God of Cooking

“Shitty power. We can’t pretend to be moralists and saints all the time. But you are always trying to avoid that shitty situation. Just let down your guard, Chef. Please do whatever you want freely rather than caring about others.”

“Well, even a fish prefers the water it used to play.”

“That’s why I want you to move toward that direction little by little.”

“It looks like you are pushing me.”

Maya turned her head with a smile. Min-joon shook his head at that. He wondered if Maya was a cook with the most wacko-style temperament among the demi-chefs of Rose Island.

‘But what she said is right.’

After buying the necessary ingredients at the market, Min-joon got down to developing the recipe right away. Normally, he would have focused on the expected cooking score, but not now. The expected cooking score was sort of a yardstick that could check if there were any flaws in his recipe.

‘People in San Francisco are eating salty food, as well.’

Min-joon was preparing for food with only one theme. Namely, serving steaks with all kinds of sauces. A jelly sauce made with red grapes and pomegranate, and a puree made with ginger and Paprika. And homemade basil pesto served on top of roasted onions, served with beets sliced ​​thinly then fried.

However, Min-joon’s growth was so fast, so much so that his one day looked like others’ one month. Min-joon was running ahead of others very fast.

When he stopped running and looked back, Min-joon found his colleagues striving to catch up with him. He felt terrible to see them struggling.

‘I don’t want to lose.’

But from the start, Anderson’s defeat was unavoidable. People kept ordering Min-joon’s Special Steak. By the time when the ingredients ran out, the sales of Min-joon’s Special Steak were double his Ordinary Steak.

Anderson lost at least on the surface.

***

WS Kim: Has anybody been to the Rose Island truck in San Francisco today?

└ Mariana Balleza: Me.

└ WS Kim: @Mariana Balleza I ate the special steak, but what did you eat?

└ Mariana Balleza: @WS Kim I ate the original steak, but my friend ate the special, so I tried it a little.

└ WS Kim: @Mariana Balleza Which tasted better?

└ Mariana Balleza: @WS Kim Well, it depends. If you eat steak often, Original is better. But if you eat it just once, Special is better. First of all, the special steak tasted a bit complicated. It’s good to have a lot of sauce in it, but unless you rinse your mouth with water every time you took a bite, your aftertaste is mixed with a new sauce, so it tastes rather weird. I was sure it tasted good, but Europeans might like it better than us.

Aong Napon: I enjoyed the special steak. I thought this was a high-end restaurant dish though. I felt it was a bit hard to know how to enjoy the taste.

Maryam Hanifi: I’ve tried both, but I recommend the original steak. The special steak was very complicated like she said a while ago. If you eat the original steak, you just feel it’s ‘delicious.’ If you have a special steak, you might end up wondering what the heck this new taste is.

Uni Lee: Honestly, the special steak was rather disappointing, given Min-joon’s fame. Of course, he couldn’t make it better on the food truck.

That was how those who tried the Original and the Special Steaks commented on the first day.

It was on that same day that Kaya called Min-joon.

Pretending to be calm, she opened her mouth with subtle concern.

“How about your work on the food truck? Is it fun?”

“You are not working just for fun.”

“If you think cooking is your work, not fun, it looks like you’re having a hard time.”

As always, she smelled a rat. He sighed in an exhausted voice.

“I think I’m feeble-minded. It hurts so much when people criticize me a bit.”

“Despite that, did you tell me not to feel hurt by bad comments?”

“I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”

Maybe that was why the way he spoke thoughtlessly made Anderson upset.

As if she read some concern in his face, she said, “Tut, tut, tut. It looks like you are also worried about other things. What is it?”

“What?”

“Don’t try to hide it. You must be hiding something from me.”

“How do you know? Yeah, you’re right. But I won’t tell you about it.”

“You had a quarrel with Anderson, right?”

Startled, he blankly looked into her face on the smartphone screen. She raised one eyebrow quickly and said with a smile, “Looking at your expression, my guess is right.”

“How did you know?”

“Well, there are several things that depress you. For example, when you are scolded by Rachel or when you have a quarrel with Anderson. You’re not easily depressed when you see people’s bad comments about you, right?”

“Whew… yeah. I’ve nothing to hide. I had a quarrel with him. I don’t need to explain what happened. So, he and I competed today. I sold more steaks than him, but people’s comments about him are much better than mine. I feel very uncomfortable because I haven’t won, nor have I lost.”

“Maybe Anderson said something right. Oh, don’t tell me. Let me guess. Did he take issue with your habitual preaching? I don’t think he quarreled with you about cooking.”

When she said that, he made a complicated expression. I felt even ashamed when he thought that she could find out his thoughtless action so easily.

She asked in a subdued voice, “So, what are you gonna do?”

“Nothing serious. He has his own idea, and I also have my own idea.”

“Well, I don’t want to meddle in your matters because I know you won’t listen to me. I know you guys are quarreling all the time.”

“Somehow, I will work it out with him anyway. By the way, what were you doing?”

“They are shooting Grand Chef Season 4.”

“Season 4?”

“It’s on air. I got here in my capacity as a special jury as the winner of the previous season. Grand Chef House, I feel great here because it’s been a while since I came here last. This place is pretty meaningful to us.”

“Yeah, I sometimes feel like it’s my hometown. I miss it.”

“If you are planning to come to Chicago, stop by then.”

“Let me think about it.”