God of Cooking

The Best Teacher is Your Coworker (3)>

“…And you told me not to take jokes seriously.”

Anderson looked at Minjoon disappointedly. Minjoon promptly ignored Anderson and turned to Janet and Javier.

“You guys are in big trouble now.”

“Why?”

“It’s not about who’s coming in second, it’s about who’s coming in last. And if one of you fails… You’ll have to suffer through one whole season. No?”

Janet and Javier looked at each other. After spending some time glaring at each other, Javier opened his mouth.

“Why don’t we just both give up instead?”

“You do that. I’ll get something up on the menu instead.”

“Ugh… Do you really have to come out like this?”

Janet walked over to the sous vide machine instead of responding. Minjoon approached Javier quietly.

“Need help?”

“…What?”

“Making your menu. I could help.”

“Ugh… No. Don’t you dare. I need to do this by myself. It’d be cheating otherwise.”

Javier seemed tempted, but his pride didn’t seem to allow him to get help. Minjoon leaned over his station.

“Well, for now, yeah. But after this season, we’ll all have to rely on each other. After all, it’s not like we’re all perfect like Rachel.”

That was what Minjoon learned as he taught the three. Cooking couldn’t be done alone. Not just in the kitchens, but in developing recipes as well. Working together with others and constantly getting feedback was important in creating a perfect dish.

While he could say the pomegranate dish was made entirely by himself, in reality it only got this perfect thanks to feedback. He supposed he could call it advice hiding under the guise of tasting. After all, they were the reason why he was able to improve his dish to begin with.

But actually saying this would be pointless. There was meaning in understanding this by themselves. Perhaps Rachel gave everyone the chance to make them understand with this event.

“Anderson, you look really happy.”

“Of course I am. I did everything I wanted.”

“You want to try making a dish together next time? You might get sick from the stress if you kept making recipes like this time.“

“Sure, why not?”

“I can ask Kaya her opinions next time as well. How exciting.”

The fact that this was his first dish, and the fact that it was going to be served to Kaya’s family made Minjoon unable to utilize her. It was a great pity considering her talents and her palate.

Kaya had always been Minjoon’s greatest helper from way back. It was inevitable, really. After all, her taste buds were one of the best in the world. She was able to pick out the weaknesses of a dish after just one bite of a dish. A smile appeared on Minjoon’s face as he thought about that talent. Utilizing it would be truly helpful to him. Anderson let out a sigh.

“I know you really love her, but can you really stop it with that?”

“What, you feeling it?”

“I’ve just grown tired of it at this point.”

“Good. You’ll get used to it.”

Anderson glared at Minjoon coldly, who promptly ignored it with a whistle. Right then, Janet walked up to Minjoon with a plate.

“Have some.”

“…You know how much I ate today? Kaya’s going to get mad at me.”

“I’ll give you something in return. So try it. I’m confident this time.”

“You told me that every time…”

“For real this time.”

“That too…”

Minjoon looked at Janet with a suspicious face, before looking down at the dish in defeat. Prawn Cannelloni. Beef braised with vanilla. And a turkey that’s been cooked sous vide, then glazed. After taking a bite of all three in order, Minjoon nodded with a smile.

“Much better than before for sure. Last time the turkey came through a bit too much, but not this time. Looks like you used something else this time… Is it pomegranate molasses?”

“Correct. I realized that I was holding back on my greed as I was cooking. So instead of trying to find a fine balance to my dish, I decided to set up a great finale with a pomegranate molasses that would bring out the turkey’s savoriness.”

“I see. So you found the answer.”

Minjoon grinned. It was obvious he was honestly happy for Janet. Janet wasn’t used to such a face. She looked away before continuing.

“Thanks for not telling me. I think learning this by myself really helped.”

The understanding of sections. That was what Janet lacked. No, it was something that everyone lacked, really. No one really understood the importance of how well a course meal would meld with each other.

Anderson’s carbonara was too heavy as a main, but putting a small amount out wouldn’t be befitting of a main course either. Janet’s was the worst, though. Her dish had meat from the earth, the sea, and the air, but it lacked the oomph that was needed as a main dish.

But it was also pretty iffy to put out as an appetizer. Due to this, the perfect place for it would be as the first main dish of the meal.

In that case, the main would have to be a little filling, but it’d also have to raise a person’s appetite even more for the next dish. Janet succeeded quite well in that regard.

“It’ll go through this time, Janet.”

“Hopefully.”

“You won’t bother me now, right?”

“I have to work on the dish for next season now.”

“…Please don’t.”

Minjoon let out a pained voice. Janet smiled before walking into the office. Minjoon turned to look at Javier. The man was cheering Janet on, but also seemed pretty afraid of getting last place.

His fears weren’t unfounded. When the office doors opened, Janet’s dish was empty, and…. Janet had a look of satisfaction on her face.

€

“You wanna go, Anderson?”

The first thing that Anderson got when he entered the home was an insult. Anderson looked at Kaya tiredly. Kaya, on the other hand, was glaring back like a tiger. Anderson asked with a tired voice.

“What. What did I do now?”

“You told Minjoon you’d have cheated with him on me if you were a girl?”

“I never said that. I said I’d kiss him.”

“Same thing. Can you not make me feel like your rival?”

“Seriously? Can you two stop it with this? It was just a joke.”

“But you don’t joke.”

“Yes I do. Just go clean. What the hell is up with this place?”

Anderson complained after looking at the living room. There were clothes and cooking utensils, and even bags of chips all over the place. Kaya snorted angrily.

“Stop talking to me as if you’re my husband. People might think we’re dating.”

“We’re roommates. I think I can say something like this as a roommate. Did you forget our agreement?”

“I said I’d clean. I never said I’d do it often.”

“…Oh, you wanna play that game with me?”

Anderson narrowed his eyes, as did Kaya. Minjoon stepped in from behind and grabbed Kaya from the shoulders.

“Don’t fight. I don’t want to hear you two shout as soon as I come in. I’m tired. I worked 14 hours today.”

“…You should’ve gone somewhere better. Rose Island is weird. Most other decent restaurants don’t do lunches.”

“It’s because we just opened. We’re gonna switch to dinners only from next year on. We just need to get over this hurdle. At least it pays well.”

“You save all of that money though.”

“…Spending’s hard.”

Minjoon smiled awkwardly. Most Americans didn’t think too much about savings. They focused on building up a good credit instead, to get good deals on borrowing money.

They had confidence in their future, Minjoon supposed. With time, they’ll gain experience, and with that, their pay would rise. Their skills would improve with it as well. Quality would life would follow. Minjoon turned to look at Kaya.

“You’re not used to spending either. Did you spend all your money?”

“No, but I’m not trying to save it. I want to buy a house when I find a nice one.”

“…My girlfriend’s gonna get a house?”

“Hmph, do I look more capable now or something?”

“I should treat you better.”

“Keep doing what you’re doing. This is good enough.”

“…You guys…”

Anderson sighed. These couples just made him sick sometimes.

‘…I’m an idiot for coming here to begin with.’

Anderson sat on the sofa and turned on the TV. After clicking through a few channels, he stumbled on a familiar face.

“Oh, it’s Chloe. What’s this show?”

“How can you not tell? It’s a reshowing of Grand Chef. See? That’s you right there.”

“…Man, watching myself makes me feel weird. But huh, my skin looks pretty good on there.”

“It’s pretty good in real life too.”

Anderson frowned. Kaya glared for a second, before turning her attention back on the TV. It was from the beginning of the show. When Minjoon and Kaya weren’t friends. Kaya kept shooting one insult after another at Minjoon from the television.

“How did you act so kind to me with me like that?”

“I told you, you were a respectable chef.”

“No way. The only dish of mine you saw then was that eel dish. Plus, you aren’t the type to ignore assholes. You fell for me back then, didn’t you?”

Looks like she wanted to hear something specific to begin with. Minjoon smiled, and rubbed Kaya’s hair. Kaya smiled satisfyingly, seemingly happy with the silent answer.

After a while more of watching the TV, Anderson opened his mouth.

“Javier must be feeling similar to them right now.”

“Javier? That guy? Why?”

“He still hasn’t gotten a dish on the menu. Ah, Anderson and Janet got theirs up today.”

“Ah, I see. Grats.”

A pretty careless congratulations. Anderson didn’t respond. He didn’t really expect anything to begin with. Minjoon hugged Kaya tighter from his seat.

“Sometimes, no, pretty often, I think of this one thing. That I’d love to have you in the kitchen. I get to learn a lot from other demi chefs as I work with them. I want to learn from you, too. Your world of cooking.”

“Why not at home?”

“Not enough tools. It makes me sad sometimes.”

“Aside from that…”

Anderson poked in. He looked more than just a little annoyed.

“Can you two stop acting so lovey-dovey in front of me?”

End.