Chapter 414 - Victory Strategy (1)

‘Why are they keeping silent?’

Dobby looked at the judges, moistening his dry lips with her tongue. He wondered if it was really possible for the Min-joon and Kaya pair’s dish to make the hard-nosed judges speechless like that. On the surface, their dish didn’t look great because the stuffing inside the tomatoes wasn’t that new. Of course, it was quite fresh that they didn’t stuff anything like meat inside the tomatoes.

‘Can that be delicious?’

Dobby assumed it might be delicious, given that what was inside the tomatoes wasn’t just raw tomatoes. It seemed that onions and other herbs and spices were also stuffed inside the tomatoes. Of course, that was a good recipe concept. Although Dobby felt a bit puzzled about the meat-free stuff, it was possible to make a pretty good tomato dish with just tomatoes without meat.

But that was it. Dobby could hardly believe that the Min-joon pair’s tomato dish could give the judges such a shock because tomatoes were just tomatoes. Basically, tomatoes were more effective and useful in cooking when used as a side, not a main, ingredient. If the actor who fits a supporting role plays a leading role in a movie, it would be hard for the movie to hit the box office.

But Chloe or Anderson didn’t think so. They clearly knew why the judges were so moved by the Min-joon pair’s dish because they knew what kind of chefs the pair were. This was not a matter of their cooking skills.

‘They are just what they are.’

Her description of the pair was very vague, but at the same time, there was no explanation as accurate as that. This wasn’t a matter of their excellence in cooking or not. Min-joon and Kaya did not want to make the same dishes that others do. It was natural that Min-joon had such an attitude because Rachel always asked him for a creative recipe.

Although Kaya wasn’t Rachel’s disciple, she was influenced by Min-joon in one way or another. In the past, she simply thought delicious dishes were the best, but she tended to pursue some ‘original’ dishes like Min-joon.

However, the two were not content with simply pursuing “originality” in dishes. The two constantly raised their own standards of originality. Min-joon knew to some extent what kind of cuisine would be popular and developed in the future, so when he shared this with Kaya, she recreated such dishes in her own way.

Thus, the two could grow and develop together, which would not be possible when they were not joined like this. As for the level of their cooking, there might be many others who were better than them, but when it came to innovative and new sensibilities, there were few chefs who would surpass them.

“Oh, I hear that you are not working in any specific restaurant, Kaya?” Sophie asked in a quiet voice. When she asked, the other judges were surprised for a moment and looked back at her.

While they were casting an unbelievable glance, Sophie opened her mouth.

“To be honest with you, if I’m not a judge here. I would like to hire you right away. If you’re both creative enough like this, I think you can be a great sous chef for anybody. Oh, not just sous chef, but a head chef. Of course, leading the kitchen staff is another matter…”

As if she was rather excited, Sophie spoke fast.

In fact, her gibbering now showed how much she was attracted to this dish. Maybe it was the pair, not their cooking, that she really felt attracted to. In other words, their ability to create such a dish and originality. Namely, she might have loved their own creative identity more than anything else.

“Anyway, it’s amazing. I can’t just believe that you two haven’t had a long career for a great original dish like this. If you ever want to be a chef in France, just let me know first. I’ll come and hire you on the spot.”

“If I do, I will,” said Kaya with an awkward expression. Sophie didn’t bother to make such an offer because she knew well that he would never leave Rachel.

But she thought to herself, ‘I thought it was groundless rumors that Min-joon’s position in Rose Island was so strong as to shake June, or Rachel must have been crazy to take him as her successor…’

But she now realized clearly that he deserved Rachel’s high expectations. Of course, he might be less competent than June for now, but he was overflowing with confidence and potential that June could never catch up with. Even now, when he had yet to fully develop his potential, he could produce such a fantastic and original dish.

The judges soon began to express their feedback one by one, such as their ability to express such a variety of textures with tomatoes, their ability to bring out the contrast of various flavors with a fresh cooking method to the extent that it could completely satisfy their taste as if they were eating a course meal, and their compliments for the fresh recipe idea.

But soon they found themselves in a difficult position because they had to grade the dish.

They moved a bit away from Min-joon and Kaya then began to whisper among themselves.

“Bastien, how many points are you thinking of?”

“Well, I guess I have to give at least 9.5. The composition and taste are so innovative that I can’t find any other better expression to describe it. Given that, I think I might have to give 10, but it has room for improvement, so I guess 9.5 is enough…”

“Well, I think they could not make the dish perfect because of cooking time constraints. I heard from Min-joon and Kaya that this dish could have a sharper contrast of taste when the tomatoes got matured for a long period of time.”

“In that case, the problem is how we can take into account the fact that we have not prepared such tomatoes in advance. We can say they have failed to make a good dish within the given one hour, but in fact, if they had matured tomatoes, they could have made it enough within an hour. In some respects, it might be our mistake that we have not prepared more various ingredients.”

“I don’t think so. It’s ridiculous that the pantries here have all kinds of ingredients in the world according to their maturation period. This is not their restaurant, and if they are here for this contest, they have to make the dish with the given ingredients. It’s unreasonable that we are considerate of their potential needs like this.”

“Well, that makes sense…”

There was no sign of them ending the debate anytime soon. What was interesting was that none of the judges made the case for downgrading the pair’s dish because it was not good enough.

When Norris smiled at the other judges in a relaxed manner, Sophie looked at him as if she felt he was so cheeky.

“Are you making fun of us because you are not going to grade their dish?”

“Am I? Nope. I just find the situation so interesting.”

“Yeah, it’s fun to watch as a bystander. But we’re in a tough position now. I’m even sad.”

She didn’t like the reality in which she had to grade this tomato dish. She just wanted to enjoy the tomato dish and end this process. So, she felt Norris was very wise when he decided not to grade the participants’ dishes.

But she had to grade the dish anyway. A little later, the judges let out a sigh as if they were tired of judging the dish in front of Min-joon and Kaya.

“We are done grading. Are you ready to listen?”

“Anytime.”

“Let me announce it quickly without delaying any further. Asher, 9.7 points. Bastien, 9.8 points. Sophie, 9.6 points. Parnella, 9.8 points. So the average is…”

“It’s 9.725 points.”

“Yeah, that’s right. Your mental calculation is fast. It’s 9.725 points. Congratulations!”

Sophie shrugged.

“You have achieved the highest score in this contest.”

***

“The two are really cool,” Chloe muttered.

Anderson glanced at her then immediately turned to the judges without saying anything to her. They were now judging Dobby and Eva’s dish. On the surface, their dish was a very crude one. After seasoning beef ribs mixed with spices, they fried the ribs with mustard crumbs.

Anderson could easily notice that Chloe wasn’t talking about Dobby and Eva right now.

Chloe’s eyes didn’t turn to Dobby or Eva from the beginning.

Anderson muttered in a low voice, “So, do you feel good or what?”

He couldn’t dare to ask if she felt bad because just asking that question might make her feel looked down. But she understood what he wanted to ask.

She shook her head with a somewhat embarrassed expression.

“I don’t know. I just feel good, but bad. But at the same time, I feel bad, but good. I wish I could be like them, but I am scared because I can’t.”

“Yeah, I agree. They are too far ahead for me to catch up to.”

“It seems like you’re hanging in there.”

Anderson felt sorry for her diffident remarks.

As if she read his mind, she said, looking sorry, “I’m sorry I said the wrong thing.”

“No. You’re right. It’s true you’re hanging in there.”

Min-joon’s aura was getting bigger everyday.

“We definitely started from the same start line.”

“It’s all in the past.”

“Even if it’s in the past, it’s only been about a year.”

“There are so many things that happened during that one year. The distance between them and us is too wide as far as cooking is concerned.”

“We have to work really hard to catch up, right?”

“You know the answer,” Anderson replied in a sullen voice. Chloe nodded.

Her thoughts were complicated now. On one hand, she was so happy to have friends like them, but she felt jealous at the same time. She didn’t feel so frustrated when she thought of catching up with them. She felt she could lead a happy life just by catching up with them.

There were a lot of people in the world who didn’t even have a dream, let alone a goal, but she was able to hold both anyway.

“Your effort alone will not be enough. You need to have talent and good results, let alone people’s recognition.”

“There’s so much to do. Can’t I just cook alone?”

“The problem is how you cook. Since you have seen them, you already know how you can improve and grow more, right? Just follow the footprints they left behind.”

“Sure. I want to win this contest first.”

“Winning this competition doesn’t mean you will beat them.”

“Why?”

“Then, the moment we lose in this contest, we lose to them anyway.”

When he said that, Chloe tilted her head as if she couldn’t understand.

He said in a calm voice, “Don’t try to win them over a short period of time. Try to beat them over a long period of time. Then, you don’t need to be anxious or troubled just because they score better than you. You still have a lot of chances to beat them.”

“How long do you think it takes us to beat them?”

“The moment we win.”

“What?”

“This contest won’t end until we win. I won’t give up, either. And we won’t lose.”

Anderson mumbled to himself, “Until I win against them.”