God of Cooking Novel - Chapter 56

Chapter 56: Chapter 56: Traveling, Cooking, and Business (1)

Various scenery passed by outside the window. Inside the shaking bus, Cho Min Joon looked out on the horizon with a blank look on his face. When he thought about it, he had never seen the horizon back in Korea. After all, horizons were hard to see in Korea. The only place where he could really see the horizon in Korea was Gimje, but of course, he never bothered going down there just to see the horizon.

“What are you looking at?”

“It’s hard to see the horizon in Korea.”

“What? Why?”

“Because there are too many buildings and mountains. Actually, it’s probably just because of the mountains.”

Anderson didn’t look like he understood. Cho Min Joon shook his hands and said, “You probably don’t understand since you’re from a large country.”

“I didn’t say I wanted to understand.”

Anderson grumbled and turned his head. Hugo, who was sitting behind him, smirked and asked, “Why do you two always fight?”

“We’re not fighting.”

“I don’t know about that. It looks like you’re fighting.”

The way he was smiling suggested that he would keep talking back, so Cho Min Joon stopped replying and looked back out the window. It was a complete wilderness outside. The open wilderness had a way of making his chest feel open and refreshed.

The reason why they got onto a bus was simple. After their risotto and Paella mission, Martin called all of them, and he said one thing. “Let’s go to the next mission location.” There were many questions, but he offered no answer.

The bus was naturally filled with curiosity as a result. Kaya played Tetris on her phone while grumbling.

“Martin needs a taste of his own medicine. We should hide his paycheck somewhere and when he asks where it is, we should say, ‘It’s exactly where you think it is.'”

“That’s not a bad idea, but they don’t give you paychecks with cash anymore. They just transfer it.”

“Then we need to hide his bank book and cards. A refreshing game of hide-and-seek with Martin.”

Everybody laughed. Marco laughed awkwardly and asked, “But where do you think we’re going?”

“Last season, they even went to hand out food to military soldiers.”

“They also took a boat out to sea, and then they made seafood.”

Cho Min Joon smiled. He remembered exactly where they were heading. It was a fun episode. If nothing had changed, they were heading over to…

“Since we’re all bored in here, do you want to make a bet?”

“A bet? For what?”

“Let’s all guess where we’re going, and the ones who get it wrong will pay the price. They will either do the dishes, make food, or even do chores for the winner.”

“Oh, okay. Whoever wins becomes the king for the day. The losers have to do whatever the king asks.”

“Not bad.”

Cho Min Joon nodded to what Hugo said. Hugo looked around, looking even more excited than him.

“Who wants in? Or who doesn’t want in?”

Only two people raised their hands. Anderson and Kaya. Hugo spoke with a sad look on his face, “Hey, you’re the two people I want the most as my servants. Why aren’t you participating?”

“Exactly. I don’t want to end up a slave.”

“Then you can win.”

Kaya lifted a finger. It wasn’t her thumb, index finger, ring finger, or pinkie. Hugo looked back at Anderson.

“Anderson. Why aren’t you playing?”

“Stop bothering me and play amongst yourselves. I’m going to sleep.”

Anderson closed his eyes. Hugo sighed and turned around. He then looked at the other contestants and said, “Okay. Where do you think we’re going? I think it’s the military base.”

“I think we’re going to a hotel.”

“That’s not bad. I think it’s a hotel, too.”

“A restaurant.”

“… A house?”

Many other guesses were made. Hugo wrote down all of their names and guesses on his phone. He then glanced at Cho Min Joon and asked, “Cho Min Joon, what about you?”

“Car Rental.”

“… What? That’s so random.”

Hugo looked at him with shock. Cooking and car rental. Those two things didn’t mix. He thought he was just joking, but Cho Min Joon simply smiled. Hugo grimaced and said, “You can’t take it back later, okay?”

“… Damn it.”

Hugo looked ahead of him with a flat voice. Once they got out of the bus, they saw a car rental. The sign said, ‘We’ll become your feet.’ Hugo turned his head in disbelief. Martin was getting out of a jeep. Hugo asked, “Car rental? Are we going to make food for the employees here?”

“Of course not, just wait. You’ll see the mission soon enough.”

As soon as Martin finished talking, an exhaust sound came from the parking lot followed by the appearance of 3 cars. They were trucks. Food trucks. Hugo then understood why they were at a car rental. Cho Min Joon smirked and grabbed Hugo by the shoulder.

“So when can I start being the king?”

“… You predicted this?”

“Why else would I have made that guess?”

“You’re either original… or slightly crazy.”

Hugo spoke in a dejected voice. At that moment, the faces of the people coming out of the 3 food trucks looked familiar. It was the judges. Cho Min Joon laughed and looked at them. Emily sighed with slight nervousness.

“It’s hard driving a truck.”

“You did a good job, Emily.”

“Stop making fun of me.”

In response to Allan, Emily shook her head. Allan smirked and looked at the contestants. He said,

“I’m sure you got an idea of our next mission just from seeing this. That’s right. It’s a food truck mission.”

Cho Min Joon looked at the trucks with a smile. They were so big that they could fit 12 to 15 people. Cho Min Joon had always dreamt of such a mission. To be more exact, he wanted to go all over the world in a food truck and use all sorts of food ingredients to experience the food of the country.

For that reason, this mission felt like a reward to Cho Min Joon, but the real reward didn’t even start yet. Joseph looked at Cho Min Joon and said, “There are 3 trucks, so that means you’ll be split up into 3 teams. There will also be 3 team leaders, and one of those team leaders is the one who took 1st place in the last mission. Min Joon! Please come up to the front!”

Cho Min Joon looked dazed because he didn’t see that coming. He didn’t think he would have an actual role in this mission, so he was shocked. Joseph continued, “There are currently 13 survivors here, and that number can’t be split up in 3 evenly, so one team will have to have 5 members, and Min Joon, that’ll be your team.”

“… Is that a good thing?”

“Normally, yes. After all, one extra hand is helpful.”

Joseph smiled and looked back at the contestants.

“And we’ve already picked the other 3 team leaders. They’re the two contestants who seemed the most promising in past missions. Chloe and Hugo! Please come up to the front.”

Chloe and Hugo rushed up to the front in shock. Emily noticed how flushed their cheeks were from the tension and playfully said, “Your face is flushed. You’re not angry, are you?”

“Pardon? Of course not.”

Chloe flinched and waved her hands. Allan spoke in a calm voice, “Once you get into teams, you’ll have to travel to various places and sell food. What you sell is up to you, and the standard of evaluation is simple. We’re going to compare your earnings. The team in 1st place will get a voucher to a gourmet restaurant, and the team in 3rd place will have to compete for disqualification, and the team in 2nd place will get no reward at all.

“1 week…”

Everyone mumbled. That was a long time, but it wasn’t a bad thing. They actually felt excited to have fun for a week straight. Of course, their bodies would get tired, but doing something they liked made all of that go away.

“We’ll give you the starting funds. Whether you buy good ingredients and raise the prices or buy cheap ingredients and sell them for cheap is up to you. Let’s form the teams then. Min Joon, we’ll let you pick first. Who do you choose? On an added note, there’s no chance for refusal on their part.”

In response, Cho Min Joon scanned the contestants. There were 3 contestants who stood out. Kaya, Anderson, and Marco, but Cho Min Joon excluded Marco in his head. His breadmaking skills were impressive, but that didn’t go well with food trucks. It wasn’t like he could bake on a truck.

So the two remaining were Kaya and Anderson. If he had to rely on his emotions, he would have chosen Kaya. He was a fan, and they were friends. On the other hand, he didn’t get along with Anderson. They didn’t hate each other, but they weren’t comfortable.

But when judging skills alone, it was difficult. First of all, personalities. Neither one had personalities that customers liked, but then again, Kaya could be good. She grew up in a market, after all. She probably didn’t frown whenever she sold fruits at her own mother’s shop.

What Anderson had above Kaya was his extensive knowledge of gourmet foods, and when it came to Western cuisine, Anderson trumped Kaya. As for Kaya, it was clear she picked up a few things here and there whenever she could. In that sense, she was more similar to Cho Min Joon as well.

He also remembered how Kaya called him for a past team mission, but this was no time to be swayed by emotions.

“… Anderson.”

Anderson was a good teammate for unpredictable missions. He always did a decent job no matter what job he was placed with. On top of that, he didn’t like the fact that the rumors about him and Kaya blew out of proportion online.

Anderson nodded without a word and stood in front of Cho Min Joon. Cho Min Joon glanced at Kaya and then quickly looked away. Kaya looked quite angry.

After that was Chloe. She spoke without hesitation, “Kaya.”

And Hugo picked Marco. After all the picks, the last one remaining was Peter, who caused problems in the last mission. After that, many contestants assumed he had no talent. Peter approached Cho Min Joon cautiously. The only place that Peter could go to was Cho Min Joon’s team, which would have 5 members instead of 4.

That was how the teams were formed. Cho Min Joon’s team consisted of him, Anderson, Joanne, Ivanna, and Peter. Allan clapped and said, “Great. You’ll be spending 1 week together, and how you spend your funds is up to you, and it’ll be important to discuss how much you’ll sell your food for and how far you’ll go.”

“You need to understand customers and locations as well, and it’s forbidden to stay in one location for longer than 2 days. Continue to move around. Your mission is to make food that suits each location.

Joseph jumped in. When Cho Min Joon heard this, he realized that this was a difficult mission. They not only had to cook; they had to sell the food as well. There were many things to consider.

And all of the responsibilities were put on the team leaders. That truth hit him hard.