Underworld Restaurant Chapter 3.1

Alt. t.i.tle: 정승 식당
Author: 형상준 (Hyeong Sangjun)

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Translator: VoidChaos

This chapter is still unedited, help me wish our dear editor quinnkid a quick recovery from her fever! ❤️

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When Kangjin's parents left him in an accident 17 years ago, his relatives left him to fend for himself in an orphanage.

The only property his parents left him was a Jeonse[1] house… But it was loaned so the bank took it away, and his relatives doesn't even want to think of raising their nephew for nothing.

His relatives told him that the orphanage will take care of him until he graduates from highschool, in fact no one even came to see him even when he reached adulthood.

To be honest, he didn't want his relatives to come because life at the orphanage wasn't really that bad.

After that, he went to university and lived his daily life through part-time jobs. 

That's why Kangjin wants to make this building into his own property.

Kangjin was surveying his new house. In a room that was used as a storage there were miscellaneous items like electric fans.

There's also a small bed and a wardrobe filled with housekeeping items.

He went around and looked through the rooms.

“Well, there's not a single photo around.”

Usually, even if you live alone, there should be at least one picture hanging but even if he went around the whole house he couldn't find a single picture.

“Madame Kim Bokrae… How did she learn of me and even leave a building to me?”

Kangjin continued looking around, opening closets and drawers, it was completely clean of any items. 

“Were the items left by the deceased taken care of already?” 

The furniture Madame Kim Bokrae used were left but aside from that there were nothing else.

While he was searching around here and there, Kangjin accidentally caught a glimpse of the time. It was already two o'clock in the afternoon. 

“The restaurant…” 

While thinking about the opening of the restaurant, Kangjin immediately came downstairs.

He's going to stay and open a business in this building for five years, he has to get familiar with how the restaurant looks like.

Kangjin looked around the restaurant.

“They don't have any menu board too… What in the world am I supposed to sell?” 

Usually restaurants have a menu board hanging on their walls. But there were only tables and chairs on the first floor.

He went and checked the kitchen.

It is an open kitchen where you can see the hall from the inside.

Kangjin has only been in the student's dormitory and has never been in a real kitchen before so he was a bit unfamiliar with it. 

“Doing this is actually quite stifling.” 

He has never operated a restaurant nor has he cooked something before… It will be suffocating to try and manage a restaurant for five years. 

Kangjin opened the refrigerator for a second. There were a lot of ingredients in the large restaurant's refrigerator.

“It seems like Madame Kim Bokrae has a neat and tidy personality.” 

He already thought of it since the house was well organized, but looking at the refrigerator that is well maintained and organized gave him this conclusion. 

“It would be nice if I could make money while doing this business too…” 

Even though the rules say that the sales doesn't need to be good, he thought that it would still be nice to make money while working.

Of course he wouldn't kick out someone who doesn't have any money but he should get paid for the food that he will make, after all Gangnam is the richest city in Korea.

‘But there are still people out there who don't have any money to eat.'

Kangjin finished cleaning the kitchen while thinking about these things.

“Well… What should I sell first?”

The ingredients are not a problem since there are plenty in the refrigerator, but the problem lies in Kangjin's skills in food making.

He may be living alone for almost ten years however, he has lived his high school life relying on his knowledge of cooking ramen and fried eggs.

Kangjin smacked his lips while he looked inside the refrigerator. He has almost all of the ingredients but he doesn't know what to do.

“Well, it'll work out somehow. There's meat here too…” 

He shot the fridge door closed and looked towards the kitchen while mumbling. He'll first try to familiarize himself with the kitchen so he can do business.

“Saucepan, frying pan, ladle…” 

Kangjin saw a stack of what seems to be practice books while he was looking at the heaps of bowls. 

“What's this?” 

He picked one up and opened it.

Ingredients: Garlic, cooking oil, cold rice

Mince garlic and slightly stir fry in cooking oil. When the garlic starts to be fragrant… 

Garlic is a food with lots of yang energy[2] so when you eat it you will feel warm.>

Kangjin saw something strange the moment he read the recipe book. 

‘Huh?'

Why does he feel like the words of the books look like it will scatter and disappear? Kangjin rubbed his eyes. 

‘What's wrong with me?' 

He rubbed his eyes once more and looked at the practice book again. The words in the book remained the same as if the words before were just an illusion.

“I guess I might have been out of my mind. I mean I got 2.5 billion as an inheritance while I'm sober and that's the weirdest thing here.” 

Kangjin muttered as he turned over another page to look for a different menu.

Ingredients: Garlic, Pork, Lime

Mince the garlic and stir fry in a little bit of cooking oil. Once the fragrance of the garlic comes out then start frying the pork… 

Lime enhances the flavor of the food for those who haven't tasted it in a long time.>

When he looked at the recipe's picture, Kangjin felt the strange phenomenon again.

The writing changed and scattered and disappeared again. 

He rubbed his eyes again and the writings were still there.

“Am I that tired?” 

Kangjin shook his head and looked at the other practice books. 

All of the recipes are written in the thick practice books.

“Maybe the Madame made these cooking notes. I'll just look at these and do something from here.”

These are good recipes for Kangjin who only knows how to cook fried eggs and ramen.

Furthermore, the explanations were very detailed so it looks like it is not that difficult to make. 

Kangjin started taking out the garlic and meat so he can try and cook.

It was his first time trying to cook but strangely enough it feels like his hands can do it naturally. 

‘Do I have the talent for cooking?' 

After all if you think about it, it's strange to the point that he has only seen the recipe once but he can still make the food well.

The kitchen knife moved naturally in his hands. The excited Kangjin stir fried the garlic in the oil then added the rice once the fragrance of the garlic came out.

The rice bucket was empty but luckily there was instant rice available so he was able to make it.

After a few minutes, Kangjin added a bit of soy sauce as seasoning and tasted the garlic fried rice he made.

“It tastes good.” 

He can't say that it's incredibly delicious but, considering that the ingredients he used are only rice and garlic it is really good.

Especially the mild fragrance of the garlic that came out, it's the best. Kangjin took out a kimchi can out of the refrigerator and put some on top of his rice.

Munch! Munch! 

The kimchi was just the right kind of crunchy and the sourness of it whetted his appet.i.te.

Even with just one piece of kimchi, the flavor of the dish was extremely elevated. Kangjin smiled as he emptied the bowl of garlic fried rice in his hands.

“This recipe is amazing.” 

All he did was follow the recipe so how can it taste so good.

So Kangjin also tried making the garlic pork stir-fry. Besides, he also likes the taste of the said dish.

Garlic and lime gives the fat of the pork a refreshing taste.

“Ha, this recipe is good to sell for lunch.”

Both the garlic fried rice and the garlic pork stir-fry are okay to sell.

After personally making and tasting the food, Kangjin felt like he can do a good job making delicious food.

After filling his belly, he quickly washed the dishes in the sink.

Footnotes:

[1] Jeonse : A housing rental system unique to SoKor where you pay an initial deposit of 50-80% or an approximate payment of 2 years. For more info you can read

[2] Yang Energy : From the yin and yang theory. Yang is full of positive and bright energy. You can read more about yang energy

Recipes:

Garlic Fried Rice

This recipe has the closest ingredients with the novel. Kek. Also I'm biased because I'm from the PH.

***

Garlic Pork Stir-fry

This is the closest recipe I can find for stir fried pork with lime. I mean they didn't really specify what recipe but if you want to replicate it well this is our best bet.