Between Stability and Transformation (part 3)
The demi chef selection’s preliminary round did not end easily. Knowing how great of an opportunity it was to join Lotus Bridge, the applicants were all on edge so as to not make a single mistake.
“They’re all commendable.”
After the preliminary round concluded, Kaya was reviewing the candidates.
“I could see how each and every one of them was making an effort to get everything right.”
“So, did you decide on who to pick?”
“Well, not yet.”
“But why are you picking out a new demi chef? I thought none of the original demi chefs have left?” Chloe asked curiously.
Kaya shrugged her shoulders.
“Minjoon said it looks like we need another demi chef.”
“Is that so?”
Chloe looked over at Minjoon as if that was an unexpected response. She wondered what was so needed about it. They already had Gwen for assistance. Of course, she had no say about matters in the kitchen as an outsider. Rather than asking about why, Chloe tossed a different question out.
“But about the test you made them do this time. Why was it in that weird format?”
“Ah, that…” Kaya’s voice dropped off shaking.
Truthfully, this is the part where she had doubts about whether she had any discernment or not.
In the preliminary round for this demi chef selection, the applicants did not do any cooking. Instead, they had to do tastings of Jo Minjoon and Kaya’s cooking.
Next, they would write down their observations of how this dish was composed, what the appealing aspects of it were, as well as what could complement it.
It was Jo Minjoon’s idea. He said that honestly, a demi chef’s cooking skills are only basic, and what was more important than hand dexterity was how specific and unique one’s vision is about the cuisine. Of course, even though he said that Jo Minjoon secretly observed their cuisine levels and immediately cut those whose level did not meet expectations.
All that was left was to read their observations, and that was it. Jo Minjoon read each and every applicant’s observations. Given that they were observations about the dishes Jo Minjoon and Kaya had made themselves, it was quite refreshing to see the applicants’ analyses into their own thought processes and into their intent to take a different approach.
On top of that, they could receive some advice. Of course, there was quite a bit of overlap in the advice, but it was not easy for Kaya and Jo Minjoon to obtain hundreds of ideas for how to complement a single dish. Normally, once you have an idea, it is difficult to think of anything beyond that idea.
“Sometimes a thought occurs to me. That what we think of as cooking skills are actually not skills. Those kinds of thoughts,” Kaya mumbled in a low voice.
Jo Minjoon could understand why Kaya brought that up. She must have been quite surprised. If someone is applying to be a demi chef, then said person is normally not at a mature enough level as a chef. But there were a number of answers these applicants had provided that were more sensory and innovative than they thought.
‘What can I do to make these thoughts my own…?’ Jo Minjoon thought as he looked at the recipes.
He thought that perhaps that last 1% he was chasing could perhaps be hidden among these countless responses. However, he could not easily tell in what form that could possibly appear.
Well, if it was a matter of reading a few pages of these submissions and figuring it out, then the past 6 months would not have been so difficult. He could now understand what Rachel must have felt when she could not surmount the wall, since for her it was not simply just 1% but a perfect wall she had to surpass. How severe could her distress have been?
Sometimes he gets hit by a bout of fear. A fear that he would remain stuck at this point, unable to catch up to Kaya. He had spent 6 months trying to achieve this last 1%, but who knows if he would need another 6 years. And during those 6 years, Kaya herself would not remain stagnant.
“We need to hire someone capable of giving us advice,” Jo Minjoon mumbled.
Chloe had a look of doubt on her face when she heard him.
“Is that even possible? Even the gourmands out there can’t give you two a single piece of good advice, so how would someone who just became a demi chef be able to?”
“That’s why they have to be a demi chef.”
“…Huh?”
Chloe’s eyes grew round and made a puzzled expression. She thought she was used to Jo Minjoon’s way of speaking, but he had a tendency to say things people could not understand.
Jo Minjoon explained carefully.
“A chef who has reached a certain level is certainly capable of giving us advice. If you go to Anderson, Janet, or Rachel and show them the exact same dish, they’ll make dozens of suggestions, right? However, those would be in their own style. And not in my style.”
“…Your demi chef’s style would be his or her own, no? At least, not yours.”
“No, not quite,” Jo Minjoon shook his head.
“As you said, a demi chef normally is not capable of providing any advice. Their skills are still inferior and they have not yet established their own style. However, the demi chef we want to pick is someone capable of providing us advice despite their skillset. Can you guess what that means?”
“Hm, well… maybe talent?”
Chloe asked Jo Minjoon while looking at him with cold eyes. Since she did not consider herself talented, she would feel discouraged when Jo Minjoon emphasizes talent.
Thankfully, Jo Minjoon waved his hands in disagreement.
“No. It’d be better to say feeling rather than talent. Someone who, despite having inferior skills and a lack of his or her own style of cooking, can look at our dishes and have a feeling for where they can be improved. We need such a person. Such a person’s advice would be free from their own personal style and would therefore be that much more inclusive and flexible.”
“Are you trying to pick out a demi chef now? Or are you looking for an advisor?”
“Both.”
Chloe let out a long sigh at Jo Minjoon’s words.
“You two really want to make it unnecessarily hard on yourselves.”
“Don’t include me in there. This is his idea,” Kaya said indifferently.
Then she glanced over at Chloe.
“Anyway, what about you? How are your classes going these days?”
“So-so. Since the students are older, they don’t do anything foolish.”
These days, Chloe is teaching Chinese cuisine classes at cooking school. The pay is not all that great, but she had started doing it because she thought she had to do something. And it turns out Chloe had a talent for teaching. Anyone who passed through her classes quickly came to understand Chinese cuisine.
And teaching at a cooking school is not all that Chloe has been doing. She was also working hard as a researcher in cuisine. The recipes she had produced already had been compiled into a book, and she had been recently appearing on television again.
Some people would see her state now and say she had lost all her spirit, and where did all that passion of hers from when she quit her show go? But actually, that passion is one that has lost its direction. It was a passion that did not have just Chloe in mind. Chloe did not have a way to use restaurants as the vehicle for her passion as Jo Minjoon, Kaya, Anderson, and others around her have by working at one.
Furthermore, Chloe has been on the rise lately. At the moment at Irregular Lab, Chloe’s menus have been performing similarly to Kaya’s menus.
“Well, I suppose you’ll do fine with your stuff.”
It may appear to be an offhand statement, but those words were full of belief in Chloe. Chloe felt warmth from those words. And so she approached Kaya stealthily and hugged her tight.
Kaya, not showing any signs of displeasure, said in a quiet voice, “I haven’t washed up yet.”
“…You do feel a bit sticky somehow.”
Chloe quietly let go. Jo Minjoon giggled as he watched them. The door at one end of the room banged open, and an incredibly cute child came running out pouting. It was Ella.
“Uncle! Kaya! Can’t you all be quiet? I have homework for tomorrow.”
“We’ll be quiet. But why didn’t you include Chloe in there? She spoke quite a lot.”
“Chloe’s okay.”
“…Look at her discriminating like that.” Kaya let out a hollow laugh and glared at Ella.
Even though some time had passed, Chloe was still an angel from Ella’s point of view, and only in front of Chloe will Ella act innocent. Ella stuck her tongue out back at Kaya.
“If you find it unfair then be as nice as Chloe.”
“Chloe’s nice?”
“Muchhh more than you.”
“…Just hurry and go find Lisa.”
At those words, Ella froze. Jo Minjoon and Chloe looked at Kaya with slightly stiff expressions. Kaya had a look of nonchalance about her. Ella continued to look at Kaya for a moment and went off in a huff to her room as if protesting Kaya’s heavy-handedness. Jo Minjoon let out a sigh.
“Kaya.”
“What?”
“…Never mind,” Jo Minjoon stopped himself short.
Even with Kaya putting it in that manner, anyone could tell she was concerned about Ella more than anyone else was. One could guess that from seeing her clenched teeth.
‘…It won’t be long now before she leaves.’
Jo Minjoon took his eyes off the observations for a moment and stared at the ceiling. It had already been a year since Lisa had entered the nursing home.
Lisa had not died.
Actually, Lisa had overcome her disease.
It was hard to tell if that was a result of Jack’s blessings or the result of her will to live. However, what they did know was that Lisa would soon return to L.A. One could consider it a miracle.
However, wherever there is light, there will also be shadows.
Ella, who had been with them for a year, would now have to leave them soon. There cannot be a happy ending where everyone could be together. No matter how deep the bond between Ella and Kaya and Jo Minjoon had grown in the past year, it was not as strong as the one Ella shared with Lisa.
It was time for the daughter to return to her mother.
It was time for her to leave them.
Selecting a demi chef took a long time. But it was not because the competition was tight. It was simply due to the sheer amount of observations that had to be read. The final candidate Kaya and Jo Minjoon favored was so overwhelming none of the other candidates could even compare. To be accurate, he was impressive. So much so that it made it difficult for them to consider anyone else.
“Lewis, welcome. And congratulations for joining our family. How do you feel?”
“Uh, um… I feel pretty good.”
This young white man whose response was a bit lacking in some aspect was the new family member at the restaurant. He was only twenty-one years old. He had just hit the age where he could finally drink.
“Lewis, your observations really spoke to us. We really enjoyed it.”
“…My observations?”
Lewis looked at the two of them with an ‘Are you both in your right minds?’ type of look. Kaya was looking at Lewis as if looking at an adorable child.
She giggled. “Why? Is there a problem with that?”
“Just that… I didn’t really think I would pass. This is a bit unexpected,” Lewis shrugged his shoulders.
Jo Minjoon thought Lewis’ reaction was pretty natural. That was how groundbreaking the content of Lewis’ observations were.
[The texture of the purée was good, but honestly, it felt like a waste of the skills spent on it. The combination of basil and peach mixed together felt like it was trying too hard to be unconventional. The subtle naturalism that was shown was too obvious. And…]
“So, what do you think? Do you still think the dish from back then was terrible?”
“The dish… Ah, the dish with the duck in it?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t think I called it terrible. Just ah, um…” Lewis scratched his head.
“It was pretty pretentious.”
He had hit us where it hurts.
CREDITS:
Original author: 양치기자리
Translator: Comic Seoul
Proofreader: Potato