Chapter 2: Overcooked Beef

The wasn’t all that great, but the dinner was, Jongdae likes to think.

Jongdae can’t say that he executed the Bolognese as well as Minseok had done, but it came close. He probably added too much herbs and burned some of the meat, but the sauce tasted okay. But he didn’t cook the pasta perfectly either, going two minutes over the prescribed cooking time.

Who ever thought cooking a bowl of pasta could be that stressful. When he cooked it with Minseok everything was a breeze from start to finish, but doing it alone proved a struggle.

But as Jongdae looked at the empty spot his date left for him in the morning, he couldn’t help feel a tad disconnected from the events after dinner. He just seemed out of it for some reason. And even though Minseok’s recipe caused his date to moan and groan in absolute pleasure, a small part of Jongdae felt inadequate, knowing full well that it could have been better.

He doesn’t know why it happened, but Jongdae wound up more concerned that he didn’t make the pasta to its pristine perfection rather than the after dinner.

Groaning as he sits up, Jongdae heads to the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee. He stalks to the kitchen to find Minseok standing there, bathed, hair slicked back and coffee in hand.

“Don’t you look peachy,” he says grabbing another cup pouring one for Jongdae.

“Here,” he says handing it over to Jongdae, “You look like you need it.”

A bleary thanks is said as he takes in a large gulp.

“Night didn’t go as good as you hoped?” Minseok asked, leaning on the counter, eyes trained on Jongdae’s slumped form.

“Passable.”

“Guy not up to your standards?”

Jongdae shakes his head in response, face stuck to the rim of his coffee cup. He inhales the sweet scent of the drink. Then taking a silent gulp. Jesus, even a cup of coffee made by Minseok was perfect.

Somehow it made him feel worse.

“Aw, pity. I even used my secret weapon,” Minseok coos at his slumped roommate, eyes filled with amusement.

“The one I made wasn’t all that great,” Jongdae murmurs into his cup, “I overcooked the noodles and I’m pretty sure everything just tasted of paprika.”

Minseok gives Jongdae a sympathetic smile, “Hey, I didn’t expect you to make it perfectly. It’s your first time making it, you’re bound to have some slip ups.”

“Are you being extra nice to me because I sad to look at?” Jongdae asks finally taking his face out of the mouth of his cup.

Minseok shakes his head, “the first time I made this I ended up burning the bottom of the pan.”

Jongdae’s eyes go wide as he glares at his roommate, “Are you telling me that perfect Kim Minseok burned the bottom of the pan? The perfect Kim Minseok?!”

 “Mistakes are life’s best teachers,” Minseok rolls his eyes as he walks past Jongdae, “Just like your date last night.” Jongdae scoffs at him, “You’re horrible.”

“And you have to bus tables tomorrow night, don’t forget!” Minseok screams from his room.

Jongdae groans, putting his face back into his cup of coffee.

“You’re my only friend.”

The next night comes faster than Jongdae anticipated as he finds himself walking to the doors of Verve at five in the afternoon. He has never actually been here. In the months that he’s known Minseok he never mentioned where he worked or what he cooked. As far as Jongdae knew, he was just the head chef of some random restaurant. He never expected his roommate to be the head chef of one of the most successful restaurants in Seoul.

Verve mad waves ever since opening a few years back. Jongdae wasn’t all that into the food news, but Verve was mentioned so much in local news that it would take an idiot to not know of its existence.

Jongdae enters the silence of the empty restaurant. There’s a man in a tailored black suit and crisp white shirt manning the desk, his eyes full immersed with his desktop completely ignoring Jongdae’s entrance, which is odd given that there wasn’t only the ambient music invading the gaunt silence.

Jongdae can’t see the man’s face, only the mop of black hair that fell down his eyes. Minseok instructed Jongdae to find the maître d’, he’d be the one to assist him. Minseok said a name, something Chinese.

“Yixing?”

Immediately the mop of hair turns up, Jongdae presented with a young man with a hooked nose and soft, mellow eyes.

“Yes, how can I help you?” the man, Yixing, smiles, giving Jongdae a glimpse of deep dimples.

“Um, I’m the replacement busboy, Minseok sent me,” Jongdae says approaching the man.

Yixing’s eyes light up, “Oh, you’re the roommate.”

“Yeah, Minseok told me that you’re the one I have to look for.”

Yixing nods and walks out of his desk to shake Jongdae’s hand, “Hey, I’m Zhang Yixing, the maître d’, you must be Jongdae.”

Jongdae nods, shaking Yixing’s hand vigorously.

“Follow me, I’ll give you a tour of the restaurant.”

Yixing leads Jongdae into the dining area. It, much like everything is decked in black and white. Everything except an expanse of wall to the right of the two. There was a large mural of color, roses, skulls, knives, fish, meat, chicken, and various other objects flowing through the wall in a waves of cascading hues of red, yellow, green and deep blue. It adds a shock of color to the fairly minimal space and Jongdae can’t help but stare.

Yixing notices this as he’s walking through, “Nice isn’t it, Minseok commissioned it himself, had his tattoo artist design it.”

Tattoo artist.

“Wait, Minseok has a tattoo?”

Yixing snickers at Jongdae, “Yeah, he’s got loads. But most of them are hidden.”

Jongdae doesn’t expect this. He’s seen Minseok shirtless countless times, how come he’s never seen it.

“He doesn’t have any in front,” Jongade blurts out, which causes Yixing to snicker at him.

“No, but he has some on his back. The others lower.”

Jongdae suddenly feels a bit hot under the collar.

Yixing smirks at him, leading him to the kitchen.

Assembled there are a group of men chopping, stirring, and cooking, while a smooth RnB plays in the background.

“Boys!” Yixing screams over the noise, “This is our guest busboy for the night, Jongdae”

The men stop cooking and look over at Jongdae, there are four of them. The one that stands out the most is the tallest one, standing well beyond six feet and sporting a pair of ears that seem too big for his face. Next to him, partly obscured by the other’s immense height, is the smallest one on the team, a man with a button nose and dark streaks of eyeliner on his face. Across the two stand two others, one of them of considerable height and sporting a pair of plump lips and a wiry frame. Beside him, a shorter man with a steady build and very defined eyebrows.

They all look at Jongdae with surprised expressions.

“It’s the roommate.” The tallest one attempts to whisper to the shortest one. Button nose smacks him on the arm.

“How many times do I have to tell you that you at whispering,” he scolds. The tallest one flinches and mutters an apology.

The shortest member rolls his eyes before directing his attention to Jongdae.

“Sorry, he’s not subtle,” Jongdae chuckles in response.

“I’m Baekhyun, this one’s Chanyeol,” he says pointing to the one he just smacked, “Over there’s Jongin and Junmyeon,” he says pointing to big lips and eyebrows, respectively.

“Hey, I’m Jongdae, but it seems you guys already know that,” he says with a smirk, “What else do you know?”

“That you attempted to cook dinner for good , but the guy was .” This comes from Yixing.  

“We had to ask him how he got you to bus at such short notice. He explained the rest,” Junmyeon rushes, his eyes shooting Yixing a dangerous expression.

Yixing shrugs and Jongdae shakes his head, “Doesn’t really matter, Minseok did me a favor, I’m just repaying.”

Just then a door at the back bursts open and two figures comes out. They’re discussing something over a piece of paper, it looks like it’s the menu. Jongdae registers the voice of his roommate mixing with the lower register of the one next to him. The two stop right by the kitchen, the two finalizing something before separating. Minseok finally looks up and immediately sees Jongdae from the mess of bodies in the kitchen.

“You made it,” he says walking up to him, “Did you find it okay?”

“Ya, your instructions were extremely specific,” Jongdae chuckles, “You never told me you were the head chef of one of the most successful restaurants in Seoul.”

“You never asked.”

Jongdae rolls his eyes. Typical.

“Have you met the team?”

“Everyone but that guy you were talking to.”

Minseok looks over to where the man was jotting things down on the piece of paper they were intent on discussing. He then gestures for him to come over.

Jongdae gets a good glimpse of the man. He has large eyes and a bushel of hair that settles delicately across his eyebrows.

“This is Jongdae, he’s the guest busser today.”

The small man offers his hand to shake, “I’m Kyungsoo, the sous chef.” Jongdae offers his hand as well, giving him a firm shake.

“Has Yixing explained to you how we do things here?” Jongdae shakes his head, “I just got here, he was giving me a tour of the restaurant.”

“Okay, after he explains to you, he’ll get you outfitted so you can prepare for service. I take this isn’t your first time.”

“Not my first rodeo.” Kyungsoo smiles.

“Go get outfitted, and meet up back here for pre-service meeting.”

Jongdae nods, Yixing leading him out to the back.

After briefing him on their systems and giving him a uniform for the day, Jongdae heads back to the kitchen where all the chefs and waiters had gathered.

Minseok’s standing at attention, Kyungsoo fiddling with something next to him. Once everyone was settled and the murmuring had subsided, Minseok went on to speak.

“Okay, today we’ve tweaked the menu. Appetizers are still scallops or mussels. But for mains, instead of the pork medallions we’re doing filet mignon with candied artichokes and miso butter sweet potatoes and Kyungsoo’s new dish, the kimchi braised pork shoulder and razor clams with radish slaw.”

The staff nod, some of the servers jotting down the new menu items on their pads.

Minseok then prods Kyungsoo, “Kitchen assignments today?”

“Baekhyun’s on fish, Jongin’s on the grill, Chanyeol’s on garnish, and Jun’s on sauces.”

Minseok nods his assent, the line cooks nodding as well.

“Okay, if everyone’s ready, let’s have a good service today!”

The response is instantaneous.

“Yes, chef!”

Jongdae can’t find appropriate words to describe the motions in the kitchen.

The backbone of the restaurant worked in manic order. His eyes gravitate to his roommate, the mastermind behind this architectural marvel of food production. Minseok stands at the front of the pass, beside him Kyungsoo, behind them the four line cooks in their assigned position. Container and squeeze bottles were laid across the work stations. They looked like an army heading into war, with Minseok as their fearless leader.

Jongdae hears a whirring from the head of the counter. A machine sits by Minseok’s side, a small slip of paper edging itself into the chaos of the kitchen. Inch by inch of digits and block letters springing from the virtual unknown. Once it finishes, it’s entire length stretched out and flailing against the metal surface, Minseok tears it, and raises it to his eyes.

The first ticket.

“Table three, two scallops and one mussel!” he screams, his voice resonating something within the team. Jongdae sees it. There’s a shift in the atmosphere, what was once the sound of raucous laughter and the sound laidback music was replaced with a silent resolve.

Gone was Minseok who laughed and teased, who lifted the mood with a dose of laidback RnB and just the touch of Adele.

This was Minseok, king of the kitchen. These were his loyal followers.

“Yes, chef!” They screamed in unison, and suddenly the kitchen springs into unified motion. Pans clanging, oil sizzling, and the distinct sound of chopping reverberating through the small room.

Chatter resounds throughout the kitchen, voices clashing and craning against each other, voices pushing in a vocal tussle. But oddly, the message ring clear, the trained chefs taking apart the noise to respond to their callings.

“How long you need on the scallops?”

“Two minutes!”

“Firing scallops!”

“Mussels, how long you need?”

“Three minutes!”

Jongdae watches in silent awe as the world of Verve moved in precise motion and robotic accuracy.

Again, a whirring. Again, a rip.

“I need six pork all day!”

Again, in perfect unison, “Yes, chef!”

Then suddenly a burst of motion.

Baekhyun, in charge of the fish station comes up to the pass with a hot pan of browned scallops, a hardened crust

“Walking on scallops!” he screams to the din as he strolls the expanse of the kitchen.

As soon as his voice is heard, Chanyeol booms not far, “Walking on garnish!”

Not far behind comes Junmyeon, “Walking on sauces!”

All three moving through the kitchen, each screaming “Behind!” each time they pass a working body.

Scallop and accompanying side slide into Minseok’s position at the head of the pass, he grabs a plate and swiftly checks for the cook and texture of the scallops. After checking and looking satisfied he starts plating, placing the garnish and the scallops on the dish.

“Where’s that mussel?” Minseok screams after plating and placing them under the heating lamps.

“Walking on mussels!” Baekhyun screams as he moves from his position to the pass.

Minseok once again inspects, plates and places.

“Service table five!”

Just then Yixing approaches Jongdae, “Clean up on table ten.”

Jongdae nods, heading out into the dining area. Unlike the tense atmosphere the world of the dining area was a stark difference. The quiet clinking of forks and knives on plates and subdued laughter as people sipped on their wine quickly replaced the chaos inside the kitchen.

He gets to work, cleaning up the remains of the table.

He then heads back into the fray.

Once he steps back, he hears screaming.

It’s Minseok. He’s holding a plate of beef, holding it up for everyone to see. His eyes alive with rage that Jongdae has never seen on him.

“Jongin! This beef is overcooked! I asked for medium rare, not medium! Get your head out of your and refire another one!” He bellows as he bangs the plate into his working station, beef flying, the ground seemingly rumbling in his fit of rage.

Jongdae looks over at Jongin and sees his clearly frustrated expression. But he doesn’t relent, nor does he complain. The man nods meekly and screams a “Yes, chef!” in return, before working on another piece of steak.

Around him, the rest work through, ignoring Minseok’s scolding for pushing the orders out.

This was the kitchen, a place where no one can rest, where no one can fumble, and where no one can let up. Here you work with pinpoint perfection. It’s either you get with it or you take your exit.

“Walking on steak!”

Jongin is fumbling his way back to the pass, eyes no longer passive, body moving with intent to please.

Jongdae doesn’t know who’s more nervous, Jongin or himself. The atmosphere is tense, and Jongdae can feel the moment. Minseok wasn’t in a good mood, and two consecutive mistakes feels too much at this point.

The steak slides up the pass, brown and tender, juices flowing out. Minseok looks at it, and touches the meat. His fingers prod with intent, searching for blemish or tension. His face is stern, eyes inspecting with copious intent.

After a second, maybe two. Fingers leave the meat as its carried off into the serving dish.

“Service table six!”

Jongdae lets out a breath he kept in. The tension is getting to him, and he’s getting carried away by the emotions stirring deep within the small space. Suddenly everything seems so much smaller and Jongdae feels somewhat suffocated.

He takes a glance at Jongin and finds that he seems looser now. The tension leaving his body, he looks more in sync with the motions of the kitchen now. He flows, his hands moving with unrestrained freedom. He was in the groove.

“The first few table can get tight.” Suddenly, Yixing is beside him, eyes also trained at Jongin.

“A few mistakes can come out in the start, Minseok lets those go,” Yixing says eyes turning back to Minseok, who’s busy plating several dishes at the pass, “He pays more attention to recovery.”

“People who can get right up after making a mistake will less likely make another, but two consecutive mistakes messes with you,” Yixing goes on, eyes now training towards Jongin, “That’s what happened to Jongin, he recovered. He’s more confident in what he’s doing now, he’s less conscious about ing up.”

Jongdae nods, “Minseok really knows how to lead them, doesn’t he?”

“He works them like a machine, it’s scary.”

Jongdae nods at the sight of the men moving with unperturbed concentration.

“Don’t they complain?” Yixing shakes his head as he looks at the small team moving in such unified efficiency, “They don’t. They respect Minseok too much. And they know that he gets mad because he wants the best from them.”

It’s isn’t like Jongdae didn’t think Minseok was a professional, he just never thought that Minseok was this good. The amount of respect and admiration that his team had in him was something to admire. He commanded with a heavy hand and tempered perfectionism. He demanded the most of his team and they gave him their all.

“People think that the Verve’s success is Minseok’s head, his attention to flavors, and his palette, but their all wrong. Minseok scoffs at that. Minseok always tells me, he’s not the secret, the Verve’s success the team. Everything about a successful restaurant is about the team.”

Jongdae nods, “I never knew he was this good,” Jongdae murmurs eyes trained at Minseok’s hunched form over a plate of pork.

“Minseok doesn’t like flaunting. He gets here, does the job then goes home. His attention’s on the food, nothing else.”

Jongdae smiles, “Yeah, that much I know.”

After the chaos of dinner service, the kitchen staff were cooling down with a bottle of red that they gulped straight from the bottle.

Minseok walked out of his office after doing inventory to check on the kitchen, “Good service today, guys. Drink that wine right up, you deserve it.”

“Come join us, Min, you need this more than us!” Chanyeol bellows from his seat next to the sink. Baekhyun who’s grasping the bottle waddles towards Minseok offering him the bottle with a pout.

Minseok shakes his head, “I’m good,” he says waving the bottle away, “give some to Jongdae, he survived the service without a hitch.”

Baekhyun nods, “Yeah, he did. I admire your courage,” Baekhyun says slightly inebriated, feet approaching Jongdae, the man almost tripping over himself on the way.

“Here you go,” Baekhyun says handing Jongdae the bottle. Jongdae notices that Chanyeol had gotten down from the sink and was making his way towards the bleary eyed Baekhyun.

Jongdae accepts the bottle and attempts to carry Baekhyun to an upright position. Chanyeol then swoops in and takes Baekhyun off Jongdae’s hands. The smaller man immediately grasping onto Chanyeol’s chest as soon as the taller man had grabbed him.

“We should head home, Baek” he murmurs. The smaller man nods into the fabric of Chanyeol’s shirt.

Jongdae looks over at Minseok, finding the act all too intimate for two coworkers.

Minseok notices Jongdae’s worries look and peers over at his two line cooks. He approaches Jongdae and whispers into his ear.

“They’re a couple,” he says, “Actually, I’m the only one whose single,” he says gesturing to where Jongin and Kyungsoo were murmuring quietly.

Jongin was seated on the counter murmuring something to Kyungsoo, who was situated between Jongin’s legs, hand gently caressing his thighs.

Minseok then prods him to look over at Junmyeon who was helping Yixing into his jacket, two motorcycle helmets in his hand.

“Doesn’t this mess with business?”

Minseok chuckles, “They’ve all promised that work is work,” Minseok explains, “Baekhyun and Chanyeol were together since culinary school, and they respect the kitchen a lot, so I haven’t had any real problem with them.”

“There was this one time they had this really huge fight and went to the restaurant at different times. I was worried at first, but come dinner service they were talking like nothing happened then stopped talking right after.”

Jongdae nods, as Chanyeol props Baekhyun on the table and attempts to wrestle Baekhyun out of his chef jacket, the smaller of the two avoiding his ministrations by offering pecks on Chanyeol’s cheeks.

“Yixing and Junmyeon are actually married, and they don’t really work together since Yixing’s the front of house, so nothing really happens with them.”

Minseok then looks over to Jongin and Kyungsoo, “Those two are the ones that surprised me. Jongin is the newest hire, if that wasn’t obvious enough,” Minseok says.

Jongdae nods in understanding. It explains a lot. Out of everyone Jongin was the most nervous coming into service. It explains why he was so downcast at the reprimand, and why he was so affected by Minseok’s frustrations early on in the service.

“Soo is in charge of training all the new hires. Jongin was a new graduate when I hired him, he was young and inexperienced, but he had the guts to come in here and submit it resume even though he knew that he was going against a slew of more experienced chef, it was both his tenacity and his ideas that convinced me to get him.”

Kyungsoo took Jongin’s hand and caressed it as he started murmuring something into Jongin’s ears, his eyes trained on the Jongin’s sulking face.

“But Jongin’s has a bit of a confidence issue, he still thinks that he’s the new recruit and not a certified chef. He sometimes feels inferior because of how experienced everyone else is,” Minseok explained, “I had to tell him that it came with the territory, but I still assigned Minseok to train him,” Minseok pauses, “Turns out Jongin’s confidence wasn’t the only thing they were working on.”

Jongdae chuckles and Minseok flashes him a smile, “But I trust Kyungsoo more than anyone else here, so when he decided that he was going into a relationship with Jongin. I was sure that he thought about it for a long, long time.”

Jongdae smiles, giving the couple a sweet smile then yawning.

“looks like the night has got you knackered.” Jongdae nods. His eyes started feeling heavy, his legs tensing from standing for way too long.

Minseok grabs something from the office and guides Jongdae to the back exit of the restaurant, “Soo, lock up for me. I’m bringing this one back home.”

Kyungsoo nods from where he standing, waving a good bye. The rest of the team wave as well, Jongdae giving them a lazy wave in turn. Minseok chuckles at this before guiding Jongdae into the cold night.

Jongdae was exhausted, his day job plus the dinner service took a toll on him, not being used to so much manual labor so late at night. Minseok took notice of Jongdae’s slowly slacking body and stopped them.

“You want to get on my back, I can just carry us back to our apartment, it’s not that far.”

Jongdae in his exhaustion still has the capability to refuse, but Minseok is stronger, and heaves Jongdae onto his back like he was nothing.

“Min, you’re tired too, you shouldn’t carry me.”

Minseok shakes his head, “My body’s used to this, yours isn’t, so stop complaining.”

Jongdae attempts to wriggle his way out of Minseok’s grasp, but he’s too tired to even squirm.

He resigns to resting his head on Minseok’s shoulder, “You’re a really good head chef,” Jongdae murmurs into Minseok’s ear.

Minseok chuckles, “Thanks.”

“Do you know you’re a great chef?” Jongdae says, his mind going wonky from exhaustion and wine.

“What do you mean?” Minseok’s asks, genuinely surprised from the question.

“Do you know that you’re a good chef? Because everyone knows, everyone in that kitchen knows you’re ing epic, don’t you know?”

Minseok is silent, unable to respond to Jongdae’s half slurred sentences.

“You don’t, do you? You don’t think you’re amazing.”

Minseok continues walking, thinking the silence would stop Jongdae from talking too much.

“It’s like how you don’t think you’re beautiful when you are,” Jongdae continues, his head unfocused and his mouth unfiltered.

“I don’t know how to solve that. But if it’s any consolation I think you’re beautiful, and smart, and talented. I think you’re amazing.”

“Thanks, Jongdae,” Minseok says, “That means a lot.”

Jongdae smiles, snuggling closer to Minseok’s neck, “It should, because its coming from the most beautiful person on earth.”

Minseok can only chuckle at the man on his back, “Sure, Jongdae.”

“Now take me home my amazing roommate, I want to sleep.”

Minseok rolls his eyes, “Yes, my liege.”

Author’s Note:
 

Hey! Minseok is a badass head chef and Jongdae is amazed. I really like where the fic is going, and I’m excited to work on it further.

I tried to keep things just Xiuchen, but I couldn’t resist adding the others, sorry. Don’t worry, these lovebirds will make future appearances, so will Jongdae’s friends.

Please drop a comment on what you think of this chapter. Do you guys like how things are going?