NOVEL NEXT Chapter 31
Chapter 31: Cooking (2)
The creatures that the IUPC referred to as symbiotic were devouring the large chunks of “food” with great delight.
Monsters with exceptionally strong biting power were even chewing through the bones.
Click! Click!
IUPC staff members, holding a mobile phone and a small camera, were wildly snapping pictures of the monsters.
“Ah, even their eating habits are just too adorable.”
“Should we bring more?”
“No overfeeding! Let’s give it to them during dinner time later.”
People watched the creatures in the cage with satisfaction.
Rattle!
At that moment, the entrance of the factory opened, and a car drove inside.
“Manager is here!”
The owner of the vehicle was a mid-level executive from the IUPC.
Wearing a black fedora, he got out of the driver’s seat.
“Hello, everyone!”
“Welcome, Manager!”
“Hey, kids, it’s been two weeks! Have you all been well?”
He raised both arms in a victory pose and greeted the monsters.
The monsters in the cage ignored him, focusing solely on their food.
A man spoke to the manager.
“How was the business trip?”
“I brought back so many pretty and friendly friends! They’re in the building next door, so go check it out later.”
“As expected of the Manager!”
He had traveled around the local area, bringing back monsters that had escaped the barrier to the IUPC.
The staff members at the scene gave him a thumbs up.
Bringing in monsters while avoiding the government, guilds, and public scrutiny is usually quite a challenge.
“And… I have some good news for you all today.”
“What kind of news?”
“The prototype of ‘that’ we’ve been researching with a partner company for a long time has finally come out!”
“‘That’, could it be—!”
The manager pulled out a revolver-shaped device from his pocket.
The people looked at him with eyes full of anticipation.
After briefly glancing around, he approached the giant cat monster trapped in the cage.
“Haaak—!”
The giant cat monster let out an anxious growl as a human got closer.
The manager aimed the device at the creature.
Bang!
When he pulled the trigger, what came out of the barrel was not a bullet but a very small syringe.
“Meowww!!”
Clank! Clank!
The terrified giant cat monster began to thrash about as the syringe was deeply embedded in its body.
But no matter how much it thrashed, it couldn’t escape the sturdy iron cage.
Gulp—
The black liquid contained in the syringe was slowly absorbed into its body.
And a few seconds later…
“Kyahaha…!”
The giant cat monster’s body swelled at an incredible speed, noticeable to the naked eye.
At the same time, the size of its claws and teeth increased significantly.
‘A bit disappointing.’
However, the size of its head and the length of its tail remained the same.
It had transformed from an ordinary monster into an unstable mutation.
“Further improvements are still needed, but there have been completely successful specimens as well!”
Clap clap clap!
The watching staff broke into applause, filled with emotion.
The IUPC manager muttered while looking at the mutated giant cat.
“For the future of our children…”
*
In a kitchen fully equipped with various cooking appliances such as gas stoves and ovens.
Only four people, including Yoo Ji-han and Kim Si-hu, were using the shared kitchen available for an hourly fee.
Jang Sa-im spoke to the chef next to him.
“Jong-eon, say hello.”
“Ah, hello! I’m Baek Jong-eon, the chef!”
“I’m Yoo Ji-han from Sweet Fun.”
“I’m Kim Si-hu. Nice to meet you.”
Chef Baek Jong-eon bowed his head to the two people from Sweet Fun.
He had been recommended by Jang Sa-im to cook the monster chicken today.
“Thank you so much for providing such a great opportunity!”
“Just make sure the food tastes delicious. That’s all we need.”
“I will do my best!”
Soon, as Baek Jong-eon prepared for cooking, he was filled with excitement.
‘I never thought I’d get to cook a mutation…!’
He had dreamed of moving to a monster restaurant for the past year.
However, monster restaurants usually don’t hire new chefs or those without relevant experience.
There are many types of meat, so difficult to handle that even skilled hands can easily waste precious ingredients with just one bad cut.
In the middle of all this, Sweet Fun had offered him the chance to handle mutated meat.
He couldn’t help but feel grateful.
“Wow, these legs are enormous.”
Kim Si-hu looked at the monster chicken leg placed on the large cutting board.
The thick meat alone was about the size of five human heads combined.
It was so long that the bone extended beyond the cutting board and out of the sink.
This was the first time he was seeing the meat up close since the disassembly was left to Mongdang and he only checked the recorded video.
‘Wow, I’m actually managing to keep up with this thing.’
Yoo Ji-han remembered the creature that had pulled a sword with its chicken foot.
In the contest of strength with that absurdly large chicken leg, he hadn’t backed down.
“One leg alone could serve more than twenty portions.”
“I’d love to fry it whole, but…”
“It’s way too big to fit in the fryer. We’ll definitely have to cut it.”
Yoo Ji-han would have loved to fry it up whole.
But due to its excessive size, he had to abandon that thought.
“I’ll leave all the cooking to Jong-eon.”
“Yes! Please wait just a moment!”
With sleeves rolled up, Baek Jong-eon began preparing the ingredients.
Meanwhile, the other three stepped aside for a brief chat.
“The disassembled chicken is being stored in the large freezer by parts.”
“You said the auction preparations are complete.”
“If you want, we can proceed with the auction right now.”
“Hmm! That’s good.”
“And the beaks are stored separately, so I’ll bring them over when you need them.”
The minor and complicated processes were all handled by Jang Sa-im on behalf of Sweet Fun.
Yoo Ji-han nodded in satisfaction at his work.
Since they had agreed to give a portion of the proceeds from this monster chicken auction to Mongdang as a commission, he was delivering on that value.
“Well then, please proceed with the auction.”
“Yes!”
Jang Sa-im opened up a prepared laptop.
After a few clicks of the mouse, the monster chicken was registered on the auction site.
‘Now if we let the info leak…’
He spread the auction details across various internet communities.
He was hoping that the information would spread rapidly through SNS and the like.
He had even attached a video of the chicken being disassembled, so he was a bit anxious about how the reaction would turn out.
At that moment, Kim Si-hu spoke up.
“Ji-han hyung, just remembered something.”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t you have a girlfriend?”
“Out of the blue?”
A girlfriend?
The sudden question felt like a slap to Yoo Ji-han.
“I heard Sa-im is married?”
“Yes. We run the company together.”
“Is it good to be married?”
“It’s nice if you’re on the same wavelength. You can rely on each other.”
“Does Ji-han hyung not have someone like that?”
A second probing attack!
Yoo Ji-han slightly turned his head to the side and replied.
“…Not right now.”
“Did you have one before?”
“I did, actually.”
Back during his time at Hero Academy, he had once gotten into a relationship after being confessed to by someone.
Although they broke up that very evening after the other person texted him saying their feelings were misaligned.
‘Since that day, I’ve sealed the possibility of getting a girlfriend.’
Throughout his life, there were quite a few conditions he had sealed for sampling purposes.
For instance, probabilities like [The chance of me becoming a Rank 1 Hero], or [The chance of me being the world’s number one hero].
Until he had just graduated from Hero Academy, he had often asked such questions, but now he was nearing thirty as an adult.
By slightly changing the conditions and repeatedly using abilities, probabilities didn’t appear or were ones he would feel embarrassed to acknowledge, so he sealed them one by one.
‘Now that it comes to mind, should I try for a bit?’
<— The probability of me becoming a Rank 1 Hero in Sweet Fun>
“…”
Naturally, there was no probability.
Yoo Ji-han thought it was meaningless and chuckled softly.
As always, the activation conditions for sampling remained a mystery.
‘I heard there’s research ongoing about Unique Skills too.’
Unique Skills are possessed by only a small number of humans.
The names and usage methods of the skills were engraved in Yoo Ji-han’s brain the moment he was granted the abilities.
Coincidentally, at that time, he had been listening to hip-hop music created using a sampling technique…
Now that research is underway, perhaps one day the secrets of those abilities would be unraveled.
“I’ll have the food ready in about ten minutes.”
Anyway, about 40 minutes later.
As Baek Jong-eon was nearing completion of his dishes…
[Product Name: Giant Monster (Mutation) Chicken Leg]
[Current Bid Price: $44,000]
Starting from the auction price of $10,000, the monster chicken leg had surged to over $40,000, which is more than 40 million won in Korean currency.
A considerable number of people, out of curiosity, logged onto the auction site, wanting to get their hands on ingredients they had never encountered before.
Since it was a global auction site open to anyone, there were people from both domestic and overseas jumping into the auction after hearing the news.
Thanks to that, the price continued to rise without pause.
Jang Sa-im, keeping tabs on the status with his laptop, swallowed hard.
“Wow, it seems like it’s going to sell for more than we thought…”
They were auctioning not only the chicken leg but the wings, breasts, and heart as separate parts.
While it would only be confirmed after all the auctions ended, he believed it would add up to over 200 million won.
“The food is ready!”
Baek Jong-eon, sweating profusely from head to toe, brought the dishes to the table.
There were various types of dishes like fried chicken, grilled chicken, and stir-fried chicken.
Kim Si-hu gazed at the steaming dishes and said, “A chicken leg worth over 40 million won…”
“Regretting it?”
“Thinking that it’s 100,000 won per bite, a little bit?”
The ingredient alone cost more than 40 million won!
If these dishes were sold at high-end restaurants, a whopping price would need to be paid.
“Let’s just think of it as a great experience.”
Yoo Ji-han smiled widely.
In a way, it was food that would be hard to buy with money.
He looked at Baek Jong-eon and Jang Sa-im, who were sitting a little away from the table, and said, “You guys should come and eat too.”
“No way!”
“How could we…?”
The two shook their heads vigorously.
Baek Jong-eon and Jang Sa-im were anxious, worried that they might ruin the precious ingredients.
The thought of daring to eat it was nowhere in their options.
But Yoo Ji-han continued to encourage them.
“You made it, so you should taste it.”
“But still…”
“Come on, hurry!”
In the end, the four of them sat down together for the meal.
“Wow!”
“It’s melting in my mouth!”
The softness of the white meat felt amazing with every bite.
The rich umami flavor of the broth made from chicken bones!
The deep flavor, a sensation never experienced before, hit their tongues, and the warmth of the food quickly spread throughout their bodies.
Indeed, the monster chicken was as delicious as Yoo Ji-han had hoped.
Crispy!
“Boohoo! Why is it so good…!”
The moment Baek Jong-eon popped a piece of his fried chicken in his mouth, he burst into tears.
The exact reason why he had decided to switch over to a monster restaurant was right there before him.
To think a chef who had tasted numerous foods would show such a reaction.
Yoo Ji-han, watching people in awe, thought to himself.
‘We bought ourselves an experience.’
Money and experience.
While both were equally vital, if he had to choose just one, Yoo Ji-han would choose experience.
With the auction and today’s meal considered, it had been a pretty rational decision taking into account those two elements.
‘This is just the beginning.’
This monster chicken was merely the starting point for the guild.
In the future, if given the chance, he was willing to take on new experiences.
“This chicken skewer is amazing.”
“Try the dak-galbi too.”
Ding-ding!
While they were cooking diligently, Yoo Ji-han received a phone call.
With a pair of chopsticks in one hand, he accepted the call without even looking at the caller ID.
“Nom, hello?”
—Ji-han?
“Who is this?”
—…
A brief silence followed his question.
—Didn’t you save my number?
“Who are you?”
—This is Min Yu-ri from Snowflake.
“…!”
Suddenly, Yoo Ji-han stopped his chopsticks midair.
He checked his phone screen, and it was indeed the number of Min Yu-ri.
‘An unexpected voice from a girl…’
He quietly set the chopsticks down on his plate.
“Hello, Yu-ri.”
—…
“I have your number saved. I was just eating now.”
—Oh, is that so?
“Uh-huh.”
Upon Yoo Ji-han’s explanation, Min Yu-ri’s voice brightened a bit.
After taking a breath, he asked her, “So, what’s up?”
—I wanted to contact you regarding the giant cat monster we hunted the other day. You mentioned that you have another company that you use, right?
“Yeah. The representative is here with me.”
—If you give me their number, I will have a word and send them over.
“Thanks for the hard work. It must have been difficult to handle it all by yourself.”
—No, it was mostly Chilla moving things for me.
At Snowflake, the strong Chilla takes on the packing role.
Since it handles most of the heavy lifting, there was hardly anything Min Yu-ri had to do.
Yoo Ji-han thought Chilla was quite a useful creature.
—Thanks again for helping me back then.
“Uh… Just verbally?”
—Yes?
“If possible, how about we meet for a meal instead?”
—Ah, sure! I can definitely treat you to a meal!
Yoo Ji-han used her gratitude as an excuse to set a lunch appointment.
However, it wasn’t because he really wanted to eat with her.
He was already eating delicious food at that moment.
‘Could I bring Min Yu-ri to Sweet Fun?’
It might be a bit too greedy but…
He wanted to bring Chilla and Min Yu-ri to Sweet Fun.
A nimble tanker and a skilled ranged dealer!
It was a combination too tempting to just let slide.