God of Cooking

To be honest, it was a burden on the part of Bastien. Judges like him were supposed to be one cut about the participants in terms of cooking to be able to judge their dishes, but he wondered if the judges of this contest including himself were really ahead of them.

“Do you intend to come to the fore again in this contest next time?”

“Well, I’m basically coming here with my trust in my son. I’ve come to this contest for him, not me.”

At that moment, the judges were puzzled. They thought the reason Enzo and Theo participated in this contest was because they wanted to get even with Daniel who had defeated Enzo a long time ago. If Enzo came here for Theo, what did Theo want to get from this contest?

Bastien knew even if he asked the question, Theo would not answer.

So, he said quietly, “Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I visited Chef Enzo’s restaurant. I thought I’d have to visit it sooner or later after eating this dish.”

“It would be quite difficult for you to make a reservation.”

“Ah, I guess somebody may cancel the reservation. Please let me know in that case. After a long time, I want to try Chef Enzo’s dishes properly.”

When Bastien said that with a smile, Enzo closed his lips with a blunt expression.

With him scratching his head as if he was rather embarrassed, Asher opened his mouth.

“I’d like to give you a score of 9.5. I thought it would be okay to give 10 points if I only thought about the taste I felt at first, but the taste lingering in my mouth is slightly bitter now, and I feel like I’m thirsty for something. I think that the foam sauce alone wasn’t that fresh.”

“Mine is also 9.5. And I share his opinion. I think it will be difficult to get a better recipe with this concept anymore, but just because there is no room for improvement doesn’t mean it’s the best. It is certainly a delicious and wonderful cuisine.”

So, the two judges scored the Enzo and Theo pair’s dish. They gave the same score of 9.5 as if they promised to do so.

Min-joon muttered, “Then, this contest has three joint winners…”

“Anyway, we have survived.”

In this tournament, two out of six pairs were expected to be eliminated.

If that was the case, the pairs who got the lowest scores were obvious.

‘I wonder if Janet feels okay.’

Min-joon turned to Janet. Unfortunately, the Han pair were the only pair that scored lower than Janet and Havier. And that meant that today was the last day they would be able to participate in this competition.

Havier was not that worried because he was not the type of person who would be greatly heartbroken by his elimination from the contest. Of course, he would feel hurt, but he couldn’t help it. If he could overcome it, his experiences this time would be a great nourishment to him later.

But Min-joon could not figure out how Janet would respond because she was the type who was very obsessed with the results of this contest. As someone who could not easily admit her defeat, she would certainly find it very hard to accept the fact that she was the first among the Rose Island teams to be eliminated from this tournament. Her frustration would be even bigger, given that other pairs did very well. For example, Min-joon and Kaya created a dish that surprised even the judges with the escargots that they had never cooked properly. Anderson and Chloe also achieved the best results in this contest.

But Janet and Havier could not produce any remarkable results in this competition. Of course, some might say that just coming up to these quarterfinals alone was her achievement. That was right. Certainly, it was something remarkable that she moved up to the quarterfinals after beating the top-notch chefs from not only Paris but also from all over the world. If Min-joon and Anderson were also eliminated from the quarterfinals, or even before that, Janet would have thought so, too.

But now that the Min-joon pair and the Anderson pair have survived, the objective indicators of her results in this contest were meaningless to Janet. It was not all the chefs here that she was competing with right now, but only Min-joon and Anderson.

At that moment, Janet lifted her head, sighing, as if she was exhausted. Min-joon thought that the light of fluorescent lamps shining in her black pupil was like tears.

***

One could put up with pain or anger, but happiness was an irresistible feeling.

On the way back to the hotel after the quarterfinals today, Anderson could not help but smile oftentimes. A smile was on Chloe’s face, too. Normally, they would have expressed their happy feelings freely, but they couldn’t now because Janet was so gloomy.

It seemed that none of the Rose Island teams would dare to speak to Janet while they were going back to the hotel, but when their car drove halfway down the road, the silence among them was broken by Janet.

“Sorry, guys.”

When Janet suddenly expressed apologies, they couldn’t figure out what to say.

So, Min-joon asked, “Why is that, Janet?”

“If my pair hadn’t been eliminated, our atmosphere would have been better today, but you guys look depressed because of us.”

“If you think you’re really sorry, don’t say that. We’re not feeling bad because of that.”

Janet bit her lips. As someone who felt proud of herself all the time, she might feel hurt just because she made her colleagues feel bad and uncomfortable because of her.

But Min-joon did not bother to admonish her.

Eventually, silence fell again, which continued until they reached the hotel.

The moment they were about to enter the hotel, she called Anderson.

“Hey.”

“Why.”

“Let’s have a drink.”

Anderson looked at Janet for a moment. He was tired, but he couldn’t decline her request now. Eventually, Anderson followed Janet, and Chloe tilted her head, watching them.

“They are more friendly than I thought. Are you sure they are just friends?”

“Well, they are just friends for now, but who knows? You can’t predict the relationship between a man and a woman.”

“Phew! I’m glad I’ve got good results, but I’m sorry for both Janet and Havier.”

“You don’t have to feel sorry. We didn’t have bad scores anyway. Actually, we got more than we lost,” Havier said, smiling calmly. What one of the judges commented about their dish was still ringing in my ears. The judge said he was “too timid” in approaching cooking. Havier could not deny that cold-hearted feedback.

Havier bit his teeth and muttered, “Was I too passive?”

Havier admitted that he lagged behind other chefs. He also admitted that he was not as talented as his colleagues. So, I tried to move forward step by step. But he wondered if he forgot to run while he was absorbed into walking step by step.

At that moment, somebody familiar to him walked out of a car parked on the road.

He was Brandon.

“Uh, Brandon? What brought you here?”

“Well, I’d like to congratulate you guys on your achievement in the quarterfinals, and express gratitude to you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, customers’ reservation rate has increased significantly while you’re in the competition. The name Rose Island was popular among gourmets, but it’s now getting the intense attention of the general public.”

“I see. We just did our job.”

“So I brought you some gifts. I have a favor to ask of you, though.”

When he said that, they looked at him curiously.

Brandon sighed, rubbing his temple, “My sous chef didn’t take care of himself and overworked, and he is sick in bed. So, I hope one of you guys can sub for him as the sous chef here since you are all competent. You are here at the right time, I think. Of course, I’ll give you good compensation for your work. Is anybody willing to work for just one week?”

“Are you offering us a sous chef position now?”

“Don’t get excited. This is not a full-time job. It is not even a contract position.”

Brandon drew a line strictly.

“This is a part-time job.”

***

“Don’t get drunk too much. I don’t want to take care of you like I did last time,” said Anderson. “I’m not drunk.”

“Last time you said the same thing, but you got drunk.”

“No, I’m not drunk. I’m so upset. I can’t get drunk because I’m so angry.”

Janet gulped down her whiskey. Anderson glanced at her quietly then sipped a bit of beer.

She opened her mouth in a trembling voice.

“It seems the world is just pressing me down. No matter what I do, I don’t get the good results.”

Anderson did not answer because he understood her feelings now. He also felt the same thing while looking at Min-joon. But he knew he was ahead of Min-joon in some fields sometimes. But she was not.

She asked, “When can I be called a good chef?”

“You’re a good chef even now. If you’re not, all the chefs who were eliminated before you are fake chefs. Are you going to call them fake chefs?”

“I don’t know. But I feel so miserable about myself. I’ve never shone until now. Today was the worst day for me, and I am feeling the worst, too.”

Honestly, Anderson couldn’t say that she was wrong. Someone said that it was okay for ordinary men to lead their lives in a leisurely manner without caring about others, but for those who were trying to look up, like her, life sometimes looked empty or worthless unless they could go to the top of their field.

Janet had a dream, a dream that could never be said to be ordinary. It was her ambition. So, she was just frustrated at the fact that she could not even beat her colleagues.

‘Just because I have a big dream, it doesn’t mean my life should be grand.’

Rather, she could end up groaning under the heavy load of life.

Chuckling suddenly, she looked at him. As if she was drunk, her face looked reddish.

“By the way, you must feel great since you heard such great feedback from the judges. You also beat Min-joon.”

“Well, Min-joon had no basic knowledge of escargots, so I didn’t have to brag because I beat him.”

“But this guy who had no such basic knowledge got a better score than me.”

“If you go back to Los Angeles this time, Chef Rachel will definitely praise you. It’s never easy to get up to the quarterfinals in this contest. You can get enough respect for this alone.”

But Janet didn’t answer. She was just watching the whiskey in the glass.

He said, “Stop comparing yourself to others. Only you will feel heavier.”

“Then, did you quit comparing yourself to others?”

He couldn’t answer instantly, for he didn’t yet. When he saw Min-joon, he thought Min-joon was great. And he always thought he wanted to be like Min-joon. But whenever he thought of it, he had to face the reality, which was comparing himself to Min-joon. He felt the same pain as hers when he saw Min-joon.

“Let me go to the bathroom.” Anderson stood up with a sigh.

She just looked at the whiskey without looking back at him.

A little later, the bartender came up to her and said, “Sorry to interrupt you, but your phone has been ringing for long.”

She could not understand his French, but she noticed him pointing to her cellphone.

She lifted her phone, frowning. The number was unknown to her.

“Hello?”

She immediately got sober at the voice over the phone.