Chapter 77 - Chapter 77: Unexpected Collaboration (4)

Cho Min Joon gulped. It was unlikely that he was going to be disqualified, but his heart continued to pound.

When he looked over at Marco, his face didn’t look so good. Beside him, Hugo tapped Marco on the shoulder. Emily spoke in a calm voice, “Once the scores come out, you’ll be separated into two groups. The ones that survived and the ones that didn’t. Does anyone think they were disqualified?”

No one answered Emily. No one wanted to look unconfident. Emily nodded. Silence was an expected response to her question. While she nodded, Marco cautiously raised his hand. Emily looked at Marco without a smile. Marco hesitated before speaking in a quiet voice, “I think I’m going to get disqualified.”

“… Marco, it’s true you had the least number of plates, but you still have the votes to count on. What makes you so certain?”

“It’s not because I’m not confident in my tiramisu, but the others made good dishes as well. I don’t think I’ll get more votes than everyone else. Also…”

Marco laughed bitterly. His lips stuck out. He spoke in the calmest voice possible, “Only half of the customers had my tiramisu. If I consider the refills, it’s not even half, so I don’t believe I’ll get more votes than the others.”

Marco had such a good reason for his attitude that she couldn’t simply tell him to have confidence. Emily’s eyes lowered. The voice that came out of her mouth was lower than usual.

“I understand why you’re discouraged, but wouldn’t you want to survive if that was possible?”

“Of course. Besides…”

Marco stopped for a moment. He then looked at the other contestants. He looked at Kaya, Cho Min Joon, and Anderson. After looking at everyone, he continued, “I want to stay with them. They’re the best people I’ve ever met in my life.”

“… I hope you can do that.”

Emily finished off with a sad voice. Joseph coughed and looked at Allan. Allan looked down at the card in his hand.

“Before we reveal the number of plates and the votes, we’ll tell you who we voted for. First, I’ll tell you who I voted for.”

Allan paused for a moment. Cho Min Joon thought Allan was looking at him, but the name that came out of his mouth wasn’t his.

“Kaya.”

Kaya’s eyes jolted open. She looked at Allan in surprise. Allan spoke in a calm voice, “I’m Italian, so I know better than anyone what frittata should taste like. Kaya, I tasted the flavor of my homeland through your dish. I was surprised. You never learned how to make frittata from someone… And you’ve probably never been to an Italian restaurant either. I’m surprised you knew what frittata should taste like.”

Kaya listened to Allan without a word. She then asked, “I don’t understand. You’re complimenting me right now, right?”

“100 percent.”

“Thank you.”

She finally smiled. It was a provocative smile. Allan thought, ‘teenagers these days are difficult’ and sighed. He was reminded of his childhood. What did people think of him back then?

It was awkward for a moment. Joseph opened his mouth.

“I guess it’s my turn. I was conflicted between you two. Sasha and Marco.”

A smile spread across Marco’s face. Joseph smiled and continued, “You both made wonderful dishes that suited my taste. As I get older, I start to like food that is easier to chew. Sasha’s strawberry chiffon cake and Marco’s tiramisu. I liked how both were soft. The flavors were also perfect, and it wasn’t too heavy. To be honest, I can’t really say which was better. They were too different.”

Cho Min Joon nodded. Both dishes were 8 points. There were slight differences, but he thought both were at similar levels. Joseph continued, “But Marco, your tiramisu was less refreshing in my mouth. Sasha’s strawberry chiffon cake had lemon juice in it and the strawberry helped as well, but your tiramisu was just sweet. Of course, there was nothing wrong with it… But I’m sorry. I picked Sasha.”

“Thank you.”

Sasha spoke in a calm voice. She wasn’t the type to look happy when Marco looked so sad right next to her.

Emily coughed. She glanced over at Cho Min Joon and Chloe.

“Just so you know, this is just my preference. I voted as a customer, not a judge, and I’ve been very interested in Asian food lately. The foreign flavors and scents. These days, I crave something that’s different.

Emily’s mouth opened. Emily pointed at her tongue as she said, “And this tongue told me that both of your dishes were stimulating. Of course, I’ve tried stir-fried chicken and mapo tofu before… But I can say this for sure. Yours were one of the best I’ve tasted.”

“Thank you.”

Cho Min Joon answered with a smile. Chloe was uncertain whether to express her gratitude or not. And before Chloe could decide, Emily continued, “Chloe, I was worried that you used peanut butter in your mapo tofu… But that was your joker. You made what was originally spicy taste more soft. And Min Joon, I felt like your chicken was similar to ginger pork. Kind of like fusion.”

Cho Min Joon and Chloe looked at Emily without a word. Emily felt burdened by it and continued with an awkward smile, “It’s awkward to praise you both, but I must disqualify one of you. I’m sorry, but I wanted to express how much I enjoyed both. And… the person I picked was you, Min Joon.”

Chloe’s face shook, but she pressed down her disappointment and clapped with a smile. Cho Min Joon put his head down and then said, “Thank you for enjoying my dish.”

“I don’t enjoy any dish, Min Joon. You’ve grown so much during this competition. You weren’t this good in the beginning…”

Cho Min Joon responded with a smile. Emily looked at him as if he was her nephew as she said, “Please keep growing. If you continue to make dishes like this, you might win. If so, my plans of making you into a food critic would tumble… But I’ll still cheer you on.”

“… Is it okay to say that on broadcast like this?”

“There’s nothing to hide. After all, you’re one of the most impressive future food critics in this country.”

He liked compliments, but this was too much. Cho Min Joon flashed an awkward smile and stepped back. Allan then spoke in a loud voice, “Our votes are just one vote out of all the customers. Even if you didn’t get picked by us, don’t feel discouraged. First, I’ll announce the plates, but you probably have an idea already.”

When they cooked once, they were able to fill around 20 plates. That meant Hugo, who refilled the plates 5 times, emptied over 100 plates, and Cho Min Joon, who refilled 4 times, emptied around 80 to 100 plates. Marco was the only one who refilled 2 times. Allan said, “The contestant with the lowest score is Marco. You were only able to empty 52 plates. Why do you think that is?”

“… It’s as I was criticized earlier. It was too different. Of course, there are those who want that sort of thing… But I didn’t think to go for a more universal taste. That was my mistake.”

“I’m glad you know. But Marco, your tiramisu was good, so no need to be so down.”

The announcements continued. Hugo was 1st place with 113 plates cleared. 2nd place was Kaya. She emptied 93 plates. And after that…

“Min Joon, you’re in 3rd place. You emptied 92 plates.”

It was Min Joon. He smiled and tapped Kaya with his elbow. Kaya glared. He then quietly whispered, “That’s only a plate difference.”

“You’ll never be able to beat me.”

“I can if it’s just one plate of a difference. Same thing.”

“Usain Belt was also just a step ahead when he raced and took over the world.”

“I don’t know about that. There’s no runner by the name of Usain Belt.”

“Hmph, you just don’t know him. You’re stupid. You should educate yourself more.”

Cho Min Joon wanted to correct her that it was “Bolt”, not “Belt”, but he held back. The judges were staring at them to tell them to quiet down. Kaya grumbled and dropped her head.

The announcements were finished, but no one was very agitated. It was as they expected. The results depended on how the votes went. Allan spoke in a calm voice, “We’ll announce the votes now. I’ll follow the order of the plate ranking. Hugo, 7 points, Kaya, 17 points.”

People exclaimed at Kaya’s votes. With the judges’ votes combined that was 103 votes. If she received 17 votes, that meant she received twice the amount of average. It was possible Kaya would take 1st place. Cho Min Joon was just about to marvel.

“Min Joon…”

At that moment, Allan closed his mouth again. He then continued with a bitter voice, “… 24 votes.”

“Sh*t.”

Someone cursed, but no one blamed them. They were feeling the same way. They had no idea how he got 24 votes. Allan squinted his eyes. He figured it wasn’t just because his food was delicious.

‘It’s probably star quality and fandom.’

But that was inevitable. Less than a quarter of the customers were proper food critics. The rest of them just said the food was delicious because they were enchanted by their fame. Even for famous restaurants, the opinions of customers differed depending on what the food critics said. Depending on their take on it, food tasted better or worse.

That was why branding was important. It wasn’t that a skilled chef like Dave wasn’t setting up his own restaurant, and the reason why he was at Rose island wasn’t because he didn’t have cash.

Cho Min Joon had enough popularity to have a booming restaurant even if his food was lacking. After all, his perfect palate made customers trust him as much as a Michelin-3 star restaurant. It was possible that the entire food industry would value Cho Min Joon. They were able to draw all the customers just by recruiting him for a menu development team.

“Allan?”

Emily woke Allan from his thoughts. Allan continued with an awkward voice, “I was quite surprised as well. I’ll continue. Chloe, 10 votes, Anderson, 12 votes, Sasha, 9 votes, Ivanna, 6 votes, Olivia, 5 votes, Joanne, 6 votes, and Marco… 7 votes.”

7 votes. Considering the fact that Marco only gave out 50 something plates, that number wasn’t bad. While everyone counted their total scores, Joseph spoke in a calm voice, “First, let me announce the contestant in 1st place. 1st place had 92 points in plates and 240 plates in votes for a total of 332 votes. As you all know already, Min Joon. You’ll get a special advantage for the next mission.”

“… Thank you.”

Cho Min Joon answered with a dazed face. He liked that he won, but 24 votes? How could he get so many? He was at a loss for words.

2nd place went to Kaya. She didn’t compare to Cho Min Joon, but she had many votes compared to everyone else. The next rank wasn’t called up. After all, it didn’t matter. And then the contestant with the lowest score was called.

“Let me announce the lowest score. 121 points. 5 points in votes and 71 points plates. Good work, Olivia, but this is the end of your journey with Grand Chef.”

Olivia burst into tears. Cho Min Joon looked at her quietly. He didn’t grow very close to her, but he remembered her asking him to score her dishes from time to time. Chloe hugged her with a sad face.

As soon as Olivia left the kitchen, tension built up again. 2 contestants were to be disqualified in this mission, but Cho Min Joon didn’t bother calculating who was next. He didn’t’ want to.

“The second contestant to go home emptied 52 plates and received 7 votes. Compared to the cleared plates, the votes were surprising, Marco.”

Silence filled the room, but Joseph didn’t let it get the best of him. He continued in a calm manner, “Your tiramisu was great. Good work. Please continue to make great dishes. Your breadmaking was so good I wanted to sell them.”

“… Thank you.”

Marco didn’t cry like Olivia did. He choked up a little, but he didn’t want to shed any tears.

Everyone watched Marco as he left the kitchen. Before leaving, Marco turned around. No one knew who he was looking at, but everyone assumed it was them.

“Make sure you win!”

No one could answer.