God of Cooking

Brian couldn’t say anything in response to Kaya’s sharp warning. He felt it miserable to hear such disparaging remarks from a woman he liked. He also found it hard to stand on his pride before her. After he won the Grand Chef Season 1, he didn’t think he would feel humbled in himself, but at this moment, he felt that he was more miserable than the stepmother in front of Cinderella.

Laura stepped to Kaya, letting out a sigh. She understood that Kaya was angry. In fact, Kaya struggled to deal with Brian every time he tried to hit on her. Nonetheless, Laura thought Kaya could not drive him into a corner too much because he was really distraught because of his humiliating defeat.

“I think he must have clearly gotten your message,” Laura said.

Kaya silently stared at Brian then slowly turned her head. Fortunately, it was Min-joon who first blew his top and taught him to behave himself. If he had not, she would have screwed him over in one way or another. She could put up with him flirting with her as long as he didn’t bother her, but she could not tolerate his behavior before her boyfriend.

“Kaya.”

Emily called her name. Kaya made eye contact with Emily and then moved to her.

Emily asked with a smile, “I think you feel good today because your gentle boyfriend kicked his ass.”

“Well, he was not gentle all the time. I think he is more manly than Alan.”

“Hey, why are you mentioning Alan out of the blue?”

“You don’t have to cheer me up.”

“Oh, I’m not saying this to cheer you up. I’ve got lots of expectations for you. I want to know what kind of restaurant you want to open, what kind of dishes you will serve, and what kind of customers you will receive.”

“Let me get around to it slowly because you have a lot of time to think about it.”

“Well…” Joseph blurred before being lost in thought. It seemed like he had something to say, but in the end, he groaned with a smile.

Looking askance at him, Emily opened her mouth.

“Min-joon, can’t you make some dishes for us? It’s been a while since we met.”

Min-joon shrugged.

“As long as you pay me for it!”

***

The boughs that bear most hang lowest. To interpret it another way, the less mature one was, the stronger one’s pride was. This was nothing strange. If people didn’t recognize a person, that person had to increase his or her worth by himself or herself to be able to keep his or her self-esteem.

In that sense, the participants of the Grand Chef often had worthless pride because of their mediocre positions and skills. As ordinary citizens, not chefs, they had excellent cooking skills, but that was the problem because there were lots of people around them who praised their great cooking. Although they could be blamed for cooking in the kitchen, they deserved due praise back home.

That was why it was so rare what was happening to Min-joon at the moment.

“Chef Min-joon, I’m done chopping onions!”

“Shall I prepare extra virgin olive oil?

“There is dry-aged sauce and wet-aged sauce. Which one should I bring?”

Lots of participants approached Min-joon and spoke to him, so he found it rather hard to answer them one by one. All of them were volunteering to assist him. He wasn’t the head chef of a renowned restaurant, but he was just a demi-chef who worked at the restaurant only for a year. Nonetheless, the participants were too polite to him.

“It seemed the sea bream dish you showed Brian was very impressive.”

Takeshi watched them with interest. Amateur cooks often didn’t swallow their pride even before professional chefs because they were not in the same league. If the pros used their careers to give instructions or admonitions to them, the amateurs, who were on the borderline between ordinary cooks and professional chefs, drew the line clearly and protested, saying that they didn’t deserve to receive such a treatment.

But these amateurs swallowed their pride first before Min-joon. Or, they didn’t even seem to have swallowed their pride because it was clear that they felt very proud to be able to help him in one way or another. Not only Brian but also Laura and Kaya were looking very envious, watching them volunteer for him actively.

Brian, Laura, and Kaya were the winners of the Grand Chef. Naturally, the participants had a relatively favorable attitude when they first saw these winners. But when they were asked if they respected these winners, their answer was rather ambiguous.

It didn’t mean that they didn’t respect the Grand Chef winners. Without respect for them, the participants wouldn’t have welcomed them from the beginning. But when they were trying to coach, the participants were reluctant because they felt they were a little different from the winners.

Rather, they had less respect for the winners because they thought they were in the same league. There weren’t many contestants who weren’t confident of winning in the competition. Watching Kaya and Brian, some of them thought the two were their role models.

So, when they created a harsh atmosphere, there were many participants who openly complained. That was why the current situation was more embarrassing now. For example, that woman who complained to Kaya who pointed out her cooking was now busy helping Min-joon actively as if she was his assistant.

“Did they look down on me because they didn’t try my fish dish?”

Kaya narrowed her eyes and looked at them sharply.

Takeshi said in a quiet voice, “Charisma is one of a chef’s great qualifications.”

As if he was upset, Brian bit his lips at Takeshi’s remark. He could not understand what made Min-joon so distinguished from others including himself. He worked hard and diligently as a chef until now. He did the best he could. Even after winning the Grand Chef, he was so busy working at the restaurant.

‘But what the hell is this difference between him and me?’

He always knew the world could be so unfair, but the reality was far crueler than he thought. The moment when his face was about to turn depressed with despair, he heard Kaya opening her mouth.

“That’s why I like him. Min-joon always reminds me that I have a long way to go as far as my cooking career is concerned.”

Brian turned to her with a blank expression as if he was hit by her remark. He wasn’t hurt just because she defended Min-joon but because her attitude was so different now. He could not help but get more impatient when she had someone who got ahead of him, who happened to be her boyfriend. But the difference between the two was that Kaya chose to endure and get along with Min-joon while he was overwhelmed by his own impatience.

‘I lost again…’