God of Cooking

"Well, dishes with nice plating look good to your customers. You know everybody has a different opinion on what looks beautiful to them. In other words, their opinion is very subjective. For example, a woman might look ugly to someone, but very beautiful to you, right? She can be your beautiful lover or daughter to some parents."

"That's because it involves something like a relationship, isn't it?"

"Do you think there is no relationship between your dish and your customer?"

Min-joon just blankly looked at her without replying properly to her question.

She said with a sigh, "I'm sorry. I think I keep asking you questions that you can't answer. Let me just tell you what I think. I don't think putting your dish on a plate is not all about cooking. Apart from betting on cooking, it just doesn't make any sense if you think of your dishes only in that respect."

"What do you mean?"

"You know people think about the dish even before they try it. As for the same dish, they feel differently about it, depending on where they eat or who eats it. Think about it. If a customer eats a dish made by a serial killer, do you think the customer can enjoy it at all?"

"Well, I don't think the customer can enjoy it at all in a situation like that."

"That's right. When customers look at your plate, they'll think it's your cooking even before they look into its ingredients on the plate. You know what? No matter how good you are at cooking, you can't have that quality automatically. In other words, your existence itself is plating. To put it more bluntly, every chef can be said to be a decoration on the plate itself."

He seemed to have a lot on his mind after pondering over her remarks.

After pausing for a moment, he opened his mouth.

"Well, any chef can become famous by making lots of effort. You can't call it his or her quality, right?"

"Are you serious? If you are, I want to hit you."

"Well, just take it as a joke. I don't want to be hit."

"Okay. If I have to refute what you have just said, I want to tell you that you have to check your status a little more. No matter how good they are, whose cooking skills are as good as Rachel, they don't get any good response when they appear on a TV show. But how about you? In less than a year, when you made your debut in the cooking world, you have drawn such a wide reaction and even popularity among the general public. They all remember that you are the one who has made Cho Reggiano. They remember your name—Min-joon Cho."

Did Min-joon really know that he had become the envy and jealousy of all the chefs? Even Deborah, the head chef of a One-Star Restaurant, felt like that, not to mention, other chefs.

As a matter of fact, the process of Min-joon becoming a star chef was truly shocking. He had never lost favor with the general public, nor had he served as an unknown or apprentice for a long time. He quickly became a demi chef, and at the same time, he became a star chef.

"Well, I'm so envious of you. Would you like to switch your life with mine? Let's switch!"

"If you switch your life with mine, you have to marry Kaya. Would it be okay?"

"Yeah, I can divorce!"

"Then, I won't change it."

"Huh, it looks like you're going to switch your life with mine if I say I won't get divorced, hahaha."

Deborah burst into laughter. But her laughter didn't last long. Soon, she leaned against the wall with a gloomy expression and sighed.

When he glanced at her, she opened her mouth with a subdued voice, "Actually, I'm talking high and mighty like this, I haven't found an answer to what I should focus on yet. I'm really frustrated."

"Oh, you aren't in a position to say that! You have a Michelin star."

"Yeah, one star. One star, not three or two stars. I'm one who is worried about losing even one star instead of caring about two or three stars every time the new Michelin Guide comes out."

He could feel self-mockery and disappointment in her voice. While listening to her, he slowly opened his mouth when she was getting more and more dejected.

"Is there something wrong with your restaurant?"

"Well, the problem is that I don't know what's the problem. If I know, I can fix it."

"Can you cook any dish for me?"

"For you?"

"Of course, if you need my advice. It's nothing special, but it would be possible for me to share your concern. That's why you came here, right?"

"Oh, sure. As Rachel is not here anyway, I think that's a good idea. What do you want me to cook for you? Any dish you have in your mind?"

"Well, how about the dish you have developed lately? It really matters how I feel about your latest dish."

At that moment, She turned her eyes from him with a bit of a gloomy expression. When he looked at her with a puzzled expression, she opened her mouth with some hesitation.

"To be honest, I developed my latest dish five months ago. I don't want to hide anything, so let me confess like this…"

"Five months ago?"

Although he tried not to show his surprise, he could not help but respond with a trembling voice. It was natural he came up with such a reaction because if she developed it five months ago, it meant there was no change in the menu of her restaurant for the past five months.

She lowered her head with a bitter look.

"That's true. Though I talked to you conceitedly a little while ago, I was so ashamed of myself."

"Why haven't you developed some new dishes for as many as five months?"

"Well, I don't know. What I'm certain of is that I don't have the same inspiration as I used to. I'm so frustrated, but that's my reality now. I've forgotten what my original dish is or how I can make my original dish. I just barely get by keeping my existing regular customers."

Having said that, she laughed bitterly.

"That's why I fled to this place with the excuse of renovating my restaurant. I wanted to come here to get Rachel's solution."

"How did you lose your inspiration?"

"Well, first of all, let me blame myself. I think I had a lot on my mind back then. It's good that I thought a lot, but the problem was my thinking was so shallow."

"Shallow thinking?"

"Now, let me blame the Michelin. You have seen me restless and nervous all the time, right?"

"I don't think I've seen you like that all the time. In fact, I haven't seen you often."

"Oh, you're right. It's funny I'm saying this to you like this. You haven't seen me that often."

He smiled at her slightly. In fact, it wasn't Deborah alone who confessed their ups and downs to him. Not only Justin and Anderson but also those regular customers that Min-joon saw only a couple of times lamented the absence of good luck in their lives.

But Min-joon didn't like it. Kaya teased him, saying his look was good enough to make people want to confide in him, but he didn't think so. Nobody would want to talk to somebody they didn't like about their misfortune in their lives.

In other words, those who told Min-joon about their misfortunes must have thought that he was a good guy they could trust enough to talk about their stories. And he was narrow-minded enough to feel offended by somebody's complaints about him behind his back.

"If you don't want to tell me about it, you don't have to," said Min-joon.

"No. I know what I'm about to tell you is going to make me ashamed, but I can't get your advice for free. To say the least, I was too conscious of the Michelin."

"Everyone would do so. In particular, if they want a Michelin star."

"Yeah. But I went too far in my case. When the Michelin evaluators stopped by and gave a good review of a certain dish, I tried to keep that menu as long as I could. But when their review was not good, I immediately removed it from the menu. I've been keeping that principle. At the end of the day, I realized that the course at my restaurant was not my own, but set by the Michelin."

"That's sad…"

"Have you ever had dead skin? A white one."

Min-joon nodded. Smiling at him, she looked at her arm. It was a clean skin with no freckles, but in her eyes, it seemed that it was covered with dead skin.

"At first, it's small, but the more you try to get it out, the affected area gets bigger and bigger. That's what happened to me. At first, I tried to curry favor with the Michelin evaluators, but at some point, I found myself acting like their slave. Do you know what's the funny part of it?"

"I don't think it's funny, given the way you are speaking to me now."

"Yeah, that's right. It's not funny at all. Dave, who pursued his own path nicely, did better than me when I was obsessed with the Michelin. He and I are from the same class, but I've got one star and he's got three."

"It's always terrible to lag behind your friend."

"You know that feeling? I think you've never been outdone by your friends during your life."

"Well, things worked out well recently, but that doesn't mean I've always been on a roll."

"Oh, really? If you say that, I have no other choice but to take it."

"Please cook something first. I understand your situation."

"Got it. Can I use this stove?"

"Sure."

Although she said she would make a dish quickly, it took almost an hour for her to finish it and bring it to him. When the break time was almost over, she put down a plate before him.

"Now, try it. This dish has been well received by gourmets. It tastes the same, of course."

"Wow, it's a really fresh recipe," said Min-joon, admiring her skills.