried out a stack of plates all at once like he was performing a circus trick and set them down on Sejun's table.
Ppyak!
[Enjoy!]
Black Torch, in a hurry from the backed-up orders, still didn't notice it was Sejun and his group, and just walked off, and
"Shall we dig in?"
Did he color it with carrots?
Sejun picked up the orange carrot noodles with his chopsticks and put them in his mouth.
Slurp.
"Hm?"
After eating the noodles, Sejun tilted his head, and
Slurp.
He picked up another bite and put it in his mouth.
And then
"Ah."
He nodded as if he'd figured something out, and then Sejun ate one of the carrot tempura.
Crunch.
...!
The batter is super thin?
Sejun was surprised at how thinly the batter coated the carrot tempura, and
"Oh. At first it's nutty, but the more you chew, the more a subtle saltiness comes through?"
Did he salt-cure the carrots?
"Not bad."
He gave a satisfied smile at the sweet-and-salty combination that followed.
While Sejun was busy analyzing the food
Sluuurp.
The remaining eight bowls of carrot noodles and carrot tempura were finished off by Cuengi,
Slurp.
And one bowl was finished by Taecho.
Kuehehehe. Kueng!
[Hehehe. So good!]
"Hehe. So good!"
The two of them looked happy and satisfied with the food, finishing up with the carrot juice.
Just then
Ppyak?!
[Huh?! Uncle Cuengi?!]
Black Torch spotted Cuengi. While Cuengi was lifting the bowl with both hands to drink the broth, his hat must have slipped off slightly.
Kuehehehe. Kueng! Kueng!
[Hehehe. Black Torch, good to see you! Dad and the rest of the family came too!]
Ppyak?!
At Cuengi's words, Black Torch took a closer look at the customers seated at the table, and
Ppyak?! Ppyak?
[Huh?! Uncle?! Uncle Theo, and Iona-nim, and Captain Blackie, and even Auntie Taecho?]
"Black Torch, you doing well?"
"Puhuhut. Black Torch, good to see you, meow!"
Only then did he notice Sejun and the group.
"You're busy right now, so let's talk later when the customers thin out."
Ppyak!
[Yes!]
At Sejun's words, Black Torch went back to serving.
A while later.
As the customers dwindled and the food stall got some breathing room
"Black Torch, I've come to challenge you."
The strong fighters who had finished eating and been waiting around the food stall gathered around Black Torch.
However
Kueng! Kueng!
[Black Torch has things to talk about with Dad! So Cuengi will take your challenges instead!]
Cuengi blocked their path.
Kueng!
[If Cuengi hits you, you might get hurt, so first, try to break free from Cuengi's Telekinesis!]
"Urgh!"
"What the? Why can't I move!"
While Cuengi handled the challenges
"Hey guys, I tried the food, and the tempura was decent, you know? But the noodles, the broth flavor felt a little lacking."
Sejun called Black Torch, Shak, and Fatty over and talked to them about the food.
Ppyak?
[The broth?]
Ppip?
[How so?]
Ppip?
[What's missing?]
The three of them tilted their heads at Sejun's words.
"What did you put in when making the broth?"
Ppyak!
[Carrots, onion, garlic, green onion, and shiitake mushrooms!]
"Just as I thought, you didn't put in radish? Hold on a second."
Clatter.
Sejun pulled out radish and the ingredients the rabbits had named from his Void Storage, put them in a pot, and started boiling a fresh batch of broth. He intended to show them the difference in taste firsthand.
While the broth was simmering, Sejun had nothing to do, so he watched the challengers struggling to break free of Cuengi's Telekinesis. Sadly, not a single one of them managed to overcome Cuengi's Telekinesis and move.
Ppyak?
[By the way, Uncle, why did you come here?]
Black Torch asked.
"Ah. I was forgetting something important. Torch, your uncle's getting married."
Sejun pulled the wedding invitations out of his pocket and handed them to the three of them.
Ppyak!
[Uncle, finally! Congratulations!]
Ppip!
[Congratulations!]
Ppip! Ppip?!
[Congratulations! But if it's a wedding, there'll be lots of delicious food, right?!]
The three of them congratulated Sejun.
"Puhuhut. And hand these out to the customers, meow!"
Thud.
Theo set down thousands more wedding invitations on the table.
A short while later.
Kueng! Kueng! Kueng!
[This won't do! All of them are way too weak to challenge anyone! Go practice more and come back!]
When no one could move, Cuengi released his Telekinesis.
Thump.
"Huff. Huff. Huff."
"Hraagh!"
The challengers, who had given everything they had trying to break free of the Telekinesis, collapsed to the ground gasping for breath. Their faces were full of frustration.
"It's all right. That's just how it is. No matter how high you climb, there's always a higher mountain. That's life."
"Puhuhut. That's right, meow! That's the truth our Great Colorless Dragon Hybrid Chairman Park personally experienced and realized, meow!"
Not exactly a senior in life, but as someone who had gone through the same experience many times, Sejun comforted them, and
"Here. Eat this and cheer up, everyone."
He boiled noodles, poured the freshly-made radish broth over them, topped them with cheongyang pepper, and handed them out.
At first, they tried to refuse, but
...?
Gulp.
At the rich noodle aroma laced with appetite-stirring spice, they quietly took the bowls and sat down.
Slurp.
Without anyone telling them to drink it, they all gripped the bowls with both hands and gulped down the broth first. Somehow, it just felt like they had to start with the broth.
And then
Pow!
...!!!
Those who drank the broth felt their chests opened up by an indescribable refreshment. Not the cool kind of refreshment, but the kind that warmed and untangled the chest.
It's fine. Is this enough to ruin a life?
Nobody died. That's enough.
It was a good experience, anyway.
Everybody fails sometimes.
At the same time, the frustration that had filled their hearts seemed to wash away with the noodle broth and disappear. Just moments ago, they hadn't wanted to do anything, but now they wanted to get up and move right away. After finishing the noodles, of course.
Meanwhile
"Puhuhut. If you want more of this noodle, come to Chairman Park's wedding ceremony, meow! If you come, you can eat your fill, meow!"
Theo handed wedding invitations out to the challengers.
Ppyak?!
[Oh! Uncle, why is this so good?!]
Ppip!
[The broth is refreshing and has a real kick to it!]
Ppip!
[The cheongyang pepper is the total kick!]
Black Torch, Shak, and Fatty were also stunned after eating the noodles Sejun had made for them, and looked at Sejun with awe in their eyes.
They had known Sejun's cooking skills were good, but they hadn't imagined that just changing the ingredients a little could change the flavor this much.
"Heh. You've got to add radish to make the broth refreshing. And the kick of the cheongyang pepper works for just about anyone who likes spicy food. So? Want your uncle to teach you a bit more?"
When Sejun spoke with a smug smile, the three of them nodded eagerly.
"Good. Then come to Black Tower Floor 99 in two days. I'll teach you everything I know."
Ppyak!
Ppip!
Ppip!
Heh heh heh. With this, the noodle department's settled.
And just like that, Sejun gained three more passion-pay kitchen assistants.
"All right, I'm off. See you in two days."
He moved off briskly to deliver more wedding invitations. There were still plenty more places he had to deliver them to.
A short while later.
"It's been a while since I've been here too."
"Puhuhut. That's right, meow! Back then, Chairman Park, you nearly died eating barnacles here, meow!"
Kueng!
[That's right! Dad, you almost died back then!]
Kking?! Kking?! Kking!
[What?! Butler and brothers, why are you talking about something only the Great Blackie doesn't know about?! Are you leaving the Great Blackie out?! The Great Blackie is mad!]
Pat. Pat.
"Blackie, no one's leaving you out, you just weren't around back then. And Taecho's sleeping, so quiet down."
"Kuhhhhh."
Sejun and his group arrived at the front of the Ice Island, where the Blue-backed Penguins lived.
*****
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