God of Cooking

“He’s already a star. If he decides to move out into the entertainment field such as TV, he can easily earn several times the money he is making now. Maybe he might be asking much more than you offer. Nonetheless, he is still staying with Rose Island. Why do you think he doesn’t want to move?”

“I don’t know. How do I know?”

“Look. You don’t even know that. If you really want to have that person, you shouldn’t give the impression that you can solve everything with money. I’m telling you this as your secretary and as your friend. This is my advice as your only friend.”

“I do have a lot of friends, Terry.”

“If you are talking about those idiots who are only looking at your wallet, yeah, you have a lot. I agree.”

Terry’s voice was quite cynical. Did she have lots of grudges against her until now?

Narrowing her eyes, Delia looked at her and said, “You seem very harsh to me today. What’s wrong with you? Any complaints about me?”

“Can’t you see I’m so ashamed right now? I’m so ashamed that I can’t even raise my head. Oh my God! You’re causing a lot of trouble in another man’s restaurant, not yours. Don’t you know that?”

“What’s wrong with me? If I like him, I can give him an offer. I don’t see any problem.”

“Dang it. How can you be so rude as to offer him a salary 20 times as high as his current pay all of a sudden?”

“I guess you don’t like the way I spend my money. Can you verify you can’t solve the problem with money?”

“Well, do what you want. Bring him to me with your money. Then let me admit it.”

“Sure. Bring him to me then.”

There was something weird in her tone.

As if she felt uneasy, Terry narrowed her eyes and snapped, “What did you say?”

“I’m telling you to bring him to me. You get paid just because you are eating with me, right? You know you make much more than your peers in the same occupation, right? So, bring him here.”

Telling her like that, Delia smiled. At first glance, her smile was pure and innocent like a child’s.

“Terry, prove to me you are worthy of your salary.”

***

“What the heck?! Did she offer you a salary 20 times the amount you receive at Rose Island?”

When they were almost done with preparing the dinner menu, Maya was aghast after hearing from Min-joon what Delia offered to him.

Min-joon nodded with a smile and said, “Oh man, my legs almost gave way, but I barely stuck it out. In terms of a moment, the way she spends it is so different from most of us.”

“So, did you refuse her offer?”

“Why, do you want to accept it?”

“Ah…” Maya moaned, grabbing her head. She knew that refusing it was the right choice, but when she thought about the amount of the offered salary, she definitely felt she regretted his refusal.

Janet opened her mouth in a calm voice, “I already warned you against her. She really sucks!”

“Did she do the same thing before?”

“Yeah. And unlike you, that guy could not resist her offer and accepted it. But she fired him in only three months, complaining his skills were not good enough. I don’t think that’s the reason, but she obviously didn’t like him. That’s all I know.”

“Wow, Chef Min-joon, you really resisted the temptation very well. I would not have rejected her offer so easily.”

Min-joon smiled at her words. He is now working at Rose Island where there are lots of customers who wanted to make a reservation. Besides, he had the love and blessings of its head chef—Rachel. If he gave it up and pursued money, he would make a big mistake from the beginning.

If that really happened, it would definitely ruin his cooking career. Aside from Rachel’s coaching, it was very unlikely that he would come up with good recipes with a mindset contaminated with material pursuits. In that respect, it could be said that the chef had a lot in common with an artist.

“I would have accepted the offer. Even if I could work only three months before being fired, I would still have made five years of salary during the three months if she paid me 20 times as much as I used to receive. It’s not a bad deal,” said Lisa.

“I understand. Lisa, you have to lead your family. You might feel different from me since you’re the head of a family…”

“I was kidding. I don’t even want to play into the rich guys’ hands of course. I want to be a proud mother for my daughter, Ella.”

Having said that, she stroked Ella’s head, who held her leg tightly.

Ella raised her head and looked up at them, saying, “Mom, if you receive money 20 times as much as now, how big is it?”

“Well, I think I can buy you a thousand candies every day. Then I still have a lot more to spend.”

“What???” Ella hiccuped at the moment as if surprised.

Then she grabbed her chest with a straight face, “Mom, I can’t stop my hiccups.”

“Hold your breath.”

“But it won’t stop…”

“Wait, let me give you some water. Drink some water while you’re holding your nose. You will be alright.”

“Oh, here you are.” Min-joon handed her a bottle of water that was right next to him.

While Ella grabbed the water bottle with both hands and drank some water, Min-joon looked at her while squeezing Ella’s nose.

“Forget about the offer. Let’s talk about Marco first. I’m more curious about that now. So, have you made up your mind?”

“I need some more time to evaluate him. I haven’t seen him baking yet.”

“But you have seen him kneading dough. To be honest, I don’t know that much about baking, but can’t you size him up by checking how he is kneading the dough?”

“It depends.”

“So, what I mean is…” Min-joon stopped talking and lowered his head.

Ella, who just finished drinking, was tapping on the back of Min-joon’s hand that was holding her nose.

He took off his hand. Grabbing her red nose, she was about to cry.

“It hurts…”

“I’m sorry. Did I squeeze it too hard?”

“It’s okay. My hiccups had stopped already.”

“I think you hate hiccups.”

“Yes. When I have hiccups, my heart hurts. So, I hate it.”

Ella grinned, blinking her tearful eyes beautifully.

Then she asked, looking at him, “By the way, who is Marco?”

“Oh, he is a baker. He will work with your mother later.”

“Really? Then, can you play with me, Mom?”

“Well, it depends on the situation, but I think I can play with you more than before.”

Shouting with joy, Ella thew herself in Lisa’s arms. Smiling at her, Lisa stroked her back.

Min-joon cleared his throat and asked, “Oh, I want to ask you a little more, but I’m afraid I’m disturbing your playtime with Ella.”

“If you’re curious about him, why don’t you follow me?”

“Pardon?”

Lisa shrugged then said, “I mean Marco, your friend. Let’s see what kind of bread he has made.”

***

While they were on the way to pick up Marco, Min-joon agonized for a moment whether he should get in Lisa’s car or Anderson’s car, but he ended up getting in Lisa’s car because Anderson said he had some work to do at home.

Because of this, Min-joon ran into another problem. In other words, he had to decide where the cameraman would sit inside the car. Of course, Lisa took the driver’s seat, and Ella couldn’t sit in the passenger seat because she was a kid. It was natural for her to sit in the back seat. Min-joon and the cameraman had to sit apart. After all, Min-joon ended up sitting in the passenger seat.

‘Man, this really gives me a headache.’

Ella’s eyes glistened when she turned her eyes closely to the TV camera.

She asked, whispering in a small voice, “Mister, can I touch this?”

“Yeah, but don’t tap it hard.”

“Yay!”

Ella smiled brightly then touched the camera. Fortunately, she lost interest quickly and turned her head, but it was always burdensome for anybody to see the twinkling eyes of a young child.

The cameraman asked Min-joon suddenly, “Min-joon, I’ll ask you something. Why do you care so much about Marco?”

“Pardon?”

“To be honest, you guys have only been friends for only several months, right? But it seems really strange to me because you are treating him dearly as if you have known him for more than ten years. Are you this kind to everybody or just to Marco?”

“It’s a very difficult question. I’ve never thought about that. But you are right. I didn’t try to do anything like this to my regular friends. Maybe I think I did it this time because of Marco’s charm. I mean, he makes me want to take care of him.”

“The reason is you are drawn to him?”

“Well, sort of. I want to be his fellow traveler. Like you said, I have not made friends with him for a long time, so I can’t say we are on close terms, but I know if I spend a long time with him, I can feel we can have a deeper friendship. I think we can get along well as good friends for the rest of our lives. I believe that,” said Min-joon with a smile.

At that moment, the cameraman wanted to respond, ‘Perhaps you are the one who gives such an impression to anybody who makes friends with you,’ but he didn’t. In fact, he didn’t have to because Lisa exactly said what he wanted to, “Well, Min-joon is such a guy.”

“Thank you, Lisa. You are the same.”

“Don’t praise me in return!”

“Oh, I’m not returning your compliment. Lisa is a really nice person, right, Ella?”

“Yes, I like my Mom best.”

Ella nodded with a smile. Lisa seemed to be struggling to hold back the urge to smile.

A little later, when they got out of the car and entered the bakery, the light was off.

To be precise, the light on the hall was turned off. But they could see through the gap of the door that the lights were on in the kitchen and the baking room. Is Marco still there?

When they thought so, the door opened as if Marco felt their presence. Instantly, the light came out, and a huge shadow was cast again.

Along the dark hall, there was Marco, a huge and big guy standing with the light of the kitchen behind. Ella looked up at him blankly.

“Hiccup!”

Ella suddenly grabbed Min-joon and Lisa’s hands with a frightened expression.

Looking at Ella, Marco flinched and stopped walking for a moment.

Then he waved his hand awkwardly and said to Ella, “Hi?”

“Uh…”

Ella was still scared at his greetings.

Min-joon squatted before her with a smil.

“It’s okay, Ella. He’s my friend. He’s not a bad man.”

“Really?”f