God of Cooking

<Not Normal (3)>

Justin gave up pretty quickly. After all, he knew how stubborn Minjoon could be.
Minjoon’s breaths started getting more steady. Almost as if he was dying. Justin wondered to himself just how tired Minjoon could be.

‘He’s good at cooking, but he’s also an amazing talker.’

Does the man practice in his free time? Justin didn’t know. But he did know that he really wanted to be like Minjoon.

Anderson entered the room by the time Minjoon really fell asleep.

“Ah, chef. Chef Minjoon’s asleep right now…”

“So what if he’s asleep? This isn’t even his home. Wake him up.”

“No, but…”

Anderson glared at Justin. Justin started shaking Minjoon to wake him up.

“Wake up, chef! Wake up!”

But Minjoon didn’t respond. Instead, he just moaned a little in his sleep. Anderson picked up Minjoon’s food and spoke up.

“Yo, I’m gonna eat this if you don’t wake up.”

“No, that’s for Kaya.”

Minjoon immediately woke up, almost as if he was awake the entire time. Anderson sighed to himself before turning away.

“Come. Five more minutes and I’m gonna start driving while you’re asleep.”

“Fine, fine. Stop scaring me like that.”

Minjoon managed to get up pretty quickly. He tapped Justin’s shoulder with a smile.

“Work hard, alright?”

“Yes sir.”

Justin answered with bright eyes. By the time Minjoon and Anderson got in the car, Anderson started speaking again.

“Justin’s totally fallen for you.”

“It’s inevitable. I am pretty handsome, after all.”

“…Are you sick somewhere? Did Kaya finally get you with her sickness?”

Minjoon smiled wordlessly. Anderson didn’t speak again until they were almost home.

“I’m jealous of you sometimes.”

“What now?”

“I know you work hard. I know you work harder than most people out there. But… I’m still jealous. You always manage to get results that reflect the amount of work you put in.”

“You think you don’t?”

Anderson couldn’t respond. Sometimes, whenever he was feeling particularly weak, his thoughts would mess with him. And whenever things got particularly difficult… He wanted to vocalize his feelings. Like now, for example.

“Am I always going to be behind you?”

He didn’t even really think about what he just said. But that sincerity made Minjoon take the question more seriously. Minjoon looked at Anderson with a concerned look. Anderson didn’t reciprocate. Not because he was driving, though. They were stopped at a red light. He just felt afraid of having to look at Minjoon. He felt like he’d look even more pathetic if he returned Minjoon’s gaze.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“…Why would you think you’re behind me?”

“I don’t know. It just came out of me. Sorry. I didn’t mean to say it.”

The light turned green. The car started moving again, and wind started flapping into the car. The wind suddenly felt far colder than before. Minjoon closed the window, and the car suddenly get overtaken with complete silence.

“I feel like I’m behind you, as well.”

Anderson didn’t answer. The awkward silence between them continued until they reached home. Kaya ran out of the door when she heard them park.

“What the, did something happen?”

“No. I’m tired. I’m going to sleep.”

Anderson went into his room after his short response. Kaya just pointed at his door with a surprised face. Minjoon kissed Kaya’s cheeks with a smile.

“Let’s go in first.”

Kaya didn’t ask more. Her patience continued until Minjoon finished showering. Kaya looked at Minjoon with her arms crossed from her bed.

“Tell me. Why did you guys fight?”

“We didn’t… Here, try this first.”

Minjoon took out his parmesan dish from the restaurant. Kaya looked at him with a suspicious look.

“What’s this?”

“I got a pass from chef Rachel with this. I saved some so that you could have it.”

“Oh, that thing?”

“Yeah, I cooked each cheese differently based on how old it was. It’s the best dish I’ve ever made so far. I’m sure you’d like it.”

His voice was absolutely full of confidence. This was actually the first time Kaya’s seen Minjoon so confident in her time together with him.

A little later, her spoon had a piece of galette, air, foam, souffle, and the sauce on it. Kaya looked at Minjoon with a small frown.

“But I brushed my teeth already.”

“No harm in doing it again. Trust me, it’s worth it.”

“Oh, really now…”

Kaya took a bite with a look of suspicion. She immediately realized just why Minjoon was acting so confidently. Anyone who couldn’t be confident of a dish as good as this was just an idiot.

Kaya took another bite of the dish. One bite, two bite. She hugged Minjoon with a sorrowful face.

“Good job.”

“…What’s up? You look like you’re about to cry.”

“I won’t. Why would I cry about this? It’s so good. But… I don’t know. I’m happy that you could make this, I’m proud, and I’m really jealous. I can kind of tell why Anderson was like that.”

If someone told Kaya to make something like this… She wouldn’t even know where to start. This wasn’t possible to do with just talent. She couldn’t make this without some incredible inspiration.

She wasn’t saying that all it took to make this was luck, of course. Anyone could get lucky. But a person had to actually try hard to make use of the luck they ended up getting.

How long did Minjoon have to wait and think to make something like this? Kaya hugged Minjoon tighter.

“Oh dear, I think I fell for you.”

“…And you didn’t before?”

“I fell for you again and again just now. Good job.”

Kaya kissed Minjoon, and gave him a small pat. Minjoon looked at Kaya with a surprised look. Kaya looked down at her plate with a saddened look.

“I’d love for mom and Jemma to taste this.”

“Just eat it for now. I’ll invite them some other time.”

“Really?”

“Why would I lie about that kind of stuff? Don’t worry. By the way, that’s three servings right there.”

“I feel like I could eat ten servings… It’s too tasty…! Ugh, I want to make stuff like this too.”

“Don’t worry. You’re still really young! You’ll be able to do better once you really spread your wings. I believe in you.”

Kaya smiled wordlessly. It didn’t take long for the dish to disappear. After finishing the dish, Kaya looked at the plate with a sad look.

“…I’d feel really mad if something this good was dessert.”

“That’s just because you had a ton of dessert. It should be a nice finisher after the main meal.”

“Well, I don’t think so. This isn’t the type of food you use to finish off a meal. This is the type of stuff that you stuff in your face. I don’t think anyone would want to stop eating this once they start.”

“That does make me curious. There are a lot of tricky people who work as tasters. Like that guy from last time. Jasper, I think? People who think there’s a clear difference between chef Rachel’s work and the demi chef’s work. Do you think they’d still be critical of my food?”

There was no way Jasper was the only person who felt that way about the demi chefs’ food. Not many people were that direct, but it was rather obvious that they still held that belief.

Minjoon wanted to change their minds. He wanted to show them what he was capable of. Kaya grabbed hold of Minjoon’s hand.

“Don’t get nervous. You and I both know you’re going to be the second best chef in the world.”

“And the best is you, I’m assuming?”

Kaya grinned.

“Correct.”

€

It didn’t take long for Minjoon to get his question answered. After all, critics were by far the easiest people to find at Rose Island.

There was one person who was of the opinion of Rachel’s food being better than anything else here. It was Akira, a critic from Japan. He would always leave a tiny bit of food by the demi chefs left on his plate, finding a way of complaining a little bit.

‘I came here because I want chef Rachel’s food.’

That was what Akira thought. Of course, the food by the demi chefs were tasty. They were made under Rachel, so how could they not be? But just knowing that Rachel wasn’t involved in making this made him feel a little less happy.

‘Thankfully, only Minjoon’s dish is up on the menu this time.’

This time, only Minjoon’s dish got up on the menu, since the other chefs weren’t able to pass just yet. He could take this. It was just one dish in the entire course, after all.

“Let’s see how many bites you’re worth… ”

Akira picked up his spoon with a sigh. The server explained to him that the dish was made with different types of parmigiano reggiano.

When he first took a bite, he just ended up getting confused. Akira looked down at his plate in a daze. He had no idea just what he had a taste of just now. He picked up his spoon again, completely unaware that the chefs from the kitchen were looking at him.

‘You can make something like this… With just cheese?’

It wasn’t a fusion of different flavors like most other dishes were. It was just a single cheese flavor. But each element of the dish worked so seamlessly with each other that his mouth became assaulted with a myriad of different flavors. Raphael watched Akira’s shocked face from the kitchen, and muttered to himself.

“If you can change someone else’s beliefs about food, you become a real chef.”

“What? Did you say something just now?”

The cameraman turned to Raphael. Raphael didn’t even look at the camera as he repeated.

“Many times as a chef, one has to deal with prejudice. No matter how good a restaurant is, if there are bad rumors about it… The customer would go ‘yeah, that meal really was weird.’ Minjoon’s fighting against the prejudice, ‘Rachel’s food is the best.’ That a mere demi chef couldn’t possibly match up to chef Rachel’s food.”

“That means… chef Minjoon would be a chef that would meet chef Rachel’s expectations once he can break through that prejudice?”

“More than that. He’d need to outperform her if he wants to break it.”

“Do you think he can do it?”

Raphael didn’t respond. Instead, he looked over at Akira’s table. The cameraman followed suite with the camera. Akira’s dish was completely empty. Raphael gripped the table under him firmly.

“He’s a true chef now.”