Chapter 198 - 36 Head Chefs' Courtship (1)

When people talk about romantic ideas about marriage or cohabitation, they always mention one thing, ‘The moment you wake up, the birds are chirping and the sunlight is coming through the window. When you raise your eyelids with an effort, frowning in drowsiness, you notice your lover’s face, sleeping right before your eyes.’

Right now, Kaya was dreaming about that romantic world. Early in the morning, the fog was not cleared yet, so the sunlight was not so clear. There was no birds chirping. What she got now was her drowsiness that weighed heavily on her body, and the profile of Min-joon seen in her blurred vision, and almost two arms apart from her at that.

‘… I feel sleepy.’

Kaya didn’t know whether to close her eyes in drowsiness or keep looking at Min-jun’s face.

Her eyelids trembled while she was agonizing and then closed it. She was immersed in deep sleep, as if frozen for a while, and took a deep breath again before groping on the table next to her.

Then she picked up her smartphone.

It was 6:57 AM The alarm time she set was 7 o’clock. At first, even if the alarm went off, she almost always turned it off and went back to sleep, but she was now happy she could wake up even before the alarm went off.

She thought of staying in bed until the alarm went off, but in the end, she cleared the alarm in advance and got up from the bed. She didn’t want to disturb Min-joon’s sleep. She approached his bed. She knelt down and looked at his face, quietly sticking her head out like a cat. A little smile spread over his tired face.

‘He is in a good sleep.’

People sometimes made an eerie expression when they were asleep, but at least, the way Min-joon slept was neat and calm, as always. Even his blankets were not disturbed.

Anyway, he was quite a disciplined boyfriend of hers, and that was why she liked him better.

She reached out her finger and poked his cheek gently. His skin elasticity felt really good, so much so that she wanted to keep touching it all day long.

But she didn’t have that much time at the moment. She kissed his lips and stood up.

As always, it was time for her to start the day.

Her typical day started with preparing breakfast. According to the original terms of their contract, She was supposed to prepare lunch, too, but it was practically impossible because the two couldn’t be together for lunch. So, all she could actually do was prepare breakfast for him. So, she put her best effort into preparing breakfast.

“Hmm. Cooked well.”

She opened the pot. She looked inside and nodded as if she was satisfied. What was in the pot was none other than miso stew. To enhance the taste, she boiled the miso stew yesterday and cooled it. She put the miso stew on a low heat and immediately washed the rice.

She didn’t turn on the tap when washing it because the taste of rice would be a lot different depending on what kind of water was used for the first washing. She used purified water that trickled thinly on all three washings of the rice. It was pretty laborious, but she didn’t hate it.

Her favorite hobby was cooking, and her favorite man was Min-joon. Was there any reason for her to hate cooking when she prepared the food for her favorite man?

Except for the miso stew and rice, she usually served dry side dishes they had before, but there was one other dish she made. But it wasn’t a simple dish. It was steamed sea bass with shrimp bisque puree and fried shrimp. It was a little more of a Western dish, but she didn’t think it was a mismatch with other dishes.

“… It’s quite noisy early in the morning.”

Someone clicked his tongue from behind her. She didn’t have to look back.

Kaya replied with a blunt voice, “If you don’t like it, don’t eat it. I wanted to make some extra dishes for you while preparing breakfast for Min-joon. Now, you don’t want it, right?”

“I said it was noisy, but I didn’t say I don’t want it.”

“Then shut up. Don’t drive me crazy, man.”

She snapped sharply.

Anderson was about to lose his temper at that moment, but it was Kaya who called the shot right now.

He swallowed a sigh and opened his mouth.

“I think you’re almost done. Can I wake up Min-joon?”

“No. Let him sleep for a few more minutes. I’m going to wake him up, okay? I’ll kill you if you do it. Seriously.”

She didn’t want to see Min-joon still half asleep when he was woken up.

A little later, she said, loosening her apron, “Set the table. Let me go and wake up Min-joon.”

It was approaching 8 AM, but Min-joon was still asleep. It was not surprising.

These days, he often came late after working on recipes until late at night. Besides, it seemed that he was relaxed a bit perhaps because he moved to his own house.

She felt sorry, but she had to wake him up. She kissed his lips then didn’t take her mouth off long enough to choke off his breathing. After all, he trembled and slowly raised his head.

“… What are you doing?”

“I’m in the middle of waking you up.”

“That’s a strange alarm.”

He smiled and hugged her tightly. She opened her mouth, struggling to get out.

“No. You have to wake up. I’ve prepared breakfast for you.”

“Okay. Just one more minute. No, one minute, 30 seconds more.”

“You’re so stingy about increasing your time!”

She looked at him as if she was dumbfounded. She then burst into a smile.

Anderson watched them from the kitchen and touched his forehead. He left his parents’ house to avoid their nagging, but this roommate couple was more terrible to him.

Their flirting did not end in the bed. As soon as Min-joon sat at the table, he admired the menu with a bright smile.

“Wow! Miso stew and rice! It really smells Korean dishes!”

“I guess you miss Korean dishes sometimes. When you live in a foreign country, it’s good to start your day comfortably with Korean dishes like this, right? I saw those in the market doing it. They didn’t go back to their home country even while staying illegally, but what they ate in the morning was rice.”

“Well, the biggest factors that distinguish a country are two—people and cuisine.”

“So, take good care of yourself. Are you eating well at the restaurant? Oh, you must be eating well now. What do you think after it opened?”

“Maybe I won’t skip meals then. Of course, if I’m a trainee, I’m going to be busy trimming the ingredients even during the preparation period, but as you know, I’m only a demi chef. Besides…” Min-joon said in a bitter voice.

“Chef Rachel is very sensitive to the health of her employees. She went through something bad in the kitchen. She doesn’t want to go through it again.”

“You’ll never want to do that again.”

“Yea, it’s going to be terrible. If you go through such a thing, don’t ever fall down. Got it?”

“Take good care of yourself. You seem to be very skinny these days.”

“… Hey, guys. Would you shut up when we eat? Kaya, didn’t you tell me to shut up while eating last time?”

Anderson said as if he was annoyed.

Kaya raised her eyes and opened her mouth, “Shut up since you are having free breakfast now, lazy boy. You never helped me prepare breakfast this morning, right? Back then, it was such a great dish that I had to concentrate on. Honestly, my dishes are not as good as that, right?”

“I don’t think so. I think your breakfast menu tastes better than that.”

Kaya smiled at Min-joon’s praise. But Anderson shook his head.

“… You guys are real nutjobs!”

***

They were unusually busy at Rose Island on that day. It wasn’t just because of new servers or sommeliers. Cameras were installed all over the kitchen and hall, and the cameramen carrying cameras the size of a child’s body was walking around.

What they were filming was a special feature of Rose Island. It was the main restaurant that had always been beautifully cherished in the memories of the old and the fantasy of the young. Dealing with the substance of Rose Island was definitely an attractive topic for the broadcasting company. It wasn’t bad for Rose Island. They were allowed to film it until its opening day. What was the problem if they didn’t get in the way of cooking?

However, the cameramen and other staff were caught in an unexpected situation. The dishes made by the demi chefs and cooks were presented to the staff, asking them to try them every time they cooked. At first, they were happy to accept their dishes because they could eat luxurious dishes for free, but they didn’t stop giving them sample dishes as time went on.

The producer, who was next to Min-joon, was shocked.

“You haven’t even opened the restaurant yet. How come you are so busy?”

“They’ve been doing it like that for the past several months. As you know, you can’t have the customers test their dishes, right?”

“… Does it mean that our staff are now the subject of their food sample test?”

Min-joon avoided his eyes. The producer made a forced smile and said, “I heard it from Martin, but you guys completely change when you are cooking.”

“Not always. If we do, we’re nutjobs. Oh, did Martin call me a nutjob?”

The producer cautiously nodded. When Min-joon sighed, he hurriedly added, “Oh, but he said you’re not just a nutjob, but a lovely one.”

“No big difference.”

“Well, it’s different because there is affection in his expression.”

“… Well, I don’t think Martin’s affectionate expression won’t comfort me anyway.”

“That’s right. Nutjob!”

While heading to a refrigerator, Janet blurted it out and passed by.

Min-joon, who looked back at her with a perplexed expression, made eye contact with the producer. The producer shrugged.

“I think it’s a pretty official title?”

“Please take it out when you edit the film.”

Having said it quickly, Min-joon focused on cooking again. The producer looked at Min-joon and the servers practicing serving in the kitchen and hall.

‘… I hear the menu changes every 15 days.’

Min-joon’s cooking process, in which he inflated food like a balloon by pouring air into the mozzarella cheese, was pretty fresh. If they had to create a new menu like that every 15 days… The producer wondered if an ordinary person would blow his brains out.

‘Well, that’s why they are opening Rose Island and Rachel Rose.’

Even the chefs at famous restaurants with high pride got cold feet before Rachel Rose.

Was it because they were from the kitchen of that restaurant? Or was it simply because they selected highly competent cooks? All of the demi chefs in the kitchen looked highly competent.

They had no problem with cooking any food. They were never embarrassed, and all the dishes they made were a masterpiece without exception. Although they were allegedly continuing to make similar menus, it was rather more difficult because they tended to be distracted while cooking the same thing. Just making all of them with the same quality was enough to recognize that the demi chefs were doing their job properly.

‘I hear that Min-joon learned molecular cooking for several months.’

As for it, his skills in handling syringes, liquid nitrogen, and agar were quite outstanding.

Although the producer wasn’t an expert, he met countless culinary experts while filming food programs. Because of this experience, he could recognize that the way Min-joon used his hand was quite natural.

‘… Martin said that as a producer, I tended to focus on his perfect palate, but as a guest, you could appreciate his cooking talent itself.’