God of Cooking

What he just confessed went to her heart. So much so that she felt scared of the intensity of his concentration on cooking while making such fine dishes. It wasn’t that she led a haphazard life, only pursuing the sweetness of life until now. She had sweat and toils and shed tears until she came as far as here. But she couldn’t love her sweat and tears.

However, Min-joon had a different perspective of cooking from hers. He had no sense of obligation or burden while walking the laborious path of cooking.

So, Laura could not help but ask once again, expecting he had some other reason.

“Why do you focus on cooking? Do you want to get something from cooking? Or do you simply like to cook?”

The moment she asked it, Laura felt like she already heard his answer, for what he showed her until now answered her question.

Actually, his answer was largely what she expected.

“Well, you asked me why I focused on cooking, right? It’s because I like cooking. After all, what you can get by cooking fine dishes are money and prestige. If I had wanted it, I would have engaged in politics or business. Or I might have become an entertainer.”

“But while you’re pursuing your career, don’t you sometimes feel insensitive to cooking because you’re doing it every day or you don’t feel anything fresh?”

When she expressed her opinion more seriously, the participants around her began to gather around her. She felt a bit embarrassed, but she could not take back what she already said.

Kaya knew he could not afford to do so at home, but she stared at him, a bit upset.

The moment he looked embarrassed at her unexpected sharp glance, Laura opened her mouth. “Is this your answer, Min-joon?”

“Yes. Isn’t it fun? I mean the taste.”

Laura couldn’t answer easily. Bergamot, a balm made from orange peel. In fact, she was supposed to taste it on the outside, but it was inside as a cream while the real orange flesh became jelly to wrap the cream. She was not sure whether he made it like that for a dramatic effect.

Laura said, “You are doing arts with cooking.”

She didn’t mean to praise him. While enjoying his dishes, she naturally thought that way.

She thought that a chef named Min-joon was both a chef and an artist. And he did not deny that because he also thought that there was no need to distinguish between cooking and art.

Min-joon replied, “I’ve never thought that my cooking was the same because I always tried to make something new. Of course, I feel that I’m in a rut while making the attempt itself, but my cooking is always different. At least, that’s my opinion.”

“I think you may be right. Maybe it wasn’t that I was different, but I lamented that the world of cooking was so limited while making similar dishes every day. Yeah, you’re right. In fact, I’ve never imagined a recipe you developed like this.”

“In fact, I was like you until a few months ago. I found it so challenging even to make delicious food. But I’ve changed a lot after I started learning under Chef Rachel…”

“Wow, you love your teacher too much.”

“Because I received so much from her.”

Min-joon smiled in satisfaction. Laura put down her fork and looked at the half-eaten dessert. It was not because she lost appetite or she was full. It was because Min-joon’s dessert was delicious enough for her to covet another plate.

She put down the fork for two reasons. First, she wanted to put off cleaning the plate as much as possible. Secondly, she wanted to remember and analyze it while she could keep its image on the plate because she would be able to make something like this if she could understand it.

Min-joon’s dish wasn’t overwhelmingly delicious, compared to Laura’s. Laura had cooking level 8, which was the same as Min-joon’s. In terms of bringing out the taste of the ingredients, she might be better than him.

However, Laura could not catch up with his sophisticated sense and unusual recipe ideas. She could not understand how he could develop such an innovative and unusual cooking perspective when the two were raised in a similar kitchen environment.

‘Is it because he is becoming more like Kaya?’

Laura now began to seriously think about it.

While she was lost in thought, other participants were in a completely different dilemma among them. Min-joon’s dishes were delicious. They were not only delicious, but fresh, shocking, artistic, and fun at the same time.

They understood what Laura said to him, “You’re doing arts with cooking.”

Now that they tasted all three dishes made by Min-joon, they were not only thrilled but at the same time, they felt dejected in some respects.

“It is difficult to make something delicious, but how can I satisfy various stuff?” Jaden muttered in a weary voice. “This was the longest three-course menu in my life.”

Another participant mumbled, looking at the plates with a confused expression.

Jaden made eye contact with other participants. Looking at their eyes, he thought that all of them would be cooking in the kitchen instead of falling asleep.

Jaden looked back at Min-joon. His eyes full of admiration seemed a little hungry for something.

“I want to be such a chef,” he murmured before he knew it.

Other participants nodded unconsciously to his murmur. Min-joon cooked only for a short time, but he showed them a lot of things. He showed them what a wonderful and beautiful job cooking was, and how great their dishes could be beyond what they thought.

Until he first stepped into the Grand Chef last year, Min-joon was just a nondescript stone that nobody paid attention to. But he was different now. In the eyes of the judges, he was already like a beautiful statue, and in the eyes of the participants in the Grand Chef, he was like a rock with its top never seen, something they had to climb, though it was tough.