Chapter 589: On the Verge of Being Independent (4)
Chapter 589: On the Verge of Being Independent (4)
Minjoon had grown in a very different way from Kaya. When it came to culinary skill, she did not consider him superior; after all, she had just as many merits in the kitchen. However, in terms of kitchen leadership, she clearly lagged behind him. He understood true teamwork. Unlike her, who had run Irregular Lab largely on her own, he made the chefs around him shine alongside himself. It was only after the team competition results were announced that she fully realised just how great the gap was between their abilities as leaders.
She was alone. In the end, she had been walking a path that looked only backwards at herself.
Is it because my personality is flawed?
She knew that was not true but smiled bitterly at herself. Irregular Lab was supposed to be for the poor, or so she had believed from the start. But how meaningful was that motivation? How many of Irregular Lab’s customers could really be called poor?
Irregular Lab didn’t have as many poor customers as she had expected. Considering it was located in one of New York’s most expensive hotels, it was hardly surprising. Although the menu prices at Irregular Lab were relatively low, ordinary people simply didn’t know about it.
So, she decided to be content with conveying her message to those customers who did come. Running a restaurant like this was not impossible. She wanted to show that anyone watching her who wanted to run a similar restaurant should just go ahead, instead of hesitating by making dishes ordinary people could not afford to enjoy.
That was the immature idea of Kaya, a young chef who had just turned twenty. Only after many people had pointed out the problems did she realise how unrealistic her vision was, and how many side effects it had.
In other words, no chef could see hope in Kaya’s restaurant.
Of course, Kaya could make good dishes by cutting labour costs. From the customer’s perspective, that was not bad. But from the employees’ view, it was terrible.
Yet it wasn’t only labour costs she cut—she hired part-timers, not chefs. If people thought Kaya was right and everyone ran restaurants like hers, where would new junior chefs learn to cook?
At Kaya’s restaurant, except for a handful of chefs, the cooks were practically no different from part-timers at fast-food joints. They were more like machines or tools, repeating the same prescribed dishes through strict division of labour. Just as no chef gained fame by learning to cook at a fast-food place, Kaya’s restaurant could not produce new competent chefs. Worse, that kitchen culture demanded that current chefs handle junior cooks exactly like Kaya did.
In fact, Kaya and Chloe frequently brainstormed the problems at Irregular Lab. When Kaya asked if she was really on the right path, Chloe admitted that neither of them had found the definitive answer but noted that Kaya was at least following the path she wanted.
Maybe I’ll regret this again.
Even if she opened another restaurant, she might find herself saying the same thing. Still, she wanted the challenge. She refused to become stagnant, making no progress.
“Minjoon, evaluate me,” she said.
He regarded her with a slightly puzzled expression.
Then she fixed him with a determined look. “Tell me what role I should play in your kitchen—head chef, sous chef, or demi chef?”
“Do you mean you could even serve as a demi chef?”
“If I have to, yes,” she replied humbly. She couldn’t afford to insist on her pride anymore—she had already seen it battered at the Grand Chef competition.
Watching her quietly, he felt something strange. She was a great chef with one of the brightest potentials he knew. And yet, she regarded herself as shabby. Why did she think that? Did she truly believe she was lacking as a chef? He couldn’t find the answer.
So he said, “I can’t evaluate you.”
Neither Minjoon nor Kaya was the sort of person who could wait long when they wanted to act. Minjoon told June he wanted to open a restaurant sooner rather than later.
June was not surprised by this. She had expected to face such realities one day.
She then relayed his decision to Rachel over the phone.
“Really? Did he actually say that?”
“Yeah. Didn’t he ask you about the Venice main store?”
“Not yet.”
“Well, that means he might be aiming for another Rose Island branch, right?”
Rachel smiled bitterly at the cold tone in her voice.
Since Rachel had limited the term of the Rose Island chief to four years, June had started to feel more on edge. Of course, Rachel wasn’t going to simply discard her just because of the way she spoke. But whenever they spoke, June was a little anxious. She was unsure whether to rein in this smart, assertive student—or just leave her be, finding her amusing.
“Well, I think I’ll have to get him to finish my homework soon.”
“Homework?”
Rachel didn’t answer directly, embarrassed. Until now, she had pinned her dreams on him, neglecting her own. What he truly wanted was for her to live a life driven by her own resolve.
“It’s hard for me to reply...” she said.
But June understood exactly what she meant.
So she said nothing.
There was no doubt Gwen was a fan of Kaya Lotus. But she was not just any ordinary fan—she held Kaya in something like reverence.
To Gwen, Kaya was proof that she could change her life. So she sought out her past career, personality, and thoughts, piece by piece. She found all the information by surfing the internet. Fortunately, Kaya was quite a celebrity among star chefs. A simple Google search brought up countless articles. There were new stories about Kaya every morning she searched.
“Are you Googling Kaya again?” Ken asked wearily as he passed by. Almost everyone knew she was hooked.
Despite this, Gwen pretended to be just an ordinary fan around Kaya herself.
Of course, Gwen wasn’t that strange. Except for a past drug addiction, she was as healthy and normal as anyone. At least, she was wise enough not to reveal what she was doing to her idol.
Gwen slowly scanned Kaya’s history, scrutinising the expressions she made meeting people, what she said, and searching for any signs of weakness or softness beneath her apparent arrogance. No wonder she came across numerous negative comments online.
Victoria Santoro said: To be honest, I think Kaya is overrated. She only became a partner of the Jotus Guild and won the Paris International Cooking Competition because of Minjoon. As for Irregular Lab, it was good she started such an experimental restaurant, but lately she’s taken a lot of criticism. In fact, her restaurant has shown many side effects. Plus, how special is it that a chef runs a successful restaurant? Given her fame, it’s no surprise.
As soon as she read this, Gwen replied sharply.
└ G Q: I don’t know what you’re talking about. If you want to look down on her, then do it properly. Do you think you can achieve everything just because you’re lucky? Sure, some fail even if lucky. But Kaya is different. Irregular Lab is experimental—criticising it like that is unfair. Not all star chefs run successful restaurants; plenty close theirs even after fame. Do you think you can win an international cooking competition purely on your own? No way! Even Minjoon learned a lot from Kaya over a long time. How can you deny that?
After posting the comment, Gwen felt some satisfaction, but also emptiness.
What was the point of digging up all this about Kaya? Even defending her honour changed nothing in Gwen’s own status.
Then, sighing, she resumed surfing the internet—and suddenly noticed something.
The author of that comment had dismissed it as a rumour, but seemed to believe it themselves.
“There is a rumour that Minjoon and Kaya are getting married soon.”
Gwen knew they had been dating for quite some time. Fans frequently urged them to marry, asking when it would happen.
But what caught her attention was what the author said next.