My wife name is Erina Nakiri

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"Ready?" Shinjii Takahashi asked from his vantage point, offering a clear view of the set. The cameraman was in position.

Renz nodded.

"Action!" Shinjii commanded.

The cameraman started rolling. From behind the scenes, a voice came through a microphone. "This is the first live broadcast of Midnight Chef. We have with us Contestant Number Seven, a participant from overseas. Please introduce yourself."

Renz, having been on numerous shows with Erina, had a strong on-camera presence. He confidently addressed the camera. "Hello, everyone. I am Renz, a Filipino exchange student, and I'm honored to participate in Midnight Chef."

"Renz, you previously gained fame as a judge for the God's Tongue review, and you're skilled in many cuisines. What culinary genre do you think will be your forte, or your scoring dish in the show?" The person behind the scenes read from cue cards, their tone engaging and distinctive.

"My culinary skills are quite varied; I know a bit of everything. However, I'm most confident in Asian Region Cuisine, which will likely be my scoring dish," Renz replied.

The promotional video for a cooking show, by nature, tended to be somewhat bland, lacking explosive questions or dramatic content.

"Finally, what is your goal for this cooking program?" the person behind the scenes asked, delivering the last question on the card.

Renz paused for a few seconds. He intentionally delayed his answers between each question to ensure the audience could hear the full question before he replied.

"To create a dish that satisfies the God's Tongue, and then find a way to marry the goddess of the culinary world, Erina," Renz said with a slight smile, looking into the camera.

This segment was the highlight of Renz's promotional video, arguably its only true highlight. Other contestants had offered rather ordinary self-introductions, expressing their desire to win the championship or, at most, delivering some bold statements. After a brief chat, the interview concluded with a final remark.

Shinjii Takahashi tapped the table with a rolled-up paper stick. "One take!" He watched the entire process. Renz had cooperated well, his performance on camera was excellent, and he hadn't missed or forgotten any lines. This segment would undergo some post-production, like adding beautiful Chinese landscape footage for an opening. The filmed content was merely the raw material for the promotional video, still unpolished.

Renz felt no pressure and exited the set. "Is that all?"

"Yes. Tomorrow, we'll select a few promotional videos to feature prominently," Shinjii explained. "They'll be used to build anticipation for you, one by one, a few days before the show airs."

"Is there anything else?" Renz continued to ask.

"Yes. I'll give you the program rule card. It details the requirements, what you can and can't do in the show, and the formats for each round," Shinjii said, handing Renz a stack of documents he'd prepared earlier in his office.

Renz took the documents. He had heard of Midnight Chef and knew it would become popular, but he'd never participated, so he wasn't familiar with the rules.

"The rules for the preliminary round require you to dissect a porcupinefish within sixty seconds."

"If you can successfully dissect it within sixty seconds without any errors, you pass the preliminary round. After that, there are the qualifiers, elimination rounds, and the grand finale."

"By the qualifier round, only sixty-four chefs will remain. Each person must cook their most skilled dish. There will be three judges, and each judge only has four tickets to the elimination rounds."

Renz read through it word by word, with Erina looking on beside him.

"So, in the qualifier round, out of sixty-four people, only twelve will have a chance to advance to the next round? And it depends on the judges' mood; whoever they want to let pass, gets to pass?" Erina asked.

This competition format was undoubtedly brutal. The preliminary round was a basic screening, eliminating those with poor knife skills first.

The second round, where contestants cooked their best dish, was both an opportunity to showcase their abilities and a process of elimination.

The judges would choose the most appealing dishes to advance to the next elimination round. In other words, the judges had veto power. After tasting a dish and deeming it unsatisfactory, they could effectively issue a death sentence.

The elimination phase was the main competition. Each judge would have four members under them. These four members would battle against chefs from other groups, one by one. Losing meant direct elimination, while winning advanced them to the next round, continuing until the grand finale.

While contestants chose their own culinary themes for the qualifiers, the themes for the elimination and final rounds would be decided by the judges through a draw.

The first round screened for basic skills, the second for average ability under their strongest dish, and the third for overall competence. Those who made it to the later stages were all versatile chefs proficient in multiple culinary genres.

"Renz, how are your knife skills?" Erina's biggest fear had materialized. Renz's cooking techniques hadn't fully recovered to their optimal state.

The porcupinefish is a type of pufferfish, with a straight body and spines that lie flat against its sides. In a very short time, it can expand its body twice its size due to a retractable sac inside.

This is a highly venomous marine fish, covered in strong, toxic spines. Its senses are acute, and when stimulated, its spines serve as a deterrent. In terms of toxicity, this variety is one of the more potent types of pufferfish.

Handling poisonous creatures was always meticulous and demanding, requiring extreme caution for safety. The Japanese really knew how to make a show challenging; the first round immediately required dissecting a porcupinefish. Without prior warning, most people would find it incredibly difficult to prepare for this. Handling this creature heavily relied on knife skills.

The porcupinefish's gallbladder is also poisonous; if the knife pierces the gallbladder, the fish meat becomes inedible. Cleaning this fish perfectly demanded exceptional knife skills and patience from the chef.

Even veteran chefs who had worked with sashimi for years found such fish difficult, some even refusing to handle them. If one had an open wound on their hand and touched a porcupinefish spine, it could be life-threatening.

"A slower technique will be fine," Renz replied. He had handled porcupinefish before, so he wasn't a complete novice in this area. However, his current knife skills had only just recovered enough for flexible handling of noodle dishes. Now, he was immediately confronted with the difficulty of "dissecting a porcupinefish."

Frankly, it was quite challenging. But he had no choice. He had to participate in this competition. He would have to grit his teeth and push through. Besides, while his knife skills might not be as sharp as they once were, the memory of the techniques remained. He still had a chance by cutting slowly and carefully.

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