Chapter 188 - Chapter 188: The Legend’s Return (2)

“Haha… you’re confident.”

In response, even Matthew was taken aback. And that wasn’t all. All chefs who heard that burst into laughter and some were in awe. Matthew asked what they were all wondering, “I’d like to know where you get that confidence from. Is it because of Rose Island?”

“Which tree in the world only has one root? The same goes for my confidence. And rather than confidence… Rose Island gives us a sense of duty.”

“Then…”

Chloe jumped in. She asked with a friendly smile, “What’s the thickest root for you?”

“For me…”

Cho Min Joon trailed off. And his gaze stared into space. But he didn’t think for long.

“I think it’s my team members.”

“You know that’s a very typical answer.”

“I can’t help it because universal things are rarely wrong.”

“You still lack flexibility, I see.”

In response to Chloe’s comment, Cho Min Joon answered with a smile. The Q&A session continued for other teams. What was interesting was that more teams talked about Rose Island than those who didn’t. What left a strong impression was what the demi chef team leader of Glutto said, “Our head chef gave us a special mission.”

“What is it?”

“It’s okay if we lose. Just don’t lose to a kid like Anderson.”

In response, Anderson grabbed his forehead. He glared into the audience with resentful eyes. And it wasn’t long before he spotted Amelia and Fabio. They were whistling in response. Janet spoke with surprise, “You have great parents.”

“… Don’t even. I’m pissed right now.”

And what the other teams said were all similar. They talked about wanting to defeat the legendary Rose Island. Some even said they wanted to bring down Cho Min Joon’s ego. But Cho Min Joon wasn’t nervous.

‘… No one here is a cooking level 9.’

But that was to be expected. It wasn’t that common for people to be level 9s. But there were actually some level 8s. Enough to fill all of his fingers. And one of them was the Korean man, Lee Tae Hoon who said hi to him earlier.

Of course, no team was superior in terms of numbers. Two of them were level 8s while two were level 7s. So he wasn’t anxious. But that didn’t mean he could let his guard down because that would only reduce their outcome. Cho Min Joon looked at the other three and said, “There’s no reason why we should lose. Rachel’s recipe is perfect, and we’ve practiced enough. What we need to do is to not only win… but prove that Rose Island is still at the top. Let’s show them our best. We have to do whatever it takes to stay the best.”

“… You sound confident.”

“Like I said, I believe in you.”

Cho Min Joon answered as if it was obvious. Janet felt her chest tickle in response. Trust, that was a word she had forgotten in her life. She never thought someone could accept her as their colleague.

Cho Min Joon didn’t feel any distance from the fact that Janet was a female chef. It wasn’t only Cho Min Joon. Anderson and Havier didn’t discriminate against her gender either. They didn’t give her special preference. She was just another chef.

‘… I should prove myself, too.’

That she was one of them who could be trusted.

***

“11 food critics will be the judges. We can’t reveal their names until your dishes are complete. Please make dishes that anyone would love!”

“You have 30 minutes to cook. Is anyone not ready yet?”

No answer could be heard. Chloe nodded and shouted. Her heart pounded. The location was different, but she was saying things that the judges of Grand Chef said.

“Please begin!”

As soon as Chloe shouted, the chefs all moved at once.

The one with the most unique cooking station was Rose Island because there were all sorts of molecular cooking equipment.

The appetizer Janet would make was a salad made with gelatin. After that, she would sprinkle sugar to caramelize it.

As for Anderson’s dish, it didn’t incorporate any molecular cooking. He would make shrimp wontons and carrot gnocchi, pour the shrimp bisque on top, and sprinkle nuts on top as garnish.

As for Havier, his dish was half traditional and half molecular. Havier cooked eel on top of a coal fire and placed the cooked eel on top of a plate with lentil beans. He would then make soy sauce into jelly to put on top followed by foamed ginger cream. It was a new twist on Japanese eel.

And for Cho Min Joon…

‘I never thought I’d hold a syringe in a cooking competition.’

What he was making was the jelly spaghetti that he made during the molecular cooking tasting event. The recipe that Rachel gave him was simple. After boiling water with agar, add white chocolate, coconut liquor, and boil it down. He then had to add the liquid into the syringe to make spaghettis and then cool them in ice water.

In that case, the chocolate spaghetti would look like normal noodles. He then had to make red sauce with carbonized strawberries and add grapes to represent meatballs.

‘Fake spaghetti.’

It looked like spaghetti at a glance, but it would actually taste completely different. It was a type of cooking that food critics would find fascinating.

Cho Min Joon prepared the strawberries first. There were two ways to carbonate fruits. He had to add it with a siphon or place the fruits on dry ice, and Cho Min Joon picked the latter.

And the sizes of the strawberries were different depending on whether they were for the sauce or decoration. After putting the strawberries on top of dry ice, he had to prepare the liquid for the chocolate spaghetti.

Most of the audience focused on Rose Island. And it wasn’t just beacuse of their reputation. It was because they were the first to attempt molecular cooking for real. And it was interesting to see such a traditional and old restaurant like Rose Island make such an attempt.

“Anderson got better at making batter.”

“Of course. He’s our son.”

Amelia and Fabio didn’t even look at the demi chefs of Glutto and kept their eyes on Rose Island. To be more exact, they were looking at Anderson, but that also meant they had to watch the others as well.

But the one who drew the most attention was Cho Min Joon. His cooking process was the most unique, and he had a lot of responsibilities. Not only did he prepare the dishes, but he also had to check the cooking of other chefs. Fabio opened his mouth with jealousy.

“Min Joon is good at managing a kitchen. Is it because he has a god palate? He immediately knows what’s wrong with just one taste.”

“Our Anderson needs to become like that, too.”

“He just didn’t get a chance. He’ll do well when he does.”

“But Min Joon will still be better.”

A husky voice jumped in. Amelia and Fabio looked around with knitted brows and then showed strange looks on their faces. It was a woman with dark curly hair. She was wearing sunglasses and a mask. So it was hard to check her face

She slowly lowered her sunglasses. But Amelia and Fabio still didn’t know who she was. Only when she took off her mask did they exclaim.

“Kaya, it’s you.”

“Long time no see. We’ve been watching your accomplishments.”

“My accomplishments? I didn’t do much.”

“Well, you know. Is that the mask you wore that day?”

That was when Kaya’s face flushed. While Amelia laughed, Fabio jabbed Kaya in the side. Fabio smiled and looked at Kaya.

“So who are you here to cheer for? Grand Chef Restaurant? Or Rose Island?”

“Both.”

“Come on, that’s not possible. You must want one of them to win.”

“… Probably Grand Chef Restaurant?”

That was an unexpected answer. Amelia asked with a dazed face, “Really? You’re not taking Min Joon’s side?”

“I don’t know.”

Kaya shrugged. The reason why she wanted Grand Chef to win was because of Cho Min Joon. She wanted to see Cho Min Joon sad. She wanted to comfort him and hug him. She also wanted to brag about being better, and she also wanted to hear him say he respects her again.

“Then what about you two? Do you want Glutto to win? Or Do you want Anderson’s Rose Island to win?”

“Glutto, of course. You’re only proud of your children’s growth when they’re little. But once they’re taller than you, it’s just cringy.”

“… I’m taller than my mom, too.”

“Oh no, you’ve become a cringy daughter.”

“That’s okay. Min Joon thinks I’m pretty.”

In response, Amelia looked back at Fabio. Fabio stared back. Amelia sighed.

“Okay. I lost.”

“Since when were you competing?”

“… Honey, can you shut up for a second?”

Fabio shut his mouth and zipped his lips. Amelia looked at Kaya and spoke in a challenging voice, “Just you wait. My son will defeat your boyfriend.”

“Hmph. Min Joon isn’t that weak.”

“Yeah right. My son already beat your boyfriend in that cooking competition.”

She was talking about the one on Hunger Trip. In response, Kaya didn’t answer and just grimaced. Kaya mumbled in an angry voice, “Just you wait. Min Joon will defeat Anderson.”

“I don’t know. Maybe in 10 years.”

Fabio mumbled, “Look here. They’re on the same team.”