Chapter 35

If You Fry It, Everything Tastes Good (3)

“Wounded, over here!”

“Han-il is badly hurt. Treat him first.”

“Yes, sir!”

After coming out of the warehouse, we retreated to a nearby safe spot.

Two healers rushed over to treat the wounded.

In the meantime, the rest of the unit slumped down on the ground, catching their breath for a moment.

“What should we do?”

As I was catching my breath as well. Sergeant Lee Minjae came over to me and asked.

“It’s a monster that’s stronger than we expected.”

Minjae said, looking toward the warehouse we had escaped from.

“Yeah, with our current strength, taking it down seems difficult”

Gwang-il backed up Minjae’s words.

“I suggest we retreat.”

“Retreat, huh.”

“The purpose of this operation is to secure materials to make future operations easier. It’s not something absolutely essential right now. I don’t think we need to accept casualties.”

Minjae proposed retreating.

To be fair, he wasn’t wrong.

“What about your eyes, Commander? That thing you said, when you observe the enemy, you can figure out its weaknesses or traits.”

“If Yeong-jun didn’t say anything, doesn’t that mean your skill didn’t activate?”

“No. It did activate.”

Just like she said.

My skill, 『Chef’s Eyes』, reveals some of the processing methods and traits of a target.

With this skill, I’d figured out the weaknesses of many monsters.

“That thing too. I figured out what kind of monster it is.”

“Really? Then if we use that information and go back in—”

“I’d like to, but this time it’s going to be a bit tough.”

“What?”

The skill definitely activated.

But the information I got from it was.

『Low-Grade Cooking Tip – ‘The Enlightenment of Mac Processing Methods’』

『Mac is a type of lifeform that protects its fragile main body by surrounding itself with hard materials.』

『Its processing method is very simple; first remove the shell, then cut the flesh inside into bite-sized pieces and eat.』

That’s what it said.

The monster’s name is ‘Mac’. Its main body is fragile, but it protects itself by surrounding itself with nearby objects.

‘Like a hermit crab, I guess.’

The black mass is probably its main body. It just took on the form of a giant bear using the metal scraps lying around.

The main body itself is ridiculously fragile.

The problem is its weakness or rather, how you’re supposed to “process” it…

“It says you just remove the shell and cut it into bite-sized pieces to eat.”

“…”

The soldiers stared at me blankly after hearing that. This was a monster that our buffed unit members couldn’t even damage at all.

Even if you tell us to remove the shell.

That is, the steel armor it’s wearing.

“How is that even a weakness?”

“Right?”

If we had the strength to do that, we wouldn’t be struggling in the first place. If we could strip off all that armor, we could just beat it to death anyway.

‘This is the part I shouldn’t get confused about with my abilities…’

Chef’s Eyes is a skill that tells you how to process ingredients.

To be precise, it doesn’t tell you clearing methods or weaknesses. Most of the time, the processing method and the weakness line up. That’s why up until now, I’d been using it well to identify weak points.

“But in rare cases, they don’t.”

“Then retreat really is the answer…?”

All the other squad leaders were leaning toward retreat.

Just like Minjae said earlier, securing materials isn’t mandatory. The cost we’ve invested in this operation isn’t that high either. And besides, there are other hardware warehouses out there, retreating would be the correct choice.

But…There was one thing that kept snagging at me.

‘I can’t go back like this, out of sheer frustration.’

And besides, there was one point that bothered me.

“At first, I thought that thing was just a monster made of metal scraps.”

“Huh?”

“Like, you know. A golem or something like that.”

Not all monsters have to be living creatures. There could be monsters that are machines made of metal, stuff like that.

“So I thought maybe that’s why it swatted away my food.”

If it were that kind of monster, it would make sense that it didn’t eat the meat I threw.

If it’s a monster that doesn’t need to eat in the first place. There’d be no helping it if my cooking didn’t work, but that wasn’t the case.

“According to what my skill showed me, it is an organic lifeform. If that’s the case, it has to eat something. So why did it reject my cooking?”

Honestly, this was the biggest reason I was hesitating to retreat.

A monster that rejected my cooking.

I wanted to at least figure out the reason why before leaving.

That was when…

“It has to eat something…”

“Huh?”

Private Lee Gong-woo, who had been listening to me.

I saw him muttering something in a small voice.

“Gong-woo? Did you think of something?”

“Ah? Uh, it’s nothing much, really.”

“Say it anyway. Even if it’s not helpful, it’s fine.”

When I urged him on.

“Well… those metal scraps scattered around inside, you know?”

Only then did Private Lee Gong-woo speak up cautiously.

“Some of them had marks on them, like something had gnawed on them.”

“Gnawed marks?”

“Yes. A few perfectly fine pieces of metal looked like they’d been shaved down little by little.”

Sergeant Lee Minjae responded after hearing Gong-woo’s words.

“Isn’t it possible you just mistook rust for that or something?”

“Mm, probably not. Combat engineers basically have a trait called ‘Material Appraisal.’ From what I could tell with that trait, those marks definitely aren’t something that forms naturally.”

“That is kind of interesting, if it’s true.”

“But it doesn’t seem very helpful, does it?”

The others seemed to think it wasn’t particularly useful information. Even the one who brought it up, Private Lee Gong-woo, seemed to think the same.

But my thoughts were different. Marks that looked like they’d been gnawed.

“So that was it.”

“Huh?”

“I guess I was making a completely ridiculous assumption from the start.”

That thing isn’t human, it’s a monster.

If that’s the case…I should have considered the possibility that meat isn’t its staple food…!

‘It eats metal.’

Like serving meat dishes to a vegetarian and getting mad when they don’t eat it. And here I was, a so-called chef, not even thinking about something this basic.

‘And then I got annoyed that it threw away my cooking.’

Looking back on it now, that’s the height of shamelessness. Having come to that realization, I shouted toward the resting soldiers.

“Hong-su! Are you there?!”

“Yes, Private First Class Jang Hong-su!”

The soldier I called out.

Private First Class Jang Hong-su’s class was ‘Fire Mage’.

“Can you light a fire here for me?”

“Eh…? Ah. Yes, sir.”

With his help, I lit a small fire on the ground.

I opened my field pack, took out a small wok, and placed it on top.

Then I pulled out one more item from my pack.

A small glass bottle filled with yellow liquid.

I poured its contents…Into the oil-heated wok.

“Yeong-jun?”

“What are you trying to do…?”

People asked in confusion at my sudden actions.

I replied casually.

“Hey, they say even shoes taste good if you fry them.”

“Don’t you think even iron plates might taste good if you fry them?”

“…Is that even right?”

“Who knows.”

The soldiers asked back as if dumbfounded.

Honestly, I don’t know if this is right either. It’s not like I’ve ever eaten fried iron plates before. This is just a ‘maybe it’ll work?’ kind of idea.

“I don’t know if it’ll work or not, but it’s a monster we can’t handle in a straight fight right now, right?”

“That’s true.”

“Then we might as well try something before retreating. Worst case, we lose nothing, right?”

“Uh… yeah, I guess that’s true?”

Before long, all the soldiers who were gathered around started watching my cooking.

“Hmm. The problem is the ingredient.”

“Ah, about that.”

If you could call it fortunate. The monster appeared after I’d already given the order to recover materials.

“We’ve got this.”

“It was rolling around on the floor, so it’s a bit dirty.”

Some soldiers had picked up items that were lying around on the floor as soon as the order was given. From among them, I chose one that was in relatively good condition and cleaned it thoroughly.

‘Let’s see. The temperature should be about right.’

In the meantime, Private First Class Jang Hong-su kept raising the heat of the oil.

There’s no risk of the ingredient burning, so it should be fine as long as the temperature is high enough.

Carefully, I put the cleaned iron plate into the oil.

Plop!

There was no sizzling frying sound that usually comes when you put food into oil.

Well, I just tossed it in without any batter.

‘Can I even call this frying?’

But coating it in batter didn’t make sense either.

Would a monster that doesn’t even eat meat find bread crumbs appealing?

In the end, the only thing I could do was give it as much of a ‘cooking’ form as possible. Naturally, the chances of success weren’t high. But still, worst case, we lose nothing, it was worth trying.

“…”

In the silence…Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the iron plate floating in the oil.

After some time had passed.

“This should be enough.”

I stuck the tongs into the oil and pulled out the iron plate.

An iron plate soaked in oil.

Then I rubbed my finger lightly over the surface.

‘Special Sauce’ was spread over the iron plate.

“For now, I guess this counts as finished…”

“Mm.”

“It doesn’t look like anything’s changed.”

The completed fried iron plate. But outwardly, it just looked a bit shinier. It still looked like nothing more than an oil-coated iron plate.

“Did it… fail?”

“Well, it can’t be helped.”

“There’s also a hardware store near the county office. It’s dangerous, but later on we could try going that way—”

Just as everyone was predicting failure.

Ding!

“No.”

“Huh?”

Along with the familiar sound.

Messages appeared before my eyes.

『The dish has been completed.』

『Low-Grade Chef’s Oil-Fried Iron Plate Filled with Defeat』

『A mixed-alloy dish infused with blended magic, creating a deeper flavor.』

『This dish was made simply. Its effects are slightly reduced.』

I grinned.

“It’s a success.”

“…!”

Messages filled my vision. Information about the completed dish flowed into my mind. Like all my dishes, it included a bunch of miscellaneous buffs, but that wasn’t what mattered.

What mattered was one thing. This greasy iron plate had been acknowledged as a dish!

『A dish that transcends the existing concept of cooking.』

But, the messages didn’t end there.

『For the first time among mankind, you have discovered a new horizon of cooking!』

『There exists a limitation of chefs that many cooks fail to realize.』

『That is, the limitation of ingredients!』

『No matter how outstanding a chef may be, it is exceedingly rare for them to attempt cooking with ingredients considered inedible.』

『The boundless possibilities of cooking have lost their shine due to small prejudices.』

『Countless great chefs have been bound by that limitation, failing to advance to the next stage and falling into frustration.』

『But you are not one of them.』

『A reward is granted for those who walk ahead.』

『Reward : The limitation of ingredients is removed.』

‘…?’

That sounded like some grand message.

Yet the reward itself was just one line.

‘What does it mean that the limitation is removed?’

I was about to check what that reward meant.

“Good heavens…”

Someone let out an awed murmur.

When I turned my gaze that way, I saw Private Lee Gong-woo. He was staring intently at the iron plate in my hand.

“Private Lee Gong-woo?”

“Do you sense something different?”

“Huh? Ah, uh.”

It wasn’t just me who heard his exclamation.

A few soldiers started asking him questions. He’d been staring blankly at the iron plate, and only then came back to his senses and replied.

“Well. Like I said earlier, we combat engineers have a trait called ‘Material Appraisal.’”

Material Appraisal, huh…It’s probably similar to my ‘Ingredient Appraisal’ trait.

Just as I can appraise ingredients, he can appraise materials.

“From what I can tell with that.”

Private Lee Gong-woo continued, looking as if he couldn’t believe it himself.

“That iron plate is basically a completely different object compared to what it was before it went into the oil.”

“A completely different object?”

The soldiers’ expressions also stiffened at that answer. Their gazes turned toward the iron plate in my hand. Outwardly, it just looked like a shinier iron plate.

‘Wait.’

Then does that mean?

“So did it become a sturdier iron plate?”

If that were the case…With this ability, we could reinforce all materials—

“Huh? No.”

“Oh.”

“As a material, its efficiency actually seems to have dropped. It’s basically unusable now.”

“Oh, is that so?”

I’d briefly thought maybe I could strengthen iron plates with my cooking. But contrary to my expectations, that didn’t seem possible.

“That’s not something to just shrug off! Just putting it into oil and taking it out changed the substance itself? This is nothing short of a miracle! It might be possible because of Sergeant Shin’s class, but seriously…”

That part was what truly shocked him.

Excited, he started rambling on about how impossible this was.

Of course, from my perspective, none of that was helpful. I let his words go in one ear and out the other as I thought.

‘So I shouldn’t mess around with cooking for other purposes.’

Cooking is cooking…I can’t mess with it for other uses.

“Well. That’s fine, I guess.”

It’s not like that was what I was aiming for in the first place.

As long as it fulfills its role as a dish, that’s enough.

I handed the completed dish to the soldiers and said.

“Feed this to the monster.”

“Is this that debuff food you showed us before?”

For the record, most of the soldiers still don’t know that my cooking can affect emotions. Since revealing that publicly wouldn’t do me any good. Because of that, the soldiers had a strange misunderstanding. The food I fed to monsters when we came down from the mountain range. They understood that as food that inflicted debuffs.

“Honestly, I’m not even sure if you can call this food.”

“It’s food. Well. It is debuff food too.”

Since the end result is basically the same, I decided to leave their misunderstanding as it was, either way, the dish was complete.

“Operation. Begin.”

* * *

We stepped back into the warehouse.

This time, however, it was a small group, unlike before. Aside from me, most of those who came along were shield-bearing warriors with exceptional defense.

We judged that intercepting it would be impossible anyway. Only defensive warriors came along, just in case.

“This is.”

“It’s back to how it was.”

The moment we reentered the warehouse, what we saw were metal scraps strewn all over the floor. The arrangement was different from the first time, but the messiness was the same.

“I wondered why it was such a mess the first time we came in.”

The monster gathers materials to form a giant shape when it detects enemies.

But does that form itself consume energy?

After repelling enemies, the gathered materials seem to scatter haphazardly again. We stood near the entrance and carefully scanned the inside of the warehouse.

“Where’s its main body?”

“Mm. I don’t see it.”

What we had to find was its main body.

The black shadow that had moved the metal scraps.

Was it hiding somewhere, buried among them?

No matter how much we looked, we couldn’t see it.

“Tch. Maybe it’ll only show itself once we get closer.”

“And it’ll probably take on that giant monster form again.”

We wanted to identify its position while it was like this, but it didn’t seem possible.

“Then we don’t have much choice.”

I stepped forward boldly.

After taking a few more steps into the warehouse.

Goooo…!

‘There it is!’

The same vibrating sound we’d heard before rang out. It seems that this sound is made by the materials vibrating. Along with the sound, black shadows spread throughout the warehouse. The warriors raised their shields, wary of the metal scraps floating in the air.

“Everyone, be careful!”

“Even if we fail, we have to protect Sergeant Shin.”

The warriors took up defensive positions around me.

From the perspective of the one being protected, it was pretty reassuring. From within that protection, I carefully observed the black shadows.

In particular, I focused on the center of the shadows.

The area where the shadows were densest. There was a place where metal scraps were gathering first, as if trying to shield something from external threats.

‘There.’

That should be where its main body is.

As I watched the giant monster form almost completely take shape.

I adjusted my grip on the iron plate I was holding.

The iron plate glistened with oil. It was still hot, with residual heat.

If I didn’t have the Fire Affinity trait, my hand might’ve been in trouble. Even so, the reason I brought it while it was still this hot was simple.

‘Food tastes better when it’s warm.’

I held the iron plate in my right hand.

I pulled my right arm back, forming an L-shape. My left arm stretched straight out in front. The only throwing posture I know, having never really played baseball.

A grenade-throwing stance.

‘Throw!’

Unlike in training, this time, the target wasn’t a target circle. It was near the monster’s main body.

The gleaming iron plate cut through the air.

As I watched that, I thought.

‘Last time, it smacked it away without hesitation, right?’

Thanks to that, my pride had taken quite a hit, but this time, it’s different. The iron plate fell near where we estimated the main body to be…Black shadows rushed toward it.

Stick!

The shadows latched onto the iron plate. The iron plate was pulled along with the shadows toward where the main body was presumed to be.

“Got it!”

After confirming that, I shouted to the soldiers.

“Run!”

“Fall back, fall back!”

“The mission’s a success, everyone fall back!”

The objective was achieved.

Without hesitation, we turned around and ran.

When I glanced back, I saw the monster staring blankly at us as we retreated. It almost felt like it was looking at us in disbelief.

‘Like I’d bother fighting you.’

The soldiers were only brought along just in case.

A fight was never part of the plan to begin with. Before the monster that had taken on its complete form could charge at us.

We completed our retreat. From a distance, we could see the monster watching us without leaving the warehouse.

We already knew that it wouldn’t pursue us.

‘And I’ve got a rough idea why.’

That thing is probably a lifeform that eats the metal scraps in the warehouse. The scraps in the warehouse are both tools to protect its body and, at the same time, basically its food supply.

‘To it, a warehouse overflowing with metal scraps is the perfect nest.’

If it leaves its territory, someone might steal its food in the meantime.

There’s no reason for it to chase intruders who are running away.

To it, humans are probably useless beings it can’t even eat.

“We managed to shake it off, at least.”

“Let’s hope this works out.”

After we completely left the monster’s territory, the soldiers spoke.

They were worried about whether the operation would work.

We succeeded in delivering the dish I made to the monster. But in the end, the operation would only succeed if it actually ate it and the effect activated properly.

Their worries were understandable, but I shrugged and said.

“It’ll work.”

“Huh?”

Unlike the anxious soldiers.

I was confident that it would work.

“You’re saying it’ll work.”

“How can you be so sure?”

To the soldiers’ questions.

My answer was simple, because I believed it would succeed.

“Who do you think made that dish?”

“Ah.”

Of course it’ll work.

* * *

And, my belief wasn’t wrong.

“Keee… keee…”

‘Man, looking at it like this…’

“It’s kind of cute, isn’t it?”