WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Chapter 20: Money Follows Naturally (2)

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Light City had the worst wealth gap of any city in the world.

To put a number on it, the difference between the innermost district and the outskirts, judged purely by land prices, was roughly the gap between a slum in a developing nation and the capital of a developed one. The saying that the air itself changed quality the closer you got to the center of Light City wasn't a joke.

And the place Kang Jin-ho and Park Eun-yeong had arrived at now sat just off that innermost core, in one of the choicest patches of land ringing the center.

The shops here catered to what people called Light City's "middle class." Of course, by any global standard, Light City's middle class already counted as the wealthiest of the wealthy.

"Right this way."

The Chef, where the old man served as manager, was different from the entrance onward.

Marble floors gleaming softly, an ornate chandelier crowning the ceiling, soaring ceilings, tables spaced generously apart... and to top it all off, classical music drifting quietly through the air.

Wow...

Kang Jin-ho felt like the whole space lacked reality somehow. He'd never been anywhere like this in his life, and he'd never expected to, either.

Maybe that was why. His mind settled into a strange calm instead. It turned out that when something felt unreal enough, it swung back around into composure.

"Jin-ho, this place is really something, isn't it?"

"It is."

"You don't look very excited."

"I'm too nervous to feel nervous, somehow."

"Ha, is that so?"

Park Eun-yeong, meanwhile, looked completely at ease. She simply smiled up at the silverware on the table and the chandelier overhead, seemingly untouched by the intimidating weight of the space.

The old man leading the way glanced back at them now and then, quietly impressed.

People from the outskirts of Light City usually shrank a little when they came into the center, but these two carried themselves with total confidence, not a shred of hesitation between them. Was it because they worked the front lines as police, or were the two of them simply unusually bold?

"Ahem, ahem."

The old man cleared his throat, then stopped near the staff changing room and turned around.

"You must be hungry, so let's start with the meal. We can discuss the commission once you've eaten. Ah, please change into these clothes first, so as not to make the other guests uncomfortable. Driver Kim, do we have spare suits on hand?"

"Yes, I'll bring them right away."

Driver Kim brought out the suits, and Park Eun-yeong and Kang Jin-ho each changed in a staff room.

"Since this is a work matter, I'll skip the wine pairing. Any other requests?"

"Ah, please don't mention to the chef that police officers are here."

"Understood. Enjoy your meal."

The old manager led the two of them to an elegant VIP table.

"Are we really allowed to eat something like this?"

"Why not?"

Kang Jin-ho wondered whether accepting hospitality this lavish was appropriate for a police officer, but fortunately Light City had no law against it, and since it counted as gathering information for an investigation, it was considered acceptable.

"Wow, this is really good."

"Right? They know how to cook here."

The meal was excellent. From the beautifully plated appetizer to the fragrant soup, Kang Jin-ho couldn't stop marveling as he ate, the elegant atmosphere paired with genuinely fantastic flavor.

But then.

"Your steaks are ready. They're hot, so please be careful."

The silver domes were lifted away, and the main course, the tenderloin steak, was finally served.

"...Huh?"

Park Eun-yeong's expression went flat as she cut into her meat. Her face, usually bright with a smile, carried a hint of something like bloodlust now.

Seeing that, Kang Jin-ho cut his own steak in half to check.

"..."

The meat was cooked through completely. Past well done, so dry and stiff it looked like every drop of juice had vanished from it.

But Park Eun-yeong had clearly ordered hers rare. Kang Jin-ho glanced down at the floor without drawing attention to it. The shadow around Eun-yeong was churning violently.

Failing at doneness control in a restaurant this high-end was unthinkable. And it wasn't even a case of confusing medium with rare. Someone had cooked it clean through, every time.

"Ah, I see everyone's received their steaks."

Just then, the door opened and the old manager stepped in, his expression grim. He glanced sideways at the halved steaks and squeezed his eyes shut.

"As you can see... this has been happening for several days now. Every steak served to a guest comes out overcooked, without exception. Naturally, the restaurant's reputation has taken a nosedive, and cancellations have been piling up."

The old man was trying his best to sound composed, but his voice was full of anger he couldn't quite hide.

"The chef insists he isn't the culprit, that he wants to prove his innocence, and he's been personally grilling every single steak himself for days now, but the result is exactly what you see. So I've started to suspect our competitor, Le Grand, may have put him up to it."

"Even if Le Grand put him up to it, would he really try to ruin the reputation of a restaurant he's worked at for over twenty years?"

Park Eun-yeong asked, her face expressionless. The old man let out a sigh and answered.

"Actually, there was a dispute a while back. Over the menu, of all things. And wouldn't you know it, the steaks started coming out like this right after that. I want to trust the chef, but he gets sensitive while cooking and refuses to let anyone into the kitchen at all..."

The old man wanted to believe in his chef as much as he could, but no outsiders allowed in the kitchen during cooking, no recording equipment either, everything must remain under the head chef's control, that kind of stubborn insistence only fed the old man's suspicion further.

"Couldn't the waiter serving the food have done something along the way?"

Eun-yeong asked, poking at the tough piece of meat with her fork. She looked like an animal toying with a small mouse.

"Some people with powers can change the temperature of objects, right? If the waiter used a heating ability while carrying the plate from the kitchen to the table, they could cook the meat through almost instantly."

Her point was sharp, but the old man shook his head bitterly.

"Of course I suspected that too. Serving is the easiest moment to cook the meat through unnoticed. So I replaced every single serving waiter over the past few days."

"And it made no difference?"

"None. I hired entirely new waiters with verified backgrounds, and Driver Kim and I even monitored them through the ceiling cameras, but the result was identical. No one touches the meat between the moment it leaves the kitchen and the moment it reaches the table, and yet every time we lift the lid, it's the same."

The old man sighed.

"I even thought it might genuinely be some ranged heat ability, so I shuffled the staff's work hours around, but the meat comes out cooked through consistently, regardless of who's on shift."

If what the old man said was true, it seemed unlikely that anyone outside the kitchen was tampering with the meat.

"If the staff outside aren't the culprits, then wouldn't it have to be someone inside the kitchen ruining the meat before it goes out?"

"Wait, but isn't there a sure way to check?"

Eun-yeong tapped her lips with a finger, smiling like a cat.

"If you cut the meat open the moment it comes out of the kitchen, you'd be able to tell whether it was cooked through on the inside or from some outside interference."

"...I considered that too. But there's a problem."

The old man poured himself a glass of water, throat evidently dry, and drank before speaking quietly.

"If I did something like that, it would be an open declaration of war. And if it turns out the chef isn't the culprit, I'll have made a mistake I can never take back."

"So you're saying it would shatter the chef's pride."

Eun-yeong tilted her head, looking intrigued.

"He's been my chef for twenty years. If I go picking apart a plate before it even leaves the kitchen for the dining hall, that would be the worst insult imaginable to a cook. That's why I brought this to the two of you."

The old man looked back and forth between Kang Jin-ho and Park Eun-yeong, his eyes pleading.

"Please, uncover the truth. Find clear evidence that the chef is the culprit, or evidence that proves beyond doubt that he isn't."

His voice trembled faintly as he went on. His head understood the chef was a suspect, but some corner of his heart still wanted to trust the colleague he'd shared so many years with.

"Ah... it takes me back to when we first opened the doors of The Chef. Back then, that friend of mine and I were clumsy at everything..."

Emotion welling up, the old man seemed about to launch into a story from the past.

"Well, there's a way to catch the culprit, actually."

Kang Jin-ho said, arms crossed, sounding entirely confident.

Because this case was one he remembered.

Footnotes:

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