Chapter 46

A pale hand fumbled along the end of the window. The waiting room was dark, but one man was sitting on the sofa. It was Cho Min Joon. The TV in front of him was playing a comedy show, but Cho Min Joon wasn’t looking that way. He was way too focused on the phone in his hand.

Carl Casper: They should just turn Grand Chef into Dating Chef. I don’t even know what I’m watching anymore.

Anna Tompson: I agree. Whether they look good together or not, I want to watch a cooking show.

Olivia Wesiz: @Anna Tompson It’s not like a few scenes of them being nice changes the show entirely. I liked it.

Dawnbreaker: I want catfish. Why am I salivating over what I’ve never tried before?

Meridia: I agree. It’d be great for breakfast.

Harry Miller: Who do you think will win? In my opinion…

Kuroki Yui: Why are you trailing off? I’m rooting for Anderson. He looks talented, and I like his cold and handsome look.

Bootes: I like Chloe. She’s cute and pretty. I just want her to win. I like her.

Jessica Wood: @Kuroki Yui I think Hugo and Carlos are better looking than Anderson. They’re more manly. Oh yeah, the Asian guy’s not bad either. The guy who ate with Kaya at the end. What’s his name?

Kuroki Yui: @Jessica Wood It’s Min Joon. I feel like he looks like that other chef, and rather than being too fancy, his cooking looks simple.

April: @Kuroki Yui Clean? Him? His catfish dish looked like shit. Allan is much cleaner in that sense.

Sansa Stark: Am I the only one who thinks Marco’s cute?

N N: The world is wide with lots of different preferences.

Ariana Sommer: Min Joon and Kaya look good together. They look like high school sweethearts.

Katy Jones: Tell them to get it together. They should be cooking, not dating.

Yujin Smith: @Katy Jones Well, we’re saying they’re dating, but all they really did was cook and share their food. Maybe we should talk with the producer instead.

“You were the one who told Kaya not to read those.”

He heard a voice. Cho Min Joon looked behind him. Chloe was looking at him like a tattletale little sister. Cho Min Joon turned off his phone. He then looked in a different direction. Cho Min Joon asked, “Why are you here at this hour?”

“I could ask you the same thing. Why aren’t you sleeping?”

“I’m not sure…”

Cho Min Joon trailed off and let his thoughts wander. He thought about Chloe’s voice. Unlike her pretty and cute appearance, Chloe’s voice was fairly deep and rough, but it was different from a husky voice. That kind of voice actually suited Kaya. While Kaya sounded like she had a cough, Chloe sounded like she had a stuffy nose.

‘… What am I thinking?’

Cho Min Joon shook his head. Chloe asked in a suspicious voice.

“You just thought of something weird, didn’t you?”

“… How did you know?”

“That’s what happens when a person goes silent.”

Chloe took a seat. Chloe then spoke in a careful manner, “People always know how to make things up. Just because you shared food, you’re dating now. That’s not true though, right?”

“… Well, it is a TV show.”

In response, Chloe smiled. She said, “Come to think of it, you were supposed to call your parents if you passed today, but the mission is tomorrow. Are you sad?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t think about it, but thanks for worrying.”

“I’m not worried… I just feel like I’m looking at myself.”

“Why? Your mother isn’t against you cooking.”

Cho Min Joon didn’t say ‘parents’ because he was wiser than that. Kids of divorced parents said they didn’t care, but they actually felt hurt by some of the things they heard. Chloe caught on to Cho Min Joon’s consideration and smiled.

“That’s not the issue. It’s not that I have a bad relationship with my parents, but I can’t really express how I really feel with them. I know how hard that is.”

“…”

Cho Min Joon fumbled his fingers in silence. He never thought about how hard that was, but once he thought about it, Chloe was right. It was hard to keep secrets from his parents.

“Why are you here anyway? All the comments about you are positive, so that can’t be it.”

“I’m human, too, you know. I can’t sleep because of the comments, so I went to work out. I feel like there are lots of others like that. If you knock on anyone’s door, they’re probably not sleeping.”

“You’re probably right. I wonder how Kaya’s doing.”

“She’s probably reading them, too. Marco looked at them before he fell asleep, and Hugo’s probably lashing out at them online.”

“Anderson probably didn’t even check because of his pride.”

“No, I feel like he’s the type to actually check every comment.”

Gossiping about others made them feel a little better, but at the end of one’s worry was another. Cho Min Joon sighed and said, “I wonder if Peter’s better.”

“He changed the recipe earlier. He’s going to do Tandoori chicken now. We’ll have to see, but I think it’ll be better.”

“… Do you think I was wrong to tell him it was 5 points?”

“I think it was worth a 5, too. Maybe someone else would have sugarcoated it for him, but we’re chefs. But then again, maybe we’re not there yet, but we’re working towards it, right? I think chefs need to be honest. If we can’t overcome the truth…”

Chloe trailed off and then smiled, and Cho Min Joon knew what that smile meant. Chloe was unable to finish, so Cho Min Joon helped her out.

“Yeah. That means we have no right to be chefs.”

“For many of you, today is probably your first day serving real customers.”

Allan spoke. The kitchen had a different vibe than usual. Normally, there were two lines of cooking stations, but it was now set up in the shape of a square. This was done because it was a team mission, and the contestants were already split up into their respective teams.

“I’ll keep it short. I hope that just the fact that these are your first customers will motivate you enough. Please do a good job and present them with delicious dishes. That’s it for me. Please get ready!”

8:45 in the morning. The mission began before they could even have breakfast. They had no choice. After all, the customers were set to arrive at noon for lunch. In order to prepare properly, they needed at least 2 hours.

“Are you ready?”

In response to Kaya’s question, everybody nodded. Kaya showed a face that resembled a female warrior as she said, “Let’s go over the recipes one more time. Carlos will make bagels with banana cream cheese, and Min Joon will make crab bisque soup. As for the mains, Chloe will make grilled bass, and…”

Kaya stopped there. She looked at Peter. Peter didn’t look at her and simply stared at the ground. Kaya’s eye twitched, but she didn’t make her feelings show as she continued, “Peter will make Tandoori chicken breast, and Hugo will make Ossobuco. Ossobuco is delicious. Do it just like last time, Hugo.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Hugo saluted with his response. Cho Min Joon nodded inside his head. Hugo’s Ossobuco was delicious. An Italian dish that was made with calf cartilage and white wine. As expected from an Italian dish, the flavors were deep. The cooking score was 7, but the flavors were much better than that.

“Joanne will make Caprese salad, Tony will make Choco Mochi, and Ivanna will make orange sherbert. Ivanna, don’t forget to serve it as soon as it’s done, and Min Joon, you know you have to help serve, too, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Great. Then we’re ready. Let’s begin!”

In response, everybody began gathering their materials. The same went for Cho Min Joon. He needed the same ingredients he used the night before with his team members.

When he peeled the crab and took out the meat, Kaya came and watched him do it. Cho Min Joon asked in a quiet voice, “How’s Peter? Do you think it’s going well?”

“I’m not sure. I feel like he might mess up if I go there.”

“You should still take a look. Maybe he wants to make up.”

“… Okay.”

Kaya approached Peter with an unwilling face. She wasn’t happy about it, but it was best for them to speak. Cho Min Joon focused on his cooking. Since he had to make a large amount of bisque this time, it came with different pros and cons.

The good part was that he could make the flavor even deeper. Just like all soups, bisque soup was the best when it was boiled for as long as possible.

But the bad part was that it was hard to work with. Even if the soup was burning at the bottom, scents were hard to detect with such large amounts. For a chef who had been smelling his bisque soup for a few hours, it was hard to smell anything burnt because he was desensitized.

Of course, Cho Min Joon could use his system to check on his status, but it would be too late by the time it finished cooking. No mistakes were tolerated, and as a result, Cho Min Joon’s arm couldn’t stop stirring.

As a result, the final crab bisque soup was perfect in quality. Cho Min Joon looked at his soup with satisfaction.

All he had to do now was maintain the temperature before handing it out to customers. It wasn’t favorably looked upon to make it all at once in a large amount, but restaurants couldn’t help it. If they made soups as they went, they were never able to get the timing right.

“The customers have arrived! Start serving!”

Allan shouted in a sharp voice. Carlos began moving his bagels and handmade banana cream cheese. After that was Cho Min Joon’s turn. He began moving his crab bisque soup with a gueridon. Some of the customers recognized Cho Min Joon and nodded. Some of them even pointed.

He felt shy for some reason, and a smile appeared on his face without knowing. He wanted to keep a straight face, but he couldn’t hold back. Cho Min Joon approached with an awkward smile. At the first table was a couple. Cho Min Joon served them his lobster bisque soup.

“This is lobster bisque soup. Please enjoy the soup first before you move on to the crab meat.”

“Did you make this yourself?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Oh, this feels weird. I salivated when I saw you making catfish meatball soup, but this looks even better. Right, Clark?”

“Hm… I’ve never had raw crab meat before.”

The man named Clark looked at the soup with a difficult face. Cho Min Joon smiled as he said, “You won’t taste anything fishy in here.”

“… Please try the soup first.”

Clark grabbed his spoon in hesitation. Cho Min Joon watched with a nervous look on his face. The spoon entered his mouth. Clark closed his eyes to experience the flavors and then opened his eyes again for another bite. He took three bites before the crab meat was placed on top as well. He chewed on the crab meat before his eyes jolted wide.

“Wow… This is crazy. The crab meat melts like cheese. How…? This is delicious.”

“I agree. This is delicious. Thank you.”

Cho Min Joon flashed a smile. He had never felt this happy before. His heart pounded. Hearing that his food was delicious from a customer rather than a judge felt different.

At that moment, the woman smiled as she asked, “Is this how you won over Kaya’s heart?”

Cho Min Joon answered with a laugh, “She did say it was delicious.”