Chapter 57

The judges left without another word. Cho Min Joon looked back at his team members with a smile. He met eyes with Kaya who stood beyond them, but Kaya quickly turned away. Was she angry? Anderson noticed Cho Min Joon’s gaze and asked, “Why? Do you regret it?”

“No, of course not. I’m just worried she’s mad.”

“Then why did you pick me? That wasn’t like you. You should’ve just continued your love line.”

“That’s what I didn’t want. It’s tiring for me and Kaya to get wrapped up in all of that.”

“You’re making it sound like nothing’s going on between you two.”

“There isn’t.”

Cho Min Joon spoke with a firm face. His voice sounded so certain that Anderson flinched.

‘Really?’

Anderson was certain that the show wasn’t exaggerating. He didn’t witness anything himself, but it was clear to him that the two of them looked close. They looked closer than just friends or brothers and sisters.

But Cho Min Joon maintained a very clear stance. Joanne laughed and said, “Then just believe him, Anderson. Stop interrogating him. Stuff like this can’t be resolved by other people overreacting.”

“You guys are the ones who made it seem that way. Same with the show.”

“It’s quite the opposite, Min Joon. It’s not us who made it seem that way, but it was your behavior that made us react.”

Cho Min Joon didn’t know what to say, so he changed the subject.

“Let’s talk about that weird love line thing later and take a look at the truck first.”

He then started walking, and his team members smirked and followed him from behind.

The food truck was quite large inside. Cho Min Joon took a look around the inside of the food truck as if he recently moved there. No cooking equipment was inside yet. After all, they had to decide what to cook first.

Cho Min Joon sat on the chair attached to the wall and said, “It’s bigger than I thought.”

“It needs to be at least this big if we want to cook in it. Anyway, what should we make?”

“I don’t know… Sandwiches? Is that too boring?”

“It’s boring, but it’s a good choice, but we should think about the mission, too. In the end, we have to make the most money. I don’t know if normal sandwiches will sell that much.”

In response to Anderson’s criticism, Cho Min Joon fell deeply into thought. There were two major paths to take. Sell lots of cheap food or sell less expensive food, but considering the fact that most people who came to food trucks didn’t expect gourmet food made him think that making cheap food would be the way to go.

“Let’s make non-expensive food. I think it should be around 5 dollars, and it needs to be a single dish.”

From what Cho Min Joon remembered, Anderson’s team won this mission. It was Kaya’s team as well since they were on the same team. As for the menu…

‘Was it Spanish omelet? Wait, maybe it was something else…’

He rewatched the show many times, but his memory regarding the team missions was hazy. After all, the only parts he remembered were those that had to do with interesting situations.

And it wasn’t right to rely on his past memories. The team members were different back then. Right now, they had to come up with a menu that would work with their current members.

At that moment, Peter cautiously spoke, “How about steak?”

“If you’re talking about beef, that’s too hard. It’s expensive. No one wants to spend tens of dollars at a food truck.”

“What if we use chicken breast? And add some salad.”

“That’s not a bad idea…. But I don’t think that’s enough.”

Cho Min Joon stroked his chin. Joanne sighed and said,

“What do you think of when you think about food trucks? Kebabs, takoyaki, hamburgers, hot dogs, sandwiches…”

“Hm, chicken and pizza? But I don’t think those two will be competitive. Pizza can be delivered. You don’t have to go to a food truck for it.”

“Then do I have to pick from my list? Any other ideas?”

“Let’s keep thinking.”

They didn’t have to decide so soon. After all, today was all for preparations. The business would only began the day after for a week straight.

Ivanna, who had been quiet the whole time, opened her mouth. She was normally so quiet that people wondered if the girl with curly brown hair and freckles was mute.

“Bingsu. Gelato. What about those?”

“It’s April. It’s still cold everywhere. It’s too early for people to crave cold foods.”

“Ice cream still tastes good in the cold.”

“It’s good but not preferred. We should probably avoid cold foods.”

Ivanna showed a blank look on her face and hung her head. Anderson said, “Ice cream might be hard, but we might need beverages to go with the food. Non-alcoholic beverages or fruit juice. Or maybe even tea.”

“The beverage depends on what food we decide to sell.”

At that moment, one dish came to Cho Min Joon’s mind. It was all too familiar, but it was foreign to them. Cho Min Joon hesitated before suggesting, “What about Kimbap?”

“Kimbap? What’s that?”

“Hm… It’s a food where you put rice inside seaweed, add other ingredients, and roll it up into rolls.”

“Isn’t that just sushi? I saw those at Japanese restaurants.”

“Yeah, that. Norimaki. If you exclude vinegar and sugar from that and add sesame oil, that’s Kimbap. It’s almost the same.”

He was disappointed that they didn’t know what Kimbap was, but he had to deal with it. After all, people knew way more about sushi than Kimbap. Cho Min Joon thought before he continued, “Norimaki. I feel like this is the most cost-effective. What do you think, Joanne? Do you know what I’m talking about?”

“Yeah. I like Japanese food, so I’ve tried it a lot. It’s convenient to sell, so it’s not a bad idea, and we can store it beforehand. It’s also exotic. People might feel unfamiliar, but they’ve probably all tried sushi before. What do you think?”

Joanne looked at Ivanna. Ivanna rolled her eyes and nodded.

“It’s not a bad idea.”

“… Do you know what kind of food it is?”

“Yeah. My friend is Japanese.”

“Peter. What about you?”

“I’ve never tried it. I don’t really like fish.”

“This sushi doesn’t include any fish. It’s just rice, seaweed, and other ingredients on top. Hm, this is a good idea. It’s easy to make it beforehand and just sell it later.”

Cho Min Joon nodded. The best part about Kimbap and Norimaki was that it didn’t matter if it got cold. They didn’t have to worry about making it as soon as they receive the order. Just like that, they made their decision. Anderson asked, “Then we have our main idea, right?”

“Yeah. We also have to decide what tea to serve with it. Lemon tea, citron tea, black tea… Maybe we should give them 3 choices so the customers can pick.”

“As for the detailed recipe, we’ll have to look around the market first.”

“Well, first.”

Cho Min Joon turned his head. His eyes scanned the empty space in the back of the food truck.

“Let’s pick what kitchen equipment to get.”

[Kaya: Traitor. Screw you.]

That evening. While he cleaned and inspected the equipment, he received a text. Cho Min Joon smirked and stared at the screen. He thought about how to respond, but when he realized how childish he was being, he felt surprisingly happy. Joanne laughed.

“Are you texting each other again?”

“What do you mean, again? This is our first text of the day. Is there a problem with our interaction? You’re the ones making this look like something else.”

“I don’t know about that. Just the fact that you’re texting means something. Look. None of the other team members are texting each other. Same with you. Do you text anyone else other than her?”

“… No, but it’s not like that. Look. ‘Traitor. Sccrew you.’ There’s no romance in that.”

“That depends on who’s looking at it. It looks pretty sweet to me.”

Joanne clapped her hands with an unlikable look on her face. Cho Min Joon shook his head.

“Finish cleaning the fryer. It’s dirty. Stop slacking off.”

“You’re so strict. I can’t even tease you because you’re too scary!”

“… You’re talking like teasing me is your right.”

“Hmph, whatever.”

Joanne coldly turned her head and scrubbed the fryer clean. When Cho Min Joon sighed and turned his head, he heard a quiet ‘ah’. It was Peter. He was looking down at his hands with knitted brows. Cho Min Joon dropped his sponge and immediately ran over to Peter.

“What’s wrong, peter? Are you hurt?”

“… No.”

“Let me see your hand.”

Peter sighed and showed his hands. Cho Min Joon’s face grew serious. The wound on Peter’s hand was longer than he expected. It wasn’t as deep as his injury on his thumb, but it was 3 times the length.

“Hey, this is serious. What are you doing? Go to the doctor. Actually, I’ll bring him.”

“W-wait…”

Cho Min Joon ran off to the staff and looked for the doctor. The doctor looked at Cho Min Joon with a dazed look on his face.

“Why are you looking for me? Did your wound get infected?”

“No, it’s my team member. He got stabbed.”

“Oh no… Okay. Hold on.”

The doctor quickly got his equipment together. As soon as they got back to Peter, he was trying to stop the bleeding by squeezing his wrist, but his hand was already covered in blood. While the doctor treated him, Peter continued to look down at the ground with a sad look on his face. Cho Min Joon felt worried. He didn’t seem sad just because of his wound alone.

While Peter was resting after treatment, Cho Min Joon finished inspecting the equipment. Cho Min Joon looked outside of the truck. Peter was sitting blankly at the end of the backend. Even when he approached and plopped down beside him, Peter didn’t look at him. Cho Min Joon spoke out of frustration, “Why do you look so down?”

“… I don’t know what you mean.”

“You sound depressed, too. If it’s because of last time, don’t worry about it. It’s all in the past. People make mistakes.”

“That’s not why.”

“Whatever it’s about, you’re acknowledging it, too. That you’re depressed right now.”

Peter kept his mouth shut. He had a stubborn look on his face as most Indians did. The way he kept silent looked unlikable. Cho Min Joon grabbed his forehead and asked, “What is it? I have to solve all the problems as the team leader. Tell me already.”

“It’s just…”

Peter opened his mouth and closed it again. He sighed and kept his mouth shut for a while. He then opened it again.

“I don’t know what I’m doing here. Once the broadcast of me and Kaya fighting gets out, I’ll look like a jerk, and people will leave thousands of mean comments. It’s not like anyone will hire a guy like that. And most importantly… I’m not confident that I can do anything here. Not just here, but out there, too. All I do is cause problems.”

Cho Min Joon didn’t say anything. It wasn’t because he sympathized with Peter. He didn’t feel frustrated either. They were never that close after all, but he understood that Peter was so pained by this that he told Cho Min Joon everything despite not being close, so he said, “If I try to comfort you right now, I’ll probably say all the wrong things, and I’d probably be saying those things to feel like a good person and nothing else, but if you want me to do it anyway, I will. Do you want me to?”

“… Who’d say yes to that?”

“Exactly. I don’t want to comfort you, and I won’t. Oh, but don’t get me wrong. I don’t have any ill feelings toward you. I don’t know about Kaya, but I don’t have any anger to take out on you anymore.”

Cho Min Joon caught his breath. It was sunset, and whether it was because of that sunset or it was his passion, Cho Min Joon’s face was bright red.

“I like to cook. That’s why I came all the way here. I wanted to take my first steps out in this world, so I’m happier than ever right now. What about you? You came here, too. That means you like to cook, so why are you talking about confidence or mean comments when you have this opportunity? Okay, fine. I get it. Your image will get tainted. Martin’s not the type to edit that out. That’s why you shouldn’t have gotten in trouble, to begin with.”

“I didn’t want to either. I’m not very social. I was bullied in school because of my personality, and I don’t have any friends. It’s the same here. I’m a loner. Everyone who met me hated me, and now, all the viewers will know that too and hate me as well. Do you get it? Not just America, but the whole world will hate me!”

“So what?”

Cho Min Joon twitched his eyebrow as he spoke. Peter glared at Cho Min Joon in anger and then bit down on his lip. Cho Min Joon continued in a sharp voice, “What if they hate you? Do you want to live as a loser just because people hate you? I’ll be honest. I don’t understand you. I’ve never thought like you before, but if I were you, I’d fight. Not with my fist but with my cooking. I’m going to make sure people don’t hate my cooking even if they hate me because that’s within my power, so what are you going to do? Are you going to give up because people hate you, and you have no friends? Fine, I won’t stop you.”

Peter looked like he was about to cry, but he wasn’t shedding any tears because of his pride…

Was he 24 years old? He was young, but compared to his age, Peter acted particularly immature. Cho Min Joon sighed.

“If you can’t give up, don’t be sad. I won’t tell you to ignore the mean comments because I can’t do that either, but don’t give up on your dream because of it. You’re still here. Like you said, you’re anti-social, but you’re good at cooking. You might have made a mistake that day, but still.”

Cho Min Joon smiled and tapped Peter on the back. Peter flinched and rubbed his back and then smiled while looking down at his feet. It remained silent for a while, and by the time the sunset disappeared into the darkness, Peter spoke with an anxious voice, “Do you think… I can do it?”

“You just have to do it. That’s it.”

“Do you think… I can win?”

“No.”

Peter looked at Cho Min Joon with a blank look on his face. Cho Min Joon spoke firmly, “I’m going to win.”