Chapter 59: Customer and More Customers (1)
Chapter 59: Customer and More Customers (1)
At that moment, Joanne’s expression seemed to spread across everyone else’s faces like something contagious. They could not help it. In the past month, none of them had ever seen Chloe genuinely angry.
And yet Chloe had gotten into a fight?
Jo Minjoon spoke in a bewildered voice, so surprised that the end of his sentence trembled slightly. “When you say she had a fight, who was it with? Her teammates? Or…… a customer?”
“It sounds like it was a customer…… You should look for yourself.”
At her words, they seemed to remember that they had their own mobile phones. Jo Minjoon silently checked the mentions on his screen.
Elly Dean: They say there was a scene at one of Grand Chef’s food trucks. Apparently Chloe and a customer were shouting at each other.
CRJ: I was there. Chloe wasn’t exactly shouting. She did raise her voice, but compared with the customer, it was nothing.
Elly Dean: @CRJ Why? What happened?
CRJ: @Elly Dean I don’t know how the argument started, but I heard what people were saying afterwards. Apparently the customer said something like, “You expect people to pay money for rubbish skewers like these?” The funny thing is, Chloe hadn’t even taken his money yet. So he hadn’t even eaten a bite.
Samantha Croft: It wasn’t pleasant to watch. I know dealing with people like that isn’t easy, but Chloe should have held back.
Rhianna Pratchet: There are situations where people simply can’t keep holding back. It’s easy to say someone should endure anything when you weren’t the one standing there.
Samantha Croft: When you put it like that, I don’t really have an answer. But that’s how reality works. However difficult or exhausting it is, if you’re dealing with customers, you shouldn’t let things escalate into a fight.
None of the comments explained exactly what had happened, but they all led to the same conclusion: Chloe had argued with a customer. The reason remained unclear. The exchange seemed to have happened near the counter while the people involved were speaking among themselves, so customers standing farther away had probably been unable to hear everything.
Jo Minjoon wanted to message Chloe and ask what had happened, but in a situation like this, she probably would not take well to being comforted by everyone at once.
Anderson spoke dryly. “That customer must have been a serious bastard. Chloe isn’t the type to get angry easily.”
“………It’s kind of amazing hearing you insult someone on another person’s behalf.”
“I don’t think I’m particularly fond of insulting people.”
“That’s not what I mean. I’ve just never seen you praise anyone before.”
“I wasn’t praising her. I was making an objective assessment. She isn’t the type to lose her temper easily.” Anderson slipped his mobile phone back into his pocket, his expression sour. “Don’t dwell on it too much. We’ll probably all run into something like that at least once. The world is wide, and there are plenty of bastards in it. When it happens, try not to let yourself get dragged into this kind of mess. What people like that want is to roll around with you in the mud. And once the mud fight is over, we’re the ones who have to deal with the laundry.”
He spoke like someone who had already experienced this sort of thing several times.
Jo Minjoon gave a quiet clap to draw everyone’s attention. “Anyway, let’s focus on resting. We’ll take an hour and a half, then go buy ingredients and start preparing again. It’s a little past two now…… so let’s rest until three-thirty, then head out immediately.”
“But do all five of us really need to go shopping?” Peter asked.
It was a surprisingly reasonable question. He glanced around cautiously before continuing, “Should we decide with rock-paper-scissors……?”
“Have a safe trip!” At the entrance to the market, Joanne waved with a smug smile.
Anderson glared at her, but it did no good. Jo Minjoon patted him on the shoulder. “Come on. We don’t have much time.”
“……Tch.”
“What? It’s not that bad. They chose to clean instead. It’s about the same amount of work.”
“I don’t like markets.”
Jo Minjoon looked at him in surprise. A market ought to have been a familiar, even enjoyable, place for a chef. Aside from being necessary for work, the sheer variety of ingredients could make it feel like a video game arcade.
Anderson caught the doubt in Jo Minjoon’s eyes and pinched his nose between two fingers. “I’ve hated markets since I was little. My parents used to drag me along regardless of whether I wanted to go.”
“Even so, shouldn’t your opinion have changed by now?”
“They say habits from childhood last a lifetime. I think the same goes for things you hated as a child. Just tell me what we need. What are we buying?”
“You can make roughly thirty rolls with one kilogram of rice…… so let’s buy twenty kilograms to be safe. Customers might crowd in again tonight. We already have chicken thighs for the tandoori chicken, but we need more chicken breast for karaage, more avocado, and some smoked salmon. No, wait. If we’re making tandoori chicken again tomorrow, we should buy more chicken thighs now too. We’re dropping the sea urchin roe roll, so we don’t need that. We also need fillings for the kimbap and hamburger rolls.”
Truthfully, the sea urchin roe roll had not sold well enough to justify keeping it. Even after people began posting about their menu online, the comments about that particular roll had not been favourable.
Kimbap, on the other hand, had attracted a fair amount of demand. Unlike the other norimaki, its rice contained neither vinegar nor kombu stock, but quite a few customers seemed to enjoy its cleaner flavour.
Anderson pulled a market trolley towards them. “Without this, we wouldn’t even be able to carry everything. That’s why I said three people should have come.”
“Let’s just manage today. If it’s too much, three of us can come next time. Besides, aren’t you used to this? You said you helped your parents with their restaurant all the time.”
“Being used to something doesn’t make it less tiring.”
Jo Minjoon understood that perfectly. When he had worked as the junior cook in a restaurant, getting accustomed to the work and finding it easy had been two completely different things.
“Still, we’re lucky we’re making norimaki. The ingredients aren’t that complicated.”
“They are when you have this many varieties. And cooking batch after batch of rice is a pain. Chloe’s team probably has it easier. If they’re doing skewers and sandwiches, they mostly need meat and bread.”
“That depends on whether they’re making the bread themselves.”
Instead of answering, Anderson stepped into the butcher’s section.
Jo Minjoon watched his back for a moment before heading in another direction. He went to a shop that milled its own rice, because oxidation began once the outer layers were removed. The more recently the rice had been milled, the better it tasted, and Jo Minjoon thought it was worth making the extra effort for the customers.
………Though a difference of a few hours probably doesn’t matter that much.
Truthfully, grocery shopping after a meal was exhausting. The whole team had agreed that they wanted to serve ingredients as fresh as possible, but perhaps they had taken that idea a little too far.
We can adjust things gradually.
Jo Minjoon stepped up to the counter. “Twenty kilograms, please.”
“You’re diligent. You were here this morning too. You said you’re selling norimaki, right?”
“Yes. On the east side of the market. We’re operating a food truck.”
“If I could leave the shop, I’d go try some myself……”
The owner, a young man with black hair and glasses, sounded genuinely disappointed. He looked to be in his thirties. More precisely, he was Korean American and did not actually speak Korean.
He apparently did not consider himself Korean, but he still seemed to feel some attachment to the country. He also appeared to be a fan of Grand Chef.
“How does it feel being around Korean food again? You’ve tried the other contestants’ dishes too, right? How are they?”
“It depends on the dish. I normally prefer food that isn’t heavily seasoned, so some of what I’ve tried feels salty to me, but it’s still good.”
“Well, a good chef should be able to make good food anywhere. Make good use of my rice.”
He spoke as though he had personally grown and harvested it. Jo Jo Minjoonse not to point that out.
He had just left the shop when his mobile phone rang. Holding the rice sack with one arm, he pulled out the phone with his free hand. He expected it to be Anderson, but the name on the screen surprised him.
He answered.
“Hello?”
[……What are you doing?]
“I just bought rice. I’m heading back now.”
[Why are you buying rice now? Didn’t you already buy some this morning?]
“I wanted to buy as little as possible at a time and keep replenishing it. Is that too much?”
[Way too much.]
“Is it?”
Silence followed.
It was not that either of them had nothing to say. It felt more as though both were hesitating to bring up the actual reason for the call.
In the end, Jo Minjoon spoke first. “Is everything okay?”
[What?]
“The team atmosphere. I heard Chloe fought with a customer.”
[……… ]
Nothing came through the phone except silence.
Jo Minjoon did not press her.
Then Kaya spoke, her voice strained.
[It was because of me. Chloe fought because of me.]
Jo Minjoon was not particularly surprised. He had already suspected as much.
Chloe was not the sort of person who would clash with a customer simply because someone insulted her, especially during a team mission. If she had become involved in a fight, Jo Minjoon had thought from the beginning that it would probably be for someone else’s sake.
And if that someone was Kaya, there was nothing strange about it.
If anything, it made too much sense.
Kaya was usually the one who caused trouble.
There was no need to say that aloud, though.
Jo Minjoon simply listened.
Kaya’s voice was rougher than usual, thick enough to sound as though she had caught a cold.
[That guy looked at me and said I looked delicious. Well, maybe his eyes were on me but he was talking about the skewer……]
“Wait. What? What did that bastard say?”
[I told you. That I looked delici—]
“No, stop. You don’t need to repeat it. So Chloe got angry because of that?”
[No. She did get angry for my sake, but it’s a little different. You know what I’m like. I’m rough and…… kind of foul-mouthed. I’m not the type to hear something like that and keep quiet.]
Jo Minjoon frowned in confusion.
There had been plenty of comments online about the argument, but none had mentioned Kaya.
Then he realised why.
A strained laugh escaped him. “Chloe didn’t get into the fight because she lost her temper. She stepped in to protect you.”
[………Yeah.]
Kaya sounded dejected.
Because Chloe had intervened, the situation had not escalated as far as it otherwise might have. More importantly, the attention had shifted away from Kaya and onto Chloe.
Perhaps that was actually better.
The public image surrounding Kaya and Chloe was completely different. If Kaya had reacted the same way, plenty of people would have said they had expected nothing less from her. With Chloe, however, it was different. Everything viewers had seen of her on the programme so far had been positive. If she had raised her voice, most people would assume she had a reason.
Of course, the chances that Chloe had calculated all of that in the heat of the moment were slim.
She had probably just wanted to protect Kaya.
But one thing was certain.
She had deliberately put herself at the centre of the incident instead.
[I…… Why am I like this? Why do I always cause trouble?]
“It wasn’t your fault.”
[Whether it was my fault or not, I feel too guilty to even look at her.]
Jo Minjoon understood.
Kaya, who normally complained about everything, had gone out of her way to call him. She must have been more upset than she was letting on.
He remained silent for a long time because he could not think of anything useful to say.
In the end, the only words he found were, “We don’t get to choose our customers.”
Kaya did not answer.
Only her faint breathing came through the phone like wind.
“If you didn’t choose what happened, then you don’t need to take responsibility for it or blame yourself.”
[You’re trying to comfort me with that painfully straightforward logic.]
“Did it work?”
[………I take it back.]
Jo Minjoon rolled his eyes, not understanding what she meant.
“What are you taking back?”
[The part where I told you to fail. I take it back. I’m busy. I have to get back to work soon.]
“But you were the one who called fir—”
Jo Minjoon stopped and looked down at the screen.
The call had already ended.
He stared at the phone with a bewildered expression before lowering it, his face turning faintly bitter.
“The customer……”
The word did not sound nearly as pleasant as he had expected.