<Not Normal (2)>

Ten points. Getting full points for the first time was no mean feat. He’s reached the height of where any chef could go. He’s become able to create food that people could dream of. He’s finally grown enough to call himself a real chef.

Minjoon slowly opened his eyes. He became incredibly surprised by what he saw in front of him. He saw something on Rachel’s face that he never even dreamt of seeing.

Rachel was… crying.

“A-Are you alright?”

Rachel didn’t respond. She kept crying, despite knowing that the camera was still on her.

Minjoon didn’t seem to realize, but the concept of differentiating a taste of cheese based on its age wasn’t something a demi chef of his age could think of. Not even a pro chef could think of something like this so easily.

‘He has Daniel’s instincts.’

Minjoon compared the different levels of savoriness from each cheese, and made a three-dimensional dish out of it. It was a technique that Daniel showed her several times in the past. Minjoon’s methods… were almost painfully similar to those of Daniel’s.

Rachel opened her mouth. She sounded almost exhausted after that moment of silence.

“I really made the right decision in picking you.”

Minjoon didn’t ask for what purpose she chose him for. He didn’t ask what was right about his decision. Before all that, he could only think about why he was chosen.

His tongue. That was probably the reason why Rachel chose him. After all, she’s always said that a super taster would always see the world a little differently. That expectation… has always been a bit pressuring to Minjoon.

But this turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Because of Rachel’s expectations, because of the expectations others had of him, Minjoon had to try far harder than others about being “a supertaster”.

He was struggling. Struggling not to let others down. This made Minjoon feel a little insecure inside. He wasn’t a supertaster. He didn’t have that power the others thought he had.

Most people would’ve given up at that point. They would’ve run away to hide from their responsibilities. But Minjoon couldn’t do the same. He liked cooking. Enough to make him think it was what he was born to do. Without cooking, life just wouldn’t be the same to him.

So he practiced. He tried to train his tongue to the point where it was indistinguishable from a supertaster. He constantly put himself in the position of a supertaster, to see how they would approach a dish. To him, compliments only acted as whips, not carrots.

Because of that…

“Don’t cry… Teacher.”

“…Why are you crying, then?”

Rachel grinned with her reddened eyes. Minjoon was wiping the tears in his eyes as well. It felt like he was getting truly validated for all his efforts.

‘She said… She made the right decision.’

Minjoon’s finally met up to her expectations. The expectations of a supertaster. Minjoon’s always felt quite pressured with how Rachel’s treated him. It felt like he was lying to her. That’s why… after coming to Rose Island, he decided on one wish.

To help Rachel fulfill her dream.

He didn’t really know what that would entail. But he wanted to help her achieve her dream, one way or the other. After all, there wasn’t much else that he could really do.

‘Rachel’s crying face…’

The cameraman thought to himself with a dumb face. Did Rachel crying ever actually get put on television? Before that, what kind of food could make her cry like this? Thinking about it made him almost unbelievably curious.

But he didn’t get the chance to try the dish. Rachel scraped up every last bit of it. She trembled in shock. It’s been far too long since she’s felt like this when eating food.

“This is… nothing short of art itself. I want to cry just tasting something as delicate as this. Anyone who knows flavor would cry when they try this.”

“Thank you.”

“Did I tell you? Not one of my students got an ok from me on their first try.”

“Yes, you did.”

“Looks like you’ll be the first, Minjoon.”

Rachel smiled. Her face was full of hope, happiness, and expectation. Before, looking at such a face would have made him feel a little guilty. He still felt a little bit of it, but nowhere near the amount he did before.

He could smile back now. With confidence. He knew he wouldn’t fail her.

Minjoon got everyone’s attention as he walked out of the kitchen. Without saying a word, he lifted the empty plate in front of them.

“…She got every last bit?” Janet asked dumbly.

“Correct.”

“What the heck did you make? I want to try some.”

“Sure. But it’ll have to be around 40 dollars per person…”

Janet immediately pulled out her wallet, not realizing it was a joke. She seemed curious about the food. No one’s gotten past Rachel on their first try after all.

“Here, 40 bucks.”

“It’s fine, I was joking. I’ll make it for you, just wait.”

Minjoon headed for his station. Since he already had the ingredients, making it didn’t take too long. Everyone who tasted a bit of it ended up putting on a dumb face. Javier muttered to himself in shock.

“This is… As good as that potato soup with bacon foam from last time.”

“I thought it’d be salty ‘cause of the cheese, but it’s not at all like that. I can tell why you made dessert out of this. Did you have to add a lot of sugar?” Janet asked.

Minjoon shook his head.

“No. I added quite a bit, but the savoriness kind of covered it by itself. I focused a lot on the flavor of the cheese, after all.”

“I was wondering how big of an effect age would have on this, but… How surprising. I know you cooked everything differently, but they all taste so different.”

Minjoon just smiled at Janet’s words. Anderson was just focused on eating. The man turned to look at Minjoon angrily.

“What? What are you looking at?” Minjoon said, stepping back a little bit.

“…This is good. Too good.”

“Why do you sound so angry, then?”

“Because I am. What the hell are you? How did you even make this?”

“Calm down. I just got lucky.”

Anderson still looked mad. It was understandable. He’s always thought he and Minjoon were on the same level, but Minjoon’s food this time was far better than anything he could create. Anderson had no idea what it would take to even create something like this.

Anderson gave his plate back to Minjoon.

“Give me one more.” He said with an annoyed voice.

“…Weren’t you on a diet?”

“I need to analyze this. Besides, how did you even think about making this with cheese? I thought you couldn’t eat it.”

“Just because I can’t eat it doesn’t mean I don’t like it. Plus…”

Minjoon took a bite of the cheese souffle with a grin on his face.

“I don’t want to give up on an ingredient just because I can’t eat it. I don’t want that.”

“Weirdo.”

“Oh, do you want the dish or not?”

“You seem to be forgetting who drives you here every day.”

“Right away, sir.”

Minjoon made a new batch of meringue with a grin. Anderson looked at Minjoon with the dish in his hands. Minjoon was packaging roughly three people’s worth in a bag.

“Gonna eat it back home?”

“Nope, going to give it to Kaya.”

“…Of course you are.”

“Let’s go. I want to give this to her.”

“Shush. I’m not done yet. Go wait in the break room. Or get on a taxi.”

“I don’t have money for a taxi, you kidding me? I’ll go wait.”

Minjoon headed towards the break room with a slight smile. Anderson looked at him with an annoyed look, before letting out a sigh and getting back to work.

Minjoon had thought that he would have some alone time in the break room, but that wasn’t the case. There was someone there already. Justin, the probationary employee, was crouched in the corner eating the dish he got from Minjoon.

“Justin?” Mnjoon asked.

“Eh, ah, ah! I’m sorry, chef Minjoon. I wasn’t trying to slack off…”

“No, no. I’m not trying to punish you or anything. Don’t worry.”

“Ah, yes.”

He couldn’t help but be nervous still. Not just because Minjoon was technically his boss, but also because Minjoon was so respectable. Just this dish in itself made Justin look up to Minjoon more.

An awkward 5 seconds of silence passed before Minjoon lay down on the sofa.

“I’ll lay down here for a bit, if that’s alright with you.”

“Of course you can, this is the break room.”

“Alright. Man it’s been a tiring day.”

“But you made this, so it was worth it, right?”

Minjoon just smiled in response. Justin looked at Minjoon quietly. Why did the man look so cool right now? He wanted to lay down like that someday. Laying down on the sofa after a hard day of research.

Justin opened his mouth and closed it several times. He didn’t want to bother Minjoon, but he wanted to ask a question quite badly.

“Can I be like you someday?”

He realized it was quite a stupid question after asking it. Minjoon was looking at him with narrowed eyes. Justin scratched his head in embarrassment.

“I’m sorry, that was a stupid question.”

“No, it isn’t. It’s a great question, actually. Quite the confidence boost for me.”

“Well, you are pretty respectable, after all. With you being a supertaster, and being… Chef Rachel’s favorite student.”

“…Favorite’s a bit of a stretch. She has a lot of great students. Don’t say it like that.”

“I’m sorry.”

Justin drooped down immediately, making Minjoon sigh.

“Let’s just change the question to something like ‘how can I become a great chef?’ instead. Is that fine?”

“Yes.”

“When people are faced with an impossible goal, they split into two types. Either they go ‘that’s a childish dream’ or ‘I can do this one way or the other’.”

“Did you have a goal like that too, chef?”

Minjoon nodded. His dream was to meet the expectations surrounding him. Just being under it was difficult enough as is.

“To dream, or face reality… Is a problem many people face. But see, I’ve never actually done either of two things.”

Justin seemed a little confused, but Minjoon really wasn’t lying. He’s been a teacher facing reality, and he’s tried to chase his dream by being a chef. Right now… He was still following his dream.

“Facing reality makes you come up with a lot of excuses. About how dreams will only be dreams, and how your choices made you financially stable. But when you’re chasing your dream, you only think of one thing.”

“…What is it?”

“How can I do this?”

Minjoon answered calmly. His voice was filled with passion.

“How can I be the best? How can I cook better? How can I become faster? How can I look at the kitchen better? Constantly thinking like this eventually leads you to the right answer.”

“Righ…t.”

“Well, that’s what I think, at the very least. Well, Justin, what do you want to do? Do you want to dream, or do you want to face reality?”

“I…”

Justin didn’t hesitate long. His answer surprised Minjoon quite a bit.

“I want to look at you, chef.”

“…Me?”

“Yes. I think I can do it if you tell me I can do it. Could you?”

Minjoon smiled. This person was placing far too much trust in him, it felt like.

“I don’t think I can tell you that you can actually do it. But I can tell you to work on it together with me. To dream with me.”

“….Thank you.”

“I’m going to sleep now, then.”

“Ah, please wait.”

Justin called Minjoon again before he was about to fall asleep. When he looked at the boy, Justin looked at the package before he spoke.

“You seem to have leftovers… Can I have them?”

Minjoon responded quite firmly.

“Nope, that’s for my wife.”