Chapter 593 - Envy and Disappointment (5)

Min-joon, Kaya, and Joseph all had a pretty happy smile on their faces when they looked at Merlyn. Obviously, Merlyn was overjoyed that she could stand out among these prominent adult chefs here, but since she was perhaps shy, she struggled to pretend to be calm and hardened her expression. Of course, she couldn’t stop her chubby face from moving up when she smiled. How old was she? Was she 14 or 15? Either way, she had incredible cooking skills for her age. If she reached 20, she would enjoy more recognition as a professional chef.

Of course, now was not the time for Min-joon to praise her.

Clearing his throat with a dry cough, he said, looking at the participants, “From now on, each of you will form a team.”

“Team?”

“Yes. Each of our judges here will be leading your team as the head chef. And you will have the right to choose a judge as your team’s head chef based on your current ranking in the previous rounds,” Min-joon said in a calm voice. In fact, this was a matter of considerable concern for the judges as well.

Who would be chosen first as their judge, and who would be chosen last?

Min-joon recalled Joseph’s voice in the waiting room that he didn’t want to be chosen last among the three judges. His voice was full of anxiety when he muttered that young guys might not like him because he was old.

‘Well, I wonder if I can be chosen last among us…’

While thinking like that, he suddenly thought about the situation where Kaya would be chosen last. Considering that she was once the subject of ridicule because of her hysterical attitude, he thought he might as well be chosen last instead of her.

“Merlyn?”

“Yes! Yes!”

“You won first place last time.”

“Yes!”

“Then, can you decide which judge you want to choose first as your team’s head chef?”

“Chef Kaya!”

“Pardon?”

She answered so quickly. Min-joon wished she could not be chosen last, but he never expected she would be chosen first like this. Given the judges’ cooking careers, Merlyn would have been better off if she had chosen Min-joon or Joseph instead of Kaya. Considering their cooking skills, Min-joon and Joseph have already proven their qualifications as head chefs better than Kaya.

‘Well, come to think of it, she has been verified better than me…’

Aside from the size of Irregular Lab, Kaya was serving as a head chef there. In some ways, it might be disrespectful to her to compare her with Min-joon.

“Me? Why?” Kaya asked.

It seemed that Kaya was also curious about why Merlyn chose her first, for she didn’t even think she would be chosen first among the three judges.

As if she was shy, Merlyn opened her mouth with a smile.

“Because I like Chef Kaya the best.”

Her twinkling eyes were filled with her respect and fondness for the star chef that she had been looking up to. Just by looking at her eyes, Min-joon felt like he knew why Merlyn chose her. Of course, Merilyn might have not cared about how good Kaya could be as her team’s head chef.

She was still too innocent and young to calculate things like that.

If Kaya kept asking her why, it would be like her questioning this girl’s innocent motivations.

Of course, Kaya wasn’t stupid enough to ask that. After all, she turned up one corner of her lips and gave her a hug.

Then Kaya looked at Min-joon and Joseph.

‘Did you see it?’

She didn’t say it to them directly, but they seemed to have heard it.

Joseph and Min-joon looked at each other with slightly nervous expressions.

Then Joseph opened his mouth in a hoarse voice, which was so subtle that others could not notice it.

“Hugo, who would you like to have as your head chef?”

When asked, Hugo looked at the two with a dry smile. Hugo was a man who knew something about a broadcasting job. After pretending to ponder over his choice for a moment, he said all of a sudden, “Chef Joseph. Let’s do it together.”

“Hahahaha! Of course!” Joseph responded with a hearty laugh.

As a matter of fact, Min-joon had never seen him laughing so heartily like that.

Basically, he was a man who was so calm and composed, so Min-joon could not even imagine him laughing heartily like that.

“Then, you are the last choice, honey?” Kaya asked coquettishly.

Kaya looked at Min-joon with a triumphant expression. It seemed that she wanted to rub him the wrong way, given the way she spoke to her.

Min-joon looked at Gwen with a sullen expression.

But she smiled bitterly at him, and said, “I’m going to work with Chef Min-joon.”

“Thank you.”

“Even if I had won 1st place, I would have chosen you first, Chef Min-joon.”

Min-joon Cho must have decided to rescue Gwen from her bog, but it is he who is comforting her now.

Anyway, the mission went on with the three judges serving as the head chef of each team.

The team leaders took turns selecting their members among the participants. Min-joon was assigned to a five-member team. They were Gwen, Peter, Ken, Queenie, and Vlad.

Except for Gwen and Peter, the other members were just average participants. They were just beginners who befitted the word amateur perfectly. As someone who led the Rose Island chefs with the best qualifications and talents among the pros, Min-joon was shocked by the gap in their cooking skills and level.

‘Man, they were not as bad as these guys in the past…’

In the past, Min-joon didn’t really care whether he worked with a good or bad chef. Of course, he could have been a little more comfortable with a good chef, given the choice, for he could trust such a chef and pay less attention to the chef.

Of course, compared to ordinary chefs, Min-joon didn’t care much about such things.

Above all, he enjoyed the help of the system. Other chefs would have to concentrate a lot in order to fully understand the individual situation of all the chefs, but Min-joon didn’t have to.

So, even when he was working with inexperienced chefs, Min-joon did not see any big difference between his cooking and theirs. Of course, when they made silly judgments, he often had to shout at them.

But he was different now. He was quietly listening to Gwen and other team members talking about the recipe and the combination of the ingredients. When he worked at Rose Island he often talked about recipes and full course combinations with other demi-chefs and cooks.

What’s surprising was that even the youngest cooks of Rose Island were better than Gwen’s team members even though their cooking level was only 5.

‘Yeah, practice makes perfect.’

Min-joon realized once again the importance of the working environment. Just working with top-class chefs at the world’s best restaurant Rose Island inevitably broadened his horizon and helped him put things in perspective.

Maybe the servers on Rose Island could think of a more luxurious full course than the chefs here participating in the competition, even though they might be lacking in recipe ideas.

Since he was lost in such thoughts, Min-joon couldn’t make a bright expression while they were engaged in the discussion. At first, they were quarreling with each other over whose recipe was better, but as time went by, they came to realize that it was not the other party that they had to pick a fight with now.

‘Man, he is tough…’

Ken groaned deep down. Min-joon didn’t talk much. When they talked about a recipe, he just asked simply if they really thought it was good enough, but he didn’t oppose or point out their ideas. When they talked about the harmony of the garnish, he just asked them if they could think of anything else.

At first, they thought Mn-joon’s nonchalant attitude was not a big deal, but soon they realized it. Min-joon didn’t directly oppose or point out their ideas. But he never said that their ideas were good.

As if he noticed Min-joon’s strange attitude, Peter had no choice but to be irritated. Above all, he could not admit that he couldn’t come up with a recipe that would impress Min-joon, his old friend. Peter mentioned numerous recipes, but Min-joon just made a tired smile.

His answer was kind, but it didn’t sound kind.

Peter felt deep down that he had to beat Min-joon. He felt it instinctively.

To Peter, his biggest enemy right now wasn’t his team members or other team members.

He was none other than this kind and warm-hearted giant chef who would not lose to anybody.

The mission did not proceed immediately that day because of the stubbornness of the judges, or the head chefs. Since they were supposed to lead the participants to make a full course, they hated imagining the situation where the dish they ended up making at the end of the day was just poor.

Of course, they could blame their team members for their lack of experience, arguing that it’s the participants, not the judges, who needed to improve. They could point their fingers at the participants angrily.