I Got the Almighty Tongue - Chapter 120



Only Noblemtl

Episode 120: The Druids of Korea

“Brother. When are you coming back?”

Joohee’s personality has been fluctuating these days due to hormonal changes.

Sometimes he binge eats after not eating, and sometimes he cries out of the blue while watching a movie. This is something I never saw before. I’m really glad my mother is here. If not, I wouldn’t have been able to leave the room easily.

“I’m thinking about a month or so. I’ll have to come and go often after that, though. I’m sorry I can’t be by your side during times like this.”

“No, the kids will understand.”

At the last visit, Joo-hee had an ultrasound and the doctor said that it seemed like twins. I heard that Chairman Seo laughed so hard that his mouth was split when he heard the news from his mother. It was only then that I told my family about my dream, and from then on, Joo-hee became certain that the children in her womb were a boy and a girl.

I have to go, but my feet won’t move. Juhee grabs my hand, perhaps knowing my hesitation.

“Have a nice day. We’ll be fine.”

“Okay. Don’t forget to take care of yourself.”

“You have a mother and many people helping you with your work, so there’s no need to be careful. Don’t worry.”

I forced myself to walk and headed to the airport. The faces of the Korean chefs looked bright, perhaps because they were excited to be returning to Korea after such a long time. On the other hand, there were also chefs who were visiting Korea for the first time. They seemed to have become quite friendly with each other, and they were laughing and chatting happily.

“I have prepared an apartment in Seoul. I will provide it as a place to stay, but if you don’t like it, you are free to find a room. It won’t be a big burden compared to the murderous rent in New York.”

Real estate prices in Korea are high, but compared to New York, it’s a drop in the bucket. I bought a few apartments to invest in and use as housing for my employees.

“Once I got a taste for living in a dorm, I felt bad about paying rent. Chef! Isn’t this too much? I can’t work anywhere else now.”

Chris says with a big laugh. I’m glad you’re reacting the way I intended. I hope you’ll grow faithfully within my net.

“That’s right. My hometown is Seoul, but I plan to commute to work from my dorm. I’m getting older, so I feel self-conscious about staying at home, and I just have to pay the utility bills, so I can’t resist the temptation.”

Dusik agrees with Chris. Dusik and Hyosik look very excited to be working in Korea. While I was happily looking at them, it was time to board. We quickly went through the procedures and boarded the plane to Korea.

* * *

After arriving in Korea, I gave the staff a week off. Each of them would have people to meet and things to take care of. I visited Min Bong-seop’s pig farm, with which I had only exchanged messages via email. And I started looking around organic farms in Korea, looking at the list I received from my older sister.

In order to receive organic certification, no synthetic pesticides must be used. The use of chemical pesticides is also limited to less than 1/3 of the existing amount. I continued to carefully visit farms and select vegetables to be used in restaurants. First, I tasted each product. And I did not forget to check the cultivation environment while touring the farm.

I guess I’ve been in the US too long. Coming to Korea makes the land feel small. I was able to see almost everything in just a few days. The last place I arrived at was a herb farm near Seoul. From the outside, you can see a huge vinyl greenhouse that seems to have no end.

“hello.”

I looked around as I said hello, but there was no staff to respond.

“excuse me.”

Let’s shout once more, and only then does a young woman peek her head out.

“What’s going on?”

She looks like she’s in her early 30s. She’s looking at me with curious eyes.

“I came to tour the farm. I need herbs.”

At first glance, you can see a huge number of flower pots lined up.

Looking closely, I can see herbs that are in high demand in Korea, such as thyme, rosemary, lavender, and apple mint. They must have been grown mainly for ornamental purposes. Basil is also starting to grow cotyledons.

In American restaurants, it is common to grow herbs directly. Herbs wilt immediately after harvest. Luce de Solena Segreto also grows herbs in their garden. Segreto Seoul also wanted to grow its own herbs, but it is not yet systematic, so it will take a little more time.

“Are you going to use it for ornamental purposes?”

“I plan to use it in a restaurant.”

“Hey! Hey!”

When I say restaurant, she looks at me with wide eyes and pounds her chest as if she’s frustrated.

“Chef Shin Je-hee! Right?”

Now that he remembered, he said my name and made a cool expression.

“Yes, that’s right. I’m opening a restaurant in Korea this time. I wanted to grow herbs myself if possible, but the conditions aren’t good, so I’m going to receive some and use them. I’d also like to request other herbs that I need.”

This is a fairly large herb farm, but it’s unlikely they have all the herbs I want.

“What do you want?”

“Rosemary, thyme, dill, lemongrass, sage, chervil, Italian parsley, oregano, cilantro, star anise, chives.”

She looks tired of the continuing list.

“Oh, okay. Please write it down later. We have most of them, but we don’t grow star anise, chives, and coriander right now. Those seeds are easy to get, so you’ll be able to grow them quickly.”

“Would you mind if I had a taste?”

When I asked her, she nodded. I picked a basil leaf from a nearby flower pot and put it in my mouth. The refreshing basil scent was alive and well. It had not been sprayed with pesticides and had grown well.

“Okay. Our restaurant is not too far from here. Can I come and get it every morning?”

It’s a bit of a hassle, but it’s something I’ve done in New York. I’d like to get some herbs from nearby farms myself, although I’d need help with logistics for vegetables from far away farms. If I go to the farm myself, I have the advantage of being able to pick out the vegetables I’ll be using that day.

“Of course. Herbs grow quickly, so if you tell me, I can give you as much quantity or type as you want.”

She answers cheerfully.

I followed her around the farm. Various plants were growing in the greenhouse. It seemed that she mainly dealt with flowers and herbs. Among them, apple mint took up the most space.

“There’s a lot of apple mint?”

“Because it’s an ingredient in mojitos, it’s in high demand. We supply apple mint to many bars in Itaewon and Gangnam.”

You can see the pride on her face.

“How did you develop your sales channel?”

“I sold them by carrying them around myself. As soon as I picked the herbs, I would load them onto a truck and drive around to Sydney to sell them. People started using our herbs one by one and recommended them to people around them, so now we are selling quite a bit.”

She seems to be good at growing plants. As she passes by, she carefully checks the condition of the leaves and stems of plants that do not look in good condition. She smiles brightly when she sees a plant that has grown beautifully. It felt like my heart, exhausted from the tour over the past few days, was being healed. As I followed her, I saw an unbelievable sight.

“No, why is this here?”

Peperoncino plants were growing. At first glance, there appeared to be over 100 seedlings, each about 1 meter tall.

“Is that because you’re an Italian chef? As expected, you recognize me. It’s peperoncino.”

Peperoncino is quite difficult to grow. It is a plant that grows in hot and humid areas because it is native to Africa. In addition, this was a Calabrian Chile Pepper that was improved from seeds in Italy. As far as I know, Italy is very strict about distributing seeds and never distributes them to other countries. There must have been no way to import them through legal channels, so how did this happen?

“How did you get the seeds?”

“They sell it at the mart.”

She looks at me with an expression that says, “Why are you asking such a thing?”

“No. Why do they sell seeds at the supermarket?”

I lost my temper without realizing it because I was so frustrated. She flinches.

“Ah.. no, they sell peperoncino at the mart.”

“You mean the dried ones? The ones you put in pasta?”

“Yes, that’s right. I bought it and sprouted the seeds.”

It was ridiculous. They didn’t even buy the seeds separately, and they thought of germinating the seeds of dried peperoncino. Italy probably didn’t think that their seeds would be leaked like this.

“Is that okay?”

“It worked? At first, I germinated the seeds for fun and then tried growing them, but I didn’t control the temperature inside the greenhouse properly, so they grew over 2 meters. The peppers didn’t taste good either. So I did some research, and they grew well like this.”

She touches the peperoncino with a proud expression. Is she a Korean druid? I have faith that she will grow the crops I need later.

Peperoncino is a spicier variety than the Cheongyang pepper. However, it is less sweet and has a clean spiciness that comes late. It is distinct from the Cheongyang pepper and has a different flavor from the Vietnamese pepper, Phrik Khinu. As it is one of the essential ingredients in Italian cuisine, I was contemplating whether to import it when I met a noble person. I reached out and picked a ripe red peperoncino and tasted it.

To my surprise, her peperoncino was far superior to the one I had used in New York. This must be because she picked it and tasted it. Segreto uses fresh chiles in his cooking. I quickly scanned the peperoncino seedlings. They looked like enough for our restaurant.

“How are you going to sell all of these by raising them like this?”

That’s too much to raise for fun.

“I’m involved in community activities, and I was thinking of distributing them to members and selling them on a small scale on the website.”

She answers with an awkward smile.

“So you didn’t have any concrete plans. Come to think of it, you haven’t even exchanged names with each other yet.”

Her position within me was elevated to that of someone I absolutely had to hold onto.

“This is Chanari.”

She rummages through her clothes, takes out a business card, and hands it to me.

[Nari Farm]

“Is that the farm your parents own?”

“Yes. I am the one who manages it the most now. Before, they mainly grew flowers, but I insisted that they grow herbs, so they changed. They even created a website on the Internet. The profits have increased, so my parents are satisfied.”

This is a positive change that has occurred as the number of young farmers has increased. Unlike the past when good crops were sold cheaply to wholesalers because there was no proper market, many changes have occurred as the younger generation, who are familiar with the Internet, has entered agriculture.

“Would you mind if I invested a little bit? We will be using a lot of peperoncino and herbs, and I don’t want this place to change. If I invest directly and the environment is stable, you can grow crops in a better environment. And I would like to expand the scale a little bit. Peperoncino is profitable. You can sell more if you grow more.”

Even if you try to hide it away for your own use, it won’t be of any help to the industry. Domestically produced peperoncino? No, how can you tolerate this?

“Uh.. I think I need to discuss that with my parents.”

“Of course you should. For now, I will buy all the peperoncino here. So please don’t sell them and start drying the ripe ones.”

It seems like it would be barely usable after opening if it starts drying right away.

“Actually, there are some dried ones. It takes more than half a year from planting to harvesting peperoncino. I dried them all out because I felt it was a waste.”

“Did you bring in a dryer?”

Peperoncino is usually dried in a dryer before shipment, as natural drying takes a long time and is not cost-effective.

“No? My mother dried a lot of peppers, so she taught me how to do it.”

I couldn’t help but grab her hand. It was naturally dried peperoncino. It was an ingredient that was hard to find even in the US.

“I ask for your continued support, sir.”

In this way, the supply of herbs and vegetables was completed.