Chapter 300: The Beginning of Change (1)
“What the hell happened?”
Kaya looked at Min-joon’s expression with a perplexed look. She couldn’t read his facial expression at the mont, He seed to be astonished, but he also seed to be calm. She even wondered if there was anybody in the world who could read his hardened face.
“Let call them.”
He spoke in a heavy voice, then called Anderson’s number. His phone was ringing, but an answering machine said, ‘This is Anderson. I can’t answer your phone right now...’
Min-joon annoyingly ended the call, then called another person. Soon a slightly hoarse voice was heard on the other side.
“Hey, Min-joon”
“Janette. I just saw ridiculous stories and videos on the internet. Is that true?”
“Yes, that’s correct. Our restaurant was burnt,” Janet replied calmly.
His hand with the smartphone began to tremble. As Kaya put her hand on his, he opened his mouth hesitantly, “Anybody got injured?”
“No, don’t worry about it. >>
“Ha....” He sighed for a long ti as if he was relieved. Janet on the other side also sighed.
They let out the sa sight, but with different mixed feelings.
“By now the fire was almost put out. All the food ingredients were burnt, of course but I really wonder if we can go back to business.”
“Such big damages?”
“I don’t know. We can check out the exact damages only after putting out the fire. Anyway, we’re in a bad situation for now.”
“Man, you suddenly got a vacation!”
“Stop it, please. Even if you crack such a funny joke, you can’t turn this tragedy into a cody.”
Janet’s voice was full of tiredness. Given that even Min-joon was so restless after seeing the burnt restaurant on the internet, she must have been more stressed out and shocked to see the fire engulfing the restaurant right before her eyes at dawn.
He quietly opened his mouth.
“What about Rachel?”
“How do you think she feels?”
“I’m asking you because I can’t imagine how she feels right now. Of course, she might be very calm or full of despair as if the end of the world is around the corner.”
“Nope. She isn’t calm or full of despair. I just don’t know how to express her feelings.”
Although he asked, he didn’t want to imagine how Rachel was feeling now. The more clearly he could imagine her fra of mind right now, the more heartbroken he would feel.
But he said again, trying to calm down, “What are other staff doing now?”
“I have no idea. Havier must be asleep even now because I’ve not heard from him, Anderson woke up imdiately at the news about the fire, and he’s so concerned about Rachel. Other guys are just at a loss for words.”
“Man, I can’t stay here any longer. Let return quickly.”
“Hey, can you put out the fire even if you fly here right now? Can you revive the food ingredients? You can’t. So, just shut up and go back to sleep. Isn’t it still very early in the morning out there?”
“How can I go back to sleep when I’ve heard the news about our restaurant?”
“You can’t do anything now. The only thing you can do is call like this. So, don’t bother. If you are still concerned, it’s up to you. Let hang up the phone now. I’m busy.”
“Hey, Janet? Janet?”
Min-joon looked at the smartphone with a blank expression for a mont.
Kaya opened her mouth with a smirk, “Dang it, she is rude, as always.”
“You don’t have to criticize her.”
“So, what are you going to do? Go back to Los Angeles now?”
“I don’t know. I have to talk to my parents first.”
“Do you know that your hand is trembling now?”
When she said that, Min-joon slowly looked at his hand holding hers. He saw his hand trembling violently.
He said, clenching his fist, “I wonder if sothing serious happened.”
“She says nothing big happened. Just trust her.”
“I hope she didn’t hide sothing from for fear I might be worried.”
“If you’re so worried, just buy a plane ticket and fly back right now.”
“Whew... I don’t know.”
Min-joon’s shoulders drooped as if he was exhausted. She gently hugged his shoulders and opened her mouth, “Let’s wait. Don’t get too excited. Just trust your friends and Chef Rachel.”
“Okay.”
“Shall I sing a lullaby for you?”
“Well. Can you sing well?”
“If I had not had worked in the cooking business, I would have been a singer.”
“Hope you aren’t a rock singer.”
She laughed at that. However, he couldn’t sleep at all.
In conclusion, it was impossible to find out the exact cause of the fire on Rose Island. The general consensus was that the fire broke out by chance, or a derelict on drugs set fire to Rose Island in a hazy state, then ran away.
As a result, there was no particular change in Min-joon’s itinerary in Korea. He didn’t look bright during the remainder of his stay, but even if he went back now, there was nothing he could do. Isaac even called him to say that if he wanted to take more vacation, he could. But that was the problem. He wanted to call Rachel at least once, but he could not.
‘I just don’t know how she is doing at the mont.’
Although he called others at the restaurant, most of them said that they didn’t see her face to face after the fire accident.
So, even though he took vacation leave, he didn’t feel like he was resting at all because he was worried every day. Isaac said that Rachel was okay, so he didn’t have to worry about her, but unless he talked to her first, he could not feel relieved. Restless was always on his face during his stay in Korea.
” Are you still worried about it?”
One day before Min-joon returned to Los Angeles, Man-gil called him and asked like that first.
“Of course, I’m! They are like my family.”
“Well, I would have felt the sa way if Sumokjong had been burnt down. It’s not about money or anything like that, but it’s my life that would have burnt with it. Probably your teacher feels the sa thing.”
“I think so. So, I’m going to go and comfort her.”
“That sounds good. You’re a good student. By the way, I ca up with a new food combination. The basic matching is simple. I’m going to make a crab stew and grill bulgogi on the branches of an apple tree, but let mix bulgogi with sweet apple sauce and traditional Koran soy sauce evenly...”
To put it bluntly, Man-gil’s voluntary release of his recipe like this was a blessing to Min-joon. He knew there were hundreds of Korean chefs who were willing to spend tens or hundreds of millions of Korean won to find out his recipe. Of course, Min-joon has a system window, but it could not detect those with cooking level 9 and above.
But he was exhausted for now. So, he said with a sigh, “Sir, can I take a little break today? I have to fly for several hours tomorrow.”
“If you get aboard the plane, you are going to take a break anyway, right?”
“Well, travelling in an economy class on the plane is very hard, as you know.”
“I see...next ti when you co to visit Korea, just let know. Let buy you a business class ticket in return for your advice.”
“I’m going to keep it in mind, sir.”
“Well, people forget thousands of things in a day. You will probably forget that too.”
Min-joon burst into laughter to hear that. Normally he would find it very stressful to talk with Man-gil, given his age and cooking experiences, but he didn’t feel like that at all perhaps because Man-gil respected him so much or both were involved in the sa cooking business.
“I’ll see you again next ti I co to Korea.”
“Thanks, but you won’t feel excited to see because I’m going to harass you with questions whenever I’m free.”
“I would appreciate it if you can ask only twice a week, if possible.”
“Let try. Then have a good journey back.”
“Thank you.”
He hung up the phone. Min-joon looked back at Kaya with an embarrassing expression.
She said, shrugging, “I guess he has really beco your fan.”
“I’m glad to know that, but at the sa ti I feel a bit uncomfortable.”
“Why? I think you are greater than him.”
“Why?”
“Because your dish is more delicious.”
He smiled at that. His cooking level was 8, while Man-gil was level 9. But Min-joon thought he didn’t have to deny what she just said. He wanted to say, ‘Hey, he is better than because his level is higher than mine,’ but he didn’t because he already knew that the system window wasn’t perfect.
He looked out the window. He saw the plane beyond the huge glass at the airport.
‘Back to Arica again...’
“I hear Min-joon has left Korea,” Isaac said in a low voice.
Rachel didn’t respond. Sitting in a rocking chair, she was staring at the fra. She was looking at it not for a mont, but for long, maybe hours. She was staring at the picture in the fra endlessly. It was a picture of Rose Island before being burnt down. To put it exactly, it was a picture of Rose Island over a decade ago. In the picture were Rachel, who looked much younger than now, and a handso man next to her, along with several students close to her.
Isaac looked at Rachel for a long ti silently.
Then he said again in a calm voice, “Back then we had no worries at all. You used to tell you wanted to get divorced from your husband all the ti.”
“Well, if he had been alive, I would have gotten divorced twice or so.”
“Even though you said so, it turned out you were a happy couple.”
“Isaac. If you want to say that my sufferings will turn into mories as ti goes by, please stop it. We cannot live in the future. We live in the present.”
“Sure. Then, let tell you about our present situation. Our main restaurant Venice was destroyed by fire. Whether you want to renovate or rebuild, we can’t use the burnt building for several months.”
“I know that.”
“I think you had better put off the plan you had in mind for so ti. You won’t be able to try sothing like that with the head office burnt down right now.”
“Well, I haven’t thought about it from the beginning. So, I am not worried. But what it does matter is lost ti. I don’t want to just sit back and do nothing for several months,” said Rachel with a sigh. Watching her in dejection, Isaac handed out a docunt.
When she examined it, he said calmly, “It’s my own plan. Maybe you might like so of it.”
“Okay. Let take a look. So, please get out. I want to be alone.”
Isaac left the room without saying anything. Rachel, who looked at Daniel in the fra for a long ti, muttered in a low voice, “I’m trying to step on your shadow, but that’s too hard.”
“...”
“Don’t look at like that. I don’t want to hear from you that I’m still stuck in the past. I just...”
Rachel sighed, then eventually put down the fra and read the docunt Isaac handed her. It didn’t take long for her to smile again.
She muttered in a determined voice, “I will definitely step on your shadow because I am your wife.”
Reviews
All reviews (0)