THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST TAENY MULTI SHOTS EVER WRITTEN (FOR ME) EVEN SENPAI TAENY AUTHORS LOVE THIS. 

Chef Part 1

AUTHOR:ANONYMOUS






France had Joël Robuchon, England had Jamie Oliver, Scotland had Gordon Ramsey, Japan had Hiroyuki Kanda and South Korea had Kim Tae Yeon. Ask anyone on the streets of South Korea who made the meanest, toughest and best meal and they’d tell you without a doubt, Kim Tae Yeon.

The dubbed ‘Food Prodigy’ had been working alongside her mother in their kitchen ever since she was 5, and had shown great interest in cooking even at the tender age. She cooked her first egg at 5, her first bowl of noodles at 7, her own lunch at 8 and a full, three course dinner complete with dessert at 11. Now at the edge of 17, she has her whole life planned out ahead of her, having literally been begged by the manager of The Ritz-Carlton, Seoul to work at their restaurant. Her mother was apprehensive at first, although, which mother wouldn’t be? A young girl of 17 going out into the working world, no doubt b with talent, but forsaking her studies for something so uncertain? It was a risk Tae Yeon herself was adamant on taking and after hours of negotiation with her parents, she finally managed to convince them to let her work. The deal she made with them was simple. She had 2 years for prove herself to them. If, by any chance, she was unsuccessful, she would drop all notion of becoming a chef and re-enter high school to complete her diploma.

And so for 3 years, she trained at the renowned Le Cordon Bleu Academy Korea, setting a new record for being the youngest student ever to enter the school. She should’ve been sent to Paris for a better opportunity, but her parents drew the line at that. No, they insisted. Moving half way across the world alone was simply outrageous, even suicidal. Tae Yeon agreed to attend the academy in Korea instead, still grateful for the chance to hone her skills. Not wanting to further complicate matters, Tae Yeon refused when her parents suggested relocating their family-run business, so that the family could stay together. Busses are available for me to come back home to visit, and besides, I’ll call back every day to let you know how I’m doing. It’s absolute madness to move the family across the whole country and affect the shop, especially now when business is booming, she reasoned.

Although it wasn’t made official, everyone knew that she was easily the brightest student the school had ever seen. Teachers loved her for her inquisitive and quick-learning ways, and peers loved her for her quirky yet adorable habits. Tae Yeon, although the youngest by 7 years, was loved by everyone and her friends often joked that although she was so small in size and still young, her thoughts were more mature than theirs at times, even when her trademark ‘Ajumma laugh’ popped up.

Now at 21, she was working with The Ritz-Carlton, Seoul and loved her job. Sure, it was tiring and she spent a good 9 hours on her feet, rushing from pots to pans and ensuring that the food came out perfect. But the result was beyond satisfactory when she stood on a small stool and peeped out from the windows installed into the kitchen doors and saw her patrons enjoying her food.

Today was of no difference. She had gotten up at 5.30 in the morning, changed while she was still half asleep and left the apartment that the hotel had provided for her. Only while waiting for the elevator at the lift landing, had she realised that she had worn her jumper the wrong way round. It just didn’t seem right that there was a hood at the front…..

Doubling back to her apartment, she swapped the jumper around, checked that her pants were worn the correct way round just in case, and left the house again. Getting into her small car, also provided by the hotel, she blasted the heater and rubbed her arms when the warm air rushed out through the vents. It was early autumn and the weather wasn’t particularly chilly yet, but with the sun still not up, the fresh air was icy cold. Manoeuvring her tiny car out onto the empty roads, she drove towards the docks that she went to everyday.

Stopping her car at an empty spot, she got out of the car and shivered when the air stung her nose. Flipping the hood over her head, she made her way through the boxes and trays and finally came to the fishmonger she saw every day.

“Ajusshi! How are you today?” Tae Yeon greeted.

“Here comes my little Super Mario!” The middle-aged man chuckled.

“Ahhhhhh, I am not Super Mario! The cap was given to me by my friend.” Tae Yeon whined and pouted.

Seeing Tae Yeon’s pout, the man laughed again and asked her what she wanted to get today.

“Is there anything special you managed to catch today?” Tae Yeon enquired and poked the fresh, slimy fish with her finger.

“Well, I was saving this to sell it to the market later, but since you’re my cutest and most loyal customer, I’ll sell it to you. Hold on, I’ll go get it.”

Tae Yeon continued placing the fish she wanted into a styrofoam box packed with ice. The fish was fresh like usual and they had barely died for 15 minutes. When she was almost done choosing those that she wanted for the day’s menu, the fishmonger returned, an enormous box weighing down his arms.

“Here’s today’s special for my little Mario, freshly caught Pacific Cod.”

“OMO!!! YOU MANAGED TO GET IT FOR ME!? AHHH! THANK YOU SO MUCH AJUSSHI!” Tae Yeon squealed and clapped her hands in glee.

With the help from the man, Tae Yeon stuffed the 2 boxes of fish into her car boot and paid him for everything. Waving goodbye, she left the bustling dock and drove towards the hotel, a dreamy smile on her face.

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“Oppa! Can you help me carry these and put them in the fridge?”

“Yes Chef, of course. Is there anything else you’d like me to do?”

“I told you! Aish, don’t call me Chef until we officially start working. It feels weird when Oppa talks to me using honorifics.” Tae Yeon sighed.

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The menu at the restaurant was changed on a daily basis every season, and Tae Yeon was the one in charge of coming up with all the dishes. Today’s meal was specially chosen to celebrate the new autumn season, and Tae Yeon had spent days coming up with the perfect combination to woo her patrons.

Going through with her team on the final instructions, Tae Yeon reminded them once again what each of them had to do and allowed to them to take a break before the restaurant opened for dinner. Residing in her private office, Tae Yeon shuffled through her stack of notes on next season’s menu, but became alarmed when she couldn’t find those for the desserts. Setting the papers down, she rummaged through the boxes at her feet in case they had dropped down, but surfaced empty handed.

“Oh no oh no oh no, think Taengoo, think! Where did you leave them?” she muttered.

“Let’s see….. Yesterday, I finalised everything and went to show the manager. He said that some of the dishes looked like they could use some improvement, so I agreed and came back. Oh no, before that, I went to the fridge to get some jellies for myself. After that… I came back. Oh no no, I went around the kitchen and did my inspection, but I found out that the cleaners missed out wiping one of my precious stoves, so I put everything down and went to clean it. Then after that…… I took the papers and came back to my office. Oh, but I found some rubbish on the floor and thr- OH MY GOD!” Tae Yeon screeched.

A flurry of footsteps, and Tae Yeon’s door was flung open, her Sous Chef standing in the doorway with a gleaming cleaver in his right hand.

“What happened?” He demanded, his eyes scanning the room for any threats.

“I THREW MY DESSERTS AWAY! OH NO OH NO OH NO!” Tae Yeon wailed.

“Make new ones? Are you craving for something sweet now? I know about your secret stash of jellies in the fridge….” He grinned cheekily