At first glance, what Min-joon said seemed to belittle what June achieved until now, so it was really harsh from her point of view.

But she wasnt sure how to retort to him because he didnt say it to tease her. He was also aware that given the current gap between Dave and June, it was hard for her to narrow it easily. He knew that some chefs would never be able to narrow such a gap for the rest of their lives.

Nonetheless, he had no other choice but to tell her the truth. In hindsight, she would also realize that such a little gap was not a big deal. As with everything, it was not a big deal at the end of the day.

Youre so mean to me. If I cant make it, I am going to end up being a stupid woman, right?

You dont seem yourself to say that.

He knew what he said was cruel to her. An ordinary chef would not be able to endure the kind of stress that he gave her, but he had to.

Well, most people are going to give up if I tell them the same thing I said to you. Theyre going to complain they cant narrow the gap. But you should not end up just being a good chef, June. I cant stand it. If you are really satisfied in being a good chef, I dont think youre qualified to run Rose Island as its top manager.

When he said that, the cameramans face, who was standing behind him, turned pale. Although he was a judge of this competition at the moment, he was her sous-chef, so the cameraman wondered how he could spit out such harsh words at his supervisor.

But she looked calm despite his harsh words.

Looking at her, he continued calmly again, I dont want to see a mediocre chef beat Dave. I cheered for you, Chef June, because I thought you were fully qualified for the top position of Rose Island. And I thought your greed for that position was legitimate. But if you complained you could not narrow the gap with Dave, you were not just greedy, but very greedy. Of course, I would be very disappointed if you did so.

You dont have to be disappointed, she said with a sigh.

Although he pointed out her problem cold-heartedly, she appreciated it because she could calm down her boiling emotions. She admitted that she should not be too greedy. She could not afford to allow her stupidness to mess with her achievements until now.

Thanks, Min-joon. Ive come to my senses thanks to your advice. I cant allow Dave to beat me. Never.

There are two ways you can choose as far as your cooking is concerned. Just make a dish that makes everyone think its yours. But you have to make it by thinking out of the box. If you dont like it, make a dish that makes people wonder if its really yours.

Well, its hard either way.

Its your chance to own the worlds best restaurant chains. So, it wont be easy, of course.

Yeah, I know. But I havent led an easy life, either.

Now theres not much I can do to help you, he said in a low voice.

He nodded at her quietly. He already lent her all the ideas and talents he could. In other words, he gave all the feedback on each recipe she made and answered all her questions one by one after thinking hard about them for at least tens of minutes, or several days at most.

And its actually impossible for you to change the recipe now, he said.

She agreed with him. There was less than a month left for the competition to end. Even if she came up with a new recipe in a hurry during that time, it was more likely that she would not be able to make it more delicious than her existing one.

Actually, I didnt even think about changing it. After I tried Daves dishes, I wondered if I really expressed my cuisine perfectly, or perhaps most ideally.

Only you can know it. I cant figure out what you are aiming for and thinking when you are cooking.

In other words, what he meant to say was that she should make it on her own from now on.

She looked at him for a moment, thinking this young chef was now more mature than her, although he was more childish than a child sometimes.

Can you say something to encourage me?

Encourage you?

Yeah. I mean Ive heard your harsh words enough. Now, tell me something to raise my morale. Just cheer for me, please.

He looked a bit embarrassed at that. He would have felt comfortable if he had just come here to cheer for her from the beginning, but he could not easily bring out encouraging words as requested by her like this.

So, he praised her rather awkwardly.

Youre cooler than Dave. I would like to see you run Rose Island.

***

I knew June was prudent, Lisa said as if she was surprised that June didnt yet come up to have her dishes evaluated.

Almost 30 head chefs of Rose Island had their dishes evaluated by Min-joon and Rachel, and there were less than ten chefs left waiting for their evaluation. But June didnt express clearly when she would want to have her dishes evaluated.

Well, she might want to be the last among us, Min-joon said.

You know what? The rest of them who havent yet done it are checking each others expressions, Lisa responded, touching her chin

To be honest, he didnt feel much fun while judging their dishes these days. Most of those who were confident in their cooking skills had already had their dishes evaluated, but those who didnt yet do it were rather scared about being evaluated than prudent.

So, Min-joon understood their feelings in some respects because the cameramen were also filming their cooking, too. Given that hundreds of people including chefs and the public were watching them, it would be very difficult for them to cook in their presence. Most of the chefs had a tough personality, but not all of them were tough-minded.

Do you know what June is doing these days?

Nope. All I know is she is just concentrating on cooking.

Im getting worried about her.

Watching Lisa saying that, he felt a bit strange because she was worried about June when she didnt know what would happen to her who had a surgery recently.

Her doctor gave her 6 months, but she survived beyond 6 months. Even after one year, she has survived and she is in good condition. Min-joon didnt know how long she would survive, but he hoped she could continue to survive.

Why are you looking at me like that?

Oh, nothing.

Come on, man!

Although he avoided her question like that, she might already have noticed what he was thinking.

Well, you dont have much time left before the competition is over.

You bet.

Regardless of Junes decision to have their dishes evaluated, the competition will be over in two weeks. By then, everybody will know who is going to be the winner.

***

Dave asked June if she needed his help. Back then, she kicked him out in raging anger.

Ironically, however, she was being helped by him the most right now.

The taste of the ingredients themselves.

The unique taste of a certain dish.

The biggest attraction of this recipe.

When a chef grills a beef steak, it is not the taste of the beef that he should keep, but the taste of the steak. As a matter of fact, June didnt pay much attention to the original taste of the ingredient until now, but she was different this time. She was now focusing on it more than ever.

And she did it only after she witnessed Daves cooking. Only after she witnessed his cooking did she figure out what its concept was. In that respect, Daves cuisine became something like a guideline for her cuisine. This was funny. Because of Daves cuisine, she was now forced to improve her cooking skills and change her cuisine concept, but ironically it helped her grow further as a chef.

Yeah, I can do it.

She renewed her determination again. A lot of people thought that the reason she didnt step forward yet was because she was scared. But she didnt feel happy or sad over their groundless worries. She knew the clue. So, she thought there was nothing more foolish than her hurriedly stepping forward to get her dishes evaluated just because others were watching her carefully.

There was plenty of time left before the competition was over, but at the same time she felt she didnt have much time. She focused on cooking alone, using a day like one month. She didnt care too much about their watchful eyes. She just focused on how she could make better dishes.

Time passed quickly. And there were only four chefs who had yet to be judged. When Min-joon was done evaluating one of them and announced he was ready for the next candidate for evaluation, June raised her hand slowly finally.

The venue of the competition became quiet all of a sudden.

Are you ready? Min-joon asked casually. His voice was full of trust in her. Regardless of when she would step forward, he was confident she would come out, fully ready.

So, she smiled brightly at him and replied, Yes.