Chapter 221 - Everybody has their own story (7)

As soon as he went to the kitchen, Maya happily looked at him with sweat on her forehead.

“Oh, Chef, did you take a nap?”

“Yeah. How did it go?”

“Well, nothing different from before. I’ve trimmed the jelly in advance. Can you take a look at its shape?”

“Sure. Just give it to me… Hmm, you’ve improved a lot, but you cut the sea bream jelly too thick. Since its broth has a strong flavor, you have to slice it like sashimi to give it a savory texture.”

“Oh, I see. As a matter of fact, I tried to make all the dishes perfect before this season was over.”

“There are a few more days before we change the menu. Try everything before that.”

“Can I do it?”

“There is nothing in the world that you can’t do. There are only things that are hard to do. I trust you. Can’t you…?”

He wanted to ask, ‘Can’t you trust yourself?’ But he stopped because he felt that question was something familiar to him. And it didn’t take long for him to remember that it was exactly what Rachel told him some time ago.

Maya looked at him nervously when he suddenly stopped talking.

“Chef? Are you okay?”

“Ah, it’s nothing. Something just came to my mind at the moment. Where did I stop?”

“You said you trust me.”

“You know I don’t trust anybody. So, cheer up!”

“That sounds like a cliche!”

“I’m serious, Maya!”

“Because it’s absolutely not. Filter it out on your own.”

“Pooh!” Maya smacked her lips as if she was disappointed.

Min-joon looked at the clock. There was little time left for him to make the dish he had in mind. Customers were already entering the restaurant. He slowly moved to the kitchen table. Although he was having a hard time with a cold, he was with his biggest love, namely cooking.

How could it be hard for him when he was with his love?

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To begin with, it was a mistake. After serving a dessert for the last customer, Min-joon put his head down on the cooking table, completely exhausted. Raphael clicked his tongue and looked at him.

“That’s why he had to take care of himself. Havier, why did you say he caught a cold?”

“He said he caught a cold after kissing.”

“Oh my God… We all know he’s in his 20s, man!”

Raphael shook his head with a sigh. He then said to Min-joon, “Min-joon, a customer says he is a big fan of yours, so he wants to see your face. Is it okay with you?”

“Oh, of course. Can I go and see him now?”

“Yes, come with me now.”

Although he was tired, he couldn’t refuse because the customer was his fan.

And this kind of fan meeting didn’t take place often. When Min-joon went to the customer’s tabe, there was someone he didn’t expect at all. Of course, he didn’t know her, who looked very rich.

She wore a platinum necklace on her neck, whose price seemed to surpass his annual salary at a glance, and her nails had a gorgeous drawing that impressed him so much. She had a shawl on her shoulders, which all gave him the impression that she was a typical rich lady that he could watch on popular TV soap operas.

“Oh, Chef Cho! Nice to meet you!”

Her accent showed she was Chinese. He was a bit embarrassed, but he smiled.

“I still have a long way to go, but thanks for coming to see me anyway.”

“You’re welcome. I really missed you. I’ve been watching you since you attended the Grand Chef competition. If I don’t enjoy a dish served by a chef with a perfect palate, how can I say I’m a gourmet?”

“Hahaha, but what they served today is not my dish but Rachel’s dish,” said Min-joon with an awkward smile. He felt grateful but felt a bit pressured as well.

As if she was so happy to be with him, the woman said in an exalted voice, “But you have made all the jellies and powdered sauces, right? They were great. Oh, I’m Delia. Delia Wi. Just call me Delia.”

“Oh, yes. Delia, thank you for coming today. Thanks for praising me.”

“I have to! I guess you will surpass Chef Rachel in the near future!”

“Delia, stop it.”

Another woman next to her stopped Delia. She said with a sigh, looking at him, “I’m sorry. If she gets hooked on something, she can’t control herself. Please don’t care about what she said.”

“Did I say something wrong?”

“Yes, you did. Let’s go before you make more mistakes.”

“Ah, okay. Wait a second. Min-joon, it was so delicious. I will come again next time!”

“Goodbye!”

Min-joon smiled with an effort, hiding his unease. He was really uncomfortable when she said he would surpass Rachel, although she said it as a compliment.

At that moment, Janet, standing right next to him, whispered, “Watch out for that customer.”

“Do you know her?”

“Yes, she visited the restaurant where I worked before several times.”

“Even if she is your regular, I think she is very unusual if you remember her face…”

“In fact, she is a big troublemaker. She may seem kind right now, but over time, she will start giving you a headache.”

Min-joon looked uneasy at her warning then shook his head. In any case, he didn’t have to worry for now. Above all, there was something he had to cook now. Other chefs looked confused, watching him heading to the cooking table.

Anderson asked, frowning, “What are you doing?”

“I have a recipe that came to my mind suddenly. I want to try it out.”

“Hey. It’s already nighttime. Go home, man. You’re not feeling well. Kaya must be worried about you.”

“Well, I’m doing this because of Kaya. I want to give her a surprise gift. If I make it at home, she will notice it.”

“Come on. Why don’t you make it tomorrow morning?”

“No, if I can’t make it, I’m afraid I can’t go to sleep tonight.”

When Min-joon replied stubbornly, Anderson couldn’t say anything more and looked at him, frustrated.

Right at that moment, Rachel came up to them and asked, “What’s going on, guys? Time to go home. Why are you still here?”

“Oh, master. Min-joon said he hit upon a recipe, so he won’t go back home.”

As if on cue, Havier immediately reported to Rachel about what happened to Min-joon.

Since Rachel was always sensitive to her staff’s health, it seemed that she would give Min-joon a good scolding.

However, instead of raising her voice, she just looked at him.

He worked all day even though he had a cold. Nonetheless, he said he would stay to test a recipe that came to his mind. His attitude like that was not something new to her, for it reminded her of someone she knew.

Min-joon couldn’t keep insisting when she watched him. He finally withdrew from the cooking table. She opened her mouth in a calm voice.

“The recipe doesn’t leave you, Min-joon. It’s always people who leave. Don’t be impatient.”

“Yes.”

“I’ve got high expectations for you, too. I just wonder what recipe made you so anxious. But you can make it after you get well. Got it?”

Who could say no to her? At least Min-joon wasn’t the type who could say no.

As much as she cared for him, he also loved her. She was her beloved teacher. So, he didn’t want to do anything that hurt her feelings.

In fact, even if he made the dish right away, he couldn’t guarantee a dish with perfect quality because he didn’t go into any specifics as for the composition of ingredients and things like that. However, the reason he was excited was so simple.

[Your expected cooking score is 8.]

He just had an overall outline of the recipe without going into details. Nonetheless, he had 8 out of 10.

‘If I pay a little more attention, maybe I will get a 9.’

It wasn’t the first time he got a dish with 9. When he went to Japan, he devised a 9-point recipe for sushi. However, he was thrilled to know that he could show Kaya and her family the best recipe that he could serve on Christmas Eve.

What he had in mind was a dessert. After they were done with the appetizer and the main and when they decided to bury their resentment and forgive each other, he wanted to serve them a sweet dessert that could heal their wounded hearts.

He wanted to have only one main ingredient. It was pomegranate. The reason why he came up with the recipe was partly because of Ella’s words, but it was mainly because of apple candy. It was a snack with a stick on an apple and applying syrup to the whole apple. He planned to make a similar dessert.

First of all, it was just plain pomegranate. But it wasn’t actually a real pomegranate. He thought of boiling sugar, butter, water, and pomegranate juice to make sugar toffee, and inflate it like a balloon to capture the shape of the pomegranate. Then, he was going to put the powdered pomegranate ice cream by quick-freezing liquid nitrogen inside it.

After Kaya’s family broke the candy, he was going to pour a warm pomegranate jam over the center of the ice cream. The key to its taste was the contrast of that temperature.

After all, he didn’t make it by himself tonight, but he could afford to have time to work on it.

On the way home, he vaguely answered Anderson’s question and thought about the components of the ingredients. An average chef couldn’t perfectly figure out the results, no matter how hard he thought, but he was helped by the fact that he knew his cooking score.

‘I wonder if the cooking score wasn’t intended for rating food, but for using it this way.’

He thought like that, but the most important thing at the moment was his pomegranate toffee and ice cream. He thought of a number of combinations of ingredients.

He was about to open the door of his house when Anderson looked at him with a confused expression. He didn’t move as if he got his feet stuck in the ground.

He couldn’t move.

[Your expected cooking score is 9!]