Chapter 167 - Chapter 167: Friendly Judge (2)

Ben glared at Cho Min Joon with displeased eyes. He took off his apron and turned around. Ben left the restaurant with tears in his eyes. Meanwhile, Cho Min Joon watched with cold eyes. In response, Havier spoke in awe, “… I thought he was an angel, but he’s a ghost.”

“No, he’s not. He’s a fairy.”

A sudden voice popped out of nowhere. Havier flinched and looked around him, but the only person at his table was Janet. Havier looked at Janet suspiciously.

“A fairy? Are you a fan of his?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You just said he’s a fairy, in a grumbling voice.”

“No, I didn’t. What are you talking about?”

Janet stared at Havier as if he was out of his mind. Havier shut his mouth in confusion. He clearly heard a voice. At that moment, a small head popped out from below the table.

“…!”

Havier swallowed his scream and trembled. Ella stuck out her lip and looked up at Havier.

“Uncle isn’t a ghost.”

“… U-uncle? Are you talking about Min Joon? Wait, who are you?”

“Ella.”

Ella answered coldly and sat next to Janet. While Janet watched her with a startled face, Ella laid on top of the table with a calm face and looked at Cho Min Joon. Havier asked, “Do you know Min Joon?”

“Yes, he’s my uncle.”

“… Uncle?”

Janet stared at Ella with a confused face. She didn’t seem Asian in any way. All sorts of complicated family trees passed through her head, but Havier immediately caught on that they weren’t related. Havier looked at Ella and asked, “Is Uncle good to you?”

“Yes. He plays with me and makes me food. Also… Um…”

Ella bit down on her lip and fell deep into thought. He didn’t have to hear anymore. Havier stared at Cho Min Joon. He figured that if a little kid liked him, he must’ve been a sweet person.

‘But why is he so strict right now?’

Cho Min Joon’s evaluation didn’t end with Ben. He couldn’t help it. He continued to see things that were lacking. Of course, they had applied to be apprentices, but there was only one person who seemed to have practiced on their own.

Cho Min Joon walked up to a thin black man and looked at his garlic. The garlic slices all looked uniform. There were some errors, but they were minor. Cho Min Joon looked at the man. He looked at him and the others nervously.

“… Justin. Did you say you taught yourself how to cook?”

“Y-yes!”

Anderson lifted his garlic pieces and opened his mouth.

“It said in your application that you’re a truck driver. I know you must be busy, so how did you make the time?”

“I tried my best to get less sleep, and I try to cook my own meals as often as I can.”

He must’ve been impacted by what he said to Ben. Cho Min Joon coughed awkwardly while Rachel smiled softly and said,

“Truck driver, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to ask you to drive us to the market.”

“Thank you!”

“Don’t get too excited. We haven’t passed you yet.”

Cho Min Joon spoke in a cold voice. Justin’s face looked sad, but it couldn’t be helped. There was still one more test for the apprentices. He was worried he would get overexcited and not perform to his full potential.

‘I can see now why Allan was so strict.’

Knifework, four people including Ben were disqualified, and only four remained. Cho Min Joon was cheering for Justin inside his head. He was the only level 5, and he wanted someone with skill to join his family. He didn’t know about his character, but he had yet to see a flaw.

The ingredient for the next test was also garlic. While the first test was about how skilled they were with using the knife, this time, it was about the speed of peeling the garlic. While Rachel introduced the test, Cho Min Joon added, “You can’t just put it in a tin and shake it. You can only use the knife. We’re testing you to see how quick your hands are, so no easy way out.”

There was a time when Cho Min Joon was in charge of peeling garlic. He knew that by shaking it in a tin, it peeled right off… But that was after he suffered for a month.

But when wanting to know how fast their hands were, there was no better ingredient than garlic.

Anderson blew the whistle. The contestants flinched and began taking the garlic apart. They then used the knife to peel them.

And the result was unexpected. Justin was the third one to finish. He looked like he was at a disadvantage, but Cho Min Joon calmly checked the status of the garlic. He then made a decision in his mind.

Opinions were exchanged between the judges, and they all agreed. Rachel opened her mouth.

“I was thinking of telling you the results later, but I don’t want to torture you. The judges all agreed on a decision. I won’t drag it on. It’s not like this is a TV show.”

Rachel then approached Justin. Justin’s lips trembled. Rachel tapped him on the shoulder and smiled.

“Come here. Welcome to the family.”

“Thank you… Thank you!”

Justin shouted with a shaking voice and teary eyes. Cho Min Joon looked at the other three. The one who was the slowest looked understanding, but the other two looked disappointed. Cho Min Joon approached them and asked, “Do you know why you were disqualified?”

“… I’m not sure.”

“Look at this.”

Cho Min Joon put the garlic on the cutting board. It was the garlic that they and Justin peeled. Cho Min Joon picked them up and asked, “Do you see the difference?”

They looked at the garlic. And just as they exclaimed, Anderson added, “Peeling them fast isn’t the only important thing. You were probably nervous. Due to the time restraint, your hands probably moved quicker than usual. But you must never allow the ingredients to be harmed. The ingredients are the basics, and apprentices must be aware of it.”

As for Justin’s garlic, they didn’t have a single knife mark but not the others. Theirs were full of scrapes, and as a result, juices were flowing out of them. Cho Min Joon spoke in a cool voice,

“I understand that you were rushed, but there’s always one reason why a cook is rushed—customers. It’s because customers are waiting. But just because customers are waiting doesn’t mean you can half-ass your cooking. As long as you remember that, you’ll pass at your next audition.”

He had never experienced it himself, but his words were heavy, and the reason was simple. Every time Cho Min Joon cooked, he always thought about who was eating it, so every single word came out strongly.

One of the disqualified contestants approached Cho Min Joon. It was a Caucasian woman who looked slightly younger than him. She showed a sparkle in her eye and looked up at him.

“Thank you for your wise words. I know this might sound funny, but watching you made me want to become a chef. I came to learn how fancy and refined cooking can be through you, and I learned one more thing today. The heart of a chef. I’ll remember that.”

“… Thank you for your kind words. Let’s keep working hard. You have a long road ahead of you.”

The woman smiled sadly and turned around. Rachel watched the contestants leave as she said, “Don’t be down. There’s no such thing as a failure until you give up.”

She said it to comfort them, but the one who felt the most touched was Anderson. There was no failure until he gave up. Every time he watched Cho Min Joon, he felt like there was a wall he couldn’t cross.

‘That means I won’t lose… until I give up.’

***

The apprentice was chosen, which meant the cooks were up next. Among the 15 applicants, four of them would join their family. Since they were applying to be cooks, they were more skilled. Only one person was level 4 while nine of them were level 5 and the remainder were level 6.

‘Why would a level 4 apply to be a cook?’

He looked to be around 30 years old, and it was possible he had more experience than skill. Cho Min Joon focused on those who were level 6. He couldn’t help it. Unlike cooking scores, he knew that their levels meant something more.

There was a clear difference between a level 5 and a level 6. Of course, as long as they reached the limit, they could move on to the next level, but one never knew when that would happen.

Rachel opened her mouth.

“The reason why we’re hiring 4 cooks is simple. We want to give Min Joon, Anderson, and our two demi chefs with assistants. We’re not asking you for creativity. All we want from you is simple. Cook food perfectly according to the recipe. And before we ask you for that…”

Rachel smiled jokingly.

“I want to ask you something. If you pass and you get to assist a demi chef, who would you want to work with? Since two of them haven’t been chosen yet, you have to pick between Cho Min Joon and Anderson.”

She joked to lighten the mood, but Anderson and Cho Min Joon showed sharp eyes. After all, men devoted themselves to immature games. Cho Min Joon and Anderson were no different.

Anderson looked at Rachel with motivated eyes.

“Rachel, before they pick, can I say a few words?”

“Of course, go ahead.”

“Ahem…”

Anderson coughed and stood in front of the others. Cho Min Joon stared at him as if he thought it was excessive. He felt shy, but he wanted to win. Anderson spoke in his most friendly yet awkward voice, “I have a bit of a stiff personality, but that also means I don’t meddle unless necessary. I only criticize what’s important. Also…”

Anderson continued with a mysterious smile, “I promise that if you choose me and you pass today’s interview, I’ll serve you with the best fine dining experience.”

The contestants exclaimed amongst themselves. He was the runner-up winner of the Grand Chef. He also grew up under the parents who owned Glutto, so they felt tempted. At that moment, Cho Min Joon glared at Anderson and then stepped up.

“I’m left with no choice. I’ll serve you as well with fine dining. And to be honest…”

Cho Min Joon looked at Anderson with a grin.

“How can you expect a full experience from just one time? I’ll serve you two times.”

“… Then I’ll do it three times.”

“Four.”

“Five.”

Their eyes glared at each other, and Havier who was watching from the hall smirked and said, “Men always turn into children when it comes to winning.”

“Gasp, does that mean Uncle is going to become younger?”

Ella opened her eyes wide with a gasp. While Havier contemplated on what to say, Janet spoke up instead, “He might be even younger than you.”

“Oh… do women get younger, too?”

“I’m not sure. It depends on the person.”

Janet answered in a calm voice. That was when Ella mumbled to herself as if she had it figured out, “I guess my mom got younger, too.”

“Why do you think that?”

Ella shut her mouth and didn’t answer. She wanted to protect her mom’s pride. Ella puffed up her cheeks and thought, ‘That’s why mom uses strawberry flavored toothpaste.’