Chapter 179

“I told you I won’t do that for you. I’ll hit you.”

Kaya swung her first and hit him on the shoulder. Cho Min Joon rubbed his shoulder and looked at her in shock.

“Who hits while giving a warning?”

“Forget it. So how was your day?”

“Same old. We learned molecular cooking, researched, and came up with recipes with the head chef and sous chef… Oh, I want to be in charge of a main or pasta. What would you want to do?”

“I’m not sure. I wouldn’t mind molecular cooking. It sounds fun.”

“It is. It feels like a science experiment, but it doesn’t feel like real cooking… And I do want to stick with the basics. So I have this motivation to win in the recipe competition.”

“Let’s rest for a second.”

Kaya stopped walking and plopped down on a bench to catch her breath. Once Cho Min Joon sat down, Kaya slowly leaned her head on Cho Min Joon’s shoulder and hugged him. Cho Min Joon spoke in a surprised voice, “Hey, what if somebody sees…?”

“Who cares? I’m hugging my own man.”

“But this is too much.”

“What about when you kissed me at the café? You made a girl in her 20s see a bunch of kissing photos float around on the internet.”

Kaya lifted her head to glance at Cho Min Joon and then put her cheek back on his neck. Cho Min Joon sighed and said, “You were pretty active yourself that night. You made me lose my mind.”

“Then are you saying you kissed me on impulse?”

“Not impulse. Just emotion.”

Kaya glanced up at Cho Min Joon. Cho Min Joon looked down at her and said, “You look pretty grotesque right now.”

“Watch your mouth. I’m your girlfriend. I don’t expect Romeo or Hamlet, so at least try to be as innocent as Werther.”

“If you’re talking about Sorrows of Werther, he ends up killing himself after one-sided love.”

“Yeah. So be a little more thankful. It’s not like you’re in one-sided love, and we won’t have to deal with that kind of ending either.”

“I’m more surprised than thankful. When did you read that book? It’s not an easy read.”

In response, Kaya smirked and took out her phone. Cho Min Joon read the words on the screen and looked dejected. It was a list of books and stories along with a two-line summary for each item. After Sorrows of Werther read ‘Goethe’s book, the main lead kills themselves after one-sided love.’

“… What’s this?”

“One page that turns me into a scholar in 5 minutes.”

Kaya answered with a smile. Cho Min Joon just stared at Kaya without showing a response. Kaya stuck out her lip and put her phone away.

“I never went to school and people look down on me, so I want to show people that I’m not as ignorant as people think. Is that stupid?”

“I’m more curious than anything. If you have time to make that list, why don’t you just read the books?”

“Like you said, it’s a difficult read. Anyway, I wanted to give you advice about molecular cooking. Why don’t you think about it this way? Just like how I summarized these books, molecular cooking is picking out the key of each ingredient. I don’t think I’ll ever understand literature. That’s why I need a summary. When there are people like that, there must be customers like that, too.”

Cho Min Joon listened to Kaya quietly. Kaya continued in a whisper. Her voice sounded like breathing and tickled his chin.

“I know my boyfriend. If there’s a customer, you’ll do anything to give them the best dish. So don’t worry about taking over the molecular cooking and try to win that mission. I don’t want you to lose to anyone except me.”

“I’ve already lost to Anderson though.”

“Seriously. Why are you bringing that up? This is different. You’re so slow…”

Kaya stopped talking. Cho Min Joon kissed her on the lips and smiled. Kaya flushed. She pulled her shirt up to her nose and looked around.

“Hey! It’s crowded here!”

Cho Min Joon laughed.

“Who cares if anybody sees? I want to kiss my girlfriend.”

“… You sound like such a player.”

“I just did what you did.”

“Hugging and kissing are two different things! Ugh, I’m so nervous now. Does anybody in your kitchen try to hit on you?”

He was about to say there wasn’t, but he stopped when he thought of Ella’s face. Kaya didn’t let it go. She glared her eyes.

“There is someone.”

“She’s a 6-year-old kid. Don’t worry.”

“How could I not… She’s 6?”

Kaya looked at Cho Min Joon as if he was a criminal. Cho Min Joon stared back at Kaya confusedly. Kaya shouted in a whisper, “Do you go for young girls? I’m only 18, but she’s 6…!”

“It’s not that. I’m just popular among young girls.”

“I have to leave my mark on you somehow. Where should I do it?”

Cho Min Joon scratched his head and answered, “If you’re talking about something legal, we could register our marriage.”

***

Kaya probably didn’t know this, but what Kaya said wasn’t just from a simple girlfriend. She was no different from Cho Min Joon’s superior and mentor. He wanted to be a good chef. He wanted to be just like Kaya.

So Cho Min Joon stopped making calculations. He didn’t have to think more than just the recipe before cooking, and that mindset showed a clear attitude toward molecular cooking. He looked more serious than ever before, and his hands moved quickly. Rachel asked with a confused face, “You seem more focused than usual. Do you finally enjoy molecular cooking?”

“I’ve always been interested. I just felt frustrated at the thought of having to always do molecular cooking if I win… But I won’t think that way anymore. I trust you and Rafael. I also trust myself. I know I won’t only improve in skill, but I’ll also understand real cooking better. I’m sure you’ll both lead me in the right direction.”

In response, Rachel smiled. And Anderson, who was next to him, scoffed and said, “That’s only if you do win.”

“You don’t really want to win, do you?”

In response, Anderson looked hurt. It wasn’t just Anderson. Janet and Havier looked the same. All three of them wanted to do traditional cooking more than molecular cooking. Janet spoke in an uninterested voice, “It sounds like you have a reason you want to win now. Seeing how you’re saying that.”

“It’s a competition. We do it to win.”

“… That’s your reason?”

Cho Min Joon shrugged. Janet looked at him as if she couldn’t understand. Havier coughed.

“Fine. I’ll yield way so that you can be 1st place. I’ll claim 2nd place instead.”

“… You’re talking about 2nd from last, right?”

“No, 2nd from first.”

Janet, Anderson, and Havier’s eyes glared at each other. And Rafael, who was watching, spoke in a tired voice, “Stop making it so obvious that you hate molecular cooking. It’s delicious.”

“It’s delicious but bothersome. And it’s not like it tastes better than traditional cooking. It’s just different.”

“You need to know the worth of that difference!”

“I never said I didn’t.”

Janet answered in a calm voice. Rafael was about to shout something before shutting his mouth with a sigh.

Cho Min Joon ignored them and focused on his cooking.

Jelly had a long history. The ancient Romans used to harden meat and broth to make them into jelly form. And the new molecular cooking method that arose in modern times was agar. Compared to jelly made of gelatin, jelly made of agar was chewier, but it didn’t break as easily… And it also had a similar texture to noodles.

Cho Min Joon’s recipe was simple. First, he would add garlic, basil, and onion into the chicken broth as well as salt and pepper. And after putting that into a tube with the thickness of spaghetti with a syringe, he had to put it in cold water to cool it.

After that was trickier. And it was also the furthest from cooking. After putting air into the syringe, he had to push the jelly spaghetti out of the syringe.

It almost looked like a funny experiment, but Cho Min Joon was more focused than ever. First, he had to hold onto the needle tightly onto the tube so that no air leaked out, and he had to push out the air carefully so that the noodles didn’t break.

“… It’s complete.”

Cho Min Joon proudly looked at the noodles. It was a transparent green noodle, but that wasn’t all. He had to put it into the fridge and let it mature for 24 hours. After that was whatever he wanted. He could add any ingredients he wanted, and as long as it didn’t exceed 80 degrees, he could serve it warm.

Ella came to the outside of the kitchen and stared at them blankly. To be more exact, it was the jelly spaghetti that Cho Min Joon was making. Cho Min Joon shook his head.

“Ella, I’m sorry, but I can’t give it to you right now. I’ll give it to you tomorrow when it’s matured.”

Ella nodded while drooling. Anderson stared with fascination.

“It looks like you’re making that for the competition. Right?”

“Isn’t it fun? Normally, you have to chew noodles with other ingredients, but in this case, when you bite into the noodles, you can taste all the other ingredients. I think this is the most delicious type of molecular cooking.”

“You don’t know until you taste it.”

But it was Cho Min Joon’s cooking. Anderson already knew the cooking method was fun. Since in terms of coming up with recipes, Cho Min Joon was at the level of a head chef. No recipe of Cho Min Joon’s tasted bad.

And it wasn’t just because Cho Min Joon checked his system. These days, whenever there was a predicted score, it was at least 7 points. That meant he made a lot of effort. When he worked with a pan and knife, he was a level 7, but when he came up with recipes… that could be much higher of a score.

Anderson wasn’t able to see the system, but he had similar senses. He could tell Cho Min Joon’s recipes were getting better and better. At times, it even gave him shivers. Anderson opened his mouth.

“Are you confident you can win the recipe competition?”

“Why would an athlete jump into the ring if they’re not confident?”

“… It feels weird. I want to tell you to win, but I also don’t want to let you win either.”

“Let me win? I’ll beat you.”

Anderson turned around with a complicated face. He didn’t say anything to what Cho Min Joon said and went back to his cooking station. Even if he didn’t want the 1st place prize, he didn’t want to be seen losing to Cho Min Joon.

And Janet and Havier didn’t feel too differently. After seeing everybody come up with recipes, Rafael clenched his fists. He hugged Cho Min Joon and blew him a kiss. Cho Min Joon backed off. Rafael smiled and said, “Thanks, Min Joon. You’re a great motivator.”

“… Do you have to kiss to express your gratitude?”

“I want to act like a Caucasian once in a while.”

“If my girlfriend saw that, you would’ve gotten punched.”

“Me? Or you?”

Cho Min Joon smiled in response. It was a mysterious smile. Rafael trembled.

“Sounds like your girlfriend is feisty.”

Cho Min Joon shrugged.

“She’s like the MSG of my life.”