“F*ck….”
“Hey, Kim! Shut your mouth and hurry up with the food!!”
“Hey!!! Stop playing around and fill up the soup already!!!”
“Student! Don’t freeze up, all the side dishes are gone, so bring them from the back!”
“Kim!!!! Pull that wild boar out of here!!!”
“Student!! Give the dog some food before you leave!!!”
[……So chaotic.]
‘I really want to quit everything.’
What kind of place is the kitchen?
For customers, the kitchen is simply a space where food is made.
A place where ingredients are combined and cooked into meals.
But for those working in the kitchen, the meaning is quite different.
Various kitchen tools are weapons given to each of them.
Ingredients and spices are consumables that must be used differently each moment.
As fire, water, and ice swirl around them, they must safely complete their missions.
Missions named after orders from customers.
Once one mission is completed, another one is quickly given, forcing them to repeat the fierce process.
That’s right.
For them, the kitchen is a battlefield.
And I, who thought I had nothing to do with it, am now standing right in the middle of this battlefield.
To explain this, I must go back to the day before.
*
[So what will you do now.]
‘What do you mean?’
The last day of vacation.
I was currently cleaning the dormitory.
Since there would be no change in ranking, moving to a better dormitory was impossible.
You might think, who would take a dormitory of the same rank, but just in case, I was cleaning diligently.
[What I’m asking is about your future plans.]
‘Shouldn’t I choose my dormitory again? If possible, I’ll choose this one again.’
[Not that, I mean the goal ahead. First of all, didn’t you break Ryu Kang-hyuk’s head?]
‘Ah, right. The build-up was incredibly long.’
I took a proof shot as well.
With this, the goal of the prologue was achieved early.
Plus, I recently completed the ability registration, so nothing could stand in my way now.
‘First of all, let’s graduate. If I fail here, the story is over.’
[Right. Since you’ve started, you should at least graduate.]
After graduation, two choices would emerge.
Either join a guild run by hunters.
Or enlist in the military revamped into a conscript system.
Since it’s a state-run academy, those are the only options available.
Any other choice is impossible unless there is a huge disqualification.
‘I’m good at frying chicken, though.’
[That’s unfortunate. You’re a rookie at loading and unloading.]
‘If I can’t do either, I might as well end up as a cook.’
[Right. Let’s use Hyeji’s dad’s connections.]
The specific goals can be set after graduation anyway.
With no particular plan, I headed to the snack bar.
To buy alcohol and side dishes for the last day of vacation.
I drank yesterday to celebrate my return.
So today, it’s a celebration for the last day.
I heard someone from somewhere say, ‘You keep finding reasons to drink again,’ but I casually ignored it.
‘Isn’t this more like a grocery store than a snack bar?’
[Isn’t there a convenience store too? What’s the difference?]
‘Here, it’s regular work hours. The convenience store is shifts.’
[How foolish. Why not get rid of the convenience store and have research students run the snack bar instead?]
Peering into the abyss tends to taint you, just like Peac is gradually being influenced by the professors.
What should I do? Handle it here? Kill them, Master?
Stay calm. My inner professor-slayer and HAL.
As I calmed the monsters within me and put the items I intended to buy on the counter, ready to check out.
[The card has been disabled.]
“Student! This card won’t go through!”
“…What?”
The card didn’t work.
I thought I misheard, but the snack bar owner scratched it again, as if confirming this harsh reality.
[The card has been disabled.]
“…Wait a minute.”
The sudden notification of the card being disabled echoed in my ears.
I doubted my hearing and tried another card.
[The card has been disabled.]
The same chilling mechanical voice echoed again.
It made absolutely no sense.
‘What the hell??? I didn’t commit a crime this time???’
[……This time????]
Ignoring the rising panic, I pulled out the cash I had saved up for emergencies.
After handing over all my cash, the snack bar owner finally broke into a warm capitalistic smile.
Of course, that smile vanished the moment I asked for a bag as a courtesy.
*
‘Can I get a 20-won bag?’
[Right? How about that? Hold on tight! It’s gonna drop!]
After a short tussle, I finally managed to receive a completely torn paper box.
Let’s be generous and call it a box.
It was basically a paper platter.
On the small area of paper, I stacked the items and barely managed to carry them back to the dorm.
Just like a tightrope walker precariously balancing.
While setting up the party, Peac wondered about what happened earlier.
[Hey. But why did the card really not work?]
‘That’s true. There’s nowhere suspicious.’
[……On the contrary, could it be that you committed too many offenses to pinpoint just one?]
I took a big bite of the cooked chicken leg and gulped down the soju straight from the bottle.
Despite being oven-baked, I enjoyed the satisfaction of the grease seeping from the rough bite.
‘Well, I’ll just do a bank transfer for a while. The card can be unlocked later.’
[Right. It feels a bit uneasy, but it should be fine.]
The start of a new semester begins tomorrow, Monday.
Meanwhile, I heard on Saturday that my ability registration got completed by the academy.
And thus started the hangover-laden Sunday.
Anyway, perhaps it’s because I spent all day with alcohol that I felt a slight sense of pride.
However, at that moment, I had no clue.
What was about to happen to me.
*
The second semester began, but not much changed.
The only thing fortunate was that the first day was a day for choosing dormitories, so there were no classes.
I planned to use the same dormitory through the academy app, but the server crashed again.
‘Whether it’s the platform or the app, really.’
[Still, hasn’t it decreased a bit recently?]
After hastily finishing the application, I contacted Hyeji and met her.
Then I saw someone running toward me from a distance.
“Master!!! This is just too much!!!!!!”
It was Elcia.
She quickly jumped, trying to hug me, but—
Hyeji, with a number above her head raised by one, subtly pushed me away.
Thanks to that, Elcia unexpectedly hugged the ground instead of me.
Watching that, Hyeji started to laugh.
“Did our sister age more during the vacation? Since she can’t see well, maybe she has a future of looking old?”
“Oh my, Hyeji! Why are you pressed against the floor? Did you die? I can’t hear your heart!”
“You fcking btch!”
Of course, that laughter didn’t last long.
[This time, Hyeji lost.]
‘Looks like she went through elven-style education.’
[Is there a top instructor in the Forest of Elves?]
‘This is a world where even the top instructor of a magic academy exists, so why not?’
Amazed by the skills of the top instructor in the Elf Forest, we all proceeded to have lunch together.
I also spotted Jeong Ahyeon in the distance.
She was seen having a conversation while eating with her sister.
As our eyes met, we waved to casually greet each other.
Before long, we finished lunch and were moving to leave the cafeteria.
At lunchtime, not only kiosks but also cash register payments were possible.
After Hyeji and Elcia paid first, it was finally my turn.
“Oh, I’ll do a bank transfer.”
“Okay, just send it here.”
The card didn’t work, and I had no cash, so of course, I was going to bank transfer.
However, the moment I turned on the bank app for the transfer.
[Account has been disabled.]
Uncomprehending.
No, I could understand the words, but—
I just couldn’t wrap my head around it as the words clearly appeared before me.
‘…What the f*ck.’
[…..What is going on?…]
Countless thoughts raced through my mind as I stared at the letters.
Why. Who. What purpose.
What did I do. What are they after.
But among all those thoughts, the one thing that takes precedence.
I wore the most pitiful and pathetic expression as I said,
“Is it possible to get it on credit?”
*
The second semester has already entered summer.
In an anime, this would be the time to shout, ‘Umi da–!!’ (It’s the sea–!!) and head to the beach.
And right now I am—
“F*ck, it’s a water disaster.”
“Student! Stop babbling and quickly unclog the drain!!”
I started to vigorously unclog the clogged drain in the kitchen.
Each time I shoved my hand in to unclog it due to food waste, it was painfully uncomfortable.
Normally, I would have been done after just one hour of work.
However, the problem was that as soon as I said I couldn’t get credit, I tried to run away and was caught.
In the end, I had to agree to work for five hours.
‘We call sticking sashimi next to you a threat.’
[…Wasn’t your conversation with the Ear Goblin and the chainsaw also a form of discussion?]
I don’t recall any past conversations with the Ear Goblin and a chainsaw.
The fact that I was being threatened now was what mattered most.
After some time of struggling to unclog the drain, Elcia and the Escort Elf appeared in the kitchen.
“Oh? Elcia? What brings you here?”
“Master!”
“Did you come to rescue me?”
A flicker of hope ignited in my heart, turning into a great conflagration.
At the same time, two feelings emerged.
Guilt. And gratitude.
Hearing me, she started to smile a truly beautiful smile.
What came next were the words from Elcia’s mouth.
“No! I got caught too!”
As soon as the campfire began, rain started pouring down.
The great fire turned into ashes in my heart, leaving nothing behind.
