Chapter 126
Chapter 126
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 126
Chapter Title: Deviations from the Recipe
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“What?!”
Hyun Ye-won jumped in surprise, letting out a loud yelp. Only after drawing puzzled looks from those around her did she seem to realize her mistake, bowing her head and lowering her voice.
“W-what do you mean...?”
“Exactly what I said.”
Jo Yi-ruk seemed to sense it too. But I knew right away after one bite. This tastes different.
“The Chinese pork noodles and the black bean noodles too. It doesn’t taste like they were made with the sauce from our ingredients, does it? Let me try the spicy noodles as well.”
There’s no such thing as a place that only does one dish. I grabbed a fresh pair of chopsticks and stirred the spicy noodles before taking a bite.
Slurp!
I chewed the noodles thoroughly in my mouth, and Hyun Ye-won stared at me with a tense expression.
Gulp.
“...Just as I thought. Jo Team Leader, could you check once more? I used fresh chopsticks.”
“Yes. I’ll give it a try.”
Jo Yi-ruk took a bite of the spicy noodles with fresh utensils and nodded.
“The broth tastes different. And the toppings on top don’t seem as generous as I remember either.”
“Spot on. Jo Team Leader, you’ve eaten it so much during menu development that you’ve become a total expert.”
“I-I’ll try it too!”
Hyun Ye-won hurriedly picked up her chopsticks.
Slurp.
After one bite of the spicy noodles, she tilted her head.
“You can’t really tell, right?”
“...Yeah. I can’t really tell. It just tastes like regular Chinese restaurant black bean noodles and spicy noodles...”
That makes sense.
Since [Shanghai Banjeom] is a relatively new launch, Hyun Ye-won probably hasn’t eaten it that often.
“That’s the problem.”
“Huh?”
“The fact that it tastes like just any ordinary Chinese place.”
“Huh?”
I tapped the rim of the black bean noodle bowl with my fingertip.
“If they’d followed my recipe, it wouldn’t taste like just ‘ordinary’ black bean noodles.”
“...!”
“It would’ve been delicious. But this has no wok hei, barely any meat so the chew is way less than the original recipe. Customer satisfaction’s gonna tank like this.”
As I rattled off the issues, Hyun Ye-won looked at me with a eureka expression.
“The cooking skill itself isn’t bad, so it seems like someone who’s been wielding a wok for a long time. They’re probably just making it with their old recipe out of habit.”
“Ah...”
“Exactly.”
Jo Yi-ruk, who must have looked into the franchisee beforehand, whispered with his voice lowered.
“He’s got a long history working at Chinese restaurants. Quite the veteran, actually. I remember asking a few things during the interview.”
“What did you ask?”
“Since it’s a franchise, there are restrictions on recipes and menus—would that be okay? It might be completely different from your usual methods—could you follow it? Stuff like that.”
Jo Yi-ruk had apparently anticipated this kind of issue early on.
Well, yeah. We had that guy at [Hapjae Neighborhood Gukbap] who used to sell sundae guk before. Says it all.
“And?”
“In the interview, he seemed resolute, so I gave him high marks. He said he’d already expected as much, and with so many Chinese spots these days, going solo wouldn’t be competitive anyway. Better to go with a big company that handles store management and marketing. ...That’s what he said.”
“Hmm.”
Not wrong.
Franchises and independent startups each have their pros and cons.
“That’s him, right?”
I looked toward the person busily cooking something in the kitchen.
A middle-aged man on the older side. Chinese cooking usually involves heavy woks and high heat, so it’s often men with good strength who handle it.
Dressed properly in his chef’s uniform, wearing a hat and mask, sweating buckets...
It was hard to believe that this guy had gone rogue with the recipe.
You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, though.
I tore my gaze from the kitchen and looked back at the table. The problems weren’t just one or two.
“He seems hardworking enough... but the Chinese pork noodles have less meat and more veggies now. Might as well call it Chinese cabbage noodles at this rate.”
I stirred the Chinese pork noodles a bit with my chopsticks—no meat in sight, just a pile of veggies.
This is too much.
“And when we mixed the black bean noodles earlier, all the noodles were stuck together.”
“Oh, right. It was a bit tough to mix.”
“After boiling, you have to rinse them properly to wash off the starch. If you don’t, they stick together like rice cakes.”
I picked up a clump of black bean noodles with my chopsticks. So tight-knit among themselves. Even untouched strands came tumbling up.
“...Yeah.”
“The sign says [Shanghai Banjeom], but it’s basically no different from him running his own independent Chinese joint.”
This won’t do. I clicked my tongue.
The lower ingredient costs are probably because he’s sourcing from other routes too.
Sigh. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg...
Veterans with set ways are hard to retrain. Rookies at least don’t know any better and won’t cut corners.
They think the way they’ve always done it is right just because they’ve touched a wok a bit.
‘Of course, they might be right.’
Depending on taste buds, his version might taste better than my recipe.
But.
‘Then go start your own place.’
As long as that [Shanghai Banjeom] sign is up, he can’t run the business against headquarters’ rules.
It’s not just that franchisee’s loss—it’s the whole brand’s. [The Song]’s loss, and the loss for everyone else who trusted us and signed on for [Shanghai Banjeom].
The brand image builds from the quality of each and every location.
“You’d better brace yourselves for the kitchen inspection later.”
“Gasp. I-is it dirty?”
Hyun Ye-won quickly scanned the bowls. The visible spots are obviously well-kept.
But real habits show in the unseen places.
“A lot of people think the kitchen is their personal space. Like how some keep the outside clean but their room’s a mess? Kitchens are similar.”
Open kitchens are a bit better. But customers don’t pay as much attention as you’d think, and it’s hard to inspect every nook and cranny, so hygiene slips more easily than in the dining area.
“It looks fine on the outside, but who knows what’s inside.”
“...Got it. We’ll brace ourselves.”
Hyun Ye-won clenched her fist and nodded.
She looked like a hamster steeling itself—purely adorable.
‘What the hell is going on behind the scenes here?’
This was a far cry from the Hyun Ye-won I knew.
‘How to put it... wasn’t she like Hyun Jung-hu’s puppet?’
Their blood ties felt too stiff and cold for family. I’d figured it was none of my business as an outsider and ignored it.
-...H-how could you do this?
My bewildered voice was met with mocking sneers.
-Aw, come on, President. Why make a fuss? Didn’t we tell you everything upfront?
-This is the first I’m hearing of it!
-Good grief. It’s right there in black and white on the contract you signed. Can’t pull this now—we’re in a bind too.
Unable to contain my anger, I slammed the desk and shot to my feet. As if he’d been waiting, the man stood up too, muttering ‘this guy won’t listen’.
-Even so, a contract’s a contract. If you’ve got complaints, take it to court. Our director came in person, and you’re being so rude, really...
His glance back revealed a woman sitting there with an icy expression.
Hyun Ye-won, Director.
Daughter of Hyun Jung-hu, cherished granddaughter of founder Hyunmu Jung, who’d snagged a director position young and was training in management.
-...
-Director, what did I tell you? This is why you don’t deal with small businesses. It’s not like we’re swapping snacks at the market. They flip-flop on whims.
-Hey!
-Sigh, no point. Let’s go, Director!
The man tried to drag Hyun Ye-won noisily out of the conference room. I stood there in despair, fists clenched, trembling.
Maybe because I wasn’t ready to accept this nightmare. It all felt so unreal—that’s what I was thinking.
-Sorry.
-?!
As she brushed past me, Hyun Ye-won whispered softly.
I whipped around in shock, but she was already striding away.
I could see the man who’d mocked me now fawning over her with a sycophantic smile.
-...
As I stood there, unsure if I’d imagined it, an anonymous tip email from a burner account landed in my inbox not long after.
-Th-this is...!
It was an email with attachments proving had planned to deceive me from the start.
My faint hope turned to bitter confirmation in that instant.
Up till then, I’d thought I could handle it if I played my cards right.
I believed law and justice still existed in this world. With solid evidence like this, I’d win in court for sure.
Overconfidence.
The outcome? No need to spell it out.
The mysterious email’s documents were deemed insufficient evidence and tossed out entirely. I was powerless against ’s flashy legal team and lost.
‘...But if my guess is right.’
I quietly watched Hyun Ye-won slurping away at her spicy noodles.
‘The one who sent that email was probably Hyun Ye-won.’