NOVEL NEXT Chapter 97: Learning to Cook
A/N: Last flashback chap! Sorry! It's mixed with current time tho, so hope you don't skip this one.
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That said, he tended to be hyper-focused when he was into things, and he overdid it more often than not. For example, the old lady would sleep early due to old age (though she did still wake up super early without an alarm), and he would practice his cooking.
Anyway, Grandma Han allowed him to use a set amount of ingredients while practicing. The restaurant was getting busier, so he didn't have as much time before.
One day, though, he got so into it that he didn't realize that he was practicing way past midnight! Then his body caught up, and he got dizzy, and during work hours, he kind-of burned a finger.
"FUCK!"
"Stop cursing!" She slapped the back of his head, but was already preparing to treat his boil.
"F–Fudge!" he yelled when she put ointment, eyes teary. "G-Grandma!"
Since that day, she limited the usual customer number by half, just to allow him to have enough time to practice and get a complete sleep at the same time.
…
In the span of a few years (at least according to Grandma Hans), he exceeded the skills of people who had gone through culinary school. He had also made a massive variety of dishes, way more than they did, as well.
He stayed with her for nearly seven years, from age ten to seventeen, learning everything she could teach him, and she became the only family member for him.
Then, one day, she could no longer lift the ladle, then she could no longer walk, and then she could no longer see.
And then… she could no longer open her eyes.
…
Her children came to gather her assets, divide the money, and mourn for her. In that order.
For the past 7 years, he had lived with the old lady; none of these people even visited her. But now he had to watch them cry and sob as if they were close, as if they had been with her when she was ill, and in the months she had been bedridden.
Grandma Hans also wanted to leave the restaurant to him, but it was prime real estate after these years, so there was no way her children would let it go.
However, the lawyer did secure him some money to have a stable life on his own. He even had a condo unit in his name. Its kitchen was especially outfitted, too.
Even after death, Grandma Hans still looked after him.
With it, he was able to survive while job hunting, or when he was starting from the bottom of the ladder. He redirected his sadness to his cooking, as a way to honour her memories and her teaching.
After several years, his talent and his hyper-focus allowed him to rise to the top and get pirated by bigger and bigger restaurants at the speed of a rocket.
He gained more and more business connections, though his emotional ones were stunted.
By the time he gained enough money and power, he decided to buy back the inn he grew up in. However, it was too late. Some developer had already bought it months prior and had already demolished it. When he arrived, there were already two floors of the new building erected.
He remembered crying in front of the construction site, and he had to be taken away by the police before he could put anyone in danger.
At some point…he even encountered him, the bastard who caused his parents' deaths. He didn't die at all, but he faked his death because he had apparently owed too much to too many people.
When he thought of the years this bastard got away with all his evil, Finn found his heart bursting in anger.
The renewed anger of seeing the inn gone almost made him irrational, but somehow he managed to calm himself down.
He was no longer a child who did not know anything. Using his capital and connections, he dug up everything that could be dug, finding out that the man was even worse than he thought.
Not to mention scamming friends, he was even involved in several domestic abuse cases. He was associated with a few gangs, too.
He really, really, wanted to kill him himself, but his parents and Grandma Hans would be sad to see him rotting in prison. Such trash did not deserve his life and his future.
He watched in court as he was declared guilty of his crimes, watched as he was escorted in his prison uniform, to be locked up there for decades, if not for life.
Finn did call in a few favors to make the bastard's life in prison particularly difficult.
And so, that part of his life finally came to a close, and all he had left was the future. Once again, he focused on his cooking.
Still, despite the success he received one after another, the happiest memories were never his promotion or his paychecks.
He remembered the times with his parents in the inn, and the times with Grandma Lin in her restaurant.
Those were truly peaceful and happy times.
…
His long reverie was interrupted by a few voices calling out to him.
"Brother Finn! Brother Finn! You be the judge for us!"
"Huh?"
He blinked when he realized that the monster carcass had been lined up on the field for easy counting.
Apparently, there was an ongoing debate about whether Aaron or Ren won.
There were no more monsters around, but the number of kills was the same. Aaron's also appeared to do more damage, but this was debatable because Ren's shots were just cleaner.
"What's the prize?"
"The loser will be the winner's slave for a day."
"I see…"
Well, knowing these kids, they might order something that could end up dangerous, even if they didn't mean to. This was especially true considering where they were.
"What about the winner just sponsoring the other with a few essence meals? For you guys, I'll just charge 1 gold or 1 awakening core. It'll be a completely new dish and you'd be the first to taste it."
The two looked at each other and seemed a bit disappointed that they couldn't order the other around, but were also looking forward to what this new dish was.
"Hm… fine. So who won?"
Finn laughed. "Who still has larger overall stats?"