“I challenge you!” the freshman, Taeyong, said to his senior. Yixing was amused.  Taeyong was one of the more promising students in the freshman class. He had no doubt that the kid would graduate, but becoming a member of the Council of Ten in his freshman year was setting perhaps too high of a goal for himself. It would be a devastating loss to Taeyong, given that the camera he used for his Instagram was on the line.

            With the collateral of Taeyong’s 3.5 thousand dollar DSLR on the line, the challenge was made official. The theme for this food war: tradition. 

            “Tradition?” Jaehyun asked Taeyong while he was packing his knives.

            “Yeah. Yixing-sunbaenim and I have different backgrounds, so we decided we would each make a traditional dish from our home. I’ll be making something Korean, and he’s going to make something Chinese, probably Hunanese since that’s his hometown.” Taeyong explained.

            “That sounds delicious.” Jaehyun said. His stomach grumbled.  “Aw man… now I’m hungry. Taeyong hyung, can you make me something?”

            “Aren’t you a chef-in-training yourself?” Taeyong asked with a smile.

            “Yeah, but your food is mouth-watering.” Jaehyun whined.

The Next Day…

            The participants of the food war had their ingredients laying before them. Taeyong had a variety of vegetables, some eggs, and the most beautiful cut of beef Jaehyun had ever seen. Yixing’s table was covered in chicken, green vegetables, some unlabeled bottles, chilis, and a small bag of… dried, pink berries.

            “That doesn’t look Hunanese,” Jaehyun wondered aloud.

            “That’s because Yixing is making something from Sichuan,” the person beside him, Junmyeon, replied.

            “Then… those pink berries are Sichuan peppercorns?” Jaehyun asked.

            Junmyeon nodded. “I just hope he doesn’t set something on fire again…” he said.

            Jaehyun stared at him with wide eyes. There had been a grease fire at the last food war. Hopefully the kitchen would be safer this time.

Meanwhile, On the Floor….

            “Good luck, Taeyong. You have potential, so no matter what happens, know you are an excellent chef.” Yixing smiled at the freshman.

            “Thank you. I really admire your skill in the kitchen too, Yixing-sunbae” Taeyong replied.

            Yixing laughed. “I hope after this you can call me Yixing-hyung instead.”

            With that, they were ready to begin. Both chefs took out their woks. 

Taeyong busied himself cutting up the vegetables. He put fiddlehead ferns in the wok with a small amount of oil. They would take the longest to cook, so he left them to fry, stirring occasionally. Off to the side, he started a rice cooker.

            On the other side though, Yixing put oil in his wok and left it on the heat. While heating, he began prepping his chicken and vegetables. 

            A few minutes later, Taeyong started coughing. In the other kitchen, the oil Yixing had put in his wok was smoking -- a lot. The stadium filled with the smoke from the oil as Yixing added his chicken and peppercorns. Soon, Taeyong wasn’t the only one coughing.  The audience was as well.

            “I should have expected this,” Junmyeon wheezed. “He did say he was going to dry fry the chicken.  I didn’t expect him to make it smoke this much though.”

            Jaehyun coughed. “What is he making anyway?” he asked.

            “I think it’s called gan bian ji ding: dry-fried chicken,” Junmyeon explained.

            “Is it supposed to smoke?” Jaehyun asked.

            “Yeah…” Junmyeon looked embarrassed before he coughed again.

            Before long, Taeyong’s vegetables were appropriately wilted, and his rice was done. He got out a bowl and began slicing the meat.  Yixing added his celery to the smoking wok at the same time.

            “Is Taeyong making bibimbap?” Junmyeon asked.

            “Yup. His favorite place to eat is Jeonju, so he decided to make something to honor that.” Jaehyun looked proud. Junmyeon couldn’t tell if his eyes were watering because of his pride or the smoke that was still issuing from Yixing’s wok.

            In minutes, both dishes were finished. Yixing and Taeyong shook hands, and Taeyong took pictures of both dishes. The smoke had cleared, and the judges were ready for tasting.

Later…

            “Taeyong, I want you to keep the camera,” Yixing said. “The judging wasn’t fair at all.  Your dish was equal to, if not better than mine.”

            “You won though,” Taeyong replied.

            “I only won because the judges refused to eat your dish. They were scared of your cooking, and as such, the entire competition was moot.”

            “They are right though. In most places, raw meat is a food safety violation.” Taeyong held out his camera. “I can save up for a new camera anyway.  My family has me doing modeling on the side while I’m at school here. It pays pretty well.”

            “Taeyong…” Yixing started.

            “I can help you set up an Instagram too, if you want,” Taeyong offered. “It can be a little tricky to figure out how to organize your feed at first.”

            “Thank you,” Yixing said.

July 1st…

            “Taeyong! Wait up!” Yixing called from behind Taeyong.

            “I’m going to be late to work!” Taeyong called back.

            Yixing caught up, a box in his hands. “I have something for you though!” he said.

            Taeyong stopped. If Yixing wanted to give him something, he really shouldn’t say no. After their food war, Yixing had started mentoring Taeyong, and teaching him the finer points of how to be true to his cooking heritage without freaking people out. He also taught Taeyong some Chinese cooking.  The time they set off the fire alarm with the smoker would go down in history as the stupidest dorm evacuation the school had ever seen. In return, Taeyong had been teaching Yixing how to use the camera and how to use his social media accounts to promote his cooking.

            Yixing handed Taeyong a box. Taeyong looked at it for a second before he took the lid off. When he saw what was inside, he nearly dropped it.  His eyes were wet.

            Inside the box was a Canon DSLR camera complete with 3 different lenses and a flash for indoor photography.

            “Happy Birthday,” Yixing said, smiling.

            “Thank you, Yixing-ge,” Taeyong said.

            Now, Yixing was crying too.