Chapter 229

Translator: Ensj    Editor: Arocks141

 

<In The Face of The Real Battle (1)>

 

Minjoon believed that hard work always paid off . At least, in his experience it did . His grades got better when he studied, his body improved when he worked out, and his skills got better the more he cooked .

Of course, not all these changes were always visible . Sometimes, it felt like he was just running in place . Sometimes, it almost felt like he was walking backwards . But in the end, he’s always gotten better in the end .

Even now, with the help of the system, Minjoon had his doubts . Am I really doing well? Am I just wasting time here? Thankfully, he knew he wasn’t going backwards because none of his skills moved backwards, but… He could only believe that he was improving .

But Javier didn’t have the help of the system . It was no wonder the man was feeling horrible . Of course, the man didn’t think all his troubles would end after coming to Rose Island, but he’d probably never have expected to fall behind .

He couldn’t fail here . He had to win . These feelings choked Javier . This was the reason why he ran away from his family and friends during the holiday season into the kitchens .

Morning came . Javier frowned as he woke from his sleep in the break room . His neck hurt . Why didn’t he realize sleeping on a sofa with his arm as a pillow was going to make his neck hurt?

Javier looked around a bit, and let out a small smile . He could see Minjoon sleeping with the same posture as him .

“Your neck’s gonna hurt like **** . ”

The smile on his face faded . The one who made the man stay the night was Javier . Minjoon said he would easily do such a thing for a friend . While that made Javier thankful, it also made a different thought creep up in his head .

‘Am I going to keep hurting my friends for my sake?’

He felt bad about making Minjoon go through all this . Two thoughts clashed in his mind . He could either do this all by himself, or… He could just accept help .

He had to accept it . He had to accept the fact that he was a little lacking compared to the other three . At least, when it came to creating recipes . Perhaps it would be better if he just thought of them as teachers of sorts .

Minjoon woke up in the meantime .

“Ugh… Where am I?”

“It’s the break room . Wake up . ”

“Sorry . So tired… Ah, it’s January 1st today, isn’t it? I’ve aged one more year with this . ”

“Eh? Wasn’t your birthday in December?”

“Ah, it’s a traditional thing in Korea . We say you age a year every new year . ”

“What? So you age twice a year?”

“No, you just say you don’t age on your birthday… Anyway, you’re going to cook?”

Minjoon asked as he rubbed his belly . It’s been a while since he didn’t feel hungry waking up . He ended up having so much food at dawn… Javier shook his head .

“Nope, I won’t . ”

“Good . I was about to have to stuff food into my nostrils because I was getting too full . ”

“Wouldn’t the food still end up in your stomach?”

“Come on man… Just a figure of speech . Don’t make me have to imagine all that . ”

“… But you said it first . ”

Javier looked at Minjoon incredulously . Minjoon just hit back with a playful voice .

“Hey, hey . Come on man . I had to eat your food all day . Can’t I just say something silly once?”

“Oh, so now you’re playing the victim card?”

Javier laughed . He continued with a quiet tone .

“I thought a bit . Ah… I want to make something that looks cool, but it’s difficult . Please help . ”

“I’m helping already, though . ”

“No, not like that… Making the recipe itself . I need your help . ”

Javier expected Minjoon to be surprised . But quite the contrary happened . Minjoon casually nodded at his request .

“Sure . That’s good . ”

“…That’s it?”

“What?”

“I half expected you to worry or tell me not to do it . ”

“You thought a lot about this, didn’t you? Who am I to stop you? Stand up, we need to go . ”

“Where?”

Minjoon flicked a finger at him .

“We’re going on a date . ”

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“… Never say that again . Especially in front of your girlfriend . ”

“It’s just a joke, man . Come on . ”

“Well I mean, you’ve always acted almost disgustingly kind to people is the thing…”

“Oh, so being kind is a sin, now?”

Javier could only sigh .

“So you go to places like this with Kaya?”

“What, is it surprising?”

“I mean, it fits . You two are both chefs, after all . ”

Minjoon had dragged Javier into a grocery store . The two casually walked over to the seafood section . Javier was in charge of the appetizer today . And there was no better ingredient fit to be an appetizer than seafood .

“Do you have anything in mind?”

“Eh?”

“You must have a few ideas for the dish you couldn’t tell me, no? I’d like to hear about them . ”

“Well… Really, I can only say that your dishes are way too western . Most your dishes are Italian or French . ”

“…Is that bad?”

“Take a look at the scene today . Why do you think people are going so deep into molecular gastronomy? We’ve milked western food for literally all it’s worth . We can’t get much more out of it anymore . ”

“I did hear that my dishes aren’t that creative… What then?”

“We need to try something new . Not a different flavored sauce, but something else entirely . ”

“That sounds… difficult . ”

“But we’re two people now . Did you forget how quickly me, Andrew and Janet came up with a recipe together?”

Javier nodded . Four days . It took the three four days to make a dish . A dish good enough to make Rachel nod . Javier wasn’t able to make Rachel do that, ever .

“…Do you think I can do it?”

“Come on man, have some confidence! Oh, hey, look at this . ”

Minjoon pointed at a fish with sparkling eyes .

“That’s a kingfish, isn’t it?”

“Yeah . ”

“I had it near the restaurant once . Pretty tasty . Should we go with this?”

“…This massive thing?”

The kingfish was the size of a small child . Minjoon thought for a moment before opening his mouth .

“We can serve it as sashimi with soup . ”

“That’s too simple . Maybe we can add something to it… Caviar? That’d help with the flavor . ”

“For sure . But that might kill the fish’s flavor . The soup… Ah, whatever . We can think about that later . ”

Minjoon bought the fish on the spot . He flinched a little after hearing the price, but like any addict in front of their fix, Minjoon took out his card from the wallet in one smooth movement . The shopkeeper smiled .

“I didn’t think you’d come today, Minjoon . Which one do you want? This one?”

“But that one’s scales are all broken . I don’t want it . ”

“That’s just from the net . It should taste fine . ”

“It’s not all that fresh either . Just look at that eye . Give me that one instead . ”

“Hah, you’re quite stubborn about stuff like this, aren’t you?”

“I’m a chef, you know?”

“Gotcha, gotcha . Here, take it . ”

Javier was surprised . He knew how to choose fresh fish, of course . But he couldn’t do it at the speed of Minjoon . Actually, he’s never seen anyone as fast as Minjoon with choosing fish .

“…You’re really fast about everything, aren’t you?”

“What, did you think that because of the fish?”

“Yeah . How did you do it?

“Well… I don’t really have one . ”

Minjoon scratched his head . Getting compliments thanks to the system always made him feel guilty .

The first thing the two did after coming back was dismantling the fish . There were countless parts to the fish, but the parts they could realistically use were only the belly, back, and hip .

Like any other fish, the part of the fish that tasted strongest was the belly, which was the closest to the innards . The hip had better texture but less flavor, while the back was incredibly chewy with little to no flavor .

Javier looked at the fish for a moment .

“I’ll boil the head first . To make some stock . ”

“Ah, wait a bit . I have an idea . ”

Minjoon took something out of the fridge, which confused Javier .

“Dried anchovies? Why?”

“Let’s make some stock with the anchovies before using the head . I feel like the head won’t bring out the saltiness enough . ”

“We can just use salt . ”

“But it’s more fun to bring out the salt from the fish . ”

Fun . Javier realized that his view on cooking was very different compared to Minjoon . Javier took the straightforward route, while Minjoon always tried to find new and novel ways of cooking things .

‘Is this what I need to learn?’

It was new . Rachel’s creativity felt so foreign to Javier, but Minjoon’s creativity excited him .

Minjoon made the stock, and took out the sashimi . He put a bowl of yellow liquid next to the red meat, and dressed it all with caviar and cilantro . Javier smiled after just a single bite .

“Whoa, this is really good . ”

“Yeah, it is . But it doesn’t have that wow factor . ”

“Wow factor?”

“That feeling you get when you have something really tasty . That feeling that makes your spine go bzzt . We need that in the dish . Hm, what are we missing?”

Javier looked at Minjoon . He thought Minjoon was a genius . With that tongue, and that skill… What else would Minjoon be? But Javier realized that he was wrong . What made Minjoon amazing wasn’t something like talent .

“You don’t rest, do you?”

Minjoon didn’t respond . The man was clearly lost in his thoughts . Minjoon was no genius . Well, maybe that’s the wrong way to put it . What made Minjoon amazing wasn’t something as shallow as ‘talent’ .

Minjoon’s gears never stopped turning . The man never stopped thinking . It was quite something to behold . Something that outshined his talent entirely . Javier balled up his hands .

‘You’re . . amazing . ’

Javier wished to be like Minjoon .

<In The Face of The Real Battle (1)> End .