A Tangled Web

Chapter 5

Every year DongMin chose a first year student to mentor, being mentored by Chef Lee DongMin was a prestigious honour and every first year culinary student was dying to be mentored by the chef, DongMin didn't just choose anyone to be mentored by him, the student had to show promise in their cooking skills, it wasn't enough to just know how to cook a dish, there had to be heart and soul in the dishes they were creating.

"Today we're going to learn to make a roux " he faced the front standing behind a large table , he started explaining the process while going through the steps. "Now once your sauce is thickened you can add it to anything such as meat,pasta even soups." He said, he walked around the class a few times he gave pointers to some of the students if their roux was too watery , a few students roux was way too thick it was more like dough, there were a few students who were able to get the recipe right, the roux came out the right consistency not too thick or too thin, among the students who managed to get the roux the perfect consistency was JongSuk, DongMin tasted his roux and nodded in approval, before going to the next student. A few students who saw especially the ones who's dish hadn't turned out right glared at JongSuk as if he had done something wrong. He ignored them and started cleaning up his station. 

"Your dish wasn't anything special." He heard someone hiss, he turned around coming face to face with one of the students,he didn't know his name , but JongSuk recognized him as one of the group of students who had been ruining his dishes since classes had begun a few weeks ago. JongSuk stopped wiping his workspace down and stared at the other boy. 

"You should worry about your own dish,it's boiling over." He pointed to the pan on the stove, the boy rushed to turn off the burner . JongSuk finished cleaning everything up just as the bell rang signalling the end of the class ,everyone rushed to put everything away and started leaving the classroom , they bowed respectfully as they passed by DongMin,he nodded back in acknowledgment. When JongSuk passed by his desk,he stopped him .

"I was wondering if you don't mind staying back I have something important to discuss with you." DongMin requested. 

JongSuk nodded , he had no idea why the professor wanted him to stay behind,had he done something maybe it was his cooking, several of his dishes had been sabotaged and he had to start over again, what if the professor thought he was just wasting his time learning to cook and he was being asked to leave the class. He realized the professor had said something, but he hadn't been listening.

Chef DongMin waited for an answer, then realized that JongSuk hadn't been listening, he waited until he had the boy's full attention and repeated himself.

"I've decided to that I'm going to mentor you.":he said.

"Mentor me? What does that mean,why?" JongSuk looked surprised. DongMin continued, "It basically means I will teach you everything about cooking,and you will have private lessons with me so you will learn more techniques and cooking methods. You have potential, I know the other students have messed up your dishes on occasion but you've managed to salvage them. Your dishes have not just flavour, but heart and soul in them. It's very rare that I've come across dishes like yours in a while. " 

JongSuk was certain he had misheard the professor there was no way Chef DongMin one of the most famous chefs ever wanted to mentor him. He had read up about Chef DongMin he had opened his first restaurant at the age of twenty and had opened several more before he was thirty, but after that he remained a mystery, he was out of the public's eyes, some people said he had died a few said he had left Korea and was living in Greece, the only thing the public knew was that he had married and had a son who had died. When he had made the announcement that he was going to be teaching at a university everyone had been surprised and they all wondered why, DongMin just said it was because he wanted to teach future generations of chefs.