Min-joon believed that one’s efforts would never betray one’s self. To say the least, that was what he was confirmed in his whole life. For example, his grades improved when he studied hard. He was stronger when he exercised, and his skills improved when he cooked.
Of course, the results were not always tangible. Sometimes, he was not sure if he was really improving, or sometimes, he was worried he was just wasting time without going anywhere. Looking back, however, he found his cooking level always improved better than before.
Even now when the system window checked his cooking level according to its absolute standards, Min-joon would sometimes find himself consumed with such concern. Of course, he knew he didn’t regress because his cooking level didn’t go down. He even believed that his cooking skills kept improving.
However, in the case of Havier, who could not get advice from the system window like him, it was reasonable for him to feel that the current situation was terrible. Yes, it was terrible.
Although Havier didn’t think that getting a job at Rose Island would end all his hardships, he couldn’t imagine that he would lag behind his coworkers, let alone him standing out among them.
So, Havier was obsessed with thinking that he had to make it this time by overcoming all the obstacles. A mindset like that weighed heavily on his mind. That was why he sneaked into the kitchen of Rose Island instead of spending time with his family or friends at the end of the year.
Another day broke. Havier, roughly sleeping on the lounge sofa overnight, frowned, rubbing his stiff neck. It was natural that his neck was stiff since he slept with his face down on the armrests, but why didn’t he think about it when he slept?
Havier looked askance. He chuckled before he knew it. Min-joon was also sleeping across him just like he did.
“I guess your neck will hurt a lot when you wake up.”
Havier murmured jokingly, but a smile on his face soon faded away. In fact, he was responsible for having Min-joon spend the night in the kitchen. Min-joon said it was natural that as a friend, he would help. Havier was grateful to him, but at the same time, he felt something like this, ‘Why should I keep being a burden on my friend?’
Havier felt sad because he thought Min-joon was having a hard time because of his stubbornness. At that moment, he thought about two things. One was he would try his best to make his own recipe in return for his coworkers’ warm consideration, and the other was he would just give it up and accept their proposal to develop a common recipe.
Yes, he thought he had to admit it. Although he had the same title—demi chef—as them, their ranks weren’t the same. His cooking skills lagged behind the other three demi chefs. At least in terms of developing recipes, he was not as competent as his coworkers. He thought it would be better for him to regard them as good friends who could coach him, not as rivals that he had to beat.
When Havier was sorting out his complicated thoughts like that, Min-joon got up, groaning a bit. “Uh? Where am I now?”
“You’re in the break room. Wake up!”
“I’m sorry. I’m a little confused at the moment. Oh, come to think of it, it’s January 1st. It’s New Year. We’re now a year older.”
“Huh? Your birthday was Dec. 30, right?”
“Well, in South Korea, we’re a year older on Jan. 1 in the New Year.”
“What? Then, are you two years older every year by the Korean calendar?”
“No, that’s not true.. What I mean is you are one year older on New Year’s Day, ahead of your birthday. By the way, are you going to cook again?”
Min-joon asked, touching his stomach slightly. It had been a while that he didn’t feel hungry after waking up in the morning. Actually, he tasted lots of Havier’s sample dishes early in the morning.
Havier sighed and shook his head.
“No. I’m not going to do it again.”
Yeah, good decision! I was so full that even if you gave me another sample dish, I would have to put it into my nostrils, not my mouth.”
“Even if you eat it through your nostrils, it ends up being in your stomach anyway.”
“Hey, Havier. Please, don’t say anything like that.”
“You said it first, man.”
He looked at Min-joon with an embarrassed expression.
Min-joon replied in a mischievous voice, “Even if you’re unhappy about what I said, just bear with it. I tasted all your sample dishes all day long. Do you think I deserve that bullsh*t?”
“Well, you acted as if you wouldn’t do it, but you end up claiming the credit now, man!”
Looking at his innocent expression, Havier smiled bitterly.
Then he said quietly, “I’ve thought a lot about it. I want to tell you this nicely, but I can’t. Min-joon, please help me.”
“I’m helping you now.”
“No, that’s not what I mean. I want you to help me develop an original recipe.”
When he said that, Havier thought Min-joon would be surprised and that Min-joon would express his concern with a serious expression.
But Min-joon didn’t. He just nodded casually as if he heard Havier asking him to eat together.
“Sure, no problem.”
“That’s all?”
“What?”
“Oh, I thought you would give me some advice. For example, you could tell me to stop worrying or giving up, or something like that.”
“Well, I guess you have thought long and hard about it before you reached out to me. What else can I say? Let’s go.”
“Where?”
Min-joon snapped his fingers and said, “Going on a date!”
“What the heck? You just mentioned dating, and if you hadn’t had a girlfriend, I would have really misunderstood you because you might be interested in me.”
“Hey, dude, just take it as a joke and ignore it.”
“You’re sometimes so kind as to surprise your friend.”
“Being kind is not a sin.”
He sighed at Min-joon’s obvious reply.
Then he asked in an uncomfortable voice, “Are you dating Kaya in a place like this?”
“What’s wrong here? Isn’t it a good place?”
“Well, it’s a good match for you guys because you’re chefs.”
It was a large supermarket where Min-joon led Havier. Both of them stepped naturally toward the fish section. Actually, Javier was assigned to prepare the appetizer for this project. When it came to appetizers, nothing was more appropriate than fish.
“Do you have fish in mind?” Havier asked.
“Huh?”
“I guess you might have some ideas that you haven’t told me directly. Let me take it into account.”
“What I’d like to point out is that your cuisine is overly biased toward western food, especially Italian and French dishes.”
“Do you think it’s bad?”
“Look at the culinary world these days. Why do you think they are emphasizing molecular cooking? It’s because they had made so many attempts to develop new recipes in the traditional cuisine. The creativity and imagination of various chefs touched all kinds of recipes and ingredients in the traditional cuisine. And the majority of them are Italian and French. How difficult would it be to create a new taste with it?”
“I’ve heard a lot from my friends that my cooking isn’t fresh. What should I do?”
“You have to try something new. It’s not a matter of a new sauce. You need to think freshly.”
“That’s what I feel is hard for me.”
“Now, we’re here as a team, right? Did you forget already how many days Anderson and Janet came up with their own recipe when they worked together?”
Havier nodded. It took them only three days. In three days, they developed a rough idea of their recipe. It wasn’t just that they were only content with it. Their recipe even made Rachel nod with approval, although Havier couldn’t do it with hundreds of dishes.
“Can I do it?” Asked Havier diffidently.
“Hey, are you already depressed because you failed several times? Look at this!”
Min-joon pointed to a fish. Its eyes were twinkling.
“Is this king mackerel?”
“Yes.”
“I tried this at a nearby restaurant, but it was delicious. How about trying this?”
“It’s so big, though.”
The king mackerel Min-joon pointed at was almost as big as a child.
Looking at it for a moment without saying anything, Min-joon slowly opened his mouth.
“We can serve it warm after getting sashimi out of it, of course, with soup.”
“It’s too simple. I think you have to add something. How about caviar? If you add osetra caviar, it will have a richer flavor.”
“Sure. The key is whether or not you kill the taste of this kingfish. As for soup, I don’t know. Let’s buy this and think about it later.”
Having said that, Jo Min-joon immediately approached the market vendor in excitement and ordered the king fish. He flinched a bit at its high price but opened his wallet gladly. A chef wouldn’t open his wallet easily when he bought a car or a luxury item, but he will when he finds good ingredients.
The market vendor asked with a smile, “I heard you took a vacation, so I thought you wouldn’t come here, but you’re here again. Min-joon, which one do you want? This one?”
“Ah. Its scales are bad. You shouldn’t sell it to me.”
“Huh huh, the scales are a little scratched on the net. But its taste would be fine.”
“Besides, it’s not that fresh. Look at its bad eyes. Give me that one. If you don’t, I don’t want to buy today.”
“Oh my… You’re too young, but you’re really good at finding the right stuff.”
“You know, I’m a chef.”
“Okay, sure. Just take it.”
Watching him bargaining with the market vendor, Havier admired Min-joon’s ability to discern good fish. Of course, he knew Min-joon was good at telling good from bad fish, but what he was surprised about was that Min-joon could determine the condition of fish by simply taking a quick look at it because it was difficult for anybody to do it so quickly like him. Perhaps, Min-joon was the fastest to do so among the chefs he had seen so far.
