Chapter 2 · 9 min

Chapter 2

An Unknown Dish

Color was gradually returning to the father's pale face.

“Honey! Are you awake?!”

The tears the mother had been holding back poured out from both her eyes.

“...Uh, ye, yes.”

“Let’s go to the hospital right away, to the hospital.”

“I think I’m fine now...”

“What do you mean fine! You just nearly died and came back! No more words, let’s go together!”

“...”

When the father nodded his head with difficulty, the mother roughly wiped her wet cheeks with her sleeve and hurriedly supported the father to help him up.

“Ugh...”

“See, I told you you’re still not okay.”

She, who had firmly wrapped the arm of the father who still couldn’t properly control his body around her shoulder and was moving her steps with difficulty, said toward Jin Myeong.

“Jin-myeong, mom and dad are going to the hospital for a bit, so make sure to lock the door! If anyone comes, say we’re not open today! Got it? If anything happens, call right away.”

“...”

Jin Myeong nodded silently.

The mother, supporting the father with difficulty, hurriedly stepped out of the shop door.

Ding!

The restaurant glass door closed completely, and silence flowed inside the empty shop.

“...”

Jin Myeong stood blankly in that spot and slowly scanned the inside of the unfamiliar restaurant.

The first place his gaze reached was a black and thin board hanging on the wall.

The fragmented memories of Lee Jin-myeong that had permeated his soul were telling him that that was called a TV, and that countless people lived, moved, and made sounds inside that thin board.

Was it the illusion technique of a peerless master, or a strange mechanical formation?

Wonder and a peculiar curiosity arose.

He moved his steps as if entranced and entered the kitchen.

In the corner, a huge silver iron barrel was spewing out a low rumbling metal sound.

That was a thing called a refrigerator.

Jin Myeong carefully stretched out his hand and pulled the thick door.

Saaaaak-

In an instant, cold air burst out and covered his whole body.

“...”

Jin Myeong’s two eyes shook greatly.

It was a chill that one might feel only in the deep ice cave of an eternal snow mountain or the huge ice storage under the imperial palace.

Inside it, animal meat and vegetables of poor quality were stored frozen.

To think that such a perfect world of ice was realized inside a small box that was at most just a lump of iron.

‘What on earth kind of place has this world become.’

Facing the cold air flowing out from the open door gap, Jin Myeong blankly looked down at his own two hands.

His head was dizzy.

The self of Jin Myeong, the number one chef under heaven, and the memories of 22-year-old Lee Jin-myeong who had lived his whole life as a fool were messily tangled in his head.

Two memories that could absolutely never mix, like water and oil, collided and created a strange and alien emotion in his chest.

‘Why on earth. Why has I, who died with my neck severed, come to this place.’

A bizarre experience like a god’s prank that could not be explained by any martial arts secret manual or fated encounter.

Among so many people, why of all things had he awakened in the body of a child so frail and of unsound mind.

A life as the number one chef of the unorthodox.

And the sorrowful family affection that he in his previous life had never once felt.

Complex and alien emotions swirled.

In that way, Jin Myeong fell into the swamp of deep contemplation for a while.

At that moment.

Ding!

The restaurant door opened.

“Oh, Hello! Everyone! Welcome to my channel! Look at this place, so authentic!”

“...!”

A sudden uninvited guest.

It was a Westerner with blonde hair and blue eyes.

He was continuously making a fuss and chattering toward the smartphone camera in his hand.

Thanks to the child’s memories settling in his head, Jin Myeong could roughly grasp what that fellow was doing now.

So-called TikTokers, YouTubers, going around holding cameras like that claiming to do personal broadcasts.

“...”

But the appearance of holding a camera and laughing and chattering alone meaninglessly just looked frivolous and noisy.

After chattering as he pleased for a long while and filming inside the restaurant, the Westerner finally discovered Jin Myeong standing blankly and approached with large strides.

“Excuse me! Are you the owner? Can I order some food?”

“...”

A foreign language.

Roughly meaning ‘are you the shop owner, let’s eat some food’.

But Jin Myeong remained silent with his brow furrowed.

“...?”

When Jin Myeong gave no answer at all, the Westerner exaggeratedly shrugged his shoulders, then soon directed the smartphone screen toward the old menu board stuck alone on the restaurant wall.

It seemed he had turned on the function that translates the letters on the screen.

After checking the menu, he nodded his head vigorously as if he understood and let out a cheer.

“Oh! Jajangmyeon! Yes, I want this!”

He wore a smile all over his face and pointed at one character on the menu board with his finger toward Jin Myeong.

And then he repeatedly made the gesture of holding chopsticks in the air and slurping noodles.

“...”

Jin Myeong’s gaze followed the Westerner’s fingertips to the old menu board on the wall.

[Jajangmyeon]

“Jajangmyeon···”

A low voice flowed out from between Jin Myeong’s lips.

Then the Westerner’s blue eyes sparkled and he nodded his head like crazy.

“Yes! Yes! Jja! Jang! Myeon! That’s right!”

He raised both thumbs and made a fuss.

He added an exaggerated gesture of winking and slurping noodles into the air.

“...”

The appearance of not being able to stay still for a moment and being fidgety looked exactly like a monkey performing tricks in Jin Myeong’s eyes.

But Jin Myeong ignored the frivolous monkey’s antics and fixed his gaze on the characters of the menu board.

‘So it’s jajangmyeon...’

An unknown food he had never made before.

But the cooking memories of the previous chef and the father that flashed through his head were telling him all the cooking methods.

‘Tsk. Frying the chunjang so sloppily like that, there’s no way it will taste good. The skill of handling the fire is worse than a child’s play.’

The corner of Jin Myeong’s mouth twisted coldly.

He moved his steps to the kitchen without a word.

“...”

As soon as Jin Myeong entered the kitchen, his brow crumpled at once.

Leaving aside that it was full of unfamiliar and bizarre silver iron utensils all around, the state of the kitchen that entered his eyes right away was truly no different from a gutter by the standards of the number one chef under heaven.

Around the stove, black grease stains of unknown origin were caked on, and the cutting board was not even properly wiped of moisture, so it was extremely filthy.

‘To think a place that makes food is this dirty.’

If it were the Blood Cult of his previous life, those who managed the kitchen like this would have been thrown into a boiling cauldron immediately.

Clicking his tongue while looking around, Jin Myeong’s gaze reached the noodles contained in a colander in one corner.

Noodles that had been boiled in advance and left neglected, swollen and bloated.

The appearance of them being stuck together as if they would break off with no gloss to be found brought out a hollow laugh.

‘Did they boil this kind of thing and call it noodles? Even a pig wouldn’t eat it.’

The ingredients placed next to them were also miserable.

The onions sliced in advance had dried out and twisted with all the sweetness gone, and the leftover pork hadn’t had the blood properly drained, so a faint gamey smell was wafting.

The worst hygiene, the worst ingredients.

A crude environment with not a single corner that pleased him.

“Huu...”

Jin Myeong let out a short sigh and approached the front of the large stove.

A bizarre iron stove that was occupying the place instead of a traditional hearth that lit fire by burning firewood.

‘How on earth do I light the fire...?’

The moment Jin Myeong stood in front of the unfamiliar structure and tilted his head.

From deep in his mind, the memory of Lee Jin-myeong who had been the owner of this body suddenly came to mind.

It was the visual afterimages of having watched while meaninglessly going back and forth between the restaurant hall and the kitchen.

Jin Myeong began to piece together those fragmented observation memories one by one.

‘First open the path, then turn it···’

Jin Myeong’s hand headed toward the long black valve.

After twisting it open in a straight line, he moved his hand again to the round knob protruding from the front of the stove.

Exactly as they had done in the memory, Jin Myeong pressed the round knob inward and forcefully bent and turned it to the left.

Tadadadak!

Pung!

Shuuuu!

In an instant, with a light bursting sound, a blue flame bloomed roundly on top of the iron stove.

‘······!’

Jin Myeong’s two eyes opened wide.

To be able to obtain such a powerful and constant flame just by flicking one finger.

Moreover, the heat this blue flame emitted far surpassed the firepower of the highest-grade charcoal he had handled in the past.

A uniform and explosive heat source created by gas fire.

‘Isn’t this the true miracle.’

The bewilderment he had felt until just a moment ago instantly changed to wonder and excitement.

Even the dissatisfaction with the filthy kitchen and garbage-like ingredients felt like minor constraints in front of this flame.

“...”

Jin Myeong’s eyes flashed with a cold madness.

Even if they were the worst ingredients, if this overwhelming flame and the skill of the number one chef under heaven met, he would be able to draw out the extreme taste.

Without hesitation, he turned the stove knob all the way to raise the firepower to the extreme and gripped the cast-iron wok.

At that time when the foreigner in the hall was holding the camera and peering around here and there, a roar burst out from inside the kitchen.

Hwaaaaaaaaak!!

He opened the firepower of the gas stove to the limit, and controlled the moment when the heated oil rode the edge of the wok and met the flame to create an explosive pillar of fire.

Charrrrrk!

Chwaak!

Chunjang was dropped into the boiling oil.

The savory taste of pork fat and the deep flavor unique to chunjang exploded and filled the inside of the shop.

This number one chef of the unorthodox was displaying the skill of the pole star that drew out the original taste of the ingredients to the limit.

The timing of boiling the noodles, the rhythm of the wok work that evaporated moisture and coated with the sauce.

The tremendous smell spreading in all directions stimulated the tip of the foreigner’s nose.

“Oh... My... Gosh...”

The foreigner opened his mouth wide and lowered the camera.

And a moment later.

Jin Myeong walked out and placed the bowl of jajangmyeon on the table.

Tak!

“...!”