‘.......’
It was something I had already noticed the first time I looked around this kitchen.
He looked like some street punk.
But when it came to cooking, he was more sincere than anyone.
Because he was that kind of guy.
He had probably been able to awaken to a job as rare as [Chef].
“You’re saying you’re going to stop me, huh.......”
I, too.
Ran my fingers along the handle of the [Kitchen Chef’s Knife] as I spoke.
“That’s not what we agreed on before, you know?”
“Ha-ha. I told you, didn’t I? I’m a third-rate punk. Did I look like the kind of guy who keeps promises?”
Two chefs drew their knives in the kitchen and faced off.
Normally, this would have been the kind of situation where we should both just go off to cook.
But right now, things were a little different.
‘If I decide to cut him...... there’s nothing I can’t cut.’
I’d let my pride get poked and ended up facing him in a cooking match.
But it wasn’t like I was lacking in strength.
While I was debating whether I should cut this man down or not—
“I don’t know what your goal is.”
He opened his mouth.
“It’s not like I haven’t heard rumors about you.”
“......?”
“I heard you’re insanely strong.”
I watched him, wondering what he was suddenly trying to say.
The man continued.
“I heard it while talking to the guys who brought in the food supplies. They said you beat the ‘Barbarian’ Park Junggu from the Northern Branch half to death, right?”
“.......”
“Park Junggu’s famous as one of the top powerhouses in the entire Association. They say that even among the elites of that ‘Central Branch’—the ones who’ve gone missing now—there were only a handful who could be compared to him.”
“So?”
“This mana I’m feeling from you right now...... Even back when I was out roaming outside the Wall before we settled here, I’ve never felt mana like this. You’ve got that level of combat ability, and on top of that you’re a chef.”
Back when I fought Park Junggu, I’d deliberately gone a bit flashy and overwhelming.
I figured having them recognize my strength like that would make it easier to move around inside Gyeonggi Province.
I’d already expected that rumors of my strength would spread like this.
It wasn’t anything particularly surprising.
“You’re probably...... someone far more capable than I’m imagining. Am I wrong?”
“.......”
“That’s why I don’t get it.”
He spoke with a trembling hand.
“I don’t know what problem you have to solve. But if you’re a person who’s that outstanding...... isn’t there some other way to fix it without abusing cooking?”
At those words, which came out in a trembling voice—
I clenched my teeth and answered.
“You’re asking if there are other ways?”
Yeah.
Easy to say.
“You bastard...... you can say shit like that because it’s not your situation.”
But.
It’s only easy to say. The idea that it would actually be easy in reality is completely wrong.
‘My family might still be alive over there......!’
If I’d had certainty that my family was dead instead—
I might have been able to let go without any lingering regret.
I’ve seen people who’ve already lost someone precious more times than I can count.
And I, too, had firmly sworn that when the day came for me to face that moment someday—
I would not lose myself to the emptiness of that loss.
But.
Right now, when I don’t even know whether they’re alive or dead, it was different.
‘Every minute and every second that gets delayed, the chance that people who might still be alive will be found as corpses goes up......!’
A faint hope.
Even if it’s a hope on the verge of going out—if there’s still hope that they’re alive and not dead.
I.
Could not let go of that hope.
And in that situation.
He’s telling me to leisurely go look for some other method?
Like I’d have room for that kind of leisure.
‘My job is chef.’
I’ve always found my way through cooking.
This time, too.
It’s a situation where that cooking is the most certain method of all.
And yet he’s telling me to look for some other method.
‘It’s not like I......!’
Besides.
There was a separate reason that line felt so disgusting to me.
‘It’s not like I came up with this kind of method because I liked it......!’
Because I knew.
I knew his words weren’t wrong.
“Sorry, but I’m not such a retard that I’d pick this kind of method when I had another way.”
“.......”
The fact that this whole thing is wrong.
I don’t need that bastard to tell me; I know that better than anyone.
But.
I don’t even know whether there are any other choices.
And I don’t have the luxury to sit around coming up with them.
“You’re running your mouth when you don’t know a damn thing......!”
“.......”
It’s a choice I made because there was no other way.
And someone who doesn’t even know my circumstances tossed that choice out with a light tongue.
Maybe.
The reason I felt even more disgusted......
Might have been because even though I couldn’t deny what he’d said.
I still intended to go ahead and do that disgusting thing.
And that made me feel sick at myself.
****
“I don’t have the luxury to be thinking up some other way.”
With those words—
Sergeant Shin Youngjun drew the daggers he’d kept stored inside his shadow.
“I’ve listened to your bullshit long enough...... so I’d like you to move aside now.”
SWISH......
“Before I pick the option where I quietly kill you.”
When Shin Youngjun flicked his hand once—
The kitchen knives floating in midair, as if obeying the head chef’s command,
Turned their blades toward Howard.
‘What is this, some old Chinese movie, mirroring blades with your will......?’
Seeing that sight, Howard thought.
That intense mana pouring off the man’s body.
The things the people from the Southern Branch had said, making a fuss.
This man.
Was packing a level of power in his body that made you doubt whether he was even human.
‘......And he’s still the same [Chef] as me.’
At first, honestly, he’d looked down on him.
The story about him defeating Park Junggu from the Northern Branch. His appearance the first time they met.
No matter how he looked at it, the guy didn’t give off the feeling of being a chef.
Even when he revealed he was a chef, it was the same.
He didn’t know how a chef had ended up with such strong power.
But at least when it came to cooking, he had been convinced he wouldn’t lose at all.
‘......At least, until I was crushed so miserably.’
In terms of career as a chef, that man might have been lacking compared to him.
But as a [Chef], he was a being overwhelmingly far ahead.
Strong physical force and the capabilities of a [Chef].
A being who had both.
And.
That kind of being was trying to use cooking for some kind of shady act.
It was something he could not not stop.
“......Well, that’s at least a relief.”
Even so.
There was one thing that let him feel at ease.
“At the very least, he knows that what he’s trying to do is wrong.”
That man was a great chef.
And he was someone whose pride could be wounded at the idea of using cooking for something corrupt.
At this rate.
Howard would probably be killed by that man.
“......Then let’s do this.”
Of course.
It wasn’t like Howard wanted to die like that either.
“If you’d wanted to solve things by killing me, you could have done it right away. The fact you didn’t means you had your reasons, right?”
“If you’re planning to dig in your heels because you’re putting your faith in that, I’d advise you to stop.”
PAK!
With that sound—
Howard couldn’t help but jump in shock at the hot sensation on his cheek.
DRIP.
Only after he raised a hand to the spot
Could he tell what had just happened.
Out of the kitchen knives floating in midair,
One had sliced across Howard’s cheek as it passed by.
With that hot sensation, he could feel blood running down from his cheek.
“If I accept a bit of risk, it’s not like I can’t solve it that way.”
“.......”
Feeling that he was serious, Howard trembled even more with fear.
‘......I didn’t even see it.’
He had no idea what that risk of his was.
But if that slash just now had angled a little more toward the center of his head, he would already be a corpse.
Even so.
There was something he had to say.
“I just want to propose a way where you don’t even have to bear that risk.”
“......?”
Howard continued speaking, cold sweat running down.
“Just one day.”
“......?”
“Just one day...... no, not even a whole day. Just until this evening. I want you to spend that long thinking of another way.”
At those words, Shin Youngjun frowned.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t know what you think, but...... from where a guy like me is standing, the abilities you’ve got are on a level that just doesn’t make sense.”
“......So?”
“I don’t know what it is you have to solve. I don’t know why you’re in such a rush. But...... isn’t it possible that someone with abilities like that could have some other way?”
“I already told you I don’t have that kind of luxury, didn’t I?”
“That’s why! Just until this evening.”
Howard cautiously watched Shin Youngjun’s expression as he spoke.
“I just want you to think of another way until then. If, by evening, you still haven’t come up with anything else, I’ll step aside quietly. If you don’t like me, you can kill me then.”
“.......”
“From what I can see, I think you’re a bit worked up right now. If you cool your head just a little, some other method might come to mind, right?”
The fact that he couldn’t stop that man by force or anything like that—
He’d realized that the moment he saw those knives float around on their own.
All he could do was make a kind of threat with his own life as collateral.
“In exchange for not making you bear that risk you mentioned, I’m asking you to spend just half a day thinking. Isn’t that a decent deal?”
“.......”
When the man showed signs of hesitating—
Howard allowed himself a sliver of hope.
But.
“The way I see it...... if I can gain something, I can’t afford to hesitate about taking on risk.”
“Huh?”
“I even think I’ve survived this long thanks to living with that mindset.”
Hearing that, Howard felt his head go dizzy.
‘Damn it.’
His utter defeat as a [Chef] had dealt a huge blow to his pride.
Even so.
He’d thought that the sense for reading people he’d built up over the years was still intact.
He’d thought this man was strangely reluctant to kill him.
No, to be precise—
‘He seems like the type who really hates killing.’
He’d seemed like someone who strongly avoided the act of killing people at all.
And when it came to using cooking for some shady reason, too—
It had looked like something he was resorting to because he had no other choice, not because he wanted to.
He didn’t know exactly why the man wasn’t killing him.
But if not for that......
‘It’d be nothing for him to kill me without leaving a trace.’
And so he’d taken a gamble based on that belief.
But it looked like the result had ended up as a failure.
‘I did something useless and got myself killed.’
The cooking skills he’d piled up over so many years.
The first person who’d ever taken him in.
The teacher who’d shown him the proper path of cooking.
After Doomsday, not a single one of them had survived.
He didn’t have much attachment to life left anymore.
‘Still...... it was a gamble worth trying!’
He quietly.
Readied himself to have his life taken by that man.
“But half a day, huh.”
While he was having those thoughts—
“Half a day...... yeah. It’s not like I absolutely can’t give you that long.”
“......!”
Shin Youngjun said that.
“A-are you serious?”
“If I try to get rid of you and it causes a commotion, that’d be annoying...... hmm.”
“......A commotion?”
“Like you said, just half a day. I’ll give you that.”
It was the situation he’d been aiming for, but—
At the words Shin Youngjun had just spoken, Howard couldn’t help feeling dumbfounded.
‘Why would there be a commotion over killing me?’
Howard ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) might be a chef,
But he was still an Awakener.
Support-class Awakeners just fell short compared to combat-classes.
Even so, they were still monstrous beings far stronger than ordinary humans who would be called master-level at best.
Even so.
He was certain he wouldn’t last more than a few seconds against that man.
He wouldn’t even be able to put up proper resistance.
He’d just end up a corpse without even calling anyone else.
And yet he was saying he’d refrained from killing him because it might cause a commotion.
What kind of nonsense excuse was that supposed to be?
‘Ah.’
Only then.
Was Howard able to realize it.
‘Maybe even that excuse.’
Had been something he’d forced himself to come up with......
Because he didn’t want to kill someone who was trying to stop him.
‘......As I thought. My read wasn’t wrong.’
The truth was, that man didn’t want to kill others.
And he didn’t want to abuse cooking, either.
“......Ha-ha.”
Once he understood that.
Howard started to laugh.
Right.
It wouldn’t do for a chef that great to be some twisted freak.
That guy had just gotten worked up for a moment and gone off the rails.
He was definitely.
A great chef.
****
“......Ha-ha.”
When I agreed to give him half a day—
Howard collapsed as if his strength had left him and laughed.
‘Is he really that happy just because I’m letting him live?’
I decided to just let it go at that for now.
And then I thought.
‘......Why did I even bother accepting that proposal?’
I’d accepted it.
But I didn’t really know the reason myself.
Honestly, killing him and moving on would have been the cleanest.
And it’s not like I’ve ever been the type to shy away from risk.
Even so, I found myself wanting to accept that proposal.
And in the end, I did.
I wondered what the reason was, and came to a conclusion.
‘Like he said...... I’m a bit worked up right now.’
I was in no state to make calm judgments.
In a state like this, whatever I did, the chances of screwing it up were high.
Like he’d said, it was possible that was why I couldn’t think of any other methods.
‘His point about cooling my head and thinking it through...... wasn’t wrong.’
Thinking that might be the case was what made me accept his proposal.
......In that case.
Hmm.
“I should do some cooking first.”
“......Huh?”
Leaving the appalled Howard behind—
I headed toward the center of the kitchen.
