Chapter 49: Unexpected Fame (6)
Chapter 49: Unexpected Fame (6)
“Know what?”
The person who answered was not Chloe, but Kaya. Neither of them had noticed when her interview ended, but she had already walked over and was looking at them bluntly.
Chloe glanced at Jo Minjoon. He pointed to his phone and said, “My parents called. It looks like they found out I entered this competition.”
“Huh? Did I hear that right? Is that really such a serious problem?”
“It’s not exactly serious, but things have become more complicated. I still haven’t told them that I want to become a chef.”
Kaya rested her chin in one hand and frowned at the floor for quite a while before speaking as though she genuinely could not understand him.
“I don’t get it at all. If you didn’t tell them, then you didn’t tell them. If they know now, then they know. Why? Are they against it?”
“They haven’t been, because I haven’t told them yet. But if I do, they probably will be. And that isn’t really the problem. No matter what they say, I’m still planning to follow this path. What worries me is my parents. They’ll worry and suffer because their son is chasing something they think is beyond his reach.”
“They’re not children. Aren’t they being too harsh? Sounds like they’re overprotective.”
“It’s better to avoid trouble when you can. And arguing with them is exhausting.”
“Avoiding it like this looks even more exhausting. At least from where I’m standing, it seems stupid. You’re the one making things harder for yourself.”
Jo Minjoon could not argue with that. Calling his behaviour stupid was not entirely wrong. Maybe it would have been better to confront his parents directly and force his way through their opposition.
But he had already done that once.
He had told them that he liked cooking, that he could do it, and had even shouted those words before leaving his job. What had come of it? In the end, he had never managed to reassure them. Every time he saw his parents, he could still see the worry and anxiety hidden behind their smiles.
He did not want to repeat that. This time, he had wanted to show them results first and convince them at the same time—that their son possessed this much talent, this much skill, and this much potential.
But now it was too late for that.
Finding out through the internet and hearing it directly from their son were two entirely different things.
Chloe patted him on the back. “Call them first. You’re making me worried now too.”
“Yeah. You two go ahead. I’ll come later.”
“...Good luck,” Kaya said plainly.
The two of them headed towards the kitchen, while Jo Minjoon sat down on a sofa by the hallway and raised his phone to his ear.
Riiing. Riiing.
The ringing stopped.
No voice came through.
In the silence, Jo Minjoon spoke first.
“It’s me.”
[...I’ve been watching the programme. Why didn’t you tell me?]
“I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you after I achieved some good results.”
[You suddenly started cooking so much these past few months... Honestly, I can only say this was unexpected.]
“How did you find out?”
[There was an article about you. It wasn’t a big one, just a small piece. The title was something like, ‘Jo Minjoon Represents Korea on Grand Chef.’ Ara saw it and told me. Honestly, at first I thought it wasn’t you. I don’t know why you felt you had to hide it from us and enter that competition... Did we do something wrong?]
“What could you possibly have done wrong? I just... wanted to tell you after I had some results to show. Mum.” Jo Minjoon swallowed. Even through the phone, his nervousness was obvious. He gathered himself and finally broke through the hesitation. “I’m going to become a chef.”
He did not say that he wanted to become one or that he was thinking about it.
He stated it as a decision.
His voice carried so much passion and affection for cooking that Lee Hyeseon could not answer immediately.
Jo Minjoon did not try to prolong the conversation. Those were the words he had wanted to say most, and Lee Hyeseon seemed to understand that. When her voice finally came through the phone, she sounded as calm as she could manage.
[It’s difficult for me to say anything right now. Minjoon, you must have thought about this a lot too. I’ll think about it as well. The only thing I want to tell you is that... Mum and Dad are always cheering for you. Of course, we worry about you just as much as we cheer for you.]
“...I know.”
[I enjoyed the programme. Now that I think about it, you must have practised a lot without us noticing. Did you?]
“Yes.”
That was all he could say. It would have been strange for him to possess those skills without having practised.
Lee Hyeseon continued.
[What I can say right now is... do well and come home safely. I’m sorry.]
“Why are you apologising? Don’t say that.”
[Do well. And don’t get hurt while cooking. And since you’ve already gone all the way there, you might as well win. Understand?]
“...Yes.”
His voice caught slightly, and Lee Hyeseon seemed to notice. She hurried to end the conversation.
[Ah, now that I think about it, I forgot I had an appointment. I’ll hang up. Minjoon, you know I love you, right? Love you!]
“Yes, me too—”
The call ended before he could finish.
Jo Minjoon bit his lip and stared down at his phone.
Her reaction had been different from what he had imagined. Of course, she was still worried. That much was obvious. But Lee Hyeseon had not treated his dream as something thoughtless or ridiculous. Perhaps she still had doubts in her own mind, but at least she was not trying to block his path.
Why?
He did not have to think for long.
The results were already there.
He had finally produced the kind of results that could reassure his parents.
The problem was that they had learned about them clumsily through the news instead of from him. The fact that he was gaining recognition overseas and taking his dream seriously carried more weight than he had realised.
Jo Minjoon looked up at the ceiling.
Things were different now. He had become skilled enough to reassure his parents, and the thought made his chest burn.
He tilted his head back even farther. If he did not, he felt as though he might start crying.
After taking some time to compose himself in the hallway, Jo Minjoon returned to the kitchen. As soon as he reached the second floor, Chloe came over as though she had been waiting for him.
“Did it go okay?”
“Yeah. Better than I expected.”
“...What a relief.”
Chloe looked even more nervous than he had been. She finally relaxed and let out a long sigh.
Seeing how genuinely worried she had been made Minjoon feel both grateful and strangely moved. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and turned his head just as members of the Red Team began returning to the kitchen after finishing their interviews.
His eyes met Marco’s.
If Marco had not been Black, Minjoon thought his face might have looked completely pale with fear. The anxiety was that obvious.
It was understandable. Elimination missions were often built around themes that could not be overcome through cooking skill alone. Kaya and Minjoon’s tag-team mission had demanded teamwork, while another challenge had required contestants to identify the contents of fried pockets using an exceptional sense of taste.
What kind of mission would they face this time?
Jo Minjoon tried to remember, but nothing came to him. Most of what he remembered from the programme involved Kaya, and she was not part of this elimination.
“Anderson looks pretty calm,” Chloe murmured, sounding impressed.
Just as she said, Anderson did not appear nervous at all. His face showed complete confidence that he could overcome whatever challenge they gave him.
Kaya frowned. “He’s got such an obnoxious face.”
“...You two still haven’t made up?”
“This isn’t about making up. I just don’t like him.”
“I understand what you mean...” Jo Minjoon laughed bitterly.
Kaya was probably still holding a grudge from the previous three-course mission. After all, she had been the one placed at greater risk because she had prepared the appetiser.
“Shh. It’s starting.”
Chloe raised a finger, and sure enough, Joseph stepped forward and raised his voice.
“We will now begin the elimination mission.”
The theme of the mission was omelettes.
The judging standard was simple: make a beautiful omelette.
Simple as that sounded, even professional chefs could struggle with it. Unless someone made omelettes regularly, shaping one properly was difficult regardless of experience.
Everyone also had to use the same basic method. They were to cook beaten eggs with oil and butter, without adding milk or cream.
That restriction exposed exactly what made omelettes difficult. A cook needed enough experience to know when the eggs had reached the right point between liquid and scrambled, and even then, gradually rolling the soft egg into shape was not easy. The greatest difficulty, however, was heat control. If the pan became even slightly too hot, the outside would brown before the interior reached the correct consistency, and a proper omelette was not supposed to have a seared exterior.
That was not all. When cut open, the inside needed to remain soft, while the outside had to be shaped smoothly using the curved sides of the frying pan. Taking all of that into account and producing the finished omelette within five minutes was enough to make anyone unfamiliar with the technique turn pale.
There were no miracles.
Those who were confident cooked like people who knew exactly what they were doing. Those who lacked confidence fell apart.
Anderson belonged firmly to the first group. He maintained the same composed expression from beginning to end and made his omelette without a single obvious mistake. It was a soft chick-yellow, smooth enough on the outside to resemble pudding, with nothing immediately visible to criticise.
Marco was the exact opposite.
He had looked nervous from the moment the challenge began, and by the end his omelette was torn in several places. At least the outside remained yellow rather than browned, but visually, it could hardly be called a success.
Jo Minjoon watched him gravely.
Marco could easily be eliminated.
The other contestants had not performed particularly well either, but Marco certainly had not done better than them.
Five minutes passed.
Alan raised his voice.
“Everyone stop. Bring your dishes forward.”
Nine plates were lined up on the counter in front of the judges.
Alan approached them without expression and began pushing some aside. He did not move all of them—only the omelettes that were intact and properly cooked on the outside.
There were three.
Alan picked up a knife and sliced into them one by one. Two were soft inside. The remaining one had set into a dense mass almost like gyeran-jjim.
(Translator’s Note: Gyeran-jjim —A Korean steamed egg dish made by gently cooking beaten eggs, commonly with water or stock, until soft and custard-like. It is a familiar Korean home-style dish and restaurant side dish. In the chapter, an incorrectly cooked omelette is compared to gyeran-jjim because its interior has set into a steamed-egg-like mass.)
He sighed. “Out of nine dishes, only two are truly worthy of being called omelettes. Who made these?”
Jacob and Anderson raised their hands.
Joseph, standing beside Alan, spoke. “I get the feeling both of you make omelettes regularly. There’s nothing I need to criticise. You may go upstairs. You’ve passed.”
“Thank you.”
The two answered quietly and moved away. Neither celebrated openly out of consideration for their former teammates.
Emily looked over the remaining seven omelettes and sighed.
“Choosing the worst three out of these is difficult. Honestly, I don’t even feel like eating most of them. The only positive thing I can say is that the outside is cooked reasonably well. Aside from the seasoning being a little heavy, they at least resemble omelettes. But if I cut into one and find raw egg or something that looks like badly made steamed egg inside, I don’t know if I can handle it. That would feel like an insult to the egg.”
Coming from Emily, those were unusually harsh words. She was normally the type to look for something positive to say.
Jo Minjoon bit his lip and looked towards Marco.
Among all the contestants, Marco was one of the kindest and gentlest. Minjoon did not want to see him eliminated like this.
...Marco, please.
Chloe and Kaya seemed to feel the same way. Marco had treated both of them with kindness, and they knew how skilled he really was. For someone who had produced one of the best dishes in the previous team mission to be eliminated now because his team had lost would be bitterly unfair.
Then Kaya suddenly shouted, “Marco! If you pass, I’ll introduce you to a girl!”
Jo Minjoon burst out laughing and turned towards her.
Kaya narrowed her eyes as though asking what he was staring at, then added, “But obviously not Chloe. Don’t worry, Chloe.”
“Y-Yeah.”
“...Is dating me something she needs to worry about?”
“Of course. Look at how huge you are.”
Marco’s expression crumpled.
Emily stared at them and sighed, apparently unsure whether she should be angry or laugh. Even the usually blunt Alan seemed uncertain how to react.
Finally, Emily spoke. “Marco. Since you seem to have the ladies’ attention, I’ll announce your result first. Your omelette is torn all over the place. Obviously, it doesn’t look good. Do you agree?”
“...Yes.”
“I’m glad you do. Right, the appearance is definitely poor. But what about the cooking?”
Emily cut into Marco’s omelette with her fork.
The moment it split open, soft egg flowed gently from the centre.
Emily smiled brightly.
It did not look very different from Anderson’s or Jacob’s.
“As you can see, it’s cooked perfectly. Neither overdone nor underdone. You couldn’t serve this in a restaurant because of how it looks, but it would be perfectly good to eat at home. So what does that mean?”
Marco rubbed his fingers together nervously and answered with great caution.
“Uh... Does that mean... I passed?”
“Wrong. The answer is, ‘Lose weight.’” Emily answered without hesitation.
Marco’s face went blank. He clearly had no idea what she was talking about.
Seeing his confusion, Emily smiled. “If you want me to introduce you to a woman, you need to lose some weight first.”