Chapter 16: A New Opportunity

“Boss! We’re busy preparing to open, and you keep calling the assistant?!”  

Kim Daewon stormed out of the kitchen, visibly irritated.  

Oh Chunsik, looking at Kim Daewon cautiously, made a suggestion.  

“Chef, how about letting Irim handle the bibimbap from now on?”  

“What?”  

Kim Daewon’s brow furrowed immediately.  

Entrusting a menu item to a newbie assistant who hadn’t even been there a week?  

That was absolutely unacceptable.  

“Why all of a sudden?”  

Kim Daewon snapped back curtly.  

Oh Chunsik pointed to the bibimbap on the table.  

“It tastes incredible.”  

“It’s made with my recipe.”  

“But it’s different. I can tell he’s skilled with a knife, and he seems to know his way around cooking. So why not…”  

“Boss!”  

“Whoa! Why are you yelling?”  

“I told you when we signed the contract, didn’t I? The kitchen is my domain, so don’t interfere.”  

“Y-Yeah, you did.”  

“If you keep acting like this, I’m out. Find someone else right now.”  

Kim Daewon made a show of untying his apron.  

Panicked, Oh Chunsik quickly tried to calm him.  

“Hey, Daewon, come on. Alright, alright. I won’t meddle in the kitchen again, so let’s move on nicely, okay?”  

The boss apologized and backed down, so Kim Daewon, pretending to relent, adjusted his apron.  

Then he turned to Irim.  

“Assistant! No more frying eggs. I’ll cook the rice too. You just prep the ingredients. Got it?”  

“…Yes.”  

Oh Chunsik inwardly smacked his lips.  

The newbie’s bibimbap was tastier, but I can’t risk losing everything over one dish.  

To Oh Chunsik, Kim Daewon was still more valuable.  

Caught in the crossfire of the boss’s meddling, Irim was now barred from even frying eggs or cooking rice.  

He hadn’t entered the kitchen with grand ambitions, but somehow, he felt deflated.  

“The taste is just so-so today.”  

“Is the chef’s condition up and down?”  

The customers’ reviews of the bibimbap were lackluster.  

Yu Mirae, who started her shift at noon, asked Kim Soonyoung.  

“Soonyoung unnie, I guess Irim oppa isn’t frying eggs today?”  

“Yeah, here’s the thing. The boss was hungry and asked the chef for a bibimbap. But the chef, probably annoyed, had Irim make it. When the boss ate it, his eyes lit up. Later, he called the chef and suggested letting Irim handle the bibimbap, but that must’ve hit the chef’s pride hard. Now he’s banned Irim from even frying eggs.”  

Hearing this, Yu Mirae frowned.  

“What?”  

It was absurd.  

This wasn’t some fancy restaurant; it was a tiny diner. To think someone would pull rank like that in such a small kitchen.  

Should I look for another job?  

The place was close to home, and the hours were decent, which is why she’d been working there for three months. But if things kept going like this, she wasn’t sure she could stay long.  

Apparently, Kim Soonyoung felt similarly.  

She muttered, smacking her lips, “I’m worried I’ll get caught in the crossfire too. Maybe I should start looking elsewhere.”  

“More fish cakes over here, please!”  

“Coming!”  

Kim Soonyoung hurriedly dashed to the table that called her.  

Meanwhile, Yu Mirae cleared empty plates from a table and passed them to the kitchen.  

Glancing inside, she saw Irim quietly washing dishes.  

His profile looked strikingly lonely.  

3:30 p.m.  

Im Jeongmyeong visited Narae Snacks.  

He came deliberately around Irim’s quitting time to talk to him.  

As usual, he ordered bibimbap.  

But the bibimbap was completely different from yesterday’s.  

The rice is well-cooked, but the ingredient ratios are a mess, so it doesn’t shine at all.  

After a few spoonfuls, Im Jeongmyeong raised his hand.  

Yu Mirae approached him.  

“Yes, sir. Do you need something?”  

“Sorry, but could I speak to the young man in the kitchen for a moment?”  

“One second.”  

Yu Mirae went to the kitchen and called Irim.  

“Oppa, could you come out for a bit? A customer’s asking for you.”  

She meant Irim, but Kim Daewon reacted.  

“Is it that old man looking for me?”  

Kim Daewon peered into the dining area and saw an elderly gentleman staring at a half-eaten bibimbap.  

“Yes.”  

“Probably nitpicking over nothing. Assistant, you go.”  

Im Jeongmyeong had been looking for Irim in the first place.  

Irim, unaware of the context, stepped out of the kitchen and approached Im Jeongmyeong.  

“Is something wrong?”  

“You’re the kitchen assistant, right?”  

“Yes.”  

“I came to the restaurant yesterday too.”  

“Yes, I remember.”  

“The bibimbap I ate yesterday was so delicious, I was amazed. But today’s is just no good. I heard from the server that you made yesterday’s bibimbap, but someone else made today’s?”  

“Ah… Yes, I didn’t make this one.”  

Im Jeongmyeong nodded, stood up, and headed to the counter.  

After paying Oh Chunsik for the bibimbap in cash, he passed by Irim and said quietly, “You don’t seem like someone meant to stay a kitchen assistant. If you ever quit, please give me a chance to work with you.”  

As he spoke, he slipped a business card into Irim’s pants pocket.  

Feeling a mix of emotions, Irim watched Im Jeongmyeong leave the dining area before returning to the kitchen.  

But out of nowhere, Kim Daewon’s tirade erupted.  

“Feeling on top of the world, huh?”  

“…What?”  

“Some clueless old man hypes you up, and you’re grinning ear to ear, losing your mind?”  

Kim Daewon had overheard Im Jeongmyeong’s words with his sharp ears.  

What keen hearing he had.  

“The boss hypes you up in the morning, a customer in the afternoon. Why don’t you just dance on my head? Bibimbap’s something even a dog or cow can make—what’s so special about it?!”  

Kim Daewon, whose pride was his livelihood, felt humiliated by the day’s events and exploded.  

But Irim wasn’t the type to take baseless verbal abuse lying down.  

“What did I do wrong to deserve such an aggressive tone?”  

“What, you punk?”  

“Don’t curse. I can handle being told what to do for work, but I won’t accept being treated disrespectfully outside of that.”  

“Ha, has this kid lost it?”  

“I said don’t curse.”  

“Keep talking! You’ll learn when you feel the heat!”  

At Kim Daewon’s words, Irim scoffed.  

“Heat? All I smell is something foul, like manure.”  

“What did you just say?”  

Instead of answering, Irim pulled the business card from his pocket and looked at it.  

It read:  

Jeongmyeong Restaurant  

President Im Jeongmyeong  

HP: 010-XXXX-XXXX  

Irim had suspected he was in the food industry based on his tone about scouting him.  

Irim threw off his apron and left the kitchen.  

To Oh Chunsik, who had been watching the commotion, Irim said, “I’m sorry. I’m quitting. You don’t have to pay me for the last three days.”  

“W-Wait, Irim-ssi! Quitting so suddenly? Just hold on a bit. Why are you so irresponsible?”  

At that, Kim Soonyoung interjected.  

“Oh, come on, boss. That’s not fair. Irim’s been coming in thirty minutes early every day since his first day and staying past 4 p.m. In the kitchen, he does everything asked of him without a single complaint, working diligently. Talking about responsibility now seems a bit off.”  

Yu Mirae nodded vigorously in agreement.  

With both of them chiming in, Oh Chunsik was at a loss for words.  

Meanwhile, Irim grabbed his bag, bowed to Oh Chunsik, and left the building.  

“Irim-ssi! Ugh…”  

A long sigh escaped Oh Chunsik’s lips.  

“Excuse me, sir.”  

Someone called out to Im Jeongmyeong, who was walking slowly after leaving Narae Snacks.  

He stopped and turned to see none other than Irim.  

“Oh, it’s the assistant. Are you off work?”  

“No, I quit.”  

“What? Oh no, did you misunderstand me? I didn’t mean for you to quit right away—I meant if you ever had to quit, to come to me. Now I feel bad for the owner…”  

Irim shook his head.  

“No, something came up, and I quit because of it.”  

“Really?”  

“Yes.”  

Im Jeongmyeong looked at Irim carefully.  

His face was filled with an indefinable anger.  

Something must have happened at the restaurant.  

Irim asked Im Jeongmyeong, “If I work under you, what would I do?”  

“I’d like you to be the head chef.”  

“Head chef?”  

“Yes. I’ve got everything ready to open a restaurant, but I haven’t found a head chef. Haha.”  

“Sir, I’m sorry, but I’m not in a position to run a kitchen.”  

“I may not know much, but my tongue doesn’t lie. You have more than enough skill to take charge of a kitchen.”  

“The thing is… I can’t taste. Or smell. A year ago, I lost my sense of taste and smell in a car accident.”  

Im Jeongmyeong was shocked by Irim’s confession.  

Lost his sense of taste? And yet, he made such a refined bibimbap?  

“You made that bibimbap… without tasting or smelling?”  

“Bibimbap is… easier to make than other dishes.”  

“No, absolutely not. Anyone can make bibimbap, but not everyone can make it taste that good. I was planning to open a bibimbap specialty restaurant, but if you join, it doesn’t have to be just bibimbap.”  

“Not a bibimbap specialty restaurant… Do you have any other menus in mind?”  

“Anything is fine. Make whatever you want. One menu, ten, twenty—it’s up to you. Run it however you like.”  

For some reason, Im Jeongmyeong had complete faith in Irim.  

To Irim, this was an unparalleled opportunity.  

But he was still concerned about his condition.  

Im Jeongmyeong gently patted Irim’s shoulder.  

“I have a feeling we’ll make great partners. Will you give this old man a chance?”  

When a white-haired man nearing seventy spoke so earnestly, Irim couldn’t keep refusing.  

Let’s see if it turns to porridge or rice.  

In the game, cooking was helping him rapidly regain his lost senses.  

Even if he couldn’t taste or smell, every recipe was etched in his mind, and his hands remembered.  

Irim nodded heavily.  

“I’ll give it a try.”  

At the awaited response, Im Jeongmyeong smiled with genuine joy.  

“You made the right choice. Really, the right choice. Haha.”