The Beginning of Change
They say that when people get drunk, they turn into either a child or a dog. This man was both.
“Why is it so good? What the hell did you do?”
The man was still peering into the drinking soup with a stunned face. The dog side he'd shown just moments ago had vanished, and before I knew it, he'd become a bright-eyed child.
“Is it really good?”
I asked once more as if to confirm.
“Yeah. It's the best drinking soup I've ever had.”
I could even feel a kind of sincerity in the man's eyes.
“Can I try some too?”
“Yeah. Hurry up and try it.”
“Then, excuse me for a moment.”
And so I also took a sip of the drinking soup with the yuzu marmalade in it, and.......
“This... is really good.”
The pork gaminess particular to drinking soup was masked by the fresh yuzu aroma, and the sweetness the radish couldn't provide was filled up by the sweetness of the marmalade. Lastly, the slightly salty broth was balanced out by the sweetness of the yuzu marmalade.
How should I put it? In a word, the drinking soup's flavor had become perfect.
“What on earth did you do to my drinking soup?”
The man still looked at me as if surprised.
“I don't know, myself.”
It had been over five years since I'd seriously started cooking, but this was the first time something like this had happened. A fluorescent line had unfolded before my eyes, and a strange certainty, like intuition, had come over me. So I'd put in the yuzu marmalade. Then the flavor became perfect. That was all.
Then, my eyes met the grandmother's, who'd been watching me.
“Now the time's come.”
After saying that one line to me, the grandmother smiled faintly.
Suddenly, my body started acting even stranger. My head became too heavy and my eyes slid shut. At the same time, all the strength in my body dra-a-a-ained away.
“Huh... why is my... body so.......”
Unable to finish my words-
Thud.
I collapsed right there.
***
“Hyung, what are you doing? You're late! Get up!”
The sound of my brother waking me jolted me awake.
‘What?’
Soon, last night's memories faintly came back. The tent bar, the drinking soup, that fluorescent line. And after that, I'd definitely collapsed, but.......
‘But why am I at home?’
First, I checked my phone.
-AM 06:40
“This is insane.”
Big trouble. I was late.
Without even properly saying goodbye to my brother, I got ready quickly and ran like mad. And so, at 7:29. I arrived at the restaurant with exactly one minute to spare before my shift.
“Do Eun-seong! Are you not going to get your head on straight?”
As soon as I opened the kitchen door, I heard the voice of Senior Kim Jun-ho from the meat section. His voice was loaded with irritation.
“Ah. Now that you've got a month left before you're fired, you're just showing up right on the dot, huh?”
“No.”
“Then why! Are your seniors supposed to come in first and wait around for the kitchen assistant?”
“I'm sorry.”
“I'm already stressed to death over the new menu test as it is!”
He was being especially fussy today. Probably more on edge because of the new menu test coming up in a few days.
At that moment.
Bang.
Right on time, the kitchen door opened. Soon after, Head Chef Yang Geon-ung came in.
“Everyone, quiet.”
At that one word from him, every sound in the kitchen disappeared at once.
“Yes, Chef.”
Then the seniors moved to their own stations in an instant.
Of course, so did I. The very end of the kitchen. That was my spot.
“We're fully booked again today, so everyone focus on your work. And as you know, I'll be out for today's lunch service.”
Yang Geon-ung was the hottest star chef in Korea. So every Tuesday, he went to the broadcasting station to film a cooking show.
“So, everyone handle things well on your own, like usual.”
“Ah, Chef.”
Then. Kim Jun-ho shot his hand up.
“What?”
“Shouldn't we be finding a new kitchen assistant now?”
Kim Jun-ho looked at me as he said it.
“The current kitchen assistant is almost at two years, so I think we need to switch to a new assistant, per the rules.”
At his words, silence fell over the kitchen for a moment. All the seniors looked at me. But they only looked, without any answer or any reaction.
“Has it been that long already?”
Yang Geon-ung also looked me in the eye.
“The general manager will take care of that.”
With those last words, Yang Geon-ung left the kitchen.
And so, the kitchen started like any other day.
“Hey, assistant! Bring more sauce!”
“Aren't you going to hurry up and chop those vegetables?!”
“Assistant, bring more rosemary over here!”
Orders flew at me nonstop, and I silently carried them out.
For two years, I'd done the same work every day. The endless repetition of cutting ingredients, moving sauces, washing dishes, cleaning floors, taking out the trash, and getting ingredients out of the fridge. I'd thought that after working like this for about two years, I'd be able to show guests my own cooking like my seniors.
But that was entirely my miscalculation. Now, even the very end of the kitchen, that edge, was about to disappear.
Then.
“That VIP has arrived. Everyone, please prepare to the best of your ability.”
The server came running into the kitchen in a hurry, and the kitchen became even more frantic.
“Seriously, the head chef isn't even here today, so why on earth did he come?”
Kim Jun-ho deliberately raised his voice as he spoke to the server.
“Well... he says he suddenly got hungry... so he came.”
“Haah.......”
At the server's words, the seniors sighed at the same time, as if they'd planned it.
That VIP was an old man famous for sending food back at least fifteen times when he got drunk. Some rumors said he was the chairman of some corporation, and others said he was on a mystery judging panel, but nothing was certain.
But one thing was certain: that old man was very rich.
“Did that guy pop a 2-million-won wine again today?”
Kim Jun-ho asked the server.
“No. Today he ordered a 2.5-million-won one. And he said he'd pay separately per plate. So the CEO even gave special instructions to remake the dishes and send them out even if it takes twenty times.......”
“Haah.......”
At that, the seniors from every section let out another sigh. And.
“So which section's going to go through hell today?”
One senior said, as though a little amused.
That VIP complained about a different dish every time. Last time it was the pasta, and the time before that it was the fish dish. Since it changed every time he came to eat, there were seniors who'd sometimes secretly place bets on it.
“Then, the appetizer will go out first.”
That VIP's course began. The cooks from every section put out their dishes a little more carefully than usual.
As if that VIP also knew of their care, today everything went smoothly from the appetizer to the pasta to the fish dish without a single complaint.
But it was five minutes after the final main dish, the steak, went out. The server came back to the kitchen holding the steak.
“The VIP is asking for the steak to be grilled again.”
“Ah.......”
Looked like today he'd picked the steak.
“That VIP, is he drunk?”
Kim Jun-ho from the meat section asked without even looking at the server.
“Yes. He is drunk.”
“What's he not happy with today?”
“He says it's too salty.”
“Tell him I got it.”
“Hey, assistant! Throw this out and bring a new sirloin from the fridge.”
He held out the steak the server had brought toward me. Looking closely, there was a mark where the VIP had taken exactly one bite. I threw away the half-eaten sirloin and took out a new sirloin for him.
Soon after, Kim Jun-ho grilled it perfectly again and handed it to the hall staff. Watching the process, he seemed to have seasoned it with a bit less salt than usual.
And exactly five minutes later, the server brought that steak back again.
“So what's the problem this time?”
“It's the sauce.... He says it doesn't taste good. So he asked if there was another sauce.”
“Tell him I got it. Hey, assistant. Bring a new sirloin and a new sauce.”
But by the time it went past four times.
“F*ck. If he's drunk, he should just go home quietly and sleep. Why is he coming here and pissing his money away!”
Kim Jun-ho gradually started losing his temper.
“He says it's salty this time too, and to grill it again.”
And when the server returned the fourth steak too, saying it was salty.
“Hey, assistant. Throw this out and bring whatever sirloin. I'll just sloppily grill it fifteen times and be done with it.”
Sloppily.
His word “sloppily” caught in my throat.
But there was nothing I could do. As he'd said, I headed to the trash can to throw away the fourth steak.
But then-
“......”
Right before I threw out the plate, I got a feeling. That strange sensation I'd felt at the tent bar yesterday. Somehow, I felt like if I tasted this, I'd know the answer. A certainty, something like intuition, came over me.
So, behind Kim Jun-ho's back, I cut off a bite of that steak and tasted it.
What?
It was strange. The steak was far too well-seasoned to be called salty.
“Hey! Assistant. You're not coming yet?!”
At that, I first took out a new sirloin for Kim Jun-ho. As soon as he got the meat, Kim Jun-ho started grilling it truly sloppily, and he sloppily picked a sauce and poured it over too.
“What's he not happy with this time?”
I wanted to know why that VIP was doing this. So, behind Kim Jun-ho's back, I started asking the server about that VIP's tasting comments.
“He says he'd like the flavor to be a little more complex.”
“Did he say the sweetness is fine?”
“That... he didn't mention.”
And when this had repeated about five times, I felt a strong certainty. I approached the server who'd brought back exactly the ninth steak.
“By any chance, is that VIP drinking champagne right now instead of red wine?”
“Pardon? How did you know?”
The server looked at me with a surprised expression.
“After finishing the 2.5-million-won Château Margaux, he switched to champagne as soon as the steak came out.”
“Then, is that champagne a strongly sweet one?”
“Yes. He's drinking Piper-Heidsieck champagne, which is known to be sweet even among champagnes.”
Just as I thought.
And at that moment, suddenly, that fluorescent line I'd seen at that tent bar shone very brightly before my eyes.