God of Cooking

Chapter 176: Chapter 176: Came From A Truck (1)

“Good job, Chloe.”

“Oh, you too.”

Chloe looked back at the producer and flashed a smile. When the producer saw her face, he was in awe. Whenever people worked for a long time, they started to become lazy. Normally, it would show on their faces that they were used to everything.

But not Chloe. Ever since she was scouted until now, she was always friendly. So the producer’s voice turned softer than before.

“How is it these days? Isn’t it hard filming?”

“Compared to the staff, this is nothing. All I have to do is cook as usual and read my script.”

“Just let me know whenever things get hard. We’ll help you as much as we can.”

“Thank you.”

Chloe smiled. She then left the set.

On her way out, Chloe smiled at all the staff that she ran into. Some of the male staff even asked Chloe if she wanted to go out for dinner, but as always, she responded with a sorry smile.

Even after leaving the set, things were rowdy. Chloe was surprisingly a popular star. In terms of how recognized she was, she was more famous than Kaya and Cho Min Joon. At least, amongst the housewives.

Unlike Grand Chef, which was too difficult for any average person to follow, the recipe program that Chloe was currently on was easy to copy. When most housewives worried about dinner, they searched up ‘Chloe Jung’s Recipes.’

As a result, people often asked Chloe for pictures and autographs. For that reason, Chloe didn’t look so good as she walked through the parking lot. Her agent, who was beside her, asked in a worried voice, “Are you okay, Chloe? Should I clear your schedule?”

“I know I can’t put off anything. Don’t worry. I’ll just close my eyes for a bit in the car.”

“… Sorry.”

“Don’t be. This is my work.”

Chloe did her best to smile, but her smile looked weak. Chloe took out her phone. Her agent was unable to say anything and quietly kept walking.

But at that moment, Chloe’s footsteps stopped. Her agent looked back at Chloe with a confused face. Chloe was frozen still while looking at her phone. Her agent opened his mouth.

“Did something happen, Chloe?”

Chloe lifted her head. And when she did, her agent didn’t think he would ever forget the face he saw. He was then regretful that he wasn’t a painter. Because if he was able to record her face, that painting would go down in history.

Chloe answered, “I want to say yes…”

She sounded like she was about to cry.

“But it’s not… my business anymore.”

***

“… You’re just going to go all the way, huh?”

The hall of Rose Island.

Anderson was looking at his phone with a speechless face. The photo on the screen was one of Kaya and Cho Min Joon. Of course, there were already tons of photos of the two of them, but this one was different.

“A hamburger kiss, a fry kiss, and now a mask kiss…? Are you filming a movie or something?”

“… I hate movies.”

Ella mumbled to herself in sadness with red eyes. Anderson patted Ella on the front of her head.

“I hate them, too.”

“Movie directors probably don’t get any presents from Santa Clause, right?”

“No, they probably get more.”

“… Waah.”

Ella made a crying face and put her face down on the desk. Janet, who was watching by, looked at Anderson as if she was asking what he was doing, but he simply shrugged.

It was yesterday that photos of Kaya and Cho Min Joon began popping up. Of course, when it came to people as famous as Kaya, there were always bound to be paparazzi… But by not even caring about them and expressing their affection in restaurants, cafes, and other public places, the situation got out of control. Now, their photos were on the phones of all average citizens.

But it wasn’t just photos that spread. The fact that Kaya met her birth father also got out. And the first to write about it was…

‘Jessica Prada.’

It was the woman who made the Tess Gilly incident get out. How on earth did she get to write an article about it so fast…?

Like all Jessica Prada articles, it was edited to only contain the most gossip-worthy content. The father never appeared in 18 years and only popped up once Kaya became famous. Unlike Kaya, he was rich, and Kaya lashed out at him…

Of course, sometime later, Kaya’s agent put out an official refute. It was true that he appeared after Kaya became famous, but when he began looking for her, that was when she happened to go on Grand Chef. And it was only recently that he made money, and Kaya understood her father.

It seemed like a serious situation at a glance, but Anderson wasn’t worried about Kaya, and it wasn’t just because all there was was negative affection between them. It was because Cho Min Joon was beside her. He knew he was taking good care of her.

He was actually worried about someone else.

‘… She’s probably suffering by herself.’

He sighed. Just as his sigh left his mouth, the door opened, and Cho Min Joon calmly stepped into the hall. Demi chef, cook, apprentice, Justine, Ella, and the breadmakers were all staring at Cho Min Joon. In response, Cho Min Joon flinched and stopped.

“… Why are you all looking at me?”

“Uncle!”

Ella jumped off of her chair, ran over, stopped in front of him, and opened her arms. Cho Min Joon glanced at Lisa, and when she nodded, he carefully lifted Ella up. Ella put her face into Cho Min Joon’s neck and asked, “Uncle, you’re not going to leave if you get married, are you?”

“What? Why would I leave?”

“Are you going to get married?”

“I’m not sure. Not anytime soon.”

“Then are you going to stay with me?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry.”

When Havier saw Cho Min Joon comfort Ella, he was in awe as he said, “Min Joon seems very popular among the ladies.”

“Why are you saying that to me?”

“I’m just wondering if you feel the same way, Janet.”

“… Competition is enough emotion for me to handle.”

“That’s not good to hear. It’s clear that we’re both after the appetizer.”

Janet looked at Havier with emotionless eyes. Havier cowered his shoulders and said, “I’m sorry. Stop glaring at me.”

“I was just looking, but I guess it might seem that way because I have small eyes.”

“Hey, no they’re not… Oh yeah, they are.”

Janet glared again. Havier spoke in awe, “Wow, now that was a real glare.”

Janet responded in a cold voice, “Yup.”

“… Oh.”

Havier scratched his head with an awkward face.

It was only a little later that Cho Min Joon and Anderson faced each other. By the time the atmosphere calmed down, Anderson asked in a low voice,

“Did you resolve everything?”

Cho Min Joon spoke quietly because Ella was in his arms. Ella was in a similar situation as Kaya, so he didn’t want to say the word ‘father’ in front of her.

“I doubt all of her wounds healed. But… they hadn’t seen each other in a really long time.”

“Who are you talking about?”

“No one. You don’t know them.”

“Are they precious to each other?”

“… I guess so.”

“That must hurt.”

Ella mumbled in a quiet voice. Cho Min Joon sat her down on his lap and stared at her. Ella looked up at Cho Min Joon with big eyes.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“… Nothing. You just sounded so mature.”

“If you don’t meet for a long time, it hurts. I hurt too because I miss my dad.”

Ella mumbled sadly before glancing over at the kitchen. Lisa was talking to the assistant breadmakers about new cake recipes. Even if she spoke up, Lisa couldn’t have heard, but Ella whispered quietly anyway, “Don’t tell mom. She’ll be sad if she heard this.”

“Okay. I won’t.”

“Hehe, thank you.”

Cho Min Joon hugged Ella. Since she was such a lovable child, her innocence made his heart ache. Anderson looked at Ella and realized what Cho Min Joon meant by not being able to heal all wounds. This little girl wasn’t throwing tantrums… But she was worried about her mother’s feelings.

Anderson sighed and changed the topic. There was no need to talk about what made their hearts feel heavy.

“Come to think of it, you don’t know yet. While you were gone, Rachel gave us another notice.”

“Notice? What is it?”

Anderson answered, “A sous chef is coming tomorrow.”

***

The next day at 10 in the morning. The demi chefs as well as the rest of the kitchen gathered. The reason was simple. It was to welcome Rachel and the new sous chef. Of course, there was no welcome signs or pamphlets. They felt no need for such efforts, and they couldn’t even if they wanted to because they didn’t know who the new sous chef was.

“… Rachel has a mischievous side.”

Janet spoke in a tired voice. Cho Min Joon nodded in agreement.

“I think Rachel was influenced by Martin.”

“Martin…? Oh, that producer?”

“Yes. He likes to keep people on the edge of their seats.”

“Who do you think will come?”

Havier asked. Neither of them could answer. After all, they didn’t know all the sous chefs in the country. Havier realized his mistake and opened his mouth again.

“That’s the wrong question. What do you think they’ll be like? As in experience or specialty?”

“I’m sure they’re not in the hotel industry.”

Cho Min Joon answered without hesitation. Havier nodded. Aside from successful owner chefs, hotels were where chefs could make the most money. If a hotel chef left the hotel industry, it was to open their own restaurant. There was no way they would leave to be a sous chef at another restaurant.

But of course, when considering Rachel’s reputation, many sous chefs probably wanted to learn from her. But there was no way Rachel would accept such candidates. She needed someone who would work for her restaurant. Havier scratched his head and mumbled, “I doubt any of Rachel’s pupil would come here to be sous chefs since they’re probably all head chefs…”

“Don’t you think she’ll just bring someone who’s working at another restaurant? Or maybe she brought someone from another Rose Island location.”

“I don’t know. Then that restaurant would need a new sous chef.”

Cho Min Joon criticized Janet’s guess. Janet shrugged and didn’t say anything. At that moment, Anderson opened his mouth.

“Freelancer.”

“… Freelancer?”

“In the case of head chefs who went under, another owner wouldn’t try to sign the contract. They’d be talented but have nowhere to go, and in that case, they could be cast to be a sous chef here. Some people like that worked for our restaurant in the past.”

“I don’t know. That’s the same thing. Would they want to stay here for long? They’d probably try to go somewhere else as head chef.”

In the end, no decision was made. They shut their mouths and stared at the time. They heard the sound of a loud engine in front of the restaurant. What they saw outside was a pink ice cream truck. Cho Min Joon opened his mouth.

“They’re not going to run business out there, are they…?”

It wasn’t a rare occurrence. While Rose Island was shut down, many food trucks came there to sell food to customers who were sad about Rose Island, but that could no longer happen. If they did that once the restaurant opened, they would interfere with business. At that moment, Justine opened her mouth.

“Ice cream! Perfect, should I go and buy some?”

Cho Min Joon stared at Justine. That was when she flushed and opened her mouth.

“Oh, I’ll tell them they can’t do business here.”

“No, wait.”

Cho Min Joon stopped Justine and headed to the window. Ella had her cheek to the window while staring at the ice cream truck outside. Cho Min Joon smiled and asked,

“Let’s sell them some ice cream while they’re here. Ella, do you feel like ice cream?”

“Uh… Uh…”

Ella glanced at Lisa. Lisa sighed and shook her head.

“Min Joon, Ella’s teeth will rot.”

“… Okay. Sorry, Ella. Mom said no.”

“Okay…”

Ella dropped her head in sadness. Cho Min Joon took turns looking at Ella and Lisa. Lisa had no choice but to back down. She wasn’t so sad about him taking such good care of her daughter. Lisa spoke to Ella in a strict voice, “Ella, brush your teeth right after, okay?”

“Okay! I even brought my strawberry toothpaste!”

Ella answered with a smile. Cho Min Joon grabbed Ella’s hand and opened his mouth.

“Anyone else? Ice cream is on me.”

“Me. ”

“Follow me.”

“Forget it. I don’t want to go out.”

Anderson leaned back in his chair apathetically.

In the end, the only ones who went to the ice cream truck were Ella, Cho Min Joon, and Janet. Did she really like ice cream? Or did she just want to see Ella happy? After all, Janet cherished Ella.

Cho Min Joon approached the ice cream truck. The Caucasian man with red hair saw them and nodded.

“Congratulations, young man and young lady. You’re my first customers of the day.”

“I’m sorry, but we’ll have to be your last. You probably came here thinking this restaurant is closed, but that’s not the case anymore.”

“I know.”

“I see. Then please… Pardon?”

Instead of answering, the man placed two plates with spoons on top in front of Cho Min Joon. It was the kind of spoon that was used for amuse-bouche at restaurants. A thin green sherbet lined the bottom and in the center was a cherry.

Cho Min Joon mumbled blankly, “Molecular… gastronomy?”