Chapter 78 - Chapter 78: Spring, spring, spring (1)

The weather was beautiful. The garden began to bloom. Cho Min Joon sat on the bench. He had earphones in with a book in his hands. He looked like a literary person, but the book he was holding wasn’t literature but a cooking book.

Kaya squinted her eyes at the sight. She approached Cho Min Joon and opened her mouth. Her rough voice rang through the garden.

“What are you listening to?”

Kaya immediately took one of his earphones and put it to her ear. She then grimaced.

“Classical?”

“Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E Minor to be more exact… What’s with your face?”

“You’re so boring.”

“… What’s wrong with classical? If you’re not going to listen, give it back.”

Cho Min Joon frowned and took his earphone back, but Kaya kept it to her ear and refused to let go.

“Who said I’m not listening? It’s better than the sound of the wind blowing.”

Kaya then sat down on the armrest of the bench. She then looked at the book Cho Min Joon was reading. She grimaced again.

“What’s with all the difficult words?”

“This is in English.”

“They’re foreign languages disguised as English.”

Cho Min Joon shrugged. Kaya wasn’t completely wrong. After all, many French and Spanish words could be seen in the cooking book, and even Cho Min Joon had to look up a few words in the dictionary.

Because of Kaya leaning in, he felt his neck tickle from her breath. Cho Min Joon glanced at Kaya and asked, “Are you bored?”

“I have nothing to do, but I’m not bored.”

“What does that mean?”

Kaya looked at Cho Min Joon without an answer. Within her eyes lined with dark eyeliner contained Cho Min Joon. Kaya then turned away. Why was Kaya embarrassed by Cho Min Joon staring at her face? Cho Min Joon opened her mouth.

“Why don’t you work out like Chloe does?”

“You don’t work out either. Don’t you remember? Real men need muscles.”

“That’s your opinion, and I don’t need to follow it.”

“… I guess.”

Kaya bit down on her lip and scratched her head. Cho Min Joon stared at her uneasy eyes. He particularly noticed her messy hair.

“Did you even wash your hair?”

“Yeah, last night.”

“You should’ve washed it again this morning.”

“I have dry scalp, so I don’t need to wash it that often. What? Don’t’ look at me like that. I’m not dirty. You’re just extra clean.”

“We need a judge for this. Chloe!”

Cho Min Joon knitted his brows and called over Chloe who happened to be passing by. Chloe, who was wearing tight black exercise clothes, approached them. Chloe pushed her sweaty hair back and looked confused.

“Why did you call me?”

“We need a third-party. Is it okay to not wash your hair in the morning if you washed it the night before?”

“I’m not sure. I just wash up after I work out because I sweat a lot.”

“But you wash your hair when you wake up, right?”

“Usually… But why?”

Cho Min Joon didn’t answer Chloe’s question. He just looked at Kaya in victory. Just seeing Kaya’s face made Chloe realize what was going on. She smiled bitterly.

“Are you fighting over how often you wash your hair? I understand Kaya… But Min Joon, you’re so immature.”

“Wait, why do you understand me?”

“Because Kaya is Kaya?”

Chloe flashed a pretty smile. It was truly a pretty smile. A smile that no one could hate. She wanted a smile like that, but Kaya knew that didn’t suit her.

Kaya got up from the bench with a sour look on her face, and the earphone naturally dropped. Not from Kaya’s ear, but Cho Min Joon’s. Kaya put on a shocked face and said, “Sorry. On top of not washing my hair, I pulled out your earphone.”

Cho Min Joon smirked and said, “Go and make my breakfast.”

***

[Me: What are you doing?]

[Marco: I’m just looking for a new job.]

[Me: I bet lots of people want you at patisseries.]

[Marco: I’ve been getting pretty positive responses, but we’ll see.]

Cho Min Joon smiled at Marco’s response. Marco’s abilities were clearly conveyed on the show. Considering how many people saw him on the show, anyone who hired him would see increased sales. That was how superior Grand Chef was in America.

[Me: Call me when you get a job. I’ll visit you. If I’m still in America, that is.]

[Marco: Sure. Thanks. ☺]

Cho Min Joon put his phone away. The work of art was almost complete inside the oven.

He was making a tart. A French apple tart. The recipe was simple. Just like all pastries, he had to start with a batter. And after making it into a mountain, he had to put a hole in the middle and pour salt and cold water into it. It was important to make the batter with water. After all, breads were more delicious when the batter process was completed correctly.

After making the batter flat, he had to put butter on top and fold it like origami. After that, he had to make it flat again, and then fold it, and repeat that process 5 times. There was a similar repetitive process when making udon. This was to make multiple layers within the batter.

After that was simple. He put butter on a pan and spread sugar over it. Once he cooked apples on top, the apple juice, butter, and sugar caramelized together.

So he would cover it with the crust batter that he made before and put holes in it so that it wouldn’t get soggy. After that, he had to cook it in the oven at around 180 to 200 degrees. To be more exact, there was one more step left. He had to carefully flip the completed tart. Then the bread would sit at the bottom while the cooked apple, butter, and caramel would display on top.

And the one Cho Min Joon made was fairly decent.

[Tart]

Freshness: 96%

Origin: (Too many ingredients for an accurate calculation.)

Quality: High

Cooking Score: 6/10

He obtained 6 points when he didn’t even do anything special. Considering his breadmaking score of 5, that was impressive. It was actually quite easy to obtain 6 points in breadmaking. Perhaps, his cooking score had an influence. After all, a person skilled at cooking had a better chance at baking than a person with less cooking skills.

“Did it turn out well?”

Anderson approached and asked. He was holding a plate containing Mille-Feuille. The way the white cream peaked out of the bread made it look more appetizing than his tart. The cooking score was 7. Cho Min Joon gulped. Anderson put his guard up and stepped back.

“You can’t eat it yet. We’re supposed to eat it together when the broadcast airs.”

“… What if you failed? Let me taste it.”

“Sorry, but I already did.”

Anderson responded with a smirk. Cho Min Joon sighed. At that moment, Kaya tapped Cho Min Joon on the arm as she passed by. She was holding a plate of cheesecake, but her hair looked particularly silky. She must have shampooed and rinsed multiple times. The smell of apple or lime tickled his nose, and her hair looked like that of a commercial. Kaya glanced back and then proceeded to walk.

Anderson smirked and asked, “What’s with her?”

“It’s Kaya. What else is new?”

Anderson nodded. He was convinced just by the words, “It’s Kaya.”

It wasn’t just the three of them in the kitchen. Chloe, Sasha, Joanne, Ivanna, and Hugo were there as well. They weren’t there to make dinner. They had already eaten. What they were preparing was snacks for the show. Cho Min Joon spoke in a sad voice, “I wish Marco was still here. I’ve never had a soufflé as good as his.”

“That’s because you’ve never tried mine before.”

“… You’re such a jerk.”

“The world is always more jealous of better people than look up to them.”

“From what I know, people react that way to people who aren’t actually better.”

“If I’m just average now, I’m sure I’ll be great in 10 years.”

Cho Min Joon shook his head. The more he got to know him, the more things he found out about him, but rather than see him differently, Cho Min Joon saw Anderson the same as him in one aspect.

“You jerk.”

“You too.”

Anderson answered in a calm manner. Cho Min Joon stared at Anderson.

“Me?”

“Does it sound mean when you hear it from someone else? How much of a jerk do you have to be?”

“… A little?”

“I thought you were good at English, but I guess you’re still a foreigner. In this instance, you should say ‘a lot’.

Cho Min Joon smirked and climbed the stairs. As soon as he reached the 4th floor lobby, Kaya was sitting in front of the TV on the sofa. To be more exact, she was laying on the sofa.

“You’ll turn into a cow at this rate.”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s a Korean saying. If you lay around eating, you become a cow.”

“Not a pig?”

“It might be a cow because they can’t digest.”

“Hmph. This is why college is useless. Is that all you learned?”

In response, Cho Min Joon smiled and sat down. Kaya reached out her hand.

“Let me try yours.”

“Later when the show starts.”

“Come on. Stop being so strict. It’ll start in 10 minutes anyways.”

Cho Min Joon smacked his lips and gave her some of the tart. Kaya took a bite and nodded in approval.

“Not bad.”

“Isn’t it too sweet?”

“Tarts are supposed to be sweet. But maybe it’s sweet to you. I bet customers will kill for this though.”

In response to Kaya, Anderson nodded.

“It’s not the healthiest, but the customers want good flavors, not health. If they wanted health, they would go to the hospital, not a restaurant. But then again, some restaurants serve healthy food… But they don’t’ get much business. Health and good food aren’t opposites, but there’s still a distance.

As soon as Anderson finished, they heard footsteps on the stairs. The rest of them came with pudding, cake, and bread. Chloe looked at the TV and asked, “It hasn’t started yet.”

“I just saw the previews. It’ll start after a few commercials.”

“Great. Right on time.”

Chloe sat down on the sofa with a smile. While everyone settled down with the food, the commercials ended. The Grand Chef logo then filled the screen and the show began. Since the food truck mission went on for a week, it was a continuation of the story from last week.

Most of it was as they remembered. They actually had more interest in the other teams’ stories than their own. For example, when Cho Min Joon gave Peter some wise advice, Cho Min Joon was embarrassed, but the others were amused. Joanne spoke with shock, “You had that conversation? I had no idea.”

“We did it quietly.”

Not all scenes were entertaining. After all, the fight that Chloe got into to protect Kaya wasn’t very pleasant to watch.

“That asshole. So pathetic.”

Cho Min Joon mumbled with contempt. It was rare for him to swear, but no one pointed him out. They were feeling the same way. Same with when Cho Min Joon’s team dealt with a horrible customer. Kaya spoke in a cynical voice, “That pathetic bitch. Look at her shameless ass. If she did that in my town, she’d get run over at night.”

“… I don’t want to live in your neighborhood.”

“I never said you should.”

Kaya answered in a cold voice. Chloe just patted her on the head. Since she liked messy hair, Chloe seemed disappointed in Kaya’s newly silky hair. Kaya opened her eyes wide and said, “Stop treating me like a kid.”

“You’re younger than me though.”

Chloe answered with a smirk. Kaya mumbled something, but Chloe didn’t back down. They were like cats and dogs. At that moment, Rachel came on the screen. Martin didn’t forget to include her shots. He had no other choice. She was a legend. She would make the viewer ratings go up.

“Rachel Rose… You really met her.”

Sasha mumbled blankly. She didn’t think it was a lie when she heard it, but it felt different seeing it on the screen. The scene proved that Cho Min Joon was getting a lot of attention. From both the public and the chefs.

He was at a whole different level, so she didn’t feel jealous. A perfect palate. That was a skill that was unfair for anyone to have. She wondered if he was aware that just his presence alone made for good branding.

After that was simple. The results of the mission were revealed and the disqualification mission took place. It wasn’t pleasant to see Jacob get disqualified, but everyone kept watching with their mouths shut. After all, this could happen to them one day.

After that was a shot of Cho Min Joon’s team eating at Rose Island. At that moment, Cho Min Joon wanted to run away. He knew what was to come. After shots of the beautiful food, the camera showed Cho Min Joon crying. The viewers might have seen it as a genius appreciating the flavors… but not them. Luckily, they were more interested in the food than him, but…

“What a cry baby.”

Kaya said with a smile. Cho Min Joon flushed and said, “I couldn’t help it. You’ll understand if you eat there one day.”

“… When will I ever eat at a 3-star?”

“One day.”

“I hope so.”

“You won’t just eat there. You’ll be the head chef of a 3-star restaurant. Is that so hard?”

Anderson answered.

“Of course, it’s hard.”