Chef

Jin Yu-han stepped into the kitchen and looked over the ingredients the production team had prepared, turning them this way and that.

With supplies limited, he wanted to take stock of what was available before deciding what to cook.

Watching him, Yeon-woo moved just as busily. Whatever dish Jin Yu-han ended up presenting, they would still need rice to fill their stomachs — which meant someone had to light the fire and wash the grain.

If we start prepping now, we'll skip breakfast and eat at lunch…

Han So-hyun had wanted sashimi, but one rockfish among five mouths was nowhere near enough. Jin Yu-han would know that too. He would make something with the rockfish that could serve as a proper side for rice.

While Yeon-woo was thinking this, Jin Yu-han finished his inventory and came out of the kitchen.

"I'll stir-fry the baby octopus in a spicy seasoning and make sweet-and-sour rockfish. A setup where you can dip the sweet-and-sour fish in the spicy octopus sauce."

"Sweet-and-sour rockfish!"

"…Sweet-and-sour rockfish?"

Unlike Son Jin-uk, who clapped his hands in delight the moment he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠heard the words, Han So-hyun and An Jun-ho looked as though the dish were entirely foreign to them.

"What's sweet-and-sour rockfish? Do you just pull the flesh off and deep-fry it like sweet-and-sour pork?"

At Han So-hyun's question, Jin Yu-han drew a well-honed knife and answered with a blank face.

"It's Chinese cuisine. You score the whole rockfish evenly and deep-fry it whole."

"Man, sweet-and-sour rockfish is incredible. You only get it at high-end Chinese restaurants in hotels — you pull the tender fried flesh off with a fork, wash it down with gaoliang liquor, and damn…!"

At Son Jin-uk's reaction, Han So-hyun shook her head.

"Jin-uk hyung. You've been hanging around with Teacher Jeong so much lately, you're turning into more and more of an ajusshi."

"Ahem — well, I am an ajusshi. I'm in my mid-thirties now."

Watching them, Yeon-woo — still washing the rice — let out a quiet laugh.

"He may look like that, but you know Jin-uk hyung swaps his eyes out for full melodrama mode the second he shoots a romance film, right?"

"Right, right! It's honestly amazing."

While they bantered, Jin Yu-han came back out of the kitchen carrying the vegetables for the sweet-and-sour sauce, frying powder, starch, and cooking oil. Seeing this, Son Jin-uk naturally took his place in front of the fire pit.

"I'll handle the fire."

"Then I'll go check the backyard for any greens we can use for wraps!"

Son Jin-uk and An Jun-ho moved at once.

"Then while I wash the baby octopus, is there anyone who can prep the rockfish? It's simpler than you'd think."

At Jin Yu-han's words, Han So-hyun raised her hand with bold enthusiasm.

"Simple? Then I'll do it! If I don't do anything, I'll feel like a freeloader!"

Watching her, Yeon-woo tilted his head.

Hmm. The rockfish is probably still alive…

Han So-hyun went over to the rubber basin covered with a cloth and fearlessly grabbed the rockfish by the body. The creature that had been lying quietly, gills working, thrashed violently.

"Aaagh! It's still ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠alive?!"

Just as expected, Han So-hyun recoiled in shock, dumped the rockfish back into the basin, and stumbled backward. She must have figured that enough time had passed for it to die of natural causes. A minnow out of water was one thing, but larger fish took a long time to dry out — even the shallow water in the basin was enough to keep them alive for quite a while.

Shaking his head at the sight, Yeon-woo approached.

"So-hyun noona, you take care of the rice. I'll prep it."

Jin Yu-han handed the well-honed knife over to Yeon-woo.

"First cut the spinal cord, split the belly and remove the guts, then scrape the surface."

"Do I cut off the head?"

"No. Once the prep is done, you just score the body thickly in a reverse-L shape — I'll handle that part. Just pull the guts out for now."

Joo Hyun-seok PD, reviewing the content of their conversation on camera, shuddered.

"The way those two talk with such serious faces, it looks like a brutal noir film."

Hearing the PD's words, Yeon-woo chuckled, then grabbed the rockfish, set it on the cutting board, and thrust the knife into the gills — severing the spinal cord with unhesitating, fluid motions.

Better to end the suffering in one clean stroke — for both of us.

Then, with practiced hands, he split the belly, removed the guts and gills, rinsed the fish with water, and began scraping off the scales. Throughout the entire process, Yeon-woo's face remained expressionless and solemn. Even if it was for cooking, you could not joke around when you held a tool and ended a life. And Jin Yu-han, prepping the baby octopus and vegetables beside him, always wore a blank expression anyway.

The sight of two of Korea's most handsome actors, faces blank, focused solely on their knife work was a striking one. Watching them, PD Joo thought of the YouTube project Yeon-woo had already earmarked.

This shot looks great. Jin Yu-han's cooking…

But PD Joo's concept also included Yeon-woo assisting beside him.

Ryu Yeon-woo and Jin Yu-han's Chef Kitchen… This works. This will definitely hit.

Without the actual party — Jin Yu-han — knowing a thing about it, two projects were already taking shape. And another thought began to take root in PD Joo's mind.

If I plan shows around Saebyeol's actors, the number of programs that would hit is endless… What if our studio signed an exclusive contract with Saebyeol, or even went under their umbrella…?

It seemed like it would create far better synergy than operating independently. And so, without Yeon-woo himself knowing, they were taking one step closer to a major acquisition.

After the first week of Parabola aired, it had not beaten Daytona in overall ratings — but it was slightly ahead in the 20–49 target demographic and in rebroadcast numbers. With a young core audience, its frequency of mentions on social media was also vastly superior.

And that was when the arrangement Yeon-woo had prepared in advance kicked in.

"Director Yoon!"

"Yes?"

Executive Director Yoon Mi-yeon looked up at Gong Min-jeong's urgent call.

"Was Parabola scheduled for a Netflix main promotion? I never heard anything about it, but right now it's up on the main page on both PC and mobile!"

"Huh? Really? This is the first I'm hearing of it too."

Yoon Mi-yeon immediately logged into Netflix.

Parabola's poster was hanging large as life — on the main banner of the main page, no less.

"…Director. How did this happen? It's not even a Netflix Original, and they're putting it up as a main promotion like this."

At Gong Min-jeong's question, Yoon Mi-yeon shook her head as she answered.

"…To push it this hard, the proposal would have to come down from Netflix US headquarters — and at that point it's not really a proposal so much as an order. Who else could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠get Netflix HQ to run a major promotion like this without even telling us?"

"Actor Ryu…"

"Exactly. Only Actor Ryu. Haa — he could have at least given us a heads-up."

Meanwhile, Saebyeol was not the only one who noticed the Netflix main promotion.

CEO Jeong Yang-gi of Lake Film slammed his office desk hard.

Bang—.

"These fucking…! The promotion they said was locked in was for those basketball nobodies? No — how much of a bribe did they slip them to put a non-Original on the main page?! Those bastards already took everything they were going to take from me and then stab me in the back like this?!"

Jeong Yang-gi ranted and raved, but there was nothing he could actually do about it. With the status of OTT services rising day by day, no amount of network-level promotion could match the advertising effect of an OTT platform pushing content directly to viewers.

Then Jeong Yang-gi's phone rang.

Buzz—.

Checking the caller ID, Jeong Yang-gi's eyes went wide. He immediately answered and dipped his head slightly in deference.

"Ah, yes. I've got the call. This is Jeong Yang-gi."

Then he kept dipping his head, repeating only that he understood.

"Yes, yes. Ah, you don't need to worry. They may have closed the gap, but we already took first place in ratings with the first week's broadcast. Yes."

He said that, but Jeong Yang-gi's face already looked like he had bitten into something foul.

"Yes, understood. Take care!"

The moment he hung up, Jeong Yang-gi hurled his smartphone at the sofa in his office.

"…Damn it."

While Yeon-woo was absorbed in prepping the fish for the sweet-and-sour rockfish, Kim Su-hyeok and Lee Gyu-jin were conducting surveillance in front of the secret workshop near Gimpo Airport, just as before.

Then a van was seen stopping near the workshop.

"Team Leader."

"Yeah, I see it."

The gray van's door opened, and people climbed out one by one with their arms held on both sides. Four men in total, shabbily dressed, faces covered with blindfolds, filing out in a line.

And Kim Su-hyeok recognized one of their faces.

"The homeless man, Lee Hyeong-rak."

"So that's the target."

The target they had set to determine whether work had begun at the secret workshop was Lee Hyeong-rak — the man Kim Su-hyeok had identified by infiltrating among the homeless, even dousing himself in anchovy fish sauce.

Kim Su-hyeok recalled what Lee Hyeong-rak had said. According to his testimony, once Lee Hyeong-rak joined, the work would continue for at least three to four months.

Lee Gyu-jin filmed with the camera in his hand as Lee Hyeong-rak and the other homeless men entered the secret workshop blindfolded.

"Got it clean?"

"Of course."

"Okay. Let's pull out."

The electric car parked in the alley picked up Kim Su-hyeok and Lee Gyu-jin and slipped away without a sound.

A message arrived for Yeon-woo, who had finished prepping the rockfish and stepped into the room to rest for a moment.

Yeon-woo nodded as he read the messages.

Lambda — that is, Kim Su-hyeok — had sent a message listing Golf, Hotel, and a time. Of course, it was not a suggestion to play golf at a hotel at that hour.

In the phonetic code, Golf was G. Meaning Gimpo, which they were currently surveilling. And Hotel was H. Meaning the homeless man — so target Lee Hyeong-rak had moved.

From the moment they had found the secret workshop in Gimpo, he had not expected to catch any of their executives. It was probably a cell structure, and the people working there, transporting product, and providing security were likely unaware of who they were working for. They simply carried out orders from above and collected their pay. This simple structure was the fundamental principle that drove countless criminal organizations.

So what was the best way to use this to deal the greatest damage?

What they value most, of course. Money.

He had waited until now to inflict the maximum financial damage — until the greatest quantity of drugs had gathered at their secret workshop. By now, the trap he had set in Gimpo early this year would have collected a great many fish.

Harvest time was approaching.

The chef on this island may be Yu-han, but the chef of the prosecution's narcotics division is someone else entirely.

Yeon-woo sent a message to Han Hae-un on his smartphone.