Chapter 122: The Envelope That Embraces the Street Stall (1)
Chapter 122: The Envelope That Embraces the Street Stall (1)
A languid sigh escaped into the room.
Kaya lay against a pillow almost as large as her upper body. She felt dizzy. Her calves and hands were numb, and she had a slight fever.
But the physical discomfort was secondary.
The mental exhaustion was far worse.
Whenever she closed her eyes, she remembered what had happened in New York before she came to Brisbane.
When she returned to her old home, which she had not yet managed to clear out because of her hectic schedule, a familiar and decidedly unwelcome face had come looking for her.
Tess Gilly.
The person who had written malicious things about her online.
At first, Kaya’s family tried to stop Tess from seeing her, but Kaya did not avoid her.
She did not want to.
Their conversation, surprisingly, had been calmer than expected.
Inside a room so cramped that merely sitting there felt suffocating, Tess looked around with disgust in her eyes. Then she sneered and gave Kaya a guarded smile.
“Now you’ll finally get out of this filthy house too. You succeeded, Kaya Lotus. I acknowledge you.”
“I don’t particularly need your acknowledgement.”
“Don’t act so tough. We were friends once, weren’t we?”
“Right. Past tense, just like you said.”
“There’s one thing that’s still in the present tense.”
Tess lifted the golden hair covering the right half of her face.
Beneath it was a scar that looked as though it had been cut by a knife, running all the way down towards her chin.
Tess drew in a harsh breath and spat out the words. “There’ll never be a day when this scar becomes past tense.”
“What are you trying to say? No. What do you want from me?”
There was neither sympathy nor pity in Kaya’s voice.
Tess had a scar on her face. But Kaya had one on her soul that would remain for the rest of her life.
Kaya spoke coldly. “Are you still going to claim I gave you that scar?”
“You pushed me. I fell and scraped my chin against an edge. Did I say anything wrong?”
“You didn’t say anything wrong. You just left something out. You should tell what happened before that too. How a bitch who pretended to be my friend tried to lynch me.”
“………You were the one who made things turn out that way.” Tess stared at her resentfully, speaking as though she were the victim.
Contempt entered Kaya’s voice. “Sex offenders always say the same thing. That the victim seduced them. That they didn’t do anything wrong. You sound just like them.”
Tess’s expression twisted. “Still, you were my only friend. Everyone else felt fake. You had something real about you. You knew how to think. You know, Kaya……that’s why I hate you even more. You made me lose her. My friend.”
Her eyes trembled dangerously.
Only then did Kaya notice that Tess’s hands were shaking like those of someone suffering from Parkinson’s disease.
Perhaps realising she had been noticed, Tess hurriedly pulled her arm back and stood.
“I don’t want to see you doing well. And I don’t want people thinking you’re some nice, understandable person either. But I’m not going to post comments like that anymore. I’m sick of hearing my own name coming out of strangers’ mouths. And……” Tess smiled beneath Kaya’s fierce stare. “I know you. No matter how things turn out for you, you’ll destroy everything with your own hands eventually. I’ll wait and see what happens to you. Ah, and one more thing. I’ll give you some good news. You remember Jessica Prada, right? The woman who came looking for you before. She told me something.”
Tess leaned close and whispered into Kaya’s ear.
At that moment, Kaya froze.
She could not move.
Tess smiled like a victor and left, yet Kaya could not even summon the energy to curse after her.
She was still angry about it now.
Lying on the bed, she had felt a little better after hearing Jo Minjoon’s voice, but……
Because she had not told him everything buried deep inside her, one corner of her heart remained heavy.
But she could not tell him.
She did not want to.
She was an adult too.
Not a child.
She felt too guilty about always relying on him.
Kaya rolled over and hugged the pillow.
“………Right. It would be strange if Kaya Lotus’s life suddenly started going smoothly.”
Tess’s final words still echoed in her ears.
Congratulations. Your father is looking for you.
Time passed so quickly that Jo Minjoon found himself wondering whether a day had always been this short.
The following night, he boarded another plane while holding his bloated stomach.
Of course, they were not already going home.
They were simply moving on to their next destination.
Everyone had been surprised because none of them had expected to leave Brazil after only two days, but Martin had casually explained that Brazil had only been an appetiser.
Jo Minjoon had tried calling Kaya the previous day, but the ringing had simply gone on and on.
She was undoubtedly busy. She had to attend events being held in various parts of the world.
“Minjoon, where have you travelled before now?”
“Nowhere besides the United States. Ah, I suppose I have to add Brazil now.”
“So the place we’re going next will be your first time too?”
“Yes.”
“It should be fun. They say it’s the country with the most developed street-food culture.”
Instead of answering, Jo Minjoon swallowed.
He thought of Korean pojangmacha.
(Translator’s Note: Pojangmacha — A Korean street-food stall or tented drinking establishment selling inexpensive dishes and alcohol. The modern form became especially widespread during South Korea’s rapid urbanisation in the decades following the Korean War.)
Honestly, most street-stall owners were not extraordinary cooks. Yet strangely enough, he could hardly remember ever being disappointed by the food he ate at one.
Was it simply because his expectations were lower?
Viewed another way, street stalls certainly possessed some of the most fundamental strengths of cooking.
The people who visited them were usually busy and hungry. People like that could find almost anything delicious at the right moment. And because stalls could provide a satisfying meal quickly and conveniently, there were few choices more dependable.
He thought about the restaurant Rachel had taken them to that morning.
He thought about the feijoada whose flavour had fallen short.
Even if Jo Minjoon created an extraordinary dish—suppose he produced a perfect 10-point dish and served it to those customers……
A few days later, they might still turn around and say,
“Douglas, give me some feijoada.”
He still could not agree that a dish being less delicious did not matter.
But that meal had taught him how many things food could contain besides flavour.
A sense of comfort that high-end restaurants could never possess.
He would be lying if he said he did not envy it.
Could there be a restaurant that has all of those things?
In truth, he already believed there was not.
At least, according to Jo Minjoon’s common sense.
When Kaya had said she wanted to serve good-quality food cheaply, had he not immediately thought the idea was unrealistic?
Without realising it, Jo Minjoon turned towards Rachel in the seat behind him.
For some reason, he felt that if anyone had the answer, it might be her.
But he did not ask.
Perhaps she was tired, because her eyes were closed as though she intended to sleep.
Anderson, sitting beside her, raised an eyebrow as if asking what Jo Minjoon wanted.
Jo Minjoon shook his head and faced forward again.
“It looks like you wanted to ask her something?”
“I was just thinking. Whether I could ever run a restaurant that had all the good things customers look for.”
“That’s a nice thought. I’d answer for you if I could, but the only thing I know how to do is eat.”
“Emily, don’t you have anything like that? Your idea of a perfect restaurant that could only exist in a dream?”
At Jo Minjoon’s question, Emily hummed thoughtfully and closed her eyes.
A surprisingly long time passed before she answered.
Not because she had become lost in thought.
The plane had started accelerating along the runway.
Then it lifted into the air.
At the sensation, Jo Minjoon smiled.
Perhaps it made him seem childish, but every time a plane took off, he felt inexplicably amazed and could never keep himself from smiling.
Emily was the exact opposite.
She gripped the armrests tightly with a frightened expression, only releasing a breath when the aircraft finally stabilised.
“I’m really scared of this. This is why I don’t ride things like rollercoasters. But I can’t exactly refuse to get on a plane……… What were we talking about again?”
“Your dream restaurant.”
“Mm…… A restaurant serving dishes from every country in the world. Although honestly, you couldn’t eat everything in one visit, so maybe that would be pointless.”
“You never know. If you went often enough, it might mean something. But does it really have to be in one place?”
“If it were near your house, that would change things. Imagine having a place nearby that serves everything you ever want to eat, and every dish is perfect. Wouldn’t you want to run a restaurant like that?”
Jo Minjoon thought about it.
If it could actually be done, it was not a bad idea.
But……
“It would be difficult. No, impossible. Even if I mastered every cuisine in the world……keeping that many different ingredients constantly supplied at peak freshness would be impossible for anyone.”
“Seriously, how can someone your age be so obsessed with reality when you should still be full of dreams? You’re boring.”
Jo Minjoon smirked at Emily’s complaint.
His actual age was certainly old enough to focus more on reality than dreams, but even so, he did not dislike hearing that.
Emily asked gently, “You still want to become a chef, right?”
“That’s as certain as the fact that your hair is blonde.”
“Uh, I dyed it.”
Jo Minjoon stared blankly at her for a moment, completely at a loss for words.
Emily burst into a cheerful smile. “I’m joking. Don’t look at me like that.”
“……For a moment, I genuinely had no idea what I was supposed to say.”
“Anyway, I’m glad your dream hasn’t wavered. For a while, I worried that maybe I was pointlessly tempting someone who was already walking perfectly well along his own path.”
After saying that, Emily covered her mouth and yawned.
Jo Minjoon asked, “Are you sleepy?”
“I am, but……when I think about what we’ll get to eat once we arrive, I get restless. Aren’t you the same?”
“Restless……” Jo Minjoon placed a hand over his chest for a moment. Then he nodded. “I think I am. Actually, if I had to choose between flavour, texture, and aroma, I value aroma the most. It’s the element that shows the colour of food most clearly. Honestly, aroma is probably the most universal part of food.”
“Considering you have an absolute sense of taste, that’s an unexpected answer.”
“……Setting that aside, I’m also worried about the language. At least in Brazil, there were some people who could speak a little English, even if it wasn’t fluent.”
“What’s there to worry about? We have body language.”
Emily twisted her hands around and pulled an exaggerated expression.
Time passed.
Twenty hours of travelling.
One transfer.
Three in-flight meals.
One snack.
Five drinks.
And a deep sleep.
When all of that had passed, the country they had been anticipating finally appeared beneath their feet.
A country of freedom.
A country of flavour.
A country of fun.
Thailand.