Hae-som looked herself over in the awkward business outfit she had put together.
Low heels, a skirt that covered her knees, a fitted jacket that hugged her waist.

It had already been four years since she became an adult, yet the thought of stepping into society left her with a strange feeling.

Of course, she wasn’t the only one.

Outside the mock interview room, students dressed like textbook fresh graduates each handled their nerves in their own way.

All of them were culinary majors preparing to graduate, the sort who chose field training over writing a thesis.

No need to wreck their brains over a dissertation, and if luck favored them, the internship could even lead to a job offer.

Hae-som, who dreamed of becoming a top-tier chef, had her sights set on employment from the start.

Though right now, she still jumped at the sound of a door swinging open.

The interview room door opened, and the students who had finished began to file out. Among them stood Song Ji, Hae-som’s friend, famous among their peers for her iron nerves. Yet even her proud face looked ready to crumple like an autumn leaf.

Song Ji gestured for her to call later before heading off, and at last Hae-som’s name rang through the hall.

“Applicants Kim Jun-mo, Park I-young, and Seong Hae-som, please come in.”

Dragging along heels that still felt foreign on her feet, Hae-som followed the other two applicants into the interview room.

The head chef of S Hotel.
A senior from their school who now served as executive chef at B Hotel.
The director of a Korean cuisine institute.
The head chef of a Michelin one-star restaurant.
The editor-in-chief of the food magazine Savorin.

Rather than feel intimidated by the impressive lineup, stars burst in Hae-som’s eyes.

A Michelin one-star restaurant? Are you kidding me?!

The goal was set. If she sold herself well enough, she had a chance!

From why she wanted to become a world-class chef to the experience she had built toward that dream, Hae-som carefully retraced her journey.

Oddly enough, the one who took notice of her was Cha Ji-won, editor-in-chief of Savorin magazine.

“Student Seong Hae-som?”

Her expression slipped for a moment.

If she planned to pursue that career path, there would have been no issue. But that was Song Ji, not her. Besides, nobody in their field volunteered to work under a notorious editor with a terrible reputation.

Before Hae-som could smooth out her tangled expression, she looked up.

Ji-won, who had apparently reached the peak of her career in her late twenties, waited with an arrogant smile.

“Your academic record is excellent. Quite a few awards from competitions too.”

“Thank you.”

“At times like this, you shouldn’t answer with polite filler. You should sell your strengths.”

Correcting her rookie response with ease, Ji-won smiled in a relaxed manner. For Hae-som, who never intended to impress her in the first place, it felt miserable.

Still, there was a Michelin chef sitting among the interviewers.

There was no harm in trying to stand out.

Accepting part of Ji-won’s advice, Hae-som answered with care while making sure to send eager glances toward the Michelin chef.

Chef! A prepared talent is right here!

“I hold certifications in Korean, Western, Chinese, and Japanese cuisine, as well as baking, pastry, and bartending. My greatest strength is Korean cuisine. Ever since I was little, I was raised at a Buddhist temple—”

“She’s perfect.”

Ji-won cut her off in one stroke.

Then she slowly looked Hae-som over from head to toe. A sharp smile curved her red lips.

“I like her very much.”

Crap.

A versatile applicant with talent in every area—exactly the kind of person a magazine company would want.

Hae-som regretted bragging and darted her eyes around in panic.

She shot the Michelin chef a desperate look for rescue, but his attention had already shifted toward senior Kim Jun-mo.

Military service completed, part-time experience, sturdy build. He apparently checked every box.

Hae-som already knew that fine dining kitchens favored men because of the physical demands, but facing that reality head-on still left a bitter taste in her mouth.

But what could she do about it? It wasn’t as though she could suddenly grow muscles and flex tiny biceps while declaring, “I’m strong too.”

Giving in to despair, Hae-som lowered her head.

After nonstop finals and weeks of insomnia, her mind felt heavy. Ji-won’s voice drifted through her haze.

“You know Not, right?”

Not… the fusion Korean restaurant themed around brassware, the place that had held onto its Michelin stars since opening and carved out a league of its own.

A dream stage far beyond the reach of a mere culinary student preparing for graduation.

So why bring up Not?

“I happened to be looking for an intern to send there.”

The opportunity came so suddenly that Hae-som only stared in a daze.

“Not takes interns?”

“Not officially. I know the head chef there very well. You know him, right? Jeong Jae-geon.”

“Ah… yes.”

Hae-som still looked stunned, so Ji-won added with pointed emphasis,

“I know him very well.”

That was when Hae-som realized Ji-won’s emphasis had little to do with networking. A man and woman around the same age working in the same field who knew each other very well? There weren’t many ways to interpret that.

So she wanted Hae-som to play messenger between them.

That condition posed no problem at all. Their love life had nothing to do with her.

“What? Don’t want to?”

Gathering her scattered thoughts, Hae-som bowed deep.

“I was just caught off guard. Thank you for this opportunity.”

A neatly sealed recommendation letter slid toward her beneath that deeper bow.

The added warning came as a bonus.

“Make sure you greet Jeong Jae-geon for me.”

For some reason, her temple throbbed.

---

After checking the sign several times already, Hae-som stared at it one last time.

Not

The perfectly symmetrical lettering drew admiration from her again and again. And beside the sign gleamed three stars.

There was no need for explanation there.

She still couldn’t believe she would get the chance to work, even briefly, at a Michelin three-star restaurant.

She pinched the back of her hand. The sting brought tears to her eyes.

This wasn’t a dream.

Once reality settled in, Hae-som grabbed the brass handle and pulled the door open.

A strange sense of familiarity brushed past her for an instant, but nerves swallowed the feeling whole.

A pale green lawn garden caught her eye first. Following the granite stone path led her to a long rectangular hanok building, likely the restaurant itself. The detached annex beside it probably served as storage or a fermentation room.

She sensed another person nearby as she passed rows of earthenware jars.

Stopping short, Hae-som swallowed hard.

“Yes, this is Jeong Jae-geon.”

A charcoal-gray chef’s uniform revealed his broad inverted-triangle frame without mercy.

Wide shoulders. A narrow waist.

The hand holding the pine needles looked large enough to snap a pine branch in half.

With the backlight behind him, she couldn’t make out his expression, but irritation rang clear in his low voice.

“Ice plants aren’t some rare crop anymore. Raising the price out of nowhere puts us in a difficult position. We can always ask one of our partner farms to grow them instead.”

A pleasant deep voice drifted through the faint scent of pine.

“We’ve done business based on trust with your company for years, so hearing you say that disappoints me. No, I’m the disappointed one. Yes, yes. Then I’ll see you then.”

Even after ending the business call, he stayed with the pine tree for quite some time.

He rubbed the rough bark. Snapped off a thin branch and trapped it in his hand. Bit down on a pine needle and held it between his teeth.

It seemed to be his own method of easing stress.

Hae-som steadied the strange pounding in her chest and stepped toward him.

The paper envelope Ji-won gave her rustled, though neither of them noticed.

“…”

One more step.

Then another.

Once she reached speaking distance, Hae-som slowed her pace and took a deep breath.

She gathered her courage and opened her mouth, though her gaze remained fixed on the ground.

“Hello.”

It seemed he turned toward her for a moment.

But no answer came.

The silence felt as though it asked, Who are you?

Compared to this, Ji-won almost seemed kind.

Hae-som bit down on her lip before letting it go.

“My name is Seong Hae-som.”

The sharpness in his gaze deepened, and the envelope crinkled again. Hae-som clenched it like a lifeline and endured.

“And?”

“I came here with a recommendation from Editor Cha Ji-won. I was hoping I could do my internship at Not this summer.”

“…Who?”

“The editor-in-chief of Savorin.”

Had this internship never been agreed upon?

His reaction looked far from ordinary.

Hae-som stepped closer and offered him the envelope. The stronger scent of pine at close range left her dizzy. Her head lowered on its own.

A large hand entered her tilted field of vision and snatched the envelope away. The sound of the paper tearing open came rough enough to make her tense shoulders jerk.

After scanning the contents, his gaze landed on her.

“So they told you to intern here, and you came running happily along? A three-star restaurant doesn’t take interns. That’s common sense.”

Close friends, my ass.

He treats her worse than an enemy.

While Hae-som felt Ji-won had thoroughly screwed her over, it also stung to be lumped into the same category. Her tightly bitten lips twisted.

“Do you even realize how badly you’re being used right now?”

“Well…”

At his ruthless words, her lowered head lifted at once.

The backlight still hid most of his face, but the eyes aimed at her flashed with cold sharpness.

“More than being used as a messenger, I wanted to work at Not.”

“So you used Cha Ji-won instead?”

“I only meant that I wasn’t being used because I’m foolish, dull, or naïve.”

Instead of bowing and scraping, she answered him head-on.

Maybe that annoyed him.

No response came no matter how long she waited.

Hae-som steadied her ragged breathing and focused on Jae-geon as he approached.

Then, in the next moment, she felt as though she stood inside a mirage swallowed by sunlight.

Him beneath the shining sun…

Him looking down at her from that calm angle…

He looked like the late Yoo Eun-ho.

Painfully so.