Everyone’s Story (5)
Jelly and candy. Minjoon was quite a bit drawn to the candy side. Enough to completely wake him up from his sleep.
His desire for sleep had completely disappeared, but just as Minjoon was about to stand up, Ella looked up to him with a saddened expression.
“Are you leaving, uncle?”
It wasn’t like she’d try to stop him. After all, she was a very smart girl for her age.
But that’s what made Minjoon hesitate even more. He looked quietly at Ella for a second. She looked like she’d get incredibly bored without him. Minjoon smiled.
“Nope, I’ll stay with you for a bit more.”
“Really? Aren’t you tired?”
“Ella’s tired too, aren’t you? You always have to co here after preschool, you don’t have many friends, and mom’s always busy, right?”
“But Ella still likes being here. There’s you, uncle, there’s mom, and there’s really good food…”
“You’re going to get fat, you know?”
“Ella doesn’t get fat.”
Ella spoke as if she was saying sothing incredibly obvious. She wasn’t exactly skinny, but… Minjoon didn’t bother talking about it. He just smiled instead. The girl rolled on the sofa a few tis before closing her eyes on the sofa.
Looking at her like this just made Minjoon feel sad. Ella didn’t play, nor did she try to get a few jokes out of him. She just closed her eyes next to him. That’s what Ella wanted, and it was sothing that she couldn’t get. The loneliness of not having a father. She didn’t try to show it, but her loneliness ca out one way or the other.
Minjoon wanted to pat Ella’s head, but he couldn’t afford to get her sick. Minjoon quietly watched Ella fall asleep.
“Ella, are you sleeping?”
There was no response. Minjoon carefully laid her head down on the sofa to stand up, and looked around. He wanted to get her a blanket of sorts, but he couldn’t find one. He covered her with his apron and exit the room. As soon as he entered the kitchen again, he was greeted with a very sweaty Maya.
“Ah, chef. Have you rested well?”
“Yeah. All thanks to you. How goes the prep?”
“Ah, right. Not much different from before. I’ve done the jellies though. Can you check them?”
“Sure… Hm, you’ve gotten better. But you cut the sea bream jelly too thick here. Since this has such a strong seafood flavor, the custors would enjoy it better if you cut it thin like actual sashimi.”
“Ugh… And I hoped that I could master everything at least by the end of this season.”
“You still got a few days. You can do it.”
“Do you really think so?”
“Nothing’s impossible. It’s all just difficult. I believe in you. Don’t you…”
Believe in yourself? Minjoon couldn’t finish the sentence. It felt familiar to him sohow. He realized it was what Maya had told him a while ago. Maya looked at Minjoon with a worried expression.
“Chef? Are you alright?”
“…Ah, yeah. It’s nothing. I just thought of sothing. Where was I?”
“You said you trust .”
“Yeah. I don’t put my trust in just anyone, so work hard.”
“You trying to pick up or sothing?”
“It’s not. Go back to work.”
“Tsk.”
Maya licked her lips disappointedly. Minjoon looked at the clock. There wasn’t much ti left. The hall was filled with custors, too. Minjoon slowly headed over to his station. Even though the cold was still overwhelming his body, his greatest love was in front of him. Cooking. With it, nothing would be too difficult for him to do.
€
As it turned out, he was completely mistaken in his abilities. Minjoon lay his head down on his station with a very tired face. Raphael clicked his tongue when he found Minjoon.
“You should’ve taken care of yourself. Javier, how did this guy get sick again?”
“He was kissing.”
“Ugh… Just what I’d expect from soone in their twenties.”
Raphael shook his head with a sigh.
“Minjoon. There’s a person who’s just begging to see you. Is that alright?”
“Ah, of course. Should I leave now?”
“Yes. Follow .”
He was tired, but it wasn’t like he could refuse a fan. Plus, sothing like this rarely ever happened. When he arrived, he was greeted by soone he didn’t quite expect to see. It wasn’t soone he knew. He’s never t a person so far who so blatantly acted rich in his life before.
The lady was wearing a golden necklace that easily looked more expensive than his yearly pay, and that nail art on her hands looked almost unreal. She even had a shawl draped over her shoulders, making her look like soone straight out of a drama.
“Oh, Chef Jo! It’s good to et you!”
She seed to be Chinese, at least from her accent. It was a little surprising.
“Thank you for coming to et , especially when I still lack so much skill.”
“No, no. I really wanted to see you. I’ve been watching you ever since Grand Chef. I an, you can’t even call yourself a real foodie unless you’ve had chef Minjoon’s food, after all!”
“…Hahaha. But the food today was made by the head chef, Rachel, not .”
Minjoon smiled awkwardly. The woman was complinting him too much. It was honestly a little discomforting. The woman’s voice, on the other hand, was getting more excited by the second.
“But you were the one who made the jellies and the powdered sauces today, weren’t you? They were amazing. Ah, my na is Delia. Delia Wi.”
“Ah, yes. Delia. Thank you for coming today, and thank you very much for the complints as well.”
“You’re going to beco even better than chef Rachel, I know it!”
“Delia, you need to stop.”
The woman next to Delia stopped her. She was a person that seed much more reserved than Delia. The woman sighed before turning to Minjoon.
“I’m sorry. This girl just doesn’t shut her mouth when she gets excited about sothing. She’s not trying to hurt anyone, so please be understanding if you can.”
“Did I say sothing wrong?”
“Yes, yes you did. So step back for a second.”
“O-Ok. Thank you, Minjoon, the food was great. I’ll be back!”
“Ah… yes. Thank you.”
Minjoon smiled a bit awkwardly. He knew the woman was just trying to be nice, but her complints were a little annoying if anything. Right then, Janet stepped up next to him from nowhere.
“Be careful of her.”
“Hm? You know her?”
“Yeah, she used to co to my previous restaurant.”
“…She must be quite interesting for you to rember her till now.”
“She was a real piece of work. She might look nice now, but… She’ll show you how bad people could really be.”
Minjoon frowned a little. Well, whatever. It wasn’t sothing he had to think about now. Besides, he had to work on sothing at the mont. The chefs in the kitchen all made a strange face when they noticed that Minjoon was walking back to his station. Anderson spoke up with a frown.
“What are you doing?”
“Testing a recipe.”
“Hey, it’s night. We gotta go. You’re sick, too. Kaya’s going to worry about you, you know?”
“It’s because of Kaya that I’m doing this. I want to make her a gift. If I do it at ho, she’s going to notice.”
“Even so… Can’t you do it tomorrow?”
“Never. I’ve spent the entire day thinking about this.”
Anderson just looked at Minjoon with an annoyed face. Right then, Rachel walked into the room.
“Why are you all gathered up right here? You should all be getting ready to go ho.”
“Ah, teacher. Minjoon says he wants to make sothing.”
Javier tattled on Minjoon imdiately. Seeing that Rachel put a big focus on the employee’s health, he was hoping she’d say sothing.
But Rachel chose instead to stare at Minjoon. The man’s worked all day with his cold. But saying that he still wanted to do sothing despite that… It wasn’t unfamiliar to her. He almost resembled soone she knew.
Minjoon, on the other hand, just couldn’t face that stare head on. He stepped back from his station.
“Your recipe won’t leave you, Minjoon. People are the ones to leave. Don’t hurry so much.”
“…Yes, ma’am.”
“I’m interested, too. Just what’s got you so excited like this? We can talk about it so other ti though. Understood?”
Who could say no to this? Minjoon couldn’t, at least. He loved his teacher too much to say no. He didn’t want her to feel hurt.
Plus, just like she said, even if he made the dish now, it wouldn’t even turn out perfect. After all, the recipe still wasn’t fully fleshed out in his head. No, what got him excited was sothing else.
[The expected recipe score is 8 points.]
He hadn’t even made any adjustnts, but it was already at an 8…
‘If I work a little more, I might actually get a 9.’
It wasn’t the first ti he’s made a dish that was 9 points. He’d co up with one when he was back in Japan as well. But the fact that he’d be able to show his very best in front of Kaya and her family… had him excited.
Minjoon was thinking about making a dessert. A dish that would appear after the tension between the family’s disappeared a little… a food to soothe their wounded hearts.
The main ingredient would be a pogranate. Just like the caral apple that Ella had talked about, the dish in Minjoon’s mind would also be so sort of a candied fruit on a stick.
It would look like a normal pogranate. But in actuality, its “skin” would be created out of a toffee made of sugar, butter, water and pogranate juice, and the “flesh” of the fruit would be a powdered pogranate ice cream.
When the custor breaks open the fruit, Minjoon would pour warm pogranate jam over it. Even on the way back ho, Minjoon thought of the dish constantly. The fact that he could see the expected score based on what ingredients he used helped a lot.
‘Maybe the score system was originally ant to be used like this?’
The thought crossed his mind for a brief second, but the recipe quickly took over his head once again. Tens of thousands of different combinations passed through his head on his trip, and by the ti he reached the door… he ca to a stop. Anderson looked back at Minjoon with a confused face. Minjoon was completely frozen in place. He couldn’t move.
[The expected recipe score is 9 points!]
End.
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