Chapter 640: As You Stack Up The Legos (3)
Chapter 640: As You Stack Up The Legos (3)
Looking firmly into her eyes, Jill said, “Just assume there’s no one above you. It doesn’t matter if you’re truly confident or not. Even if you can’t make a fried egg properly, you have to move forward believing you’re the best chef—that even our head chefs can’t catch up with you.”
“Do you really think so? Do you think you’re not as good as the head chefs?”
“Well, maybe I’m not as good as them yet, but I don’t think it’s impossible that someday I’ll surpass both of them. I’ve come this far with confidence.”
“Awesome!” Gwen said dryly, turning her gaze away. “But Jill, if you’ve arrived here because of your confidence, I’ve come this far fueled by my inferiority complex.”
Jill was speechless. She didn’t understand what drives a person motivated by inferiority, so she had no idea what advice to give Gwen.
“Don’t worry too much. I don’t think I’m a great chef, but I want to be. Just like others, I want to shake off my inferiority complex. That’s why I’m here. I think I can keep moving forward like this.”
Gwen smiled feebly at Jill. Jill wondered if someone who had lived on such a fragile smile could find strength in her weaknesses. Of course, Jill was unsure if her assumption was true.
They were silent until Minjoon hurried over to the kitchen island.
“Chefs, come to the baking room with me now.”
“The baking room? What happened?”
“Well, something eye-opening just happened. A patissier applicant baked ciabattas, and everyone was speechless after tasting them.”
“Ciabatta?”
Jill giggled briefly. She couldn’t understand the fuss about delicious ciabatta. Maybe Minwoo got excited easily because he was the youngest chef.
“Okay, okay, I’m coming. Don’t make a scene.”
“I’m not making a fuss…”
Minwoo frowned but didn’t explain; he knew words couldn’t capture Rosa’s ciabatta. He suspected Jill would understand as soon as she entered the bakery.
He was right. Jill had appeared calm but, after tasting the ciabatta, murmured softly and looked at Rosa, Minjoon, and Kaya in disbelief.
Minjoon smiled at Rosa. “Welcome to our kitchen family, Rosa.”
Another genius baking woman had joined Lotus Bridge.
The opening of Lotus Bridge was successful in many ways. Of course, given Minjoon and Kaya’s goals, success felt a bit premature. But both had tempered their greed—more precisely, their excessive greed—recognising they shouldn’t expect too much from their first attempt.
Rachel once told Minjoon she envied him because he could clearly see what he needed to do next. At first, Minjoon couldn’t understand—as he thought Rachel had achieved everything she wanted.
But when he hired Rosa—and grasped how rare a level 9 patissier was—he finally understood Rachel’s words. Even taking a single step forward brought a joy hard to express; a joy Rachel no longer felt because she had already climbed almost every step she could.
“Cooking is like a long journey,” Minjoon said quietly. “Jill, what do you think success is?”
They shared a simple gathering. Calling it a meeting was ambiguous—the place was Lotus Bridge’s hall after hours. The kitchen staff chatted around while Minjoon spoke to Jill.
After thinking, Jill replied, “I think success is being recognised by others. For example, having a nice house and car, and everyone thinking well of me.”
“Have you always aimed for a life like that?”
“Umm… well.”
“In my case, I wish I could just cook—nothing else.”
To be honest, Minjoon remembered his difficult days as Korea’s youngest chef. Yet, at first, he even felt happy when senior chefs scolded him. Putting dream into action felt brave and right. He was sure he had made his life’s best choice.
But that happiness didn’t last. Though he was thrilled to be youngest chef, joy soon faded as he faced the reality of being a junior.
He hadn’t fully shaken that mindset for some time. Surviving Grand Chef’s finals, winning third place, being admired, receiving Rachel’s job offer, and gaining praise for Jo Reggiano all made him happy. But where had that happiness gone?
Jill asked, “It seems you don’t enjoy cooking now like you used to.”
“Right. Not anymore. Making ordinary dishes doesn’t make me happy. I want to thrill everyone.”
“Compared to anyone else’s dishes in the world?”
“Um…”
He paused, then answered.
“I used to think about it a lot. I wanted to be the best chef—and I still do. But the reason now is different: I want my cuisine to be no worse than anyone else’s. I don’t want people to say my dishes are lacking. Before, I often thought about surpassing others, but not anymore.”
“You mean you aren’t jealous?”
“Oh, you think that’s what I mean?” He chuckled.
When he asked himself, he wasn’t sure he was free of jealousy. But he was less conscious of others than before. When he was junior chef, his self-esteem tanked; since then, it had recovered.
Jealousy...
“Is Catherine asleep now?”
“Yeah, she fussed for a while but finally fell asleep. Looks like she was looking for you, Janet, more than me.”
“Gosh, it’s still your turn to look after her!”
“I know.”
Grumbling, Anderson laid Catherine in bed. Since both worked, neither could care for her continuously; they agreed on equal time daily.
Of course, they felt uneasy about this.
Even after Janet let Anderson care for Catherine, she couldn’t sleep well, uneasy and worried whether Anderson could care properly.
“Raising a child is truly hellish,” she complained.
“Hey, watch your mouth! That’s not something a mother should say,” he snapped.
“You and I can handle it because Catherine is our baby. Otherwise, we might have given up.”
“Shut up! Stop talking nonsense!” Anderson answered irritably, turning off the lamp. The phone screen Janet was watching glowed sharply.
He frowned. “Put down the phone. Let’s sleep. What are you doing?”
“Nothing. Just checking something. I’ll turn it off soon. Don’t worry.”
“What are you looking at?”
“Netizens’ comments about Lotus Bridge.”
Upon hearing that, Anderson showed interest. He glanced at the phone, but the screen’s bright light made his eyes tire quickly in the dark.
He moaned, “What do they say?”
“Overall positive. Of course, since Minjoon and Kaya run Lotus Bridge, good reactions are expected. Naturally, there’s some bad feedback about the patissier, but I heard they recently hired a good one.”
“Great.”
“Are you jealous?”