Spread-out Wings (2)
“…A child?”
Jo Minjoon turned to look at Kaya. It was not like he did not understand why Kaya was saying this now, but it was still rather unexpected.
He continued speaking, “Didn’t we make a decision the last time? That we wouldn’t have any children until we could establish ourselves.”
“Yeah, we did. But, haven’t we established ourselves?”
“Well… I suppose.”
He was blindsided. Jo Minjoon stared up at the ceiling, surprised. He was suddenly lost in thought.
“We really have established ourselves. Already.”
“Not just already. For the past year, no, for our entire lives, we’ve put in so much hard work.”
“We have a lot of incidents happen as well. There was that stalker incident and that Tess Giller incident.”
“Don’t bring that Tess girl up in front of me.”
Kaya shook her head side-to-side annoyed just by the thought of it. Honestly, she could still remember how she had felt back then. She had clearly been the victim back then, but many people had pointed fingers at her.
She could not understand it. To the point she thought maybe the entire world was crazy. The world had to be crazy. Otherwise, she would have gone crazy herself.
Of course, at this point, it was a thing of the past. The world, which had been biased against her, now held expectations for her instead. Of course, the burdensome feeling brought by expectations was no different from the one brought by biases. But at the very least, she was able to shed the fear of people hating her. To say her world had changed would be an understatement.
“We’ve come a long way,” Kaya said quietly.
A two-star rating by Michelin. The meaning behind it was honestly not ordinary. If you consider how many restaurants are rated three stars, it means they are situated to be seated among the restaurants with the highest rating from Michelin.
It was a strange feeling to know the path they had walked on already was longer than the path before them. It was more of a special feeling than a normal one. What others considered special was all just ordinary to them.
Then in this situation, how about doing more of something truly ordinary?
“I doubt we could handle it,” Jo Minjoon said quietly.
Kaya replied in a sulking voice, “Why couldn’t we? We lived pretty well with Ella.”
Despite Ella not being their own child, each day Jo Minjoon and Kaya spent together with her did not feel all that difficult. It was a time during which they properly felt the gravity of responsibility. Even if it was for Lisa, they were worried that Ella might suffer from negligence, so they took care of her.
Of course it had not been easy for them. There was no way it could have been. It was a period of time where they had to be very careful of every expression they made or every word they uttered so as to not hurt Ella’s feelings. However, they did not particularly dislike that inconvenience. Even if it was tiring at times, seeing Ella look a little brighter and happier made them forget about all the difficulties.
“It was because she was Ella that we could do it.”
However, Jo Minjoon still responded like that. Kaya frowned.
“Do you think we wouldn’t be able to do the same for our own kid? Why not?”
“We would do the same for our kid. However, feeling that way about our kid who hasn’t even been born yet… Well, I don’t know.”
“It’s not that you don’t know. You know very well. If you say it like that, that means you aren’t thinking of having a child.”
“Kaya, think about it. We’re still young. We don’t need to be rushing to have children. Even if we had just managed to establish ourselves, this is the time when we should focus even more on our restaurant. Don’t you think?”
“I dunno… I’m gonna sleep.”
Kaya peevishly turned the other way as if to sleep. Jo Minjoon swallowed a sigh. He had made a mistake. There would be no reason why Kaya would listen to anything practical about the situation at a time like this. She would not have wanted to hear Jo Minjoon’s rational approach in the first place. It was more important to her to share her feelings of wanting a child.
‘Women are difficult.’
Even though he knew that feelings were more important than logic, he would sometimes forget that. If he thought about it, they were not that consistent about using birth control anyway. Whether or not they were to have a child would not greatly affect them now, yet he still had led the conversation down the path of an argument.
“Kaya.”
“…”
“Kaya, are you sleeping?”
“…”
“It doesn’t seem like you are.”
“Why? What?” Kaya replied in a childish voice.
Jo Minjoon smiled bitterly and placed a hand on Kaya’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry.”
“About what?”
“Just everything.”
It was an insincere apology. However, Kaya did not shake off Jo Minjoon’s hand. She was not the type to get peeved in the first place. Kaya turned her head slightly toward Jo Minjoon.
“…I don’t like this.”
What exactly ‘this’ referred to was a bit vague, but Jo Minjoon did not dare ask. It was not that important.
So he said, “I don’t like it either.”
“I am sorry. I don’t think I would have time to appear on your show.”
<< Ah, are you really not able to make any time for it? We are able to cater to all your needs from anything from the flight to the shooting schedule. >>
“It would still be impossible. Honestly, I also declined the show last time for traveling to an island for a week. This bi-weekly program… would really be impossible for me. I’m sorry.”
Jo Minjoon had been busy taking calls from Korea these days. That was why Jo Minjoon was even seriously considering blocking all numbers from Korea.
Jill took a furtive look at Jo Minjoon and asked, “Was that another request for a show?”
“Yeah. I had thought maybe that had finally ended, but there is no end to it. I’m thinking of ignoring all calls from Korea now.”
“I’m jealous. I want to be able to refuse requests to appear on shows.”
“You didn’t want to appear on them, though?”
“I think refusing is cooler than actually appearing on one. It’s easy enough to say you’d appear on one, but refusing is seriously hard. Even more so for people like me who have yet to experience the price of fame, or whatever,” Jill said, shrugging her shoulders.
Jo Minjoon glanced at the window that appeared next to Jill.
[Jill Ellington]
Cooking Level : 7
Baking Level : 5
Gourmet Level : 9
Decoration Level : 6
Her levels were adequately high. In fact, Jo Minjoon had already acquired more fame than Jill when his levels were inferior to hers now. If one’s qualifications for fame increased proportionately to one’s skills, then Jill would have been sufficiently qualified.
“Do you want to be known to the public?”
“Rather than being known to the public, I’d rather be known to this industry.”
Jill let out a sigh and said, “Still, it seems like the best way to make one’s name known in this industry is to do what you did, Chef. That is, to make oneself known to the public.”
“I must look pretty full1.”
“You look like you’re going to burst,” Jill lamented.
It was not that bad of a joke, considering it was Jill. Jo Minjoon turned his head and said, “Your time will come, too.”
“Aren’t you just saying that?”
“No. I’m not just saying it to say it. I really do believe that people with skills will, one way or another, receive their just reward. And you’re a skillful chef. I can guarantee that.”
“…How can you just come out and say something like that?”
Jill stroked her short hair as if embarrassed and turned her head slightly. Lee Minwoo had been researching recipes in the kitchen for a while. After being promoted to chef a few months ago, he wanted to push through his very first recipe as a chef and had poured a lot of energy into it. Of course, the fruits of such labor seemed to be still far off.
Jill mumbled quietly, “Well, seeing as how he had managed to rise up to the sous chef position, which had also seemed far off for him, I’m sure there will be a day when I will become chef, as well.”
“That may be difficult for you.”
“Come on, now, Chef!”
In response to Jill’s protest, Jo Minjoon giggled. It was at that time Kaya interceded. She put a hand on each of Jo Minjoon’s and Jill’s shoulders and raised one eyebrow.
“Don’t you think there’s a bit too much chatter between a married man and an unmarried woman here?”
“Kaya, do you think I’m unmarried because I want to be? I’m so busy coming here every day to the restaurant to work. When would I even have time to date anyone?”
“I know one woman who ended up as an old maid.”
Jo Minjoon suddenly recalled one woman’s face. Jo Minjoon quietly apologized inwardly to June and glanced over at Kaya.
“You said you had thought of a recipe. How did it turn out?”
“…Well, it was a disaster.”
Kaya let out a sigh that sounded like her telling off the ground. It was so loud with all her strength put into it, one had to wonder if a sigh could even be that loud.
“I can imagine what the taste is in my head, but I don’t know how to express it.”
“That’s pretty common. If you need help, let me know any time. It may work out better with two people on it, no?”
“No, thanks. I really need to conquer this by myself.”
“…’Conquering’ a recipe, eh?”
Jo Minjoon looked at Kaya with a look on his face that showed how cute he thought she was being. Seeing his look, Jill felt a pang in her side. Jo Minjoon and Kaya were the couple who got along the best out of all the couples she knew. Even though it had barely been a year since the two of them married, the looks on their faces when they looked at each other were ones not commonly seen between other couples.
‘They make me want to get married.’
However, she could not just grab any man as her husband and become a couple as those two are. It was not a problem of whether or not they would love each other. It was a problem of whether they would understand each other or not. The two of them could completely understand every aspect of each of their unusual senses. They were able to completely express what others would say is chasing clouds and nonsense.
Is that perhaps why? The recipes in the restaurant that drew the most popularity were actually not the recipes that they made separately, but were the ones where they had put their heads together to make.
Some people may think that some are obvious, but it is in fact not normal. Like what happens when there are too many cooks in the kitchen2, taking two chefs’ opinions on a recipe will more often result in conflict and not in a wealth of opinions. It ends up wasting everyone’s energy to the point they would even forget mostly about the recipe itself.
However, Jo Minjoon and Kaya were different. When they each present their ideas, they do not consider it an attack on their own opinion. What was more important to them was the taste and not having their opinions respected. Because the two of them lived in a way that treated cooking more important than their own selves, and because each had senses that far surpassed anyone else, the two of them could look at their dishes without any bias of which of them was better.
‘Although there have been times when problems came up.’
After Jo Reggiano and Six Meats, they have not been able to produce any recipe between the two of them that shook the culinary world. However, having the two of them present meant that there was a possibility the two of them could produce the world’s best recipe.
Also, Jo Minjoon did not think all that differently on that point. Of course, luck had played a large role in the smashing success of Jo Reggiano and Six Meats, but that luck was not entirely absent even now. Luck also being a skill is because luck is always with people. The environment and inspiration from back then were all still with them. Their skills were improving.
‘…We should also slowly take a step forward.’
He had finally reached level 9, like Kaya had. Of course, there could be no real big difference in meaning behind the different number, but now that he had climbed over that wall, there would be no greater joy than to come up with a dish with a different kind of charm from Jo Reggiano.
It was at the moment when Jo Minjoon had opened his mouth to speak with that thought in mind…
“Kaya, we…”
“Chef!”
It was Simon. He looked at Jo Minjoon and said, “A guest has arrived. What should we do?”
“Guest? But we have a long while to go before we close?”
“It’s not a guest of the restaurant. This guest has come looking for you, Chef Minjoon. It is a PD3.”
“…Is the person Korean?”
“Yes.”
“Wow.”
Next to him, Kaya had both hands lifted as if in surrender. First, there were all those calls from Korea, and now someone had actually made the trip all the way there. It normally takes at least 12 hours by plane to get there.
Jo Minjoon felt both amazed and tired as he walked. While he could ignore phone calls, since the person had come all the way from Korea, he could not just refuse to see the person.
Of course, he would ultimately refuse whatever was being asked of him.
That was what he had in mind, but when he saw the guest standing in the hall, Jo Minjoon’s expression changed.
‘This person is…’
CREDITS:
Original author: 양치기자리
Translator: Comic Seoul
Proofreader: Potato