Spread-out Wings (3)

It was a familiar face. He had never met this person before, but he had seen him on television a few times.

“PD Kang Byungyoon?”

“Oh? You know me?”

“I saw you in the documentary you had shot a bit ago. You had gone to the scene yourself to shoot it, if I recall. The history of food… It left a deep impression on me.”

“Ah… I’m honored. I didn’t even think that you would even watch my documentary, Chef Jo Minjoon.”

Kang Byungyoon laughed humorously. Jo Minjoon extended his hand out to him.

“When you’re the PD closest to being a chef in Korea, how could I not know? Please come inside.”

Jo Minjoon guided Kang Byungyoon inside. Seeing this, Simon’s eyes opened wide. It looked like Jo Minjoon was not planning on simply greeting Kang Byungyoon and sending him on his way. Instead, Jo Minjoon seemed to be looking at the guest with welcoming eyes.

And he actually was. Kang Byungyoon had probably come to find Jo Minjoon to suggest a show to him, but despite that, Jo Minjoon was still very welcoming. Kang Byungyoon was rather famous among chefs as a PD. Jo Minjoon glanced furtively at the level window showing next to Kang Byungyoon.

‘…The rumors were not false, I see.’

The rumors said how Kang Byungyoon was a PD who enjoyed cooking. And it was not a simple enjoyment either. Not long after rising to the position of a main PD, he had left to study cooking abroad, and had always been involved in the creation of shows related to cooking. Normal programs would treat cooking superficially, but his programs would delve into the meaning behind every dish and its history.

Actually, when you think about it, that may not have been a good choice for his viewers. Naturally, many of his viewers have some level of interest in cooking, but it was clearly not based on a business decision.

The issue was his documentary may have borne more successful fruit than he had thought was possible. At first, his viewers did not like his documentary. Documentaries normally boast low viewership ratings. Most of the people who had seen his documentary simply because there was not much else to watch would just have a feeling of ‘The culinary world is more interesting than I thought,’ and that was it.

However, the story changed for his documentaries once his culinary history documentary began to sweep up various awards. Out of curiosity, the number of people who began watching his documentaries increased and the people’s reaction to them were different. ‘Excellent masterpiece.’ Hearing those words, people would focus even more on his documentaries and were able to capture and feel the details and directing they were unable to see or feel before.

And Jo Minjoon was one of those people. Back when he had very little knowledge about cooking, Kang Byungyoon’s documentaries had given Jo Minjoon guidelines. Noticeable traces of Kang Byungyoon’s documentaries have been left in his culinary world.

“Your restaurant is incredible.”

“Thank you very much. This is your first time here at Lotus Bridge, right?”

“Yes. I had always been curious, but this is my first time here. Ah, this is not because you mentioned that you’ve known of me from before, but… I also had been keeping track of you for a long time, chef.”

“A long time?”

“Starting season 3 of Grand Chef.”

“…That long ago?”

It was now Jo Minjoon’s turn to be surprised. Naturally, due to him revealing his absolute sense of taste, Jo Minjoon had been quite famous during season 3 of Grand Chef. Internet searches of him had shot up then, too.

However, it had only been a momentary spike. He had not really expected Kang Byungyoon to know of him, but now that he thought about it, it wasn’t unheard of. Someone who loved cooking like Kang Byungyoon did and worked in the television industry on top of that would fail to notice a Korean chef gaining popularity overseas?

“That makes me a bit embarrassed,” Jo Minjoon laughed awkwardly.

If Kang Byungyoon had been keeping track of him since his Grand Chef days, he would have also witnessed all his cringy behavior. As if he knew why Jo Minjoon was embarrassed, Kang Byungyoon looked over at the kitchen where Kaya was and laughed jokingly.

“The absolute sense of taste scene was amazing. Truthfully, back then I was wondering if it could actually be true. That maybe it was faked due to the greed of the show. However, as time passed, I slowly became convinced that your sense of taste was the real thing, Chef! I am so jealous. Ah, since I have this opportunity, can I ask you one thing? Is your enjoyment of food perhaps different from a normal person’s? Ah, you might not even know since you would have no way of knowing what a normal person’s sense of taste is like…”

Anyone could tell Kang Byungyoon was excited from how he was tossing out a question and then answering it himself. He was acting like he was meeting a star he idolized. Up until now, there had been no one else except aspiring chefs who acted like children in front of Jo Minjoon. After getting excited all by himself, Kang Byungyoon then regained his composure all by himself and then said, “Whew, my apologies. I think I talked too much.”

“Not at all, it’s fine. Actually, it’s nice seeing you so enthusiastic.”

“A producer who specializes in cooking shows should not be able to stay calm in front of you, Chef Jo Minjoon. There are more than one or two in Korea whining they couldn’t scout you, Chef. Like, as if they could convince you over the phone with just a few words. They should at least make the effort to go meet you in person as a gesture of sincerity… and that is why I am here myself.”

It was the opportune time to change the topic. However, since it was a topic he had already been anticipating when he first met him in-person, Jo Minjoon was not feeling the least disconcerted.

Jo Minjoon said slowly, “Did you come here to scout me?”

“That’s half the reason. The other half is I just wanted to meet you at least once. I was wondering what kind of person the top genius chef from Korea is like and wanted to see him for myself. That is why even if you were to refuse, I wouldn’t have any issues with it at all. Well, I’d be disappointed just a tiny bit, but… in the end, all of your choices are for the sake of your restaurant. I understand.”

“…Aren’t you lacking quite a bit of drive?”

“Others may think it wouldn’t be a problem if your image is tarnished and continue to push you, but I don’t want to be remembered by you as a bad person, since I’m a fan.”

Jo Minjoon smiled and sighed inwardly. Kang Byungyoon is a producer of documentaries. He is someone who captures reality on camera which means he would have no reason to go all the way to Korea just to appear in Kang Byungyoon’s documentary. Kang Byungyoon was thinking to capture his lifestyle here and bring it back to Korea as-is.

“It’s for a documentary, right?”

“Yes, of course.”

“What would it be about? Me? Or Lotus Bridge?”

“Chef Jo Minjoon and the person Jo Minjoon. I was hoping to show both, since the viewers in Korea are most interested in knowing about both.”

“…I can’t decide this on my own. I’ll have to consult with my wife first. I don’t think I’d be able to give you a response immediately… Would it be alright to respond to you at a later time?”

“That’s a more positive reply than I was expecting. Thank you.”

Kang Byungyoon smiled brightly.

“I’ll be waiting eagerly.”

---

Jo Minjoon ultimately consented to Kang Byungyoon’s proposal. It was not a show targeting an American audience. It was one targeting a Korean one. It would, quite honestly, not have much effect on their sales. Their sales were actually doing pretty well even now.

That’s why he thought it might not appeal to Kaya all that much, but she agreed to do the shoot more readily than he had expected. When he asked why she agreed to the documentary, she replied with, “You want to shoot it, don’t you? It seemed like you like that PD, after all.”

“…Just for that reason?”

“I don’t want to become that wife who doesn’t let you do what you want. Living such a restricted life is too pathetic.”

He thought the reason was a bit too simplistic, but that was in fact very much like Kaya. She does what she wants, makes what she wants, and cooks what she wants. There were those who asked how you could live just doing what you wanted, but on the other hand, what would be the reason one should not live the way one wants?

Immediately, rumors began to spread in Korea, that the renowned genius Chef Jo Minjoon had met with Kang Byungyoon and was planning to appear on a program.

“It’s a bit difficult going around Koreatown these days. Too many people know.”

“You, yourself, are probably the most famous neighborhood¹. People recognize even me over there.”

Koreatown, Los Angeles, was Jo Minjoon’s neighborhood. Even if he did not want to become famous, he was bound to become so.

‘…I should focus on cooking.’

Jo Minjoon took a deep breath and focused on the plate in front of him. He placed pearls of tapioca carefully, one-by-one, on pork. It was a pork sous-vide marinated with soy sauce. It had a similar texture to fried pork belly in soy sauce, but its taste was closer to braised short rib.

‘The main dish is misleadingly difficult.’

Creating a main dish that was different proved to be quite a bit more difficult than creating a dessert or an appetizer that was a bit different from normal. There were a good number of chefs who thought like this in reality. Using a ceviche or salad as an appetizer can accentuate the difference in taste clearly, but when it comes to the main dish of larger portion, that difference in taste can easily get squashed by its temperature.

While it was not impossible to overcome that temperature issue, it was still a difficult problem to tackle. Jo Minjoon placed the red wine-marinated tapioca and the pork that had been cut into small pieces into his mouth. He then immediately spit them back out.

‘…This isn’t the taste I wanted.’

“You know, the re—”

“Stop.”

Kaya who had been glancing over at Jo Minjoon’s plate looked as if she had wanted to say something, but Jo Minjoon quickly stopped her from talking. Kaya had a look of protest on her face and said, “Oh, what?! I can clearly see how to fix this recipe. Can’t I help?”

“You also had a recipe you were creating these days that you told me I couldn’t help with, even when I could clearly see how to fix it.”

“That…! Was just because I wanted to figure it out for myself! I don’t normally stop you from giving me advice.”

“However, you mostly do. The times I give you advice are when you really weren’t able to figure it out and had given yourself up to despair.”

“Can’t I do that?”

“You can. That’s why I’m doing it, too.”

“…Ah.”

Kaya, tripped up by her own logic, could not say anything more and kept her mouth shut. Jo Minjoon held back his laughter from seeing her like that. It, in fact, did not really matter whether Kaya helped or not. However, he wanted her to experience being refused assistance at least once, for herself.

‘Cooperating is better.’

Of course, it is possible for cooperation to cause regression. It could also suppress growth. Rachel was able to be stimulated by Daniel to grow into the world’s best chef, but, due to him, she had also lost the ability to walk her own path.

Seeing that, he wondered if it was even necessary to tell Kaya that she had to respect his point of view, but Jo Minjoon thought it would be better. At the very least, while both of them were alive, they needed to put their heads together. Only then could they develop the absolute best recipe they possibly could make. When their talents were combined, there would be very few chefs in the world who could stand against them.

Jo Minjoon’s calm protest continued. It did not end until Kaya held both hands up.

Once their protest ended, their cooperation began. It was at that point that an unbelievable recipe was born.

CREDITS:
Original author: 양치기자리
Translator: Comic Seoul
Proofreader: Potato

1. there are a couple of key words missing, otherwise it would normally say “you’re probably the most famous in that neighborhood.” ↩︎