Min-joon wanted to make a dish that could break people’s prejudices. He wanted to make a dish that they could not enjoy anywhere else in the world. The typical deep-fried cream that Gwen made had him think about so many ideas and so much desire in an instant. It was the moment when he confirmed he was right. In other words, even though their cooking level was not higher than his, each of their simple ideas served as a hint for his further growth.
But he had to put off focusing on it until later because he had to be faithful to his duty as a judge now. He approached Gwen. She was busy making a banana puree with cream puffs for a while. He glanced at it and slowly opened his mouth.
“Avocado and whipped cream alone may not be enough for sweetness. Are you using bananas for more sweetness?”
“Yes, that’s right. I’m just trying to bring out the proper sweetness of this one.”
“Don’t you think it’s rather a defensive cuisine?” he asked.
Although his intentions were not very clear, this was the only feedback he could give her as a judge. Leaving her hard expression behind, he moved to another team of three chefs.
In fact, Gwen was in good shape because she was given his feedback, to say the least.
However, the situation was different for the team he was going to check now.
While they were cooking their own dishes, they were interfering with each other’s mediocre dishes. They were about to ruin their dishes while trying to stick to their pride.
This was literally the worst situation he could imagine. In that case, he was ready to teach them a good scolding rather than giving them any feedback. As a judge, he would have no choice but to shout and rebuke them. Out of the three judges, he was the one who was in charge of scolding them now.
While heading to them, however, Min-joon thought for a moment whether his action would help them or whether he would just end up venting his frustration. He had to stop if he was motivated by his intent to simply vent his anger and frustration at them, for he was not here for his own sake. Of course, he would react differently if he was also a participant like them. As a judge, he had to pay more attention to their interests than his own.
“Well, if I shut my mouth, I won’t have to think about them and feel good for now.”
But the problem was that if he just kept silent, these guys would be eliminated from the competition after they did their best. But how would they change if he gave them feedback?
Could he make them elite chefs overnight? He couldn’t say yes to such a question.
Anyway, he opened his mouth when he approached the team.
“Are you playing now instead of cooking?”
When they heard his icy voice, those who were arguing among themselves shut their mouths immediately. They knew his personality based on their experiences dealing with him. Kaya didn’t harass them even if she showed an explosion of emotion momentarily. Joseph was trying to say good things alone, as a rule. But Min-joon was different. If there was something he didn’t like, he refuted their excuses until they admitted it.
So no one was readily willing to give excuses when he asked. Of course, that didn’t mean that he just shut his mouth and gave them a pass.
He slowly glanced over Ireland and opened his mouth.
“Other chefs have already grasped the outline of their dishes to some extent, but you haven’t even finished the basic cooking outline yet. The trash can is full of failed ingredients. Are you focused right now? Is it because you didn’t spend any money on the ingredients that you wasted them like this?’
“Sorry.”
“I’m not saying this because I want to hear you say you’re sorry. I don’t care if you’re sorry or not. I just want to know if you feel ashamed or not. What’s on your mind when you came to this competition? Robert, let me start off with you.”
“Well, because I wanted to be successful.”
“Because I like cooking.”
“Because I thought this was an opportunity to accomplish something.”
The three of them in Gwen’s team spoke one by one.
He looked at them with a cold expression then continued, “Success, cooking, opportunity. Whatever it is, it’s wonderful. At least, what you imagined about yourself when you got here first would not be as ugly as you are now.”
“Well, I don’t want to be ugly…”
“It doesn’t matter what you’re thinking. The problem is that the way you guys are doing it now makes me so frustrated that I have no choice but to let out a sigh.”
Those words came out of Min-joon’s mouth, not any other judge’s. The reason his criticism sounded scarier than anyone else’s was because he was not harsh with anybody, as a rule. When he, who was usually friendly to anybody with a smile and treated them kindly, showed such a cold attitude all of a sudden, they had no choice but to get goosebumps, dashing their existing perceptions of his gentle temper.
“Think of the most basic things when you cook. First, make your customers happy. Second, cook in a happy mood. If you can’t keep this basic stuff, you have already ruined your cuisine. If you eat the dish made by a chef who killed a man last night, can you feel good about it?”
His last words were a bit exaggerated, but his exaggeration clearly showed how wrong their attitude was at the moment. When they lowered their heads with sullen expressions, he looked at them slowly and said, “Don’t stop moving your hands. I don’t think you can’t make good dishes just because of what I said. I’m not here to disturb you now. It’s clear that you won’t get anywhere if you keep doing this, so I’m here to help you out.”
“Then, what should we do now?”
“For now, stop slandering each other. Even if you think your partner is not reliable, you have to trust him or her. If you don’t trust each other, the dish you make will end up being very sloppy. So, make your own dish well first. In my eyes, none of you is doing your bit properly.”
When he criticized them, all of the team members lowered their heads with gloomy expressions. It would be a lie if there was no rebellion against him in their eyes. Whether they were competent or not, the participants had pride of their own. However, if they tried to uphold their pride here, they knew that even their pride would be trampled on, so they could not refute what he just said.
“I hope I can smile at you a little later when I see you again.”
After he said that, he turned.
While he was giving them a hard lesson, Kaya was sitting at Gwen’s table.
She glanced at Peter and opened her mouth.
“Are you now making fish and chips?”
“Uh.”
“You know it’s a very difficult challenge to score points with a homemade style dish, right?”
Even Min-joon was almost dropped from the cooking competition because of the same problem. He didn’t fail because his full course in one table was Asian but because it lacked in terms of the level of difficulty.
Fish and chips? He wouldn’t even dream of winning this competition with regular fish and chips.
But Kaya didn’t think about the dish negatively from the beginning, for it wasn’t that unusual to upgrade an ordinary dish to a high-end one. For example, burgers that cost hundreds of dollars were a new trend in the gourmet world these days.
‘Peter wouldn’t be that stupid.’
Anyway, Peter had experience participating in the Grand Chef competition before. So he probably knew how to survive to some extent. And he had become more competent than before, so he would not be eliminated so easily like others.
‘Come to think of it, I also had a hard time when I worked as part of a team,’ Kaya thought.
She still vividly remembered how desperate she was when she eagerly reached out to Min-joon for help. Probably, Peter was in the same desperate mood as Kaya back then.
Of course, Kaya would not reach out to Peter now. After all, she was a human who didn’t forget her bad experiences easily. She didn’t like Peter. As a judge of this competition, it would be ridiculous if she cheered for him.
“I look forward to your dish, Peter,” she said.
And that was all the support she could give Peter in this situation.
Peter didn’t say anything to her, though. He just nodded with a blunt expression.
The one-hour allotted time was running out. Each team didn’t look at the watch deliberately to put all their efforts into the dishes they were making now.
But, as always, time did not wait for them.
“Everyone, take off your hands. Your cooking time is over.”
When Kaya announced the time was up, some of them were still looking at the pots and plates with some regrets, but they would be disqualified if they put their hands back on them.
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