Chapter 127: In the Royal Palace (3)
Chapter 127: In the Royal Palace (3)
“Again……?”
“Yes. Is there a problem?”
“No. That’s not it……”
Jo Minjoon hesitated, then took a bite of the beef rib.
His body trembled, and he let out a soft sigh.
It was so delicious that it sent chills through him.
The flavour of the tom yum spread throughout his mouth, followed by the sweetness of the crab meat and the richness of the beef rib. Nothing seemed lacking or out of place.
Jo Minjoon frowned.
He could not understand what could possibly be missing from a dish this delicious.
“It’s already incredible. Honestly, I’m wondering whether this recipe can even be improved any further.”
“That would be true if we were ordinary people. But we’re chefs.”
Rachel’s voice was firm, as though she were stating a truth that would remain unchanged no matter what anyone said.
“A chef has to surpass their own limits. I think you, of all people, should understand that.”
Jo Minjoon moved his lips as though he wanted to say something, but stopped.
He remembered the risotto he had made before.
Pear risotto.
Its predicted cooking score had been 6. Yet throughout the cooking process, he had watched every change in the ingredients and concentrated on each one.
And what had happened?
Hadn’t an 8-point recipe been born from it?
Because of that, he thought he understood what Rachel meant.
But surely there were limits.
A 9-point recipe already contained everything it needed. It had technique, thought, and dedication in abundance.
How much further could it possibly change?
Of course, perhaps things would be different if Rachel cooked the entire dish herself. She might be able to catch tiny flaws that no one else could perceive.
But could something that small really create an enormous difference?
Could it truly turn a 9-point dish into a 10?
Jeremy approached while carrying a small pot containing some of the avocado soup.
“Why don’t you try this first?”
“Ah, it’s finished already?”
Jo Minjoon brightened and approached.
Jeremy ladled a little soup onto Jo Minjoon’s spoon. Some dripped onto the hand he had placed beneath it, and Jeremy casually licked it off before nodding.
“It’s good. I definitely like clean flavours like this. Though calling avocado completely clean is a bit strange because of its richness…… Still, in the end, that’s the simple character of avocado.”
“Didn’t you say before that you liked food with strong aromas?”
“Flavour and aroma are different things. It’s like tea. The flavour itself may be light, but the aroma can be strong. That doesn’t mean I like tasteless food.”
Jo Minjoon answered Emily calmly.
The avocado soup had a cooking score of 8.
That alone was remarkable.
After all, the people actually cooking it had been Sera and Jeremy, whose cooking levels were only 5 and 6.
In truth, Jo Minjoon felt as though Rachel had been the one cooking rather than them.
Her role did not stop at simply giving orders as the head chef.
She was controlling the entire process.
If she could sense the overall state of the kitchen in real time and adjust everything accordingly, then perhaps it did not matter who was actually holding the pan or knife.
So this is why she became a legend.
Jo Minjoon’s gaze towards Rachel was far from ordinary.
Anderson noticed and nudged him with his elbow.
“Why are you staring like that?”
“No. Teacher Rachel…… I was just thinking she’s incredible.”
“……Since when did you start calling her Teacher?”
“I don’t know. It just happened.”
Anderson’s expression became peculiar.
He liked seeing Rachel admired.
But at the same time, he seemed reluctant to have her taken away from him.
It was almost like an older brother warily watching a younger sibling out of fear that their mother’s affection might be stolen.
Rachel, however, looked anything but relaxed.
She stared at the beef ribs on the plate.
Her expression resembled that of a mother looking at a troublesome child, carrying a strange sense of guilt for having failed to do her job properly.
Daniel. What did I miss this time?
For an instant, it felt as though she might hear his voice.
But there was nothing.
No voice.
No breathing.
And in that moment, Rachel realised for the first time in a very long while that she was standing in a kitchen again.
She remembered the resentment.
The fear.
The emotions that had kept her away for ten years.
Her chest tightened until breathing became difficult.
A scene from that day resurfaced.
California.
Venice Beach in summer.
Sand scorching beneath the sun.
Her disciples sweating inside the kitchen.
And her husband collapsing.
“Rachel? Are you all right?”
When she came back to herself, Emily was watching her with concern.
Rachel stared blankly for a moment, then startled and shook her head.
“Ah, I was just lost in thought for a moment.”
“You don’t look well…… Aren’t you pushing yourself too hard?”
“A chef standing in a kitchen—how could that be pushing myself?”
“Even so, you haven’t done this for ten years.”
“That’s exactly why I can’t stop anymore. I’ve rested more than enough.”
Rachel answered stubbornly, insisting with her expression that she was perfectly fine.
Emily still looked unconvinced.
“Even so, don’t rush yourself. You still have plenty of time.”
“Yes. I know. Plenty of time……”
Rachel stopped.
Her eyes drifted towards the container holding the beef ribs.
Then, suddenly, she smiled brightly.
“Right. Time. That was what I was missing.”
“What?”
“Anderson, Minjoon. I’m sorry. I made a major mistake. After simmering the ribs, don’t coat them immediately. Take them out with the tongs and let them rest for a while.”
“Understood.”
Jo Minjoon immediately removed one of the ribs.
Standing there without doing anything made him feel strangely restless.
There was an urge to move.
To hurry.
To do something.
But Rachel gave him no further instruction.
So he waited.
Most of the moisture on the surface of the rib gradually dripped away.
It did not dry completely.
But once the meat had cooled somewhat, Rachel finally spoke.
“Now coat it and fry it.”
Anderson quickly handed over the mixture he had prepared.
Crab meat and starch went onto the rib, followed by breadcrumbs.
Then it entered the boiling oil.
Will it really change?
Jo Minjoon watched the coating slowly turn golden, caught between doubt and anticipation.
Beside them, Jeremy took another bite from the already finished batch.
“This is already more than good enough. You’re saying it can get even better than this?”
“Wait. You’re about to taste something beyond what you imagined.”
Rachel answered confidently.
Jeremy’s gaze moved between the avocado soup and the fried rib.
Rachel frowned.
“No. Don’t even think about playing around with the food.”
“……Do you even know what I’m planning?”
“Right now, you’re…… Ugh.”
Ignoring her, Jeremy dipped the fried rib into the green avocado soup.
He took a bite with a smug expression.
Almost immediately, he frowned and rubbed his chin as though he had eaten something he should not have.
Rachel sighed.
“Listen when a chef gives you advice.”
“I’ll remember that.”
The combination seemed to have shocked him enough that Jeremy merely nodded sulkily without talking back.
At that moment, the new rib finished frying.
Jo Minjoon lifted it from the oil, drained it carefully, and placed it on a plate.
Then his eyes widened.
Sera, who had been watching nearby, spoke cautiously.
“The colour looks a little different from before.”
“………Yeah.”
The previous fried rib had looked somewhat uneven in colour.
This one was uniformly golden.
Just as before, Rachel arranged the fried potato carvings and pickles around it.
Then she added the vegetables.
The moment she finished plating, a system window appeared.
[Fried Beef Back Rib Simmered in Tom Yum Sauce]
Freshness: 97%
Origins: Too many ingredients to display
Quality: High
Cooking Score: 10/10
[You have participated in making a 10-point dish.]
[Mastery of the skill ‘Head Chef Comprehension’ has increased.]
[Mastery of the skill ‘Assistant Standards’ has increased.]
[Cooking experience has increased.]
System windows appeared one after another.
But Jo Minjoon focused on only one number.
What shocked him was not merely that he had participated in making a 10-point dish for the first time.
It was the fact that such a short period of waiting had created such an enormous difference.
Rachel calmly sliced through the rib.
She put one piece into her mouth.
Her body trembled slightly.
Perfect.
She wanted to show them the difference immediately.
She wanted to know what Jo Minjoon would feel when he tasted it.
But when she looked at his face, Rachel forgot her impatience and smirked.
“Why do you already look so astonished when you haven’t even tasted it? Here. Eat.”
Jo Minjoon could not answer.
He accepted the piece with trembling hands and slowly put it into his mouth.
The first impression was similar to before.
The breadcrumbs brushed against the edge of his lips, then seemed almost to melt before crumbling.
The instant his teeth broke through the crisp coating, the aroma of crab spread gently through his mouth, delicate like the fragrance of tea.
Previously, the tom yum flavour had seemed to explode from the beef rib.
This time, it merely brushed softly against his tongue and the roof of his mouth.
And somehow, that was better.
A faint flavour rather than a blunt one.
It seduced him like a woman dressed in modest elegance.
Jo Minjoon gave a soft laugh.
But as he continued chewing, his expression slowly twisted as though he were about to cry.
His reddened eyes stared at the rib with something caught between love and resentment.
It was not simply because the food was delicious.
Of course, it was.
It was so delicious that it filled him with amazement and emotion.
But what truly made him tremble was the collision of thoughts, feelings, and memories inside him.
He had thought the previous dish had reached the end.
That it was already complete.
Perfect.
And yet here was something beyond it.
He had followed Rachel’s orders, but his own hands had helped make this flawless dish.
Most of all, what overwhelmed him was the power of time.
Such a tiny act.
Waiting.
Just waiting for a moment.
And yet that brief pause had created this much difference.
He found it unbearably beautiful.
The depth hidden inside cooking itself moved him.
And at the same time, it made him angry.
Because it felt so close.
The finished dish had been born partly through his hands.
But it was not his.
And that frustrated him more than he could explain.
No one found his reaction strange.
If anything, considering Jo Minjoon’s absolute sense of taste, they simply regarded it as one of those peculiarities geniuses possessed.
Martin smirked.
Footage like this could produce tremendous emotion depending on how it was edited.
And that level of production was something he was confident in.
Bringing him was definitely the right choice.
Jo Minjoon had still not fully displayed his sense of taste on this programme.
But eventually, there would come a moment when he spread his wings completely.
And Martin had no intention of missing it.
The dishes were completed.
A simple two-course meal.
But the best two dishes they could offer.
They were placed before the King and Queen of Thailand.
As the king ate, he repeatedly let out deep sighs filled with emotion and grief.
At the end of the meal, he spoke in a voice carrying countless feelings.
“It was a meal I had longed for. And now, I think I’ll continue longing for it.”
“It won’t be for long. I’ll bring those memories back. I promise.”
The king took Rachel’s hand and thanked her several times.
The cameramen recorded everything.
Everyone there could feel the strength of the chef named Rachel.
If anything, the fact that she had created food like this through other people’s hands rather than her own made her seem even more extraordinary.
Eventually, it was time to leave the palace.
Inside the car, Jo Minjoon silently watched the night scenery passing outside before speaking.
“Teacher Rachel. Are you asleep?”
“No. Is there something you want to say?”
“I’ve always been uncertain about what kind of goal I should have as a chef. Is making delicious food enough? And by whose standards is something delicious? I keep thinking about things like that.”
“So……?”
“I want to make you my goal. I want to become………a chef who can make even difficult and impossible things look easy.”
Compared with before, his voice had settled into something much quieter.
But ambition and desire stirred clearly beneath it.
Rachel looked at Jo Minjoon and smiled.
When it came to cooking, greed was not necessarily a flaw.
The greater that greed became, the more strength it could give him.
“I’ll support that determination. But there’s something you misunderstand.”
“Misunderstand?”
Rachel answered.
“Cooking is still heavy and difficult for me. Even with experience, even after becoming more skilled……”
The woman who had grown old with the passage of time spoke with the weight of her entire life behind her words.
“It never becomes lighter.”