Chapter 74: Unexpected collaboration (1)

#Grand Chef season 3, who’s going to be first place among the viewers?

Maybe if you asked people to name the hottest TV show right now, they wouldn’t even hesitate at naming Grand Chef. The average viewers surpassed 5 million, and at times passed 7 million. These results made this program as the top one, and had even surpassed the results of the past season.

What could be the cause for that? Could the compositions of the missions have been better than the previous ones? No. Although the food truck mission that was broadcasted yesterday was something that wasn’t there previously, the rating was good even before that so it couldn’t have been the cause.

Season 3 was faring better than the previous seasons because of the participants. Precisely speaking, it was because of a few special participants. It was to the point that there was word that Grand Chef season 3 was blessed by God among the viewers. It meant that there were many participants with starships.

First, there was Anderson Rousseau. This man that emanated confidence from the start, was recently shown to the public that he was the son of Fabio Rousseau and Amelia Rousseau. Right. Michelin three stars ‘Glutto.’ The owners were his chef parents.

Anderson Rousseau made people grow curious. He was excessively skilled to be called an amateur, and at the same time had a deep comprehension towards cooking. It was to the point that when he was standing in front of the countertop putting a confident air, charisma could be felt from him. So because of that, the news about his family was shocking and incomprehensible.

Kaya Lotus was the exact opposite of Rousseau. This poor and pitiful cinderella that had to help her mother in the market with only having graduated in primary school, was the participant that got more attention than any other.

And it wasn’t because she had a pitiful background. She had the roughest and foulest mouth compared to any other participant, and that made people criticize her.

Regardless of her attitude, the reason she had many fans was because of her looks, but more so because of her abilities. The dishes that this little girl that just became an adult were all dishes you needed to be skilled. Especially, when she showed direct fire cooking, the fans gave her an embarrassing nickname, the fire chef.

The character Lotus had wasn’t only of a kid that was raised in an unlucky environment and that of a genius girl. The participant she got along with, Jo Minjoon, made various dramatic occasions that made even the viewers flustered. Perhaps, he only appeared because of the director, or it was really by coincidence. The important thing was that the participants were really interested in the love between them.

And the hope of the participants wasn’t in vain. Lotus usually had an attacking and mean attitude, but if there was a person she could lower her defenses with, it was good to see. That subtle atmosphere among them made the viewers cheer for them, but the reason those cheers erupted was because of what happened just recently.

Precisely speaking, it was about the 4th of May. 4th of May, Grand Chef’s rating surpassed 7 million viewers. It was because Minjoon’s absolute sense of taste was hidden well and appeared as a surprise gift in front of the viewers. The reactions of the viewers about that could be easily explained. Actually, the video about Jo guessing all 20 ingredients right had surpassed 30 million views.

Originally, the relationship with Minjoon and Lotus could be seen of that as a genius and a culprit. However, the moment Jo showed his geniusness, the people couldn’t accept the relationship of those two as normal. The making of a genius with another genius made you immersed more than necessary, beautified, and expected it.

And that expectation would return as Grand Chef’s rating. Of course, that rating wouldn’t simply be related to those who enjoy cooking, but even so the value didn’t change. That tendency would be maintained by those three people, and the throne wouldn’t shake during that time.

But there was one problem that remained. Maybe, if Grand Chefs popularity was because of a few participants, when they get eliminated one by one, would the rating fall or rise?

2010.05.12 – Angela Eve

“……..Eliminated.”

On the blanket. Jo Minjoon was looking with a strange expression at his handphone. It wasn’t that an article was written about something that didn’t exist until now, or that he had made a particular reasoning. However, he thought of that unnecessarily. The back of Peter and the eliminated people. And he saw himself instead of those people.

It was all because of Martin. Jo Minjoon let out a sigh inwardly. After Martin’s strange offer, even if he didn’t try to, he ended up thinking about the tasting travel. An insurance has just appeared. The insurance that didn’t matter if he got eliminated. He didn’t even know if he had to be happy or not.

After worrying, he only got hungrier. Jo Minjoon went to the kitchen.

After Peter got eliminated after the last mission, a week had already passed. However, he still didn’t hear news about the next mission. Jo Minjoon seemed to know what the next mission was going to be. Although he couldn’t perfectly know the order of the missions, he did remember the exceptional ones. Precisely speaking, the missions which Kaya had a huge role in it. Because he also watched the edited parts about Kaya.

In the case of the risotto mission, he didn’t remember it. Precisely speaking, it was a mission he didn’t remember well. Perhaps, Kaya could have chose the other dish, or originally, another mission could have carried out.

However, this mission was too big and charming for it to change because of a variable like Jo Minjoon. He thought that the directors shouldn’t have changed it.

“Did you just get up?”

“It’s been a while.”

There was only Anderson in the kitchen. It was understandable. Because it wasn’t even 7 in the morning. The people who would get up at this time, or precisely speaking the ones who would get up and come to the kitchen were only Kaya or Chloe. Chloe had the habit to exercise in the morning, and Kaya got the habit of waking early because she used to work in the market. Of course, it seemed like she wanted to get revenge to that kind of lifestyle, but there were many cases where she slept late in purpose.

“What are you making?”

“Potato gnocchi gratin.”

“……..In this morning?”

Anderson just shrugged his shoulders. Well, he would want to eat something heavy since morning. Jo Minjoon didn’t keep refuting. Anderson signaled the pantry with his eyes.

“There were new vegetables that entered this morning. You, too, make something with that.”

“Oh, really?”

Just like Anderson said, he couldn’t see vegetables which freshness was below 90%.

‘I want to eat some noodles.’

However, pasta didn’t attract him. He didn’t want to eat with oil or sauce. But to eat pasta in a champon style, he preferred eating other noodles rather than eating pasta with soup.

At that time, what caught his attention was dried udon noodles and rice noodles. Jo Minjoon’s eyes shook between the two. The style of noodle he liked was udon, but he liked the soup of the rice noodles better.

In the end, what he chose was the rice noodles. Because you could feel the flavor of the vegetables more freshly that way. Udon was a dish in which the noodles were the main however you made it. On the other hand, you could enjoy the vegetables and the noodles with rice noodles. But of course, onions, japanese parsley, green bean sprouts, and coriander was everything. These were all things Jo Minjoon liked. He didn’t even dislike coriander. It simply had a special aroma, and he didn’t dislike it until now.

You used a lot of ingredients taking into account that you were going to make a simple rice noodles: brisket of beef and meat gravy, green bean sprouts, herbs and scallions, green chili, coriander, radish, ginger, onions, and lime juice. Aside from that, fish sauce, sriracha chili sauce, hoisin sauce, etc.

The biggest reason people didn’t make rice noodles much in their houses was because of this. It was also because you needed many ingredients, but in the case of fish sauce, normally you wouldn’t even buy it if you weren’t interested in it. On top of that, there were many cases that you bought it but didn’t know where else use it aside from rice noodles. Of course, you could use sea food sap instead of fish sauce, but the flavor could only be different.

The biggest reason people didn’t make rice noodles much in their houses was because you needed many ingredients, but in the case of fish sauce, normally you wouldn’t even buy it if you weren’t interested in it.

After putting the rice noodles in the water, he put in the vinyl on the gravy. Normally, he would also need to boil the cow legs, but it would be quite weird to put in that much effort just to eat breakfast. Jo Minjoon poured the gravy in the pot along with onions and ginger and boiled it. After removing the blood of the brisket of beef, he slightly parboiled it and put it with the gravy.

He didn’t make pickled onions. Although you wouldn’t know how it would be felt for the natives, it was too strong of a flavor for Jo Minjoon. Because rather than harmonizing with the other ingredients, it ate all of the flavor alone. It was the same feeling as eating normal jajangmyeon with pickled radish that was ten times saltier.

It was at that moment when he wanted to put in the fish sauce, salt, and pepper in the gravy that Chloe got in the kitchen wearing sport clothes. She had her hair that was shoulder long, and was taking in some breaths with her cheeks flushed. But it didn’t seem like she was sweating because the weather was still too cold to sweat. Jo Minjoon asked with a calm voice.

She had her shoulder-length hair tied, and was taking a breather while her cheeks were flushed red.

“Did you finish your morning exercise?”

“Yes. But as I was jogging the front garden, I saw a strange person. He was hanging on the fences and taking pictures of the insides”

“…….Again a reporter?”

Nowadays, many reporters have been chased away trying to come in to Grand Chef’s house. It was understandable. Just like paparazzis that stick to the stars are numerous, the broadcasting star being Grand Chef, there’s no way reporters wouldn’t come knowing the place of the broadcast. Chloe shook her head as if she was sick of it.

“I don’t know. He did get caught by the security and got all of his pictures erased, but I also started to get uncomfortable and came back. But what are you making? It smells good.”

“Rice noodles.”

“Oh, you are making the soup.”

“Rice noodles was better with soup than without. Do you want to eat? It’s almost done. And there’s a lot. It will be for about 3 or 4 people.”

“Then, I will bother you with just one dish.”

Chloe smiled brightly and held her hands. Jo Minjoon slightly looked at the hall. It was time for Kaya to come out, but he couldn’t see a trace of her. Did she sleep late again for the deviation? While he was thinking like that, Kaya tied her disheveled hair, and came to the kitchen with a scoop neck t-shirt and crumpled short pants.

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Chloe looked at Kaya’s hair with shining eyes. She liked disheveled hair styles very much. Because she tried hard to get that hair style on purpose even after having washed her hair. Jo Minjoon laughed.

“Kaya. You promised me to make breakfast for me everyday.”

“I don’t think that we agreed at what time. It isn’t even 8:30.”

At Kaya’s discontent face, Jo Minjoon smirked. Honestly he wanted to tell her to not sleep. Anderson, who had finished his potato gnocchi gratin, looked at them.

“Is there anyone that wants to eat gratin?”

“I pass. I don’t want to get a stomachache again after eating cheese.”

As Jo Minjoon replied like that, Anderson’s corner of his mouth was lifted as if he was disappointed. Jo Minjoon shrugged his shoulders and continued to say.

“I can’t do anything about it. As I age, I can’t digest cheese as before.”

“……..You are still 21?”

“But it’s also true that i’m not at the growing phase, but the aging phase. It’s certainly different from when I was a teen. Also, cheese doesn’t suit much with my constitution.”

Anderson looked back sharply and ate the gnocchi and cheese he made. The gnocchi that was made along with cream sauce had a similar sticky texture to ongsimi, but it was even softer than that. Chloe raised her hand as if she couldn’t hold it anymore.

“Anderson. I’m eating.”

“…….Right.”

While that was happening, the rice noodles was being finished. Jo Minjoon poured the gravy in the rice noodles and placed the green bean sprouts, onions, red chili, and coriander. If he put lime, hoisin sauce, or chili sauce in another plate and then serve, it was the end.

Maybe it was because of the smell while he was cooking it that he got hungrier. He did drink the soup with the excuse of tasting the seasoning, but it only made him hungrier.

However, he felt that if he ate right now, he would eat it more deliciously than ever. The four people sat in the table. In that time, Kaya made a simple japanese egg roll and placed it on the table. Kaya snorted and said.

“Egg rolls. I made you breakfast.”

“Just say so.”

Kaya just glared at him, but she couldn’t say anything. In the first place, she was also hungry. So she could only feel the rice noodles in front of her to be charming. Anderson didn’t eat the rice noodles because just with eating the potato gnocchi gratin he made was enough to fill him up. Although Chloe did help him and the amount lessened, it was still a lot. Anderson glanced at Kaya.

“You aren’t eating? Gratin.”

“Yeah.”

“Whatever.”

At Kaya’s short reply, Anderson, too, turned his head. It was a little awkward, but Jo Minjoon didn’t mind. It became awkward between them since the team mission they did and they fought. So there was no reason to feel any different.

Jo Minjoon slowly put the rice noodles in his mouth. The soup was hot, but the noodles were put in cold water so there was no need to blow air to cool it down. The aroma of the gravy, along with the aroma of coriander, mixed strongly and pinched his nose. 9 in 10 people in Korea didn’t like coriander, but fortunately, Jo Minjoon was the remaining one person.

They said that the more excessive the flavor, the more pleasant it was. Could it be called as a violent aroma? Because it wasn’t only the nose, but the ceiling of the mouth also seemed to be conquered by that aroma.

The bean sprouts that were chewed crunchy, and the texture of the rice noodles that softed your tongue and lips was also beautiful. The cooking score was 7. Nowadays, it was more difficult to get a 6-point dish. It wasn’t so difficult to make a 7-point dish if you were loyal to the standards. If it was a recipe that had a limit when made with the standards, if you reformed it a little bit, getting 7 points was easy.

‘Perhaps I am close to reaching cooking level 7.’

As he ate while thinking like that, the same rice noodles were felt more deliciously. Kaya slightly looked at Jo Minjoon’s smile and opened her mouth.

“It’s delicious.”

“Me too.”

“Thank you.”

At Chloe’s words that talked after Kaya, Jo Minjoon smiled and replied. Jo Minjoon drank a spoon of soup and opened his mouth.

“When will we doing the mission?”

“I wonder. Maybe they will throw us the mission as a surprise gift.”

“I hope it’s not a mission like the food truck one. It was fun, but it was also that hard.”

“I agree.”

It was at that time. Kaya looked at Jo Minjoon and opened her mouth.

“Do you want to bet?”

“What kind of bet?”

“What’s going to be the theme of the mission. The one who gets it right is the one who wins. The prize…… If I win, let’s cancel breakfast. If you win, I will also make you lunch. How about it?”

“…….You do know that gamblers ruin their lives and choose a normal route, right?”

“Shut up. Are you going to or not? Why, you aren’t confident?”

Looking that she was putting a smile was obvious that she wanted to provoke him. Jo Minjoon opened his mouth while laughing inwardly.

“What do you think it will be?”

“We are 10. If we split in two we are exactly 5, so it’s going to be a team mission. Oh, also as I said it first, you have to pick something different.”

“Okay. I will. I will bet on an individual mission.”

“……Really?”

Kaya looked at him with dubious eyes. It seemed like she wasn’t comfortable that he agreed to it so easily. Jo Minjoon just laughed. According to his memories when there were ten people remaining, it wasn’t going to be a team mission. Precisely speaking, there was only one team mission after the top 10 were confirmed. And he still remembered the scene where ten dishes were put in the table at the same time. If his memories didn’t fail him, then this mission was probably going to be……..

‘Buffet.’

< Unexpected collaboration (1) > End

Translator’s note: Regular chapter!

Thanks for reading and for your support!

Translator : Subak Proofreader : Saihikawa

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