Chapter 37: Absolute Sense of Taste (2)
Chapter 37: Absolute Sense of Taste (2)
No one said a word. They simply could not. Even accepting what they had just witnessed was difficult.
More precisely, there were two exceptions. One was Kaya, who stood with her arms crossed, looking down at Jo Minjoon. The other was someone unexpected: Martin.
He could hardly react any differently. No one had expected Jo Minjoon to possess an ability like that, and Martin was no exception. Could this even be explained as merely having a good sense of taste? He had seen everything happen with his own eyes, yet he still found it difficult to believe.
This… is incredible. Absolutely incredible.
This was the greatest scene of the season. No, it might even be the greatest scene in the history of the programme. Nothing could make a producer happier and more flustered at the same time than an ability like this. Even now, Martin’s heart was pounding so hard that he could almost hear it. He could hardly wait to see how the contestants reacted. Some viewers might even accuse the programme of fabricating the scene. That controversy would become an issue, and the issue would roll back towards them like a giant snowball in the form of higher ratings.
A grin spread across Martin’s face so widely that it almost looked as though his mouth might split.
He had never imagined Jo Minjoon would turn out to be such a treasure trove. His handsome face and proper attitude were enough to attract fans, but this was ultimately a cooking programme. Compared with the dishes made by some of the other contestants, Jo Minjoon’s cooking had never seemed particularly special. Until now, Martin had thought his greatest assets were his appearance, which appealed to viewers, and his connection with Kaya.
“I had a jewel buried in the ground…” Martin muttered with a sigh. He could not suppress his regret at only discovering Jo Minjoon’s ability now.
At that moment, the youngest producer beside him leaned over and whispered into his ear.
“Sir, could the contents have been leaked?”
“Don’t talk nonsense. The judges filled the pockets themselves. If Minjoon wanted to know the answers beforehand, he would’ve had to bribe the judges. Do you think they’d sell themselves out for a kid like him?”
“…But still. He got every single one right. Is that even possible?”
“Reality is always stranger than fiction. Keep watching. You don’t get scenes like this often.”
“Minjoon, do you have an absolute sense of taste…?”
“…Something similar.” That was how Jo Minjoon answered, because he did not actually possess such an ability. But he could hardly reveal the existence of the system instead.
Truthfully, if he had wanted to avoid drawing this much attention, he could have done so. He could simply have deliberately named a few ingredients incorrectly. But he no longer wanted to.
He had thought of the system as cheating before, but he intended to stop thinking that way. The danger of elimination had shaken him. This was a place where a single moment of weakness could send him home. It was that kind of battlefield.
Jo Minjoon needed to show every ability available to him, even if it was not truly an ability he possessed in the conventional sense. He was no longer in a position where he could afford to relax.
Part of the reason he had named all twenty ingredients correctly was to make a promise to himself. He wanted to show everything he had. He wanted the judges and everyone else to see all of his abilities.
“Can I go now?”
Jo Minjoon pointed towards the area where the elimination candidates had been standing—or more precisely, towards the contestants whose survival was already assured.
Alan flinched and glanced back at Joseph. Joseph was just as stunned by Jo Minjoon’s sense of taste, but after a brief pause, he spoke.
“…I’ll announce the contestants who have been eliminated. Selena, Dan, Jordan. Unfortunately, your journey on Grand Chef ends here.”
Selena began to cry. The judges and the contestants who had survived looked at her with sorrowful expressions. The three eliminated contestants eventually left the studio, and silence settled over the room once more.
Jo Minjoon could not tell whether that silence was because of the three people who had just left or because of him.
He looked upstairs.
Everyone was staring at him.
Rather than feeling burdensome, it felt strange. Had he ever received this much attention before? Actually, yes. There had been one other time: when he had declared that Kaya would win.
But the looks directed at him then and now were completely different.
Envy? Jealousy?
There was no single word that could describe those gazes. They were unlike anything Jo Minjoon had ever experienced before.
He lowered his head.
After everyone had stared at him for some time, Joseph was the one who finally spoke.
“You possess an ability none of us could have imagined. I’m impressed.”
“Thank you.”
Jo Minjoon replied calmly, but Joseph could not remain nearly as composed. The more sensitive a chef was to flavour, the better the food they could potentially create. A deep understanding of flavour meant being able to create dishes of equal depth.
Joseph opened his mouth, but the words he intended to say remained there. They were too weighty to throw out casually. He could not allow himself to be carried away by the moment and say whatever came to mind.
In the end, he forced himself to calm down.
“I’d like the contestants upstairs to come back down.”
The contestants on the second floor talked among themselves as they descended. The moment Jo Minjoon turned his head, he saw Kaya staring at him.
Just as Kaya opened her mouth, Chloe’s face suddenly appeared in front of him.
“Congratulations. I never thought I’d get to see someone identify ingredients in such an amazing way.”
Earlier, she had seemed too stunned to react, but apparently, she had memorised everything that happened.
Chloe smiled. “Do you really have an absolute sense of taste? I’m seriously curious.”
“Ahem.” Alan cleared his throat.
Only then did Chloe realise that the judging had not yet ended. Her face reddened, and she immediately closed her mouth.
Jo Minjoon glanced briefly towards Kaya. By then, her gaze had already shifted towards the judges.
“Congratulations. The eighteen of you standing here will participate in the next mission.”
At those words, everyone burst into cheers. Three people who had been among them only moments earlier had just been eliminated, but something worth celebrating was still worth celebrating. Those who had been particularly close to the eliminated contestants merely clapped instead.
Emily smiled.
“You’re free until the next mission. I hope you take the opportunity to rest comfortably.”
“But don’t relax too much,” Alan added in his usual cold voice. “Never forget that you’ve gathered in a place where countless amateur chefs have come to pursue their dreams. This is a place that demands both pride and responsibility from you.”
Alan looked across the contestants, then his gaze settled on Jo Minjoon and he laughed.
“But it looks like all of you will have plenty to talk about today. Go on, then. Tear your prey apart to your hearts’ content.”
With that, Alan turned away.
Almost every contestant immediately turned their head towards Jo Minjoon.
Thanks to Alan’s less-than-considerate consideration, Jo Minjoon soon found himself back in the interview room.
He had already been interviewed before the elimination mission, but the atmosphere was completely different this time. One look at Martin’s sparkling eyes was enough for Jo Minjoon to understand, for the first time in his life, what people meant by eyes that truly sparkled.
He also discovered that it was an extremely burdensome expression to have directed at him.
“Martin, how long are you planning to stare at me like that?” Jo Minjoon asked, his voice trembling slightly.
“Don’t you know that feeling? You pick up a random stone without thinking much of it, only to discover that it’s actually a precious jewel worth tens of thousands of dollars. That’s how I feel right now.”
“…Am I supposed to be happy about that? In the end, you’re saying you used to think I was just an ordinary rock.”
“But it also means I think of you as a jewel now.” Martin grinned so widely that all of his teeth showed.
Jo Minjoon could say with certainty that, in all the time he had known Martin, he had never seen the man this happy. Still, he could understand why. For a producer, there was nothing more valuable than an exceptional scene, and what Jo Minjoon had done during the elimination mission was exactly that.
“So, are we doing the interview or not?”
“Let’s start with the basics. How are you feeling right now?”
“To be honest, I don’t feel bad. I survived. It’s not exactly a situation where I should be sad.”
“What did you think when you heard it was going to be a tasting challenge?”
“I survived.” Jo Minjoon answered without hesitation.
Martin nodded as though he understood.
“So you were confident in your sense of taste.”
“Something like that.” Jo Minjoon answered bluntly.
He felt as though someone were praising him for cheating on an exam and receiving a perfect score. But he was gradually becoming more shameless about it. Whether he arrived at the answer through his actual sense of taste or through the system, the result was still an ability that belonged to him.
“Why didn’t you tell us about this before? If we’d known you had an absolute sense of taste…”
“Because tasting and cooking are different things. There was no particular reason to mention it. Of course, there wasn’t any reason to hide it either, which is why I showed it when I needed to.”
“Is that scoring system you mentioned before connected to your sense of taste?”
Jo Minjoon flinched at the question.
He did not immediately know how to answer. But since both abilities came from the same system, it seemed safer to attribute the scoring to his sense of taste as well.
He nodded.
“Yes.”
“Then I assume the highest possible score is 10?”
“That’s right. But I’ve never eaten a 10-point dish. The score doesn’t evaluate flavour alone. I also take the chef’s technique and experience into account.”
If Jo Minjoon had said something like that before today, Martin might have dismissed it as bluffing. After witnessing his extraordinary performance in the tasting challenge, however, the thought did not even occur to him.
Martin smiled as he stared at Jo Minjoon.
The look on his face seemed to say that he would approve of anything Jo Minjoon did now, which made Jo Minjoon lean back slightly.
“If you’ve never had a 10-point dish, that means you’ve had a 9-point one, right?”
“Yes. Just once. At East Rabbit Garden. Their lamb ribs were absolute art.”
“Only once… I think I understand what you mean. Then what about an 8-point dish?”
“An 8-point dish alone can make your entire day happier. I’ve eaten something like that during this competition. Hmm…”
Jo Minjoon thought for a moment.
Truthfully, he had seen quite a few 8-point dishes. Kaya’s grilled eel had scored 8, and so had her salmon tataki salad, although the judges had not been able to eat that one because it had failed to match the mission theme. Chloe’s pan-fried scallops had also scored 8. For an amateur competition, there had been an unusually high number of 8-point dishes. It was another sign of just how strong this season’s contestants were.
But he could only name dishes he had personally tasted. He could hardly claim to have evaluated something he had never eaten.
There was only one such dish he could confidently mention: Chloe’s pan-fried scallops. The foie gras Kaya had prepared had also scored 8, but because it had been presented directly to the judges, Jo Minjoon had never had a chance to taste it.
“In my opinion, the pan-fried scallops Chloe made when we were teamed together were worth 8 points. Other than that, I can’t say because I haven’t tasted them.”
“Then what’s the highest score you can achieve with your own cooking?”
“…Unfortunately, I still can’t make an 8-point dish. Seven points is my current limit.”
Perhaps the entire conversation was somewhat absurd. Even Michelin-starred restaurants were evaluated according to countless strict standards and restrictions, yet here was one person assigning numerical scores to dishes entirely on his own.
But Martin did not find it ridiculous anymore.
It’s different if he really has an absolute sense of taste.
That was what he thought as he continued smiling so widely it looked painful. Compared with the footage Jo Minjoon had just given him, treating him this favourably was nothing.
The interview continued for quite a while longer. It lasted much longer than usual, and by the end of it, Jo Minjoon no longer felt like doing anything.
Being interviewed was more exhausting than cooking.
I’ll just go back slowly and rest.
That was what he told himself, though when he thought about it, returning to the others would only mean being interrogated by the contestants instead.
He left the interview room without much energy. The moment he opened the door, however, his steps came to an abrupt halt.
Long, curly blonde hair swayed in front of him.
As Jo Minjoon stared at the woman’s nape, she turned around.
His voice trembled.
“…Emily?”