Chapter 130: Florence’s Dawn (3)
Chapter 130: Florence’s Dawn (3)
“Carrot. Shallot. Brussels sprouts. And beef flank.”
Jo Minjoon named the flavours without hesitation.
Honestly, identifying ingredients that had been ground down this finely was far more difficult than the dumpling mission he had faced before.
But he could not afford to show weakness.
People already recognised him as a chef with an absolute sense of taste. At least officially, his ability to identify ingredients was considered the best in the world—perhaps even the best in history.
If this is what they want from me………
Then he could play along with this little game.
What had helped him make that decision were the words Anderson had spoken at the airport.
Starbook.
Anderson had said that if the image a chef built up through things like that became part of the experience of eating their food, then there was no reason to reject it.
A chef’s true objective was not to defeat someone else through cooking.
It was to make customers happy.
If he could broaden the ways in which he pleased people, perhaps that too was one of a chef’s virtues.
So even as Jo Minjoon named ingredients that had been ground so finely that common sense said he should not possibly be able to distinguish them, not a trace of hesitation entered his voice.
Each time he correctly named another ingredient, the people around him reacted differently.
Emily looked proud, almost like an older sister watching her younger brother succeed.
Alan merely nodded as though he had expected nothing less.
Rachel watched Jo Minjoon with her usual deeply moved expression, while Anderson looked jealously at Rachel for looking at him that way.
Interest appeared in Jeremy’s eyes.
And Sera was simply astonished.
She crossed out the ingredients written on the piece of paper one by one.
There was not a single mistake.
It was impossible.
Even if he truly possessed an absolute sense of taste, even if the sensitivity of his taste buds was incomparably greater than an ordinary person’s……
Could anyone really identify ingredients after they had been ground down that finely?
“……Impossible.”
That night, Sera muttered while staring at her reflection in the mirror.
Emily, who had been drying her hair some distance away, replied with a slightly smug voice.
“I told you, didn’t I? His tongue. We didn’t edit anything.”
“It’s not that I didn’t believe you…… I just didn’t know it would be that extreme.”
“Honestly, I was surprised too. Compared with the dumpling test from before……this was on a completely different level.”
To tell the truth, Emily had been nervous.
She had wondered whether Jo Minjoon would truly be able to identify every ingredient after they had been ground almost into powder.
Of course, considering everything she had seen from him until now, she had believed he could probably do it.
Even so, she had not been able to suppress that tiny bit of doubt.
But today, that doubt had vanished.
It was as though the absolute nature of Jo Minjoon’s sense of taste had finally been nailed down beyond argument.
The fans who supported his claim of having an absolute sense of taste would now defend him with even greater confidence.
Emily put down the hairdryer and looked towards Sera.
Her unusually dejected expression was actually rather cute, but Emily could not simply leave her alone.
“Are you depressed because you think you’ve become a supporting character?”
“……I don’t know. At first I was just flustered, but after seeing him identify every ingredient with my own eyes today…… I don’t know. Should I say I feel like some nameless musician standing beside Beethoven? Emily, how did you deal with it? That sense of inferiority.”
“By realising it isn’t something you need to feel inferior about.”
“Why?”
“People call Beethoven a genius, but not everyone says he’s the greatest musician who ever lived. And that isn’t because Beethoven was lacking. It’s because in a world like this, trying to name one person as the absolute best is meaningless.”
“Even so……thinking that I might always end up as a supporting character, an extra……is a little depressing.”
At Sera’s uneasy expression, Emily smirked.
She squeezed some lotion onto her hand and dabbed it onto Sera’s nose.
Sera frowned.
“What are you doing?”
“You already have the answer to your own question. Think about music. The people most often called the greatest geniuses are usually classical musicians. But do you listen to classical music?”
“……Not very often.”
“Exactly. Minjoon’s tongue may be sensitive enough for people to call it an absolute sense of taste, and he may genuinely be a genius. But that doesn’t mean whatever his tongue senses becomes the absolute standard for flavour. People have different preferences. You just need to show them your own colour.”
My colour is ‘sexy food critic’.
Sera thought that privately, then rubbed the lotion into her nose and looked calmly at Emily.
Emily smiled mischievously.
“That lotion is expensive. Use it properly.”
“……You really are detestable.”
“Is that what you say to someone who just helped you sort out your feelings?”
“That’s why you’re even more detestable. You suddenly look cool for no reason.”
Sera muttered the words, then started rubbing lotion into the rest of her face as though she had said nothing.
Rachel, who had been watching the two of them, smiled warmly.
“You two really are close.”
“………I once said something similar about Anderson and Kaya. I think I understand how they felt now.”
Emily sounded vaguely uncomfortable as she said it.
Sera looked towards her.
“Come to think of it, that Kaya person seemed incredible too. What is she like?”
“She’s overflowing with talent. When it came to cooking, honestly, she was the best. And I remember her palate being incredibly sensitive too. It was just overshadowed by Minjoon’s. There was even a time when she tasted Alan’s risotto once and reproduced it perfectly……”
“Ah, I saw that too. Isn’t Kaya unexpectedly close to having an absolute sense of taste herself?”
“Two people with something that supposedly never appeared in history suddenly showing up at the same time? Anyway, get ready for tomorrow. We’re going to Alan’s restaurant, so you should rest properly tonight. It’ll probably be quite an intense experience.”
Rachel’s expression became less comfortable as she listened to their conversation.
She remembered something Jo Minjoon had once said to her.
The person who suits you isn’t me. It’s Kaya.
Even if Rachel had become interested in Kaya after hearing that, she had been unable to approach her immediately because of Kaya’s Grand Chef schedule.
If it’s possible……
Rachel stood.
Emily looked at her pulling on an overcoat and asked curiously,
“Where are you going?”
“Ah, I have something to think about.”
After saying that, Rachel headed towards the men’s room.
She rang the bell.
A little while later, Jeremy’s voice came through from inside.
[What are you doing outside a room full of men at this lonely hour of the night?]
“Stop with the greasy nonsense. Is Minjoon asleep? If he isn’t, tell him I’m looking for him.”
[He’s out.]
“Then is he in the lounge?”
[No.]
At the short answer, Rachel frowned.
Jeremy continued in an annoyed voice.
[He left the hotel with Martin’s permission. Said he had someone to meet. What was the name again? You know, that girl. I suddenly can’t remember. The one he spent an entire hour talking to at the airport. Must be nice.]
“Girl?”
Rachel’s eyes widened.
“Kaya Lotus?”
Jo Minjoon had just finished washing and was about to lie down when the call came.
[I’m in Florence too. Can you come out?]
He had almost answered yes immediately.
Then he remembered that he was technically still in the middle of filming.
Of course, it was nighttime and there was nothing left on the schedule except sleeping, so the fact that they were filming did not really matter that much……
Fortunately, Martin was flexible.
After Jo Minjoon explained the situation and asked whether he could step out for a while, Martin gave him a meaningful smile.
“Normally, I’d send a cameraman with you, but since it’s late, I’ll let this one go. A lot of things can happen at night, after all. You’ll come back early, right? I recommend that you do. You remember we have a live broadcast tomorrow, don’t you?”
“………Thank you.”
Martin had clearly been teasing him, but Jo Minjoon decided to accept the permission and ignore the implication.
The place Kaya had called him to was Ponte Vecchio.
(Translator’s Note: Ponte Vecchio — A medieval bridge over the Arno River in Florence, rebuilt in its present form in 1345. It is famous for the shops lining the bridge, historically occupied by butchers and later by goldsmiths and jewellers. During the German withdrawal from Florence in 1944, Ponte Vecchio was the only major bridge in the city not destroyed, although buildings around its approaches were demolished.)
It was one of Florence’s oldest and most famous bridges, a structure that had survived centuries while many others had disappeared.
Jewellery shops lined the bridge, their windows displaying diamond rings and gold ornaments.
Yellow lamplight spilled from the buildings, while pale blue-white moonlight shimmered over the river below.
It was beautiful.
He had crossed the bridge that afternoon, but back then he had been too focused on eating to appreciate the scenery properly.
Besides, Ponte Vecchio at night possessed an atmosphere entirely different from the one it had during the day.
Jo Minjoon looked around.
Most people were walking in pairs.
He spotted one woman leaning against the railing with her arms folded, but she did not seem to be Kaya.
A hoodie beneath a leather jacket.
Black jeans clinging closely to her legs.
It was certainly the kind of outfit Kaya liked……
But it did not look like her.
The hair sticking out from beneath the hood was not black.
It was brown.
“……She’s still not here.”
Jo Minjoon took out his phone and called Kaya.
At that exact moment, a ringtone began sounding from the woman he had just passed.
Jo Minjoon stopped.
Then he slowly turned around.
The woman answered her phone.
“Yeah.”
[Yeah.]
The same voice reached him from both the phone and the woman standing nearby.
Jo Minjoon started walking towards her without saying anything.
When he was about ten steps away, he spoke into the phone.
“Where are you? I can’t see you.”
The woman looked around as though something were wrong.
Then she spotted Jo Minjoon.
Her gaze stopped on him.
A rich smile slowly spread across the woman’s face.
Across Kaya’s face.
Still holding her phone to her ear, she answered,
“I’m at Ponte Vecchio. In the middle, underneath a lamp. There’s a statue next to me, but I don’t know who it is. Leonardo? Dante? Where are you?”
“I’m at Ponte Vecchio too. Did you dress warmly? It’s a little cold at night.”
“As you can see…… No, I did. A hoodie and jacket are enough.”
“You came alone?”
“How important do you think I am? You expect me to walk around with bodyguards?”
Kaya smirked.
Jo Minjoon looked at her.
“But how long are we planning to keep doing this?”
“I don’t know. Should I give you a signal?”
“How?”
“The magic on Cinderella disappears when the clock strikes twelve. So we need a bell too. I’ll ring one for you.”
Kaya brought the phone closer to her face.
Then she slowly pressed her lips against the part containing the microphone.
Through the phone against Jo Minjoon’s ear, he could hear her breathing.
Slowly.
Close.
Then it felt almost as though Kaya’s lips had touched him directly.
Smooch.
The sound itself lasted only a moment.
The silence afterwards lasted much longer.
Yet somehow, the echo remained in his ear.
Like the lingering sound of a bell.
Kaya smiled brightly.
“The magic’s gone now, right?”