Chapter 80 - Chapter 80: Unfamiliar (1)

Chapter 80: Chapter 80: Unfamiliar (1)

“Chloe’s been weird these days.”

One morning, Kaya spoke in a quiet voice as if she was telling a big secret. She stuck out her head and glanced around her to make sure no one was listening. Cho Min Joon pushed Kaya’s forehead away with his finger.

“Your hair will fall into the soup.”

“… Are you serious?”

“What about Chloe?”

Kaya glared at Cho Min Joon before finally answering, but of course, her voice was coarser than usual.

“Chloe seems to be worried about something these days. She’s blank.”

“Maybe she has spring fever.”

“I wouldn’t be saying this if it was something like that.”

Cho Min Joon smiled in response. Kaya grimaced.

“What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing.”

He felt proud that she was worrying about someone instead of getting into fights, but he knew that if he said that to her, she would refute it. Cho Min Joon calmly looked away. Chloe was making dumplings out of her pot at a cooking station. Cho Min Joon was in awe of the cooking score he saw on top of her—7 points. That was decent considering she made it in under 1 hour.

At that moment, Chloe groaned and threw her hands in the air. The pot fell on the floor and made a loud clanging sound. Before Cho Min Joon got up, Kaya sprung up and ran over to Chloe. She looked at Chloe’s burnt hand and looked pained for her.

“Did you burn yourself?”

“Hahaha… it’s fine.”

“I knew this was going to happen. Wash it under cold water. I’ll bring you some ointment.”

“No, I’m really okay. That’s not necessary…”

“Women shouldn’t have wounded hands. You’re different from me.”

Kaya hurried away to find the first aid kit. When Cho Min Joon saw that, he remembered the last thing Kaya said, ‘You’re different from me.’

That made sense considering her past. Kaya couldn’t live a normal life. Not as a woman, a student, or a family’s daughter. When other kids her age put lipstick on, Kaya had dust all over her face, and when others put perfume on, she smelled of fish.

But the problem was what she said before that. ‘Women shouldn’t have wounded hands. You’re different from me.’ It sounded as if it was okay for her to be wounded even though she was a woman, too. He felt bothered that she thought of her own life as less precious and valuable.

Cho Min Joon approached Chloe. Chloe smiled awkwardly as she put her hand under cold water.

“Ugh, this is embarrassing. I can’t believe I made that mistake.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. Pros get hurt, too. Do you think it’s badly burnt?”

“No. I don’t think I’ll even need ointment.”

“Do it anyway. You never know.”

“… Are you worrying about me?”

“Of course. I’m your friend.”

In response, Chloe just smiled. But why? Even the way she smiled looked dark. What Kaya said earlier kept ringing through his head. What she said about her worrying about something, and he also remembered the time she confided in him.

All Cho Min Joon could do for Chloe when she contemplated her future was comfort her. He didn’t know if it could be any different if they talked about it now, but he opened his mouth anyway. He had no choice.

“Are you still worried about it?”

Chloe was confused about what Cho Min Joon was talking about. She didn’t know what she used to be worried about. She only realized it a while later. When she talked to him about cooking, Cho Min Joon was caring.

Chloe tensed up her lips, but thinking about that day made her laugh. Her face turned into a smile, but Chloe did her best to erase it. She felt embarrassed smiling at the moment.

“It’s not like that. I just feel blank.”

“… I’ll clean up for you. Keep washing your hands.”

Cho Min Joon picked up the pot from the ground. Chloe glanced inside the pot. Luckily, the dumplings on top didn’t look too broken.

“It looks like I can still eat it.”

“… Is that what you’re worried about right now?”

“I’m a chef, after all.”

Chloe smiled. She smiled in a lovable but worrying way. Cho Min Joon sighed.

“Is it hard to tell me about it?”

Chloe didn’t answer, but that was her answer. Cho Min Joon decided not to ask further. Chloe looked at Cho Min Joon with troubled eyes before opening her mouth.

“How’s it going with Kaya?”

“What do you mean?”

“The same thing the others mean when they ask you.”

She said it playfully yet seriously. Chloe tried to sound casual. She asked with a slight smile. Luckily, Cho Min Joon was unable to catch on to her intent.

“… You know it’s not true. Why are you doing this to me, too?”

“I thought so, too, but I’m not so sure anymore. Hey, don’t look at me like that. You’ve gotten awfully close lately. It’s confusing.”

Cho Min Joon didn’t know how to explain it. Chloe wasn’t wrong. After all, when he saw videos of himself with Kaya, he also thought they looked quite close. Chloe stared at Cho Min Joon as she asked, “Are you sure you don’t think of Kaya that way?”

“It’s true that I yearn for Kaya.”

Cho Min Joon answered calmly. The word ‘yearn’ sounded vague. Chloe’s smile faded.

“If what you feel for Kaya is yearning, how does Kaya feel about you?”

Kaya’s feelings? Cho Min Joon didn’t have a chance to think about that. Kaya was already approaching. She brought over the first aid kit with a frown.

“See? It’s bright red already. You’re not okay.”

“Wait, Kaya. You should put on the ointment once it’s cooled down.”

Cho Min Joon reached out his arm to stop Kaya from taking out the ointment. Kaya stared at Chloe’s hand and said, “Oh, I saw Martin on the way here.”

“Martin?”

“Yeah. There’s going to be a mission soon.”

“What? All of a sudden? When?”

Kaya answered, “At lunch.”

***

“You’re all superior.”

That was what Joseph said to all 8 contestants at lunchtime. In response to the compliment, everyone put on an awkward smile as Joseph continued, “You might think of it as a typical compliment, but that’s not true. You’re all superior compared to contestants of past seasons.”

“Joseph is right. Since you continued to make great dishes, we went through great pains. We wanted to come up with an appropriate mission for you.”

In response to Allan’s words, everyone trembled. Just the sound of it made them nervous. They were the final 8. No matter which ingredients or theme came out, they were confident they could do a good job, but what was important was the fact that the judges knew that as well.

A mission that would be challenging for them. What kind of mission could that be? Cho Min Joon thought about it, but he couldn’t think of anything. He didn’t remember a mission like this from what he remembered.

While he stared at Allan’s lips with nervousness, Allan smirked and looked to Emily. Emily smiled. It was a refreshing smile, but not in the current situation.

“It’s possible there are ingredients that you’ve never worked with before. The staff had a hard time collecting unusual ingredients. We found a total of 8 ingredients. And yes, you’ll all be working with different ingredients.

Emily pointed at the long table in front of the judges. There were 8 boxes laid out on top of it.

‘The ingredients are in there…?’

Cho Min Joon’s eyes became sharp. He was unable to look through the boxes and see what was inside. Unless a window popped up, there was no way he could see it. At that moment, Allan announced, “Let me introduce the first ingredient.”

As soon as Allan opened the box, everyone grimaced. Someone even gagged. What was inside was that shocking. The same went for Cho Min Joon. He stared at it blankly. He had no idea they would present such an ingredient. In response, Allan smiled as he said,

“It’s calf brain! It’s an ingredient used by French chefs. I doubt any of you have tried it.”

Calf brain. It was in a few French dishes, but unless you were a food critic, it was hard to come by. Some people just thought of it as another meat, but many were disgusted by the brain.

Compared to the calf brain, the next ingredient was less shocking. Truffle was a type of mushroom. Except for Japan and Korea, most first-world countries never heard of it, but that didn’t mean it was less valuable. The price of truffle was very expensive, and it wasn’t an ingredient that any of them had worked with. All Cho Min Joon had ever used was a truffle oil.

There wasn’t a single ingredient that was easy to work with. Followed by truffle, there was shark’s fin, deer liver, and sea anemone, but the two ingredients after that weren’t so bad for Cho Min Joon. Octopus and tripe. Octopus wasn’t common in the Western world, but it was popular in Korea. Same went for tripe. There were countless restaurants in Korea that only sold tripe.

But the final ingredient made everyone come to their senses. At first, Cho Min Joon thought it was sausage but it wasn’t. Sausage wouldn’t have shocked them so much. Emily spoke with an embarrassed face,

“The last ingredient is cow penis. It’s not a popular dish, but their strong scent is charming to some… You’re looking at me as if I’m barbaric.”

“You’ll end up working with one of these ingredients. You’ll have to point at a box without knowing the contents, but the winner of the last mission will be able to choose. Min Joon, is there an ingredient you prefer?”

“… There are 3 ingredients I wouldn’t pick.”

He didn’t know how to make a dish out of sea anemone, calf brain, and cow penis. Cho Min Joon was drawn to 2 ingredients. Octopus and tripe. He was the most familiar with those.

He didn’t think for long. Cho Min Joon spoke in a determined voice, “I’ve chosen.”