Chapter 21: Understanding the Broadcast (3)
Chapter 21: Understanding the Broadcast (3)
“...Uh, hm. Those were some rather unconventional words.”
Marco murmured under his breath. His reaction reflected what most of the other participants were thinking. Saying that Kaya was going to win was essentially the same as saying that everyone else was going to be eliminated.
Jo Minjoon sighed. He felt as though he had said something he should not have, and wondered whether there had really been any need to include that particular scene. At the same time, though, he could understand why they had. From the viewers’ perspective, presenting a genius like Kaya in that way made the programme both more entertaining and more intense.
Martin probably had not even considered that what Jo Minjoon had said might upset the other participants watching the broadcast. No, there was a good chance the thought had never even occurred to him.
Either way, there was no point discussing it now that things had already turned out this way. The real problem was the looks being directed at him. Not everyone was staring, but most of those who had previously seemed easy-going were now sending him distinctly unfriendly glances.
A bitter feeling settled in his stomach. Jo Minjoon averted his gaze, trying not to make eye contact with anyone. Yet of all the places he could have looked, his eyes landed on Kaya.
She was glaring at him as though he had personally offended her.
Jo Minjoon felt even more depressed. If he had committed any crime, it had only been praising her, yet even she was looking at him like that...
Still, he was hardly in a position to complain. The first episode ended with Jo Minjoon’s statement. It was an ending designed to highlight Kaya’s extraordinary talent, but inside the hall, all it left behind was an uncomfortable silence.
Am I going to get bullied?
For a foreigner to say something like that so early in the competition, there was no way the others would look favourably upon him. At least Marco, sitting beside him, probably would not hate him, but...
The participants gathered in the hall began getting to their feet and filing out. Jo Minjoon could hear dissatisfied muttering among those leaving. He was in the middle of sighing when someone stopped in front of him.
Jo Minjoon looked up.
The man was handsome, with refined features and blond hair. It was Anderson.
“I’m curious,” Anderson said in a displeased voice. “Are you really skilled enough to judge all of us?”
Jo Minjoon could not think of anything to say and merely stared at him. Anderson leaned closer and whispered into his ear, “I’m asking you nicely. Don’t make anything pathetic. Because if you do, I’m going to get angry.”
With that, Anderson walked away. Marco, unsure what else to do, simply patted Jo Minjoon on the shoulder.
“D-Don’t worry about it. They’ll forget soon enough.”
“I wonder about that. I don’t think I will.”
The person who answered Marco was not Jo Minjoon.
It was Kaya.
She stood there glaring at Jo Minjoon, displeasure written openly across her face.
“What are you?”
“...What do you mean? I’m a participant.”
“No, I’m not talking about that. Why did you suddenly use my name and declare that I’m going to win? Thanks to you, I’m the one getting bad-mouthed.”
Her anger was understandable. Everyone acknowledged Kaya’s ability, but no one had openly proclaimed it. Jo Minjoon’s interview had been the spark that changed that. Kaya Lotus, the terrifyingly talented favourite to win. In a single moment, that image had been firmly established.
Kaya could hardly help being annoyed. She had not made some careless statement herself; someone else’s interview had landed her in this situation. Jo Minjoon usually treated her favourably, but that was one thing and this was another. Facing Kaya’s fierce glare, Jo Minjoon opened his mouth.
“I’m sorry.”
“...Why don’t you just act arrogant and keep a straight face? Then I could curse you as much as I wanted.”
“If you want to curse me, go ahead. I really did put you in a bad position today.”
Kaya stared at him for a long moment before finally letting out a deep sigh.
“Forget it. If I do that, I’ll only end up looking like the bad guy. Now I can’t even get properly angry.”
“...That aside, I might as well say this now. What I said in the interview was true. You’re going to win this season, unless there’s an upset.”
There was absolute certainty in Jo Minjoon’s words. Of course there was. He was not making a prediction. He already knew what would happen.
Jo Minjoon knew the future.
He knew the future in which every participant here was eliminated. He knew that none of the contestants currently gathered on Grand Chef would be able to defeat Kaya.
However—
“And I intend to be that upset.”
Jo Minjoon had not lost to her yet.
His cooking level was not the issue. There was no reason for him to be afraid of Kaya. They had not even faced each other yet.
Because of that, Jo Minjoon believed he could still be the one participant capable of standing against her. He wanted to believe it. He did not want to keep cooking while already assuming he would lose in the battles ahead. He wanted to hold on to the hope of victory and compete while believing in his own cooking.
That was what Jo Minjoon wanted.
No.
That was what he had to do.
“Do whatever you want. Be the upset or don’t.”
Kaya grumbled as she turned and left the hall. Jo Minjoon merely watched her retreating back. Having observed the entire argument, Marco sidled over, poked Jo Minjoon with his index finger, and asked,
“Lovers’ quarrel?”
“...It’s nothing like that.”
(Chat)
TinyJung: Did you see Grand Chef? I feel like I’ve seen that girl Kaya somewhere before.
Abdul N: They say she works at a market. Maybe you saw her there once. Besides, she has the kind of face that makes you think there was probably at least one girl like her in college. Don’t you think?
Cersei Lannister: I don’t like Tirion among the contestants. He has the kind of face that makes me want to pick on him.
George Margin: He looked fine to me.
Eve Rose: Speaking of people I don’t like, there’s also that girl Kaya. The longer I watched her on screen, the more intimidating she seemed.
Devy Jones: @Eve Rose Maybe she’s just wary of her surroundings. Wouldn’t anyone be nervous appearing on television at that age?
Golden Rosemary: I’m not that interested in cooking, so I can’t say much, but in my opinion, that Korean guy did the best. I don’t know why everyone’s only talking about Kaya.
Christine R: Just judging by appearance, Minjoon’s dish looked the best. Kaya’s grilled eel seemed the most difficult, though. I didn’t know a teenager could handle a grill at that level.
Evil Empire: Shout it! Kaya! That Minjoon guy said something good, so I’ll say it too. Anyway, Kaya’s the winner.
Troll Trull: You can’t know that after such a short time... But just this once, I agree. Forget her skills—I want to see Kaya win. I want to become her fan. No, maybe I already am?
Taylor Love: Minjoon’s bream definitely looked appealing. Chloe’s guobaorou looked good too. But the eel... I’m not sure. I’ve never eaten it before, so it doesn’t really appeal to me. The dish I most want to eat is Minjoon’s. And aside from the cooking, he’s sexy.
Jo Minjoon read through the posts appearing on social media. As soon as the broadcast ended, countless comments about Grand Chef had begun flooding in. Sometimes a smile appeared on his face; other times he frowned. After a while, however, his expression went completely blank.
There were simply too many comments for him to react to every single one. Too many for him to be happy or upset over each response. Some contained baseless criticism—no, outright insults. Others showed him an unexpected degree of affection. Sometimes Korean Americans mentioned him, and sometimes people in Korea did.
Erina Choi: Personally, I think saying Kaya was already the winner was going too far. Her dish was excellent, but declaring the result this early wasn’t good. Is he saying he isn’t confident in himself, or that he doesn’t have the courage to try to win?
Helena Vodianova: I agree. Maybe it was just the editing, but he didn’t look confident.
At this point, Jo Minjoon had no choice but to admit it.
What he had said back then had been a mistake.
Was it because he already knew the future? No. Perhaps it had simply been a kind of boasting. Like someone proudly bragging about an impressive father, perhaps he had wanted to brag about Kaya’s eventual victory because he was her fan.
Jo Minjoon was a fan of Chef Kaya.
He wanted to become like her.
Her skill and achievements delighted him.
However, this was no longer a situation where he could simply admire her.
He could not mistake Kaya’s greatness for his own simply because he admired her. He was standing on the same stage as she was now. If he did not want to fall behind, he needed the determination to surpass her.
He could no longer remain a member of the audience, merely watching her talent and her cooking from afar.
He wanted to stand in the same arena as her.
That was what he wanted.
Declaring that Kaya would win had indeed been premature. He had not thought it through properly. Perhaps he had thought about it in his own way, but this was the result.
Only now did Jo Minjoon truly realise that this was neither a school nor the kitchen where the thirty-year-old Jo Minjoon had once worked.
This was Grand Chef.
A television programme.
A place where every word he said could be remembered by countless people.
It was not that his confidence had disappeared. He simply regretted having said something like that. As a participant, he could not casually declare that the winner had already been decided.
That was something only a viewer could say.
And Jo Minjoon was no longer a viewer.
There could be no more surrendering before the fight had even begun.
Jo Minjoon’s gaze sharpened. Then he wrote a post of his own.
Naturally, he used a nickname.
Cooking Man: A chef should speak only through his cooking.