“I…….”
Jo Minjoon opened his mouth with a stunned voice but couldn’t continue saying anything and just breathed. His heart beat. He felt really thankful that Rachel had made that kind of proposal to him.
Although the reason for that proposal would mostly be because of his absolute taste, Jo Minjoon didn’t want to worry about that. Although he didn’t have the strength Rachel believed him to have, Rachel had a strength he didn’t know of. Won’t he be able to reach Rachel’s expectations if he worked fully? He thought like that. He wanted to.
“Emily always used to said. That if you lined up people that wanted to learn below teacher Rachel, they would surround the America and there would be some that remained.”
“Did she?”
Rachel looked at Emily. While Emily was sipping wine with an embarrassed expression, Jo Minjoon opened her mouth.
“There are people among those. People that just line up without knowing what the line is for. But there’s no need for me to line up, and it’s right in front of me…….Honestly, it’s a really strong seduction. Even more on the point that there is no need to decline it.”
“I can understand it as agreeing, right?”
“Yes. It’s a yes that doesn’t need a theory.”
Rachel smiled brightly at those words and then sipped in some wine with an expression as if nothing had happened. When the surrounding people were looking at them absent mindedly by what happened, Kaya grabbed a bread and asked Minjoon.
“Congratulations for the pre employment. But…….”
Kaya hesitated a moment and covered her mic with her fist. When he looked at that, he thought of the past. What had she asked him like that? Was it ‘don’t like me’?. Kaya whispered in Jo Minjoon’s ear with a low voice.
“You see this. Can I dip it in wine?”
“It would be different by countries…….but won’t you be able to do so? I don’t think the flavor will be anything special. I think that it will be better to take a bite of the bread and drink some wine.”
“Is it…….”
Jo Minjoon was also speaking while covering his mic. How many times have people covered their mics in a live broadcast in history, Martin let out a sigh as if it was absurd and smirked.
[That bad hand came out again. They were also like that in Grand Chef….]
[What are they talking about? Doesn’t this have something like sound amplification?]
[Are they speaking some kind of secret? And then they will also say ‘we are just friends’.]
You could clearly feel the stifling of the viewers feeling just by looking at the chat. Jo Minjoon hurriedly opened his mouth.
“Ah, don’t misunderstand. She just…..”
Jo Minjoon got interrupted. Kaya extended her hand and covered Jo Minjoon’s mouth. As Jo Minjoon opened his eyes roundly, Kaya looked at him with severe eyes and while frowning. She loosened her hand, which was covering the mouth, and said.
“No. Don’t say it.”
“Why?”
“It’s embarrassing.”
[……Just what do they talk about that it’s embarrassing?]
[At this point, isn’t it a script?]
It was really fortunate that the servers appeared then. They exchanged glances and then placed down 7 plates at the same time. Jo Minjoon opened his mouth roundly. The food on the plate had quite a marvelous shape. A white and round mozzarella cheese that was swelled up like a baseball. Next to that, there were eatable flowers and herbs decorated as a grassy field. Kaya got amazed and asked.
“This……..is cheese, right?”
“Yes. We pierced a hole in the mozzarella cheese and put in minestrone soup. When time passes, it swells up like that because of the steam and heat of the soup.”
“If it’s minestrone soup….. What was that?”
“It’s an italian vegetable soup. We boil vegetables, pasta, rice, etc. In our case, we insist on orzo pasta. Inside the rice shaped pasta, the chicken and vegetable stock melts inside it, and the mozzarella cheese that was melted stickily will cover that. Cut it once.”
Kaya raised the knife with a flustered face as if she was slicing a birthday cake. As she cut the swelled cheese, steam surged up and the cheese slowly flowed down to the soup and the grass next to it. The smell of the cheese and the fragrance of the herbs, and the aroma of the soup that was hidden in it, harmonized and ran inside her nose.
She was trembling. And then turned to look at Jo Minjoon with an enjoying expression. Then, Jo Minjoon that was slicing the cheese with the same expression, smiled brightly at Kaya. He understood Kaya’s feelings. She was someone that had never gone to a proper restaurant in her life. So she could only be excited in front of this excellent and pretty dishes that were made with effort.
‘I also wanted to take her to a three star restaurant.’
But unfortunately, he thought that it would be difficult that it was him who took her to a three star restaurant. Because it was difficult to see that from her remaining scheduled Grand Chef plans, she would never go to a three star.
Jo Minjoon put the melted cheese and the soup in his mouth inside the regret. While the clear flavor of the chicken stock was building the atmosphere of the overall flavor, the flavor of carbohydrates felt from the texture of the cheese and the chewy orzo was quite charming. Soon, Kaya let out an exclamation.
“Wow this orzo……It’s the hidden protagonist.”
At that moment Jo Minjoon couldn’t understand what Kaya was talking about. Although the texture of the orzo was quite fresh and fun, it wasn’t as impressive as to become the protagonist. But he rather became more impressed at the stock that was making balance between the herb and the cheese. But soon, Alan smiled brightly and said.
“You realized it. That’s right. When we were composing this dish, the most difficult part was right this orzo. At first I wondered about making it with rice grains, but it was difficult because of the aroma of grains with whatever rice we used.”
“The aroma of grains wouldn’t have been the only problem. I think that the texture when you chewed would also have been a problem. Although the celery gives some crunchiness, if you cook it for long it turns soft…… But because only the orzo has the al dente texture, it gets chewed up just like the main ingredient. Ah, I know it. It’s not taken out from an already cooked soup, but every time you serve a dish you mix it with orzo bit by bit and cook it again. Right?”
Kaya said like an excited girl. Rachel looked at Kaya with an absent minded look. Although she knew that people paid attention to her…… Kaya raised her upper lip at the moment’s silence and said.
“Leave it if that’s not it.”
“That’s……… right. It’s a bit perplexing. Although I was prepared to get my recipe exposed by Minjoon, I didn’t know that it would get done by you.”
“I imitated him. They say friends tend to get similar.”
“Not friends, but married couples.”
“……..That’s about the same. I didn’t finish primary school. Go easy on me.”
“Every time she does that I see her more pretty. Why is it?]
[Poor=pitiful=ladylike=pretty. Isn’t it this?]
[She says she’s pretending to be Minjoon, but her tongue is so sensitive it’s no joke. She certainly didn’t get the title of genius for nothing.]
Rachel raised her fork with a depressed face and looked at Kaya. Although Kaya imitated simply like imitating minjoon……..It wasn’t an easy thing to guess up to that point in that short time. The words Serguei and Jo Minjoon said, about grabbing Kaya, roamed in her ears. Rachel opened her mouth. Although it would feel a bit childish, she couldn’t hold the curiousness in her heart anymore.
“Kaya. Are you able to guess all the ingredients?”
“Mozzarella cheese, celery, squash, artichoke, carrot, radish, basil, tomato.”
At that moment Rachel gulped in some air. Looking at her eyes that was opened to the point the white part of the eyes could be seen, Kaya smirked.
“These are the things I can see with the eye.”
“Ah….”
Rachel looked at the dish with a flat face. Looking at it well, the ingredients Kaya named just now were all things you could see with your eye. Kaya slightly added.
“Well, naming the things you can’t see with the eye…….It would be pea and chickpea. But honestly, it’s weird if you can’t feel the flavor when it’s this clear. It also has chicken stock but if you can’t feel this your tongue is really bad. If I want to boast a bit…..I think that it has some lard. And I can also feel some pork fat.”
“That’s plentily amazing. You have a really good tongue.”
“……..Why can’t I differentiate that as well?”
Sera said with a depressed voice from a side. Emily smiled bitterly and patted her back.
“Even if you are an epicurean, you basically need to have a sensitive tongue for that. Although I also knew that there was pea, I didn’t know what kind it was. And this is normal.”
“Even so…….I’m jealous. For the couple to have that sensitive tongue.”
“……..We aren’t a couple?”
“I will adjust it. Pre couple. ………I understand. I was wrong. Don’t glare at me like that.”
[The time where you can’t name a couple, couple came.]
[It’s already been years since I didn’t call my wife, wife.]
“The chat, shut up. Please.”
[Now she also says not to chat.]
[I heard a badmouthing. Wow…….But why do I want to keep listening to it?]
“………Perverts.”
Kaya let out a sigh and shook her head. It was then. The eyes on Jo Minjoon got fixed on the servers that were approaching. Although he couldn’t see well what was on the plate, he could clearly see the system window over it.
[Oil pasta with squid and bokchoy as garnish]
Freshness : 96%
Origins : (Too many ingredients to show)
Quality : High
Cooking Score : 10/10
‘10 points with pasta…….?’
And oil pasta at that. It was a category Jo Minjoon thought that it was the most difficult to get 10 points. In oil pasta, instead of using oil for obtaining a clear flavor, it was that difficult to bring out a complex and elaborate flavor.
The plate was placed. Jo Minjoon was looking at the pasta with eyes as if he was looking at a lover that returned. The shape was quite simple. The noodle, that was finely placed, had an overall green colour. And it wasn’t only because of the bok choy between the noodles. Maybe it was because they grated basil with olive oil that the colour of the oil itself was a blatant green.
At first, he was a bit perplexed because he couldn’t see the squid, but looking at it well he saw that the squid was sliced as thinly as a linguine and was hidden between the noodles. But he was still confused. Because of what did this dish get 10 points, he couldn’t understand it well.
It was when he sucked in some noodle while thinking like that. From the noodle that surged up like the elastic udon noodle, it wiggled inside his mouth like a nakji(낙지). It was the first time he felt this kind of elasticity when eating pasta.
And when he chewed the noodle, squid and bok choy, the emotions he felt was beyond that. It was obvious that he felt the unique aroma of squid and bok choy, but how could he feel the sweet flavor of barley in the noodle?
On top of that, the flavor of barley didn’t even play with the other ingredients. On the oil, a spicy flavor faintly heated his mouth, maybe because chili seed was placed in it and not only basil, And from the tongue and lips that became sensitive the noodles was felt so organically to the point it shocked him.
At that instant, an odd sigh was heard. At that moment Jo Minjoon thought that it was because couldn’t hold in the pleasant feeling, but that wasn’t it. Right next to him Kaya was chewing the noodle with a red face while closing her eyes.
‘……..Thinking about it, a 10 points dish is a first for Kaya.’
Jo Minjoon’s eyes became moist. He didn’t know why he felt this choked when Kaya ate her first 10 point dish. He opened his mouth. It was a voice that trembled a bit.
“Is it delicious?”
Kaya nodded while not opened her mouth and with eyes that were even teary. It was a flavor that seemed like if you opened your mouth, a cry would come out immediately. Jo Minjoon understood her. As she had a more sensitive sense of taste, the feeling she felt could only be bigger.
Jo Minjoon took out a handkerchief and wiped Kaya’s eyes.
“Your make up will get messed up.”
[He’s crazy.]
[I think that they are even weirder than the hollywood weirdos, with another meaning.]
[Are korean men all like that?]
[I’m a korean man, but we aren’t all like that.]
Anderson was eating the pasta and then looked at Alan with a stifled face. Alan, that was looking at Jo Minjoon and Kaya with a gratified expression, turned his head. Anderson said with an awkward voice.
“Isn’t there a digestive here? I think I got an indigestion.”
< Their live broadcast (3) > End
Translator’s note: Thanks for reading!
PR note:
Translator : Subak
Proofreader : Saihikawa