Rachel was the type of woman who would feel relaxed only after checking it several times even when she had to cross a very secure bridge. In other words, she was a coward. She wasn’t bold. She refused to accept that the tower she had built until now could collapse.
But the tower was about to collapse now.
“Chef Rachel, you told me a tree would break easily when it’s too high. So, you wanted me to stay alert all the time. Didn’t you want June not to get cold feet too easily? I thought so.”
“Just because you stay alert, it doesn’t mean you can’t collapse. If you are bound to fall, you had better fall right now.”
“I understand, but you’re too heartless…”
“I don’t have much time,” she said quietly. For a moment, Jack’s face came to his mind, which made him gasp.
She slowly opened her mouth.
“For every day I live, I lose a day. Getting older means you’re afraid of losing something. Before I lose more of what I have, I want to leave at least one more thing behind in this world. I don’t have to idle away my time.”
“You’ve told Chef June that there is no happiness in success, right?”
He stared at her. It wasn’t because he hated her. He felt so frustrated about her. He understood her feelings, but he didn’t want to.
“Then, why are you pursuing success only?”
He now began to take issue with her logic. She just looked at him without replying easily. He continued to vent his frustration, grateful that she couldn’t answer easily.
“Chef June told me she would rather live for ambition and greed. What do you live for, Chef Rachel? You love cooking so much, but why do you pin all the hope on me when you can’t even love your own cuisine?”
“…”
“I am a human, too. When you told me you would leave the main store or the Venice store of Rose Island with me, I was happy and excited because it’s a place with many memories and meaning. I thought how happy I would be if I could run the Venice store as the head chef, but I wasn’t happy because my success would replace the challenge you put off.”
Rachel’s wounded heart became his. And her defeatism made him not happy with his victory. So he resented her. As much as he loved her, he blamed her.
“Why should I stand on your failure, not your success?”
Actually, he had been suppressing such feelings for a long time. He couldn’t express his frustration because she might be hurt. But he couldn’t take it any longer. He understood that June was betrayed by her, but he could not stand watching her hypocritical attitude when she forced others to pursue something she didn’t believe in. He could no longer defend her contradictory words and deeds.
“If I answered that I was too tired, can you understand me?” she asked in a sad voice.
But he was still not persuaded.
She continued slowly, “I’ve already gotten tired of the challenge. I overcame what I thought was the limit several times, and I fell over several times. Still, I could not see the end. Yeah, I could have made more efforts, but I’m too scared to live just looking at it, thinking vaguely I could achieve it. That’s why I pin my hopes on you. Don’t you accept it?”
He looked at her for a moment. He would be lying if he didn’t feel sorry for her words. But he couldn’t defend her just because he felt sorry for what she said. She is old and wise. In most cases, her judgment and choices were right. But her wisdom could sometimes be cowardly. He could not accept her healthy wisdom, as much as cowardly wisdom. He shouldn’t have accepted it.
“Maybe I can achieve what you want. I can reproduce Daniel’s cuisine. But is that all you want? If you know how Chef Daniel is cooking, can you be satisfied with that only? Maybe you can be satisfied, but what are you going to do with your fake satisfaction?
“I just want to see the ultimate achievement you will have made. I am just curious about what kind of cuisine Danie would have made if he had been alive.”
“It’s my own achievement, not yours. And my glory cannot be yours,” he said harshly as if he was growling. He never blamed Rachel for her weakness. He thought she could be weak. But if that weakness eventually made everyone unhappy, it was a different story.
“Yeah, I can satisfy your curiosity. But if you try to pin your hope on me rather than be curious about my life, I can’t cooperate.”
“You mean you won’t accept my offer?” she asked with an anguished expression.
Min-joon answered in a calm voice, “I’ve learned a lot from you, and I’m grateful. Because I’m grateful to you, I don’t want to ruin your life anymore. As for the Venice branch, I can’t accept your offer to have me as its head chef unless you change.”
That was his conclusion. It was a pity he came to such a conclusion, but he didn’t want to subject his life to her unfulfilled hopes. She looked at him blankly.
He slowly opened his mouth.
He asked imploringly, “What would you do if I was expecting something from you just like you did from me? If Rose Island’s greatest glory can bloom again with your own hands, not mine or Daniel’s, can you grant my wish?”
Anyway, the final day of the competition went by. The outcome of the competition did not change. June was the winner. Even if she was the unsatisfied victor, she was decided to become the first ‘President’ of Rose Island.
And she accepted it all. More precisely she was not in a position to accept it or not, for she would have to start from scratch if she left Rose Island, no matter how strong her abilities and reputation were.
But the heated argument between Rachel and Min-joon was not wrapped up completely. Both could not give up their convictions, so they had no choice but to leave with bad feelings toward each other. The final round of the Rose Island competition was broadcast across the United States. Even in other English-speaking countries lots of people showed great interest in the Rose Island competition.
As for their reaction to the competition, it was as hot as lava. They reacted fervently to the fact that June would serve as the chief of Rose Island for only four years, but what drew their interest most was the heated argument between Rachel and June. It was really more dramatic than a soap opera to see them engaged in heated arguments as the top chefs. And June became a superstar supported by everyone. As someone who devoted her life to cooking, she touched the hearts of everyone who saw her tears while arguing with Rachel.
Min-joon was now at the Grand Chef’s House.
***
There were many moments when people realize that they have accomplished something.
For example, when they bought a nice house, a good car, or when they were in the news or when they were promoted, they felt they achieved something big.
The first time Cho Min-joon felt such feelings was when he went to his alma mater for teaching practice. Even though he graduated from college, it didn’t mean he graduated in terms of psychological maturity. He was still a high school student mentally until he became a teacher.
When he visited his alma mater high school for teaching practice, he asked himself if he could really stand before the podium when he was not more mature than the students before him.
He couldn’t say his life as a high school teacher was happy, but he was happy about the moment when he was teaching. Looking back, it was certain that his life as a teacher at his alma mater was really unforgettable.
He was now feeling that nostalgia for a moment.
“How strange it is…” he muttered blankly.
The Grand Chef House was in front of them. The participants visited this place even after the competition was over, but their cooking experiences in this competition back them must have been embedded in their daily lives because they planned to visit here regularly about once a week.
The preliminary rounds were already over. Min-joon and Kaya toured every state in the United States to select 100 contestants for the finals.
“When I first came here, I felt really small,” Kaya said blankly.
He looked at Kaya. Although she spoke like that, her eyes were full of determination.
Back then, she had more brilliant talent than anyone else. She did not despair in a difficult situation, so she was armed with strong determination to overcome everything.
“You were so cool back then,” he said.
“Don’t flatter me!”
Kaya chuckled and nudged him in the ribs gently. He praised her sincerely, but she took it as a joke, but he didn’t care. She knew he was not flattering her, and he knew she took seriously what he just said.
