Chapter 36

"Oh, I'm sorry for being late. Nice to meet you."

The interviewers looked at him with question marks above their heads, and he introduced himself as usual, politely.

"I am Choi Jung-hyun, the representative of Ilpum Korea."

All the interviewers' eyes widened.

"I may not be an expert in coffee and bread, but I might be the person with the most common taste here. Let me evaluate it from the perspective of an ordinary person."

Thud—

Thud—

With each step Choi Jung-hyun took, Julia Kim's face turned pale.

That's a scam.

I introduced the two interviewers to the candidates.

"I've invited two very distinguished individuals as interviewers. Let's welcome them with applause!"

The candidates smiled and clapped, and the two interviewers bowed in response.

"Nice to meet you."

"Really, thanks to you, Yu-won, we've seen everything."

Amidst the noisy scene,

Julia Kim alone looked like a corpse.

'Oh, I'm the only one who looks like a corpse.'

She immediately averted her gaze and spoke to Kim Se-yeong.

"Before we start, I'll quickly make the coffee. Our task is to make a dessert that goes well with our coffee."

"Ah, is that so? Then give me an iced Americano. Customers usually order that. And bring a fork and knife too."

Kim Se-yeong mimed slicing a steak in the air, indicating she would cut it to eat.

"Hehe! I just ate it as it was..."

"Hehe, it's fine. I'll eat the side without the bite marks."

"Am I a bit toothy, hahaha... What about you, Mr. Representative?"

"I'll have an iced Americano too."

"Yes, please wait a moment!"

As I left the studio, a smile escaped my lips.

'How scared must they be?'

Choi Jung-hyun, the representative of a nationwide franchise.

Kim Se-yeong, a famous barista and even a school senior.

They would probably be so nervous that they couldn't even speak properly if they received even a minor question from them.

'This is why you shouldn't commit crimes and live like this.'

I regretted not being able to watch the tense scene through the CCTV.

A little later.

I returned to the studio with two cups of coffee, a plate, a fork, and a knife.

"Please try the coffee first."

"Thank you."

Kim Se-yeong sipped the Americano and glared at me.

"…Why? Is something wrong?"

Kim Se-yeong took another sip and smiled.

"No, it's just that it tastes good. I wonder who taught you."

Choi Jung-hyun let out a contented sigh.

"Phew, I've been busy since morning, but this makes me feel better. Shall we start with this one?"

"Yes!"

The evaluation began with Julia Kim.

The two of them cut the croissant on the plate and tasted it one by one.

"Hmm…"

Choi Jung-hyun, as usual, tried to hide his complex expression.

"You've put in effort, but you need to start from the basics again. This is far below the level of this coffee."

Kim Se-yeong delivered her harsh critique gently.

It seemed she didn't imagine Julia Kim was her junior at school.

"I enjoyed it."

Julia Kim bowed her head deeply.

It took only 10 minutes to ruin her reputation.

Where did the arrogant person who used to shout and ignore others go?

I smiled as brightly as possible and asked.

"Is there anything else you want to say? Like an explanation of your concept?"

"…No."

"I can give you as much time as you need. Mr. Choi Pil-su, should we go to the next one before the croissant gets cold?"

Choi Pil-su shook his head lightly.

I asked Julia Kim again.

"Since this might be your last chance to meet them, feel free to ask anything. Points you think are lacking, areas for improvement, or anything you were curious about while preparing."

For a moment, Julia Kim glared at me with wide eyes, but then she gave a powerless answer.

"…No, I have no questions."

Then Kim Se-yeong poked my shoulder.

"Yu-won, or Mr. Shin, you're too kind. You're taking such good care of them. If they have no questions, let's move on."

"Taking such good care of them?"

Hahaha, even Jang Tae-joon would laugh if he passed by.

"Yes, then this way."

The two interviewers stood opposite Choi Pil-su.

Kim Se-yeong carefully observed Choi Pil-su's croissant and gently poked it with a fork.

Then she said quickly.

"Pass."

"…What?"

Before the broken bread pieces fell onto the plate.

"I like it, hahaha. But I should taste it, right?"

Kim Se-yeong picked up a knife and cut a bite-sized piece of Choi Pil-su's croissant, including the chocolate cream inside, and put it in her mouth.

"Mmm."

The automatic snort that comes when eating something delicious.

"Mmm, mmm, mmmmm!"

It came out one after another, and Kim Se-yeong, unable to control her feelings, patted my arm like a drum.

"So, so, so delicious!"

Seeing this, Choi Jung-hyun quickly picked up a knife and fork and approached the croissant, cutting it with quite urgent movements.

'…That's not like him.'

He put the piece of croissant directly into his mouth and immediately exhaled.

"Hmm!"

A simple but clear reaction.

"I haven't had lunch yet, so I'll eat a bit more."

"Really? Yes!"

They took turns cutting and eating the croissant, quickly emptying the plate.

"…You even ate the bite marks on my teeth."

"Was there such a thing? Haha."

Choi Jung-hyun answered with a satisfied look, and Kim Se-yeong, licking her lips, asked a question.

"Your skills are not ordinary… Where did you work before?"

Choi Pil-su, with a flushed face but a calm voice, answered.

"I worked at a local bakery."

Right, that's what was written in his application.

Yoon Doo-hee or Yoon Doo-ri, a local bakery.

But his skills were not at the local level.

"What local bakery makes such a croissant? Can I ask where it is?"

Kim Se-yeong asked the question I was going to ask, and Choi Pil-su suddenly made a strange sound.

"I worked as a kitchen assistant for 4 years and as a pastry chef for 5 years at Une Durée."

A pronunciation that sounded like he was eating his nose.

It sounded foreign, especially French.

I asked, surprised.

"Didn't you write Yoon Doo-hee in your application?"

"Hehe, if written in Korean, it becomes Yoon Doo-hee."

"I didn't know. You didn't mention anything about a foreign country. I thought the content was about a local bakery in Korea."

"Hehehe…"

Kim Se-yeong patted my shoulder.

"Yu-won, if you hear Yoon Doo-re, you should recognize it immediately! Don't you know Yoon Doo-re?"

"…It was written as Yoon Doo-hee."

"That's the original pronunciation, so it's Yoon Doo-hee. Everyone knows Yoon Doo-re. Don't you know Yoon Doo-re?"

"No, I don't."

Kim Se-yeong's eyebrows twisted at the confident answer.

"Really, a baking class is urgently needed… Yoon Doo-re is one of the best in France! Everyone visits it when they go to Paris."

"But, there was no mention of France in the resume… Even the name was written in Korean as 'Yoon Doo-hee Bakery.'"

"Still, Mr. Representative, do you know Yoon Doo-re?"

Choi Jung-hyun looked away.

"Ahem…"

Kim Se-yeong tilted her head and turned her questioning gaze back to Choi Pil-su.

"Really, you worked at Yoon Doo-re for 5 years as a pastry chef?"

"Yes. I went in saying I would do any job, but somehow I ended up as a pastry chef, hehe."

"Really impressive… You must have had talent. It's like picking stars from the sky to become a pastry chef from an assistant in such a place."

"Hehe, I didn't have any special talent. My wife taught me a lot and helped me."

"Oh, so your wife is a pastry chef too?"

But.

Choi Pil-su remained silent, smiling.

"…"

Thinking I might have made a mistake, I tried to change the topic, but a short answer came from his mouth.

"Yes, she was."

"Ah…"

Kim Se-yeong bowed her head.

Then she quickly smiled again and said.

"…Yoon Doo-re is famous for macarons. Show me your skills sometime. I really enjoyed it."

"Hehe, thank you."

The atmosphere suddenly felt heavy.

We moved on to the second candidate.

"I'll try it."

Kim Se-yeong's evaluation was simple.

"I enjoyed it."

And the first one.

Lim Su-jung's éclair.

"Oh, a raspberry pistachio éclair."

"Please take care of me!"

Choi Jung-hyun took a small bite and nodded repeatedly.

"I've never had this bread before, but it's new and delicious. It looks beautiful too."

"Right? It's popular these days. And you made it very well."

Kim Se-yeong, who was chewing the bread, suddenly seemed to remember something and asked Lim Su-jung.