God of Cooking

Chapter 260

A Healthy Flavor (4) >

If you are reading from a pirate or aggregator site, please read from the translator’s site: yado-inn (dot) com I have to put the link like this or else the bots will remove it, sorry 🙁

‘Korea, huh.’

Just a year ago, the country was a place he called home. Since when did the place feel so foreign to him? Was he just that busy in the past year? Enough for it to feel longer than the past thirty years of his life?

He wasn’t one that ever got homesick or anything, but looking at the ticket did make his heart beat excitedly. It’s been a long time, indeed. Just then, a feeling of curiosity welled up inside Minjoon.

“Wait, so why do you need four tickets, then? Are two of these tickets back?”
“No, I bought mom and Jemma’s tickets too.”
“Them, too?”
“Jemma’s going to go to school soon, and mom’s about to begin work soon. This is just about the only chance we have to travel in a very long time.”
“I get it, but… You should’ve told me.”
“Then this wouldn’t be a surprise anymore!”

It wasn’t that surprising for a “surprise gift”, honestly. Minjoon grabbed the tickets from Kaya’s hand. They were due to leave in about four days. Maybe because she wanted him to rest a bit more?

‘Family….’

A person floated up in his head for a brief second. Bruce. Kaya’s father. Kaya bought four tickets, and didn’t even talk about Bruce. They might’ve come to a mutual understanding, but perhaps it was still too early for them to travel together.

Perhaps it was right for Bruce to experience some amount of hurt, after all, he put Kaya through. Not that he didn’t have a hard time all along, but… Kaya didn’t know that, after all.

Kaya smiled as if she was even more excited than him about the trip.

“It’ll be a good trip.”
“Isn’t this your first trip?”
“Who knows. Depends on how you define it.”

Even if she was saying that, this was probably her first trip. Her family never could afford the time or the money for that, after all. Perhaps her journey to LA could be called a trip in itself, but it really wasn’t a proper one.

“Be sure to rest up before we leave. Prepare some clothes as well.”
“…Korea’s probably still cold.”

March. It was the beginning of spring, but in reality it was close to the end of winter. Kaya shrugged.

“It’s fine. I still have that coat from New York.”
“What about me?”
“Don’t you have clothes back in Korea? Just use those.”
“Dunno… maybe they threw it away.”

It’s already been a full year. Sure, he stayed in Korea for a bit after Grand Chef ended, but he didn’t check if they still had his winter clothes. Kaya puffed up her chest confidently.

“I’ll buy you some clothes if you can’t find any.”
“You’ve been acting oddly proudly recently, just because you earn a lot of money.”
“I don’t act like this to other people. Just you.”
“Why me?”
“Because you won’t get any misunderstandings, no matter what I say.”

Perhaps Kaya had more faith in him than even himself. Minjoon scratched his nose in embarrassment.

“How could you be so sure?”
“Do I really have to say it?”
“I guess you don’t.”

Minjoon smiled, causing Kaya to try to taunt him one more time.

“Doesn’t it seem like I’m smarter than you?”

Minjoon just shrugged. Kaya continued talking calmly.

“Just give your mom a call. That you’ll be back soon.”
“The time… Well, I guess she’d be awake about now.”

Minjoon hesitated for a second before picking up his phone. The phone rang for a few seconds before a slightly broken voice received it.

<<Is this Minjoon?>>
“Ah, yes, it’s me.”
<<What’s wrong? You called so late. Oh, I guess it’s morning over there?>>
“I’m coming to Korea soon. That’s why I called.”
<<Well, you’re saying odd things. Why would you come here? Did you get fired?>>
“…Mom.”

Minjoon sighed frustratedly. His mom still seemed very confused. Did all of this just sound that unreal to her? Minjoon opened his mouth again with a serious tone.

“I’m not joking. I’m coming to Korea. I’ll be there for about ten days.”
<<…Really?>>
“You know I don’t like to joke around with stuff like this.”
<<I’m not sure. I don’t think I know my son that well. I didn’t know you were so good at cooking, or that you had that good of a tongue, or that you were so good at English.>>
“Mom.”
<<Alright, I’ll stop. So when are you coming?>>
“In four days.”
<<That fast?!>>

His mom responded with a surprised voice. Minjoon could understand that feeling very well. Who wouldn’t be surprised, if their son overseas suddenly said they’d come back in four days? Minjoon turned to look next to him for a second. Kaya was listening intently, despite not understanding a thing. Minjoon changed the call to a video call and showed Kaya on the phone. The girl started touching up her hair with an extremely surprised expression.

“Kaya gifted me. She wanted to go on a group trip. Ah, Kaya’s family is also coming.”

Kaya smiled at the camera, noticing Minjoon was talking about him. Minjoon’s mom grinned, as if Kaya was the cutest thing in the world.

<<My goodness. I still can’t tell how you managed to snag someone so beautiful like that. Minjoon, what was thank you in English again?>>
“…Are you really asking me what ‘thank you’ is?”
<<Oh, right, that’s what it was. Anyway, ‘thank you’, Kaya.>>
“I did it because I wanted to. I need to take care of Minjoon, after all.”

Kaya responded in a heartbeat. Of course, Minjoon’s mom didn’t understand her. As the two stared curiously at each other, Minjoon opened his mouth.

“She said she just did the obvious.”
<<Goodness, that’s not anything obvious at all! Anyway, you said her family is coming as well? Good. I was wondering when we’d finally meet as a family to talk about marriage…>>
“Wait, mom! We’re just going there to rest!”
<<What, you were so sudden about this, why can’t I make a quick decision as well?>>
“The scale is different, mom. Plus, we’re too young to get married right now, and the other side still hasn’t even thought about…”

Marriage. He was always thinking about it, but it still felt like something very far away. When Minjoon responded in surprise, Kaya looked at him a little oddly. On the phone, his mother was still speaking stiffly.

<<Well, they might as well start thinking about it now, then. They have four days. Plenty of time. Plus, at this rate, you might just end up getting too old for marriage instead. Snag her while you still can. Just look at mom. We got married right out of the gates, and we’re living so happily still.>>
“…Didn’t you just get married because you got pregnant with me?”
<<Who told you that?>>
“Uncle…”
<<That immature son of a… Anyway, you two are living together already. That might as well be marriage. To begin with, we only approved of you living together with her because we assumed you two would get married.>>

Unfortunately, Minjoon really couldn’t refute her. When he closed his mouth, his mom finally started speaking more gently.

<<I’m not telling you to get married now. But you have to start preparing yourself. Plus, our families will have to meet at some point anyway.>>
“Nothing’s finalized, though… Ugh, fine. But you guys wouldn’t be able to talk to each other even if you meet, no?”
<<Don’t worry about that. Mom’s been practicing English recently just for this. Your dad is also good at English, his pronunciation is just all over the place. Bring over Kaya’s family safely, you hear? I’m hanging up.>>
“Mom. Mom! Ah…”

His mom hung up immediately, making Minjoon stare at the black screen annoyedly. Kaya looked at him curiously again.

“What did she say? You guys talked a lot.”
“She liked the news. And…”

Minjoon hesitated. He didn’t want to talk about marriage just yet, but they’d have to talk about it in four days anyway. After a few more seconds, he opened his mouth.

“She wanted our families to meet, since we’d get married in the future.”
“…What?”

Kaya looked at Minjoon dumbly before blushing a little. Minjoon continued as calmly as he could.

“Don’t worry. Not right now. It’s just… preparation? Getting ourselves ready? Ah, I can’t find the right word for this at all.”
“I would never have thought to see you struggle with English. I’m not worried. I’m just surprised. And happy.”
“Happy?”
“I didn’t think your mother would support our relationship… You know, I thought all this time that Asian families didn’t like foreign women. I was worried about that…”
“Why would you be worried about that?”
“I mean, our situation isn’t exactly normal. I’m not that average, either. That just makes me worry.”

Minjoon quietly hugged Kaya. He forgot this often, but the girl was very small whenever he hugged her. Just how she managed to carry all that baggage on it was a mystery to him.

“You don’t have to worry. I’ll make sure of that. And…”

Minjoon didn’t finish his words. He didn’t feel the need to say that he would support her as much as she supported him.

€

“Korea…”

Kaya’s father, Bruce, opened his mouth with a bit of surprise. Minjoon smiled back at the man in response.

“I know you’re busy. But I think it would be good if you could join us. Kaya isn’t distancing herself from you because she dislikes you. She’s just mad about what happened after all this time.”
“Thank you for explaining it that way. But like you said, I’ve made too many mistakes to just appear in her life like nothing happened.”
“I’m not telling you to pretend as if nothing happened. I’m telling you to repent slowly. I think this is a good place for you to start. Of course, I guess we can’t help it if you’re busy, but…”
“No, not at all. I can always change my schedule. I can’t be with you for all ten days, but…”

Bruce began checking his own schedule. In the meantime, Minjoon looked at the man quietly. Just as Kaya gave him a gift, he wanted to give her a surprise gift as well. Perhaps he was interfering with her life too much by doing this, but this was Kaya. Privacy’s been pretty much thrown out the window already between them.

This wasn’t even an interference either. He was just giving Bruce a small tip, after all. Bruce talked to his secretary for a few seconds before sighing tiredly.

“I think I can manage for a few days.”
“That’s good.”
“Kaya bought the tickets, right? I can change all of them to first-class tickets. How about it?”

It probably wasn’t that difficult for Bruce. Minjoon thought for a second, but in the end, he could only say one thing.

“That would be bad.”
“Is that so? I guess Kaya doesn’t enjoy luxury, after all. I have so many things I would like to get her, too.”
“You were somewhere else all this time, while Kaya, Jemma and Grace were struggling. Of course, you were struggling too, but… What’s important is that you weren’t there for them.”
“…Right.”
“You’re on a sandy beach right now, Bruce. Instead of just trying to gesture at them to come where you are, I think it might be better for you to jump into that field of thorns they’re in, and drag them out yourself.”

Bruce became silent. Minjoon observed carefully. He waited for the man to think, and come to his own conclusions. In the end, Bruce smiled a little bitterly.

“Kaya said she met a man who was a lot like me, but I see she was wrong. You’re a good man, Minjoon.”
“Thank you.”
“That’s a good metaphor. A field of thorns, is it… Right, I’ll gladly jump back in for them, if that’s what it takes.”

Minjoon smiled softly.

“It’s going to hurt. Quite a bit, too.”

Bruce smiled back in response.

“I’m pretty used to that sort of thing by now.”

If you are reading from a pirate or aggregator site, please read from the translator’s site: yado-inn (dot) com I have to put the link like this or else the bots will remove it, sorry 🙁

<Healthy Flavor (4)> End.