Chapter 37

* * *

“Hey.”

“…”

“Yoo Ilhan!”

Startled by the voice calling him, Yoo Ilhan turned to the side.

Jade from the next seat was staring straight at him.

“…What is it?”

“Didn’t you hear? The professor is calling you.”

Only then did Yoo Ilhan snap back to his senses and hurried over to Daniel Choi.

Daniel Choi looked at him with his usual indifferent gaze before slowly speaking.

“What are you so deeply lost in thought about? Especially during cooking time.”

“I’m sorry. But… what did you need?”

“Hm. Since there isn’t a class representative for this course, Yoo Ilhan, who entered as second place, will gather everyone’s dishes and arrange them in order of student ID.”

“Yes. Understood.”

Yoo Ilhan answered quickly and walked toward the table where the finished dishes were gathered.

Since today’s theme was making a basic ratatouille, it was difficult to distinguish whose dish belonged to whom just by appearance.

He began organizing the completed dishes one by one.

Meanwhile, Daniel Choi approached the students and began answering questions.

“Was there anything difficult while making ratatouille?”

As if they had been waiting for the chance, students eagerly raised their hands.

“Professor, how many hours a day did you practice to achieve that level of knife skills?”

“Do you have any personal method for selecting fresh ingredients?”

“Sometimes food ends up overcooked even when the temperature and timing seem right. What causes that?”

While the questions continued pouring in, Yoo Ilhan calmly finished his task.

Only one dish remained to be placed.

‘Once I set this down, the professor will start the evaluation.’

His gaze slowly moved toward Kim Cheolsu’s ratatouille.

The stew had vivid colors, and the rich aroma of softened vegetables drifted from it.

Next to it sat Kang Chan’s ratatouille.

Yoo Ilhan glanced back and forth between the two dishes before swallowing nervously.

‘If I lose to Kim Cheolsu again….’

A strange feeling crept up from deep inside his chest.

He knew very well that what he was thinking wasn’t right.

But his hands moved faster than his thoughts.

“Yoo Ilhan.”

“!”

At that moment, a cold sensation ran down his spine.

His heart began pounding violently like a child caught doing something wrong.

When he turned around, Daniel Choi was already standing nearby, looking straight at him with calm eyes.

His whole body felt frozen.

That gaze seemed to see straight through to the deepest part of his mind.

He couldn’t avoid it. He couldn’t look away.

Under the pressure that made even breathing difficult, Yoo Ilhan bit his lip.

‘Did he notice?’

The longer the silence stretched, the more fear crept in.

His imagination spiraled into darker possibilities.

“If you’re finished, return to your seat.”

A short and firm sentence.

The tension instantly drained from Yoo Ilhan’s body, and his legs almost gave out.

He steadied himself and quickly nodded.

“Yes.”

He turned away in a hurry and swallowed hard.

Soon after, Daniel Choi stood in the center and slowly examined the completed dishes lined up on the table.

Yoo Ilhan’s heart pounded wildly.

Kang Chan’s dish was at the very front.

Kim Cheolsu’s dish was right after it.

* * *

Daniel Choi slowly walked along the table, examining the various ratatouilles placed before him.

First was Kang Chan’s.

In truth, he had been observing Kang Chan carefully since earlier.

He had deducted points during the entrance exam because of Kang Chan’s lateness.

But the pumpkin gnocchi Kang Chan had created in just thirty minutes was still unforgettable.

Back then, Kang Chan had shown high level skill in every aspect.

Handling ingredients. Balanced plating. Precise cooking.

So Daniel Choi had high expectations today.

With anticipation, he picked up his spoon.

He lightly scooped the sauce together with soft vegetables and took a bite.

The moment he chewed, umami and deep flavor spread across his tongue.

But.

That was all.

Objectively speaking, the taste was definitely good.

The natural flavor of the ingredients stood out well, and the sauce balance wasn’t bad.

Yet Daniel Choi felt an odd sense of disappointment.

‘…It’s extremely ordinary.’

The dish Kang Chan had made during the entrance exam showed astonishing talent.

But the dish before him now wasn’t enough to prove that potential.

In pop music, there is a phrase called one hit wonder.

It refers to an artist who becomes famous for one hit song but never finds similar success again.

The same phenomenon exists in cooking.

A chef may excel at one dish, but that doesn’t mean every dish reaches that level.

Daniel Choi found himself wondering.

‘Was that performance back then simply luck?’

He looked at Kang Chan’s dish one more time.

Unfortunately, the current Kang Chan hadn’t met his expectations.

Still, he had no time to dwell on disappointment.

Next was Kim Cheolsu’s ratatouille.

Kim Cheolsu had also impressed him during the entrance exam with his pasta.

What kind of ratatouille had he made?

Daniel Choi lifted his spoon with quiet anticipation.

And as he slowly scooped up the ratatouille.

“!”

Unlike the ratatouille he had just tasted, this one felt soft yet carried a deeper weight.

Tilting his head slightly in disbelief, Daniel Choi tasted it.

His eyes flickered.

‘This is….’

Kang Chan’s ratatouille had clearly been well made.

The harmony of ingredients was excellent, and the cooking and plating were flawless.

But the dish in front of him now was on an entirely different level.

The difference in completion, depth of flavor, and subtle detail.

Everything was overwhelming.

It was like the difference between a refined string quartet and the grand epic of a full orchestra.

One was elegant and clean.

The other shook the listener’s emotions.

Or like the difference between a carefully painted watercolor landscape and the vast natural world stretching before your eyes.

The first was beautiful enough.

But the second could leave you breathless.

This ratatouille wasn’t simple.

It wasn’t merely a meal.

It was the condensed life of a chef filled with deep experience.

From ingredient preparation to the delicacy of knife work.

From precise heat control to artistic plating.

Every fundamental of cooking had melted into a single plate.

The result was a work of art built on harmony and balance.

Daniel Choi slowly placed the spoon down, savoring the lingering flavor.

‘Yes. This is the taste I was hoping for.’

The last time he had been this impressed was when he tasted Kang Chan’s dish during the entrance exam.

That dish had contained a story.

It wasn’t flashy, yet it carried warmth.

It possessed a depth many aspiring chefs at that age often lacked.

Just as a writer who has lived through countless struggles creates stories that draw readers in.

Just as a singer who has felt heartbreak sings a more sorrowful ballad.

Food also needs the seasoning of emotion.

Experience. Stories. Failure. Despair. Emptiness.

When all of those elements come together on a single plate, true cooking is born.

Very few chefs could achieve that.

Yet Daniel Choi had felt it in Kang Chan’s dish back then.

That made today’s result even more puzzling.

A ridiculous thought suddenly crossed his mind.

‘Did the dishes get switched?’

But he quickly shook his head.

That couldn’t be possible.

He turned to look at Kim Cheolsu.

He hadn’t expected him to produce something at this level.

Perhaps this student had far greater potential than he initially thought.

Daniel Choi reflected on the prejudice he had held when judging the limits of his students too easily.

“Kim Cheolsu.”

“Yes!”

“The ratatouille you made today was perfect.”

“!”

“I look forward to your future.”

* * *

Daniel Choi was known for being extremely strict.

His unexpected praise immediately caused an uproar in the room.

“Did he just praise Kim Cheolsu?”

“No way. I’ve never seen Professor Daniel Choi praise someone like that.”

“He’s famous for not giving a single compliment even when judging cooking competitions.”

“How good does it have to be for him to praise it like that?”

“But was Kim Cheolsu really that good at cooking?”

“Didn’t Jin Jihan sunbae praise his cooking during orientation?”

“Oh right. That did happen.”

After finishing tasting all the ratatouilles, Daniel Choi announced the final results.

First place, Kim Cheolsu.

Second place, Yoo Ilhan.

Third place, Kang Chan.

Only then did Yoo Ilhan realize something had gone terribly wrong.

He had clearly switched Kang Chan’s ratatouille with Kim Cheolsu’s.

Then why?

Why was Kim Cheolsu receiving all the praise?

Yoo Ilhan wasn’t the only one confused.

As the results were announced, murmurs among the students grew louder.

No one had expected this outcome.

Everyone had assumed Yoo Ilhan, the student who entered as second place, would take first.

But when Kim Cheolsu’s name was called, the room filled with confusion.

At that moment, Daniel Choi slowly raised his head.

“It seems some of you have objections.”

The students hesitated to speak.

But their faces clearly showed doubt.

Daniel Choi gave a faint smile and added quietly.

“If you’re curious about Kim Cheolsu’s ratatouille, feel free to taste it yourselves.”

The moment he finished speaking, the students rushed forward.

Exclamations erupted as they tasted it.

“Wow… this tastes incredibly refined.”

“What did he even put in this? It’s the best ratatouille I’ve ever tasted.”

“Now I’m craving bread. I want to dip it in right now.”

Listening to the students’ excited reactions, Yoo Ilhan tilted his head.

‘What kind of taste could it be?’

Curiosity swelled inside him along with his confusion.

He pushed through the crowd and lifted a spoon with trembling hands.

He took a bite.

“!”

The sensation that spread across his tongue overwhelmed all his senses.

The first touch was gentle.

But that was only the prelude.

With every chew, the ratatouille revealed deeper layers of flavor.

If a single plate could contain a landscape, this would be that taste.

Vegetables slowly ripening under the warm Mediterranean sun.

Absorbing the strength of the earth.

The warmth of sunlight.

The breath of the wind.

And now, all of it came together in perfect harmony on one plate.

Artisan.

A dish shaped by the hands of a master.

At that moment, a conversation Yoo Ilhan had long ago with his grandfather surfaced in his mind.

“Grandpa. Isn’t cooking tiring?”

“It is. But for me, it’s more fun than any game in the world. What about you?”

“I feel the same. It’s hard, but I love it.”

Back then, Yoo Ilhan had been completely immersed in cooking.

His parents’ expectations existed, but more than anything he was certain that he truly enjoyed cooking.

He simply wanted to make delicious food.

Just imagining someone eating it happily made him feel happy.

But at some point, that feeling had faded.

The excitement he felt when he first started cooking.

The joy of learning new recipes one by one.

All of it had long been buried beneath competition and obsession with results.

‘When did I change like this?’