Martial Arts Returnee's Game Broadcast-Chapter 310: World’s Best Martial Arts Competition
3.
In Geumsu was growing desperate.
“I’m a current chef! Those who want to form a group, come to me quickly!”
No matter what, if they didn’t gather five people quickly, they would be disqualified in the preliminary round.
“Me! Let’s do it together!”
“I’ve been cooking on my own for ten years!”
“Hey, I’m a housewife of 25 years. My husband always says my cooking is so good that he finishes his rice bowl clean.”
“I’m an active Awakener. I’m good with knives, so I can handle ingredient prep.”
High school students, college students, housewives, and active Awakeners. In Geumsu quickly gathered four people in line and led them into the cooking station.
Click!
[Booth 313 entry complete] [Those who formed groups, please scan your wristband ID tag at the scanner.] [Group 113 - In Geumsu, Lee Yoo-jung, Jo Cheol-bong, Kim Mi-ae, Do Gwang-gi] [This instant cooking station is sponsored by Ilsung Furniture and is equipped with the latest cooking technology.] [Here’s the user manual for the storage and integrated cooking functions.]
“What the hell, why does the manual have more than 30 pages?!”
A high-tech product combining advanced science and Awakener technology, and a user manual that was unnecessarily complicated!
“I’ll figure it out. Move aside. First, the ingredients—wait, where are the ingredients? There’s only cooking tools, no ingredients at all?”
While the college student and housewife silently stared at the manual, which looked like it would take 20 minutes to read, In Geumsu realized that securing ingredients was far more important.
Silent Swordsman. The more he looked into it, the more he felt like he had been caught by Tenryeon (Ten Years) from the start. But to have this much trouble right from the beginning?!
“Lee Yoo-jung and Jo Cheol-bong, stay at the station. You two, take the baskets and follow me. We need to get ingredients!”
Unlike an omakase chef, who comfortably serves customers with pre-prepared ingredients, the life of a tournament participant was a struggle. There were no carefully prepared A++ ingredients, and he had to compete with many rivals for the ingredients directly at the food stalls!
“Huff, huff...”
“Ugh, why is it so far?”
Though In Geumsu was the first to form his group, the cooking station was located farthest from the food stalls. By the time he arrived, the place was a war zone.
“Hey, leave that!”
“Where do you think you’re touching?!”
“What should I use this paprika for?”
“I don’t know, just grab it.”
“Whoa, there’s MSG?”
“Is it allowed in the competition?”
“There’s instant noodles too?”
“Hey, let’s put the ramen soup in the stew! Grab all the ramen!”
“Don’t push, lady!”
The scene looked like a chaotic market—fighting to get in and grabbing ingredients!
“Chef, what were we supposed to do again?”
“One stir-fry, one soup, and one noodle dish! Housewives, get the green onions, shiitake mushrooms, carrots for the seafood porridge, and bok choy, onions, and peppers for the stir-fry!”
“Ah, that’s nothing.”
Kim Mi-ae, a 15-year veteran housewife from a discount food corner, showed her fierce fighting spirit!
At first, In Geumsu wondered what kind of people would participate in a cooking competition like this, but choosing Kim Mi-ae, who excelled at ingredient procurement, was a stroke of genius.
“Chef, is there anything else we need to get?”
“Please get these seasonings too!”
Kim Mi-ae, receiving the ingredient list, rushed off quickly.
‘The crazy fish in the seafood corner are the ones that couldn’t adapt to the tanks. The good ones are the ones calmly floating around.’
While she was securing the seafood, In Geumsu, who had the most critical task of selecting seafood, picked his own. Similarly, he wanted to select meats from the meat section himself, but due to time constraints, he had to leave it to Do Gwang-gi, the Awakener.
“I got it.”
“It’s not a complete miss. Let’s head back.”
Thanks to securing a great team and gathering the ingredients quickly, In Geumsu was able to move swiftly.
“Wait! Those are the ingredients we were going to pick!”
“Yeah! Give the ingredients back right now!”
“Who the hell is touching my basket of ingredients? ...Oh?”
Men wearing arm bands labeled [Black Path Low-Level Operatives] targeted In Geumsu’s basket.
‘These bastards must be trying to get me disqualified, did the guild leader give them orders? They’re serious about this!’
As cold sweat formed on In Geumsu’s hand gripping the basket, it happened.
Swish!
“Ah! Look, they drew a knife!”
“Are they crazy?”
Do Gwang-gi, one of the team members, drew his knife.
“I’ll handle the ingredient prep. If you interfere, I’ll cut you.”
“Hey, you crazy bastard! Does ‘using a knife’ mean using it like that?!”
Of course, his name was already suspiciously weird!
LOLIngredient (person)Owner of the Human Flesh Guesthouse, hahahaIsn’t this an instant disqualification?Cooking people in a cooking competition, lol
Just by looking at the chat on the sponsored wall-mounted TV, In Geumsu felt his stomach drop. He started thinking if he should kick Do Gwang-gi out of the group and pretend it wasn’t his fault. But by the time videos of them were uploaded, it was too late to pretend.
“Damn, this arrogant bastard!”
“Using a knife against a martial artist like that? What a dirty swordsman. I’ll get you next time!”
The troublemakers mumbled like they were from some low-level gang and ran off. Do Gwang-gi, after effortlessly swinging his knife and sheathing it, stood coolly.
“Wow!”
“He’s awesome.”
“We should find someone who uses a knife like that.”
Clap, clap, clap.
Other participants around them clapped, and the audience cheered loudly.
“Hurry up, Chef.”
“What are you doing, Chef? Let’s cook!”
Am I the one who’s strange? Why am I the only one feeling so perplexed?
In Geumsu cursed silently at the Silent Swordsman and the Haenam faction, thinking how strange this cooking tournament was.
4.
“Booth 45, materials all submitted due to interference from Stage 1 street thugs!”
“Booth 112, unable to handle the disruption from Stage 2 third-rate martial artists, time lost!”
“Booth 75, cooking time exceeded 30 minutes! Stage 3 assault from a second-rate villain leader begins!”
The laughter in the judges' seats was nonstop.
“Hahaha! This is insane. How did they implement disruption events so thoroughly for every passing minute in a cooking competition?”
“Hehe. I’m a little embarrassed by the praise. This was my idea.”
Ujiwoo scratched his head and smiled warmly, and the other judges chuckled awkwardly.
“True to the Haenam faction, who are famous for martial arts tournaments, plastic surgery, and streaming, their judging abilities are as good as any variety show production!”
“Are you sure you didn’t come from being a variety show PD? Haha.”
At this comment from one of the judges, who was actually a former TV variety PD, the atmosphere in the judges’ seats turned lighthearted.
“Surprisingly, the balance is well-maintained. The chefs are usually tough in the kitchen, so they won’t easily be pushed around.”
“Chefs who suddenly jumped into the food industry after retiring without preparation might struggle though.”
The judges evaluated the tournament from a professional perspective. It was a bit strange and unfamiliar, but overall, they concluded that it was a well-planned competition with real differentiators.
Updat𝓮d fr𝙤m ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com.
In Geumsu thought to himself.
‘This doesn’t seem like something Ha Eung Eung would’ve planned with such professionalism.’
Maybe Ujiwoo just heard the idea and thought it sounded fun and decided to go for it. But with so many sponsorship deals and elements interfering, In Geumsu couldn’t shake the suspicion.
“But In Geumsu is hanging in there pretty well. His dishes are turning out decent.”
Since most of the participants were amateurs, the skills of the professional chefs were bound to stand out. The only variables that could cause a chef’s elimination were trolling by group members or penalties due to time delays.
But even those experienced chefs could manage their group members and finish the dish quickly, so there was no real concern of unfair elimination in the preliminary rounds.
“Ah, Booth 78, the speed of eating the hamburger is too slow! If this keeps up, they’ll be disqualified!”
“Booth 1084 has forfeited!”
“There are more disqualifications from the audience than the participants! Is this even okay?”
The audience had to worry about being disqualified.
LOLThe disaster I expectedI told you, right? Watching live is hell?Seriously, they’re giving away so much, hahahaDidn’t the people who came to watch actually want to pay the ticket fee?This section is only for food lovers. If you eat less than five servings, you need to leave.I’m so pissed that the pancakes have no soy sauce.Just eat the soy sauce chicken, it’s fine.
<Profiling Expert donated 10,000 won!>
Food lovers think differently. They just eat, so why is it a problem?
LOLWords of wisdomThe quote of the year, agreed!
“Alright! The cooking time is over. Anyone who touches the dish from now on will be disqualified.”
It was the judging time for the preliminary round.
500 participants had been disqualified, but 1200 audience members had been eliminated.
It was a strange broadcast where there were more disqualifications among the live audience than the actual competitors.
