At that moment, the expression Joanne was putting spread in everyone’s faces like it was contagious. They couldn’t help it. Because in the past month, they had never seen Chloe getting angry. But that Chloe got angry?
Jo Minjoon opened his mouth with a perplexed voice. How surprised was he that his voice shook at the end.
“Saying that she had a fight, who was it with? Her teammates? Or…… the customers?”
“It seems like it’s the customers……. You too take a look.”
At her words, they realized that they also had their own handphones. Jo Minjoon looked at the mentions in the screen without a word.
Elly Dean : They say that there was a scandal in Grand Chef’s food truck. They say that a customer and Chloe fought as they were shouting.
ㄴ CRJ : I was in that place, but Chloe wasn’t to the point to be shouting. It is true that she had raised her voice, but compared to the customer it was nothing.
ㄴ Elly Dean : @CRJ Why? What did she do?
ㄴ CRJ: @Elly Dean I don’t know why they started to fight, but I heard the people talking at that time. First, if she was planning to take the money selling this kind of trashy kochi. But the funny thing was that Chloe didn’t even get the money. So it means that that person hadn’t even eaten a bite.
Samantha Croft : It wasn’t a good scene to look at. I know that it isn’t easy to cope with that, but Chloe had to bear with it.
ㄴ Rhianna Pratchet : A situation where you just can’t hold it also exists. You can easily say that you have to bear with it in any kind of trouble because you weren’t in that situation yourself.
ㄴ Samantha Croft : Now that you say that i’m saying it easily, I have nothing to talk back. But reality is like that. Even if it’s hard and exhausting, if you have consideration towards the customer you shouldn’t have made it bigger as to make it a fight.
There were no comments that explained the situation in detail, but the conclusion was only one. That Chloe fought with a customer. But the reason of that wasn’t written. Well, a quarrel had happened when they were conversing among themselves near the counter. So it was hard for the people near to know the reason of it.
They wanted to message what was wrong, but in this kind of situation she wouldn’t take any kind of consoling that well. Anderson said with a dry voice.
“That person should have been a considerable jerk. Because Chloe isn’t the type to get angry easily.”
“……..It’s amazing that from your mouth comes out words cursing someone like that.”
“I don’t think that I was the type to like bad mouthing people.”
“That’s not it, but I have never seen you complimenting someone.”
“I didn’t compliment. I just evaluated as it is. She’s not the type to easily get angry.”
Anderson put his handphone on his pocket with a not too good face.
“Don’t mind it too much. We will get through that at least once. Because the world is wide and there are a lot of jerks. When that happens, try not to end up like this. Because what they want is to roll together in a mud bath. And of course, the laundry after that mud bath will all be our responsibility.”
It seems as if he had gone through it a few times, but he had talked just like a veteran. Jo Minjoon clapped his hands in a not too noisy manner.
“Well, let’s concentrate on our break. We are going to rest for an hour and a half, and after buying the ingredients, go back to cooking again. It’s a bit past 2 right now……. So let’s rest until 3:30 and go prepare the ingredients immediately.”
“But preparing the ingredients, there’s no need for all 5 of us to go, right?”
Peter asked. Those were some unexpectedly true words. Peter looked cautiously and slowly opened his mouth.
“Should we do it with rock, paper, scissors………?”
–
“Have a safe trip!”
At the entrance of the market, Joanne smirked and shook her hands. Even if Anderson glared at her, it was useless. Jo Minjoon patted his shoulder and said.
“Let’s go. There’s no time.”
“…….tch.”
“What, it’s good. Because they chose to clean instead. It’s almost the same.”
“I don’t like the market.”
Anderson said. Jo Minjoon looked at him as if it was something unexpected. Because the market could only be a place that was friendly to the chef. Aside from the needs, as there were more things in the market, it was a fun place like a video games room for the chef.
Anderson looked at jo Minjoon. The doubt in his eyes were so dense it made him not notice it. Anderson raised his finger and blocked his nose and lifted it.
“I didn’t like the market since I was small. Because regardless of my opinion, I got dragged by my parents.”
“Even so, isn’t it time to change opinion?”
“They say that a habit since small, lasts all the life, so you can forever hate what you used to hate when you were small. Just tell me what we have to buy. What do we have to buy?”
“You can roughly make 30 lines with 1kg of rice……. So let’s abundantly buy 20 kgs. Because customers can flock at night too. We already have chicken leg that’s going to be used for tandoori chicken, so we will have to buy a bit more of chicken breast and avocado for karaage and some smoked salmon. No. Thinking about the tandoori we have to make tomorrow, we will have to buy some chicken leg beforehand. We decided to remove urchin egg in the menu so we don’t have to buy it. We also have to buy the fillings for the kimbap and hamburger.”
Honestly, urchin egg was a menu that didn’t sell much to keep it. Even after it got up on the internet, the comments about urchin egg norimaki weren’t very good.
On the other hand, kimbap had quite a bit of demand. Compared to the other norimakis it didn’t contain vinegar or kelp water, but there were quite some people that liked that clean flavor. Anderson brought the market cart and said.
“If we didn’t have the cart, we wouldn’t even have been able to bring all the ingredients. That’s why I told you that three people had to come.”
“Just do it, and if it’s difficult we can just be three the next time. But aren’t you accustomed to it? You said that you have done this many times helping your parents.”
“Just because i’m accustomed to it doesn’t mean that it’s not hard.”
Those were words that were quite understandable. Because even when he was working in the restaurant as the youngest, getting accustomed to it and not being hard were two different things.
“Even so, we are fortunate that it’s norimaki. Because the ingredients are simple.”
“It’s not that simple because there are a lot of menus. First, making rice a few times is really bothersome. I think that Chloe’s team should have it easier. Because they just have to prepare the meat and the bread.”
“I think that it would also quite the toll depending if they make the bread dough themselves or not.”
Anderson got in the butcher instead of replying. Jo Minjoon was looking at his back without saying anything, and moved his feet.
The place he headed to was a place where they pounded the rice themselves. Because the oxygenation started when you pounded rice. The more recent the rice was pounded, the more delicious it became, and he viewed well that he had to suffer time to time for the sake of the customers.
‘……….I think that a few hours difference wouldn’t make that much of a difference.’
Saying the truth, doing the groceries after a meal was quite a hard thing to do. In the first place, the team members all agreed at serving the customers with ingredients that were even a little bit more fresh, but maybe they thought that it was a stupid thought.
We can fix it slowly. Jo Minjoon thought like that and opened his mouth.
“Give me just 20kgs.”
“You are quite diligent, also coming in the morning. You said that you were selling norimaki, right?”
“Yes. We are doing so in the east side of the market. In a food truck.”
“If I could leave the store, I would also go and eat……”
The owner who had black hair and gla.s.ses said in a disappointed voice. At first glance, this young korean owner seemed to be in his thirties. Precisely speaking, he was korean american. Just that he didn’t know how to speak korean.
The owner didn’t think himself to be korean, but even so it seemed that he missed it quite a bit. At the same time, he seemed to be a fan of Grand Chef. The owner continued to speak.
“How do you feel after being in korea for a while? You also ate the food of the other partic.i.p.ants, right? How was it?”
“It’s different from time to time. I normally make not too seasoned food, so I make most of it salty, but It’s still delicious.”
“Well. A good chef can make good food anywhere and anyhow. Use my rice well.”
That guy spoke just like he was the farmer that had harvested that rice himself. But Jo Minjoon didn’t particularly point that out.
It was at the moment when he was leaving the store. His handphone rang. Jo Minjoon held the rice sack with one hand and took out his handphone. He tought that it was going to be Anderson, but the name that showed on the screen was out of his expectations. Jo Minjoon brought the handphone to his ear.
“h.e.l.lo?”
[…….What are you doing?]
“I just brought rice and i’m returning right now.”
[ Why are buying rice now? Didn’t you buy it in the morning? ]
“I wanted to use the least amount possible and buy just at times. Is it too excessive?”
[ Overly excessive. ]
“Is it?”
After that, they both remained silent for a moment. Rather than they didn’t have any words to say, it seemed more like they were hesitating to bring that up. In the end, the one who talked first was Jo Minjoon.
“Is it fine?”
[ What? ]
“The atmosphere of the team. They say that Chloe fought with a customer.”
[ … … … ]
No sound was heard through the phone. Jo Minjoon didn’t pressure her. Kaya said in a mortifying voice.
[ It’s because of me. That Chloe fought. ]
Jo Minjoon didn’t get surprised. Because he thought that that was the case. Chloe wasn’t the type to clash with the customer just because she got cursed. Especially if it was in the middle of a team mission, there was nothing else to say. Perhaps, if Chloe caused the problem, he thought that it wouldn’t be for her sake, but for another one.
And if that other person was Kaya, then not even a little bit of it would be strange. Rather, it was too simple. Because Kaya was usually the troublemaker. However, there was no need to say that with his own mouth. Jo Minjoon didn’t say anything and listened to her. A thick and rough voice. Her voice that seemed to have caught a cold, seemed harsher than usual.
[ That guy looked at me and said. That I seemed delicious. Well, even if his eyes were directed at me, perhaps he was talking about the kochi……..]
“Wait. What? What did that b.a.s.t.a.r.d say?”
[ I told you. That I seemed delic……..]
“No, stop it. There’s no need to repeat that. So. So Chloe got angry at him?”
[ No. It’s true that she got angry for my sake, but the story is a bit different. You know my temperament. I’m harsh and…….. A little dirty. I’m not someone to just listen to that and keep my mouth shut. ]
Jo Minjoon got confused. There were many mentions in the internet, but none of them were related to Kaya. However, it didn’t take that long for him to know the reason of it. Jo Minjoon forced a laugh.
“Chloe didn’t fight because she was angry. She was protecting you.”
[ ……..Right. ]
Kaya replied with a depressed voice. Because Chloe stepped out for her, the fight didn’t get bigger than necessary. And the focus of attention also pa.s.sed to Chloe.
Perhaps, it could be better this way. Kaya’s image and Chloe’s image. There were huge differences between them. If Kaya acted like that in the same situation, there would be many people saying that they knew that she was going to act like that. However, it was different in Chloe’s case. Because just the broadcasted material about her, showed only good images of her. There could be a reason behind it. She was a person you could only think like that.
But of course, the probabilities that Chloe calculated all of that in that short moment were low. Maybe she just wanted to protect Kaya. But what was certain was that she did want to protect her. By becoming the center of attention by herself.
[ I…… Why am I like this? Why do I only cause trouble? ]
“It’s not your fault.”
[ Aside from being at fault or not, I just feel to sorry to look at her face. ]
He understood her. How frustrated would she have been that the girl who was always grumbling, called him? Jo Minjoon couldn’t open his mouth for a long while. He didn’t know what he had to say. And in the end, the words he said,
“We can pick our customers.”
Was all. Kaya didn’t reply. Only her faint breathing noise was heard like the wind.
“If you didn’t choose, then you also have no responsibility nor fault.”
[ You are trying to console me with those straight forward words. ]
“So, you got consoled?”
[ ……..I will cancel it. ]
At Kaya’s words, Jo Minjoon rolled up his eyes. He didn’t understand what she was canceling.
“What are you canceling?”
[ You getting ruined, i’m cancelling those words. I’m busy. I have to slowly start working. ]
“But you called fir…….”
Jo Minjoon stopped saying and looked at his screen. The call had already ended. Jo Minjoon looked at his handphone with a perplexed face, and soon mumbled with a bitter face.
“The customer……….”
That word wasn’t as sweet as he expected it.
< Customer and more customers (1) > End
Translator’s note: Regular chapter!
Thanks for reading and for your support!
Translator : Subak