1.
The Final Round.
At last, the true nature of the event was revealed.
“Each of you is a cook working in your own guesthouse. Within 45 minutes, you must serve the dishes ordered and receive the guests' praise.”
“Are the guests... the general audience?”
“Unfortunately, due to safety concerns, that’s been dismissed. It’s truly unfortunate for the audience, who still have so many dishes they want to try.”
The audience jeered at the main MC, Bang Ji-cheol’s banter.
If you could still eat after that, you'd be a competitive eater or an eating broadcast streamer—not a regular person.
“Alright, then let’s begin the operation of the 22 teams in the Murim-style Guesthouse~~!!”
Fireworks filled the night sky.
Watching the colorful fireworks, Ujiwoo slyly asked Lee Hae-chan.
“Are fireworks part of the sponsorship list?”
“They gave them, so we took them, but there’s still a ton left. I could probably hand one out to each member of the audience when we leave.”
As expected.
No wonder the fireworks that exploded in the sky turned into corporate logos.
Ujiwoo figured that the total sponsorship, including the cooking stations, kitchen tools, ingredients, and delivery food, could barely compare to the fireworks. He raised his teacup while imagining the sponsor representatives gripping their necks if they knew.
Then he nearly spit out his tea upon seeing the guests entering the guesthouse stage.
“Gack! Cough, cough.”
“What, what’s wrong with you?!”
“Is there poison in the tea?!”
In a hurry, Lee Hae-chan threw his teacup on the floor.
“It’s poison! Throw away the teacup!”
Crash! Crash!
The judges hurriedly threw their teacups.
One even brushed all the dishes on the table onto the floor just in case.
“Wait, the poison might rise up! Everyone, cover your noses!”
At Um Gil-dong’s left leg, the situation in the judge’s seats started to resemble a chemical warfare survival scenario.
“What’s the status of Ujiwoo?”
“Ujiwoo, are you okay?”
‘No, I just had indigestion...’
But the situation had grown so serious that saying it was just indigestion seemed impossible!
After much thought, Ujiwoo finally resorted to the spiritual technique he used when escaping from Jumping Rabbit.
Gurgle
“He, he’s foaming at the mouth!!”
“It’s definitely poisoning!!”
“Call a healer!! Cure poison!! Hurry!!”
The focus of the competition shifted to the judge’s seats, and the audience momentarily forgot the chaos in the guesthouse.
Meanwhile, a far greater sign of turmoil was brewing in the guesthouse itself.
- For Team 313, who had prepared for the inevitable knife fights and chaos in the guesthouse, fortunately, the intruders were not the ferocious types.
“Hey, Jomsoi, give me a bowl of carbonara.”
“Hi! Wakarimashita!”
“Yujeong, why are you responding in Japanese?”
“Hehe, I thought it would be more fun this way. Aren’t you going for the special award? There’s a best comedian award you can win even if you can’t cook!”
“Are you saying I’ll get beaten with a scabbard by the old-timers?”
“Hmph. Then I won’t speak Japanese.”
Starting with an unexpected carbonara dish, the guests ordered everything from fish tank beef ribs to Dongpo pork, and other traditional Murim dishes, along with the drinks!
“Table 3, one fish tank beef ribs, two spring rolls!”
“Table 7, three noodles, one Dongpo pork, one bottle of cheongju!”
Yujeong gathered the orders, loudly repeating them, while Jo Cheol-bong, Kim Mi-ae, and Do Gwang-gi quickly began preparing the dishes under In Geumsu’s guidance.
The pace at which they handled the orders was actually going smoothly, in their opinion.
Rumble!
Suddenly, black-clad members of the Black Path organization stormed the guesthouse.
“Ugh, scary...”
“Yujeong, go take the orders!”
“J-J, I’ll help with the orders!”
A tense silence fell over the guesthouse.
Amid the grim atmosphere, the leader of the Black Path members spoke in a low, serious tone.
“20 bowls of noodles.”
Unlike the previous guests who had an array of diverse orders, the Black Path members all ordered the cheapest food available—no choice at all!
Yujeong eagerly ran to the kitchen, humming as she made her way to the counter.
“Two 4-seat tables, six 2-seat tables, and 20 Black Path members all for 20 bowls of noodles!”
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freewebnσvel.cøm.
“Huh? No! We can’t take the order!”
“Chef, why?”
“Because we ran out of noodles after all those strange orders like carbonara!”
“What do we do... Those people are a bit scary.”
Yujeong pouted as she approached the Black Path members.
“Today, because we’ve sold so many noodle dishes, we can’t make noodles. I’m really sorry, but would you be willing to order something else?”
“Then we’ll just chase out the other customers.”
“What did you say? You cheeky Black Path thugs. You dare to start a quarrel in the White Path’s territory in broad daylight?”
“You wanna try?”
“Quit posturing and come at me!”
Clash!
The guests all stood up at once, throwing off their cloaks and drawing swords.
The Black Path members quickly followed suit, throwing off their cloaks and drawing their swords in response.
The arm bands on the guests’ arms said “Haenam faction,” while the Black Path members had “Black Path soldier” written on theirs.
It was clear that two incompatible factions were facing off.
“Mom!”
“Yujeong, come here!”
A guest was kicked and fell, breaking the table, while another’s sword cleaved a chair in half in a chaotic scene!
Jo Cheol-bong, crawling through the chaos, quickly grabbed Yujeong and rushed her to the kitchen for safety.
The three people still cooking, caught off guard, stopped their work and froze in place, unsure what to do.
“What, what should we do?”
“Chef, what should we do in situations like this?”
“What do we do? We report it to the police immediately and lock the kitchen door to avoid being harmed.”
“Sigh, you expect me to just sit and watch that? There’s no police around here. We either stop them or run away. How’s the Awakener bachelor doing?”
“Let’s flee.”
“...?”
“If you get caught in someone else’s sword fight, you’ll end up blind and knocked out.”
Do Gwang-gi, the only one in the team with a sword and an Awakener, said that, and no one dared to argue.
They didn’t know it yet, but that was the right decision.
Meanwhile, other teams in similar situations didn’t have anyone quick enough to make the decision to flee, and they ended up making the wrong choice.
“Wow, they’re really fighting well.”
“Huh? Wait a minute. Is that chair flying over here...”
Boom!
“Contestant Choi Seung-gil from Team 61, disqualified!”
“W-What? I’m still fine!”
“Fatal damage has been detected on the shield, and a death sentence has been issued!”
The Black Path senior’s protective shield took damage, leading to a death sentence and disqualification!
“Oh no, this can’t be! Team 99, even though the members ran away, the team leader is still guarding the kitchen! The oil bottle broke, and a fire has started, but they’re not stopping!!”
“I don’t give up! I’ll last it out with grit! A true chef holds on with spirit! I can’t leave the kitchen until the dish is finished!!”
“Such passion! But there really is a fire in the kitchen! The walls and ceiling are on fire, and the beams are collapsing!!!”
- Next level chef
- He’s really going to the next world, lmao
- Wow
- Blocking the falling beams with his arms and still stirring the wok with one hand
- So cool
- Alpha chef
- I agree
- Flaming head chef
- He should get the popularity award
The price for that fiery passion was burn damage to the protective shield and a death sentence, leading to disqualification!
If your goal is the popularity award, staying in the kitchen heroically isn’t a bad idea. But if you’re aiming for victory, you need to escape.
In this competition, there’s cooking time and evacuation time!
“I’ve been had! I left in the middle of cooking, so I don’t have much time left. I need to resume cooking right away!!”
In Geumsu desperately recalled the locations of the dishes, remaining cooking processes, and what dishes could still be completed.
In the world of Murim chefs, quantity was more important than quality.
Completing as many dishes as possible was the shortcut to victory!
“The knife’s stopped!”
“They’re in a standoff!”
“Now! Let’s rush back into the kitchen!!”
Taking advantage of the lull in the battle, In Geumsu’s team and the remaining teams rushed back into the kitchen.
“So, which dish should we make?”
“Which one? Of course, we need to start with the orders that came in first.”
“Is that really necessary?”
Jo Cheol-bong, with 10 years of cooking experience, made a suggestion.
“We don’t need to cook the dishes for the tables that were disqualified, do we?”
“No, that’s a variable?!”
“Plus, if we do well, we only need to cook for the remaining customers whose tables aren’t disqualified, right?”
The cooking situation in the guesthouse changed depending on the battle dynamics!
It was a crazy scenario for the cooks, but that’s the kind of competition it was.
“This is Murim-style cuisine! The competition YOU chose! We can only endure by grit and guts!!”
But knowing it in your mind and saying it aloud to taunt others is a different matter. The way MC Bang Ji-cheol was gleefully presenting it, the audience's looks were far from kind.
‘I just want to slap the main MC.’
‘I really want to hit him once.’