Many people would probably agree that New York was a beautiful city. Even those who had never visited the city naturally think of beauty when it came to New York.
Then, why was New York beautiful? Was it because it was one of the largest cities in America? Was it because the Statue of Liberty was there? Or was it because there were so many tall buildings and so many rich guys there?
Min-joon didn’t think so. There was only one reason he considered New York beautiful, namely people. It didn’t mean that there were many pretty and handsome people in New York. He felt good about the faces of the New Yorkers who were trying to overcome the weight of their lives when they were always racing against time. He liked their lifestyle and dreams. He made a smile when he saw them struggling to leave their footprints in this world by not pursuing what would end up being an ordinary life. Although many of them had not yet achieved their goals, he didn’t feel it was important.
Min-joon found himself a misfit among those who considered mediocrity as a virtue. He was once treated as a greenhorn and even an idiot who couldn’t grasp reality while chasing a ridiculous dream. But here in New York, there were lots of them who were in the so-called ‘idiot’ league.
Of course, it didn’t mean that there were many people who were content with leading a mediocre life in Los Angeles, compared to New York. There might be more people in Los Angeles who didn’t like just routine ordinary lives. But they couldn’t beat New Yorkers in terms of living lives in the fast lane. Downtown lights didn’t turn off late into the night. Was there any other city that was more loyal to their ambitions than New York?
‘What can I get here then?’
Min-joon gave it a thought. What he was trying to learn from June was her management style, her cooking philosophy, and her attitude toward cooking. He thought she could teach him something different from what he learned from Rachel. And he was right.
But was that alone enough? After noticing Anderson’s change, Min-joon felt strongly that he seemed to be missing something.
‘Obviously, I’m not missing out on marriage.’
Was it because he felt jealous of Anderson who became more mature after being a father?
Min-joon slowly reflected on his own changes, his abilities, and the situation where he was in.
First of all, there was nothing he was lacking in, given his current situation. At first, he felt a burden at the title of magic palate because he actually didn’t have a perfect palate although he could figure out all the ingredients of a dish. He just felt dizzy when he toyed with the idea of pretending to be a genius chef or a chef with great abilities for the rest of his life.
Fortunately, however, he solved such problems. First of all, his gastronomic level had risen overwhelmingly. He had a gastronomic level of 9. Compared to Kaya, who had an overwhelming sense of taste, he still had a long way to go, but there was no chance he would show a shabby gastronomic level in his dish, given his national fame.
Moreover, people didn’t pay attention to his perfect palate alone because he made many other achievements until now such as his signature dessert, Cho Reggiano, being the winner of the Paris International Culinary Competition, and his excellent record at Rose Island. Each of them might not look impressive enough, but the impact of each one was as powerful as his perfect palate.
As a result, people’s perceptions of Min-joon had changed a lot. They didn’t think Min-joon was just a chef with a perfect palate. They now thought he was a chef who also had a perfect palate. In other words, their focus was on Min-joon, not his perfect palate like before.
His value as a chef was not just found in his cooking skills alone. When it became known that he released the recipe of Cho Reggiano dessert for free and that he wanted more people to enjoy it more affordably rather than trying to gain his own profits, they began to regard him as a genuine chef, namely a genuine chef who was blinded not by fame or money, but by a desire to make his customers happier and make better dishes. To them, it didn’t matter whether he was such a chef or not because people believed he was really a genuine chef.
‘In the long run, you made a clever choice,’ June once told him.
She said when he released Cho Reggiano to the public and commercialized it, it was good that he didn’t show any greed for making money because it would give him an enormous benefit incomparable to it in the future.
As a matter of fact, there were many chefs who got criticized by people for being blinded by money even though they devoted themselves to the restaurant business for several decades. But Min-joon was already recognized as a chef with a promising future even before he fully developed his potential in the field.
‘Yeah, I know I’m in good standing. Then, what about my cooking…’
After pondering over it for a moment, he asked Kaya, “Kaya, can’t you see anything wrong with my cooking?”
But Kaya didn’t answer. She was watching a TV soap opera in which it was revealed that the wife of a man just gave her lover all the money her current husband made by smuggling. So, no matter what Min-joon said to Kaya, it would just let in her ear and out the other because she was now focused on her husband’s screaming full of resentment or angry laughter.
It was when the soap opera ended when Kaya opened her mouth.
She looked at him and said, “What did you ask a moment ago?”
“I asked you if you found any problem with my cooking.”
“Well, the fact you are looking for it is the problem.”
“Don’t crack a joke. I’m serious.”
“Why do you think it’s a joke? I’m serious too,” she asked, putting the cold fries in her mouth.
So, he asked with a puzzled expression, “You just said the fact I’m looking for it is my problem, right?”
“Well, you always try to organize everything as if you were looking for a math formula. Just take it easy. If you feel you are slow, just leave it alone. Don’t you think you are in a hurry?”
When he heard that, he opened his mouth to balk, but he remained silent instead. Of course, he could refute her, but he felt no matter what he said, he would end up making just meaningless excuses.
“Yeah, I’m getting impatient.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I just wish I could get things done as soon as possible. Sometimes I like every moment, but at the same time, I’m so frustrated because I still have lots of things to do. That’s why I’m being impatient…”
She did not blame him because most of the people were like him.
“Don’t rush. Someday we will have everything we want, though we don’t know when.”
“How do you know?”
“Because we are the best in this field,” Kaya said confidently. “We will find ourselves in a much better situation than we think.”
***
When Kaya was so confident of her and Min-joon’s future, there was one who was so nervous and anxious about her future. It was Chloe.
At the bar of a hotel where Chloe, Kaya, and Min-joon had accommodations. Chloe was determined to get drunk by trying all kinds of liquor at the bar with a free liquor ticket she received from the hotel owner, Delia.
A beauty alone at a hotel bar. Chloe was quite a beauty. So, it was the perfect chance for any brave man to approach and speak to her. It was about time when she began to have a double vision of the wine glass when a young man plucked up the courage to sit next to her.
“Oh, are you alone here?” he said.
Normally, she would smile and respond to him before kicking him off gently enough not to offend his feelings, but she was different now. She could not afford to be kind or think about how to deal with this stranger.
She said without looking back at him, “Because I’m alone.”
“You might feel I’m weird if I say this, but I know you. You are Chloe, right? I watched you at the Grand Chef competition with great interest.”
“Thank you. But I don’t know you.”
“Well, you can know me from now on. I’m Johnny,” he said, giving a toothy smile.
His white teeth were so attractive that his warm smile might have tempted lots of women. But such a smile didn’t work out on Chloe because she just didn’t turn her head at him.
He looked at her with an awkward expression. In the broadcast, she just looked pure and gentle, but she was cold-hearted at the moment. Was it because she was drunk? Or did something bad happen to her? Or was what she showed in the TV show a fake?
In fact, that didn’t really matter to him. Even though her personality was not what he had expected, her looks and aura were pretty attractive. She was attractive enough to compete with all the women he had seen so far.
Clearing his throat, Johnny began to tell something she didn’t even ask about.
“Well, I came to New York because I was supposed to inherit several buildings from my father, so I think I have to hire someone who can manage my buildings. I don’t have many friends in New York, so I feel like I would like to make friends with you, Chloe. What do you think?”
Instead of answering, she scoffed at it and just drank. She didn’t want to play into his dirty trick. She was not the type of cheap woman who could be bought off with such temptation.
‘I want to see Min-joon.’
But she couldn’t go to see him. Before she saw Anderson and Janet getting married, she didn’t feel heartbroken when she saw him and Kaya staying together. But after their wedding was over, she could not really stand it. Someday, Min-joon and Kaya would get married. Kaya would be wearing a wedding dress, and after they walk on the red carpet, a great nuptial song would greet them.
“I want to get married, too,” she muttered blankly.
And at that moment, Johnny moved his lips with a confused expression. Was she now asking him to propose to her? How could she ask a stranger to marry her? Or did she offer to date him with their marriage in mind?
He was about to reply with an awkward expression when somebody quickly pulled Johnny’s arm from the side. It was Delia, not anyone else, who sat next to her in his place, who was dragged down from the barstool, staggering.
“Get out of here, Johnny. Don’t hang around in my hotel.”
“Oh, Delia! What are you doing to me?”
“What are you doing to my friend?”
Having said that, Delia put her hand on her shoulder. He made an eerie expression at that moment because he felt like she was asking him if he had any friends at all.
“Get lost!”
“See you next time, Chloe.”
“Who wants to see you again, idiot!” Delia shouted.
