649 As You Stack Up The Legos (2)
To be honest, Min-joon didn't even expect he could hire a level 9 patissier because he knew how huge that level was.
When it came to level 9 itself, Rosa was equal to Chef Rachel. Of course, he was not sure where she stood in the level 9 band, but even if she barely achieved level 9, she was still regarded as an extraordinary patissier.
'She hasn't achieved perfection yet.'
In other words, she met the conditions for baking level 10, the perfect level.
Considering the weight of that word, he had no choice but to respect Rosa who was standing in front of him right now. And he couldn't help but wonder at the same time why she was still looking for a job. Even though she was handicapped, she had a baking level of 9.
But Min-joon didn't want to show his curiosity. In some respects, Rosa didn't show her almost perfect baking skills to her potential employers. If he asked her why she quit her job at the previous bakery, she might be worried that he could have prejudices against her. So he didn't want to make her worried. Even though she was not auditioned for her baking skills, he already thought she was part of her kitchen staff. In other words, a prospective patissier with an extraordinary level. Given her baking level, he could not treat her poorly. She was a patissier who deserved nice pay.
"Rosa, can you show me how to make bread?"
"Oh, what did you just say? I'm sorry I didn't see your lips."
"I want to see you making bread," he said with a smile.
Since he confirmed her baking level through the system window, he already decided to hire her deep down because he had no intention of doing anything stupid like losing a talented patissier like her.
Of course, he could not hire her without testing her baking skills because not only Kaya but also Rosa herself would not be persuaded why she was hired.
Rosa went straight into the bakery of Lotus Bridge.
While following her, Kaya whispered into Min-joon's ears, "Is it okay to hire her?"
Even though Rosa could not hear well, Kaya didn't want to speak to him loudly.
"What do you mean?" he replied.
"I mean her hearing issue. I know the baking section is not as busy as the kitchen section, but when they make desserts related to bread, we can't spare even one second as you agree. Don't you think she is too much handicapped for that?"
"Kaya," he said, looking at her with a smile. Of course, he understood her concerns. Even if Rosa's baking level was 9, she still had a problem. She would not be able to work as if she had no physical handicaps, no matter how good she was at baking.
"Trust me and wait. It's not too late to think about it after she's shown us her baking skills first."
"Alright."
Kaya also admitted that she was too impatient. As he said, Rosa didn't yet start anything, so it was rather premature for her to worry about her first.
But Kaya had no choice but to be impatient. To be honest, the current patisserie was not good enough in their eyes. He couldn't make any new bread just like Min-joon and Kaya made new recipes. He even found it hard to catch up with them.
Because of the patisserie's incompetence, Kaya and Min-joon were under a lot of stress these days. The patissier was also in a bad mood these days. Whenever he read the bad comments about Lotus Bridge on the internet, which were usually related to the bread that he made, he really felt frustrated and disconsolate. Min-joon also noticed that.
He glanced at Rosa. She already started to knead the dough. After she fermented the dough for a day, she was planning to come back and make bread with it tomorrow.
'Ciabatta.'
Obviously, she wanted to make that bread, which was not bad. Depending on how much she could bring out the chewiness and flavor of that bread, Min-joon would be able to check her baking level clearly.
She worked the dough on the cutting board. He looked at her through the kneaded flour.
She was smiling as if she was satisfied.
***
"So how does it feel to run a restaurant?" Rachel asked.
Min-joon met her after a long time. Rachel was looking at him kindly as if she was looking at a grown-up grandson. Feeling a bit awkward, he opened his mouth.
"I can see how different hands-on experience is from practice."
"Do you feel your work at Rose Island in the past was something like practice?"
"Well, I was a bit surprised to realize that it's only part of cooking what I thought was all about cooking when I looked at it as a chef running a restaurant."
"You don't have to describe it as part of cooking because that part itself is the most important thing."
"What I mean is cooking is not everything there is."
Actually, he realized keenly how important his kitchen staff was. There was a slight smile on his lips.
Seeing that smile, Rachel asked, "It looks like you've hired very good chefs."
"Yeah, they are all very good. And I feel like I can hire a really wonderful patisserie."
"Really?"
"Someday I'm going to be a great head chef like you, so Lotus Bridge can't look pale compared with Rose Island."
She smiled silently at his provocative words. If someone who was not as good as him had said it, she would not have cared at all. But she knew well how he was working as a chef, so she didn't feel he was arrogant or uncomfortable.
He added sincerely, "So please don't be overtaken!"
She replied quietly, "Let me climb the top first and wait for you there."
***
Lotus Bridge consisted of four sections—appetizer, main dish, pasta, and molecular cuisine. There was one thing strange about this restaurant. In other words, there were five demi-chefs at Lotus Bridge. Four demi-chefs had been hired through interviews recently, and the fifth one was Gwen who already joined them.
Of course, having two demi-chefs in one section was not uncommon, but it was not necessary to add one more demi-chef to the section where one demi-chef had already been assigned.
If so, who was the redundant demi-chef, and what was the role of such a demi-chef?
The answer was simple. That demi-chef was Gwen. Depending on the situation, she worked as an assistant for Min-joon, Kaya, or Jill.
Of course, given that Min-joon and Kaya mainly gave them instructions, rather than cooking by themselves, it was Jill for whom Gwen worked most frequently. It was no wonder that the two became intimate with each other in the kitchen.
However, the combination of the two did not seem normal because Jill took an elite course since she was young while Gwen came to this place after going through all kinds of trials and difficulties.
"Gwen, your cooking isn't bad, but I don't see any originality in it. It's a pity you don't have a diplomat at a professional cooking school," Jill said.
She didn't say that to blame Gwen. She just happened to mention it while chatting with her. Just as Rachel had done so, Min-joon and Kaya gave the demi-chefs and sous chef the opportunity to make their own recipes. But even after she made her own recipe, Gwen didn't take it to Min-joon and Kaya because she gave up, worried they would reject it.
Of course, her concern was not necessarily wrong. In Jill's opinion, Gwen's recipes were not good enough to win the chef couple's approval, but it was totally a different story if she gave up even before taking her recipe to them.
"I think you're too afraid of failure."
"Yeah, I guess so," Gwen replied, nodding at her.
Jill was right. Gwen was afraid of failure. That was why she didn't even want to accept the fact that she was a runner-up at the Grand Chef competition.
To be honest, she still couldn't believe she was working at Lotus Bridge.
Anyway, she won 2nd place at the Grand Chef. In other words, she lost in the finals. Then, should she feel like a winner or should she feel like a loser?
Her biggest problem was that there was nobody who could answer that question. Even though she was working here, she still couldn't find the right way in her career. Perhaps it was because there were so many shining chefs around her. Her light, which was barely visible even in the dark, was obscured by the light of the chef couple and others, so she could not see the light properly, just like one could not see the screen of a smartphone on a sunny day.
"Do you think you're not as competent as other demi chefs here?"
"I don't know. I don't know if I'm not as good as them, but I think I'm not better than them."
"That's the problem."
Jill let out a sigh, looking at her.
Gwen had a knack for making those next to her worried about her.