Escaping the Mystery Hotel

- Lee Eunsol

I was already unsettled by the state of the ingredients, and now I had to eat 12 dishes. That was shocking.

“Hey! Hey! Be reasonable. I’m not a competitive eater; how am I supposed to eat 12 dishes?”

“Why couldn’t you?”

This guy, or rather this monster, had finally gone mad.

“You told me to judge fairly, didn’t you? I’ve never even eaten more than three plates at a buffet, and now you expect me to eat 12 all of a sudden?”

“Oh! You mean your stomach’s capacity is limited?”

“Of course it is!”

“If that’s the case, you needn’t worry.”

The Merchant proudly pulled out several pills from his hand.

“…”

“You can take one of these after each dish. It will solve any stomach issues. It will also prevent any lingering effects from one dish affecting the evaluation of the next. By the way, each dish will be served on the Hotel’s special plate, so there’s no worry about the next dish getting cold or losing flavor while you eat the current one.”

At this point, it wasn’t even worth questioning the existence of such pills or plates.

This was the Hotel; anything could happen.

But the thought of eating 12 dishes, cooked in a kitchen that emitted such ominous noises, made me close my eyes.

“Hyung! Do cows normally have noses on their legs?”

“Oh, for crying out loud! Seungyub! I told you to get rid of that!”

“Unni, do mushrooms usually move on their own?”

“Eek! Songee, that’s not a mushroom!”

“I don’t have to eat this, right? Phew, thank goodness.”

“Eunsol has to eat it.”

Kain, seriously!

You’re relieved that you don’t have to eat?

I felt sick before even seeing the food!

“Merchant~! Merchant~!”

“Oh? Participant Kim Ahri, do you have something to say?”

“Can you extend the cooking time a bit? The ingredients are so weird that prepping them takes forever. Ah! The shrimp just split in two, and another shrimp came out of it!”

“That’s a Hotel specialty, the ‘Splitting Shrimp’. If all participants agree, the cooking time can be extended—”

“We all agree.”

The cooking time was extended to 1 hour and 30 minutes.

But that didn’t guarantee that anyone would produce food fit for humans.

Why can’t there just be regular shrimp instead of “Splitting Shrimp”?

I covered my face with both hands and waited.

1 hour and 30 minutes wasn’t that long.

***

After the cooking time ended, my comrades gathered with eight plates covered with silver lids.

- Clatter! Clatter!

“…”

“Haha! Participant Park Seungyub? Your dish seems quite… fresh.”

“No matter how much I hit it, it wouldn’t die.”

“So, you just plated it as it was?”

Dear Buddha!

What is it now?!

“Chef Lee Eunsol.”

“…”

“Chef Lee Eunsol?”

“Yeah…”

“Please put on the hat for judging. It will help with honest evaluation.”

A hat?

Now that I thought about it, there had been a hat on the table since I got here.

Does it have some significance, or is it just for show?

What do they mean by “help with honest evaluation”?

“Participants, please bring your dishes in the order I call. First, Participant Kim Mooksung?”

Hearing Grandpa’s name made me feel reassured.

From our conversations over the past few months, I knew he had a lot of life experience and some knowledge of cooking!

Sure enough, before the lid on the plate in front of me was even lifted, a pleasant smell reached me.

“Grandpa, what is this dish?”

“You’ll see. It’s just steamed seafood, so don’t worry.”

Just as he said, the dish on the plate was a mix of various shellfish, octopus, and fish, well-cooked.

Maybe out of consideration for the amount of food I would have to eat, he made a smaller portion.

I appreciated that.

“…”

“How do I score this?”

“However you see fit.”

“Grandpa! Well done. My score is… 8 out of 10. There’s no fishy smell, the seasoning is just right, and the flavors are rich and well-balanced. The texture of the clams and the refreshing broth were both excellent.”

Grandpa tilted his head at my comment.

“I pride myself on my seafood steaming skills, so an 8 feels a bit low… Can I ask why two points were deducted even though you said it was good?”

Before I could answer, the Merchant interrupted.

“Participant Kim Mooksung!”

“…”

“Please address the chef properly.”

“…May I ask why two points were deducted?”

The answer was simple.

“The octopus is too fresh.”

The octopus I lifted with my chopsticks was fully cooked, white all over, but its legs moved sluggishly.

If I weren’t someone who regularly enjoyed live octopuses, I would have thrown up at the sight of this!

“What the… I cut off its head and legs and boiled it for 20 minutes, so why isn’t it dead?”

The Merchant added with a hint of amusement, “Haha! Participant, the Hotel’s specialty octopus is highly resistant to heat. However, it’s weak to cold, so it needs to be frozen to kill it beforehand—”

“Stop with the nonsense already!”

Grandpa grumbled and left the table.

After taking one of the pills beside me, the feeling of fullness vanished, and my mouth felt refreshed.

Next up was Elena.

“Whew! Everyone else seemed to struggle with weird ingredients, right? But not all the pantry items were strange. I chose normal ingredients, so you’ll definitely like my dish, Unni.”

Just hearing that reassured me.

As soon as I saw the pinkish soup in Elena’s dish, I recognized it: borscht, a traditional Eastern European soup.

The distinct pink color comes from beets, and the creamy texture was thanks to smetana, think of it as sour cream.

True to Elena’s words, there were no unpleasant surprises like squids swimming in the soup.

I slowly emptied the dish with my spoon.

“Elena, I’ll give you points for using good ingredients. I’m glad there weren’t any squirming onions or anything.”

“Thank you!”

“Did you learn this recipe from your mother?”

“Not exactly. I picked it up naturally while growing up. We eat this a lot.”

“So, you’ve made it for others before?”

“Yes. I made it for my father and even some friends I made in Korea.”

“And they all liked it?”

“Of course.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

“…Pardon?”

“They probably couldn’t tell you the truth when looking at your face. Or maybe they’d never had borscht before and assumed this bizarre taste was normal. Sorry to say, but I have had borscht before. Thankfully, you didn’t learn this from your mother. Otherwise, she’d be shocked if she were ever to try this dish.”

“W-what? What are you saying?!”

“The ingredients are great, the presentation is clean, and I can see you put thought into it. Everything’s good except for one thing. ‘Flavor’. From now on, only make borscht for close friends. Only they can keep eating it without saying anything.”

“Whatttttt!”

“My score is 5. Move along, next person!”

Elena stood in shock, her mouth agape, while the others looked dazed.

Soon, I felt dizzy, too.

“Ahhhh! What is this? Hey, Merchant! What’s going on?”

“What do you mean?”

“The moment I tasted the dish, my mouth started talking on its own! I didn’t say anything; I was still picking my words—”

“Haha! Didn’t I mention that the hat would help with honest evaluation?”

“What does that even—”

“The Hotel is concerned about fairness in participant evaluations. The Hotel deems things such as personal connection, favoritism, and grudges as things that would hinder an honest evaluation. Thus, just because you’re close, you won’t be able to sugarcoat your words, nor should you unleash harsh criticisms stemming from a grudge.”

I was speechless!

Next up was Songee’s dish.

She seemed very cautious, probably because she’d just watched me, or rather this crazy hat, make Elena cry in real-time.

“Uh, Unni. I originally wanted to make kimchi fried rice…”

“But there was no kimchi?”

“Y-yeah… There was gochu garu ¹, but no gochujang ².”

“So, what is this? Cabbage instead of kimchi? Seasoned with soy sauce?”

“Yes, think of it as cabbage soy sauce fried rice.”

“A dish without any roots, huh?”

“…”

I finished the dish.

“Well, at least the ingredients didn’t squirm. The level of stir-frying is decent enough.”

“Phew, that’s a relief.”

“But did you taste this before serving?”

“Huh?”

“Did the cabbage swim in seawater before you fried it? This is the saltiest fried rice I’ve ever eaten! And what’s with the egg on top? It’s burnt to a crisp! Even people from the Stone Age could control fire better than you!”

Songee looked like she was about to fly away from my shouting, then scurried off with a pitiful expression.

Her score was 4.

The kitchen was in chaos!

The next dish came from Ahri.

“I’m not going to say anything.”

When I opened the lid, a beef stew appeared.

As soon as I took a bite, the unknown, sharp-tongued energy the hat had been feeding me disappeared!

The meat was so tender it melted in my mouth, and the fragrant scent of bay leaves and an array of vegetables made every bite a delight.

The rich, flavorful stew made me wish there was more of it.

“A-Ahri!”

“Yeah?”

“It’s amazing! What is this? It’s so good! Have you ever worked as a chef?”

“Well, what’s my score?”

“No need to say it. It’s a perfect 10! I’ve never had anything like this.”

Ahri’s lips curled into a smile!

Did she really learn to cook somewhere?

It wouldn’t be surprising if she had tried everything under the sun, but this was incredible!

No joke, each bite felt like lightning struck my brain!

How did she make this?

I’ve eaten plenty of fancy food growing up as a pampered kid, but this dish was beyond comparison—

Wait, does this make sense?

She’s not even a professional chef who’s perfected beef stew for over 30 years.

“Objection!”

A loud voice interrupted my thoughts.

Kain had raised his hand.

“I saw it earlier—”

“Shut it!”

“No, Ahri, you be quiet. Kain, tell me.”

“Right before Ahri finished cooking, she added her own blood. I suspect she used the power of her Ancient Blood.”

Everyone turned to Ahri, eyes wide.

“Hey! I object your objection!”

“…Go on Ahri.”

“Isn’t this contest just about the food tasting good? Right? No one said I couldn’t add my blood.”

“Well, that’s just goes without saying—”

“Is there any place in the world where you’re asked to cook with beef that’s still alive? In the Hotel’s logic, I might be right.”

Amid my confusion, the Merchant chimed in to add to the chaos, “Hmm, technically she’s correct.”

“What do you mean she’s correct?”

“There’s no rule in Hell’s Hotel Kitchen that bans using Inheritance powers. I didn’t prohibit it, either. Besides, the Hotel’s ingredients are inherently ‘special,’ so Participant Ahri’s blood can be considered her unique secret ingredient.”

This contest is insane.

Didn’t the Hotel just say it rejects favoritism?

It rejects personal connections but allows mind control through Inheritance in cooking.

Brilliant logic.

“Besides, Chef Lee Eunsol has already given a 10-point score, so the judgment is final.”

“Haha! You heard him, Kain! You should’ve objected earlier.”

“Wow! Is this world crazy or what?”

Not the world, just this Hotel.

I muttered absent-mindedly, “Fine, I get it. But if you use your blood again, I’ll give you a zero next time.”

“Okay~!”

“Next!”

The next dish was Kain’s.

- Clatter!

I had a bad feeling. A dish that was too fresh was about to appear, I could tell!

Footnotes

1. 1. Korean chili flakes
2. 2. Korean chili paste

***

https://ko-fi.com/genesisforsaken