Chapter 182: Taking the Initiative (4)

“……Leave everything for him?”

Alicia looked at Chen in disbelief. Chen just shrugged his shoulders with a casual expression.

“It’s just something that’s brought up a lot in the industry these days. Nobody has any proof it would happen. But …… isn’t it quite believable?”

“It’s true. I feel like I’ve heard something similar as well. They said that once Rachel Rose passes away, each of the branch locations of Rose Island may be passed to the individual head chefs. Does that mean that she wants to pass this Venice location to Jo Minjun……?”

“Honestly, it is quite impossible right now as he is just starting out. Plus, we don’t know if it would just be the Venice location or he might even be in charge of all locations…… we just don’t know yet.”

“If what you’re saying is true……”

Alicia looked toward Jo Minjun with a curious expression. That young man might become the owner of Rose Island, which controls a good portion of the culinary world. It was all just possibilities and suspicions right now, but she couldn’t help it that her heart was pounding.

“I also heard that Mr. Jeremy has a lot of expectations for him.”

“……That difficult old man?”

“I guess Minjun is a jewel that even such a difficult man cannot complain about.”

Alicia put the last pasta in her mouth. It was the ravioli. She started to smile as the fruit juice flowed out of the jelly and refreshingly washed down her throat.

“And Rachel Rose will be the one to train him.”

*

The tasting event ended. Everybody was given time to place their votes, but the results were not revealed in front of the audience. This wasn’t a broadcast afterall. Rachel announced the results will be revealed at Rose Island, and that led to an unexpected situation.

“……Kaya is still the same.”

Chloe did not know whether to laugh or not, so she just had a confused expression as she started to speak. Jo Minjun just scratched his cheek with embarrassment. Rachel had told Kaya and Chloe that they were welcome to come take a tour of Rose Island. That was how they ended up in the hall, and as they were standing in that small area, the inevitable meeting had no choice but to happen.

“……Your makeup is too thick.”

“It’s okay to have a lot of makeup on. It looks pretty.”

“It doesn’t even look that pretty.”

Ella answered with a puffed up expression. It was like Kaya and Ella knew how they were going to treat each other from the moment they met, so they naturally ended up in that type of situation. Kaya had heard about Ella from Minjun, and Ella already knew a lot about Kaya through the media.

All of the kitchen family were focused on this entertaining conversation. Even Rachel and Lisa were touching their chins and looking toward them, but Ella and Kaya were not caring about the gazes of others right now. Ella was young and Kaya was young as well. In a slightly different manner than Ella.

“You know, I was recently ranked second among the prettiest chefs in the US.”

But Ella did not back down. She puffed her chest and stomach as she confidently answered.

“You couldn’t even get first place. I got first place in the Kindergarten beauty contest.”

“Hey. Look at her.”

Kaya pointed to Chloe and loudly started to speak.

“Answer me honestly. Do you have any confidence that you’ll be prettier than her?”

For reference, Chloe had received first place in that ranking. Compared to Kaya, Chloe had a completely pure charm about her. It wasn’t a really influential ranking, but Kaya brought it up a couple times to Minjun as well. ‘Remember that you are dating the second most beautiful woman in the industry.’ Something along those lines.

Ella took a peek at Chloe before flinching a bit and frowning her lips. She has a reason to grumble toward Kaya, but she had no reason to do so to Chloe. She didn’t have the heart or the confidence to be mean to her. In the end, Ella approached Minjun and held his hand tightly.

“Uncle. That lady is being mean to me.”

“Hey you, remove your hand. He’s my man.”

Kaya quickly walked over and tried to take Minjun’s hand away. But Ella was holding on tightly and did not want to let go. Jo Minjun had a bitter smile as he looked toward Kaya.

“Kaya. Ella is a kid. Don’t be too angry.”

“Just whose side are you on? My side? Or her side?”

“I just don’t want to see my girlfriend fighting with a kid.”

“……You make me have nothing to say.”

Kaya stepped back while sulking. Ella stuck her tongue out while looking at Kaya sulking, but thankfully, the argument did not start up again. Lisa started to speak in a stern voice.

“Ella. Come here.”

“……I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I didn’t say you were in trouble. But if you keep standing there, you will be in trouble. Come over here.”

Ella let go of Jo Minjun’s arm with a disappointed expression as she grumbled and walked toward Lisa. Lisa’s stern voice could be heard by everyone before Rachel coughed to get their attention.

“I think everyone has had enough time to enjoy the appetizers, so now I suppose we need to announce the results. How should I do it? Take some time and build up the reveal or should I just flat out say it?”

Javier shouted.

“Just do it flat out.”

“That’s what I thought. You young people are always so impatient. As so, Javier, you are last place.”

“……What?”

Javier had a blank expression on his face before he had a grin thinking it was a lie.

“Ay. Chef. Do not joke like that. Why would I be last place?”

“An anglaise with coffee foam. It wasn’t bad. But it didn’t have much impact. It was a dish fitting more to be an amuse-bouche.”

“……For joking, you have quite a thorough explanation.”

“I am not joking. Good work. Unfortunately, it looks like you won’t be getting the section you want.”

Janet’s face brightened up after hearing that. Javier was the only other person who wanted the appetizer section. The fact that Javier was last place meant that as long as she wasn’t in first place, the appetizer section was hers.

Janet had a mischievous grin as she started to speak to Javier.

“Thank you. For giving me the appetizer section.”

“……Ah, ah!”

Javier flopped down on the chair with a look of despair. Since the situation was like this, now it just mattered who got first place. Kaya put her chin on Jo Minjun’s shoulder as she whispered quietly.

“You’re confident you got first place, right?”

“……I am confident, but I really hope I got second.”

“No. Get first.”

“Then I need to do molecular gastronomy.”

“It’s fun and cool. Learn it well so you can make it for me in the future.”

Jo Minjun did not respond. He looked at Rachel with a nervous heart. Rachel continued to speak.

“Third place is Anderson. Good work. Personally, I enjoyed your dish the most. It was a perfect broccolini.”

“Thank you.”

Anderson answered in a calm voice. He looked to be neither happy nor sad. He should be sad because he worked hard for the competition and didn’t do well, but as long as Minjun didn’t get second place and pick pasta, that section was going to be his.

With the situation like this, Janet was nervous again. If she ended up in first place, there was no appetizer section for her. It wasn’t that she hated molecular gastronomy, but there was one thing she learned from studying molecular gastronomy the last ten days. Molecular gastronomy needed a lot of precision work, and that ……

‘Is annoying.’

Molecular gastronomy was very scientific cooking. That meant that if you even made a slight mistake in measurement, it can ruin the whole dish. Of course that was the same when it came to something like baking, but measurement wasn’t the only issue in molecular gastronomy.

For example, if you look at Jo Minjun’s jelly pasta, you needed to use a syringe or hose to push air in and remove the noodle. In Janet’s dish, you had to poke a syringe in the film to insert the broth. There were many instances where she ruined the dish because the film ripped in the process.

There were many aspects of molecular gastronomy that were extremely sensitive, almost as if you were doing a surgery. Even if it took the same amount of time, it required more concentration and stamina than any other section. That was what molecular gastronomy required. Jo Minjun slightly whispered to Kaya.

“If I end up with molecular gastronomy, I’ll be too tired to meet up with you.”

“I get dragged here and there all the time without complaining.”

“This is a different kind of tiring.”

“Stop whining. If you get tired, I will recharge you. Like this.”

Kaya suddenly kissed Jo Minjun on the cheek. Jo Minjun gulped with a nervous expression. Even if she settled her heart, he was still worried that Chloe would be hurt. Jo Minjun mumbled in a quiet voice.

“People are watching. What are you doing all of a sudden.”

“Recharging. Plus, weren’t you the one who didn’t care about people watching?”

He had nothing to say. Minjun just quietly looked toward Rachel. Rachel smiled as she started to speak.

“Is your lover’s quarrel finished?”

“……I’m sorry.”

“No need to be sorry. Love often serves as motivation for artists. Especially for something like molecular gastronomy which is full of freshness, it will become an even greater strength.”

“Haha. Teacher. You make it sound like I’m going to be handling molecular gastronomy.”

Rachel smiled again as she answered.

“Congratulations. You are the winner.”

*

“……This is probably the first and last time in my life I will ever feel so weird about being the winner.”

Jo Minjun mumbled in a sad voice. Evening. Jo Minjun was at Kaya’s residence. Of course it was not just him. Anderson, Chloe, and Kaya were with him.

There was no other option. Chloe was sharing a house with her agent, and Anderson’s house had Amelia and Fabio. Minjun’s house had Rachel. Not that they couldn’t have guests over at their places, but there would still have been a sense of discomfort.

In the end, Kaya’s place was the only place they could go without any hesitation. Kaya bit into a pizza that was loaded with cheese as she started to speak.

“Why. How great is molecular gastronomy? It’s something you can’t even do in most places because they don’t have the equipment. Plus, you can even pick the prep cook of your choice. There’s a benefit to being the winner.”

“……I wanted to work the main. I was drawn to pasta as well.”

“Don’t even dream about it. Pasta is mine.”

“Quiet down, third place.”

Anderson was about to say something in anger, but just mumbled to himself as he started to drink his coke. Chloe smiled like a baby as she started to speak.

“But it’s still good. For the four of us to be together like this. It reminds me of the old days.”

“It’s so weird to call it the old days. It has only been a few months since the competition ended.”

“But it still feels like it’s been so long. There’s been quite a lot that has happened since then.”

“I guess. Kaya became the national Cinderella Chef, while Chloe became the most beautiful chef in the country.”

“……Don’t do that. It’s embarrassing.”

“What will Kaya do if you’re embarrassed. She was showing off so much that she came in second place.”

Kaya choked on her pizza and punched Minjun on the side. Her cheeks turned red as she started to shout.

“When did I do that?! I never showed off!”

“What you said to Ella earlier today was showing off.”

“That’s because she is a kid. I was being childish to be at her level. Meet people at their level. Have you never heard of that?”

“I don’t think you were meeting her at her level. I think the two of you are just at the same level.”

At Jo Minjun’s retort, Kaya looked toward him with a look full of grudge. Chloe quickly changed the topic.

“Anyways, it’s a good thing we have Kaya’s hotel. I was worried we would just have to walk around outside.”

“I think I’m going to rent a place soon too. I’m here for the long run now. But the cost of housing in this neighborhood is just too expensive.”

“It’s hard to find a decent place under $1000 a month around here. It might be cheaper if you share a room with someone else……but honestly, I don’t want to do that with a stranger.”

“I don’t need anything else other than it not having cockroaches.”

Kaya spoke with a nervous expression. She looked toward Jo Minjun.

“I wish Minjun lived with me. Then he can catch all the cockroaches.”

“No. I would run away.”

“……Coward.”

Kaya grumbled with a disappointed expression. Chloe started to speak.

“My agent is going to move out soon because she is getting married. My lease is almost up as well. Just thinking about finding a new place gives me a headache.”

“Seriously. It would be good if we could all just live together.”

Once Kaya said that, there was a moment of silence. Kaya looked confused before she slowly started to speak.

“Minjun, you said you don’t plan on continuing to live in Rachel’s house, right?”

“Yeah. As soon as I start getting paid, I’ll need to find my own place. I can’t continue to be a burden.”

“Anderson, what about you……”

Kaya looked at Anderson for a bit before speaking as if she was doing him a favor.

“You said you want to get away from your parents and become independent as well.”

“That is true but why? Perhaps……”

Kaya nodded her head. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at the three of them.

“Should we all live together?”

End

Translator: Miraclerifle

Proofreader: Miraclerifle

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep