Now I finally understood why he called me here.
The enemy’s schemes—there was no way to stop them outright.
But.
There was a way to most efficiently counteract the results of those schemes.
By amplifying Sergeant Park Taejun’s ability.
By making it possible to detect the monsters that had been released nearby.
He called me here to feed him my cooking.
What he was after—
The overwhelming buff my food provides.
****
Time was critical.
I headed straight for the mess hall.
“It’s been a while since I came here.”
As I opened the door, I couldn’t help but feel a little worried.
It’s been months since I left the unit.
The ones who stayed behind would have survived only on reserve rations.
The kitchen must have gone unused for a long time.
Naturally, I assumed its condition wouldn’t be good.
“...What the? Why is this place spotless?”
Unexpectedly, the mess hall was in perfect shape.
I had thought I’d need to scrub the place from top to bottom.
But instead, I was left puzzled.
“Told you, didn’t I? I knew you’d be coming.”
“Ah.”
The man rolled in on his wheelchair—Sergeant Park Taejun.
“If a cook is coming, of course we’d have the kitchen ready.”
Of course.
He’d anticipated my visit and kept the kitchen maintained.
Still, as I checked the cooking tools, I thought:
Tsk. That’s a little cheeky.
Yes, I came here to cook, just as he wanted.
But—
Couldn’t he at least have given me some advance warning?
I’d just wanted to see an old friend’s face again.
Instead, suddenly the unit is in danger?
Honestly, it was a little blindsiding.
Seeing that he even kept the mess hall prepared—
That meant he must have known about this for days.
And yet, he only told me now.
Well... he must have had his reasons for keeping it quiet.
“Secrets of heaven must not be leaked,” or whatever they call it.
Say too much in advance and bad consequences follow.
That’s why shamans speak so cryptically.
And Taejun, thoughtful as he is, surely had his reasons.
But still—
Doesn’t mean I’m not annoyed.
Grin.
“This time, I’ll cook you something with my full strength.”
I’d make him pay for this, in my own way.
“That’s something to look forward to. It’s been a while since I tasted your cooking.”
“You’d better expect a lot. Not many people have eaten my food at full strength.”
He nodded eagerly, not realizing what my words implied.
“With your full strength...?”
Among the soldiers who’d followed us into the mess, one flinched and muttered.
“Hm? What’s wrong?”
“Ah, it’s just, uh...”
I looked at him—he was familiar.
One of the soldiers who’d come as my escort.
A mage.
Specifically—an electric-type mage.
And sure enough...
This one ate my full-strength cooking back in [Dasmur], didn’t he?
In that dungeon, when it wasn’t feasible for certain mages to fight, I’d gathered them and fed them a meal made at full strength.
Their mana surged immensely.
We funneled it all into Sergeant Lee Minjae.
And with it, he blasted a thunderbolt straight into the dungeon’s core.
It dealt fatal damage to the boss monster—
And let us clear the dungeon.
So this guy was...
“With your full strength... Is it really okay to give Sergeant Park Taejun that kind of food?”
“What, are you jealous that I’m the one being served?”
“No, it’s just, uh... how do I explain this...”
So he knew.
At least vaguely—what it meant to eat my food when I go all-out.
“I mean... uh...”
He struggled to explain.
I just gave him a look and—
Shh.
“Ah.”
He understood.
And pulled back.
“Never mind, sir. Nothing.”
“What? Strange guy.”
He withdrew.
Well, either way—
We were in a crisis.
And he’d be fed full-strength cooking, no matter what.
As for what would happen to him afterward—
Better not to spoil the surprise.
Now then...
Time to cook.
I had already brought some carefully chosen ingredients in my shadow.
Click click click click...
The burner lit.
A pot of water set on top.
And I glanced at my guest.
Tsk. He’s gotten so used to that wheelchair.
The roads around the base weren’t well-maintained. Rough terrain.
Yet he moved his chair with complete ease.
Back when he was just an ordinary soldier?
He couldn’t even have imagined it.
Our battalion was small.
In it, only two from our intake remained—him and me.
My only fellow conscript.
In army culture, every intake had its “ace.”
And in ours...
That title went not to me, but to him.
Sergeant Park Taejun.
Not just because he worked well, but because his abilities across the board were exceptional.
It wasn’t only that he was efficient.
He played sports like soccer and basketball well.
He had an even temper, got along with superiors and juniors alike.
I didn’t think I was a bad soldier.
But even I had to admit, the ace of our intake was him.
And now he’s become someone more familiar with a wheelchair than with running.
Survival demanded Awakening. That was undeniable.
But back then, the two who had to take the greatest risks were—
Sergeant Lee Minjae and Sergeant Park Taejun.
The two who stepped forward first.
Minjae got lucky.
Taejun... not so much.
No. More accurately—
I failed to look out for him.
Thinking back—
I was scared, too.
The monster that killed its own comrades.
Even if we were Awakened, approaching it wasn’t easy.
If only I’d stayed close to Taejun back then...
If I hadn’t hung back in fear—
If I’d helped with his Awakening up close—
Maybe his legs wouldn’t have ended up like that.
I put on a calm front back then.
But really, I wasn’t thinking clearly.
No wonder Taejun had been the ace.
And me—
I had too many shortcomings.
Even so.
I didn’t think I’d been a failure as a soldier.
I made mistakes...
But whenever I did—
I fixed them with my own hands.
Always.
And now—this, too.
I poured the ingredients into the hot pan.
****
“...Was it always this much food?”
“Perfectly normal.”
As the portions grew, he looked doubtful.
Didn’t matter.
“You’ve been holed up in this mountain base, working hard all this time.”
He’d sacrificed so much for our unit.
Even with his legs like that.
So yes.
This time I was going to feed him properly.
Him, and the Radar Section soldiers as well.
The ingredients were simple.
[Right Leg of the Greenmane High Shaman]
The shards of the dark spirit that attacked me.
The Greenmane tribe’s shamans were tough enemies.
But a High Shaman?
That meant a monster at the very peak of them.
Since Taejun fought those shamans in the spiritual realm... this meat should greatly boost his spiritual power.
But spiritual-type monsters weren’t common.
[Left Leg of the Smallroot Goblin Shaman]
This one had holed up in the Inje County Office.
Just a goblin shaman.
So the rest of the menu—
I filled with something else.
[Third Leg of Lightfoot Sleipha]
[Hardened Left Leg of Carapace Georg]
Truthfully—
Those were meant to be the main course.
I may be a chef, and I may coax strange effects from food—
But still, a chef.
Even so...
[Chef of Healing].
From healing people who suffered malnutrition,
I’d earned that title.
Not that it makes me a priest or healer.
Compared to them, my healing is lacking.
But—
I’ve made a blind woman see again.
That was Jung Sua.
Granted, whether it was really my cooking that opened her eyes—
That’s a little murky.
She probably hadn’t been truly blind.
As Sergeant Minjae guessed,
her contract with the spirit cost her ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) the mana in her eyes.
She lost her sight temporarily.
But when my food restored her mana—
She could see again.
Since then, though, a lot of time has passed.
My level has soared. My cooking skill is on another plane entirely.
I had the [Chef of Healing] title now.
And there was something I’d always wanted to try.
Something I’d never had the chance to attempt.
To heal his legs.
Impossible.
Even priests and healers had struggled.
Food fixing crushed legs?
Absurd.
—Ding!
Of course not.
The [System] itself threw up a warning.
[Warning!]
[It is difficult to heal grievous injuries with cooking alone.]
“Knew it.”
It realized what I meant to do.
And tried to stop me.
But I wasn’t about to quit.
Because—
[Do you still wish to attempt it?]
Right now, I had...
The power to make the impossible possible.
“I do.”
[The divinity of ‘2’ renders the impossible possible.]
I had my cheat.
****
[Course Meal Complete!]
At last—
The food was finished.
“...The table’s about to collapse.”
“Young soldiers need to eat plenty.”
“Good grief, you sound like a grandma.”
The spread was enough for several people.
Taejun gave a dry laugh, but still reached for it—
And froze.
“...Something’s off.”
“Hm? What is it?”
“I’ve got this instinct—like eating this will put me through hell.”
“...Pfft.”
Of course.
He was a shaman, after all.
His intuition was sharp.
But in this unit, I’m the cook.
No picky eaters allowed.
“You know, don’t you? You’re going to eat it anyway.”
“You didn’t put anything weird in this, did you?”
“As if. The taste and effect will both be the best you’ve ever had.”
“...Right. You’re not the type to play games with food. I’ll trust you.”
[This is a full-course meal prepared with the utmost care by the War Chef.]
[Prepared for a specific person, the effects will be maximized if that person eats it.]
For a specific target.
Made with full devotion.
A course meal.
Every single enhancement phrase attached to my cooking is here.
Truly—
My food at full strength.
[Theme – ‘Closer to the Stars’]
And then—
The food went into his mouth.
“...This taste—!”
Maybe it was because of his [Shaman] class.
A strange aura surrounded him.
But then—
Slurp. Chomp. Gulp.
He devoured the food greedily.
And that was enough.
“Khah...!”
When he finished the delicious meal, Sergeant Park Taejun writhed in pain.
“Sergeant Park Taejun!”
“What’s happening?!”
The soldiers panicked and rushed to him.
To see someone eating happily suddenly twist in agony—
Of course they were alarmed.
“...I knew it would be like this.”
Only one man—the lightning mage.
He rubbed his forehead, remembering the pain from his own experience.
Anyone who eats my full-strength food suffers in agony.
But—
That pain came from one reason.
The effects are too strong for the body to handle.
Meaning—
The agony Taejun felt now was from his wounds healing.
The course meal I made—
‘Closer to the Stars.’
Its effects were brutally simple.
[When eaten by the specified person, Sergeant Park Taejun, spiritual ability greatly increases.]
[When eaten by the specified person, Sergeant Park Taejun, regenerative ability is applied to a specific body part.]
Enhancement of his powers.
And regeneration of his legs.
Granted...
Of course, I didn’t think his legs would be fully healed from just one meal.
I have some sense of realism, you know.
That’s why I had brought along another.
One of the soldiers now rushing to check on him.
A newly assigned medic.
Our unit had grown.
And the role of medic wasn’t held solely by Private Sa Ijun anymore.
My plan was: my cooking gives him the chance to heal.
Then the medic continues the treatment.
It would take time.
But given the spark, eventually...
He might walk again.
Or so I thought.
“Youngjun, you bastard...!”
Groaning, drenched in cold sweat, Taejun rolled out of his wheelchair.
The soldiers tried to support him—
But he pushed them away.
“All this time... what in the hell have you been through?”
“...Huh?”
He pressed his hands to the floor.
That much, fine.
But then—
His trembling feet pressed to the ground.
His knees straightened.
And—
On two legs, Sergeant Park Taejun stood.
“For something this impossible... to happen?!”
Even as it happened to his own body—
He looked utterly disbelieving.
...
And so was I.
“S-Sergeant Shin?”
The medic turned his gaze to me.
I’d brought him to follow up on treatment after my cooking opened the way.
But now—
“So then I wasn’t needed at all?”
He looked at me in disbelief.
Well—
I had intended to heal his legs.
But—
Why did he just stand up outright...?
Even I hadn’t expected the effect to hit this hard.
