God of Cooking Chapter 242:

<Not Normal (2)>

 

If you are reading from a pirate or aggregator site, please read from the translator’s site: yado-inn (dot) com I have to put the link like this or else the bots will remove it, sorry 

Ten points . Getting full points for the first time was no mean feat . He’s reached the height of where any chef could go . He’s become able to create food that people could dream of . He’s finally grown enough to call himself a real chef .

Minjoon slowly opened his eyes . He became incredibly surprised by what he saw in front of him . He saw something on Rachel’s face that he never even dreamt of seeing .

Rachel was… crying .

“A-Are you alright?”

Rachel didn’t respond . She kept crying, despite knowing that the camera was still on her .

Minjoon didn’t seem to realize, but the concept of differentiating a taste of cheese based on its age wasn’t something a demi chef of his age could think of . Not even a pro chef could think of something like this so easily .

‘He has Daniel’s instincts . ’

Minjoon compared the different levels of savoriness from each cheese, and made a three-dimensional dish out of it . It was a technique that Daniel showed her several times in the past . Minjoon’s methods… were almost painfully similar to those of Daniel’s .

Rachel opened her mouth . She sounded almost exhausted after that moment of silence .

“I really made the right decision in picking you . ”

Minjoon didn’t ask for what purpose she chose him for . He didn’t ask what was right about his decision . Before all that, he could only think about why he was chosen .

His tongue . That was probably the reason why Rachel chose him . After all, she’s always said that a super taster would always see the world a little differently . That expectation… has always been a bit pressuring to Minjoon .

But this turned out to be a blessing in disguise . Because of Rachel’s expectations, because of the expectations others had of him, Minjoon had to try far harder than others about being “a supertaster” .

He was struggling . Struggling not to let others down . This made Minjoon feel a little insecure inside . He wasn’t a supertaster . He didn’t have that power the others thought he had .

Most people would’ve given up at that point . They would’ve run away to hide from their responsibilities . But Minjoon couldn’t do the same . He liked cooking . Enough to make him think it was what he was born to do . Without cooking, life just wouldn’t be the same to him .

So he practiced . He tried to train his tongue to the point where it was indistinguishable from a supertaster . He constantly put himself in the position of a supertaster, to see how they would approach a dish . To him, compliments only acted as whips, not carrots .

Because of that…

“Don’t cry… Teacher . ”

“…Why are you crying, then?”

Rachel grinned with her reddened eyes . Minjoon was wiping the tears in his eyes as well . It felt like he was getting truly validated for all his efforts .

‘She said… She made the right decision . ’

Minjoon’s finally met up to her expectations . The expectations of a supertaster . Minjoon’s always felt quite pressured with how Rachel’s treated him . It felt like he was lying to her . That’s why… after coming to Rose Island, he decided on one wish .

To help Rachel fulfill her dream .

He didn’t really know what that would entail . But he wanted to help her achieve her dream, one way or the other . After all, there wasn’t much else that he could really do .

‘Rachel’s crying face…’

The cameraman thought to himself with a dumb face . Did Rachel crying ever actually get put on television? Before that, what kind of food could make her cry like this? Thinking about it made him almost unbelievably curious .

But he didn’t get the chance to try the dish . Rachel scraped up every last bit of it . She trembled in shock . It’s been far too long since she’s felt like this when eating food .

“This is… nothing short of art itself . I want to cry just tasting something as delicate as this . Anyone who knows flavor would cry when they try this . ”

“Thank you . ”

“Did I tell you? Not one of my students got an ok from me on their first try . ”

“Yes, you did . ”

“Looks like you’ll be the first, Minjoon . ”

Rachel smiled . Her face was full of hope, happiness, and expectation . Before, looking at such a face would have made him feel a little guilty . He still felt a little bit of it, but nowhere near the amount he did before .

He could smile back now . With confidence . He knew he wouldn’t fail her .

Minjoon got everyone’s attention as he walked out of the kitchen . Without saying a word, he lifted the empty plate in front of them .

“…She got every last bit?” Janet asked dumbly .

“Correct . ”

“What the heck did you make? I want to try some . ”

“Sure . But it’ll have to be around 40 dollars per person…”

Janet immediately pulled out her wallet, not realizing it was a joke . She seemed curious about the food . No one’s gotten past Rachel on their first try after all .

“Here, 40 bucks . ”

“It’s fine, I was joking . I’ll make it for you, just wait . ”

Minjoon headed for his station . Since he already had the ingredients, making it didn’t take too long . Everyone who tasted a bit of it ended up putting on a dumb face . Javier muttered to himself in shock .

“This is… As good as that potato soup with bacon foam from last time . ”

“I thought it’d be salty ‘cause of the cheese, but it’s not at all like that . I can tell why you made dessert out of this . Did you have to add a lot of sugar?” Janet asked .

Minjoon shook his head .

“No . I added quite a bit, but the savoriness kind of covered it by itself . I focused a lot on the flavor of the cheese, after all . ”

“I was wondering how big of an effect age would have on this, but… How surprising . I know you cooked everything differently, but they all taste so different . ”

Minjoon just smiled at Janet’s words . Anderson was just focused on eating . The man turned to look at Minjoon angrily .

“What? What are you looking at?” Minjoon said, stepping back a little bit .

“…This is good . Too good . ”

“Why do you sound so angry, then?”

“Because I am . What the **** are you? How did you even make this?”

“Calm down . I just got lucky . ”

Anderson still looked mad . It was understandable . He’s always thought he and Minjoon were on the same level, but Minjoon’s food this time was far better than anything he could create . Anderson had no idea what it would take to even create something like this .

Anderson gave his plate back to Minjoon .

“Give me one more . ” He said with an annoyed voice .

“…Weren’t you on a diet?”

“I need to analyze this . Besides, how did you even think about making this with cheese? I thought you couldn’t eat it . ”

“Just because I can’t eat it doesn’t mean I don’t like it . Plus…”

Minjoon took a bite of the cheese souffle with a grin on his face .

“I don’t want to give up on an ingredient just because I can’t eat it . I don’t want that . ”

“Weirdo . ”

“Oh, do you want the dish or not?”

“You seem to be forgetting who drives you here every day . ”

“Right away, sir . ”

Minjoon made a new batch of meringue with a grin . Anderson looked at Minjoon with the dish in his hands . Minjoon was packaging roughly three people’s worth in a bag .

“Gonna eat it back home?”

“Nope, going to give it to Kaya . ”

“…Of course you are . ”

“Let’s go . I want to give this to her . ”

“Shush . I’m not done yet . Go wait in the break room . Or get on a taxi . ”

“I don’t have money for a taxi, you kidding me? I’ll go wait . ”

Minjoon headed towards the break room with a slight smile . Anderson looked at him with an annoyed look, before letting out a sigh and getting back to work .

Minjoon had thought that he would have some alone time in the break room, but that wasn’t the case . There was someone there already . Justin, the probationary employee, was crouched in the corner eating the dish he got from Minjoon .

“Justin?” Mnjoon asked .

“Eh, ah, ah! I’m sorry, chef Minjoon . I wasn’t trying to slack off…”

“No, no . I’m not trying to punish you or anything . Don’t worry . ”

“Ah, yes . ”

He couldn’t help but be nervous still . Not just because Minjoon was technically his boss, but also because Minjoon was so respectable . Just this dish in itself made Justin look up to Minjoon more .

An awkward 5 seconds of silence passed before Minjoon lay down on the sofa .

“I’ll lay down here for a bit, if that’s alright with you . ”

“Of course you can, this is the break room . ”

“Alright . Man it’s been a tiring day . ”

“But you made this, so it was worth it, right?”

Minjoon just smiled in response . Justin looked at Minjoon quietly . Why did the man look so cool right now? He wanted to lay down like that someday . Laying down on the sofa after a hard day of research .

Justin opened his mouth and closed it several times . He didn’t want to bother Minjoon, but he wanted to ask a question quite badly .

“Can I be like you someday?”

He realized it was quite a stupid question after asking it . Minjoon was looking at him with narrowed eyes . Justin scratched his head in embarrassment .

“I’m sorry, that was a stupid question . ”

“No, it isn’t . It’s a great question, actually . Quite the confidence boost for me . ”

“Well, you are pretty respectable, after all . With you being a supertaster, and being… Chef Rachel’s favorite student . ”

“…Favorite’s a bit of a stretch . She has a lot of great students . Don’t say it like that . ”

“I’m sorry . ”

Justin drooped down immediately, making Minjoon sigh .

“Let’s just change the question to something like ‘how can I become a great chef?’ instead . Is that fine?”

“Yes . ”

“When people are faced with an impossible goal, they split into two types . Either they go ‘that’s a childish dream’ or ‘I can do this one way or the other’ . ”

“Did you have a goal like that too, chef?”

Minjoon nodded . His dream was to meet the expectations surrounding him . Just being under it was difficult enough as is .

“To dream, or face reality… Is a problem many people face . But see, I’ve never actually done either of two things . ”

Justin seemed a little confused, but Minjoon really wasn’t lying . He’s been a teacher facing reality, and he’s tried to chase his dream by being a chef . Right now… He was still following his dream .

“Facing reality makes you come up with a lot of excuses . About how dreams will only be dreams, and how your choices made you financially stable . But when you’re chasing your dream, you only think of one thing . ”

“…What is it?”

“How can I do this?”

Minjoon answered calmly . His voice was filled with passion .

“How can I be the best? How can I cook better? How can I become faster? How can I look at the kitchen better? Constantly thinking like this eventually leads you to the right answer . ”

“Righ…t . ”

“Well, that’s what I think, at the very least . Well, Justin, what do you want to do? Do you want to dream, or do you want to face reality?”

“I…”

Justin didn’t hesitate long . His answer surprised Minjoon quite a bit .

“I want to look at you, chef . ”

“…Me?”

“Yes . I think I can do it if you tell me I can do it . Could you?”

Minjoon smiled . This person was placing far too much trust in him, it felt like .

“I don’t think I can tell you that you can actually do it . But I can tell you to work on it together with me . To dream with me . ”

“… . Thank you . ”

“I’m going to sleep now, then . ”

“Ah, please wait . ”

Justin called Minjoon again before he was about to fall asleep . When he looked at the boy, Justin looked at the package before he spoke .

“You seem to have leftovers… Can I have them?”

Minjoon responded quite firmly .

“Nope, that’s for my wife . ”

If you are reading from a pirate or aggregator site, please read from the translator’s site: yado-inn (dot) com I have to put the link like this or else the bots will remove it, sorry 

<Not Normal (2)> End .