A Recipe for Sabotage

Still, Kim Tae-hyun tried to persuade her first. It would be such a waste to let an opportunity like this slip away! Besides, Tae-hyun had established a master-disciple relationship with Ju Hyeon-yeong through his cooking skills. If she won first place here, he would also receive a massive bonus to his cooking skills!

"Look at that Chao guy," Tae-hyun whispered. "You can tell just by looking at him that he's got a few snakes writhing in his gut. He's definitely up to some underhanded trick in this kitchen. Look how confident he is, even with a ranker chef standing right there."

"That's true," Ju Hyeon-yeong agreed, nodding. Truthfully, she found it a bit hilarious that Tae-hyun of all people was calling someone else "snake-gutted." If there were a Guinness World Record for the most snakes hidden inside a single person's stomach, Tae-hyun would easily claim the crown! But she kept that thought to herself. It was her way of being considerate.

"Right? So, let me help you."

"No, thank you. I'm fine."

"..."

"Just because the other side plays dirty doesn't mean I want to stoop to their level. I'll be satisfied as long as I do my absolute best."

A value system diametrically opposed to Tae-hyun's!

You can't just be satisfied with doing your best! You need results! Tae-hyun screamed internally. He didn't bother whispering back because he knew it was futile. Once someone like Ju Hyeon-yeong dug her heels in, there was no budging her.

"Well, I guess there's no helping it. Do your best. I'll be cheering for you."

"Yes. Thank you," Ju Hyeon-yeong replied, nodding. She felt a touch of warmth, touched that Tae-hyun had respected her stubbornness. In the end, sincerity always shines through!

Or so she thought. In reality, Tae-hyun had only backed down because he realized she was a lost cause for persuasion.

Well, I'll just have to handle this my own way. He had absolutely no intention of giving up. If Hyeon-yeong's philosophy was that the journey mattered more than the destination, Tae-hyun's was to secure the destination by any means necessary! Come to think of it, there wasn't much she could have helped with anyway. If I leave her alone, she'll cook her heart out. All I have to do is make sure everyone else loses so she takes first place.

As she prepped her ingredients, Ju Hyeon-yeong suddenly grew curious. How exactly had Tae-hyun planned to help her? Is there even a way? Even if he's a judge, he's not the only one. Tae-hyun wasn't evaluating the dishes in a vacuum; other nobles and the King would be tasting them too. If his judgment deviated wildly from the consensus, he would only end up making a fool of himself!

But knowing Mr. Tae-hyun, he's probably dreamed up some bizarre, unimaginable scheme that goes way over my head. Hyeon-yeong shook her head to clear her thoughts and focused entirely on her cooking. She would counter underhanded tricks with pure, unadulterated skill! The orthodox path!

Chop-chop-chop-chop— The rhythmic clatter of kitchen knives echoed through the hall as the chefs began their frantic preparations.

"It's starting. Do your job well."

"Yes, sir."

Chao exchanged a subtle glance with a player chef standing nearby. Idiots. Did they really think I'd come unprepared? With a high-ranking chef like Paz in the mix, Chao had zero intention of relying on pure skill. He was a man who only bet on a hundred percent certainty.

Wearing a smug smirk, Chao placed a heavy iron pot over the hearth and activated a skill. Whoosh! Brilliant blue flames erupted beneath the pot! It was an advanced chef skill that allowed him to manipulate culinary flames at will.

"..." The other player chefs looked visibly shaken. In terms of sheer spectacle and sound, Chao possessed a talent that undoubtedly overwhelmed his peers. But Tae-hyun merely watched him with a thoroughly bored expression. That guy is acting suspicious.

Chao might have fancied himself a master strategist, but compared to Tae-hyun, he was a mere firefly to a full moon. Whatever scheme Chao had cooked up, it was guaranteed to be something Tae-hyun had either already executed or at least considered doing himself. When it came to tormenting others, Tae-hyun was in a league of his own.

From Tae-hyun's perspective, there were a couple of highly suspicious characters among the player chefs. When the others gasped in awe at Chao's flashy skill, a few players didn't look surprised at all. And what did a lack of surprise mean in a situation like this? They already knew.

Granted, Chao was a famous player, so they might have seen it before, but their absolute lack of reaction in this high-stakes environment was still telling. Besides, Tae-hyun was already intimately familiar with Chao's playbook. He either floods the field with his own people to apply pressure, or he sends a mole to sabotage the competition. Leopards didn't change their spots. People always relied on the tricks they knew best! It wouldn't be surprising at all if Chao had accomplices planted in this kitchen.

Slide— One of the player chefs paused his cooking and began to stealthily drift sideways. His target: Paz's pot! Everyone was too engrossed in their own dishes to notice. Pretending to retrieve a forgotten ingredient made for a perfect cover to slip closer. Since it wasn't Chao himself moving, Paz didn't pay the man any mind. Heh. You shouldn't have let your guard down.

There was a reason Chao had recruited this specific player. It was because of his skill, Delayed Cooking! ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠It was a technique that delayed the manifestation of an ingredient's effects until a set amount of time had passed. While it was a standard cooking skill, it became incredibly insidious when weaponized for sabotage. The victim wouldn't notice anything amiss immediately; by the time they realized their dish was ruined, it would be far too late!

"Hold it right there!"

"?!"

When a noble NPC (who was actually Tae-hyun in disguise) suddenly barked out an order, every head in the kitchen snapped up.

"Wandering around in the middle of cooking! Do you take this sacred venue for a joke?!"

"???"

Chao's lackey, caught red-handed by Tae-hyun, froze in panic. However, he quickly regained his composure. Even if the noble NPC was exceptionally prickly, a plausible excuse should easily smooth things over. After all the quests he had cleared to stand in this kitchen, surely the game wouldn't let an NPC disqualify him over a minor detail?

"Ah, no, my lord. I simply forgot one of my ingredients... My deepest apologies. I will retrieve it immediately and—"

"Silence!"

"?!"

"This is a sacred hall graced by the presence of His Majesty! To think you would dare begin cooking before His Majesty with missing ingredients! A truly master chef would have prepared everything flawlessly from the very start!"

"No, that's not... I mean..."

"I will hear no excuses! You are utterly unprepared! Leave this hall and reflect on your attitude before you ever dare to cook again!"

The player, subjected to a ferocious tongue-lashing over a supposedly forgotten ingredient (which was a lie anyway), looked like he was about to burst into tears of sheer frustration. What on earth had he done to deserve this?!

But what made it truly absurd was that the other noble NPCs were nodding in solemn agreement with Tae-hyun's tirade.

Who the hell is that noble NPC to be so ridiculously strict? And his Speech skill must be insanely high... The player's excuses had been utterly crushed without a chance. Powerless to resist, the chef hung his head in defeat and slunk out of the hall. Watching his departure, Tae-hyun let out a triumphant smirk. That's one down.

"..."

A piercing glare stabbed into the side of his face. It was Ju Hyeon-yeong.

"-I could have handled that myself..." she whispered.

"-I know, I know. I was just saying what a noble in this position naturally would. I have to maintain my disguise, don't I?"

"-...Ugh, fine. But seriously, you don't need to help me!"

Sorry, kid. I need to leech some of those cooking skills. Since he was already here, Tae-hyun was determined to squeeze every drop of profit out of this event.

Useless idiot. He couldn't even talk his way out of that? And he calls himself an Intermediate Speech user... Chao cursed his lackey internally. He had high hopes for the guy since he possessed both cooking and speech skills, only for him to get kicked out over some absurd nitpick by a bizarre noble NPC.

"Haha! Baron Terand is exceptionally passionate today," the King of Erance chuckled.

"I simply could not tolerate such a lazy attitude in Your Majesty's presence. I apologize, my emotions got the better of me..." Tae-hyun replied smoothly.

"Hoho, I deeply appreciate your loyalty."

To make matters worse for Chao, the King and the annoying noble NPC were now chatting away in high spirits.

Calm down. I can still win without him. My other preparations are more than enough. Chao had another trick ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠up his sleeve. Before the contest began, he had used an expensive invisibility potion to sneak over to the other contestants' ingredients. His goal was to use a skill! It was a secret technique that only those with advanced cooking skills could learn, allowing them to alter the properties and flavors of raw ingredients. Chao had used this skill to subtly warp the ingredients of every other player. They wouldn't notice while cooking, but once the dishes were finished, the flavors would be completely unbalanced! There's no way they'll figure it out!

"-Culinary Foresight."

Paz repeatedly activated his skill as he cooked. It was an incredibly broken cooking skill that allowed him to preview the final result of his dish. Huh? Why is it turning out like this? Realizing the outcome was completely different from what he expected, Paz swiftly discarded one of the ingredients he was about to add. Chao wasn't the only one with special skills! And the same went for Ju Hyeon-yeong.

"-Chef's Intuition!"

This was an additional skill she had unlocked by constantly using the cooking skills she had learned from Tae-hyun. It was an appraisal skill that allowed her to identify which ingredients were good and which were bad. Ju Hyeon-yeong remained vigilant. She wanted a fair fight, but that didn't mean she trusted Chao. Even a stone bridge must be tested before crossing. I have to be thorough. Tae-hyun had backed down out of trust in her, and she refused to disappoint him. With that resolve, she meticulously inspected every single ingredient.

Of course, while she was busy doing that, Tae-hyun was busy plotting his own sabotage. I never thought I'd actually find a use for these items...

While the chefs were busy cooking, Tae-hyun quietly retrieved the items and began his preparations. How do you guarantee a specific person wins a competition? You didn't actually have to boost them. You just had to make sure every other contestant ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠failed miserably! It was a level of malice that operated on a completely different dimension from Chao's petty tricks.

Hehehe... Go ahead and cook your heart out, Chao! At this point, it was getting increasingly difficult to tell who the real villain of this story was.

"Hey! Where did you go?! Kim Tae-hyun was looking for you!"

"Munch, munch... Huh?"

"Stop eating!"

"You should eat too, Cain... *gulp.* Hurry up. If you don't eat now... *gulp*... you'll miss out."

Lee Da-bi continued to stuff her face while packing away food. Cain watched in awe at her godlike control—shoveling food into her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mouth with one hand while simultaneously sweeping dishes into her inventory bag with the other! Her hands moved in perfect, uninterrupted harmony.

"O-okay, I'll eat. But seriously, have you seen Kim Tae-hyun?"

"Wasn't he coming with you, Cain?"

"That bastard sold me out!"

"What? He sold you? For how much?"

"...That's not what I meant..."

Instead of being shocked that he was sold out, Lee Da-bi's first instinct was to ask for the price!

"Did you try whispering him?"

"I did, but the jerk is ignoring me. Where did he go?"

"Why don't we just keep eating while we wait?"

"Dammit! How could he just dump me and run off on his own?"

Cain couldn't let it go and kept scanning the crowd. With an event of this scale, he knew that sticking close to Tae-hyun was the absolute best way to reap the biggest rewards. Where on earth did he go?