Do You Know the Taste of Korean Food?
Do you know the taste of Korean food?
* * *
General classes and practical classes, or two general classes at that.
Two classes before lunchtime, but that was already enough to drive every new student’s stomach rumbling.
Students who had finished their two classes, whether general or practical, were now all heading toward the cafeteria. Among them walked Arin and Kana, who had struck up a friendship during the general classes.
“Kana, today’s class was pretty good, right? We got to learn things we couldn’t before.”
“Yeah, I knew it was Lua Academy.”
Since their practical class, swordsmanship, came after lunch, Arin and Kana finished the general classes and walked toward the cafeteria while chatting lightly.
The two classes they had just finished,
Arin nodded, agreeing with her friend’s assessment that the classes had been enjoyable, while Kana patted her shoulder gently.
Arin was sociable and Kana timid, so the conversation naturally flowed in Arin’s direction as they walked.
Then, as if remembering something, Arin turned to Kana.
“Speaking of which, Kana. You said you enrolled in the academy because you wanted to learn cooking, right?”
“Eh? Ah, yes…! I did enroll partly to learn swordsmanship, but I’m not all that talented at it… I wanted to learn cooking from the chefs at the academy’s cafeteria.”
“Ahaha! Why are you crouching like that? I’m not going to look down on you for wanting to learn cooking, so don’t worry.”
Arin had brought up the topic she overheard during the general classes, but seeing Kana scratch her head in such a timid way made her pat her shoulder again.
Most new students who joined Lua Academy had higher ambitions, and it could have felt embarrassing to admit the goal was just to learn cooking, but Arin didn’t care about any of that and smiled as she comforted her friend.
After all, no matter what Kana’s true goal was, she remained a disciple of Yeonha.
Kana, who had been somewhat gloomy, lifted her head again and walked side by side with Arin.
How far had they walked? Suddenly they arrived in front of the cafeteria building, and both of them let out a simultaneous exclamation.
“Ooooh…”
“Whoa…”
The upperclassmen looked perfectly at home walking inside, but the new students, including Arin and Kana, let out small sounds of amazement.
Anyone would feel the same way upon seeing such a grand cafeteria.
Of course, they couldn’t just stand there gaping in awe forever. Arin and Kana quickly regained their composure and stepped into the cafeteria.
—Whistling, bustling—
More than half the seats were already taken, and the cafeteria was lively.
Arin scanned the surroundings and led the way toward the five long counters at the front, guiding Kana along.
“I guess this is where you buy food tickets.”
“Ah, right. Let’s hurry.”
Arin and Kana rushed to join the line, trying not to make others wait.
Since it was a food ticket line, it moved surprisingly fast, and when their turn came, a neatly dressed woman greeted them.
“One food ticket is one silver.”
“Here you go.”
“Me too.”
Arin and Kana each pulled out a silver coin from their pockets and handed it over.
Just one silver, and I can order any food I want at Lua Academy’s cafeteria. It was truly amazing.
They both thought to themselves in admiration as they paid for their tickets and approached the menu board near the counter.
“If I choose any dish here, that’s fine, right?”
“Yeah, I think so. Arin, what are you going to eat?”
“Hmm…? I should look first and decide.”
The menu board held five options.
Booths in the distance had their own separate menu boards, and five boards lined up with the booth names listed.
From front to back, they were labeled ‘Bread’, ‘Noodles’, ‘Meat’, ‘Vegetables’, and the last one had a special name.
‘The Food That Makes You Stronger’.
The dishes listed under each were exactly what the booth name suggested.
“Uuu…”
Somehow, they all felt ordinary.
Arin had been quite excited about Lua Academy’s cafeteria, but the plainness left her sighing inwardly.
She turned to Kana for confirmation, but Kana, who had come here to learn cooking, was staring intently at the menu with sparkling eyes, so Arin swallowed her words and turned her gaze to the final menu board.
And then…
“Hm?”
The strangely original and charismatic name on the last menu board piqued Arin’s interest, and she narrowed her eyes.
“The Food That Makes You Stronger.”
Arin stroked her chin and called out to the nearby Kana.
“Kana, what do you think of this booth? I’m drawn to it.”
“Eh? Over there… The Food That Makes You Stronger? It’s definitely an interesting name… Wait, what?”
Kana turned to look at the menu Arin was holding, scanned it, and tilted her head in confusion.
“Why?”
“Well… The dishes listed on this menu board… I’ve never seen any of them before…”
Arin asked about Kana’s strange reaction, and Kana fiddled with a strand of her hair and answered.
Kana had been away from the culinary world for nearly seven years, but none of these dishes on the ‘The Food That Makes You Stronger’ board were familiar to her.
Compared to the dishes from other booths, which she had at least seen before, she had no idea what ingredients were used or how these were prepared.
Arin suddenly felt a spark of recognition at Kana’s words.
“Could it be that Aria-sensei’s cooking sister is the one who runs this booth?”
“Ah, definitely!”
The guess was wild, but Kana nodded anyway, as if it made perfect sense.
How could she not agree when it was about Aria-sensei, who was overflowing with personality and charisma? Half-convinced that this was the sister she had mentioned, Kana felt a special bond with her.
They decided to check the rumor by presenting their food tickets at the booth without hesitation.
* * *
Chef’s skill.
The skill, simply named ‘Cooking’, was indeed the main skill for chefs.
In the game, you would choose a predefined dish and create a buffed version, but with reality adjustments, I could now add buffs to any dish I wanted.
I was working at lightning speed in the kitchen, my hands flying across the counter.
Sizzle—clack.
“Good, three more plates completed.”
Forty pans, ten pots, and various other tools like ovens and fryers. I handled them all alone, yet I felt completely relaxed.
I slid the three newly finished plates onto the waiting tray in front of the booth and pressed the bell to signal that more orders were ready.
Ding.
The students came to pick up the plates shortly after.
I gave them a quick thanks and immediately resumed the next dish.
“Hah… The orders are coming in like crazy. The ones who sell out are fine, but can the regular characters tone it down a bit…!”
I had made the menu names unique and brought in dishes inspired by Korean street food from my past life to attract attention, but the influx of orders was nonstop.
Roughly double the orders from other booths. Of course, it was no trouble to handle them all, but the lack of breaks was starting to grate on me.
Still, I couldn’t stop taking orders.
Until a moment ago, Shaty, Pina, Fran, and a few other characters had received tickets from me and collected my food.
The plan was working perfectly, so I couldn’t stop cooking now.
Clack—clack—clack—clack—clack—
I quickly made the top orders, plated them, and tossed the finished dishes onto the waiting tray.
Then I pressed the bell again and looked at the finished plates with wide eyes to confirm the effects.
《Hawaiian Pizza
Permanently raises all stats by 1 (stacks).》
Perfect, the buff is definitely active.
Thinking of the average level 100 character with 10,000 in main stats and 5,000–6,000 in others, eating this for five years would push all stats to 1,250.
What? The dish name bothered you? Pineapple pizza—what’s wrong with it? The sweet, chewy pineapple is delicious. What kind of food ignoramus are you?
Ding—
Having confirmed the effect, I sent the bell signal for the customer to pick it up and turned to see the pan still on the fire.
There were still piles of dishes left to cook.
“Hah… This is annoying, so annoying.”
* * *
An hour and thirty minutes had passed since I started working without a break in the kitchen.
Only after everything was finished did I finally leave the cafeteria and step out behind it to rest.
“Aigoo… If I keep doing this every day, my body won’t last.”
Of course, it was about mental stamina, not physical. My body was fine, but my mental energy was draining rapidly, so I would need to find a more comfortable way to work.
Like, for example, handing out exclusive food tickets only to the representative characters, or giving them only to the high performers.
Everyone seemed to have already tasted my food anyway, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
“…Ah! You’re here!”
“Really! Thank you, Arin! Thanks to you, I found you!”
“Eh?”
I was sitting on the floor behind the cafeteria, thinking up some rather devious methods to rest, when a voice suddenly caught my attention.
I turned, and there stood Arin and Kana.
I remembered them from earlier when they had come to my booth to pick up food, but why were they here?
I had deliberately chosen a spot where no one, not even staff, came.
Why were the two of them here?
A fleeting doubt crossed my mind, but hearing their words, I realized they had come looking for me.
“Um… Umm… You’re Aria-sensei’s sister, right?”
“Ah, I knew it. Did Aria-unnie tell you?”
Kana approached me hesitantly, asking the question.
I quickly grasped the situation and answered casually.
Damn it. I was calling myself Aria-unnie out loud.
Since the situation called for an appropriate response, I had no choice, but the goosebumps crawling up my arms made me shiver as I stood from my spot on the floor.
Kana, the representative character of the chef job group, and I, the chef who Aria had vouched for as her disciple, didn’t need to ask why she was here.
“Hearing what Aria-unnie said, I came to find you… Could it be that you want to learn cooking from me?”
“Eh? Y-yes!! Um… I ate the dishes you made with my own hands and was truly amazed! So, I’d really like to learn how to cook!”
“Oh? What’s your name?”
Because of Yeonha’s body, I found myself smiling sincerely when I asked her name, something I already knew.
The profanity that usually slipped out so naturally wasn’t appearing at all, which meant Yeonha’s body was truly fond of Kana.
It was only natural, since she was an original character anyway.
Kana stiffened like a board, as if remembering the moment from the classroom yesterday, and shouted at me.
“K-Kana!”
“A good name. I’m Yeonha. One of Aria-unnie’s younger sisters, the youngest among them.”
“Y-yes…!”
Kana’s eyes sparkled as she looked up at me.
It seemed that in her mind, I was already her master.
The adorable sight made me chuckle and open my mouth.
No, I had been about to open my mouth.
“Ugh… Is this the right place?”
“Yes, definitely! According to the investigation, this spot has no human traffic…”
Two students crawled out from the grass right in front of where Kana, Arin, and I were sitting.
Our group turned our heads toward the sound at the same time, and the two who had emerged froze mid-sentence as they noticed us.
“…”
“…”
Once everyone closed their mouths, an awkward silence filled the space.
In that silence, the first to speak was, of course, me.
“What the hell are you two doing here?”