Chapter 85: The pig and the fire (1)

The controversy about Kaya overheated. There were no sites that were even a little bit related to Grand Chef that didn’t talk about Kaya’s past.

There weren’t many people that thought that Tess Gilly had mitomania. She even uploaded an image of her injury on her chin and said that it was Kaya’s doing. They couldn’t think that she was lying when she had even shown her face in a picture.

The netizens got divided in two. Some doubted that there was some lie and exaggeration in Tess Gilly’s argument, and there were those that heated things up by cursing Kaya with the exposed facts. The fact that they were classmates and their relationship wasn’t good was simple. Also, it was true that the scar on Tess Gilly’s chin was done by Kaya. Many anonymous people claimed that they were indeed ‘schoolmates’, but the problem was that they couldn’t be verified if they were real or not.

Hilary Hahn : There’s no need to think about it in depth. Although it is true that she did give her a scar in her face, I think that it isn’t right to criticize her before knowing what happened before that.

ㄴ LGE : What should have happened for me to assent as to her having a scar? Whatever happened, I think that it can’t be permitted.

ㄴ Erika Vlados : @LGE That’s what’s she saying, that permitting it or not beforehand is a stupid thing to do. In the first place, if Kaya did something that bad, she would have gone to a reformatory. But she didn’t.

It was this way. To say that they can be sure of it, the information was too scarce. But of course, there were some people that were sure with that little information, but those kind of people only stained their name with ridicule and criticism.

“If time passes, then it will all be okay.”

Martin mumbled as if he was memorizing a chant. Robert frowned as if he didn’t understand.

“Can’t we just reveal the truth? Although it will all be covered and many people won’t see it in a good way, if we tell everything as it is, there will be a lot more people that would understand it.”

“But if she doesn’t say anything, although it will be a little uncomfortable, in the end it will all be forgotten. On top of all, there’s no proper evidence to that ‘truth’ except the words that would come from Kaya herself. If we revealed that without any evidence, they would say that we were manipulating the media, and the public opinion may worsen. Trust me, this is the best path for Kaya and for the broadcast.”

Following the information they got from Kaya’s mouth, the scar of Tess’s chin was an accident from both sides. But the reason only Kaya got expelled, or rather, got disposed by dropping out of school was simple.

Grand Chef didn’t announce anything official about this situation yet. Precisely speaking, they replied in the most typical way. ‘We are investigating the situation. There are a lot of different points in what Tess Gilly said to what we know.’ And they didn’t mention any details because there was a need to check the reactions of the media a little more.

And the results were certainly not bad. Yesterday, the 10th episode that showed the dessert mission was broadcasted, and it gave the sensation that the incident of Kaya’s middle school life got a little pushed back. But of course, people that liked to expose other’s errors were drooling, but this much didn’t cause a problem.

Martin massaged his neck. The more he thought of it, the more his head hurt. First, the only thing they could do now was wait. If the bubble shrank, it would end there. BUt if it grew larger, then they would have to pop it themselves. Whichever side it was, now wasn’t the time to get some results.

“Let’s slowly prepare for the mission. There weren’t many fun factors in the dessert mission. But still, it was fortunate that Jo Minjoon could reproduce that jelly. But we can’t depend on Jo Minjoon forever. This time, lets certainly catch the attention of the viewers.”

“…….Ugh, another one will get eliminated today too. Seeing that hurts my heart.”

Martin smirked.

“Worry about yourself. You don’t know when people are going to walk the road of elimination. Do you think that the seat of PD is eternal?”

–

“There’s only talk about you again.”

Anderson frowned and closed the window in his handphone. It was understandable. To replicate the recipe of a dish he ate once, after that scene, you wouldn’t think about any other person but Jo Minjoon. Jo Minjoon smirked and asked.

“Are you jealous?”

“It’s a little different to jealousy, because it’s normal to get a stomachache while looking at others doing well.”

“Just looking at you saying those things that calmly……You are certainly similar to Kaya.”

“…….Stop it.”

It was an expression as if he really didn’t want to listen to it. Jo Minjoon laughed and raised his kochi. It wasn’t dakkochi or sheep kochi. The things that were skewered in the kochi was prosciutto, tomato, and bread smeared in olive oil. It was an Italian dish called bruschetta. It was a simple composition, but the moment it entered his mouth, the salty flavor of the prosciutto and the aroma of olive oil spread…… and the aroma of the perfectly roasted bread followed. He admired happily.

“For the flavor of bread to be this important……..”

“Bread is a basic in Europe cuisine, just like rice is for your country.”

“In my country, rather than eating bread like this……how can I say it? Snack? We like it that.”

“I know. You also said that last time.”

“……..Did I?”

Jo Minjoon laughed embarrassedly and kept eating another bruschetta. This one didn’t have toppings, but only bread with olive oil. The surprising thing was that even that was delicious. Well, with only one drop of sesame oil, the flavor got better, so he thought that he could take this with a similar feeling.

He slightly looked at Kaya. She was eating the cheesecake Sasha had made with a little tired face. She said that she didn’t have appetite and that her stomach hurt, but she had made many things but couldn’t even enjoy it. Jo Minjoon’s mouth was filled with bitterness. Although he wasn’t showing it, it could clearly be seen that he was having it hard.

It was unfortunate, but there was nothing he could do for her. Hugo looked Jo Minjoon’s expression and carefully opened his mouth.

“Do you think Kaya’s going to be fine?”

“There’s no way she will. Look at how many ill comments there were. Kaya’s still young. She’s only 18.”

“……Thinking about it, Kaya’s the youngest participant among the surviving ones.”

Hugo looked at Kaya in a new light. Although she did childish things, he felt that she didn’t give a sensation of being old because of her make up. She also had skills. She was a possible winning candidate. It was difficult to treat her as a normal teen.

“Who’s the oldest among us?”

“I wonder. Isn’t it Sasha? Sasha should be around 28. Anderson is 22 and you are 21. How old was Chloe?”

“21. I wasn’t aware of it, but all of the top candidates are young. I remember that there were at least one or two people in their thirties.”

“That means that we did that well.”

Hugo smirked with a confident face. It was at that moment that Robert approached them to the table. The faces of all of the participants froze. If it was something that the youngest PD had to come and find them, the reason was really simple. The words came out from Robert’s mouth as they had expected.

“After two hours, the mission’s going to start. Get ready.”

Robert just said that sentence and disappeared. Kaya that was looking at his back, frowned.

“It makes me lose my appetite.”

“Me too.”

Sasha replied with a sad voice and rested her chin on her hands. Chloe rolled her eyes as if she had fallen in her thoughts, and looked at Jo Minjoon.

“……What do you think the mission is going to be? Minjoon, guess. You got it right last time too.”

“I wonder, I can’t seem to predict it today.”

“Do you have days which you can feel those things?”

“Isn’t everyone like that?”

He replied with an awkward face. Even if it flowed as it originally was meant to, his memories were a little cloudy. It seemed like recently, the judges tried to make the contents of the missions a little harder. And if the contents of the mission changed, his memories wouldn’t be of use. Chloe replied while smiling.

“It would be good if Chinese cuisine comes out as the theme.”

“…….If it does, everyone will be in a disadvantage except for you.”

“You can at least think positively.”

Chloe pouted. Jo Minjoon smirked. If other people said this, the feeling would be different. But since it was Chloe, who took care of others better than anyone, that said those words, she didn’t feel hateful at all.

However, aside from being hateful or not, Chloe’s wish realizing didn’t happen. The afternoon of that day, the theme the judges announced wasn’t related to a country.

“There will be two themes in this mission. And the first one is fire.”

Emily lowered her voice as if she was trying to make the atmosphere heavy. Since she was forcing it, it didn’t feel heavy at all, but could it be because of the position of judge?They even got nervous and their hair raised even with her breath. The people just looked at Emily. Emily slowly enjoying their gazes, and continued talking in a slow voice.

“They said that fire gave a sense of civilization to humankind. It made them know of cooking, as well as the various cooking methods they could do. Roasting, poaching, simmering, sautéing, steaming, broiling, grilling… it is difficult to count every one of them. You have to cook one ingredient in three different methods, and that ingredient is…”

Emily paused for a moment. No, that wasn’t pausing. Gulp. Emily gulped, and after laughing embarrassedly, she continued talking.

“Even trying to talk makes me drool. The ingredient is pork. It’s good to roast the exterior yellowy, and it’s also good to coat it in flour and fry it. Putting it in stew and saving the flavor is also a good choice. Whatever side it is, I hope you cook your best.”

Alan continued to say after Emily with a calm voice.

“The time you can use to cook is exactly 2 hours. We will give you 30 minutes from now on to think on the recipe, so think about what you will cook in that time.”

30 minutes. When they were thinking that 30 minutes to think about three different recipes was not that long of a time, Joseph opened his mouth.

“If the three dishes you present are harmonious, we can give you extra points. However, the most important thing is the quality of the food that’s on top of the plate. I will pray for you to make your best on cooking. Think of your recipe. We will give you exactly 30 minutes from now on.”

Jo Minjoon rolled his head. 2 hours and three dishes. Although it had all of the body parts of the pig, it wasn’t by Korean standards but in American standards.

Taking into account those points, he had many options to choose. There were so many it made him wonder as to what he could cook. So if they gave him a wide variety of options, the recipe he could use was also wide. Because from the time he was together with the other participants, the cooking methods and the recipes he got to know from them were many. If he combined all of that, he thought that he would be able to get a good result.

Jo Minjoon closed his eyes. Inside his eyes, many recipe windows appeared and disappeared. Although he wouldn’t have noticed, it was a really fast speed. Two recipes appeared and disappeared in a second, so compared to the normal people, his conceptualization skills were 10 times faster. But of course, there were many recipes he had copied from them…….

When he opened his eyes, only 5 minutes had passed. Jo Minjoon slowly organized the recipes in his head. The first thing was a Hong Kong style dongpo pork. the cooking method for this wasn’t one or two. He could boil, fry it, and slice it to boil it down to a sauce. The second one was fried meatballs and smoked paprika with balsamic sauce. The last one was roasting pork rib in a barbecue style. And the composition score was 6……..

Jo Minjoon laughed. At least for the recipe composition, compared to the first time he entered the competition and now, the level had clearly changed. The estimated cooking score was all the same.

8 points.

< The pig and the fire (1) > End

Translator’s note: Thanks for reading and for your support!

Translator : Subak

Proofreader : Saihikawa