- Lee Eunsol
- Gulp!
I swallowed nervously and glared at Kain’s dish with tension.
Noticing my reaction, Kain stammered, “N-noona! I mean, Chef. The dish didn’t move because something inside it was alive. It shook because my hand hit it when I was putting it down.”
…Is that true?
When Kain removed his hand, the dish did indeed stop moving.
“Chef, it’s just grilled pork neck and porridge. You can dip the meat in wasabi or salt, whichever you prefer.”
“Porridge?”
“There wasn’t a rice cooker…”
It seemed he didn’t know how to cook rice without one.
Not that I did either, so I couldn’t judge him for that.
Grilled pork neck seemed like a safe choice; it was just slicing meat before grilling it.
Nothing could go wrong, right?
There didn’t seem to be any room for strange surprises.
It felt like he might have chosen something too simple, but from one perspective, it could be considered wise.
When I opened the lid, it was just as Kain described.
Regular grilled pork neck with a bit of porridge, oil, salt, and wasabi.
“…”
But I wasn’t letting my guard down.
I could still hear Kain’s earlier words echoing in my head.
— I don’t have to eat this, right? Thank goodness.
I tried the porridge and a bit of the meat in order.
The porridge was a bit bland, but since it wasn’t meant to be eaten alone, it wasn’t an issue.
The meat was evenly cooked, nothing remarkable but solid enough.
Considering it was a simple dish, it was decent.
It felt like a safe 7 points.
[I was born 7 months ago on the Hotel’s farm.]
“…?”
[Don’t worry! My life was happy. During the day, I roamed the lush oak forests—]
“…I’m hearing something weird.”
Kain turned away as if he didn’t hear me.
[…In the evening, I chatted with my farm friends about what games to play the next day, losing track of time.]
“Oh, come on! Merchant! What is this?”
“A Hotel specialty! ‘The Talking Pig’s Final Words.’ How do you like it? In fine dining, every dish should come with a philosophy and story. The pork you just ate—”
“Please, enough of this crazy talk! I don’t want to know the life story of a pig!”
“It holds the last words of a kind pig, Piyo, who played joyfully in the oak forest.”
For 15 minutes, Piyo talked excitedly about his life on the farm and how he looked forward to being eaten “deliciously”.
I waited patiently for Piyo to finally go quiet.
“Kain. Did you really have to serve this?”
“Well, you see, it didn’t show any signs when I was cooking. Only after it was plated did it suddenly say, ‘Thank you, chef!’ That’s when I realized something was off…”
“Then you should’ve only served the porridge!”
“…”
I finished the pork with a dazed expression.
The last trace Piyo left in this world tasted pretty good.
“The pork and porridge were okay. But Piyo’s final monologue ruined it, so I’m giving you 1 point.”
“Argh!”
“Do you want me to change it to 0?”
“No…”
Next up was Jinchul’s dish, which turned out to be his favorite—spicy stir-fried pork.
I already knew he loved it since he ate it almost daily.
It seemed he cooked it quite often too.
The dish was decent.
“I’ll give you 7 points. It’s well-made, but it’s a bit too spicy for my taste.”
“Oh~! Noona, just 1 more point, please.”
“No. The best dishes so far were the seafood and the beef stew. Since the seafood got 8 points, I can’t give you more than that.”
Next was Sanghyun’s turn.
Given his Blessing, “Diligence”, he seemed capable of doing almost anything well, so everyone had high expectations.
Sensing the anticipation, Sanghyun looked slightly nervous.
“I haven’t cooked much before. But I am confident in this dish…”
Contrary to his modest words, the steak and garnishes on his plate looked impressive.
Just cutting into the meat before tasting it was enough to make me exclaim!
The steak had a nice crust on the outside, with a juicy, pink center—a perfect medium-rare.
The color of the dipping sauce was also familiar.
“Is this red wine sauce?”
“Yes, I reduced red wine, sugar, and oil. It’s a simple recipe, but the Hotel’s wine is excellent.”
That alone made for a delightful dish.
Excluding Ahri’s beef stew with its Inheritance power, this was the best meal I’d had today.
After finishing, I gave Sanghyun 9 points.
“Sanghyun, you and Ahri will face off in the final.”
“Noona?”
A plaintive voice came from somewhere.
“Ahri, don’t use your Inheritance this time! Judging by how well you made the beef stew, you can cook just fine without it. Show your true skills this time.”
“I will. But Eunsol, I mean Chef Eunsol, there’s still one plate left.”
“Let’s take a 10-minute break before the final!”
The merchant placed his hand on my shoulder.
“Chef, you must conduct a fair review. There’s still one more dish, isn’t there?”
- Clatter! Clatter!
“…”
This was the real deal.
- Clatter!
Unlike Kain’s earlier mishap, this wasn’t just a vibration from someone’s hand hitting a plate.
- Squeak!
“Did you hear that? What kind of sound comes from a dish? That’s not a dish; it’s—”
Seungyub silently placed the plate in front of me.
“Noona. I did my best, but it wouldn’t die no matter what, so I just plated it as is.”
“GET OUT OF HERE!”
“Huh?”
“Take it out right now!”
The merchant chuckled and lifted the lid. In front of me, a live chicken began dancing.
- Squawk! Cluck-cluck!
“…You expect me to eat this?”
“Of course. Chef, I asked for a fair review. It’s lively, but the chicken seems to be prepared to some extent.”
“Prepared?”
“It’s been separated into the head, body, and legs, and even cooked.”
“It still has feathers, and it’s very much alive!”
“A Hotel specialty! ‘Survivor Chicken Grills’. It’s quite nutritious. Look at its incredible vitality, isn’t it amazing!?”
I silently began to disassemble the chicken.
Cutting off the roasted parts that Seungyub had half-cooked, I attached the wriggling flesh—proof that I had grown tough enough in the Hotel not to throw up at this sight.
Soon, the chicken reassembled with the still-living pieces, “regenerated”, making noise before leaping off the plate.
- Flap!
“…”
“…”
“…”
“See! Merchant, a dish needs to stay on the plate to be considered food. This chicken came back to life, so now there’s no dish on the plate.”
The merchant was at a loss for words.
“I didn’t expect the Hotel chicken to be this resilient….”
“You have that look on your face too? Fine! Forget about the third round. Seungyub is out!”
The merchant immediately protested, “Impossible! The competition must follow its procedures—”
“Shut up! You think I don’t know this is just an excuse to make me eat one more horrifying dish?”
“But—”
“Listen. This isn’t unreasonable. I haven’t eaten anything, and there’s no food left on the plate, is there?”
“That’s because you revived the dish, Chef.”
“…I never thought I’d hear the phrase ‘revived the dish’ in my life. Anyway, the chicken’s alive, so there’s no food on the plate, right?”
“Let’s say that’s true.”
“Then Seungyub didn’t complete his dish within the time limit. It’s grounds for disqualification. So he’s out!”
“Shouldn’t we hear from him too?”
Seungyub looked ready to argue, but I focused all my strength and presence on my eyes.
“Noona! No matter what…”
- Ziiing!
“No matter what…”
- Wiiing!
A beam came out of my eyes!
A beam!
“…I’ll take it as my disqualification.”
While everyone was still reeling from what just happened, Perro, who had been watching the madness, transformed and ended the chicken’s escape with a quick peck.
And so the “Survivor Chicken Grills” unexpectedly met its untimely end not by a human stomach, but by a parrot’s beak.
Ten minutes later, the final between Sanghyun and Ahri began.
I asked them both to make noodle dishes.
Given their proven cooking skills, I wasn’t too worried about the final. I was more curious about what the prize would be.
Before long, two warm plates arrived in front of me.
Ahri had prepared oil-based pasta topped with beef.
While it didn’t use many ingredients, the simplicity allowed the olive oil’s rich flavor and the beef’s taste to shine, making it a pleasure to eat.
“It’s really good. Why did you do that strange thing earlier when you can cook like this?”
Ahri chuckled and answered, “I overestimated our group’s cooking skills. Most of them can barely grill meat.”
“True. But let’s confirm before scoring.”
I called Elena to use her lie-detection skills.
“Ahri, did you do anything strange while cooking?”
“Not at all! I purely used my cooking skills in this dish. I did have to use my secret technique to stop the beef from wriggling, though.”
“It’s true.”
“Hmm. Good. 9 points!”
Next, Sanghyun brought his plate and lifted the lid.
It was a Chinese-style stir-fried noodle dish, “Chow Mein”.
The egg noodles had a unique, snappy texture, different from chewy udon or soft rice noodles, and they paired well with the stir-fried cabbage and bean sprouts.
The 𝘮ost uptodat𝑒 novels are pub𝙡ished on freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.
“Wow! How did you make this? Didn’t you say you haven’t cooked much?”
Sanghyun looked confident as my expression brightened.
“Chef, it’s not anything extraordinary. I just tried it since the ingredients for egg noodles were available. Try it with the shrimp and noodles together.”
I did as he suggested, scooping up shrimp and noodles in one bite—
- Pop!
“…”
“Chef?”
“I just bit into the shrimp, and another shrimp popped out from it.”
“What?”
“Isn’t this one of those ‘Splitting Shrimps’? Did you have to use such an ingredient?”
Sanghyun looked flustered.
“No, it was just a normal shrimp until right before I added it—”
Sanghyun glanced at Ahri, who turned her head, feigning ignorance.
“…”
“…This is my fault. I should’ve double-checked if the ingredients were normal until the end.”
Before we could say more, Elena, who had used her lie detection ability, exclaimed.
“What? But earlier, you said you didn’t do anything strange—”
“Elena, think carefully. She said she didn’t do anything strange in this dish.”
So she only kept her mischief away from her own dish.
My head started to spin.
“…I’ll just give Sanghyun 10 points.”
The merchant calmly pointed out, “Chef, you must wear the hat when scoring.”
The hat’s evaluation, which ignored all biases and focused solely on the dish, was strict.
“The dish was good, but the shrimp was a total failure, so 7 points.”
“I accept that.”
With that, the merchant stepped forward.
“Now~! Congratulations, Participant Kim Ahri! How does it feel to be the first winner of Hell’s Hotel Kitchen?”
“What’s the prize?”
“Oh, how unromantic—”
“Just give me the prize!”
Grumbling, the merchant pulled out an unknown clear bottle and handed it to Ahri.
“What about mine? You said I’d get something for being the judge.”
“You’re already wearing it, aren’t you?”
“…This hat?”
“It’s quite an amusing tool. Make good use of it.”
Finally, this damned cooking competition was over!
Isn’t the Hand of Greed supposed to be risk-free for its users?
I didn’t understand why I had to go through so much trouble.
Before leaving, the merchant announced the “penalty”, “Participant Park Seungyub.”
“Yes…”
“For today’s lunch and dinner, you’ll be served the dish you made.”
“What???”
“You won’t be allowed out of Room 105 until you finish it.”
Laughter filled the Hotel.
By the end of the day, everyone was smiling again.
Seeing those cheerful faces made me smile too.
What an absurd Hotel event!
If it made us laugh and have fun together, maybe that was all that mattered.
Tomorrow, we’d enter the Cursed Room again.
Today, we would rest.
“W-w-wait! How am I supposed to eat /genesisforsaken