Chapter 195: In Front of the Start Line (2)
Chapter 195: In Front of the Start Line (2)
“Is that even something you need to ask?” Kaya looked at Anderson in disbelief.
Anderson sneered right back. “What? You’re that certain about the answer?”
“Of course. I think—”
“Hold on. Stop right there.” Anderson raised a hand, then looked towards Jo Minjoon, who was standing in front of the pot. “Both of you answer at the same time. Say out loud who you think should share a room with Minjoon. Kaya, since you’re so certain, let’s see whether your precious boyfriend thinks the same way.”
“……You seriously think Minjoon’s going to answer differently?”
“Who knows? People’s thoughts are more likely to differ than match.”
Kaya glared at him, but Anderson merely smirked, his casual tone irritating her even more. “Want to bet on it? You can back out if you’re not confident.”
“I’m completely confident. Bring it on.”
“Fine. What do you want to bet?”
Kaya thought for a moment before answering confidently, “Dishes. No. Dishes, rubbish, and cleaning. All of it. How about that?”
“For how long?”
“As long as we live together.”
It was impossible to tell what made Kaya so confident, but she glared at Anderson with fierce competitiveness. Unfortunately, Jo Minjoon could not even guess what answer she was planning to give. Would she say that the two of them should naturally share a room because they were dating? But at this point, they had not even properly slept in the same bed together.
On the other hand, there was no way she would say it was natural for Minjoon to room with Anderson either. No matter what, he and Kaya were a couple. If you lived with your girlfriend and a friend, would it not be stranger to share a room with the friend instead of your girlfriend?
Jo Minjoon’s mind spun furiously, almost to the point that he felt he had never thought this hard in his life. Coming up with a new recipe would have been easier.
Anderson spoke. “I’ll count to three. Both of you answer at the same time. If you think I should share with Minjoon, say ‘fork’. If you think the two of you should share, say ‘spoon’. Understand?”
“Yes. Count.”
Kaya swallowed nervously. Anderson clenched his fist as well. Truthfully, this came down to luck. Whose side would God take?
After a brief silence, Anderson began. “……Three. Two. One!”
“Spoon!”
“Fork!”
The answers did not match.
Jo Minjoon and Kaya turned towards each other. Kaya stared at him resentfully, as though demanding to know how he could betray her like that. Minjoon had shouted ‘fork’. Kaya had shouted ‘spoon’.
Unable to meet her gaze, Jo Minjoon quietly looked away.
“Unbelievable. What is this…… Minjoon? How does this make any sense? You really like that beanpole that much?”
“No, that’s not…… I just never expected you’d want to share a room with me.”
“Isn’t that obvious? Are we just friends? We’re dating! Isn’t it stranger for us to use separate rooms?”
“Ah, I need to skim the foam off the broth.”
“Are you seriously thinking about that right now?”
Jo Minjoon pretended not to hear and concentrated on removing the foam rising to the surface.
Anderson snickered before turning towards Kaya with a cold smile. “Thank you very much. Dishes, cleaning, and even the rubbish. Amazing. Wonderful.”
“……Are you seriously going to make me do all of it?”
“Then was I supposed to make the bet as a joke? You’re not planning to go back on something you suggested yourself, are you? Well, I suppose that’s up to you. Don’t do it if you don’t want to. I won’t mention how you went back on your word.”
“Don’t accuse me of going back on my word before anything’s even started. I’m good at fighting, you know.”
“Oh, wow. Incredible. Well, if you don’t plan to go back on it, that’s even better. I’ll leave everything to you, Miss Housekeeper.”
Kaya raised her fists, but Anderson casually turned away. “I’m leaving first. I’m too sleepy to stay up any longer.”
“Traitor. You’re really leaving him here alone?”
“I never told him to boil broth all night. He decided to do that himself.”
With that, Anderson left the kitchen.
Kaya pouted, dragged over a chair, and sat down. “That petty bastard. I bet his future wife will be just as petty.”
“Wasn’t he doing us a favour? Giving us some time alone?”
“Ha! If anyone was going to give us alone time, shouldn’t it be me? Our refined and proper Mr. Jo Minjoon would rather share a room with Anderson than his own girlfriend.”
“……Why are you acting like this? You know that’s not what I meant.”
“I don’t know.” Kaya folded her arms over the back of the chair and rested her head on them. Then she began muttering miserably, “Dishes, cleaning, rubbish……”
Jo Minjoon could not bear it and sighed. “I’ll help you. So stop worrying.”
“Don’t help me. I lost. It’s my responsibility.”
“Fine. Whatever you want.”
Jo Minjoon answered without even a moment’s hesitation.
Kaya glared at his back. Without turning around, he spoke again. “Why say that if you’re going to glare at me?”
“Huh? What? How did you know I was glaring?”
“Do you think I don’t know Kaya Lotus?”
“You didn’t know what answer I was going to give.”
“Not knowing everything doesn’t mean I know nothing.”
Jo Minjoon answered so naturally that Kaya could only grumble, “You’re always pointlessly good with words.”
“There are plenty of people who are terrible with words. A chef is already halfway to success if they know how to speak well.”
Kaya quietly watched his back.
He was not doing anything particularly impressive. He was only simmering broth and carefully skimming away the foam. And yet, for some reason, he looked incredibly cool.
Lovely.
And enviable.
After watching him for a while, Kaya slowly spoke. “How successful do you think I am? As a chef.”
“……We call it success, but neither of us is at the stage where we can really look back and call our journey successful yet.”
“You know what I mean.” Kaya paused before continuing, her voice quieter now. “But I feel like I’m being left behind. All of you are working in kitchens while I spend more time standing in the dining room. I show my face to people, take photos with them, and sign autographs. I even get praised for recipes I barely had anything to do with. ……I feel like a fraud.”
Jo Minjoon’s hands stopped.
But he did not turn around.
If he wanted, he could walk over and hug her. He could comfort her. But he did not. He could not.
That would be like walking up to someone with a cold and saying, You’re not really sick.
Even if it hurt, he needed to be the one to give her the injection. And if necessary, he needed to cut away the rotting flesh.
Jo Minjoon spoke. In his mind, he was holding a scalpel.
“Kaya. What exactly frustrates you? That you can’t stand in the kitchen? Or that you have to spend a year living as Grand Chef’s puppet?”
“Both.”
“Why does it frustrate you?”
“I already told you. Right now, I’m neither a chef nor a celebrity. I’m awkwardly stuck between the two. If I’d properly stepped into the entertainment world like Chloe, that would be one thing. But right now, I’m nothing. No…… I’m just not doing anything. I hate it.”
Jo Minjoon quietly lifted the ladle and discarded the foam he had skimmed into the rubbish bin. Then he spoke slowly.
“Kaya. You’re a better chef than you give yourself credit for. You said your recipes aren’t perfect. That’s why other people have to change them. I’m sure your ability as a head chef is lacking too. Of course it is. It would be strange if it wasn’t. So what do you think you should be doing right now?”
“……What do you mean, what should I be doing?”
“What you ultimately want is to cook. Then improve your skills. Fix your recipes. Research them. Work until you’re not merely a head chef in name, but a real head chef. Make that kitchen yours. Even if you don’t manage to succeed…… all the work you put into trying will still produce something worthwhile. Kaya, are you truly doing everything you can right now?”
Kaya did not answer. She could not.
As Minjoon said, she had not clenched her teeth and thrown herself into doing everything she possibly could.
He continued. “You can’t win the championship belt if you never challenge the champion. Kaya, if you want to complain, complain after you’ve challenged them. Cry after the champion beats you down. When that happens, I’ll comfort you properly. But not now. Kaya…… I don’t like tears that come before you’ve even tried to fight.”
“……I didn’t cry.”
“Good. You shouldn’t.”
Kaya rose from the chair and hugged Jo Minjoon from behind. Her arms slipped beneath his and wrapped tightly around his chest.
“You’re so mean,” she whispered. “You’re always so strict with me.”
“Then stop acting like a child.”
“I am still a child. I’m still a teenager.”
“……I suppose I can’t argue with that.”
Jo Minjoon put down the ladle and turned around. Then he kissed Kaya on the lips and smiled.
“Don’t you think I would’ve made a good teacher?”
Kaya laughed. “I think you would’ve eventually quit to become a chef.”
*
Her body felt heavy.
She could not tell whether she was breathing properly, or even whether she could move her fingers. For a moment, she thought she had opened her eyes, but her eyelids were too heavy and immediately fell shut again.
By the time she regained consciousness, the world had returned to darkness.
When she finally escaped that half-sleeping, half-paralysed state, the first thing Kaya saw was a round face.
Ella was staring directly at her.
Kaya rubbed her eyes and stretched. “Yaaaaawn…… Ella. Why are you heah?”
Her half-asleep voice came out slurred and barely coherent.
Ella gave a huff and tossed her hair back. Clutched against her chest was the Chloe doll Chloe had signed for her.
“Because kindergarten already ended!”
“Kindergarten? ……Why did it end so early? It’s still morning.”
“It’s not morning. It’s mourning. No, morning.”
Ella quickly corrected herself after using the wrong word.
But Kaya was in no state to find it cute—or stupid.
She stared blankly as she tried to process what Ella had said, then hurriedly pulled her smartphone out of her pocket. The screen did not light up.
The battery was dead.
Kaya looked at Ella nervously. “Ella. Do you have a phone?”
“What kind of kindergartener has a phone?”
“Then do you have a watch?”
“I don’t know. But it’s already past two.”
Naturally, Ella did not mean two in the morning.
Kaya pressed a hand to her forehead and sighed.
She was late.
So late, in fact, that she no longer even felt the urge to rush. Minjoon’s words about challenging herself and doing her best were still ringing in her head, yet she had already messed up on the very first day.
Kaya slowly pushed herself upright with a weary expression.
Pulling an all-nighter really had been too much. She had only rested her head on the table intending to take a brief nap, so how had she ended up waking on the sofa?
Had Minjoon moved her?
Kaya looked at Ella. “What’s Minjoon doing?”
“Cooking.”
“……Still?”
Concern filled Kaya’s face.
She was exhausted even after taking a short—no, rather long—nap. How tired must Minjoon be?
She did not resent him for failing to wake her. It was her own responsibility to wake up.
The moment she stepped out of the office where she had been sleeping, the sweet aroma of broth hit her nose. Surprisingly, it did not smell greasy at all.
Perhaps that was only natural considering how much effort Minjoon had spent removing the fat and foam.
But knowing that only made her more worried about how exhausted he must be after putting in so much work.
“Ah, hello, Chef Kaya.”
“Yes, hello.”
Kaya returned the prep cooks’ greetings with a stiff expression and headed straight towards the dining hall.
Jo Minjoon was there.
When he saw her, his tired face broke into a smile. “Oh, Kaya. You’re awake?”
“……You didn’t sleep at all?”
“Don’t worry. This much is easy. Ah, I already contacted your agent-nim. I told them you weren’t feeling well and needed to rest.”
“Am I really the sick one? You look like you’re about to collapse.”
Kaya’s voice carried a hint of anger.
Watching them, Rafael leaned towards Janet and whispered, “She’s exactly as the rumours say. Minjoon’s definitely going to end up henpecked.”
“I don’t know. I have a feeling it might be the opposite.”
“The opposite?”
Instead of answering, Janet simply looked back at Kaya and Jo Minjoon.
Rafael followed her gaze.
Jo Minjoon smiled gently and sat Kaya down beside him. “You can be angry later. First, try this. It shouldn’t be too heavy even on an empty stomach. I set the broth, then put boiled beef wrapped in lasagne inside. I seasoned it with nutmeg powder and a little rock salt. Hurry. Try it.”
Seeing his eyes glitter with expectation, Kaya could not keep grumbling.
She opened her mouth and ate the bite he offered.
It really was an interesting flavour.
More precisely, what was most interesting was the texture. It looked like a firm ball, but it felt completely different from jelly. The best way to describe it was water somehow holding its shape.
The broth gently melted in her mouth, while the chewy beef wrapped in lasagne added both texture and savouriness.
But naturally, the strongest presence was the broth.
How could time and effort alone create something like this?
The distinctly Asian flavour blended with the lasagne and beef in a way that drew out the best in every ingredient.
Kaya momentarily forgot her concern for Minjoon and stared in admiration.
“This could probably go on the menu. Of course, it needs a few adjustments…… but it’s really good.”
“It would be difficult to make it a regular menu item. I can’t prepare broth like this every day.”
“……I suppose that’s true. Then why did you make it if you can’t even put it on the menu?”
Jo Minjoon quietly chuckled instead of answering.
Kaya frowned. “Why are you laughing?”
“No, it’s just funny. Yesterday, you were saying I was wasting effort on something pointless. Now you’re disappointed because I can’t serve it on the menu. Isn’t that funny? When you put enough time and effort into something, it becomes impossible not to see the value in it.”
Kaya quietly considered his words.
Perhaps because they had talked so much the night before, his words did not feel light.
And perhaps because of that, her response was heavier than usual.
“I hope our relationship can be like that too. That we can put that much effort into it and let it simmer for a long time.”
Jo Minjoon took Kaya’s hand.
“We’ll simmer it until the marrow runs out and even the bones break down.”