God of Cooking

Upon hearing it, Kaya responded with a bitter smile, “I have no intention of hiring them easily.”

“Really?”

“When people see us trying to have fun in our lives, they tend to think that life is a show program, not a documentary. We’re not opening a restaurant to play house, but that’s not true. I don’t want to reach out to those who don’t have any cooking talents or qualifications just because I like their dreams.”

Gwen felt a bit guilty to hear that. She felt strange at the moment. Obviously, she was not a chef with no talents or cooking qualifications. Her status as the 2nd place winner of the Grand Chef competition was something that even those who properly learned cooking at a culinary school could not obtain easily.

Nonetheless, she felt small whenever she heard somebody talking about things like this. In other words, she was not confident yet. Although a lot of people praised her, she felt their praise was fake. She thought that she was wearing a mask that disguised her as a good and valuable cook, but when she took it off, she felt as if she was going back to the old her who was an incompetent and worthless drug addict.

Of course, Kaya couldn’t figure out how far Gwen was thinking. Even if she had read Gwen’s mind, she would not have cared because she could not take care of Gwen’s weakness forever. It was Gwen who had to fix her own problems because Kaya was not a psychiatrist.

“Well, I think those who will see me face to face in the job interview will be less than 100,” Kaya said, sipping whiskey. “There are more than five hundred people who dropped out of the screening. Even those who had never had a proper cooking career, and even those who had just graduated from a culinary school didn’t even want to apply for a job as a cook. I was surprised that all of them applied for the demi-chef job.”

The fact that those without any cooking career applied for the demi-chef job at Lotus Bridge might mean that they made light of the kitchen of Lotus Bridge.

Of course, Min-joon directly got a job as a demi-chef without any formal cooking career in a restaurant. But it was not common for someone with the same experience as him to land a job as a demi-chef in a restaurant of this size. He could get the job not only because of Rachel’s favor but also because of his excellence at the Grand Chef competition.

That was the case with Gwen. Min-joon and Kaya decided to offer the demi-chef job to Gwen after thinking about it really hard. Of course, it wasn’t an easy choice because she had no actual cooking career. But she was in a situation similar to Min-joon’s in the past. Even though she had no cooking career, she had a lot more skills and talent than her career, and fortunately, Min-joon and Kaya didn’t yet open their new restaurant. This meant that they still had enough time for the kitchen staff to adapt to the new working environment and work together well. Even if she had a little cooking career, she could make up for it while working with other staff in the kitchen.

“It’s funny. We had to go on a cooking audition back then,” said Janet, currently the demi-chef at Rose Island, patting Catherine on the back in her arms.

Those who went on a cooking audition were now in a position to host the audition. They could not believe time flew so fast. They might not have realized that they became more valuable as time passed.

Could they be more valuable as they had more to put down on their CVs? All of a sudden, Janet recalled a famous joke about white men in American society that as a white man grew older, he would make lots of money just by sitting on his office chair. Did they really make lots of money simply because they grew old or because they were competent?

At that moment, Janet looked at Min-joon and Kaya. Perhaps they wouldn’t care about that. They had no doubts about the sincerity of people’s praise of them. They didn’t deny their own worth. Perhaps, they regard themselves as more valuable than others do.

Gwen thought they were really cool. She sometimes wished she could lead a life with the same mindset as theirs.

***

Lotus Bridge was located in downtown Los Angeles. Contrary to the envy of many people, Los Angeles wasn’t such a glamorous city. Given that it was a dangerous and outdated neighborhood with lots of old buildings, the building that housed Lotus Bridge gave the visitors an overwhelming atmosphere from the moment they entered it.

Gulp.

Minwoo Lee swallowed with a nervous expression. He knew that Lotus Bridge opened in the same place where the original Rose Island used to be located. Considering the name value of Rose Island, of course, he took it for granted that it was gorgeous and luxurious. But the problem he faced now had nothing to do with that kind of stuff.

Minwoo, who got on the golden elevator, forgot which floor button he had to push, so he just stood there blankly. As a result, the elevator didn’t move.

Shortly afterward, somebody got into the elevator. The dark-skinned woman was startled to see him in the elevator.

“What are you doing?”

“Pardon?”

“Why are you just staying here instead of going up when you are on an elevator?”

“Oh, really? Didn’t the elevator go up?” he asked in a stupid voice.

She looked at him strangely as if she had never seen a flake like him. She then got into the elevator as if she wasn’t interested in him at all. In fact, there were lots of flakes in Los Angeles, so this was not much of a surprise for her.

But when he still didn’t press the button after she did, she had no choice but to pay attention to him again. She hesitantly turned back several times, then finally said when the elevator began to go up.

“Aren’t you gonna press a button?”

“Well, I’m going to the same floor.”

“…”

“I’m serious. You’re going to Lotus Bridge, aren’t you?”

“That’s right.”

“We’re on the same boat. Good luck.”

“I guess so,” she answered in an awkward voice.

She initially thought he was rather weird, but when she found out he was an applicant going to the interview like her, she was more than embarrassed. But she didn’t have time to care about him. She took a deep breath and looked at her elevator door. She thought she would have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get a job at Lotus Bridge today.

‘I can’t miss it.’

Min-joon and Kaya were the most popular chefs in America right now. And there were many reasons why they were so popular, but at the end of the day, the most important thing was their cooking skills. Because of that, they could still survive rather than running out of their capabilities.

She was the type of woman who believed in the importance of the environment more than anyone else. She believed that beggars tended to gather around each other, while the rich around the rich. In that respect, Min-joon and Kaya were like the best environment she could have now.

She was confident of getting a job at Lotus Island. Until now, she had been taking an elite course. She graduated from the best culinary school in America and started her career in a restaurant that was quite well known to people.

According to rumors, most of the people who applied for Lotus Bridge didn’t even have any appropriate cooking career. So she naturally thought she had no reason to be defeated by them. Besides, she had no reason to feel nervous.

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Jill.”

“Jill! That’s a pretty name. I’m Minwoo.”

“I like your name, too.”

Of course, she answered perfunctorily. As if he also noticed it, he didn’t say any more. She and he were quite tense at the moment. If she didn’t want to talk, he didn’t have to bother to speak to her.

The elevator went up for quite some time because their floor was located on the top. He just hoped that the elevator door would open as soon as possible because he felt very stuffy at the moment.

But soon he realized that he didn’t feel stuffy because of the air.

‘… Wow.’

He let out an exclamation before he knew it. When the elevator opened and he saw Lotus Bridge, he felt as if his shoulders were being crushed for a moment. Numerous applicants already arrived there, chatting or relaxing.

Such a large number of applicants as well as their tense atmosphere made him pretty nervous. Since they were here for a cooking audition, there were very few who made up their faces. Most of them were dressed up for today’s cooking audition, which was a big contrast to him who hurriedly came here after putting on a hoodie.

As if they seemed to have found like-minded applicants, some of them were seen laughing and chatting to each other. Watching them relaxed, he just felt he was getting small. No wonder he felt so because he was once an intern cook, which meant he had no cooking career at all.

‘Well, I baked patties at McDonald’s.’

However, he didn’t even bother to include it in his CV because he thought it would only be a negative factor.