The air froze at the sudden announcement. As if on cue, everyone started asking questions at once.
“Who? Song Hae-som?”
“Yeah.”
“Just like that, so suddenly?”
“She wishes to do so herself.”
Lee Woon-seop shook his head in disbelief and added, “No way. She never said anything about quitting.”
“Then are you implying I made her quit?”
“That’s not what I meant…”
His thick lips mumbled, can’t find the words, and went silent. Jae-geon withdrew his cold glare and readjusted his grip on the new menu proposal.
“If you have time to worry about an intern’s whereabouts, focus on the autumn menu instead. While an inexperienced near-graduate is launching a new dish, you CDPs are… tsk. Aren’t any of you motivated?”
Only after silencing them with a sharp scolding did the meeting finally feel like a meeting.
The name “Song Hae-som” clearly printed on the document grated on his nerves, but not enough to ruin the meeting.
Or rather, it shouldn’t have.
The results of the highly anticipated—or rather, secretly hoped would never come—burdock tasting were announced.
‘The burdock ceviche developed by Song Hae-som has been selected as the third-quarter appetizer.’
She had put everything on the line, and she had actually pulled it off! The chefs, oblivious to the deeper circumstances, surrounded Hae-som to congratulate her. As if trying to toss her in the air, the commis chefs from each team grabbed her arms and legs.
The kitchen, which had been as lively as a festival, instantly fell as quiet as a temple at Seung-jun’s follow-up remark.
‘Hae-som, write down the recipe and hand it over to Team Leader Moon before your internship ends…’
Ah, so this is how it ends. Although Hae-som was the one who wanted the internship to end more than anyone, she hadn’t expected such an empty conclusion.
Why was the ceviche chosen out of the four dishes? What still needed work? She didn’t care about the reward. She just wanted some professional feedback.
She knew they were more busy than ever with the third-quarter menu meetings, but still, it was her last day…
“…”
“…”
He wouldn’t even spare her a glance. How petty.
Jae-geon treated her with the exact same cruelty he had shown to Ji-won.
He looked at her as if she were a mere stone, ignoring her words whenever she gathered the courage to speak. It was complete neglect, treating her like an inanimate object without leaving any room to resolve his anger.
As this one-way communication dragged on, Hae-som’s motivation gradually withered.
Was she really going to drift away from him like this, silently and without a word? She felt very disappointed by Jae-geon’s immature behavior, as he had always seemed so mature.
She wondered how sincere his overnight change of heart could have been, and felt a pang of regret that he had made such a big deal out of everything only to discard it so easily.
Lingering regret, longing, guilt, gratitude. Swept away by a whirlwind of chaotic emotions, her last day of the internship arrived before she knew it.
While no one gloated over the miserable end of the head chef’s favored intern, neither did anyone seem particularly sad to see her go.
Only the main kitchen team, who had worked closely alongside her like family, Woon-seop, and Jun-won—who handed over her internship evaluation materials with a reluctant look—showed any trace of sadness.
Even they were soon summoned to Jae-geon’s office, leaving Hae-som with only Hwi and Jae-min.
“Should we have our own farewell party?”
Though she forced a bright smile, a corner of her heart ached terribly.
She cast one last glance at Jae-geon’s office door, which showed no sign of opening, and said her rather uneventful goodbye.
The loud chatter around them made it feel a little like a gathering, but none of them could muster any real enthusiasm. Even the steamed clams seemed to simmer without much energy.
Hwi and Jae-min spat as they defended Hae-som with passion.
“Honestly, the head chef is too much! Kicking you out just because you said you’d quit? He knows damn well how much Cha Ji-won got under your skin!”
“My thoughts exactly! I see the chef in a whole new light after this! I thought he was just a tsundere, but he’s a total cold-blooded bastard!”
“If he’s going to kick you out, he should have cut ties cleanly! Why launch your menus? And two of them, at that!”
“It’s giving false hope.”
She hadn’t known this, but apparently, only two chefs in the restaurant’s history had ever successfully launched two dishes: Team Leader Han Seung-jun, the main CDP, and Song Hae-som, a mere intern.
Since Jae-geon was not the type to play games with dishes that carried the restaurant’s reputation just to kick her out, it meant he really acknowledged her culinary skills.
But even so, what did it matter now?
Hae-som twisted open a bottle of soju with a resigned click. She poured the clear liquid into her seniors’ cups, and once she was done, Hwi snatched the bottle from her hands.
“Since you’re leaving anyway, let’s go out with a smile. I don’t want to remember your face looking like you’re chewing on dirt.”
“I am chewing on dirt. The clams must not have been purged properly.”
She hadn’t even touched the clam soup, what an excuse.
Feeling a sharp sting in her nose, Hae-som forced a soft laugh.
In the end, Jae-min burst into tears with a loud wail and clinked his glass. The three of them drank their first shot, flavored with a hint of salt.
The alcohol they knocked back tasted far too sweet.
One glass, then another. Without Seung-jun there to pace them, they drank straight shots, and Hae-som was already feeling tipsy. It seemed the same went for Hwi and Jae-min.
Her two seniors were dozing off like sick chickens, nodding against the table with no sign of waking up. They couldn’t stay past closing time, so Hae-som gathered her wallet and headed to the counter.
“Check, please.”
“Hmm? Oh, the brass table?”
“Yes.”
Tap-tapping on the register, the owner remarked casually, as if it were nothing out of the ordinary.
“Speaking of which, how come that handsome chef didn’t come by today?”
“…The chef?”
“He stops by to check in every single time his team has a get-together.”
“Oh…”
Staring at Hae-som, who was completely frozen in shock, the owner tilted her head.
“He even came by the first time you were here. You didn’t know?”
After barely managing to shove Jae-min—who was sobbing as if the streets of Seochon were about to collapse—into a taxi, Hae-som was left with Hwi, who was just as drunk.
Biting down on a white cigarette out of habit, Hwi lit the tip. With a soft sizzle, a bright red ember sparked, radiating a faint warmth.
Even the acrid smoke piercing her lungs felt sweet today. Just as she was having the absurd thought of wanting to try a drag,
Hwi exhaled away from Hae-som and chuckled.
“You’re not nagging me today?”
“Whether you get fired or not is none of my business now. Honestly, job hunting together doesn’t sound too bad either.”
“What did you say, punk?”
Flicking her forehead with a light, painless tap, Hwi let out a cloud of white smoke like a deep sigh.
“Aren’t you going to regret leaving like this? It’s a three-star restaurant, after all.”
“…I probably will.”
“Don’t let yourself get pushed away just because the chef is pushing. Take the first step.”
Hae-som let out a hollow laugh.
“You saw him. He wouldn’t even look at me.”
“Exactly. So make him look.”
“How?”
“What, did you two only share a platonic love? Use half the brainpower you used when developing that new menu, you dummy.”
Wow, unbelievable! Who was calling whom a dummy?
Dodging her glare like he was used to it, Hwi raised an arm to flag down an approaching taxi.
“And think carefully about why he didn’t call a taxi for you before.”
“The last train hasn’t stopped running yet.”
“Stop dodging the subject.”
He laughed as if feeling relieved to finally be rid of his troublesome junior. But his hand, grinding the cigarette butt into the ashtray, suddenly paused.
“Just in case, don’t call that bastard today. And don’t even dream of sleeping at his place.”
“Who?”
“The valet. What was his name again?”
“Eun-seong?”
Come to think of it, Eun-seong hadn’t been around yesterday or today. Had he quit? Since neither Jae-geon nor Eun-seong said a word, there was no way of knowing what they were thinking.
Grumbling, Hwi brushed the ash from his palms and pulled open the back door of the waiting taxi.
“Don’t call him by his first name either. Actually, just don’t associate with him at all.”
“Are you going to go on about that fake guy-friend thing again?”
“I’m telling you, that bastard’s eyes are fucking ominous. Anyway, he’s bad news. Consider yourself warned.”
Seriously, until the very end!
Hae-som practically folded the stumbling Hwi in half and shoved him into the taxi, finally letting out a sigh of relief.
Honestly, she was only less drunk compared to Hwi and Jae-min; she had drank quite a lot herself. Now that there was no one left for her to look after, the ground began to sway beneath her feet, and the alcohol fully hit her.
Through her hazy mind, the words Hwi had slurred in his drunken state drifted back to her.
‘Don’t let yourself get pushed away just because the chef is pushing. Take the first step.’
She was drunk, her internship was over, and there would be no more reasons to run into Jae-geon anyway. Should she just go find him?
Even though she knew exactly how she would be treated, her alcohol-induced reasoning was completely out of her control.
Perhaps she had downed those drinks so recklessly just to summon this kind of courage.
She wanted to claim she was dead drunk, but her feet carried her without stumbling through the streets of Seochon. She passed through the bustling food alley, still lively even close to midnight, and turned right. Before she knew it, she was standing in front of Jae-geon’s house.
The front gate, which she used to open whenever she pleased, now looked as solid as an iron fortress. The lights inside the house were on. He was inside.
Suppressing the tension rising to her throat with a deep breath, Hae-som placed her finger on the doorbell.
She wondered if he would even open the door, but it swung open just like that.
“…”
“…”
The gaze looking down on her from a sixty-degree angle was freezing. It felt cold enough to give her frostbite.
“Chef.”
“What is it?”
Jae-geon was still in his chef’s uniform. He, too, was out of his mind.
That brought her an odd sense of comfort.
Just seeing his face like this made her feel like she could breathe again. Even his contemptuous glare was something she was grateful for… Hae-som’s eyes welled with tears.
“It’s Saturday.”
Warning Chapter ahead!!
Offensive chapter next.
Skip chapter 65 and 66 if you feel uncomfortable with forced relationship.
