Chapter 243

 

<Not Normal (3)>

 

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 

Justin gave up pretty quickly . After all, he knew how stubborn Minjoon could be .
Minjoon’s breaths started getting more steady . Almost as if he was dying . Justin wondered to himself just how tired Minjoon could be .

‘He’s good at cooking, but he’s also an amazing talker . ’

Does the man practice in his free time? Justin didn’t know . But he did know that he really wanted to be like Minjoon .

Anderson entered the room by the time Minjoon really fell asleep .

“Ah, chef . Chef Minjoon’s asleep right now…”

“So what if he’s asleep? This isn’t even his home . Wake him up . ”

“No, but…”

Anderson glared at Justin . Justin started shaking Minjoon to wake him up .

“Wake up, chef! Wake up!”

But Minjoon didn’t respond . Instead, he just moaned a little in his sleep . Anderson picked up Minjoon’s food and spoke up .

“Yo, I’m gonna eat this if you don’t wake up . ”

“No, that’s for Kaya . ”

Minjoon immediately woke up, almost as if he was awake the entire time . Anderson sighed to himself before turning away .

“Come . Five more minutes and I’m gonna start driving while you’re asleep . ”

“Fine, fine . Stop scaring me like that . ”

Minjoon managed to get up pretty quickly . He tapped Justin’s shoulder with a smile .

“Work hard, alright?”

“Yes sir . ”

Justin answered with bright eyes . By the time Minjoon and Anderson got in the car, Anderson started speaking again .

“Justin’s totally fallen for you . ”

“It’s inevitable . I am pretty handsome, after all . ”

“…Are you sick somewhere? Did Kaya finally get you with her sickness?”

Minjoon smiled wordlessly . Anderson didn’t speak again until they were almost home .

“I’m jealous of you sometimes . ”

“What now?”

“I know you work hard . I know you work harder than most people out there . But… I’m still jealous . You always manage to get results that reflect the amount of work you put in . ”

“You think you don’t?”

Anderson couldn’t respond . Sometimes, whenever he was feeling particularly weak, his thoughts would mess with him . And whenever things got particularly difficult… He wanted to vocalize his feelings . Like now, for example .

“Am I always going to be behind you?”

He didn’t even really think about what he just said . But that sincerity made Minjoon take the question more seriously . Minjoon looked at Anderson with a concerned look . Anderson didn’t reciprocate . Not because he was driving, though . They were stopped at a red light . He just felt afraid of having to look at Minjoon . He felt like he’d look even more pathetic if he returned Minjoon’s gaze .

“I’m sorry . I shouldn’t have said that . ”

“…Why would you think you’re behind me?”

“I don’t know . It just came out of me . Sorry . I didn’t mean to say it . ”

The light turned green . The car started moving again, and wind started flapping into the car . The wind suddenly felt far colder than before . Minjoon closed the window, and the car suddenly get overtaken with complete silence .

“I feel like I’m behind you, as well . ”

Anderson didn’t answer . The awkward silence between them continued until they reached home . Kaya ran out of the door when she heard them park .

“What the, did something happen?”

“No . I’m tired . I’m going to sleep . ”

Anderson went into his room after his short response . Kaya just pointed at his door with a surprised face . Minjoon kissed Kaya’s cheeks with a smile .

“Let’s go in first . ”

Kaya didn’t ask more . Her patience continued until Minjoon finished showering . Kaya looked at Minjoon with her arms crossed from her bed .

“Tell me . Why did you guys fight?”

“We didn’t… Here, try this first . ”

Minjoon took out his parmesan dish from the restaurant . Kaya looked at him with a suspicious look .

“What’s this?”

“I got a pass from chef Rachel with this . I saved some so that you could have it . ”

“Oh, that thing?”

“Yeah, I cooked each cheese differently based on how old it was . It’s the best dish I’ve ever made so far . I’m sure you’d like it . ”

His voice was absolutely full of confidence . This was actually the first time Kaya’s seen Minjoon so confident in her time together with him .

A little later, her spoon had a piece of galette, air, foam, souffle, and the sauce on it . Kaya looked at Minjoon with a small frown .

“But I brushed my teeth already . ”

“No harm in doing it again . Trust me, it’s worth it . ”

“Oh, really now…”

Kaya took a bite with a look of suspicion . She immediately realized just why Minjoon was acting so confidently . Anyone who couldn’t be confident of a dish as good as this was just an idiot .

Kaya took another bite of the dish . One bite, two bite . She hugged Minjoon with a sorrowful face .

“Good job . ”

“…What’s up? You look like you’re about to cry . ”

“I won’t . Why would I cry about this? It’s so good . But… I don’t know . I’m happy that you could make this, I’m proud, and I’m really jealous . I can kind of tell why Anderson was like that . ”

If someone told Kaya to make something like this… She wouldn’t even know where to start . This wasn’t possible to do with just talent . She couldn’t make this without some incredible inspiration .

She wasn’t saying that all it took to make this was luck, of course . Anyone could get lucky . But a person had to actually try hard to make use of the luck they ended up getting .

How long did Minjoon have to wait and think to make something like this? Kaya hugged Minjoon tighter .

“Oh dear, I think I fell for you . ”

“…And you didn’t before?”

“I fell for you again and again just now . Good job . ”

Kaya kissed Minjoon, and gave him a small pat . Minjoon looked at Kaya with a surprised look . Kaya looked down at her plate with a saddened look .

“I’d love for mom and Jemma to taste this . ”

“Just eat it for now . I’ll invite them some other time . ”

“Really?”

“Why would I lie about that kind of stuff? Don’t worry . By the way, that’s three servings right there . ”

“I feel like I could eat ten servings… It’s too tasty…! Ugh, I want to make stuff like this too . ”

“Don’t worry . You’re still really young! You’ll be able to do better once you really spread your wings . I believe in you . ”

Kaya smiled wordlessly . It didn’t take long for the dish to disappear . After finishing the dish, Kaya looked at the plate with a sad look .

“…I’d feel really mad if something this good was dessert . ”

“That’s just because you had a ton of dessert . It should be a nice finisher after the main meal . ”

“Well, I don’t think so . This isn’t the type of food you use to finish off a meal . This is the type of stuff that you stuff in your face . I don’t think anyone would want to stop eating this once they start . ”

“That does make me curious . There are a lot of tricky people who work as tasters . Like that guy from last time . Jasper, I think? People who think there’s a clear difference between chef Rachel’s work and the demi chef’s work . Do you think they’d still be critical of my food?”

There was no way Jasper was the only person who felt that way about the demi chefs’ food . Not many people were that direct, but it was rather obvious that they still held that belief .

Minjoon wanted to change their minds . He wanted to show them what he was capable of . Kaya grabbed hold of Minjoon’s hand .

“Don’t get nervous . You and I both know you’re going to be the second best chef in the world . ”

“And the best is you, I’m assuming?”

Kaya grinned .

“Correct . ”

€

It didn’t take long for Minjoon to get his question answered . After all, critics were by far the easiest people to find at Rose Island .

There was one person who was of the opinion of Rachel’s food being better than anything else here . It was Akira, a critic from Japan . He would always leave a tiny bit of food by the demi chefs left on his plate, finding a way of complaining a little bit .

‘I came here because I want chef Rachel’s food . ’

That was what Akira thought . Of course, the food by the demi chefs were tasty . They were made under Rachel, so how could they not be? But just knowing that Rachel wasn’t involved in making this made him feel a little less happy .

‘Thankfully, only Minjoon’s dish is up on the menu this time . ’

This time, only Minjoon’s dish got up on the menu, since the other chefs weren’t able to pass just yet . He could take this . It was just one dish in the entire course, after all .

“Let’s see how many bites you’re worth… ”

Akira picked up his spoon with a sigh . The server explained to him that the dish was made with different types of parmigiano reggiano .

When he first took a bite, he just ended up getting confused . Akira looked down at his plate in a daze . He had no idea just what he had a taste of just now . He picked up his spoon again, completely unaware that the chefs from the kitchen were looking at him .

‘You can make something like this… With just cheese?’

It wasn’t a fusion of different flavors like most other dishes were . It was just a single cheese flavor . But each element of the dish worked so seamlessly with each other that his mouth became assaulted with a myriad of different flavors . Raphael watched Akira’s shocked face from the kitchen, and muttered to himself .

“If you can change someone else’s beliefs about food, you become a real chef . ”

“What? Did you say something just now?”

The cameraman turned to Raphael . Raphael didn’t even look at the camera as he repeated .

“Many times as a chef, one has to deal with prejudice . No matter how good a restaurant is, if there are bad rumors about it… The customer would go ‘yeah, that meal really was weird . ’ Minjoon’s fighting against the prejudice, ‘Rachel’s food is the best . ’ That a mere demi chef couldn’t possibly match up to chef Rachel’s food . ”

“That means… chef Minjoon would be a chef that would meet chef Rachel’s expectations once he can break through that prejudice?”

“More than that . He’d need to outperform her if he wants to break it . ”

“Do you think he can do it?”

Raphael didn’t respond . Instead, he looked over at Akira’s table . The cameraman followed suite with the camera . Akira’s dish was completely empty . Raphael gripped the table under him firmly .

“He’s a true chef now . ”

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 (3)> End .