Reborn in Japan as a Chef God-Chapter 57 - The First Guest of the Late Night Show

“Blue-grade quality, priced at 1,500 Fame Points.”

Bursting Flame!

Xia Yu couldn’t help but recall the chef from the Dark World in the animation, who could even jump into a sea of flames to cook, filled with fantastical elements.

His heart was practically pounding with excitement, as if thousands of horses were galloping through it.

Alas, he was short by 500 Fame Points.

Xia Yu looked over the skill book from every angle without a blind spot, then reluctantly closed the shop panel.

Where to get the missing Fame Points from?

Relying on promotion within the ACG community was basically unrealistic.

He needed to carve out another path, a fast track to acquire Fame.

Sitting in the night-time quietness of the small store, Xia Yu pondered for a long time.

After much thought, it seemed like ‘Food Duels’ were indeed the shortcut to quickly seizing Fame.

In other words, he needed to challenge more culinary establishments to let the food world know of his existence.

At the same time, Food Duels could rapidly improve his cooking skills—it was the best of both worlds.

The danger lay in the fact that if he failed, his cooking skill level would be reset by the system and he’d have to start all over again.

It was acceptable for the cooking skill level to be reset when it was low, as long as the Talent Points were preserved; his cooking skill level could always be trained back up one day.

Xia Yu thought of a potential exploit in the system’s rules and couldn’t help asking, “System, if my level is reset now, and I train from lv1 back to lv12, can I still get Talent Points?”

“The Talent Points freely given by this system cannot be obtained again,” the system said.

He let out a sigh of relief.

This also indirectly confirmed that Talent Points already acquired and invested in a certain culinary skill wouldn’t be wiped clean after a failure in a Food Duel.

At worst, a Food Duel loss would only reset the level, delaying his progress.

At this moment, footsteps came from upstairs; it was probably Hozoi Midori finishing her bath and coming out of the bathroom.

Xia Yu stood up, planning to close the restaurant and go upstairs for a bath before bed.

According to the small shop’s usual rules, the business hours were from six in the evening until four o’clock the next morning.

However, recently, Xia Yu would close up shop at the latest by 1 a.m.

Moreover, having taken over the restaurant for a while now, in another week, junior and senior high schools were about to start, yet he hadn’t served a single customer in the midnight shift!

He thought about the old man’s time, when he too would just process the ingredients early each night and go upstairs for a bath and bed, conserving his energy to be ready to work early the next day and go to school.

Hence, to this day, Xia Yu still shrouded the old man’s late-night shift in a layer of mystery.

Did that old relic ever serve late-night customers?

Xia Yu maintained a skeptical attitude.

“Bang!”

Pulling closed the shop door and preparing to lock it, the sudden knocking from outside startled Xia Yu.

“Who’s there?” He didn’t immediately open the door but asked with a tinge of caution.

“How come the shop is closed?”

A middle-aged man’s voice.

Huh.

Xia Yu recognized the voice and opened the door.

Sure enough, there stood the manager of the IGO Neon Department, Shinohara Shigetaro, still donning his grayish-black overcoat and black top hat, hands tucked in his pockets, with a cigar clamped in his mouth, its wispy smoke curling upwards.

“Mr.

Shinohara…” Xia Yu began, only for Shinohara Shigetaro to extinguish the cigar and casually threw the leftover butt into the trash bin at the entrance before he leisurely entered the shop.

His demeanor made it clear to Xia Yu what this was about, so Xia Yu said with a smile, “Mr.

Shinohara, are you planning to have a late-night snack at our little restaurant?”

Shinohara Shigetaro took his usual place and looked around the immaculately clean restaurant before finally turning his head to address Xia Yu.

“Now that Boss Xia is gone, can you satisfy my appetite?” He began peeling off his brown leather gloves as he spoke, “If it’s going to be the same beef ramen as last time…

I might have to change my assessment of your cooking skills to ‘not qualified!'”

“Huff, it hasn’t been half a month since Boss Xia left, and my stomach’s in an uproar,” he lamented.

“Trouble is, I’ve searched all over Neon, and it seems that only the Food Demon King, that guy, has culinary skills to match Boss Xia…

But a Far Moon Commander like him, neither short of money nor reputation, standing so high in the Neon Food World that he’s even above an IGO manager like me, how could he possibly cook for me personally to satisfy my late-night craving.”

Shinohara Shigetaro fell into his rambling mode.

“System: A new quest has been obtained!”

Xia Yu was startled and opened the quest panel.

“[Late-Night Opening Success].”

“Hint: This is the first late-night customer you’re welcoming since taking over the restaurant.

Despite his not-so-simple identity, as long as he’s sitting inside the restaurant, he is a guest, a true connoisseur.

Satisfy his palate!”

“Reward: 1000 Fame Points.”

The source of this c𝓸ntent is freewebnøvel.coɱ.

Ignoring the bulk of descriptive text, Xia Yu’s eyes were glued to the rewards section, turning red with excitement.

Holy shit!

I must take this chance!

This time the reward isn’t a blue recipe or a kitchen utensil.

With those thousand Fame Points, he could turn around and purchase the advanced culinary skill book “Bursting Flame!”

“I want to have a dish that you make.”

Shinohara Shigetaro spoke with a smile, “That bowl of beef ramen from last time, it was full of attempts to imitate, that was your grandfather’s cooking, not yours.

I want to eat a dish that’s stamped with your personal touch, in other words, you need to have your own recipes.”

Hearing this, Xia Yu smiled.

“Mr.

Shinohara, just to let you know up front, the dishes made from my own recipes won’t come cheap.”

“Good food is difficult to measure in terms of money.”

“Do you know of the ‘Badge of Disgusting Taste’ that’s passed down in the Dark Cuisine World?”

Shinohara Shigetaro pointed at himself, his smile giving off a dangerous vibe, “I might not stamp you with the ‘Badge of Disgusting Taste,’ but I can provide the most truthful tasting evaluation.

Good is good, bad is bad; that’s the principle of a gourmet.”

With that, he crossed his palms and propped his elbows on the table.

“I am the manager of the IGO Neon Department, and also the highest-ranking examiner of the IGO Neon Auditing Institution.

If your food fails to satisfy me, you’ll need to seriously contemplate your culinary skill assessments and restaurant evaluations!”

An invisible threat and pressure bore down on him.

Xia Yu’s mouth twitched.

Although Shinohara Shigetaro was being vague, Xia Yu got the message—he had the same kind of inner character as Tiqie Helinai: arrogant and dominant.

Any chef stamped with the ‘tastes bad, incompetent’ label by Tiqie Helinai’s ‘Divine Tongue’ would be ruined for life.

Similarly.

If stamped with the labels of ‘tastes bad’ and ‘incompetent’ by Shinohara Shigetaro, it would spell trouble for his culinary path.

It wouldn’t necessarily end his career, but living without shine was inevitable.