Chapter 62: Aftermath (1)
Chapter 62: Aftermath (1)
Louise Russell: Honestly, I think this has to be fabricated. An absolute sense of taste that has never once appeared in history suddenly showing up now? And on a cooking programme, of all places?
Daniel Wood: Don’t start with the conspiracy theories. It’s a programme that does perfectly well without making something like that up, so why would they need such noisy publicity?
Louise Russell: @Daniel Wood Greed has no end. Look at how people are reacting. Grand Chef was already popular, but has it ever caused this much of a stir?
Daniel Wood: @Louise Russell Time will tell whether it’s true or not. Just don’t change your tune when that happens.
A. J. Black: If this is real…… wow. I honestly don’t know what to say. But do those flavours really taste that different? Could there be tiny differences that ordinary people simply can’t detect?
Selena Curry: I think there must be, considering he got all twenty right. I’m jealous. I want to know what all those flavours taste like too.
A. J. Black: @Selena Curry But I wonder if being able to taste all of them is necessarily a good thing. If he can pick up unpleasant smells or flavours that the rest of us can’t, wouldn’t that make it harder for him to enjoy food?
Selena Curry: @A. J. Black Even so, isn’t it an incredibly useful ability for a chef? He could control even the tiniest flavours that customers themselves can’t consciously distinguish. Of course, you could argue that there’s no point if they can’t notice them, but I still think they would have an unconscious effect.
Jacob Shariff: @Selena Curry He’d probably be more formidable as a food critic than as a chef. Restaurants wouldn’t dare mess around with him. They’d probably tremble at the thought of being reviewed by him.
Daniel Wood: The programme’s PD must be ecstatic. He cast his net without expecting much and ended up catching a whale. With an ability like that, his potential on television would be enormous, though I don’t know how good his actual cooking is.
Nadia Newton: I think he’ll get a lot of advertising offers. Celebrities usually cost a fortune to hire for commercials, but Minjoon isn’t really a celebrity yet, so they wouldn’t have to pay him as much. “A product recognised by someone with an absolute sense of taste!” Doesn’t that sound pretty appealing?
Daniel Wood: @Nadia Newton Well, there’s some truth to that. But if he keeps doing things like that, I imagine his asking price will shoot up eventually.
Nadia Newton: @Daniel Wood One thing’s certain: Grand Chef caught a very big fish.
Martin read through the comments being posted online, unable to wipe the smile from his face. The reaction was even hotter than he had expected.
It was understandable. The moment Jo Minjoon correctly identified all twenty ingredients in succession, the number of viewers surpassed seven million. Considering that the programme normally drew around five to six million viewers, it was an outstanding result. This would probably become the most-watched episode in Grand Chef history.
On top of that, an enormous number of people had uploaded clips containing only Jo Minjoon’s elimination challenge. As those clips spread across every kind of platform, they drew in more and more viewers. One of them had already exceeded ten million views in a single day. Given more time, there was no telling how high that number might climb.
And right now, Martin’s phone would not stop ringing.
Answering every call would probably take the entire day. He responded to most of them in the same automatic tone, but even the calls that actually mattered gave him no chance to relax.
Then his phone rang again.
The casual expression on Martin’s face vanished the instant he saw the name on the screen. He straightened from where he had been sunk deep into the car seat and immediately answered.
“Ra—Rachel Rose! Is this really you?”
[Judging by that reaction, it seems you never deleted my number.]
“How could I possibly delete a number I worked so hard to get? But why are you……?”
There was really no need to ask.
Everyone calling him right now wanted the same two things. First, confirmation that Jo Minjoon’s absolute sense of taste was genuine. Second, a way to get in contact with Jo Minjoon himself.
Rachel was no exception.
Martin forced himself to calm his pounding heart. When Grand Chef had first begun, he had tried every method he could think of to persuade her to appear. Of course, he had ultimately come away empty-handed, but he had managed to secure her disciple, Alan, instead, so he had not been too disappointed.
Naturally, his attitude towards her could only be deferential.
[There’s something I want to ask you. Will you tell me the truth?]
“Of course. If only for Alan’s sake, I wouldn’t dare lie to you.”
[Come to think of it, that boy Alan knew about this and didn’t tell me. Well, we can discuss that later.]
At that moment, Martin silently apologised to Alan.
[This absolute sense of taste. Is it real?]
“There wasn’t even the slightest bit of fabrication.”
Through the phone, Martin thought he heard a sigh of relief.
Apparently, Rachel had genuinely been hoping that Jo Minjoon possessed an absolute sense of taste.
Martin was just about to speak when Rachel beat him to it.
[I want to meet him.]
He had expected that. The problem was what he should say in response. Even if Jo Minjoon was a contestant on the programme, Martin couldn’t arrange a meeting without his agreement.
Just as he was about to explain that Minjoon’s own wishes came first, Rachel continued.
[Of course, you’ll have to ask him first. I understand that. But I simply can’t wait. I’m the sort of person who has to eat something immediately once I start craving it. In exchange, I’ll give you a present. You can use whatever footage you capture today however you like.]
“……Pardon? I’m sorry, but I don’t quite understand what you mean……”
[I’ll become his customer. His truck is in Madison right now, isn’t it?]
At that moment, the pieces fell into place in Martin’s head.
Present. Today’s footage. Minjoon. The food truck. Madison.
Martin jerked upright in shock, though the only thing above him was the roof of the car.
“Are you saying you’re going there personally as a customer……?”
[Ah, the plane will be arriving soon. We’ll talk about the rest later. Have a good day.]
“Yes, yes……”
Martin stared dumbly at the disconnected phone.
None of this felt real.
“Does the god of ratings love me?”
The aftermath of Jo Minjoon’s absolute sense of taste was anything but small.
People interested in cooking and fine dining were all talking about him, and even people who had never cared about either were watching clips of him.
Korea was no exception. The mere fact that a Korean contestant was appearing on the programme had already been enough for numerous articles about Grand Chef to circulate there.
Naturally, Lee Hyeseon could hardly have missed them.
As a result, Jo Minjoon had to answer his phone in the middle of grocery shopping.
[……Since when have you had an ability like that?]
“I think I’ve had it since I was young. I only realised recently that I seem to perceive flavours differently from other people.”
[Whew…… I don’t even know what to think. Everyone around me is talking about you. I’m happy, but I’m worried at the same time. Being the centre of attention isn’t exactly comfortable. Are you all right?]
“It’s not too difficult yet. Oh, Mum. I’m sorry, but I need to get ready for cooking. I’ll call you again later.”
[All right. Do your best. I’ll be cheering for you.]
“Yes.”
Jo Minjoon slipped his phone back into his pocket.
He was exhausted.
Part of it was because he hadn’t been sleeping properly, but another reason was that far more people at the market seemed to recognise him today. Some had even asked him to taste their food.
I only have to endure today and tomorrow.
At this point, all he could do was force himself through the exhaustion with sheer willpower. The problem was that even his willpower was beginning to wear thin, but he supposed it would be fine as long as he didn’t actually collapse.
The moment he climbed into the truck, his teammates looked at him with concern. They too had noticed how much he had been struggling lately.
Peter spoke first. “Are you all right, Minjoon? Why don’t you sit out lunch? The four of us can handle it.”
“Forget it. We’re all doing the same work. It wouldn’t look right if some people rested while the others kept working.”
A dream was something you had to fight your way towards. He didn’t have the luxury of sounding weak now.
Anderson spoke bluntly. “Rest for now. I bought some sandwiches. Eat one if you want.”
“……Thanks.” Jo Minjoon accepted the sandwich.
There was nothing particularly special about it. It contained cheese, lettuce, prosciutto, and mustard sauce. Yet perhaps because the bread was so soft, eating it felt strangely comforting, almost like eating a bowl of freshly cooked rice.
He didn’t know why, but as he swallowed, a spot near his temple throbbed as though someone were pricking it with a needle.
Even eating could be exhausting.
Jo Minjoon smiled bitterly and left half the sandwich unfinished.
Business continued regardless of his condition. With trembling hands, Jo Minjoon put the rice on to cook and helped the others with the preparations.
Madison was a city in Wisconsin. With roughly a million people in the surrounding area, it was a fairly large city by American standards.
They had parked the truck between the University of Wisconsin and the downtown area, one of the busiest parts of the city. With City Hall nearby, they expected plenty of students and government employees to pass through.
At this stage, however, finding somewhere convenient for customers was more important than simply choosing the place with the heaviest foot traffic. The Grand Chef logo itself was already the perfect advertisement.
Their team’s norimaki had been receiving quite good reactions online as well. Of course, some of the praise might have come from fans, but even fans generally wouldn’t call something delicious if it genuinely tasted bad.
Little by little, they were gaining confidence in their food.
They were beginning to believe they could satisfy almost any customer.
Joanne spoke up. “……Do you think there’ll be more customers than usual?”
“Why? Because of Minjoon?”
“Yeah. Won’t people who saw the programme get curious and come here just to try the food?”
“I’m not sure. I think most people curious enough to come because of that would probably already have been interested in our cooking anyway. Still, there might be more customers than before……”
As it turned out, there were indeed more customers than usual.
It wasn’t an overwhelming difference, though. Perhaps it was simply because they had chosen a good location, but the crowd was roughly comparable to what they had seen on their first day in Chicago.
The customers’ reactions, however, were unmistakably different.
The moment they saw Jo Minjoon standing behind the truck counter, people in the long queue began cheering and whistling. Having expected nothing in particular, Jo Minjoon could only stare back in bewilderment at their enthusiasm.
“Is your sense of taste really absolute?”
“If you used your scoring system, what score would you give this norimaki?”
“Isn’t eating normally exhausting for you if your senses are that sensitive?”
“I’m a huge fan! Sorry, but could I get your autograph?”
Almost every customer tried to say something to him. Since they were near a university, there were plenty of young people in the crowd as well.
If they calmed down long enough to take a proper look at him, however, they could see that Jo Minjoon was so haggard he could barely keep up a conversation.
In that sense, his condition was almost fortunate. If he hadn’t looked so exhausted, even more people would probably have tried to keep him talking.
“Minjoon, sorry, but you need to start preparing the rice soon.”
“Okay. I’ll go after this customer.” Jo Minjoon answered Joanne and looked towards the next person in line.
An elderly woman stood before him, wrinkles lining her face. If she had been Korean, he would have guessed she was in her seventies, but since Westerners often appeared older to him, he couldn’t be certain.
Jo Minjoon smiled. “Welcome. What would you like to order?”
“I’d like to talk to you right now, but you’re very busy, aren’t you?”
“……That’s right. We have quite a lot of customers.” Jo Minjoon smiled awkwardly as he answered.
He hadn’t expected even an elderly grandmother to want to talk with him.
At that moment, Anderson, who was wrapping norimaki beside him, glanced towards the woman and then suddenly looked around.
“Rachel Rose…… Are you Rachel Rose?”
“What? Where?”
At Anderson’s words, the other team members turned their heads. Surprise immediately appeared on their faces.
Only then did Jo Minjoon notice that the cameramen were filming with unusually serious expressions. Even the customers around them were taking pictures of the woman.
Is she famous?
Rachel smiled. “It seems you don’t know who I am.”
“……I’m sorry. I don’t know much about famous Americans.”
The customers who overheard him burst into laughter.
Jo Minjoon couldn’t understand why.
Did that mean she wasn’t famous?
Rachel took out her wallet.
“We should pay first, for the sake of the customers waiting behind me.”
“Yes. What would you like to order……?”
Jo Minjoon trailed off as he stared dumbfoundedly at what she had handed him.
It wasn’t a banknote.
It was a cheque.
A cheque for one thousand dollars.
Rachel spoke calmly. “May I ring the golden bell?”
(Translator’s Note: Golden bell —A Korean expression referring to one person paying for everyone present, especially at a restaurant, bar, or gathering. It is connected to the image of ringing a bell to announce that all customers will be treated. The expression was already established in Korean popular usage by at least the late twentieth to early twenty-first century; documented Korean examples explicitly equate “ringing the golden bell” with paying everyone’s food or drink bill.)
Jo Minjoon forced out a laugh.
“You can’t.”