NOVEL WEB Chapter 104: Don't Bully People Who Don't Understand!
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Shokugeki (food duel) culture is a win-or-lose "dark" culture in the Asian culinary world, gradually evolving from informal competitions among street chefs who disagreed with each other's cooking.
However, with the advent of modern civilization, Shokugeki culture slowly became a street culture, circulating within the underground culinary world. Chefs from formal institutions directly participated in large-scale, grand competitions, no longer confined to Shokugeki culture, using it only occasionally.
To enhance competitiveness within Totsuki Academy, its principal, Senzaemon Nakiri, reintroduced this street culture into the academy. It was used to resolve internal student disputes, and new, more rational rules were formulated.
To initiate a Shokugeki, the following three conditions must be met: first, there must be a notary to certify the duel as an official match; second, there must be an odd number of judges; and third, both parties to the match must agree to the relevant terms of the match. Failure to meet any of these conditions would render the Shokugeki invalid, preventing the challenge from being initiated.
However, the Shokugeki rules improved by Senzaemon Nakiri gained recognition from most people, and in Japan's underground culinary world, these newly customized rules slowly began to be adopted.
It's worth noting that Shokugeki at Totsuki Academy were still too student-like; the prizes and processes of the matches were relatively peaceful. To put it bluntly, it was a bit like children playing house. Winning or losing wasn't crucial, and the cost of either was within an acceptable range.
The underground culinary world, however, completely disregarded those student-like rules. While they certainly obeyed national laws, the brutality of their matches was doubled. Using money as a prize was one such method of play.
100,000 yen was considered small fry.
"200,000 yen?" Hoshino Taira didn't bother counting the money in his hand. This Shokugeki was an easy win; the prize wasn't important, what mattered was the thrill of victory. His opponent was too weak, which made it quite uninteresting.
"You're no good, step down, let someone else come," Hoshino Taira said calmly, stating a fact. The person who lost the match was furious. Underground chefs actually care more about their reputation than those from formal institutions. "Cowardly dog, afraid I'll blow you away with other dishes, so you don't dare come? Trash!" The person who lost the cooking match was full of resentment, directly cursing.
Renz watched this scene with interest. The trash talk among underground chefs was quite entertaining, more pure and authentic. He and Erina had also competed against underground chefs. Compared to those from academies, the dishes made by underground chefs were wildly imaginative and highly innovative. Sometimes, the flavors they created were achieved through ingenious combinations, truly impressive.
"I'll go take over the stage," Rindo Kobayashi said, a lollipop in her mouth. Someone was occupying the stage in front of them, making it inconvenient to compete. She decided to beat this person first.
"You're going already?" Renz watched Rindo Kobayashi decisively walk onto the stage. "Kobayashi-san seems very impulsive."
"Mm, Rindo is a third-year student. Her third year is an internship year, and she went out for internships in her second year, dealing with many underground chefs. She's very familiar with these kinds of matches," Erina explained from the side.
As her words fell, someone quietly approached from not far away.
"Hey, buddy!" From below the stage, the person he had briefly met at the entrance waved. "You're Renz, right? I'm Datu, a Y-tube."
"I saw your God's Tongue review video online before. I'm a fan of yours," Datu said politely. In Japan, encountering a fellow countryman, Renz wouldn't keep him at arm's length, especially since the other person was speaking so amicably.
"Hello, are you live streaming?" Renz asked, glancing. The other person seemed to be live streaming.
"Yes," Datu laughed heartily. "Just a small streamer, trying to make a living. This time, Y-tube collaborated with this variety show, and they kicked me, a food UP, over here to test the waters. What else could I do? I'm just going for it." Y-tube had sponsored Tokyo TV's "Midnight Chef" gourmet program, holding exclusive broadcasting rights.
To make the program more interactive, they invited several food UPs. They covered plane tickets and accommodation, and provided a professional team. Unfortunately, not many people were willing to come; only Datu did. Perhaps they were afraid of being exposed.
Y-tube's food section, currently, is more like a "pervert section" than a food section. Many UPs use the guise of food to do other things. Searching for the food section brings up a large number of female creators, who aren't teaching cooking but rather eating food.
The filters on many people's faces are simply excessive. Even if a few do cook, they might have a behind-the-scenes team helping with scene production. When faced with a show like this, where they have to go up and compete, most people chicken out.
After all, if they don't cook well and lose quickly in the competition, they'll lose followers. And some people are simply too scared to come. How good-looking they appear in videos might be how miserable they look in reality, or perhaps there's just a significant difference from the actual person.
If you compare their video appearance to their real-life appearance, you might shed tears, and fans might even have a brain hemorrhage on the spot. After all, the show isn't going to bother with heavy skin smoothing, filters, and face slimming; they'll usually just put on some makeup. Many people's looks fall apart without filters, and a bad camera angle can easily result in a distorted face.
Those who can't cook well don't dare to come, and those afraid of being exposed don't dare to come, immediately eliminating a batch of people. So, who's left? Only some honest folks. Datu actually knew his cooking wasn't great; home cooking was fine, but competing was unrealistic. He came to the competition knowing he wasn't particularly skilled, but he wasn't afraid of losing followers; his main goal was to gain experience. As someone who truly loved cooking, hearing the name Mana Nakiri and knowing he might embarrass himself, Datu still eagerly came.
However, this trip had been quite fruitful. He hadn't run into Mana Nakiri yet, but he had run into her daughter—Erina. Talking to Renz was partly due to the slight excitement of meeting a fellow countryman in a foreign land, and partly because he saw Erina. Datu was quite curious how Renz and Erina were traveling together. Could it be that Renz had transferred to Totsuki Academy? And they were traveling as alumni?
"Um, the person next to you... is that really her?" Datu spoke a little foolishly, his question somewhat naive.
Renz rolled his eyes and said, "It's Erina herself. Are you very surprised?"
"I'm extremely surprised, buddy! That's a Erina-sama from a prestigious family! She's not in our league at all," Datu was speaking in Filipino, so he spoke more boldly, daring to say things he might not usually say in front of others. He was "bullying" the other person by assuming they didn't understand.
"Then let me tell you some mind-blowing news, okay? Erina is my girlfriend," Renz said, rolling his eyes again. Erina had come to participate in this competition as Renz's friends and family support.
After discussing it, he already knew Erina intended to go public with their relationship. Sooner or later, everyone on the show would know Erina was his girlfriend. Rather than explaining it to everyone individually later, Renz decided to just lay it all out now.
"Hahahaha! Buddy, stop making international jokes, okay?!" Datu truly didn't believe him. "Erina is your girlfriend? Then I'll perform eating a live chicken whole, raw, bones and blood, in one gulp."
"Don't bully people who don't understand Filipino by spouting nonsense!"
Datu seemed to have mistakenly believed that Erina didn't understand Filipino, so Renz was intentionally speaking Filipino to tease her with small jokes.
"Then you might have to perform eating a raw live chicken," Erina also rolled her eyes at Renz, speaking in perfectly articulated Filipino.
This time.
Datu was dumbfounded.
WTF?
What's going on here?
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