I Got the Almighty Tongue - Chapter 156



Only Noblemtl

156 Abandoned (2)

After the interview, I came out and walked along the tree-lined street.

“ha ha ha.”

I can see that the distance has changed a lot from what I remember.

In addition to Segreto and Monaka, there are three more fine dining establishments. Judging from the customer base, it seems to be casual dining, but it is clear that Garosu-gil has become the home of Korean dining.

Monaka stopped its low-price offensive a while ago. It recognized that simply lowering prices would not be enough to hurt us.

From now on, Monaka will have to strive to provide food and service that are worthy of their price.

Beep beep beep beep.

Clank.

I returned to my long-vacant apartment and turned on the lights. The house was quiet and cold, with no heat.

Since when did it become awkward for me to be alone? I wanted to see Joohee and the kids.

I lay down on the bed, shivering from the overwhelming loneliness, and tried to sleep.

* * *

As the Korean food project became visible, the first thing I felt was the need to gather information. Having lived abroad for so long, I had no idea what the recent trends in Korean food were.

I made reservations at famous Korean restaurants and visited them one by one to taste the food. There were some places with great decoration and arrangements, and some places that grilled meat well. However, I couldn’t shake the impression that something was lacking.

And I can guess why. It must be because of the sauce.

The taste was similar wherever I went. I couldn’t find any distinctive flavors in each restaurant, from soybean paste stew to spicy side dishes and even vegetables. They were all overly sweet and left a bitter aftertaste of synthetic preservatives.

I went through my business card collection and asked around for anyone who might know something about this.

“Chef!”

CEO Oh Seung-ho raises his hand toward me with a friendly smile.

“Sir, I contacted you suddenly, but thank you for coming.”

CEO Seungho Oh runs several Korean food franchises. He must have had the same concerns as I did.

“I am honored that you came to see me. You are the only Michelin two-star chef in Korea. I would be happy to help you in any way I can.”

We sat in a cafe and ordered coffee.

“Actually, before I met CEO Oh, I went to the franchise you were running and had a meal.”

“Haha. I’m embarrassed. Was it okay?”

“It tastes like a popular dish. But what I’m curious about is that the sauce they use is similar to that used by other stores. They all use store-bought sauce.”

“Ah! So you wanted to look into that issue? You said you were interested in Korean food···.”

He takes a sip of his coffee and pauses for a moment, lost in thought.

“Chef, do you know what the domestic soybean self-sufficiency rate is?”

“I don’t know.”

“It’s in the 20% range.

Our country is not a country that produces a lot of soybeans. The soy sauce and soybean paste sold on the market today are made from soybeans imported from the US, China, and Canada. It’s ridiculous to use imported soybeans to make traditional soybeans.

As a result, soy sauce made in the traditional way has become a luxury item. It costs more than five times more.”

I have some experience using traditional soy sauce without additives, so I have a general idea. But I still have questions.

“What I’m curious about is why they don’t make their own soybeans with imported soybeans, which would greatly improve the taste.”

It’s not a matter of ingredients. Are American soybeans inferior to domestic soybeans? The taste may be different, but you can’t argue about the quality difference. The problem is the production method.

“Making soybeans is extremely labor-intensive. Soybeans are boiled and ground to make meju. After meticulously cultivating the fungus and drying it, it is floated in salt water and crushed. The resulting solids become doenjang, and the liquid becomes soy sauce.

Doenjang requires an average of two months to mature, and soy sauce requires at least six months to a year. It’s labor-intensive and takes a long time to produce? This is something that should not be used openly.”

“Still, I think companies will be able to do it.”

“Because there is no big profit. The public’s taste has already completely adapted to the market. Chef, you may feel disappointed because you have a sensitive palate, but in fact, people like the market. It has a long history.”

“Is that so?”

“Until 1968, we made kimchi in every home. Even apartments had separate spaces for storing kimchi.”

“Why did it disappear?”

“The government banned it by law because it smelled and was unsanitary. I majored in food hygiene and read a thesis on this, and at the time, the government mobilized famous actors to carry out a propaganda policy.

“Would you really eat soy sauce that a rat has bathed in?” This advertisement was very effective. From then on, the soy sauce sold in stores began to sell like hotcakes.

After decades of adaptation, you may find that using traditional methods is not very tasty. I know you may not like it either, but I recommend that you just use commercial products.”

On the way back after breaking up with him, I gathered all my thoughts.

If you want to make Korean food, you have to start with the sauce. I realized that I can’t import expensive traditional sauces since it’s not a fine dining restaurant, and if I use commercially available sauces, my restaurant will just end up being just another average restaurant.

I feel like something that started lightly is gradually becoming bigger.

“If you’re going to do it, you have to do it right.”

I think I need to look into land in New Jersey.

* * *

Ring ring ring.

I overslept for the first time in a long time. The phone rings annoyingly and wakes me up.

“This is Shin Je-hee.”

-It’s me. Seong Yeon-ju.

It’s like having cold water poured over me, I feel refreshed.

“What’s going on?”

-Don’t be so hard on me. I wouldn’t have contacted you if it weren’t for something serious.

“Go ahead.”

-This isn’t something we can talk about over the phone. Would you like to come to my house?

“···All right.”

What happened to my biological mother, who I haven’t heard from in a while? I wanted to refuse to meet her, but she was mentally unstable. I made a promise to visit her for now, not knowing what would happen later.

I quickly took a shower and changed clothes. It only took 30 minutes to get to her house in Seongbuk-dong.

As soon as I pressed the chime, the door opened. I walked up the stone steps, feeling a strange sense of deja vu. She was standing in front of the door, waiting for me, just like before. She was still wearing gloves. However, her skin was dull, as if she hadn’t slept well, and she looked a bit uneasy.

“How have you been?”

I didn’t know what to say in greeting, but the words came out of my mouth automatically.

“Yeah. I’ve always heard the news. Something good happened this time, right? Congratulations.”

I nodded and followed her into the house. The house had been empty for a while, as it looked the same as when I last visited.

As we take our seats at the uncomfortable coffee table, she brings out an Americano.

“Drink.”

Use it.

Maybe because I left in a hurry in the morning, I felt like drinking coffee. The strong coffee spread through my blood vessels to every corner of my body, waking me up. Only then could I look at the situation calmly.

“What happened?”

There’s no reason for her to suddenly come looking for me. Something must have happened that had something to do with me.

“First of all, congratulations on becoming a father. Joohee sends me pictures sometimes. They are really cute kids. I wanted to attend the wedding, but I didn’t go because I thought it would be a bother.”

“Please just get to the point.”

“When you came here before, you refused to hear who your real father was.”

“It’s the same now. It won’t make a difference even if I know, and I don’t want to know.”

“But things have gotten complicated.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your father’s name is Song Min-seok, he is the Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance.”

Since she graduated from Seoul National University, I expected that her biological father, who attended the same school, would be from an upper class family. As I listened quietly, she continued talking.

“That guy went into the military right after we broke up. I heard he was smart and passed the exam right away. I heard he worked as a government official after that.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

“I got a call from him a while ago. He said he was nominated as the next minister. I don’t know for sure, but the Ministry of Strategy and Finance is said to be the most powerful of all ministries. That’s why the personnel hearing is said to be difficult.”

Now I understand. My biological father was worried about the possibility of having an illegitimate child.

“Does that person know about my existence?”

“I knew I had a child. Of course, including sending him to a daycare center.”

“Isn’t this a problem that we can solve by just keeping our mouths shut?”

Now, we have no intention of having a reunion with separated families, nor do we have any intention of demanding anything from that person. We just want to live quietly, forgetting each other’s existence.

“There are no eternal secrets. There were people who knew about our situation at the time. And one of them was a member of the opposition party.”

I’d like to avoid getting caught up in situations like this, but it seems difficult to avoid.

“Are you sure there is no one else besides you?”

After hearing me, she pauses for a moment to think.

“You said I wasn’t normal. It was hard for me to admit that for a while. But after thinking about it, I started to think that maybe that was true.

“I’ve been going to the hospital since then. I’ve been seeing a psychiatrist, and I mentioned you during the consultation. But medical professionals have a duty not to reveal confidential information, so it’ll be okay.”

Nothing has been revealed yet, but we must be prepared. I have stored all the information in my head.

“So what do you want me to do?”

“I don’t know what will happen in the future either. I wanted to hide it, but I had no choice but to tell him about you. Now he knows about you. He might contact me. I just didn’t want you to answer the phone without knowing anything. That’s all.”

She had changed a lot from the past. She had lost her characteristic arrogant attitude and was now watching my every move.

Who should I blame? Things have already turned out this way.

I had heard all that was necessary. I left her behind and went back home, lost in thought.

Tata tata tata dadak.

First, you need to know who your opponent is. I searched for Vice Minister Song Min-seok on the portal.

[Song Min-seok, 2nd Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance]

Gyeonggi High School

Seoul National University, Department of Business Administration

Masters/Doctorate, University of Wisconsin

Passed the 23rd Civil Service Examination

Director of Regional Budget Division, Ministry of Strategy and Finance

Director of Budget Management Division, Ministry of Strategy and Finance

Minister Counselor, Embassy of the United States

Director of Public Policy Bureau, Ministry of Strategy and Finance

Director of Public Procurement Service

Second Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance

He was a great elite. He graduated from the so-called KS Kyunggi High School and Seoul National University, and received his master’s and doctorate from the prestigious Wisconsin. His career path was also very smooth. He must have managed himself steadily to become a minister.

I continued to search for his whereabouts.

[Ministry of Strategy and Finance Song Min-seok, good deeds continued secretly for 10 years.

It has become a heartwarming story that Vice Minister Song Min-seok, who is known to have been nominated as the next Minister of Strategy and Finance, has been secretly carrying out good deeds for over 10 years.

He regularly donates significant amounts of money to three orphanages and volunteers whenever he has time, according to orphanage officials.

I postponed my departure for a while because I couldn’t just leave this problem alone. A few days later, I received a call from him asking to meet.