### Chapter 221 – Rest – Hell’s Hotel Kitchen (3) Fin
—
– Lee Eunsol
I swallowed hard, staring nervously at Kain’s dish. Noticing my reaction, Kain fumbled and said,
“Hey! No, Chef. It’s not shaking because something is alive inside it. I just bumped it when I put it down.”
… Right after he pulled his hand away, the plate stopped shaking.
“Chef, it’s just grilled pork neck and porridge. You can dip the meat in wasabi or salt.”
“Porridge?”
“There’s no rice cooker…”
It seemed he didn’t know how to cook rice without one. That’s okay; I don’t either. Grilling the pork neck should be safe enough, right?
There’s nothing particularly strange about this dish. I thought maybe I was playing it too safe with such an easy choice, but depending on the perspective, it might actually be a wise one.
As I lifted the lid, Kain’s words rang true. It was just the plain grilled pork and a bit of porridge, with oil, salt, and wasabi beside it.
…
But I wasn’t falling for it. Kain’s earlier words were still fresh in my ears!
‘Do I really have to eat this? Thank goodness.’
I took a small mouthful of the porridge and meat. The porridge was a bit bland, but it wasn’t a big issue since it wasn’t the only thing I was eating. The meat was fairly well-grilled too. This dish felt about average, so I figured it could easily score around 7.
‘I was born in the hotel’s farm 7 months ago.’
?
‘Don’t worry! My life was happy. I wandered around the green acorn forest during the day –’
“… Something weird is speaking in my ear.”
Kain, seemingly oblivious, turned away.
‘In the evenings, I’d chat with my farm friends about what to do tomorrow, completely unaware of the time passing.’
“Seriously! Hey Merchant! What is this?”
“Hotel specialty! ‘The Pig That Left a Will.’ What do you think? Fine dining must embody philosophy and a story in every dish. The pork you just tasted contains—”
“Just stop with the crazy talk! I don’t want to know about the pig’s life!”
“A good pig that happily frolicked in the oak tree forest, PiYo’s last words.”
For the next 15 minutes, PiYo rambled about how happy he lived on the farm and anticipated the ‘moment of being deliciously eaten.’
I waited for PiYo to finally quiet down.
“Kain, did you really have to serve this?”
“Well, it didn’t seem weird while cooking. After everything was grilled and plated, I only noticed something was off when it said ‘Thank you, Chef!’”
“Then just serve the porridge!”
“…”
With a dazed feeling, I finished the pork. PiYo’s final trace of existence was quite tasty.
“The pork and porridge were edible. Since PiYo’s last words were so shattering, I’ll give this a 1.”
“Eww!”
“Should I change it to 0?”
“Not at all…”
Next up was Jinchul, who brought out his favorite stir-fried pork. Knowing he usually eats it almost every day, I could guess he made this often. It was decent enough.
“I’ll give you a 7. The dish was well-made, but it was a bit spicy for my taste.”
“Ah~! Just one more point, please!”
“No way. The best dishes so far were the seafood stew and beef stew. The seafood stew scored 8, so this can’t go higher.”
Next, Sanghyun brought his plate forward.
Maybe it was due to his blessings and sincerity, but everyone seemed to believe he’d pull off something impressive. Sanghyun, sensing the atmosphere, looked a bit flustered.
“I haven’t done much cooking, but I’m a bit confident in this dish…”
Despite his humble words, the steak and garnish presented on the plate looked quite impressive. As I sliced into the meat, I couldn’t help but gasp!
The outside had a nice, crispy crust, while the inside was perfectly pink with juices flowing out. The sauce looked familiar.
“Is this red wine sauce?”
“I made it using red wine, sugar, and oil. It’s not a grand recipe, but the hotel’s wine quality is excellent.”
Even that was delicious. Except for Ari’s beef stew with its inherited powers, this was the best meal I had tasted today. After finishing, I rated Sanghyun a 9.
“Let’s have Sanghyun and Ari in the finals.”
“Huh?”
I heard a boy’s plaintive voice from somewhere.
“Ari, don’t use your inheritance this time! Your beef stew was impressive enough; I think you can cook without it.”
“I will! But Eunsol, or should I say Chef Eunsol, there’s still one plate left.”
“Let’s take a 10-minute break before the finals start~!”
The Merchant nearby patted my shoulder.
“Chef, you need to ensure a fair evaluation. There’s still one dish left, right?”
— Clunk! Clunk!
“….”
Now that’s real.
— Clunk!
This isn’t the kind of vibration that comes from bumping hands and plates like with Kain.
— Keeek!
“Did you, did you just hear that noise? What kind of sound is that coming from the cooking plate? That’s not cooking!”
Seungyub silently placed a plate in front of me.
“Chef. I tried hard, but no matter how I tried, it just wouldn’t cook, so I just plated it.”
“GET OUT OF HERE!”
“Y-Yes?”
“Get this out of here right now!”
As the Merchant chuckled and lifted the lid, there, in front of me, a genuinely alive chicken began dancing.
— Kee-ooook! Cluck cluck!
“… You want me to eat this?”
“Of course. Chef, didn’t you ask for a fair evaluation? It’s a bit fresh, but the chicken is nicely prepped.”
“Nicely prepped?”
“It’s been divided into head, body, and legs, and cooked through.”
“But it still has feathers and, most importantly, it’s still alive!”
“Hotel specialty! ‘Survival King Chicken Grills.’ This chicken has amazing vitality! Did you see?”
I silently began to ‘assemble’ the chicken. As I detached the parts that Seungyub had hastily cooked, the squirming pieces—me not gagging just proves how tough my stomach has become since I arrived at this hotel—were slowly attached.
Before long, the chicken’s body, still alive, began ‘regenerating’ and flapping loudly as it flew off the plate.
— Flap!
“….”
“….”
“….”
“Hey! Merchant, cooking should stay on the plate, right? The chicken just came back to life! There’s no food on this plate now.”
The Merchant stared at me, momentarily speechless.
“I didn’t expect the hotel’s chicken to be this much…”
“You look shocked. Now, let’s forget about the third round. Seungyub is disqualified!”
Immediately, the Merchant contested my words.
“Hah! That’s impossible. The process of the competition is clearly defined—”
“Shut up! Do you think I don’t see you trying to make me eat yet another terrible dish?”
“But—”
“Listen to me. I’m not being unreasonable. I didn’t eat anything, yet there’s no food on the plate at all?”
“That’s because the Chef revived the dish!”
“… I never thought I’d hear ‘revived a dish’ in my life. Anyway, the chicken came back, and now there’s nothing on the plate?”
“Let’s say that’s true.”
“So, Seungyub effectively didn’t finish his dish on time. I mean, it’s a disqualification.”
“How about listening to the involved party?”
As Seungyub was about to voice his dissatisfaction, I focused every ounce of my power and presence into my eyes.
“Sis! No way…”
Zizzing!
“No way…”
With a beam shooting from my eyes! Beam power unleashed!
“… I’ll consider myself disqualified.”
Meanwhile, those curious about what in the world these people were doing were met with unexpected splendor as Pero transformed and ended the chicken’s escapade in one shot. In the end, ‘Survival King Chicken Grills’ met its end—not in a human mouth but in a parrot’s beak, concluding the tragic tale of its early life.
Ten minutes later, the finals between Sanghyun and Ari began. I asked the two to make noodle dishes if possible. Their cooking skills were impressive enough, so I honestly wasn’t too worried about the finals. I was more curious about what the prize would be.
Not long after, two warm plates arrived before me.
Ari’s dish was oil pasta topped with beef. While it didn’t use an array of diverse ingredients, the simplicity instead highlighted the rich flavor of the olive oil and the beef that delighted my taste buds.
“This is really delicious. Why did you do something strange earlier if you can cook this well?”
Smirking, Ari replied,
“I overestimated our group’s cooking skills. Just knowing how to grill meat a bit more than average is already above the curve in this party.”
“True. But let’s double-check before scoring.”
I summoned Elena to use her lie detection on Ari.
“Ari, did you do anything strange while cooking?”
“Not at all! This dish is purely my cooking skills. There was even some strategy to kill the squirming beef!”
“That’s the truth.”
“Hmm. Okay, 9 points!”
Next, Sanghyun brought his plate, lifted the lid.
The dish was Chinese-style stir-fried noodles, Cho-Mien. The noodles didn’t have the chewy texture of kalguksu or the softness of rice noodles; it had a fun, breakable texture that paired delightfully with the stir-fried napa cabbage and bean sprouts.
“Oh! How did you make this? You said you didn’t cook much?”
This time, my bright expression seemed to lift Sanghyun’s confidence.
“Chef, it’s not a grand dish. I just happened to have the ingredients for egg noodles ready, so I gave it a try. You should try it with shrimp; it’ll be delicious.”
As he recommended, I scooped some shrimp and noodles into one bite—
— Pop!
“….”
“Chef?”
“I just bit into a shrimp and another shrimp popped out from inside.”
“Pardon?”
“… Is this some ‘division shrimp’ or something? Did we really need these kinds of ingredients?”
Sanghyun looked flustered.
“No, it was definitely a normal shrimp! Until right before I added it—”
As Sanghyun glanced back at Ari, she turned her head away, acting nonchalant.
“….”
“… It’s my fault. I didn’t double-check if the ingredients were normal until the very end.”
As Sanghyun and I were left speechless, Elena, who had used her lie detection ability, asked in surprise,
“What?! Didn’t you just say you didn’t do anything weird with the dish?”
“Elena, recall exactly what you said. You said you didn’t do anything strange with ‘this dish’.”
So she meant she didn’t do anything strange with her dish only. My head started spinning.
“… I’ll just give Sanghyun a 10.”
Calmly, the Merchant pointed out from the side,
“You need to evaluate while wearing the hat.”
The hat’s evaluation disregarded personal ties, connections, and relationships to strictly evaluate only the food on the plate.
“The dish was tasty, but the shrimp was a total error, so 7 points.”
“I’ll accept that.”
With those words, the Merchant stepped up.
“Now! Congratulations, Kim Ari contestant! How does it feel to be the first champion of Hell’s Hotel Kitchen?”
“What’s the prize?”
“Isn’t that a bit unromantic—”
“Shut up and give me the prize!”
After much complaining, the Merchant pulled out an unknown transparent bottle from his pocket and handed it to Ari.
“What’s mine? I did all the judging, yet what did I get?”
“Are you not already using it?”
“… This hat?”
“It’s a pretty interesting tool. Be sure to use it well.”
This messed-up cooking contest is finally over! Wasn’t the hand of greed supposed to be a risk-free ability for its owner? I really don’t understand why I had to work the hardest. Before leaving, the Merchant revealed what the ‘penalty’ would be.
“Participant Park Seungyub.”
“Y-Yes…”
“For today’s lunch and dinner, you’ll be offered the dish you prepared.”
“Whaaaat???”
“Before you finish eating, you can’t leave Room 301, just so you know.”
Laughter echoed throughout the hotel. After a day of rest, everyone’s faces were filled with smiles. Seeing the scene, I couldn’t help but laugh too. What a bizarre hotel event! If we all can just laugh and enjoy, isn’t that what matters?
Tomorrow, we’ll have to enter the cursed room again. But for today, let’s take a break.
“H-How am I supposed to eat this!”
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