God of Cooking Chapter 48:

Gulp .

A gulping sound was heard . It was Jo Minjoon . He looked at the chips that were coming out of the boxes with a serious face . Blue team one, red team one . Blue team eleven, red team eleven . It was at the moment when they each had seventeen chips, with a total of thirty four coming out when Alan opened his mouth .

“Now, one of the boxes doesn’t have any more chips . ”

The participants just heard that as a declaration . Alan looked at Jacob .

“Jacob . Do you think that your team will win?”
“Yes . ”
“And what’s the reason for you to be saying that?”
“I believe in my teammates . ”
“Do you think that you have performed the role of the head chef well?”
“It’s a difficult question for me to answer . I think that my teammates would be having the answer . ”

Alan just looked at Jacob . His eyes seemed intricate and nervous rather than gentle . Jacob didn’t evade his sight . Alan said in a low tone of voice .

“If you have to pick someone from your team that performed the best, who would you pick?”
“…… . It’s troublesome . It would be too simple to say  that everyone did well . Fine . I will pick Marco . Because it was the only dish we didn’t even have to wash . ”
“Then, if you have to pick the person that performed the worst, who would you pick?”

Jacob couldn’t reply immediately . He could only be like that . Because if he named someone, in the end, that person would only get hurt . And there were no particular people that made such a mistake as to bad mouth like that . Jacob replied with an awkward voice .

“I will pick myself . I tried to adjust to the head chef’s seat, but I don’t get the feeling to have completed my role well . ”

At those words, Alan didn’t say anything . In the middle of the nervousness, only silence could be heard, and only after a while did Alan smile .

“You seemed to be replying trying to evade my question, but your answer seems to be quite true . I won’t refute that . I will only say a word . Jacob . You have done the best as a head chef . Remember that . ”
“Thank you . ”

As the conversation between the two ended, Kaya’s face became ugly . Because it was obvious who Alan was going to target next . Alan turned his head to look at Kaya . Chloe that was next to her, wiped the sweat that was on Kaya’s forehead with a towel nervously . Alan that was looking at them expressionlessly opened his mouth .

“Kaya . I will also make the same question to you . Do you think that you are going to win?”
“I don’t know . Because in the end, you just have to look at the results . So why are you asking me this? If you ask me if I’m going to lose I would reply that I wasn’t confident, but if I say that I’m going to win, then it will be a proofless confidence . Isn’t that right?”

At Kaya’s bold question, almost all of the people that were next to her laughed bitterly . They knew well about Kaya’s temperament, but they never thought that she would be able to speak so challengingly to a judge like Alan . Was it a bluff? Or did she only know to reply like that?

Alan didn’t get angry . Because those words weren’t so harsh for him to get angry . She had just hit the mark . And Kaya’s eyes were also slanting, but there was no need to point out things like this one by one . Because he was a judge and not a teacher . Alan said unconcernedly .

“I won’t mind about what you reply . Just do so . Are you confident?”
“I told you . That you have to see to know . I don’t know . ”

Alan’s eyes twitched . Saying the truth, he felt a bit perplexed . Because he never thought that he would listen to this sort of answer . However, now that he looked clearly, it seemed that Kaya that had said those words seemed more perplexed . It seemed like she had never expected to say those things that sharply . Alan took a short breath and opened his mouth .

“Then, I will go with the next question . Who was the most excellent chef?”
“Hugo and Chloe . Oh, right . I understand . It was only one person . Chloe . I will go with Chloe . Actually their dishes were similarly delicious . However, If you take into account the serving, Chloe was better . Because she smiles really brightly . She’s cute and pretty unlike me . The customers like her very much . ”
“……Don’t you think that if you fix that temperament of yours, the customers will like you very much for how you look?”
“So, did you fix it chef? Your mean character . ”

Alan smiled instead of replying . Saying the truth, it was something he shouldn’t be saying . Because he wasn’t the type to smile brightly at the customers . Alan continued his questions . Even he wasn’t accustomed to asking questions, but because this was a broadcast, he couldn’t just let it pass .

“This is the last question . Who’s the teammate that performed the worst?”

At that moment, many participants unconsciously looked at Peter . It was understandable . Because he was the person who had made a shocking scene like burning his dish .

Kaya didn’t try to look good and seem considerate by not saying his name . Because whatever she did, it was still a miserable situation . Rather than a sloppy consideration, it would be more comfortable to say one honest word .

“He burnt the fine chicken . It would be difficult not saying that it was Peter . ”
“And what about you? Don’t you think that you were lacking as head chef letting him do that kind of thing?”
“When did I say that I didn’t have any fault? I was just comparing . The stupid teammate that can’t even properly preheat the oven and burn his own dish, and the head chef that couldn’t properly check that teammate . Even if you see it objectively, the most stupid one should be the teammate . ”

It was an excessively honest statement . The casting crew were looking at this situation like a funny scene and laughing, but Jo Minjoon that was looking at her couldn’t help but feel nervous . Because the not pretentious honesty can be seen as rude . And the public used to focus on the bad points rather than the good ones .

She was more concerned and afraid of bad comments rather than the judges, and the only words that came out of her were only those kinds of things . Of course, her very existence would make for a funny character, but the time that character gets accepted by the media won’t be short . Because they already felt rejected when seeing the scene of Jo Minjoon and Kaya .

Kaya opened her mouth .

“Perhaps, did I have to reply that I was the worst one? I didn’t really get a script . ”
“…… . Enough . Let’s finish the interview here . ”

Alan talked like that and put his hand on the red box . And Emily that was next to him also put her hand in the blue box and said .

“One of our hands should be empty . If my hand is empty the red team wins, but if Alan’s hand is empty the blue team will win . Count down, will you do it? Now, count to three!”

At Emily’s words, everyone yelled together . And it was the same for Jo Minjoon . The voices that were heard were filled with expectation .

One .
Two .
Three .

–

After the announcement of the result ended, all of the participants went to the interviewing room . And Jo Minjoon was not an exception . When he got out of the interview after facing Martin like usual, he saw Chloe that was standing in the hall hitting the wall with her heel . As Jo Minjoon got close to her, Chloe turned her head .

“Did you finish?”
“What are you doing here?”
“Hm, it would be weird to go to the kitchen . The atmosphere is really down . ”
“And Kaya?”
“Ugh . Looking that you are taking care of her, it really seems like you are siblings . Don’t worry . She’s in the interviewing room . ”
“Okay . ”

Jo Minjoon leaned his back in the wall standing next to Chloe . The cold of the concrete could be felt through his thin clothes . Chloe opened her mouth .

“I felt it today . That cooking in the kitchen of a restaurant and cooking in your home is different . I didn’t think that it would be this difficult . ”
“Even so, it was entertaining . I had fun . Looking at the customers eating my dish happily . It was a first . ”
“………It’s the same for me . Even if I get disqualified in Grand Chef later on, I think that I would be able to protect my dream . ”

Jo Minjoon nodded at those words . At first, he came all the way to the United Stated simply to get approved by his parents . Of course, he also wanted to stand in the stage he had admired .

But this competition gave him more than he had thought . Improving your cooking skills, and being surrounded by good chefs . And the most important point was that he could polish his attitude and passion towards cooking . Jo Minjoon smiled faintly and opened his mouth .

“The competition, I think I came well . It was the best decision I have made in my life . ”
“It’s the same for me . ”

Chloe looked at Jo Minjoon and smiled brightly . And after that, the conversation stopped for a long while . They didn’t have particularly anything to talk about, and the silence was soft rather than being awkward . He thought that he didn’t need to say something to break the ice . But just like if there is a start, there is an end, there was also an end to that silence . Chloe  opened her mouth .

“Now that I see, what are you going to do about telling your parents? You said that you were going to tell them . The dream of becoming a chef . ”
“……… . I have to tell them . Because I can’t just hide it from them forever regardless of the results . And on top of that . ”

Jo Minjoon smiled .

“This mission, we won . I have to keep the promise . ”
“…… . . I get the feeling that it’s not a promise . ”

Chloe just scratched her cheeks .

The mission was won by the blue team, Kaya’s team . 17 to 26 . The blue team was 26 . The victory was so overwhelming it made them dumbfounded . Thinking about Peter’s mistake, they could only think of it as something dramatic and a turn around . Jo Minjoon couldn’t forget about the red team’s faces that were half sure about victory .

“The victory, wasn’t it because of your serving? They customers wouldn’t have simply evaluated with just the dishes . ”
“Nah, would they do that?”

Chloe laughed and shook her head . However Jo Minjoon didn’t say that as simply a joke . Just like Emily evaluated, it wasn’t weird to say that Chloe’s smile captivated the customers hearts . Because the thing called service didn’t simply end at simply serving your cooking in a plate .

“It’s the truth . If it was me, when I ate something that was similar, I would have picked the team with prettier chefs . ”
“Stop it . Stop saying crafty words and contact your parents . Ah, shouldn’t you because of the time difference?”
“No . Right now, it should be morning…… . ”

Jo Minjoon hesitated for a moment and took out his handphone . It was at that moment when he turned on the turned off screen . Jo Minjoon’s face froze . Chloe that looked at his expression looked at his handphone, and even she frowned . Although she couldn’t know the korean contents, at least she could know the numbers and the missed call marks . 21 missed calls . Chloe looked at Jo Minjoon nervously .

“……… . Wait a moment . ”

When he checked the contents, 10 calls were from his mother, 5 from his father, and the remaining 6 from her sister Jo Ara . And he also had countless messages . Jo Minjoon looked at the ceiling for a moment, and looked down at his handphone again . Then let out a sigh .

[Mom : Minjoon, people are telling me weird things . ]
[Mom : Did you go to a cooking competition?]
[Mom : If you see the messages call me . ]

[Dad: Minjoon . Are you busy?]

[Jo Ara: Oppa, you said that you were travelling but what are you doing right now? Mom and dad are really serious right now . ]

There were countless more messages, but it was difficult to read them . Jo Minjoon closed his handphone . Chloe extended her hand and firmly grabbed Jo Minjoon’s shoulders . Jo Minjoon opened his mouth with a dark face .

“I think that they…… . know . ”

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