“Carto (까르또). Shallot. Mini cabbage and beef flank.”
Jo Minjoon’s mouths named the flavors without hesitation. Honestly, if you placed these ingredients in a ground state, the level of it could only be more difficult compared to the time of the pocket mission. However he couldn’t show a weak side. People in the world were already recognized him as a chef with an absolute sense of taste. At least, his abilities to guess the ingredients were officially the best in the world, no, in history.
‘If what they want is this……..’
He could play this simple joke. Actually, what made him determined on feeling like this was the words Anderson told him at the airport. That had quite an influence. Starbook. Even if the image that piled up through that showed in your dish, he said that it was rather welcoming. Although it won’t be completely winning by cooking, the real objective for a chef isn’t victory, but making customers happy.
If he could increase the range in which he could please customers, he thought that that was rather a virtue of a chef. Honestly talking with common sense, when Jo Minjoon was naming the finely grounded ingredients that shouldn’t be able to be felt, there wasn’t even a trace of hesitation in Jo Minjoon’s voice.
Everytime he got one ingredient right, everyone showed different emotions on their faces. Emily had a proud face that was like looking at her younger brother, and Alan nodded as if he knew that would happen.
Rachel looked at him with moved eyes like usual, and Anderson put a jealous face looking at that Rachel. And when interest appeared in Jeremy’s eyes……Sera was astonished. She crossed out all the ingredients that were written in a paper. There was nothing wrong in it.
It was impossible. Even if he had an absolute sense of taste, and if he had more taste buds than normal people to the point it was incomparable……Could you guess those finely ground ingredients like that?
Sera
“……Impossible.”
Night. Looking at her reflected self, Sera mumbled. Emily, who was persuading at a distance, spoked with a puffed up voice.
“I told you, right? His tongue. We didn’t edit anything.”
“It’s not that I didn’t believe……I didn’t know it would be to that point.”
“Actually, I was also surprised. Because the time of the dumpling and this time…….it’s on a completely different level.”
Honestly speaking, Emily was uneasy. She wondered if he would be able to guess all those ingredients that were ground up to be nearly a powder, even if the one they were talking about was Jo Minjoon. But of course, she thought that he would be able to do with what she had seen until now, even so she couldn’t help but feel even a little bit uneasy.
But today, Emily’s uneasiness disappeared. It was the day a nail was stuck about his absolute sense of taste. The fan’s of Jo Minjoon that support his absolute sense of taste would be able to defend it more because now they were filled with more confidence. Emily put down the hair dryer and looked at Sera. Her look, that was more dispirited than usual was rather cute, but she couldn’t leave her alone.
“Are you depressed because you think you became a supporting actor?”
“…….I don’t know. At first I was fl.u.s.tered, but as today I saw him guessing all of the ingredients right with my own eyes…..I don’t know. Should I say that I’m an extra musician looking at Beethoven? Emily, how did you hold it down? This sense of inferiority.”
“Because it’s a problem you don’t need to feel that.”
“Why?”
“There are people that say that Beethoven is great, but not everyone says that he’s the best. And it’s not because he’s lacking. Because in this world, it would be meaningless to name someone as the best.”
“Even so……. Thinking that I will always end up as a supporting actor, an extra….It’s a bit sad.”
At Sera’s uneasy face, Emily smirked. Emily put lotion on her hands and smeared it on Sera’s nose. She frowned.
“What are you doing?”
“There’s already an answer on what you asked. Actually, the ones that are called as the most outstanding geniuses in the world of music are the ones that specialize in cla.s.sic music. But, do you listen to cla.s.sic music?”
“…….I’m not the type to listen to it much.”
“It’s like that. It’s true that Minjoon’s tongue is so sensitive to the point he’s claimed to have an absolute sense of taste and is a genius, but just because of that the things the tongue feels and the flavors aren’t always the absolute standard. Because preferences are various. You just have to show off your colour.”
‘My colour is s.e.xy epicurean.’ Sera was thinking like that and then spread the lotion she had on her nose and looked at Emily with calm eyes. Emily smiled jokingly.
“That lotion is expensive. Use it well.”
“…..You really are detestable.”
“Is that something you should say to someone that solves your thoughts?”
“That’s why you are all the more detestable. You look cool for nothing.”
Sera said that slightly and then touched her face as if she hadn’t said nothing. Rachel, that was looking at the two of them, smiled brightly.
“You really are close.”
“……..There was once that I said that to Anderson and Kaya. I think I now understand how the two felt.”
Emily said with an indisposed voice. Sera asked.
“Now that I see, that person called Kaya also seemed amazing. How is she?”
“She overflows of talent. In cooking, she was honestly the best. And I remember that her sense of taste was really sensitive, just that she was overshadowed by Minjoon. There was even the time that she tried Alan’s risotto once and perfectly recreated it……”
“Ah, I also saw that. Isn’t Kaya unexpectedly close to the absolute sense of taste?”
“The absolute taste that didn’t appear in history until now appears two of them at the same time? Prepare well. To go to Alan’s restaurant tomorrow you have to rest well. It will be quite a rough adventure.”
Rachel’s expression, that as listening to the conversation of the two, wasn’t that comfortable. It was because she remembered the words Jo Minjoon said to her in the past. ‘The one that suits teacher isn’t me, but Kaya.’ Even if she had placed interest in Kaya, she wouldn’t be able to approach her immediately because of the schedules of Grand Chef.
‘If it’s possible.’
Rachel raised herself. Emily looked at her wearing an overcoat and asked with a weird expression.
“Where are you going?”
“Ah, I have something to think about.”
The place she went to after speaking like that was the room of the men. After she pressed the bell and some time pa.s.sed, Jeremy’s voice was heard.
[ What are you doing in this secluded night on a room where there are a lot of men?]
“Stop with those greasy words. Is Minjoon sleeping? If he’s not, I would like it if you told him that I’m looking for him.”
[ He’s out.]
“Is he in the resting room in the hall then?”
[ No.]
At the short reply, Rachel frowned. Jeremy said with a bothersome voice.
[ He got out of the hotel, with Martin’s permission. He said he had to go and meet someone. What was the name? You know, that girl. I suddenly can’t remember the name. ]
“Girl?”
[ Why, you know. The one he called for an entire hour at the airport. So good to see.]
Rachel exclaimed.
“Kaya Lotus?”
–
It was when he was about to lay down on his bed after was.h.i.+ng himself that he received a call. ‘I’m also at Florencia. Can you come out?’ At those words, he was going to say yes unconsciously, when he realized that he was in the middle of broadcasting. But of course, as it was night he would only have to sleep, so it didn’t have that much meaning that it was a broadcast…….
But it was fortunate that Martin was a flexible person. After explaining the situation and asked him to go out for a moment, Martin said along a meaningful smile.
“Originally, I would send a cameraman with you, but as it’s late I will let this one pa.s.s. As many things can happen at night. You will come early, right? I recommend you to do so. You know that we have a live broadcast tomorrow, right?”
“……..Thank you.”
Although he said it jokingly, but in the end he decided to take it as he had agreed.
The place where Kaya called him was Ponte Vecchio. It was the only bridge that remained from the era of the romans. When Hitler battled against England and retreated to Florencia, he destroyed all the bridges except Vecchio, so you didn’t have to explain anymore as to the worth and beauty it had.
You could see people walking in the middle of the stores that were selling diamond rings and golden things. A yellow light was spread from a lamp that was hanging in the building, and between that a blue and white moonlight shone over the lake.
It was beautiful. Although he pa.s.sed through here in the afternoon, by then he couldn’t properly enjoy the scenery as he was focused on eating. Not only that, but the night at Vecchio bridge had another characteristic compared to the afternoon.
Jo Minjoon looked at his surroundings. Most were walking in pairs, and he saw a single woman that was at the handrail with arms crossed, but it didn’t seem like Kaya. A hood s.h.i.+rt with a leather jacket. A black jean that sticked to her legs. Although it was a fas.h.i.+on Kaya liked……It didn’t seem like her. Because the hair that sticked out her hood wasn’t black, but brown.
“…….She’s still not here.”
It was at that moment when he grabbed his cellphone and called Kaya. A ringtone started to sound from the woman he had just pa.s.sed. Jo Minjoon stopped his steps and looked back. The woman opened her cellphone and opened her mouth.
“Yeah.”
[ Yeah. ]
The same voice was heard from the cellphone and the woman. Jo Minjoon moved without saying anything. And when he got as close as ten steps away from her, he opened her mouth.
“Where are you? I can’t see you.”
The woman looked at her surroundings as if something was wrong and when she discovered Jo Minjoon she fixed her head on him. Soon, a dense smile bloomed on the face of the woman, on Kaya. She opened her mouth while still holding her cellphone.
“I’m at Ponte Vecchio. At the middle, under a lamp. There’s a sculpture next to me, but I don’t know who the sculptor is. Was it Leonardo or Dante? Where are you?”
“I’m also at Ponte Vecchio. Did you wear warm clothes? It’s a bit cold at night.”
“As you can see….. Not, I did. A hood s.h.i.+rt and a jacket is plenty.”
“You came out alone?”
“How amazing of a person am I to be hanging with body guards?”
Kaya smirked and said. Jo Minjoon asked.
“But until when are we planning to play this?”
“I wonder. Should I give you a sign?”
“How?”
“The spell on Cinderella dispels when the bell rings at 12 o’clock. We also have to ring the bell. I will ring it for you, the bell.”
Kaya placed her phone in front of her face. And then, slowly placed her lips on the part that had the mic. From the handphone he had in his ear, he could hear her breath slowly. And soon, it felt like Kaya’s lips had reached it.
Smooch. The moment it was heard was only a moment, and the silence was long…… but it felt like the echo still remained in his ear. Just like a bell. Kaya smiled brightly.
“The magic, it got dispelled right?”
< Florencia’s dawn (3) > End
Translator’s note: Thanks for reading!
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Translator : Subak
Proofreader : Saihikawa