God of cooking

Chapter 107: Arbitration expenses (2)

Jo Minjoon forced a laugh. Just where did that absurd revenge come from? Jo Minjoon looked at Anderson's back getting farther away and said.

"Thanks for while, Anderson."

Anderson's feet stopped. He said while not turning back.

"Don't make the atmosphere uselessly. Whenever it is, we are meant to meet each other."

Precisely speaking, they would meet tomorrow. And even if tomorrow passed, they would see each other at the finals. However, it was something that Anderson couldn't know. Jo Minjoon calmly smiled and said.

"I'm sorry."

Anderson didn't reply back. It could be that he didn't have the words to reply back, or that he didn't understand why he was saying sorry. The shadow disappeared along the silence and the ones that remained in the hall became Jo Minjoon and Kaya. The candle dropped melted wax and lit the table, and the side of the kitchen was deep in the dark with its lights turned off. Kaya saw at the space between the not properly closed door and said.

"It seems like the lights went off."
"If you are talking about the kitchen, it did go off."
"........No, that's not it. I'm talking about me. My front road. My life has always been like that. It was even difficult to look at tomorrow. No, there was one certain thing. Tomorrow wasn't going to be that different to today. I thought that after I came to Grand Chef I became able to see the light, but I can't see it again. Minjoon."

Kaya turned her head. Every time the fire flickered, the shadow of her face also flickered. However, her eyes didn't. Nor her voice. She said with a voice filled with more confidence than ever.

"It seems like you were my lighthouse."

Jo Minjoon didn't say anything. It wasn't because he had nothing to say, rather it was because the moment he heard those words, he felt it difficult to breathe. Because that was what he thought of Kaya. No, precisely speaking, Kaya wasn't simply the one who brightened the road.

Kaya's road was also the one he wanted to walk on, and the dishes she made were also the ones he wanted to make. She was the object of that happiness, character, and adoration. Just looking at her made him difficult to breathe, but because of that, he could struggle even more because of the sense of loss.

That Kaya had said that he was her lighthouse. Those words.......if he said that it felt warmer than the praises and encouragement of the judges of the judges, would it be too excessive?

"......I was your lighthouse."
"Every time it was difficult, you were next to me. You even taught me what should I do..... You even blocked the paths that were wrong. Most of all, you sustained me so my heart didn't collapse. Thank you. When you left, I thought that I wouldn't be able to say these things to you ever......That's why I'm telling you this. And I'm not doing it twice."
"Me too......"

He wanted to tell her that she also was his lighthouse. That she was still a lighthouse for him. However, those words didn't come out as easily. Jo Minjoon whispered many words that couldn't even be heard with his lips half opened, and it closely shut. Kaya slightly tilted her head.

"What is it? Why did you stop in the middle of saying something?"
"It's nothing. I just have nothing to say."

To say those words, he felt really miserable right now. Because however he wrapped it up, it was still his loss. He wanted to say these words for when he reached the end of his road. Kaya laughed brightly. It was a girly smile that suited to someone her age.

"Hey, lighthouse."
"What?"
"Even without you, will I be able to find the path?"
"Kaya."

Jo Minjoon said with a soft voice.

"I'm not a lighthouse."
"......That's not something for you to judge. At least for me, you were a lighthouse."
"No. That's not true Kaya. Even if I wasn't here, you would still have been able to find the path. And you would have proved yourself just how excellent of a chef the person named Kaya Lotus is. You would think that you have lived your life without any meaning, but that was a struggle. It was a war that would have been difficult for normal people to survive. And you have done it. Your sister, she smiled quite prettily. You protected her so she could laugh like that."

Kaya's face became stifled. Did she have to get moved by it, or have to deny it. It was an expression that even she didn't know about.

"And you shone, to the point that you didn't shine your own path, but also for the others. That's why I can't become that lighthouse. There's nothing more meaningless than my lighthouse. So Kaya.....don't think that the reason you could climb all the way up to here is because you relied on me. It was all your own strength. Cooking, fighting and surviving, and enduring the scars. I just..... I was only the mirror that was next to you. The mirror that momentarily reflected your light."
"Why do you lower yourself that much? I......"

Her voice trembled. This was the first time that she got so dizzy even while getting praised. Kaya opened her eyes fiercely and said. It was ironical, but he thought that those fierce eyes was just her gentleness.

"......Fine. I won't say that I climbed all the way here because of you. Because my two feet are clearly fine. However, you grabbed my hands at the front. You pushed and pulled me. Why do you say as if that was nothing?"
"So you can win the last battle."

Jo Minjoon replied with a plain voice. It is different to before. The contents of the finals, and the process she walked. That's why he could only be anxious. He did trust in Kaya...... But he hoped that she wouldn't lose something that she should have gotten because of him.

"Anderson is strong, but I'm not saying that you are weaker than him. I'm just saying this. It's not enough being the Kaya Lotus that survived until now by relying on Jo Minjoon. You have to be the Kaya Lotus that can stand on her own to beat Anderson. Because Anderson also came all the way here by his own. So........"
"I don't want to."

Kaya replied shortly. It was an expression that she had gotten hurt. Her eyes seemed teary, and her face was red perhaps because of the candle light or because blood gathered on her face. Kaya clenched her fist. Beneath the fist that couldn't be seen by Jo Minjoon, there was countless emotions. And she wasn't planning on opening her fist.

"Surviving by grabbing your hands is even more amazing than having survived on my own. It is amazing that I could grab that hand of yours! At least, it's like that for me. So don't prolong this talk when I'm grateful towards you. At least you......I would like it if at least you weren't that way."

She did understand the words Jo Minjoon was trying to tell her. It was so with her head. However, her heart couldn't be that way. Kaya stood up from her seat.

"I will win. Whatever me it is, I will definitely beat Anderson. So just don't think about those useless things. Just......"

As her voice got wet, in the end she could only shut her mouth. The words she wanted to say after that kept roaming silently in her heart. Kaya said with a dispirited voice.

"I want to sleep. See you tomorrow."

Kaya left. Jo Minjoon just looked at the candle with an expression you couldn't know. The sound of the footsteps kept getting farther. Was he expecting for those steps to come back? When he couldn't hear anything, the sigh that came out of his mouth turned the candle off.

The fire of the candle died, but the weight of the sigh couldn't be forgotten so easily.