Chapter 140 - Chapter 140: Kitchen (4)

As soon as he took another bite of the linguine, he tasted something sweet, but it wasn’t because sugar was added. It wasn’t the sweetness of fruit either.

‘Vegetables.’

He tasted the sweetness that came from onions and carrots when they were cooked, but the only vegetables that were included were basil and sliced pak choi in the olive oil.

‘It this the sweetness of the pak choi?’

Cho Min Joon knitted his brows. Pak choi didn’t have any sweet flavor. The charm of pak choi was the moist and crispy texture rather than the flavor, so it wasn’t enough to be responsible for the sweetness in the linguine.

No other vegetables were added. That was what the system told, but he sensed a flavor that couldn’t have been produced by the listed ingredients.

The answer was one of two things. There was a secret hidden from the system or the recipe actually created this sweet flavor, but without a completely different method of cooking, he believed it was impossible to create such a sweet flavor.

‘Did he just boil the vegetables for the sweetness and take it back out…?’

That would explain it. That also explained why the system didn’t list the ingredient. Since in the end, it wasn’t included. If he could see the recipe, it would tell him that it was a part of the process… But it couldn’t have been listed in the ingredients.

The important part was what the ingredient was. He tasted the sweetness of vegetables, but Cho Min Joon couldn’t figure out any more than that.

Cho Min Joon glanced over at Kaya. He hoped that she had a better idea. But Kaya was staring at Allan’s pasta in confusion, and Anderson stood in front of the cooking station as if he decided to just keep cooking.

In the end, Cho Min Joon went to the fridge and checked the ingredients. Allan stood next to him and asked, “Why are you back here? You already took all the ingredients you need.”

“… Allan. Don’t be like that. I know.”

“Know what?”

“That the recipe you told us wasn’t 100% of it.”

Allan looked at Cho Min Joon without a word, but Cho Min Joon felt too certain to be swayed by his facial expression. He just had to figure out what vegetable it was.

‘Carrot, radish, pumpkin, cabbage, onion… what else?’

That was all he could see inside the fridge. Kaya, who was looking at Allan and Cho Min Joon suspiciously, approached Cho Min Joon and coughed.

“What are you doing here?”

“What are you doing here?”

“That’s none of your business.”

Kaya answered with nonsense and looked away. Cho Min Joon took a step aside and said, “Pick.”

“… No.”

“Then just stand there.”

Cho Min Joon shrugged. As for Kaya, she bit down on her lip and took turns looking at the fridge and Cho Min Joon. It appeared that he wanted to take something but couldn’t because she was watching.

Kaya licked her lips. She then tapped Cho Min Joon’s arm with her shoulder.

“Aren’t you going?”

“No.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

Cho Min Joon answered with wide eyes. Kaya stuck out her lip in response and mumbled in a sad voice, “You have a better tongue than I do. Why are you doing this?”

“No, yours is better than mine.”

“Hmph.”

Kaya scrunched up her nose as she reached out her pale hand, and the thing that she grabbed was a bag full of cabbage. That was when Cho Min Joon exclaimed. Kaya hugged the cabbage in her arms and glanced over at Cho Min Joon. Cho Min Joon smirked and asked, “Are you going to use all of that?”

“… Why?”

“I want some, too.”

“Hey! You’re such a coward!”

“Remember what Allan said last time? He said the kitchen is like a small nation. Plundering is normal.”

“Still! Then let’s do this. Wait 1 minute after I start cooking…”

Kaya’s eyes grew dark because she saw Anderson. He must have failed his second attempt at the linguine because Anderson approached and smiled crookedly, and his eyes were fixed on the cabbage in Kaya’s arms.

“You’re holding something interesting.”

Kaya mumbled, “… Damn it.”

Kaya gave up on taking all of the cabbage and only took what she needed, but she must’ve tried to buy some time because she put the rest of the cabbage deep inside the fridge and ran over to her cooking station.

Cho Min Joon took the cabbage and organized his thoughts at his cooking station. If Kaya picked it, it was highly likely that the cabbage was it. But the problem was that he didn’t know how it was supposed to be used. To be more exact, he didn’t know why one would take out the cabbage after using it.

Kaya was boiling her cabbage in water. It appeared that she wanted to make a broth, but when he thought about it, it made sense. In order to get the most flavor out of it, boiling it into a broth was best, but Cho Min Joon was certain that she was wrong.

If he had made the broth out of cabbage in such a way, he would have seen ‘vegetable broth’ in the list of ingredients but he didn’t. And when he thought of Kaya’s recipe… the system still gave it a score of 9.

Anderson was mincing the cabbage to make a juice out of it. He was thinking of making it into a sauce, but Cho Min Joon didn’t think that was right either.

“Min Joon, why aren’t you cooking?”

“I’m thinking about the recipe. I want to know how to make it just like yours. What the closest recipe is.”

“Does thinking help…?”

Allan asked with an annoyed face. With enough experience, chefs were able to predict flavors by guessing the recipe in their heads. But that came with limits.

What Cho Min Joon was trying to do was the slightest difference in flavor. He had a perfect palate, but only his tongue was sensitive. How could he use his brain to figure out that slight difference?

‘… He’s the Beethoven of cooking.’

Cho Min Joon calmly answered, not knowing Allan’s misunderstanding.

“I think what I’m about to make is right. And if my linguine turns out just like yours, that means I did it.”

Cho Min Joon immediately put the linguine in boiling water. He then began to slice the squid and pak choi. Controlling time was the hardest part for beginners because he had to prepare all of the ingredients and cook it before the linguine finished cooking.

But that wasn’t hard to do for Cho Min Joon. His way of using the knife looked normal, but it was flawless. He was calm without getting any rest. It only took him a minute to slice the squid and pak choi.

Cho Min Joon warmed up a pan and put olive oil and basil all over it. It was then time to use the cabbage. He rolled the cabbage all over the pan, and that flavor began to transfer over to the oil.

After that, the squid and pak choi joined in on the party, but Cho Min Joon soon took the cabbage back out. That was why he didn’t see cabbage in the list of ingredients.

Allan gasped inside his head. He couldn’t believe Cho Min Joon was recreating his actual recipe. He didn’t do it through taste but through his brain.

He was talented enough to be a head chef of a famous restaurant as long as he had the right mentor. After all, Rachel’s husband Daniel became a head chef at just 21 years old.

After tasting her own linguine with a frown, Kaya didn’t bother taking it to Allan and watched Cho Min Joon cook instead. The same went for Anderson. The cabbage juice he made didn’t create a subtle sweet flavor but made the whole thing taste like cabbage.

They wondered if he got it right but hoped he didn’t at the same time because they wanted to win, but once Cho Min Joon put his completed linguine on his plate, they all couldn’t help but grab at their forks. Kaya opened her mouth with an uneasy face.

“Can I taste it?”

Cho Min Joon didn’t answer. He stared into space with soft eyes, and that gave Kaya shivers up her spine. There was nothing in the air, but he was looking at it as if there was…. It almost looked like he saw a ghost. Kaya put her hand on his shoulder.

“Min Joon?”

“Y-yeah?”

“Why do you look so blank? Are you all right?”

“Yeah, I think it turned out well. Taste it.”

“How do you know it turned out well when you didn’t taste it?”

Kaya then tasted the linguine and showed a strange look on her face. She smiled and knitted her brows at the same time. It was perfect. It was what Allan had made. The flavor made her happy, but the thought of having lost prevented her from smiling.

When Anderson and Allan tasted the linguine after that, they both nodded. Allan opened his mouth to say something but sighed instead.

“I didn’t expect you to get it right… I feel empty inside. It took me a month to come up with this dish.”

“Well, you gave us a good guideline.”

Cho Min Joon smirked and pointed at Allan’s pasta. He then looked at his own linguine with loving eyes. He only obtained the 10 points through someone else’s recipe and good noodles, but it was the first time he obtained 10 points on his own.

‘One day, I’ll do it with my own recipe…’

He used to feel frustrated when he made such determinations, but this time, he felt like he could do it. He felt like he was an explorer with a treasure map. His heart fired up.

From behind Cho Min Joon, Kaya raised her brow but ultimately smiled. Allan knew that it was Kaya who guessed the cabbage first. That meant that her palate was also outstanding.

‘If they both work in the same kitchen…’

Their synergy would be phenomenal. Allan drooled. As much as he liked cooking, he liked to eat. Just the thought of what they could make together made him happy.

“Does this mean Min Joon won?”

“Yes. You’ll have to assist Min Joon tonight.”

In response to Allan’s confirmation, Anderson ate his own linguine. It wasn’t a success, but he couldn’t throw out his own dish. But then again, his dish obtained 9 points. It was delicious.

‘I wanted to show Rachel that I won.’

He was sad, but there was nothing he could do. Cho Min Joon felt thirst because of Kaya, but Anderson felt thirst because of Cho Min Joon. He did receive a better evaluation from Grand Chef… but Rachels’ attention was focused on Cho Min Joon.

He felt like there was a wall he couldn’t cross. He knew that cooking was a war with himself rather than others… but when he stood next to Cho Min Joon, he felt pathetic.

Anderson opened his mouth. Hesitation and defeat slipped out of his slightly opened lips, but Cho Min Joon wasn’t so weak that he let pain bring him down. Anderson opened his eyes wide and looked at Cho Min Joon.

“… I’m impressed.”

“Thanks.”

Cho Min Joon responded awkwardly. He never heard Anderson compliment him before, and it was no ordinary compliment. He knew the emotion in his voice. It was the feeling that he had about Kaya from time to time.

Anderson spoke up. He confessed his greed and competitiveness in a respectful manner.

“I’ll beat you next time. Just you wait.”