Good thing Dong-hoon hadn't touched it yet. Otherwise they wouldn't have known where to get another plate right now. The pork cutlet was quickly brought up and served to the North Korean man.
To make the vibe less tense, the lieutenant even kicked everyone outside. After that, she started hosting the guest from the north extremely warmly.
"This is the first time we've encountered a situation like this, so we might not be fully prepared. Just please try the food we made before you return to your country."
The man initially refused, over and over. But his nose couldn't avoid smelling the fragrant aroma coming off the pork cutlet. So he started picking up the chopsticks and took a bite of the first piece.
A song instantly echoed in his head. Korean pork cutlet, it's so big that you can't finish it in one bite. Then, from a gentle little girl, it shifted to the moment the flavor exploded like rock music. Crispy and delicious like Korean-style pork cutlet. Pork cutlet, pork cutlet, I really love it.
While everyone outside was stressed out, afraid they couldn't serve the North Korean guest well, a desperately agonizing scream echoed from the inside out. Everyone rushed in, only to see that North Korean man with blank eyes and fried pork batter stuck to his mouth, looking exactly like he was high on food.
In the moment of finishing the plate, he felt like he had gone back to a time of democracy and freedom, a time without being forced. As a result, he poured out a thousand-word essay talking about how delicious this dish was, and how nostalgic the taste of freedom in this place was. It was rich, creamy, and amazingly delicious.
The battalion commander, who arrived just in time, heard all that and joyfully welcomed him to our South Korea. Plus one South Korean citizen.
Even as they walked the man to the car, he was still lingering on the pork cutlet, and he asked Lieutenant Ye-jin who had made that dish. She immediately introduced Song-dae, the apprentice chef little bro who hadn't been working here for long. This man was extremely grateful, because thanks to him, he finally felt free.
After seeing the man off, the regimental commander cheered, because the nation had successfully recruited a defected soldier from North Korea. The credit, of course, had to belong to Song-dae. The battalion commander next to him also mentioned the credit for the seaweed soup dish that had sent a man to the hospital, which was also made by this kid.
You have to admit, Song-dae really had skills. The regimental commander thought that as long as this kid had dishes like that pork cutlet, defectors would quickly be won over and enlist for South Korea. He praised Song-dae exactly like that.
But when the regimental commander heard from the lieutenant and found out that Song-dae was about to be transferred by Captain Seok-ho, he gave the captain a harsh questioning for almost wasting an outstanding talent.
Hearing that, the captain immediately canceled Song-dae's transfer, which made the system that had seemed to disappear pop up again and issue a new mission. He could now track other people's feelings towards him again. The journey to becoming a legendary chef was restarted.
Everyone happily cheered for Song-dae's achievement, except for the two guys who had discovered the North Korean man. They weren't happy at all. It was clear that they had found that person first, but now they could only watch Song-dae get rewarded, with jealous eyes.
When the regimental commander left, Captain Seok-ho confidently took the credit for himself, because if those two hadn't cooked that pork cutlet for him, who knows whether the kitchen would have had anything to make the North Korean man change his mind.
The lieutenant heard that and said, sarcastically, "Yeah, right. Thanks to you not eating that plate of pork cutlet, South Korea got a new citizen."
Being reinstated, Song-dae became a main chef in the outpost and got his very own personal uniform. Dong-hoon handed it over to him and then rushed off to the bathroom. Song-dae had barely tried on those clothes when he was instantly promoted from assistant chef to chef. Countless new skills and cooking recipes were unlocked by the system.
However, this system wasn't a superpower. To master a certain skill, Song-dae would have to do it himself. For example, chopping veggies to a rhythm. Seeing the little bro struggling to cut it right, Dong-hoon stepped up to demonstrate, only to end up cutting his own hand. So that day's lunch was handled entirely by Song-dae alone, while the older bro nursed a tiny wound. Then he hid away and cried like a little girl.
Gradually, Song-dae's skills started leveling up through his veggie chopping experience. He also found out the reason why everyone in the dining hall usually trashed Dong-hoon's food like garbage. This Demon King guy would be in the middle of cooking, and when it was time to hit the gym, he would just ditch the stir-fry pan right there and go lift weights. Luckily, every time that happened, Song-dae was there to assist, which kept the dishes he cooked from having issues. As a result, everyone in the outpost ate much more happily. Seeing that his training efforts had paid off, Song-dae was extremely happy.
Then one day, while everyone was chilling in the break room, the TV broadcast the news about that North Korean man being personally welcomed by the Minister of Defense, Tae-hyun. In an era where war could break out at any time, having one more citizen join the country was considered a massive event for South Korea.
However, Song-dae didn't know that because he was doing so well, it made some people jealous and annoyed. It peaked when he went to the restroom. That buddy Moon-shik, who was also just a first-year newbie, interrogated him and messed with him there.
"Hey. Don't think that just because everyone likes you and cheers for you, you have a higher position than others."
The whole seniors bullying juniors thing was a habit everywhere. Except before this senior could finish bullying his junior, an even older senior — the bro who found the North Korean man — finished his business in the stall and showed up.
This older bro didn't like Song-dae at all either. Not to mention he hadn't even gotten a reward for discovering the North Korean man. Why the hell should a newbie chef get more favors than him?
But this Corporal Won-chul forgot about the Demon King senior in the kitchen area. As long as this punk dared to touch his precious little bro, he would show him what shoving protein in his mouth felt like. To be honest, this older bro protected his little bro like that, but it was just for his own days off anyway.
Today, the dining hall had a menu of spicy braised chicken and sauced Alaska pollock fillets. Dong-hoon mentioned that this Alaska pollock dish was a true nightmare in the military, for countless reasons. First of all, it's hard to cook and hard to remove the fishy smell. After saying that, he immediately went off to find Ms. Yoon to ask a bit about how to cook it.
However, suddenly remembering something, Dong-hoon turned around, only to see his little bro Song-dae wiping his hands in the air. The older bro was curious whether his little bro was having hallucinations from cooking too much.
Song-dae hurriedly explained. "I'm just checking my eyesight. Try it and see how many fingers I'm holding up."
Dong-hoon heard that and didn't suspect anything else. The little bro must have been under quite a lot of pressure lately from being bullied.
Suddenly, because of the incident where the North Korean man joined South Korea just because of Song-dae's pork cutlet, everyone had to clean up the place spotlessly, because a congressman was personally coming to check what was really going on.