Round 60

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The next morning.

I carried Ara on my back, rubbing her sleepy eyes, as we headed towards Ara Hongryeon . 

Jae-seong was carrying the backpack with Bokkeum inside.

“Hoo, hoo.”

“Nervous?”

“Yeah! I can’t believe I’m actually going to see Shimomoto Orie in person…”

“….”

Shouldn’t you be nervous about cooking instead?

Since I couldn’t understand Jae-seong’s inner thoughts, I just let it go.

Using public transportation, we arrived at the Ara Hongryeon Guild, where we were greeted by Hanul, who had been informed of our arrival.

“Ha ha ha! You’re here!”

“Did you sleep well?”

“Hello.”

When Jae-seong bowed and greeted, Hanul immediately extended his hand for a handshake. 

Jae-seong shook hands without showing any sign of surprise.

“Ha ha ha! You’re a bit different from Kyu-seong!”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

Why is that a compliment, dear brother?

We headed to the cafeteria inside the guild building. 

The cafeteria was a sophisticated place with a huge open kitchen installed.

“Guild master, did you sleep well?”

“Welcome, Mr. Kyu-seong.”

The guild master and some guild members I hadn’t seen before were already waiting there.

And I noticed Ino Junichi and a young woman in a chef’s outfit.

“Ooh.”

Jae-seong let out a suppressed cheer.

It seemed he was more concerned about that Japanese chef than being surrounded by all these awakened individuals. 

Should I call him brave, or just clueless…?

“Everyone, this is Lee Kyu-seong, a new awakened member of Ara Hongryeon . I wanted to introduce him earlier, but this turned out to be a great opportunity.”

Guild master Han Seok-jun stepped forward to introduce me.

I greeted the guild members and introduced myself.

“Hello, I am Lee Kyu-seong, a Level 1 awakened. Thanks to the guild master seeing me favorably, I was able to join the guild. I look forward to working with you.”

“Oh, it’s always good to have new members. Welcome.”

“Wow, I’m curious about your abilities since you joined as a Level 1 awakened. Oh! I didn’t mean to undermine the fact that you are Level 1!”

“Welcome, Kyu-seong!”

Not all the guild members were present, but there seemed to be more than ten. 

And they all genuinely welcomed me.

I was worried they might see me as a parachute recruit, but fortunately, there was no sign of that.

‘They all trust the guild master.’

They seemed to trust the guild master’s decision without question.

They looked as if they believed there must be a good reason for my joining.

“I’m glad there’s an opportunity to show you my abilities. This person next to me is my brother, and he will be cooking for you.”

“Cooking?”

It seemed they hadn’t been notified in advance.

When I glanced at the guild master, Hanul, and So-yeon, they were smiling mischievously.

“We just thought it was a welcome party.”

“Well, we cleared our schedules for today anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”

The curious people soon looked at me with anticipation. 

They seemed interested in seeing the abilities I mentioned.

“Ha ha ha! I’m looking forward to it, Kyu-seong!”

“Ha ha. Since my brother will be cooking, I’ll just be a spectator today.”

Meanwhile, Jae-seong was taking out cooking ingredients from Bokkeum. 

The vegetables we had diligently prepped the previous night came out.

“Can I take a look?”

Eek!

When Chef Orie showed interest, Jae-seong was slightly surprised but soon nodded.

Chef Orie’s eyes started to shine as she examined the sealed ingredients. It was as if she had discovered an exciting toy.

“Ha ha ha! This is really exciting! Brother, shouldn’t we call our team over?”

“Let’s do that.”

At Guild Master Han Seok-jun’s words, people dressed as chefs, who had been waiting somewhere, appeared.

They seemed to be the regular chefs of Ara Hongryeon , who usually used this kitchen.

“Oh, Chef Orie!”

“To think we’d see her in person…”

Interestingly, their reactions were similar to my brother’s.

The chefs gathered and started discussing what to make with the available ingredients.

‘Jae-seong’s English is pretty good. That’s unexpected.’

Well, he had considered studying abroad, so I guess knowing English was basic for him.

Come to think of it, I had been so busy trying to become an awakened and handling various things after that, I hadn’t had time to pay attention to what my siblings were doing.

I should pay more attention and take more interest in them from now on.

Soon, the chefs had sorted out their opinions and began cooking in their respective positions. It was impressive to see them work in perfect harmony despite probably working together for the first time.

‘Jae-seong is quite impressive.’

He looked remarkable, doing his job without losing confidence among such renowned chefs.

“Kyu-seong.”

“Yes, brother.”

“Has your brother been cooking for a long time?”

“Yes. He even planned to study culinary arts in France, but he missed the opportunity because I became an awakened.”

Hanul seemed puzzled and tilted his head, unable to understand the connection.

“What does you becoming an awakened have to do with it?”

“Our family went bankrupt. We overextended ourselves financially to awaken me.”

“Oh, that’s quite a sad story.”

“It’s not. In hindsight, it was the right choice, so it wasn’t a bad thing. Now I can send him to study abroad if he wants.”

“That’s true! Ha ha!”

Since past time can’t be undone, it’s more constructive to plan for the future rather than live in regret.

All that’s left is to repay my brother for what he missed, with interest.

“I’ll serve the first dish.”

A server brought the first dish.

From the start of cooking, a fantastic aroma had been filling the cafeteria.

People craned their necks, trying to find the source of the smell, and now it was time to discover it.

“This is an appetizer. It’s a salad made with ricotta cheese, special tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, and Polgrace, a dungeon plant. It’s served with a sauce made from another dungeon plant, Icedrill, liquefied.”

It was certainly different from what was made at home.

The presentation, the sauce, and the additional ingredients that I didn’t have stood out.

Gurgle!

“The wine is Pago de Cos from the Bordeaux region. It’s a 2014 vintage with an energetic feel…”

Wow, they’re serving wine in the cafeteria?

I was already impressed by the course-like structure of the meal, but this was truly amazing.

‘This is the prowess of the 5th ranked guild in Korea. So what about the guilds ranked above it?’

Junichi, who was sitting right next to me, first sipped the wine and then eagerly forked the salad.

Since I didn’t know much about alcohol, I just ate the salad.

“Hmm?!”

Oh, this is incredible!

The ingredients all blended together nicely. Honestly, I was worried since all the other ingredients, apart from the vegetables I brought, were either new or unfamiliar to me…

“Wow!”

“I mean, can a salad really be this delicious?”

“…From now on, I won’t be able to eat salads while dieting. Knowing that such delicious salads exist, I can never go back to the old ways!”

The compliments kept coming.

Since it was the reaction I expected, I continued eating the salad without much thought. But the two sturdy brothers beside me kept glancing at me.

“As expected, Kyu-seong’s ingredients are fantastic. But the sensation I felt yesterday was even more amazing.”

“Hmph! It’s just a salad so far, Junichi! Be ready!”

Since most of the ingredients were already prepared and there were many people in the kitchen, the dishes were coming out quickly.

And it seemed like the salad was just the beginning as the tastes and flavors kept getting better and better, rendering everyone silent.

Clatter – clatter –

Munch munch, slurp slurp!

People were burying their faces into their plates, seemingly dedicating themselves to finishing their dishes cleanly, forgetting to even speak or express their admiration.

The funny thing was that everyone had the same reaction, not just one or two people.

Of course, I was no exception.

‘Wow, combining these ingredients creates such a flavor…?!’

The harmony between my ingredients and the ones in the kitchen maximized the taste. The hidden flavors of my familiar crops were being revealed.

Ah, this is why people cook.

I was eating in awe when I suddenly heard a strange sound.

“Ugh, ugh.”

“Mr. Junichi?”

Ino Junichi was shedding tears while eating horned beast meat with sweet potato puree.

Surprisingly, this time, Hanul also started crying.

“…”

Though he wasn’t making any sound, Hanul’s tears were flowing much more than Junichi’s.

The sight of him chewing mechanically with his eyes closed while crying was eerie.

“Ha, Mr. Kyu-seong.”

“Mr. Junichi, are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Rather, thank you so much.”

Junichi wiped his tears and blew his nose. Then he grabbed both my hands and bowed his head.

“Thank you so much for giving me this experience. I also thank you again for offering me this opportunity the day before.”

“I’m glad you’re satisfied.”

“If you ever come to Japan, or even if you don’t, if you need help, please contact me through the business card I gave you. For anything related to you, I’ll drop everything and come running.”

“Ha ha. I appreciate the words alone.”

While the warm conversation was ongoing, the main dish ended, and it was time for dessert. The desserts were also made with my ingredients.

“The inside is filled with sweet potato mousse, and the outside is coated with hardened chocolate.”

“This is ice cream made to maximize the sweetness of carrots. It’s best enjoyed with the syrup from Masmus next to it.”

“These are cookies concentrated from eggplants. They were baked using an artifact oven to deepen the flavor.”

These dishes, which would normally be impossible to make in a short time, were quickly created using the power of items and artifacts.

And once again, experiencing a new world, I understood why Jae-seong was so eager to research cooking.

‘The world of cooking is quite deep.’

The dishes I knew were not everything.

And I realized that to create such dishes, the help of tools is essential.

When I earn enough money later to open a restaurant for Jae-seong, I’ll need to consider these items and artifacts.

“Ha, it feels like I just had a dream.”

“What did we just experience? Did we eat a meal, or did we visit another world?”

As they enjoyed the tea and coffee that came with the final dessert, people finally started to speak. It was nice to see them sharing their impressions and forming a sense of camaraderie.

“Phew, today was a truly great experience for us as well.”

The chefs came out of the kitchen with satisfied smiles and greeted everyone. This prompted a burst of applause from the crowd.

Clap clap clap clap!

Whistle-!

“Today was truly amazing! It was incredible!”

“Thank you to all the chefs who worked hard! I hope to experience such emotion again. Thank you!”

At the center of it all was Jae-seong.

The chefs from Ara Hongryeon  and Chef Orie attributed the success to Jae-seong’s input, as if his information had been helpful.

“Even though it was the first time using these ingredients, we were able to handle them almost perfectly thanks to Jae-seong.”

“Thank you very much, Jae-seong.”

Seeing Jae-seong being cheered made me feel happy as well. It felt like all the hard work had paid off.

For both Jae-seong and me.

We weren’t wrong.

“Thank you, thank you.”

Jae-seong, uncharacteristically teary-eyed, gave his thanks. Then suddenly, he froze.

“Huh? Jae-seong?”

I called out, worried about his sudden stop, and Jae-seong muttered with a bewildered expression.

“B-Brother.”

“What’s wrong? What’s happening?”

Did he get too excited and give himself a headache?

Is something wrong with his body?

People looked on with concern at the sudden situation. Amidst the many worrying thoughts, Jae-seong finally spoke.

“I see something strange.”

“What?”

“I see the word ‘Awakening’. I-Is it saying I’ve awakened?”

“What?!”

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