God of Cooking

“Uncle!”

As soon as she saw Min-joon, Ella immediately ran and hugged him. Her blushing cheek touched his waist. He smiled at her brightly. He then hugged her tightly. Even though him and her were not related, he felt as if she was his nephew.

He raised his head. It was Marco, not Lisa, who came out with Ella. Marco smiled softly and waved his hand.

“Welcome back!”

“Yeah. It’s been a while. Have you been waiting for a long time?”

“Not really. About twenty minutes. You came out sooner than I thought.”

“Well, this is a domestic flight. So I don’t have anything particular to process here.”

“Oh, you’re right.”

Marco laughed awkwardly as if he just realized it. Watching his innocent smile, Min-joon felt as if he went back to the old days when they were together. He could even shake off the unhappy episode about Kaya from his mind.

“Where are you going? Directly to the Venice restaurant?”

“No, I don’t have to go there yet. I still have a few hours left before the appointment time. Thank you for coming here. Won’t you like something to eat? Let me treat you.”

“Sure.”

“I want to have fish and chips,” said Ella suddenly.

Marco and Min-joon looked at each other’s faces for a moment. They then shrugged their shoulders. It didn’t matter to them what they would eat.

“Sure, let’s go then. I know a nice restaurant.”

Min-joon led them. He didn’t lead them there deliberately, but it was a restaurant located quite near the Venice branch of Rose Island.

So he couldn’t help it because most fish and chips restaurants tended to be located on the waterfront.

A little later, Ella, who sat at a table on the beachside, began to chew fried fish with a cute expression. The cod meat wrapped with not-so-thick dough was surprisingly thick.

Min-joon took a bite of the fried cod and thought, ‘It’s much better than a fish cutlet.’

Since fish and chips was a British dish, many people just ignored it without even trying it.

However, fish and chips was not a dish for them to ignore if it was cooked well. First of all, the fact that one could chew the cod’s flesh with one’s mouth wide open as if to eat a hamburger showed it was quite different from typical dishes.

Some people might be puzzled when they thought of something like a fish steak. They thought they could eat fish steak by removing its flesh, but they were wrong. As soon as they put a knife on it, its meat was easily crushed, and in that case, there was not much left that they could take to their mouths with a fork. Of course, they could hold the fish meat with both hands and put it in their mouths just like Min-joon eating fish and chips now, but it was hard to find someone brazen enough to do so in a restaurant.

‘There is no fishy smell at all.’

Hard-boiled soy sauce was also attractive, but in terms of its stimulating taste, there were few ways to make cod more attractive than fish and chips. So, frying the cod like this was pretty much creative.

Min-joon soon sprinkled a little vinegar on the french fries and took it to his mouth. A lot of people would be horrified to see him sprinkling vinegar on french fries, but it was surprisingly quite orthodox.

‘Alright. I had better add some ketchup as well.’

It was not bad to dip it in Sriracha sauce or hot sauce and eat it.

Since he always enjoyed only luxurious and high-level tastes, Min-joon liked the simplicity of this dish.

“So, are you coming to Los Angeles?”

“Yeah.”

Ella, who was relishing in fish and chips, raised her head and looked at him.

“Really?”

“Yeah, sooner or later.”

“I hope you can come sooner,” she said, smiling, then turning sullen. She thought it was a pity that he was located in New York right now, but she felt happy to know that he might come back soon.

“Is your mom okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. These days she is working in a bakery.”

“What a relief!”

Min-joon was truly relieved to hear it. He was worried a bit when Marco, not Lisa, said he was going to greet him when he was visiting Los Angeles because he thought Lisa wanted to come out but couldn’t because she was sick.

When he heard Ella saying that she was working at the bakery, he recalled Jack’s last moment when he was full of burning passion right before his death. But Lisa had to overcome it. He wanted her to persevere and stay with them forever. He didn’t want Ella to be left alone.

While he was lost in such thoughts, he was looking at Ella.

She was looking at his face with some hesitation. She then moved her hand with a determined expression. She gently tapped him.

“Uh?”

“Eat this,” she said, sucking salt from her fingers. She just gave one of her fried fish to him.

“No thanks, I’m fine.”

“You ate all the fish. Eat this one, too, uncle. I’m small, so it’s okay even if I don’t eat a lot.”

She should have given it to Marco who was bigger than Min-joon. Besides, Marco already emptied the fishbowl but also mashed potatoes on it.

Min-joon finally smiled at her and picked up the fish.

“Thanks.”

The fish cake was still warm.

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“Every time I see the Venice store, it’s amazing.”

Marco left right after dropping Min-joon in front of the Venice store, saying he had to go back to the bakery. But Ella was left behind with Min-joon. She seemed to know she might disturb Min-joon’s conversation with Rachel soon, but she was basically not a naughty girl. As long as she stayed quiet, there would be nothing wrong with her being together with them.

“Aren’t you going to open this restaurant again?” Ella asked in a sad voice.

He said, putting his hand on her head, “We’ll probably open it soon.”

“Probably? What do you mean?”

“Well, I might become the owner of this restaurant.”

“Really?”

Ella opened her eyes wide. The Rose Island Venice branch was a pretty awesome place for her because all the great men around her used to work for this restaurant. It was safe to say that it was the greatest restaurant in the world. Then he is going to be the owner of this restaurant?

“Uncle, you are awesome!”

As always, the envy of a child like her was embarrassing, but he didn’t have to ignore it.

He sat down with her and looked around the place quietly. There were some hippies and homeless people gathering and taking drugs, and some girls dressed up like models walking in high heels with a squeaking noise.

This was a strange neighborhood. It looked like Harlem in some respects, but there was an indescribable vitality and beauty here. He could feel more vividly why Daniel opened a restaurant in this place.

‘Can I be like you, too?’ Min-joon asked Daniel.

Of course, Daniel didn’t answer. Instead, he sent his wife, Rachel.

Squeak!

A car screeched to a halt before him, then Isaac and Rachel got out of the car and approached him. He instinctively tried to bow to her, but didn’t.

“Rachel!”

He smiled at her, who did, too.

“Min-joon!”

It was time for the two to solve the homework that they left to each other.

Isaac opened the door. Min-joon and Rachel quietly entered the restaurant.

Kitchen, hall, office, and the break room. It was the hall where his eyes rested while he was walking, lost in thoughts.

It was an interesting situation. The old owner, and the one who might soon be the new owner, sat down at the guest’s table.

After Isaac took Ella’s hand and headed for the break room, there was no conversation between Rachel and Min-joon for a long time. They could have had a meaningless conversation about their personal affairs, but they were now too confused to think about it.

But they didn’t feel awkward about their silence. And their silence was not meaningless.

Strange enough, he felt like he was having a good conversation with Rachel through silence.

Deep down, he asked himself and Rachel. And she replied. He was not sure if she really had replied like that when he actually asked her, but while he was facing her like now, the Rachel in his mind was talking more clearly than her in front of him.

So when his quiet conversation with her in his mind was over, he asked, “Have you found the answer?”

He was not sure if Rachel went through the same process as him.

She asked quietly, “Then, have you found it?”

“I think I’ve found it, even though I don’t know if it’s the right answer. Anyway, I’ve found the best answer I can.”

“I see…” she said calmly.

Watching her quietly, he felt a strange sense of déjà vu. He noticed she was different this time. He felt she lacked something. And he found out what it was.