The Cooking Competition (3)

"I'll use what I was given when they invited me to sit as a judge."

"Pardon?"

Jang On-gyu spoke low. At the sound of his voice, President Bang's eyes shook without mercy.

What had he been given? Money? Appearance fees?

There were local TV stations involved, from the looks of it. Was that it?

It was neither. Something no one had imagined came tumbling out of his mouth.

"A Super Pass. I'll be using that."

"Ah—!"

A pass? There was something like that?

I had never heard of such a thing in my life. President Bang's head was spinning.

"…!?"

"A pass? What the hell is that!?"

Everyone was the same. President Bang and the other owners were all thrown into confusion. Only two people were the exception.

Jang On-gyu nodded as if he had already known. The MC slapped his own forehead a beat later, as if the memory had just caught up with him. Only Lee Saerom seemed truly in the dark.

"A Super Pass? What is that?"

"Anyone I select can advance through the preliminaries."

"Huh? Isn't that just special treatment?"

"It was written into the rules in advance, so it doesn't count as special treatment."

"Oh, right? If it was set beforehand, then there's no problem."

She accepted it almost at once. Wow. An expert really is different. From the way she carried herself, she had already folded completely under Jang On-gyu's logic.

Only President Bang was growing more rattled by the second.

There were rules for this too?

That made it hard to even protest. The notice had already gone out! This was exactly why you were supposed to read the manual all the way through—except President Bang, who had never given written words a second glance in his younger days, was never going to do that.

Damn it…! If I'd known, I would have blocked this from the start!

He ground his teeth, but there was nothing else he could do. The whole affair was turning sour for him.

"It's also there to prevent the occasional… unfortunate incident."

"Unfortunate incident?"

"There are such things."

As he spoke of unfortunate incidents, Jang On-gyu looked straight at the owners. The weight of that gaze was considerable.

The air chilled. It was the MC who broke it.

"There was a rule like that, yes. Wow—I never expected you to use it here."

"I took it just in case. I didn't expect to use it here either."

"Man. Thorough to the bone! This is why they call him a genius!"

"Haha. You're too kind."

The MC's bright, elevated tone loosened the atmosphere at once. Jang On-gyu answered in kind.

"Going around regional festivals, I always end up hanging onto one of these. There are always people who are too good to eliminate."

"Too good to eliminate?"

"Yes. People who have the skill but still can't get past the preliminaries."

"Really? Why is that?"

"I don't know why either. But it seems we have a few of those by chance this time as well."

"Ahh. That's a shame."

Jang On-gyu now looked openly at the owners again.

No, seriously—why are you looking at us while you say that?

Tch. Fine, you're a star. Does he have to sharpen his blade even here?

Ha. Looking down on the locals, is he?

The whole thing looked like he was taking aim at the owners on purpose. They flinched. They had suspicion, but no proof. They would have loved to throw themselves at Jang On-gyu—but not in a place this public.

Tch. That's why we tried to cut them in the preliminary judging…

Aargh…!

Are we finished? Is this the end? No, right?

An unexpected rule had dropped into the middle of everything. Playing any more tricks from here would be difficult.

"Anyway, it was announced in advance, so it isn't special treatment, and we still have to fill the numbers—so there's no problem."

"Right?"

"Yes. Then you only need to choose. Will you do it now?"

"Of course."

Even so, the owners still had one last hope.

"You received five passes in total, correct?"

"Yes, that's right. But I'll only use two. Filling it out to twenty feels just right."

He had five and was only using two.

Please. Please don't pick them.

There are so many people who fell short. There's no way he'd choose… right?

As long as the food trucks weren't among those two, it would be fine. Plenty of people had been eliminated besides the food trucks. So there was still hope. There clearly was…

I'm shaking…

Oh hell…!

For some reason the owners could not sit still. Meanwhile, Jang On-gyu brought his hand to the contestant list.

Tap. Tap-tap.

"Here. And here. These two."

Jang On-gyu pointed to exactly two names.

Both of them were food truck owners.

The bomb went off cleanly.

Judging time.

It was only about thirty minutes, but most people spent it swinging between heaven and hell.

"Will it work? It has to, right?"

"Come on. It has to work. Of all people, those guys had to show up…"

"Uwaaah…!"

All of it was worry over whether they would pass or fail.

"I'm confident ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠after the preliminaries…!"

President Jang of the food truck was shaking the hardest of anyone. His business sense was terrifying—but business sense was hard to flex in a judging hall. That only made him more nervous.

Not that I'm in any better shape.

Call it getting completely worked over. I was in a similar position. This no longer looked like a matter of skill.

Still, there was no reason to let the mood turn ugly. President Jang was clutching his head, so I tried to soothe him carefully.

"I didn't expect you to bring Hong Kong home cooking as a family-style menu."

"The food was really good when I went to Hong Kong before. So I studied it."

"And studying is enough for that?"

"The internet's great these days, right? If you look carefully, you can find everything."

"Oh!"

Learning over the internet. I had only brought it up to calm him down, but that part I truly hadn't considered. In my head I knew the internet was overflowing with information—

I just never really used it properly, did I?

I had never thought to put it to real use. After awakening, digesting that power and growing with it had been more than enough for me. It was a corner I simply hadn't reached. Watching President Jang, though, it looked surprisingly useful.

Feels like I just woke up to something obvious.

I was thinking I should make use of the internet next time when President Jang, with a sense as sharp as his business instincts, cut straight in.

"What, why is that so surprising?"

"Is it?"

"Yeah. Sometimes, President Kim, you act like you just came back from some island."

"Hmm…"

Like I had come back from an island. Well—the apocalypse wasn't exactly an island. But exchange had been about as impossible. For him to put his finger right on that…

"An island, huh. I did go somewhere a little like that."

"Where? Some deserted island?"

"Nah. Not a deserted island. Just… a place where the internet didn't really work."

"Haha. Where would that even be? Sometimes your jokes are so dry."

"Right. Just a joke."

Maybe it was the bitter smile, or maybe the tension really was easing—either way, President Jang turned around and started looking after me instead.

"Anyway… you're not even nervous, President?"

"Of course I am."

"Come on. You don't look nervous at all."

"Why? Are you?"

"It helped a little, talking to you. But I'm still shaking. I wasn't like this before…"

"Because those people showed up?"

"Exactly. Why is someone like that suddenly a judge?"

"Well. They must have pulled some connections."

"Ugh, these damn connections! How is anyone without them supposed to live?"

"You're telling me."

President Jang was trying, in reverse, to ease my nerves. He really was a good person. Just as he said, though, I couldn't let go of the tension either. I wanted to set it all down—I knew I wasn't losing on skill.

…The situation is just bad, isn't it? Tch. Is this quest already dead in the water?

Disgustingly, people were the problem. Then ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠again, people had always been the problem in the apocalypse too. If they had just shared a little, helped each other, looked out for one another, there would have been a way to live—and yet plenty of them died clutching only what was theirs. This was much the same.

I clicked my tongue. My mouth tasted bitter for no good reason.

I don't want to give up, though.

I wasn't falling behind on skill. There was no way I would. If the problem was everything outside of skill, then I was prepared to raise an objection. It would take the long way around, but I didn't want to quit easily.

I was turning it over in my head when—

"Huh?"

An unexpected alert rang in my ears. Its meaning was obvious.

I passed? Through those judges?

Had someone cast a spell? Either way, this was enough. Once I cleared the preliminaries, the finals would practically be my board. On a stage that fought with absolute taste, there was no way I would lose. So I figured whatever came next would be dull.

Then I don't even need to watch the preliminary pass ceremony, do I?

A little ceremony for the preliminary qualifiers. Did I really have to sit through it?

Still… I did pass…

Even if it was a hassle, I should at least show my face. That was what I thought as I waited for the next step in the sequence. And then—well.

This is actually fun.

It was more entertaining than I had expected. The moment the ceremony began, the MC stepped out, and then the judges one by one behind him.

Jang On-gyu. Jang Hansu. Lee Saerom.

That much wasn't particularly interesting. They had only been fresh the first time I saw them. The fun came after that.

Wow. They look like death itself.

First to show her face was the woman from Wangkkotne. Even under heavy makeup, her scowl cut straight through—the thick foundation creased, and the deep wrinkles buried underneath stood out sharp and clear. Chamsiru, the rice-cake shop that styled itself as the local fixture, looked thoroughly miserable.

And last, President Bang put the period on the sentence.

Oh dear. He's not even trying to hide it.

At first he had kept things covered. Now he wasn't even bothering to hide the tattoos that ran the full length of both arms—he had them out in the open, his whole body flushed red. Ready to explode at any second! He glared in every direction as if the entire world had personally offended him.

Aigoo. That temper of his never goes anywhere.

From the look of it, the quiet little schemes hadn't taken, and this was the result. Fine and well—but still. Even if this famous feast had no food left on the table, you still weren't supposed to ruin everyone else's mood. Walking around picking fights with your eyes like that would sink a good atmosphere in no time.

What else could I do? In ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠moments like this, stepping in was only human decency. I gathered mana and fired it at President Bang.

"Hup…!"

Not an attack—just a neatly tossed message. At that little trick, President Bang's whole body shuddered. He whipped his head around in a panic, then locked eyes with me. He mouthed the words at me.

It was you? You. You… you…?

A moment ago he had been spraying rage in every direction. Now he was speaking while shaking. I answered him with certainty.

"Hiiik…!"

Together with President Bang's bizarre little whimper—

"All right! That concludes today's preliminaries!"

—the cooking competition preliminaries came to an end.

And right after that—