Ramen-4

August 12, 2012

The guy's ramen restaurant was not so far from the cook's shop downtown.　It was around noon but there were no customers. The guy was sitting at the counter with his eyes closed. The door opened. The guy was about to say hello but the words got stuck. The customer was the cook.
The guy said, "Did you come here to charge me or to make fun of me?" The cook sat at the counter, ignoring him, opened the menu and said, "Ramen". The guy didn't expect him to order but started to make the ramen. It was fairly skilful the way he made the ramen.
A few minutes later he put a bowl of ramen on the counter. The cook looked at the appearance of the ramen for a moment and took a bite and said. "How did you

make this stock?" The guy hesitated a moment but told him its process. The cook said, "Your noodles are not bad but your soup is too simple." The guy said, "I've been pursuing simple soup for ages. During that time, my wife left me. I liked your ramen's simplicity." The cook said, "Oh, 'your wife is dying' means 'she left'." The guy said, ignoring the cook's sarcasm. "But I'm pursuing a much simpler one, as simple as water." The cook said, "You are pursuing what doesn't exist. Can you really afford to do that?" The guy said nothing.
The cook said, "By the way do you want to know my tips?" The guy stared at the cook with a face of disbelief and said. "I..if you don't mind..." The cook started to explain his tips for his ramen and the guy fiercely took notes. But soon the guy stopped writing and said. "Haven't you had a hard time to get your tips?" The cook said, "I worked hard, so hard that my wife also left saying she couldn't follow me anymore." The guy asked, "So why are you telling me your tips? I am your competitor." The cook said, "As I mentioned before, our competition is so fierce that if you join in, nothing will change. I simply wanted to do something ridiculous for a change."
The guy closed his memo pad and said. "My idea to make simpler ramen was not a joke and your ramen is surly better but not the best." The cook glared at the guy. "OK. I want to see that ramen and I really hope you won't end up just saying you'll make it." He cynically laughed and left.
The guy was satisfied with his own answer but he soon realized that he didn't have any idea how to make that super simple ramen and started to regret that he hadn't gotten the cook's tips when they were offered to him so easily.
(To be continued...)