Marcus stepped forward, his voice firm and loud enough for both sides to hear.
"You may make any dish you wish. The time limit is two hours. Use whatever ingredients you like." His sharp gaze flicked toward Alister. "You don't mind if they use your kitchen, do you?"
Alister grinned, teeth flashing. "Of course not. Feel free to use anything within." He turned to Ji Hoon, lips curling into a sly smirk.
'When you lose, that pouch will be mine. Enough money to cover these ingredients twenty times over.'
Ji Hoon returned the smile but leaned toward Beatrice, lowering his voice so only she could hear. Their quiet conversation contrasted sharply with the twins, who had already swept into the kitchen with practiced ease.
The Grace brothers moved like men who had done this a thousand times, pulling ingredients from the storehouse, laying out utensils, and testing the sharpness of their knives.
Ji Hoon dismissed Beatrice with a nod, then studied the twins' chosen ingredients.
'Custard tart again…?' A smirk tugged at his lips. 'Is this their way of answering me after I mocked it earlier?'
Before he could dwell on it, the boy from earlier approached. He extended his hand, smiling.
"The name's Lior. Nice to meet you!"
Ji Hoon shook it firmly. "Ji H—I mean, Cassian Ahn. Likewise."
Ji Hoon forced a laugh, trying not to trip over his own slip. 'I've lived as Ji Hoon for twenty-seven years. Can't just erase that overnight…'
"You a cook?" Ji Hoon asked casually trying to make it like he never forgot 'his' own name.
Though Lior had the flicker of curiosity in his eyes, he continued, pride gleaming in his voice. "I worked as an assistant cook back in Sand City, Delivane Kingdom. I came here to Valeria for the ICC. The prize money's no joke."
'He's here for the ICC too?' Ji Hoon thought, smiling faintly. 'Well, since we'll probably meet during the competition, it's good to have someone familiar.'
"The twins are probably used to this kitchen. We should get moving too, time's running." Ji Hoon glanced at the hourglass as the sand trickled down.
"What are you planning to make?" Lior asked. "And where do you need me?"
"I've already sent my maid to fetch something important. Until then, we work with what's here." Ji Hoon began explaining the ingredients and steps.
Lior frowned more than once, clearly confused at Ji Hoon's unusual instructions, but nodded, nonetheless.
Around them, the crowd murmured.
"Why are they still talking?"
"That noble clearly doesn't know how to cook. He's just giving orders to that kid."
"Cheating, isn't it?"
"Hah, nobles—always scheming."
And then—suddenly—the atmosphere shifted. Ji Hoon and Lior surged into motion, moving quickly toward the storehouse, gathering ingredients, their pace sharp and focused.
Alister frowned. 'Finally decided to start, huh? Fool. No matter how hard you try, you'll still lose.'
The Grace twins noticed them too. Isaac tilted his head, but Malak, the oldest snapped, "Eyes forward. Focus. Let the wannabe noble dig his own grave."
The crowd's attention slipped back to the twins: the real chefs with real artistry. Few cared to watch a noble stumble.
Ji Hoon, now standing at the main table, felt a surge of satisfaction.
When Lior returned with everything Ji Hoon asked for, Ji Hoon's brows lifted slightly in surprise. Despite being told to do something unexpected, Lior moved naturally, like it was second nature.
'He clearly must have been an assistant cook, considering how he moves like he's ordered and adapting quickly.' Ji Hoon thought.
"I've brought them all, sir. Should we move to the next stage?" Lior asked
"Yes, let us," Ji Hoon ordered, and the two moved to the ingredients with a shared intensity in their eyes. Ji Hoon stood above the ingredients, surveying them.
Then he noticed his long silver hair flowing over his shoulders. Not wanting it to obstruct his vision, he searched for a wooden spoon.
He positioned the spoon on the left side of his head, carefully weaving his hair over and around it, turning it sideways, and securing it into a traditional Chinese-like knot.
"That's better." With his hair tied up, his vision cleared, allowing him to focus on the table and ingredients.
Beside him, Lior held a cup, pouring in two tablespoons of cream and one egg yolk, mixing them together as he headed to the back of the kitchen.
Meanwhile Ji Hoon measured one and a quarter cup of all-purpose flour into a large bowl. He pinched in a quarter teaspoon of salt, added one cup of granulated sugar, and whisked it all together.
Just then, Lior came back from the back of the kitchen, holding the cream-yolk mixture in his right hand and, in his left hand, a half cup of butter that seemed to be ice cold.
"I brought it, Sir," Lior said as he handed over the butter while still holding the cream-yolk cup.
"Thank you, Lior." Ji Hoon was happy that Lior hadn't forgotten what he ordered. He sliced up the icy cold butter into tiny pieces, plopping them into the dry mix. He cut the pieces into even smaller bits with his fingers as he kneaded them together.
The dough was light. Then, as if on cue, Lior slowly poured his cream-yolk mix into the bowl, and Ji Hoon mixed it into a dough with his two hands. The cream-yolk mix allowed the dough to hold together.
As the dough came together, a sharp voice called out Ji Hoon's name. "Young master! I got them!" It was Beatrice, holding a small metallic box beside her.
Alister, the twins, Marcus, even the customers all looked at the box with curious eyes as Beatrice handed it to Ji Hoon. He looked at the box, then at Beatrice, before smiling.
"Thank you, Beatrice."
"No problem, Young master. I know it took a while, but I finally got it."
Lior came toward him. "What's inside?" Ji Hoon opened the box, and a bright blue light escaped, followed by wispy smoke and a chilling sensation.
"Are those—?!" Lior frowned before smirking. "You really are a crazy noble."
The rest of the crowd gasped when they saw the contents inside.
"Frost balls…" Ji Hoon muttered.
Frost balls—one of the magic stones produced by the International Alchemy Institution.
After having to hide his skills from Beatrice and Adrine while cooking the Panna Cotta, Ji Hoon realized he couldn't tell people not to look every time he cooked, especially since he would be watched by many eyes and trained judges at the competition.
That's when he researched these magic stones. He first realized their use after seeing the red ruby-like magical stone Beatrice used to ignite the stove.
He found out they were made by the alchemists of this world to help make potions and some, like the ruby stone, officially called Ignis, were used as fuel for stoves in every kitchen.
Apparently, just like chefs of his previous world used chemistry knowledge for molecular gastronomy, some cooks from the northern continent here were trying to use alchemy tool in cooking too. 'I guess cooks all think the same in every world'
One of them was the Frost balls, a small blue ball that could instantly freeze anything to a desired stage.
The drawback? Measurement and timing. If not used properly, it could freeze everything even the container! Sometimes it could even cause serious problem if it dropped on skin.
Most were not trained in it, so many people didn't feel it was worth it compared to natural cooling. Ji Hoon practiced it as soon as he could acquire it, and although it was hard at first, since he knew how to use liquid nitrogen in cooking in his past life, he got the hang of it after a couple of tries.
Now he was going to use it for cooling the dough, which normally would take up to an hour—almost half the time for the competition! He couldn't afford to waste time; after all, time was everything in competitions.
He set the dough into a plastic bag, wore a special glove, and took one of the frost balls out. The crowd seemed to gasp and cry for him to stop.
It was suicide!
He was supposed to bake, not freeze, and even if it was a frozen treat, they doubted it would be edible after that much freezing.
Alister laughed, mocking this "stupid noble" that dared to challenge him. But beside him, Minister Marcus was more impressed than anyone.
He had heard of the technique, of course, as he was a fourth-rank minister of food, but only a few were actually trained in it. By the looks of it, this noble boy might actually be able to pull it off. He had to watch carefully not to miss anything. It was finally getting interesting.
Ji Hoon slowly broke the balls with his hand—they were very delicate, so they crushed—and he slowly added some on top of the dough. They were watching him in awe, even the twins stopped their own cooking to look.
Ji Hoon was using his
Some murmurs came from the customers watching. Alister scoffed—it was luck that saved him from freezing it all. Minister Marcus was again impressed; this actually was a hard technique that even he couldn't pull off!
Ji Hoon set the dough aside. Since the freezing effect might be stronger, he needed it to warm up a little. As all eyes that mocked him at the beginning of the competition were on him, he smiled at the rest of the ingredients.
"Now, let's make this dish, shall we?"