< Everyone’s Story (3) >

Putting their own recipe on the restaurant’s menu. This was the dream of every demi chef in the world, but it was a hard one to actualize. It wasn’t because there weren’t many chances, no. It was because it was very difficult even for an experienced chef to create something that would satisfy the head chef.

It was normal to reject even the recipes developed by sous chefs around here. There were no doubts regarding how difficult Minjoon’s task was here.

What made it even more difficult was the fact that Rachel had given this chance to all the other chefs as well. It was to be expected though. Rachel wasn’t the sort for favoritism.

“I got a really nice opportunity thanks to you.”

“What, you thought of anything?”

“All the time. But I have no idea if it’d work.”

Javier shrugged. Rachel often threw her own recipes away, saying that those wouldn’t work with the menu. No matter how amazing that said recipe was.

“She refused to put a recipe on the menu despite it getting ten points once, saying it didn’t really fit the menu.”

If Minjoon was in her shoes, he’d have worked hard to try to utilize that dish one way or the other. But Rachel didn’t even blink, and threw away the recipe immediately. After all, despite the dish being something that Minjoon could never reach with his current skill, Rachel could just make another one like it in a flash.

Minjoon turned to look at the walk-in. Hundreds of windows for each and every ingredient popped up in his vision. Minjoon, looking at this massive wall of food, muttered to himself.

“I wonder what makes me and Rachel different?”

“Is that an actual question?”

“I mean, of course we’d have our differences. I was wondering what caused it. The ability to find harmony between ingredients? Creativity? The equations we use to bring out flavor? I wonder. I wonder what’d let me step closer to her level of skill… Aren’t you curious?”

“I am, but it’s not like I’d get anywhere just by thinking. You just gotta stay still and learn.”

“Do you really think you’d make a recipe that’d satisfy her by christmas like that?”

“Well, you’re the one who wants to do that, not me.”

“True, true.”

Minjoon tiredly looked down at the floor. Janet gave him a glance from the back before speaking up.

“Aren’t you being too greedy?”

“Me?”

“You have everything. Rachel loves you, everyone has their eyes on you, and you even have talent. But you aren’t satisfied at all. Can’t you just take it easy a little?”

“…Janet, I never thought I’d hear that from you.”

“I’m greedy, too. A little impatient at times, even. But I don’t think I’m a bad chef at all. I’ve done well. I’ve worked hard to come here. Just because there are more steps I need to take before I become a great chef, doesn’t mean the steps I’ve taken to get here mean nothing. So…”

Janet’s voice became sharper than ever.

“Stop talking as if you’ve encountered an iron wall you can’t pass through. It’s depressing.”

“…Sorry.”

“As long as you know.”

Janet turned away annoyedly. She sounded like she was picking a fight, but in the end she was just giving him advice. One that really helped.

‘The steps I’ve walked, not the ones I have to walk…’

What kind of a journey had he been on, all this time?

€

There were a lot of times where Minjoon had to come up with a dish in a given amount of time. In the competition, he had to do it in the span of just tens of minutes. At Rose Island, he had a longer time to ponder on his own dishes, being able to create something spectacular.

Without a doubt, though, he’s never been given this much time in the past. He’s almost had a month. But this was, at the same time, the hardest job he’s ever gotten. After all, he had to create a recipe while working. He had too many things to juggle around already as is.

[Is Kaya feeling any better?]
“Yes, mom. I’m going to go back to work starting tomorrow.”

[You’re working so hard despite being so young. Please take care of her well, too. Just like how I said before, you two are practically married if you’re living together. Think of her as family.]
“Don’t worry, I already do.”

[Nothing special going on recently, either?]
“Well…”

Minjoon hesitated for a second. He didn’t have to hide it, but he was wondering if he wanted to talk about the recipe situation to his mother. After all, the woman’s cooking skill was less than great. But he still opened his mouth to talk about it regardless.

“I got homework to do. This christmas, Kaya’s family is… Ah, I told you, didn’t I? About Kaya’s family.”

[Right. Go on.]
“Yeah, so they decided to come to our restaurant, and Rachel offered to put one of my recipes into the menu if I could make something that good.”

[Oh, so is it all going to be your dishes on the menu?]
“No, I’d be lucky if I could even get one in. Well, the subject is set in stone now. We’re using crabs, squid, and oysters for seafood. For fruit, we’ll use pomegranate. It looks like this is the best we can do for California in december. We can use any kind of bird or land animal we want.”

[Right. But I don’t think I have anything I could give you advice on for stuff like this.]
“It’s fine. I wasn’t expecting anything.”

Minjoon could hear a sigh coming from the other side. Hyesun muttered in a depressed voice.

[And here they say there’s no child that doesn’t appreciate their mom’s cooking…]
“Well, I guess those moms can actually cook.”

[Shush. In any case, I just want to say one thing. Remember how I went to that competition last time with Ahra?]
“Right. I lost.”

[How did you cook then? Did you want to win? Did you want to show us your food? Or did you want to make something we would want to eat?]
“…Who knows? It’s a bit complicated.”

[You might not listen because I can’t cook, but I’ll just say this. You’re a pro. People are paying to eat your food. The one difference between a pro and an amateur is whether you cook what you want, or you cook what the customers want.]
Minjoon could immediately tell what she was trying to tell him. His mouth widened in surprise.

“Make something that Kaya and her family would want… is that it?”

[That’s right. I’m glad you catch on so fast.]
“Got it. Thanks, mom. I’ll think about it.”

[Sure. Alright, let’s end the call here. I’m tired.]
“Ok, I’ll call you next time.”

Minjoon turned the phone off and turned to look at the kitchen. There wasn’t much food in the fridge, since he was in the house. There was just… Some meat, a pomegranate, and some frozen squid in the freezer. He could hear a voice coming from the back of the room.

“Were you talking to your mother just now?”

“Yeah. She was worried about you.”

“Really?”

“You think I am lying, then?”

“…It’s nice. The fact that someone is worrying for me.”

“You’re saying no one’s ever worried for you?”

“Not a lot.”

Kaya smiled. Minjoon spoke up with a calm voice.

“Thousands of people are going to worry about you from now on. You’re that kind of person now.”

“Being serious now, are you?

“I can’t treat you like a child forever.”

Minjoon responded with a calm voice. He took out the ingredients from the fridge, and asked a question slowly.

“Your family doesn’t have anything they don’t eat?”

“Not my mom or Jemma. But…”

“Yeah, I suppose you wouldn’t know about your father.”

“…Yeah.”

Kaya spoke with a heavy tone in her voice. She put an arm around Minjoon’s chest, and put her chin on top of his shoulder. It didn’t seem to be out of love or anything. She felt more like a baby cat who needed a hug. Kaya spoke up with a hurt tone.

“It’s hilarious. I don’t know what he likes, or what he’s even like. Just because he’s related to me, I call him father. Just because he’s related to me, he takes up a big part of my life.”

“You don’t like it?”

“I don’t know. It’s not great. No matter what kind of a person he is… He still abandoned his family for twenty years. Even if we say he had no choice… I’d still hate him. But.”

Her arms around Minjoon got even tighter. He could feel Kaya tremble. Minjoon didn’t say anything. His silence helped bring out the true feelings in her heart.

“I’m going to forgive him.”

“Why?”

“Because inside, I really do want to. Because I want a father that loves me in my life. No matter how much I hate this… There’s nothing I can do about it.”

Minjoon slowly took Kaya’s arms off of himself. He turned around to hug her.

“It’s ok. I know you’re a really nice person despite the way you act. Some people might say you’re asking for too much, but so what?”

“…I was wondering why I liked you. It’s because you always take the parts of myself that I hate and tell me they’re good.”

“They’re not something to be hated at all. Lots of people in the world, lots of different ways they think. But anyway, thanks. I know now what I want to do for the recipe.”

“Recipe? What are you gonna do?”

Instead of responding, Minjoon kissed Kaya. He grinned after seeing the girl’s eyes widen.

“A dish that’s going to bring an awkward family closer together. The food with Kaya Lotus’ heart in it. I want to put the story of your family in my food.”

€

The opportunity came from Minjoon himself, but the idea of being able to put up a recipe into the menu on christmas was a tempting offer even to other demi chefs. Rachel sounded like she’d give plenty more chances in the future, but it was impossible for them to present a recipe they’ve been working on for a long time. After all, the menu of the restaurant always followed what was in season.

Due to this, all the other demi chefs were busy at work with their recipes as well. They even went so far as to working in break time. They could always wait till next time, but Minjoon’s fervor made them almost feel nervous about being set back.

‘Minjoon’s just…’

Javier let out a sigh. To be honest, Minjoon was the chef with the brightest future in the entire group. After all, not only was he skillful, but he also had an aura of a star about him.

It was almost as if he was born to be a star. He had a tongue that could taste just about anything, he had the title as Rachel’s disciple, and the fact that he was in the top three in Grand Chef. Unless something crazy happened, it would be nigh impossible to topple the man from his throne.

But that person was willing to take the hardest of paths all the time. That could only make people like Javier excited themselves. It was the same for Janet and Anderson. Anderson was a chef grown up to be an elite. His skill was among the best among all the chefs, and… Janet’s perseverance was almost disgusting to look at.

Among people like those, even Javier couldn’t help but be motivated himself. He took his crab cake topped with pomegranate salsa, and walked over to Minjoon. Minjoon was taking his time getting rid of all the suction cups on the squid legs. Javier carefully opened his mouth.

“Minjoon, sorry for interrupting you. But could you try this real quick?”

“Ah, yeah… Crab cake…”

He didn’t have much strength in his voice. His face seemed dead tired as well. His eyes were a little swollen, and his cheeks were getting red as well. He looked incredibly sick and tired.

“Are you alright? You look sick. I told you to be careful in winter.”

“Winter here’s just like spring back in korea… I thought it’d be nothing. Plus, I didn’t get it from the weather.”

“How’d you get it?”

Minjoon shrugged.

“From a kiss.”

End.