Chapter 41: The Role of a Head Chef (4)
Chapter 41: The Role of a Head Chef (4)
Anderson could only wonder whether he should refuse or not. But from the look in Jacob’s eyes, it was obvious that even if he did refuse, Jacob would simply use his right to take him by force. If that happened, Anderson would only end up hurting his teammate from the very beginning while also making Jacob waste his forced selection.
In the end, it seemed he had no real right to refuse. Anderson stepped forward, and Jacob smiled as he shook his hand. “Thank you for coming.”
“...Who are you going to pick next?”
“Let’s think about that after we see who Kaya chooses.”
The two of them turned their attention to Kaya.
Kaya was looking at the people in front of her with a complicated expression. If she chose based only on who she was close to, there were really only Chloe and Marco. She hesitated for a moment before opening her mouth. “Chloe. Come here, please.”
“Whew. Thanks.”
Chloe let out a relieved sigh and walked over to her. That left Marco. He looked visibly nervous, but Jo Minjoon was not particularly worried. Marco’s skills had not been properly revealed yet. The other contestants only knew that he was somewhat skilled at baking, so Minjoon thought there was no chance Jacob would choose him.
“Marco. I’d be grateful if you came over here.”
At Jacob’s words, Jo Minjoon could not help being surprised. He had never imagined Jacob would actually choose Marco, and Marco himself seemed equally stunned. He simply stared at Jacob, unable to react.
Still, Marco’s decision had already been made for him. He forced a smile and walked towards Jacob. Jacob could take him by force anyway, so there was little point in refusing. Besides, even if Jacob had not possessed that right, Marco was the sort of person who simply did not know how to refuse someone who told him they wanted him.
If things are going to turn out like this, then the forced selection is meaningless.
Jo Minjoon sighed. Then again, perhaps the judges had known that and deliberately given Jacob the privilege in the first place. They could hardly allow every skilled chef to gather on Kaya’s team.
By the time all sixteen contestants had found their teams, not a single person had refused an invitation. Kaya had selected from those who chose her, while Jacob possessed the forced selection, so nobody saw much point in resisting him.
It was somewhat unfortunate for those who had not wanted to join Jacob’s team, but in the end, the result was probably for the best. At the very least, nobody’s feelings had been seriously hurt, and the overall skill levels of the two teams were more balanced.
Emily opened her mouth. “Good. The teams have been decided. Then I’ll announce the theme of the mission. This mission...”
Emily deliberately paused, but no one seemed particularly curious about what she would say next. The answer was too obvious. There was really only one reason they would have been split into two teams.
Seeing their lack of suspense, Emily smiled as though disappointed that they were not playing along.
“Well, I suppose everyone expected it. You’ll be preparing a full-course meal. In French culinary terms, you could call it haute cuisine. Of course, you don’t have to make only French dishes. What you need to prepare is a full course in the style of haute cuisine.”
(Translator’s Note: Haute cuisine —A refined tradition of French professional cooking characterised by elaborate preparation, formal presentation, multi-course meals, and highly organised kitchen service. Its modern foundations developed particularly during the nineteenth century through chefs such as Marie-Antoine Carême (1784–1833), and it was further codified around the turn of the twentieth century by Auguste Escoffier.)
No one looked surprised. Some merely sighed, while others watched Emily with excited expressions, as though they had known all along. Jo Minjoon was among the excited ones. A full-course meal. Haute cuisine. To any chef, there was something romantic about those words.
Emily continued, “Of course, I’m not asking you to design the menu and start preparing it right now. Your deadline is tomorrow. Discuss it with your teammates and design your menu together. There’s one more thing you need to keep in mind. We won’t be the judges tomorrow. You’ll be serving forty people from a variety of social backgrounds. The losing team will face an elimination mission, and three members of that team will leave the Grand Chef house.”
It was always the same, but the word elimination still sent a chill down their spines. Emily smiled as she looked over the contestants’ tense expressions, and Alan, standing beside her, spoke next.
“This will probably be the most difficult mission you’ve faced so far. I’ll give you one piece of advice. Think carefully and share your thoughts with one another. If you try to paint a picture using only what you imagined by yourself... you’ll only end up staining the canvas.”
At those words, Jo Minjoon unconsciously glanced at Kaya. Would this stubborn girl really be able to paint a proper picture?
Once the mission announcement was over and the teams had been finalised, Jo Minjoon and his teammates gathered in the fourth-floor lobby. Naturally, they were there to discuss the menu for their course meal.
Hugo, who was from Mississippi, spoke first. He had dark curly hair and dark eyes, with features that reflected his Spanish heritage. Jo Minjoon listened as he asked, “How are we going to divide up the courses?”
“...First, tell me what each of you wants to make,” Kaya replied bluntly.
Everyone exchanged glances, but no one immediately spoke. There were plenty of things they could make—salad, soup, risotto, pasta, and more. Taking responsibility for something simple felt a little embarrassing, but volunteering for a main dish also carried a great deal of pressure.
Jo Minjoon eventually spoke. “I want to handle the appetiser. Dessert... wouldn’t be bad either. I just can’t make ice cream or pudding. Baking isn’t my speciality.”
He had considered taking charge of the main dish, but if the centrepiece ended up being something like steak, it would be difficult for him to make proper use of his recipe composition ability. Of course, he could simply take responsibility for cooking the steak and give his recipe to someone else, but everyone gathered here was already a skilled cook. It would be one thing to evaluate someone else’s food, but he doubted they would willingly accept another contestant dictating their recipes to them.
That was why he wanted the appetiser, a course where the recipe itself mattered most.
Kaya nodded with an unconcerned expression. “Fine. What about the rest of you? Since nobody’s saying anything, I can assume you’re fine with whatever you get, right?”
“I want to make the main dish. A fish dish.”
Chloe hesitated before finally raising her hand. Despite her bright personality, she was actually quite cautious. Volunteering to take charge of a main dish was not something she could say easily. In a way, it was the same as volunteering to become the star of the meal. Of course, since this was a team mission, attracting more attention was not necessarily a bad thing, but it still felt different.
Kaya nodded. “First person to speak gets it. Does anyone else want to handle a fish main course?”
She looked around at the rest of the team, but nobody answered. Considering how difficult fish was to handle, that was understandable. From cleaning and trimming it to controlling the cooking itself, there was hardly any part of a fish dish that could be considered easy.
“Looks like no one else does. Then Chloe will be in charge of the fish main course, okay?”
“But how many main dishes should we make? Two? Three?”
“Hmm...”
The unexpected question caught Kaya off guard, and she could not answer immediately. In truth, that was only natural. She had never eaten a proper formal course meal before. There had been times when she had put together rough imitations at home, but those were only imitations. She did not really know how a course meal was supposed to be structured or what rules it followed.
Kaya twirled a strand of hair around her finger and shifted her gaze from side to side. She was not the type to pretend she knew something when she did not.
Seeing that, Jo Minjoon spoke from beside her. “In my opinion, three would be good. Kaya has to oversee everything, and the rest of us need to make eight dishes. Honestly, salad or fruit doesn’t take that much effort, so wouldn’t it be better to put more focus on the main courses?”
“...That’s what he says.” Kaya forced herself to look calm as she turned towards the rest of the team. Fortunately, nobody seemed interested in picking on their young team leader. They had all watched the broadcast and had at least a vague idea of what kind of life Kaya had lived. There was no need to point out that she lacked experience with formal course meals.
Joanne spoke next. She had curly blonde hair that fell to her shoulders and looked as though she had stepped straight out of an American magazine from the 1920s. She was a white woman with a fondness for old-fashioned styles.
“But what is the team leader going to do? If you’re the head chef, are you supposed to make a dish too?”
Kaya could not answer immediately. She glanced at Jo Minjoon, clearly finding it difficult to respond on her own. She still did not properly understand the role of a head chef, and her eyes were practically begging him to help her.
Jo Minjoon obliged. “Honestly, it would be difficult for the head chef to cook as well. Just keeping track of how everyone else is doing will keep her busy. Of course, it would be nice if Kaya’s cooking were included too, but it would be exhausting.”
“Is that so...?” Joanne nodded as though persuaded.
Kaya, meanwhile, stared down at the table. Or perhaps she was simply looking at it normally, but the combination of her eyes and make-up made it seem as though she was glaring. Without lifting her gaze, she said, “I want to go to the bathroom. Minjoon, come with me.”
“Right... What?” Jo Minjoon had answered automatically before turning to her as though he had heard something wrong. The rest of the contestants reacted much the same way. He forced a laugh. “Go? To the bathroom? With me?”
He must have been extremely flustered to be speaking in such broken fragments.
Kaya nodded calmly. “Yes. The bathroom. It’s an order from the head chef. Follow me.”
With that, she immediately stood and walked towards the bathroom.
Jo Minjoon stared blankly at his teammates before getting to his feet, his face reddening.
Chloe tugged at his sleeve and whispered in a low voice, “If Kaya does something to you, yell. Got it?”
“...And are you going to rescue me?”
“Nope. I’m just going to watch.” Chloe laughed mischievously like a child.
Looking at her laughing face, Jo Minjoon could not even bring himself to get angry. As he started to leave, he muttered, “I’ll be back.”
He did not even have the courage to look at the expressions on his teammates’ faces.
When he reached the public bathroom, however, Kaya was nowhere to be seen. Then he heard a sound from farther down the hall. Kaya was standing in a corridor a short distance away from the toilets, tapping against the wall to get his attention. She pointed behind herself. Her room was there.
Before Jo Minjoon could ask anything, Kaya went inside. He hesitated for a moment before following her. Even though it was only her lodging room, he still felt awkward entering a girl’s room.
“Is this the bathroom?”
“If you need to go, then go. There’s one inside my room too.”
“...That’s not what I’m talking about. Why did you say something like that so suddenly? Telling a guy to come to the bathroom with you made the whole atmosphere weird.”
“I’m sorry.”
The fact that Kaya apologised caught him off guard. She was not usually the type to lower herself so readily. Jo Minjoon sighed and softened his tone. He could already guess why she had called him away.
“I think I more or less know why you brought me here. But why me? Chloe’s there too.”
“...I don’t know. It just feels more comfortable asking you for help. But don’t misunderstand. That doesn’t mean I think you’re easy.” Kaya spoke seriously and raised her right hand as though swearing an oath. “I’ll pay you properly for the lessons.”
“With what?”
“...I’ll make you breakfast every day. At least until I’m eliminated.”
At the simple yet strangely charming offer, Jo Minjoon laughed. Then he asked, “And if you win, are you going to make it for me forever?”