chapter 87
87 – How to fight and win against monsters (15) – Gambas.
Luna continued to follow Dyers after that.
No matter how good he did, she repeatedly denied Dyers’ good deeds by making biased assumptions.
For example, when he gave a drink to an old man who was cleaning hard, it may have simply been because it was past its expiration date.
When a member of the herbal medicine department apologized for touching his hand with dirt on it, he said that it was okay because it was not dirty at all, which was probably just for networking purposes.
The facial expressions he sometimes shows toward people expressing gratitude may be to hide his ugly intentions.
Luna was feeling increasingly worse.
“Is this Chef Dyer’s country?”
“That’s the bread that Dyers made. I really wanted to try it at least once.”
“This chin t-shirt? The combination is quite interesting. This intense red color seems to be stimulating me already, isn’t it?”
Three men and women in suits began to observe his store with intense eyes.
Maybe they were tired of waiting in a very long line, so they naturally cut in line.
“What are those people? They cut in line so confidently.”
“…You don’t know those people.”
“Of course I don’t know. Oh, since you majored in the restaurant industry, do people know you? Are you famous?”
“..They are the trio of Bia, Ruffle, and Pua, who are called ‘chef hunters’. They are scary guys who cruelly destroy the pride of rookie chefs who have grown up enough to taste their food. Their skills are top-notch, and that woman named Bia in particular is cruel. “It is infamous for being a poisonous snake itself.”
The surrounding attention is focused on a student’s lengthy explanation. The student’s name was Rulang, one of Jenna’s friends.
Events like this always bring joy to students who are tired of competition.
“Isn’t that just a gourmet? No, I know you’re a gourmet, but why do you cut in line? What kind of official position is that?”
“Of course. All the stores approved by that proud ‘Chef Hunter’ were huge hits. Even at our academy, we only received a star from one of those people. It was the biggest humiliation of the student council, which is the area in charge. Easy.”
“You really are serious about cooking..”
“Still, the person who ran the student cafeteria before was quite delicious…”
An excited Ruran decided to commentate on the battle between Dyers and the Chef Hunter.
They were masters of cutting in line, and before they knew it, they were right in front of Dyers and Fur.
Bia, the leader of the hunters, opened her mouth to him.
“Hello? You know us? I don’t think there’s a need for a long explanation. Would you like to just present the menus you’re most confident in?”
Dyers spat out without even looking at Bia.
“Has it finally arrived?”
“Huh? Do you know me?”
“No, I don’t know.”
“……”
He continued to speak to her without paying attention to her dumbfounded attitude.
“I don’t sell food to people who cut in line. If you want to eat, stand in line legally and then wait your turn.”
“…Hey. It’s been a while since we’ve seen a store fight against us, so it’s refreshing again, right? I like you.”
“This is a coincidence. I don’t like you.”
Eyes cross in the air. Neither of them backed down an inch.
The timid Pur crouched like a crouch again.
The fight between a viper filled with venom and a sharp-tongued speaker with a dagger in his tongue was enough to elicit reactions from onlookers.
In particular, the incitement to praise by members of the pro-Dyers faction who were secretly infiltrating stood out.
Of course, no one, including them, knew the identity of the Dyers faction.
“That’s right, that’s a normal boss. Where is the boss who discriminates against customers?”
“No matter how poisonous the snake is, you can just hit it with a hammer. After all, it’s Dyers.”
“But isn’t that the same for Dyers?”
“Are you doubting that person now?”
“Hey, Luang. Is it okay to talk to Senior Dyers like that? He’s a famous person in this field.”
“Of course not..! Do you know how big of an impact a single word they have can have?! No matter how senior you are, this is a mistake and you must quickly stop it..!”
“I really don’t like him as a person, but as a cook, there’s nothing wrong with him. I’ll go and wait for him later.”
“There is no need to explain. Even young children know that they must follow orders.”
“It is the power of the group that makes that innocent child grow up and bow down. People like you are rare.”
“People like you are rare.”
Bia smiled slightly at Dyers, who didn’t say a word until the end, and then obediently stepped back.
“…There’s no need to do that. After all, it’s Senior Dyers. I thought you were watching this far.”
“Lurang. There’s no need to try so hard..”
.
Finally, their turn came and Dyers’ dish came out.
It is a simple combination of rice cake and bungeobbang.
Chef Hunter began to savor the food one after another.
After finishing their meal, they put down their spoons.
Dyers couldn’t understand them using spoons to eat bungeoppang, but he decided to ignore them.
Because there are three people, the perfect score is three stars.
Two men took turns lifting the scoreboard.
“Half a star.”
“One star.”
An exclamation erupted from all around.
“Oooooh!”
“It’s already 1.5 Stars for people who can’t even get a single star!”
“But there are still a lot of people here, so doesn’t that mean we can’t eat at all anymore?”
“I see..?
“uuu!”
“Quickly lower the star rating!! You bastards!!”
The exclamation soon turned into malicious despair.
Bia quietly savored Dyers’ food until the end and then spat it out.
“This price, this speed, this much taste. Plus, I took a quick look and the kitchen is so clean it’s almost perfect. Do you have a case of mycelia or obsessive-compulsive disorder?”
“There is no such thing.”
“I see. Sorry, I didn’t mean to be sarcastic. I didn’t mean to, I just…”
She was eating food quietly, but her complexion became blank. The afterword was also cut off in a blur.
After confirming this, Dyers began preparing a new dish.
Pur smiled softly as she saw him working more seriously than ever.
The current Dyers will not be able to stop no matter who tries to stop them.
The strong, unique smell of the sauce irritates her nose.
“…What is it? hahahaha. It’s strange. It was definitely not a bad dish, but it feels strangely unpleasant. And this smell…”
“…Sister? Why are you suddenly acting like this?”
“It certainly wasn’t bad, but it was still a food stall. It couldn’t have covered up the poor quality of the main menu. Why are you like this, sister?”
“Shut up, everyone. Just… Shut up.”
When Dyers served the last dish,
Bia’s doubt soon becomes certainty.
Confidence soon turns into a spice called longing, stimulating the taste buds.
“This dish was prepared for you.”
At first glance, you might think it is an arrogant expression that exalts oneself.
However, Bia was able to naturally know who he was exalting.
“…Gambas. It’s been a long time. Can I have some?”
“If the guests don’t eat the food, the chef can’t feel any reward.”
“I see. Then, I’ll eat it.”
She continued her meal, stuffing the ripe shrimp into her mouth.
Bia was the granddaughter of an old man who ran the student cafeteria at this academy.
From a young age, she saw her grandmother suffering tremendously and wanted her grandmother to quit her job.
She repeatedly told her granddaughter, who had succeeded as a gourmet, to stop working and take care of her health first, but the old man just said it was okay and she always made food for her.
It was Gambas.
“I didn’t want to see my grandmother having a hard time at this academy.”
She absent-mindedly stuffs pieces of bread into her mouth and lets out a sound she doesn’t recognize.
These were words that only someone who had encountered her grandmother through her ghost could understand.
“It was no surprise that hot oil splashed all the time and I got hurt. It was so annoying to carry heavy ingredients all the time without knowing that it was going to hurt my back. The most annoying thing was that even though I tried to stop him, he kept insisting on doing that job. “
“……”
Dyers closed his eyes and listened to her words.
“So, I, a successful gourmet, left the worst review. It was trash food that wasn’t worth eating. I thought Grandma would quit her job if I said that.”
“I couldn’t quit.”
“Do you know? I guess she was close with her grandmother. That’s right, she continued to work and eventually got kicked out. It was all because of me.”
“…….”
Despite Dyers’ silence, Bia continued speaking.
She couldn’t exactly cut it off.
“I robbed her of her grandmother’s only joy, that of her granddaughter. I apologized to her grandmother, but she only said it was okay and she always made gambas. That wasn’t what I wanted.”
“I see.”
“I had no shame, I had no shame in meeting my grandmother again. So, I was planning to become the most successful gourmet and ask this academy again to accept my grandmother again. The best gourmets can recommend chefs. But now it all means nothing. I threw it away.”
“Because her grandmother is now gone from this world.”
Bia clenched her fists as if she was in pain.
“Did all the gambas and other dishes have sauces that she learned from her grandmother? It must have been difficult for her to imitate that.”
“I had a brief encounter with a kite while I was alive.”
“I knew so.”
Bia nodded her head in agreement.
In fact, Dyers had never seen her grandmother during her lifetime.
“This is a very subjective evaluation and unprofessional, but… This dish doesn’t deserve even a few stars for me. Because…”
“Because it’s a dish just for you.”
Bia pursed her lips at Dyers words.
She didn’t know why, but she couldn’t keep her mouth shut.
He held out her old notebook to her as she lowered her head.
When I opened her notebook, I found it filled with all kinds of recipes.
These were all her favorite dishes.
Bia desperately looked away from her notebook.
“….. Thank you. I really appreciate it… But I don’t think I deserve this. How can I accept this? How can I be the one who took away her grandmother’s only joy.”
“While I was meeting her grandmother and learning her cooking, I had a favor to ask.”
“Huh..?”
He conveys the wish of a deceased person who has already attained enlightenment to the woman who looks at him with her puzzled eyes.
A necromancer is a being who connects the living and the dead.
“He said he wanted to feed me Gambas again. He said he wanted to see me eating Gambas deliciously.”
“…..”
“Was the food delicious?”
Bia was lost in thought at his simple question.
The gambas were clearly not good enough to compare to the fine cuisine she ate as a gourmet. The liver was salty and there was too much fat.
The expression ‘old-fashioned cuisine’ was perfect. It’s rough and rough.
Nevertheless, nevertheless.
“…I’ll tell you it was the most delicious meal in the world.”
She loved Gambas.