Kitchen Chaos and Health Restaurant Schemes

"Ugh."

It was 10:30 a.m., a full hour before Bulpae Pochaa, Lee Haru's family diner, opened at 11:30. Everyone had shown up early, finished prepping the ingredients, and was taking a break when disaster struck in the kitchen. The culprit? Ha-seong's wife, Hee-yeon, who wanted to learn Haru's jeyuk recipe. Haru had coolly agreed to pass on the family secret.

The first step was extracting chili oil from pork back fat.

"Eww, what is that smell?"

"Uwaaack!!"

Hunter Bang Aji, whose senses were hypersensitive from her detection skills, reacted violently to the rancid oil stench, and soon everyone else was pinching their noses.

"Heating the back fat at too high a temperature causes the oil to oxidize and stink."

"So we need to roast it slowly over low heat??"

"No. Our stove's too weak, so medium heat it is."

Extracting oil from back fat requires precise temperature control—too low and it won't work, too high and it burns. But Haru had her Cooking Specialized AI Yui, so she'd nailed it on the first try back when she started.

'But we're not buying back fat in bulk anyway, so is there even a point?'

Back on the Solas Continent, orcs were everywhere, so she'd used orc back fat for lard. Hunters here barely hunted orcs anymore, though. They tossed the remaining back fat into the pan as Haru directed, roasting it over medium heat, and soon a proper, nutty aroma filled the air from the rendered lard.

"Ooh~ This turned out right, yeah??"

"Yep. Smells totally different, right?? Remember this sensation..."

Excited, Hee-yeon scooped out the crisped fat, dumped in chili powder, and—

"Noooo, stop!!!!!!"

Haru grabbed Hee-yeon's pant leg to halt the catastrophe, but she just got dragged along. Sizzle-pop-crackle!!! The chili powder hit the boiling lard, blackened instantly, and the kitchen exploded like a grenade.

"Kyaaahhh!!!"

"Haru-nim!! Hide behind me!"

Aji teleported in, taking a few splatters of boiling oil in Haru's place.

"Aah.... What a waste of good chili powder......"

"What the—where's the fire??"

Sun-ja was dozing at an empty table, and Ha-seong was glued to his stock app. They glanced at the kitchen and went right back to relaxing.

"Why does this keep happening??"

"Even I know as a hunter that dumping chili powder into oil over 100°C makes it burn??"

"Urgh.... Sorry, Haru."

Aji suddenly appeared and locked eyes with Hee-yeon, throwing off Haru's timing to scold her.

"You've been out of commission for three months in the dugeon, and it's your first time extracting chili oil yourself, so mistakes happen. Still!" Smack!! Smack!! Haru's little hands whacked Hee-yeon's calves.

"I said no and you kept going, so penalty spanks."

"I'm sowwy...."

"Dump that oil too."

As Haru cleaned up the mess, she made a decision.

"We'll just buy chili oil."

"This is trickier than I thought. And this is just prep, not even real cooking...."

"It's your first day learning. Back fat's pricey anyway, so we don't need it."

"Thanks anyway. You shared your tower-researched secret with me right after we met yesterday."

"You made the production team apologize too. You give off righteous apostle vibes, sis."

"Aaaah...."

"I figured you wouldn't be able to digest it anyway."

"Don't tease your elders. Should I tell Mom?? She has the hands for it...."

"Nah, she'd be even worse."

Sun-ja was nodding off at the table.

"Mom's max level with all her skills maxed. You can level up and pick skills freely later."

Haru phrased it gently: old folks have a hard time learning new tricks.

'Even if she could learn it.... She'd hate ditching the jeyuk tied to Dad's memories.'

But they had to scrap it. Even if they sold alongside Haru's jeyuk, one bad bite from Sun-ja's mistaken cooking could scare off regulars forever. Old habits die hard without a big shock. In her past life, Sun-ja had ditched her jeyuk after finding traces of memories with Dad and joined Seong Chan-ho's franchise. This time, Haru planned to nudge fate with Health Restaurant Korea—a vehicular homicide of sorts.

One more issue remained.

"Son!! This meat delivery smells ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠off...."

Ha-seong was called over, and everyone but the dozing Sun-ja crowded the fridge. Vomit machine Aji reacted instantly to the stench.

"Ughhh!!!"

Hee-yeon and Ha-seong, with normal noses, tilted their heads. Haru pointed out weird marbling and spots; Hee-yeon got it, but Ha-seong defended his supplier buddy.

"Nah, the whole batch must be bad today. It was fine for days??"

"True. Suppliers mess up sometimes."

Tension spiked, but surprisingly, Haru backed off first.

Click!!! Click!!!

Left alone in the kitchen, Haru snapped photos of the meat.

"Oho."

Aji caught on to what Haru was planning.

At Tasty Grilled Mackerel, rival to Bulpae Pochaa, the four restaurant owners competing in Shin Do-young's Health Restaurant Korea gathered with 3-million-sub YouTuber Shin Do-young and Seong Chan-ho. Break time meant no other customers.

They met here because owner Kim Moon-hee was the de facto rep—husband a former councilor, relatives loaded with business connections. Business wasn't bad, but foot traffic dipped post-pandemic. Leveraging ties, she'd landed her spot on a famous food show. Normal joints get hyped as "decades-old artisans" on TV all the time—no biggie. But with TV audiences shrinking, effects waned. Somehow, she'd hooked up with Shin Do-young.

"The cooking's well-balanced overall. Good."

Seong Chan-ho, the eldest, commented and lifted his spoon. Everyone else followed suit, watching him.

High school grad turned expat in the US for over a decade, red long hair for flair. But he was the ultimate boomer, married to a chaebol heiress to boot—peak arrogance.

"First time meeting Saint Chan, so we went all out. Glad you like it."

"I said balanced, not tasty."

The four owners' faces stiffened at his words.

"Haha.... No competition today, so eat up casual-like."

"Praise now might change in days."

Shin Do-young briefed on filming style, PPLs, details to watch for.

"......The teaser ends with the follow-up restaurant. Bulpae Pochaa—you know it around here??"

"Pfft! Oh, that place."

The others shrugged, but Kim Moon-hee's face soured. After everyone left, she called Shin Do-young.

"What gives, PD-nim? You didn't say Bulpae Pochaa was joining."

[It'll just be like a sequel, so I figured late notice was fine...]

"Anyone else, maybe. But it overlaps with my turf."

[Yeah, but why worry? Their owner's already checked out.]

".....Get us ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠some celeb or model part-timers."

[Aigoo, why? Your place won't drop out anytime soon.]

Shin Do-young's Health Restaurant Korea on YouTube mimicked Davis Ramsay's original: pick four local diners, Seong Chan-ho inspects and consults via various methods. Viewers vote 60%, experts 40%—eliminate one by one. Second place gets prize money, last one free remodel. No way to beg favors pre-start.

But rules were rules on paper only.

"Heard something. Seong Chan-ho's wife's in Korean food somehow...??"

[No clue what you mean.]

"That Bulpae Pochaa's got a pretty girl part-timer, right??"

[Ah..... Yeah. Kinda unique.]

"Then.... About that favor earlier."

[We'll review it.] Click!!

"Tch. She must've scouted already. Old folks are sharp...."

After seeing writer-submitted photos of Lee Haru, Shin Do-young disguised himself and visited Bulpae Pochaa. Slime Shoes making her bounce cutely, yet ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠serving intense Slippery Pork Stir-fry. Enough to shake not just this episode, but Health Restaurant—no, the whole culinary world.

"Can't keep featuring just that old Seong Chan-ho forever. Pair her with Hwang Yeon-seo as rivals??"

He'd planned to build up Seong's Seong Family Food Korean fusion via the mackerel consult. Crucial for Seong, just biz for Shin.

"Still, better call the chef??"

PPL indirectly via the better of Bulpae Pochaa or Tasty Grilled Mackerel.

'I'm a genius at improv.'

He figured Seong's wife would love it. Haru had no clue about the rice cake he was offering; Shin was just chugging kimchi soup.

Even after Health Restaurant writers visited Bulpae Pochaa, big changes were slow. Funniest bit? Shin Do-young got busted in disguise by foodie construction worker No Min-sik, the maknae, and got roasted.

Haru's Slippery Pork Stir-fry now used store-bought chili oil instead of homemade—no huge diff. Sellable as-is, but with Hee-yeon handling half, quality varied. Her jeyuk started 80% inedible, 20% decent; now 50-50. Haru had Yui make beginner recipes, taught from those—efficiency up.

Haru bought the Slippery Pork Stir-fry recipe from the Interest Point Shop, downed a permanent strength potion for +1 strength. Chef/Bartender main stat wasn't strength, but wok work eased up. Next: Yui's cooking level 1→2. Usable now, but recipe slots 2/4 spare, stamina caps at 1000—frequent shutdowns. Level up should extend runtime. Daily ~100 points steady, but farm spots lacking.

'Good call on Health Restaurant. Oh right!! What about Talis hyung?'

Talis hyung from Cooking Gallery—knew him as Ramji—posted to save his failing restaurant. Hadn't seen him lately.

Haru's advice: diverse menu ok, bundle into sets to cut chaos.

'Did that flop too??'

Sad, even from another world. Then a post popped up amid her musing.

"What the...."

Ominous title; Haru covered her eyes with both hands and clicked.

'Heart dropped. Goddess's Tears....'

[Ring boosting all stats by 5! OP for lowbies like Haru—sells for ~200 mil won!]

'But I can't go there....'

Felt like the fox and crane fable, but Haru commented coolly.

'Big solve = GP farm??'

Stir-fried one Slippery Pork Stir-fry, returned—comments exploded.

This kicked off a flood of old "blue tag" grave-digging posts in Cooking Gallery.