Chapter 123: The Envelope That Embraces the Street Stall (2)
Chapter 123: The Envelope That Embraces the Street Stall (2)
Thailand and Japan were among Asia’s most famous culinary powerhouses. Chinese cuisine certainly had strengths of its own, but because so many Chinese people lived overseas, the cuisine had often adapted to local cultures. By comparison, Japanese and Thai cuisine tended to retain their distinctive character more easily.
That was why, in the United States or Europe, eating Thai food was sometimes regarded as a sophisticated culinary preference.
Pattaya.
That was where they had arrived.
Along with Bangkok, it was one of Thailand’s best-known resort cities. Everyone was already filled with anticipation. Just imagining the emerald-coloured sea they would soon see and the colourful street stalls lining the roads was enough to put smiles on their faces.
However, once they finished the immigration procedures and were about to leave the airport, their excitement quickly cooled.
Martin faced them with an unreadable expression. “I have a mission for you.”
“………A mission?”
“Ah, there’s no need to be so wary. You just have to focus on your tasting journey as usual. You’ve come all the way to Thailand, and just like Teacher Rachel said before, you need to eat properly. Today, especially, we’ll even give you an unlimited food budget.”
The fact that he was being so generous only made them more suspicious. Emily narrowed her eyes.
“And?”
“Yes. There’s a reason I’m being this considerate. Complete a mission.”
“………What kind of mission?”
“There’s no need to take it too seriously. It isn’t difficult. Every time you eat a dish somewhere, you’ll receive one point. And for every point you earn, we’ll give you one clue.”
“A clue to what?”
“The location of the next participants.”
Jo Minjoon let out an “Ah.” Right. Martin had already said this before. Anderson and Rachel would not be the last additions.
Martin continued calmly, “Two participants are waiting for you. And from now on, you’ll be divided into two teams.”
“We each find one?”
“Yes. If you’re lucky and quick-witted, you might eat only one dish, get an important clue, and complete the mission immediately. And there’s one more thing you should know.” Martin deliberately paused. When all four of them began looking impatient, he finally continued. “The team that finds their participant first will spend the night in the most expensive penthouse in Pattaya. The team that comes second will get an ordinary hotel room.”
Emily’s eyes immediately lit up. One might wonder what such a prize meant to the daughter of an extremely wealthy family, but precisely because she was wealthy, she understood its value even better.
“How are we dividing the teams?”
“I’d like to say you can choose freely……but unfortunately, the two participants appearing today are connected to you. Emily, Rachel. You two can’t be on the same team.”
“……That’s confusing. Do both of us know the people we’re looking for?”
“No. One is Emily’s acquaintance, and one is yours. So you’ll each be looking for someone you know.”
Rachel did not answer immediately.
The word acquaintance made her uneasy. She had barely met anyone for ten years after her husband died. No matter who appeared, it was difficult to imagine the reunion being entirely pleasant.
She remembered what Douglas had said to her the previous day.
Are you planning to raise that boy instead of Daniel?
What had she answered?
While Rachel was lost in thought, she sensed someone looking at her and turned slightly. Anderson was trying not to make it obvious, but he kept glancing at her.
Rachel smiled bitterly to herself. She had only cooked for him a few times and treated him kindly when he was a child, yet Anderson seemed to have engraved that kindness far too deeply into his heart.
Not that she disliked his attitude. Who could hate someone who admired and adored them?
If anything, she felt a little guilty. Compared with how much Anderson thought of her, she was paying far more attention to Jo Minjoon.
“I’ll go with Anderson.”
At Rachel’s words, Anderson stared blankly for a moment as though genuinely surprised, then smiled brightly.
Martin smirked at his expression before turning to Emily. “It seems they’ve decided. Any objections?”
“………Whatever I say, it doesn’t look like he’d come with me anyway. I’m happy going with Minjoon, but I wonder if he feels the same.”
Emily looked towards Jo Minjoon. He adjusted the bag on his shoulder.
“What should we eat first?”
Four things stood out most as they walked through the streets of Pattaya.
The first was the king’s face.
Television screens, posters, banknotes, even taxis.
It appeared so frequently that Jo Minjoon felt he could probably remember the face for the rest of his life after spending only a single day in Thailand.
A member of staff warned them carefully that under no circumstances should they point a finger at an image of the king. The Thai monarchy was treated with extraordinary reverence, and behaviour considered disrespectful could lead to serious trouble.
The second thing they noticed most was, amusingly enough, Korean popular culture.
Jo Minjoon had heard the term Hallyu countless times, but he had never really experienced it himself.
(Translator’s Note: Hallyu — The international spread of South Korean popular culture, including television, film, music, fashion, and beauty culture. The term began appearing in Chinese-language media in the late 1990s and became increasingly widespread during the 2000s)
Hearing K-pop playing in stations and shops gave him a strange feeling.
Pride mixed with embarrassment.
It felt almost like being a child standing onstage during a school performance. Of course, no one there was actually paying attention to him.
The remaining two things that caught his eye were plastic bags and street stalls.
Thailand’s street-food culture was so deeply embedded in everyday life that takeaway food packed quickly into clear plastic bags was everywhere. Seeing all those transparent bags hanging around the stalls gave Jo Minjoon a strangely fascinating feeling.
Night was approaching. The streets were stained by the colours of sunset, and countless shapes could be seen through the clear plastic……
Of course, not everyone took their food away.
The stall where Jo Minjoon and Emily were sitting was one such place.
A pale yellow sheet of dough sizzled in coconut oil on a steel griddle. Banana, strawberry jam, and condensed milk were spread over it.
The banana was sliced into half-moons and placed over the roti.
Jo Minjoon and Emily shared it amicably. They needed to eat many dishes quickly to earn points, but they also wanted to try as much as possible, so sharing a single portion between them was the best compromise.
The cooking score was 5.
But looking at the ingredients, there was no way it could taste bad.
The soft, slightly sticky dough carried a faint aroma of coconut. When the banana and condensed milk met the strawberry jam, Jo Minjoon laughed without realising it.
Emily widened her eyes. “Why are you laughing?”
“Haha…… It’s so sweet and delicious that I feel like I’ve committed a sin.”
Honestly, it was not a particularly good dish. At least, not by Jo Minjoon’s standards.
But in terms of sheer stimulation, it was undeniably powerful.
That too was part of food’s charm.
“There are much better things than this. Come on.” Emily led Jo Minjoon away.
The sun was sinking beyond the sea, and stall owners were beginning to turn on small lamps for the evening.
Between the tightly packed stalls, tourists and locals sat on seats so small they barely had room to settle themselves.
Why was it?
The sight was busy and cramped, yet it gave him a strangely calm and warm feeling.
“This is nice.”
“It’s probably one of the most romantic places in Asia.”
Jo Minjoon nodded at Emily’s words.
Then a loud voice rang out from one of the nearby stalls.
A bulky young man wearing a white sleeveless shirt and shorts was frowning at a half-eaten plate of grilled chicken. His English carried a rough accent.c“Hey, owner. What’s wrong with this chicken? It’s way too tough. Are you using meat past its expiry date?”
“Uh…… I, no speak English well.”
“Only English? You can’t cook either. Look, there are burnt parts here. Selling something like this, do you have no conscience?”
The stall owner was small and elderly. He could only move his lips awkwardly, unable to answer.
People nearby frowned, but no one interfered. Tourist or local, few people wanted to involve themselves in trouble like this.
Especially when the person causing the trouble was muscular enough to seem intimidating.
Honestly, no one wanted to provoke him.
Jo Minjoon silently watched the young man. His eyes were fiercer than usual.
There were people who enjoyed building things.
And there were people who enjoyed destroying what others had built, saying whatever they wanted as they did so.
Jo Minjoon had never tolerated people like that.
“Minjoon. Leave it.” Emily spoke quietly.
He did not answer.
He was leaving it. That was why he was still standing where he was. But Jo Minjoon had more reason than anyone else there to become angry. Not because he was a chef.
Because he could see the chicken’s cooking information.
[Thai Grilled Chicken Breast]
Freshness: 96%
Origins: Too many ingredients to display
Quality: High
Cooking Score: 6
For an inexpensive street dish, the cooking score was perfectly respectable. The freshness and quality were good as well.
At the very least, this was not a stall that treated food carelessly.
That was why Jo Minjoon could not accept the man’s baseless accusations.
Then the young man overturned the plate.
The chicken fell onto the ground.
Jo Minjoon finally stood.
Emily hurriedly reached for him, but he had already stepped too far away for her to grab him.
Jo Minjoon walked over and picked up the piece of chicken that had fallen in front of the red-faced man.
The young man stared at him in confusion.
He was not the only one.
Emily, the stall owner, the production staff, and the tourists who had been watching all looked towards Jo Minjoon.
Some were already raising their phones and pressing record.
Under all those gazes, Jo Minjoon bit into the chicken covered with dirt and sand.
There had once been a time when he picked up a piece of norimaki thrown by an obnoxious customer.
But this was different.
This food had not merely been thrown.
It had fallen onto the ground and become coated in grit.
Even so, Jo Minjoon did not hesitate.
Only after eating the chicken himself could he properly say anything to this man.
Some people exclaimed in disgust. Others murmured in amazement.
Sand crunched between his teeth and disappeared.
Jo Minjoon calmly chewed the meat and grit together while staring at the man.
The man flinched briefly. Then, seeing that Jo Minjoon was not particularly large, he puffed out his chest as though recovering his nerve.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“It’s delicious. The meat isn’t tough. It’s chewy. It isn’t overcooked either. The dark parts on the outside were deliberately seared. It isn’t burnt.”
“What……?”
“I’m saying your judgement was wrong. And so were the accusations you threw at him.”
Jo Minjoon’s voice remained calm, but there was cold anger in his eyes. Unless the man was blind, he could see it.
He laughed incredulously. “So what? You want me to apologise?”
“If you did something wrong, you should. That’s what my parents taught me. Apparently yours didn’t.”
“……Where the hell does that confidence come from? Are you only going to come to your senses after I beat you?”
The man spoke aggressively, but then glanced towards the cameramen and production staff standing some distance away.
He finally seemed to realise that some kind of programme was being filmed.
He had no idea what programme it was, but he could not ignore the cameras. With so many lenses pointed in his direction, throwing a punch without provocation would likely end very badly for him.
Still, pride kept him from backing down.
After a moment’s hesitation, the man grabbed Jo Minjoon by the collar.
Jo Minjoon did not shrink back in the slightest. He lowered his eyes in contempt and stared at him.
“Shame? The real shame would be keeping my mouth shut and saying nothing to you. If I say nothing now, then when some bastard like you comes after me someday, who’s going to speak up for me?”
“Watch your mouth while I’m still holding myself back.”
“Then why didn’t you hold yourself back before? You took your anger out on perfectly good food. Maybe you can control yourself now, maybe you can’t, but that man couldn’t say anything to you. Why do you think that is? Because he has no confidence in his food? Because he actually served something rotten? No. The meat was fine. It was cooked properly too. But he couldn’t argue with you because you’re his customer. A cook can’t simply lose his temper at a customer. But are you really a customer?” Jo Minjoon’s gaze sharpened.
The man fell silent.
Normally, someone facing a body like his would at least soften their words.
Jo Minjoon did not.
He charged straight at him verbally as though the person being insulted were his own family.
Only then did the man realise that the atmosphere had turned against him.
Being large and muscular did not mean he controlled the situation. The real strength in that moment belonged to the Asian young man standing in front of him. It came from the silent support of the people around them. From the cameras pointed at them.
“Isn’t that Jo Minjoon?”
“Ah, the guy from Grand Chef?”
The murmurs of several tourists became the decisive blow.
The man did not know exactly what programme Grand Chef was, but it was obvious Jo Minjoon was at least somewhat famous.
There was nothing to gain by continuing this confrontation.
In the end, he released Jo Minjoon’s collar. He had no other choice.
Jo Minjoon calmly straightened his wrinkled shirt with both hands and spoke. “I’ll give you a choice.”
“A choice?”
“Apologise to him. Or……”
Jo Minjoon lifted one finger. The long finger pointed towards the man’s tightly clenched fist, hard as a cannonball.
His voice turned cold. “Hit me. However you want.”