What’s a Guy Who Doesn’t Even Cook Doing Here?
“Why is a guy who doesn’t even cook here?”
“Pardon? I, uh, well...”
When Denelson turned to Rufo and asked, Rufo faltered in a panic.
What am I supposed to say?
The one who answered for him was Tae-hyun.
“He’ll be serving as my assistant.”
“Assistant? He doesn’t look like a cook.”
“Haha. Take a look at this sword of his. What does he seem like to you?”
“He looks like an outstanding swordsman.”
“Exactly.”
“What do you mean, exactly?”
“An outstanding swordsman knows how to handle a blade, doesn’t he? Which means he’d naturally be good with knife work in the kitchen too.”
Denelson and Rufo both stared at Tae-hyun with equally dumbfounded expressions.
What kind of absolute nonsense is that?
“Right?”
Tae-hyun looked at Rufo as he asked, fixing him with an intense stare.
The meaning was simple.
Back me up. If you don’t want to die.
Rufo caught on at once and answered.
“Ah, yes. That’s right. Cooking is actually a hobby of mine.”
“Really?”
Denelson asked as if he couldn’t believe it. No matter how he looked at him, Rufo seemed worlds away from a chef.
“I’m nowhere near Lord Tae-hyun’s level, but I do know my way around a kitchen. P-please believe me.”
“...Do whatever you want. As long as the result turns out properly, that’s all that matters.”
As if he’d lost interest, Denelson turned his head away.
Tae-hyun let out a sigh of relief and immediately headed for the kitchen.
The moment Denelson was out of sight, Rufo whispered in a rapid-fire hiss.
“What is this?! I don’t know the first thing about cooking!”
“It’s fine. You just need to stand next to me. I’ll do all the cooking.”
“Pardon? Then couldn’t I just stay outside?”
“Nope.”
“...?”
“If things go sideways, you’ll have to help.”
“...!”
Rufo went pale with horror at Tae-hyun’s words.
This man’s planning something. He’s definitely planning something!
“Absolutely not!”
“I haven’t even said anything yet.”
“Doesn’t matter what it is, absolutely not! This is a pirate den! And that man out there is the infamous pirate captain Denelson! If anything goes wrong here, we’re dead!”
“Then don’t get caught.”
“...”
For a moment, Rufo deeply resented his fate for ever getting tangled up with a man like this.
What crime had he committed to end up involved with Kim Tae-hyun?
“Quit whining. Just stand there and watch. And keep your mouth shut—if you flap it too much, Denelson might get suspicious.”
“Please, just think for once...”
“Quiet. Go stand over there and chop those ingredients.”
Tae-hyun pointed at the vegetables with one finger.
Rufo picked up a knife with a look of utter disbelief.
The fact that he really had to do this was just absurd.
“Good. Then let’s make a soup so good one person could die while two are eating it and nobody would notice.”
“!!!”
Hearing that beside him, Rufo nearly jumped out of his skin.
What kind of deranged dish name was that?
“What kind of dish is that?!”
“What do you mean? I just told you. A soup so good one person could die while two are eating it and nobody would notice.”
“Y-you’re not actually putting poison in it, are you?”
Rufo swallowed hard.
A powerhouse like Denelson wouldn’t go down to just any poison.
Rufo himself could swallow poison and keep fighting on the spot, so if anything, Denelson would be even more resistant.
And Denelson was a gourmet.
If there was poison in it, he’d notice immediately.
And if that happened...
He’ll come to kill us!
Just imagining himself facing a pirate captain in a murderous fury was terrifying enough.
Even if they won, what then?
The place was crawling with pirates. How were they supposed to escape?
Even if they got to a ship, they’d be caught in no time.
“Poison’s out of the question! He’ll definitely notice!”
“Poison? What do you take me for? Didn’t I just say cooking comes from the heart? Putting poison into food is a cook’s disgrace.”
“Haaah... thank goodness.”
“I’m putting in a sleeping agent.”
“...”
Rufo clenched his fists so hard they shook.
For one fleeting moment, Tae-hyun’s talk about a “cook’s disgrace” had almost moved him.
What a joke.
As expected, this man had no pride, no professional honor, no blood, no tears.
“Why are you putting in a sleeping agent?”
Tae-hyun told him what was hidden in the underground area he’d snuck into earlier.
“Looks like you need a key to get in. And who do you think has that key?”
“...Denelson’s the most likely candidate.”
“Exactly. Worth checking.”
“Even so, isn’t this too dangerous? A man like Denelson probably shrugs off poison. A sleeping agent...”
If someone had a high resistance to toxins, something like a sedative might not work on them either.
But Tae-hyun only shrugged.
“If you dump in poison or a sedative openly, of course you’ll get caught. You do it subtly.”
“Pardon? Subtly?”
“Do you know what solan flower roots, caldenas leaves, and daren powder are used for?”
Rufo, who knew absolutely nothing about cooking, had no chance of knowing.
“What are they?”
“Ingredients that make you feel relaxed and let your tension melt away.”
They weren’t hard sedatives that knocked you out the instant you ate them. They were ingredients that slowly loosened the body and made you drowsy.
Tae-hyun hadn’t studied under Christopher, the mayor of Genoma City’s personal chef, in a halfhearted way.
If there was something useful to learn, he learned all of it.
“What is this ingredient used for?”
“Which part of this ingredient is the most poisonous?”
“How do you cook it if you want to paralyze someone after they eat it? What about putting them to sleep? Or killing them instantly? Or lowering their magic defense?”
Christopher looked utterly appalled as he listened to Tae-hyun’s questions.
Just what the hell is this brat planning to do with this information?
He wanted Tae-hyun as a disciple—but at the same time, Tae-hyun’s personality was starting to frighten him.
“Why are you asking that?”
“You never know. It might come in handy.”
“What possible situation would ever require that?!”
Even so, Christopher answered every question one by one.
Tae-hyun’s talent was simply too tempting.
If the young man were to come under him and enter the royal kitchens...
Thanks to that, Tae-hyun acquired priceless information.
Other cooks would have had to learn such things the hard way—through trial and error.
You have completely understood the properties of solan flower root.
You have obtained information on caldenas leaves. Your understanding has increased. Your cooking skill rises.
You can create a new recipe using ingredient data.
“If you eat enough of them, you’ll grow sluggish and relaxed. He won’t suspect poison or a sleeping agent.”
“It sounds plausible... but wouldn’t he have to eat a lot for that to work?”
“That’s why I’m adding this too.”
Concentrated essence extracted from the leaves and roots of ahaq.
When used in cooking, it cleans up the aftertaste and enhances the flavor—but carries a mild addictive quality.
“?!”
In other words, the more you ate, the more you wanted to keep eating.
“It isn’t poison, so he won’t notice. And this much, I can definitely hide in the dish.”
Tae-hyun sounded confident.
If Denelson was a gourmet, then Tae-hyun was, in his own way, a chef.
At his current cooking skill level, he was sure he could conceal ingredients like this without Denelson noticing.
“Isn’t that basically a drug?! Where did you even get that?”
“Christopher had a lot of ingredients on hand, so I borrowed a little.”
“Borrowed?”
Whether taking something without saying a word really counted as borrowing was highly debatable, but Tae-hyun paid no attention and began cooking.
You begin cooking Soup So Good One Person Could Die While Two Are Eating It and Nobody Would Notice.
This is an original recipe. Revealing it later will grant a bonus.
The more widespread the recipe becomes, the greater the bonus.
Divine Foresight activates.
Your Ladle Stirring skill rises.
You receive a bonus from your Intermediate Cooking skill.
The ingredients have been chopped with exceptional precision. Bonus granted.
“You’ve got some talent for cooking.”
“Pardon? Me?”
Rufo, who had just been standing there, startled in surprise.
Tae-hyun gave a faint smirk.
“Might not be a bad idea for you to learn a bit.”
“Aigoo. No thanks.”
Thanks to his swordsmanship skill being so high, even Rufo’s chopped ingredients came out reasonably well.
Great Success?
Normally, it just said Success.
Great Success meant he’d broken through a certain probability threshold and produced a higher-grade result.
Thanks to his absurdly high Luck, Tae-hyun had a much better chance than other people—but it still wasn’t something that happened all the time.
Crafting and artistic skills weren’t so easy.
Your cooking skill rises.
You have acquired the skill Beginner Poison Making.
You may class-change into Dark Poison Chef.
Because you have already class-changed into Avatar of Archisus, the class quest has been canceled.
...
It was only natural for his cooking skill to go up, but Beginner Poison Making and Dark Poison Chef?
Rare classes other people couldn’t get even when they deliberately chased after them were just raining down on Tae-hyun instead.
Tae-hyun clicked his tongue and shook his head.
If he weren’t already the Avatar of Archisus, he could’ve picked all kinds of gloriously disastrous-looking classes that actually seemed fun.
A soup dish created with bold ambition by a gifted young chef.
If consumed in large quantities, it may loosen tension and induce drowsiness.
Recommended for those suffering from insomnia.
On consumption: Stamina +1, Wisdom +1.
Temporarily increases Stamina and Wisdom.
Additional Option: Has a certain chance of causing withdrawal symptoms.
You have eaten Soup So Good One Person Could Die While Two Are Eating It and Nobody Would Notice.
Your Stamina and Wisdom increase.
That was one of a chef’s special privileges.
Freshly completed dishes granted their effects the first time they were eaten.
Permanent stat increases were part of that.
When Tae-hyun drank the soup, Rufo gaped at him in horror.
“What?! You can eat that?!”
“Why not? It only makes you sleepy if you have a lot. In small amounts, it’s fine.”
The soup, brewed from ingredients blended in perfect balance, had an excellent savory depth.
It tasted light, yet somehow had a deep undercurrent hidden beneath it.
It was a flavor you’d never experience in real life.
This is what makes virtual reality games so fun.
Experiencing things you couldn’t in reality.
That was why Tae-hyun loved games.
“Let’s take it out.”
Tae-hyun quickly ladled the soup into a bowl.
It was a lavish dishware set that didn’t suit pirates at all.
Still, bringing out only one soup made it look a little bare.
“Shouldn’t we take more dishes too?”
“What? No need. If we add unnecessary stuff, it’ll just create problems.”
Tae-hyun declared that with total confidence, but all Rufo felt was dread.
“That’s all?”
“Please, try it. I guarantee you won’t regret it.”
“Hmm...”
Denelson trailed off, sounding dissatisfied.
The soup certainly looked appetizing.
A pale, clear golden color.
But just soup, with nothing else?
Denelson scooped up a spoonful and brought it to his mouth.
“Ohhh!”
Denelson is extremely satisfied.
Your cooking skill rises.
Your Fame increases.
The dish Soup So Good One Person Could Die While Two Are Eating It and Nobody Would Notice spreads among the pirates.
“...?”
Tae-hyun froze for a second.
Something about that last message seemed a little strange.
Spreads among the pirates? Well... it should be fine, right?
“This is no ordinary soup! What a complex depth of flavor!”
“Thank you.”
“And that hidden aftertaste too!”
Tae-hyun twitched.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem like Denelson had realized what kind of aftertaste it was.
Denelson emptied the bowl in an instant.
“Would you like me to bring more?”
“No. That’s enough. Food was never meant to be eaten until you’re stuffed.”
Coming from a pirate bastard, that’s rich...
That was what Tae-hyun thought, but beside him Rufo whispered in alarm.
“What do we do? Doesn’t he need to eat a lot?”
“I told you not to worry.”