With Dong-hoon in charge, there were people who couldn't take it and simply left the dining hall. Those who were afraid of eating the ladle tried to grin and bear it, but the taste was like dragon crap, so everyone spat water all over each other's faces.
By chance, today the commander of the fourth company also dropped by this middle of nowhere outpost, where the most useless talents discarded from every other team gathered.
Luckily, Seok-ho was there. He quickly reported the news back to Lieutenant Ye-jin. Even though she had just come off her shift and had planned to visit home for once, having no other choice, she could only head back to the kitchen area before things got even worse.
Arriving, she only saw the new recruit kid standing there alone, looking totally lost like a baby chick. When asked where Dong-hoon was, it turned out he had already gone off shift too. Dong-hoon was in the reading room, checking out which hot girls nearby were cute and famous.
With no other choice, Ye-jin also tried the soup that Dong-hoon had cooked. The taste was like dragon crap. She couldn't hope for anything else, because Song-dae was just a new recruit himself.
Right at this moment, a new mission panel popped up in front of Song-dae. Cook for the captain of the fourth team and complete cooking the first dish.
Song-dae was determined in this situation. He asked the lieutenant for permission to try his hand at cooking, just once. The lieutenant was super surprised. Oh well. Better than nothing. She just hoped he wouldn't destroy the military zone the way that Demon King bro did.
And so, following the system's instructions, Song-dae started picking out the ingredients laid out in front of him. Step by step, he made the beef and seaweed stew. Remembering that the beef had all been cooked by Dong-hoon in the morning, the system instantly changed the recipe based on the food available in the fridge. Since only sea urchin roe was left that matched with seaweed soup, the dish now changed into sea urchin roe and seaweed stew.
From there, the sea urchin and seaweed soup was quickly whipped up by Song-dae. Due to the increased difficulty, the dish that came out had a three-star level, with an extra half star added for creativity.
After the dish was done, Dong-hoon came back, and he realized that the inspector from the other day and the fourth company captain were already here. Not to mention, through the lieutenant's words, he found out that every dish currently being served had been cooked by Song-dae.
Well then. Little bro practically took a bullet for him. I will be grateful to you for the rest of my life.
When the fourth team commander took the very first bite, he felt that this dish was pretty delicious. So he scooped up a second bite. Right after eating it, he went into a huge seizure.
The situation made everyone panic, not knowing what to do. And Song-dae felt like he had just committed an unforgivable crime.
After the fourth team commander passed out, he was quickly loaded into an ambulance and taken to the nearest emergency room before it was too late. And our Song-dae, because the dish he had just made caused the captain to choke, ended up being taken away for investigation, too.
By the time the fourth company captain woke up, Captain Seok-ho and the inspector asked if he was okay, and if the stuff had kicked in like it did for Mu-rae. They only saw the captain mumbling about the clouds in the sky, which made the two older guys so terrified they called the doctor over right away.
In the captain's vision right at that moment, Song-dae appeared like a seaweed angel, blending in perfect harmony with the sea urchin roe. That dish could have been absolutely perfect for him, until a wave of fine dust made the captain fall back down to Earth.
According to the doctor who came to check on him, the fourth company captain had simply had a little trouble breathing, due to an anaphylactic shock from the perilla powder in the soup bowl.
Actually, there was absolutely nothing wrong with that soup. Even Lieutenant Ye-jin had tried it and thought it was delicious. Yet Seok-ho and the inspector still wanted to discipline Song-dae. Luckily, the captain gave an order.
"If you two touch the kid, you two will have to answer to me."
Right now, Song-dae was being punished with push-ups by the vice platoon leader alongside the older bro Dong-hoon, for the crime of one guy ditching while leaving the other to cook. Lieutenant Ye-jin asked the captain to let these two boys off the hook, because the dining hall was actually under her management. Because of that, the two boys were temporarily let off.
At the same time, the system appeared in front of him, notifying Song-dae that the second mission was complete, unlocking a new skill. He could now read the emotions of the people around him.
Song-dae immediately used the new skill, looked around, and saw that the older bro Dong-hoon was at a forty percent anger level. The vice platoon leader was at a whopping sixty percent over this incident.
Suddenly a phone call came in for the vice platoon leader. Captain Seok-ho was calling to summon these two kitchen brothers up for a lecture.
"I am extremely disappointed, because you two were careless in choosing the ingredients. Not to mention, in the military you have to cook by the book. Changing ingredients on your own without permission is literally breaking the dining hall's rules."
Seok-ho asked Dong-hoon who had put that sea urchin ingredient into the fridge. He remembered trying to stop the master sergeant that time, but Sergeant Park had just told him to shut up.
"I just put a little roe in there. That's all."
Seok-ho, knowing this, could only sigh, not expecting this guy to use the dining hall fridge like his personal fridge. He still warned the two of them that if this incident happened again, he would probably kick both of them out.
That night, while prepping ingredients, Dong-hoon planned to teach Song-dae a lesson so he wouldn't touch the kitchen on his own again. But he got called by Private Moon-shik from the communications department, saying the master sergeant had something to say to him. As soon as Sergeant Park grabbed the phone, he cursed Dong-hoon out aggressively. Song-dae just watched Dong-hoon's anger level steadily rising, feeling like the older bro could murder his own buddy on the spot.
This time, because of Song-dae's incident, the captain had a discussion with the master sergeant about transferring him somewhere else. He was afraid that if Song-dae kept staying in the kitchen, the assistant chef would cause unimaginable consequences.
So that night, the captain personally brought the newly enlisted little bro up to a high guard tower. The captain asked Song-dae if he had heard of TOD. This meant thermal observation device, a surveillance system used to monitor potential North Korean submarines or dark ships on the sea at night.
"As long as you can be confident in yourself, I believe you can succeed anywhere, as long as it's within your duty."
The captain's point was way too clear. He wanted Song-dae to move to another department instead of the kitchen.
Right at that moment, an emergency quest appeared in front of Song-dae.
Warrior, please complete the emergency quest within seventy-two hours.
There were four main mission goals to complete within three days. Otherwise, Song-dae would lose the chance to become a legendary chef.