Actually, Bebe had forgotten that Jia Hyson's stories while widely varied in genre were generally lighthearted and comedic, he also had a very strong following of fans... for his horror and thriller screenplays. Jia Hyson had written many stories adapted into tv shows and movies but the only scripts he had ever written were for horror. Why?
Jia Hyson: 'I can kill who I want, I can save who I want and watch as I make the handsome protagonist suffer a thousand cuts! The world's life is truly in my hands. I really like the feeling of playing god like this. Watching these characters and monsters come to reality is very satisfying.' ╮(╯∀╰)╭
Bebe: ..really want to change host. QAQ
Joking aside, that man's dish was really hard to look at. When the third judge appears, Jia Hyson is forty percent sure this macho man will cry.
If Olivia Rivers is the nice one and Morgan Durand is the snobbish one, the last judge is the scary temperamental one. While he can be supportive and kind, his temper is foul and he is very willing to yell at anyone in the kitchen. Service challenges where contestants have to work in restaurants or other public places were truly made in mind to not only provide experience in a proper cooking environment, but to also showcase this judge's pure unadulterated rage.
Having watched this television show for the two years it broadcasted, Jia Hyson was very confident that if this judge yelled at him like he does in those service challenges, he will undoubtedly burst into tears. Even in the story, Maddy's protagonist halo could not save her from crying in front of this terrifying judge. This author must truly love this horrible character to death!
After chatting a bit more with the large man, an intern rushes to warn everyone to get back to their stations before running off again. Once the intern had left, the three judges had already walked around the separating wall to their side of the podium. The directors of the show were quite smart. Not only did this action ensure everyone would notice the judges the moment they stepped in, exaggerating the strength of their presence, it looked like it was done more or less naturally, especially with the power of editing.
Olivia was waving at them with a sweet smile, while Morgan next to her nodded at everyone in an aloof greeting. But everyone's eyes barely registered this, too busy staring at the man leading the pack.
Chef George Rackford.
Neither the tallest or the youngest, nor the most attractive, and yet somehow, he was the most striking. He made everyone hold their breath and lower their eyes without even meaning to. A fierce king of cookery that these unskilled chefs can only bow down to for now. Jia Hyson has met film emperors with less presence than this chef.
"I'm sure you know who I am," George Rackford says, voice loud and clear, "but what I'm interested in is who you are. Are you a person who can push yourself to the limits? Someone imaginative? Resourceful?" His blue eyes scan the room, piercing all that catches his sight, "In the next few weeks, we will find out what sort of person you are in this kitchen, and we shall either see you grow or we will weed you out."
Everyone sat and absorbed his words with both anticipation and nervousness. Finally, the tension broke when George smiled. Despite having a bad temper, that didn't mean he wasn't a kindhearted and good person, after all, what show would be crazy enough to bring an abusive man in? George Rackford was popular because he was actually a soft passionate man, especially to children, and yet a demon in the kitchen. Jia Hyson secretly wondered if it was all a big act or was this man actually just bipolar?
"For now, let’s see what you have brought to the table," he says and oh god, Jia Hyson wants to cry as he suddenly realizes the disadvantages of standing in the cooking station closest to the front.
Generally, the judges will make the contestants bring their dishes up to the podium for them to taste. However, after the third time someone in the first episode dropped their plates or tripped over due to anxiety, they learnt their lesson and decided to taste the food at the stations themselves this time. Jia Hyson plasters on a faint smile which was returned by the judges.
"H-hello," He stutters before pulling himself together, "My name is Adrian Marshall and I made a squid ink pasta with salmon, prawns and squid rings."
George Rackford nods, "It's nice to meet you Adrian, can you tell us why you chose this dish?"
Jia Hyson nods back, putting on a more relaxed smile that made his face give off an innocent, youthful air which would make it hard for anyone to get upset looking at. Using up all his abilities as a famous author, he bullshits some made up symbolism and meaning on how the night sky is reflected in the ocean and constellations and various old folktales to do with creatures living in the sky. All three judges, who had previously looked somewhat neutral when observing the dish now looked mildly impressed.
"I'm surprised that you came up with something like this so quickly." Olivia compliments.
"While the plating is very crude, the intent of the design is present. No one can say that those aren't planets, that the pasta doesn't look like waves and the salmon skin crackle doesn't produce a rather marvelous effect." Morgan observes. "Though tearing up the salmon was an unfortunate decision, given that you already made the mistake of picking the fish without consideration to the end result, there wasn't much you can do at that point."
Jia Hyson nods shamefully, fully aware of this. He didn't make any objects or excuses to this, making the judges' already fairly good impressions of him heighten slightly.
"I see that you have one fish you haven't mangled?" George suddenly asks.
Jia Hyson blinks before hurriedly getting his last fish, sitting sadly alone on a simple white plate and setting it in front of the trio. "Ah, yes, luckily, I didn't shred this one too or I suspect I would have to rename my dish as something entirely different." He lightly jokes.
Olivia titters lightly, "Cute and silly, we really have a good haul of chefs this season."
"In this manner, you really do reflect well in this dish." George agrees amusedly as he picks up a fork, making Morgan huff with faint laughter.
The cute and silly Jia Hyson and his cute and silly food: '...'
As they pulled apart the fish, there was only one way to really describe it.
"Beautiful," Morgan breathes.
The salmon easily fell apart under the slightest pressure of the fork. Like a jewel, the slightly darker pink meat of the inside shone under the bright lights of the kitchen. The warm fragrance of herbs and lemon permeated through the fish seemed to burst open, making everyone nearby swallow with hunger.
"It really is a pity you didn't keep this," George sighs disappointedly, reluctantly moving the fork away since it would be against the rules to taste and judge something that hadn't been on the plate. "I think even Morgan can agree that even if you sacrificed a bit of the visual impact, the beauty of the fish could have spoken for itself."
"Yes," Olivia says, cheerfully ignoring Morgan's irritated glare for being cut off right as he was about to speak, "Even just leaving the fish off completely would have been good as well, the salmon skin crumbs look very handsome against the pasta, but the shredded salmon causes the effect to be lost."
After this critique, they tasted the food and felt that there weren't many flaws with it. The homemade pasta was perfectly made and cooked, the seafood were all near perfect and the overall combination of tastes was cohesive and delicious. Appearance aside, the three judges praised it highly, making Jia Hyson beam happily, blinding the nearest camera with his smile.
Without editing, the time it takes to go through everyone's dishes in the first round was very long and soon, Jia Hyson inevitably got hungry. He hadn't eaten anything on the car ride since he had felt so sick and he had just spent hours sweating over a very nice dish that was barely half-eaten. Not to mention the alluring smell of various foods filled the kitchen, making it impossible to think of anything else. He isn't buddha! How could he not want to eat?
Sneaking a peak at everyone, it looked like they were too concerned over what the judges were saying to the womanizer Daniel about his choice of sauce. Only a single camera was still filming him.
Feeling embarrassed but knowing it would be far more humiliating if his stomach starts to growl loudly on national, no, international television, he decides to fulfill his stomach's wishes. Throwing a bit of meng by pursing his lips cutely and making a shushing gesture, eyes wordlessly saying 'This is our little secret yes?' He quietly picks up a spare fork and starts digging into his fish.
Jia Hyson: Σ(・口・) ! 'I am really... too good!'
Even if it was a source of criticism, Jia Hyson right then was fairly pleased with the large portion size of his fish. Because now it can fill his stomach! If he had to go through the rest of the day without food, who knows what sort of ugly face he would have made.
"-you still have the face to call this cooked?!" George suddenly shouts, causing Jia Hyson to turn around curiously while he chews. It seems like someone had the courage to talk back on the first day. He vaguely recalls that the author had a brief scene like this written to not only show off Chef George's personality, but also to establish the sheer arrogance of Eddie Walker.
While they were a lot of hateful characters, Eddie was the most outspoken and stupid. It wasn't a bad move on the author's part to make one or two characters to draw everyone's aggro so the other terrible ones can slip under the radar for later. If they were all as obvious as Eddie Walker, not only would their presence be greatly diminished, it would also be such a mess to read.
Well... even more of a mess anyway.
"I'm just saying," Eddie tilts his head up, unable to completely hold back the annoyance in his face, "everyone has different definitions of well done, I personally like mine a little raw."
"Oh, a little raw?" George mocks, getting even angrier. If Jia Hyson’s six stations away could see the disdain and self-importance on Eddie's face, how could the sharp-eyed judges not? Even Olivia's pretty face was starting to look a little ugly. After all, while they've met a few people on the show who thought their criticisms were in the wrong, there was no one who had protested about such a simple thing!
They couldn't tell the difference between cooked and uncooked? As respected professionals in the cooking industry, who could bear such an insulting implication?! This amateur was too arrogant!
"Look at this!" George shouts, pointing at the cut open fish, the undeniable translucent pale pink flesh was revealed in the middle. And this wasn't a salmon where pink flesh meant good, it was a piece of snapper, a white fish. "Even sashimi isn't this raw! If a fish jumped out of the river and took the time to crawl onto my plate right now, it would probably be better cooked than yours right now!"
The only one angrier than the judges at this point is Eddie. His face was red and his fist clenched, like he was barely holding himself back from punching a world-class chef. Still, he had some intelligence so after a tense moment, he backed down with a lowered head, barely appeasing the trio of judges.
"If you're still unconvinced, you should look at Adrian Marshall's." George sneers, "Adrian, can you show Eddie your, what did you call it Eddie, definition of a perfectly cooked fish?"
Jia Hyson chokes on his mouthful of fish.
Σ(°△°|||) They never did this!
"Adrian?" The burly man in the station in front of him turned around as well as everyone and every camera there.
Judges: '...'
Eddie Walker: '...'
The rest of the contestants: '...'
The cameramen: '...'
Jia Hyson holding a plate of half eaten salmon: '... QAQ'
"I.." Jia Hyson really wanted to bury himself right now, "I was really hungry..."
His image as the gentle, mature and sexy older brother type was ruined on the first day!
Maddy better f*cking remember him when she marries into money because he was going to lose all his future modeling jobs at this rate _(:3」∠)_
Jia Hyson: '... I can suggest editing this out of the story in the notebook right?'
Bebe: 눈_눈 'This stupid f*ck...'
In the face of a beautiful man who wanted to die from shame, the mood immediately lightened. Everyone, after a period of stunned silence, burst into amused laughter, including the previously enraged judges. Jia Hyson good-naturedly played along with the subsequent teasing and was given permission to continue his meal with a cheeky wink from Olivia.
After a moment, Jia Hyson decided his hunger outweighed his shame and thanked her gratefully with flushed cheeks and took another mouthful, making almost everyone chuckle and smile again.
After about half an hour, the judges stepped back up onto the podium, and the dividing wall was slowly lifted. However, before the contestants could get a good look at their rivals on the opposite side, George started to speak again, capturing their full attention.
First, he praised everyone for stepping up to the abrupt challenge and warned everyone that there were many more to come since the road to being a top chef was far from being easy. Then he let his fellow judges step up and announce the top three dishes from each side.
"For those who cooked with the theme of day, I think you did all brilliantly!" Olivia beams, "However as difficult as it was to decide, there were three of you that really shone among the rest- Drake Lanzoni, Susan Bee and... Lex Grey! Congratulations!"
Everyone politely claps for them while hiding their disappointment or resignation. Jia Hyson meanwhile was very panicked. Other than the male lead, the top three were different! This may not have been so important if Maddy wasn't supposed to be there, but she was!
This was the important plot point where beforehand, the male lead and Maddy somehow get into an argument, and they bet that they'll be able to place in the top three. When it was revealed that Maddy got top three, Drake felt a grudging respect and rivalry for this no-nonsense yet unorthodox young woman. It was this respect that allowed affection to wriggle its way very quickly into his haughty heart.
Ah, the male lead seems to be the type to fall in love hard and fast... emphasis on hard.
But now the flag was destroyed!
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