Cooking Showdown (1)

At first, I hadn't thought much of it. But as time ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠passed, I found myself taking deep breaths and rubbing my palms together. The closer the stream time got, the worse it became. Fifteen minutes left now. I slipped on the white smiling mask I'd prepared. The spare one I handed to Moddeok.

"Oh, what's this? Seon-a, what is it?"

"A mask. I got it so we can keep your virtual red pill hidden. Pretty cool, right?"

"Love it!! I brought a regular mask, but this is way better. Good call."

Her words made me quietly proud. "Ehehehe." I couldn't hold back the laugh. It felt so good. The fact that I'd actually helped someone hit me with a wave of emotion.

"Did I do good?"

"You did great. The mask's cute too. It's smiling. Is it smiling?"

"Uh… yeah, it's smiling!! Ahahaha."

I hadn't helped many people before, so I ended up grinning like an idiot. Look at me! I can be useful too! The thought made me ridiculously happy.

I double-checked. "You're actually wearing the one I bought! Thank goodness. Right?"

"You did well. I was just going to use a regular mask, but this is nicer. How do I look?"

"Uh… you'd look prettier without the mask!!"

"Wait, what? That was flirting!"

"Flirting? No it wasn't."

I tilted my head. What even was flirting? I had no clue. I'd just stated a fact. That kind of thing was for people who'd paid to learn it. Someone like me, who never studied that stuff, couldn't pull it off. I knew some things, though—watching chat all day had taught me plenty. One of those things was this.

"I never learned that. You have to learn from pickup artists or whatever they're called to do stuff like that."

"What… who says that? I've never even heard of it."

"Ah!! The viewers told me."

"Aigoo… you picked up something weird."

"Is it weird? I see. I got baited again."

Baited again? I got baited again? I stayed calm. Getting fished once or twice was nothing. I'd been caught dozens of times a day, so it didn't even register anymore.

We kept chatting after that until Pyeongjipja's voice came through.

"We're about to start. Ready to go live?"

"Yep~ sounds good."

Moddeok sounded completely relaxed. Watching her made me jealous. How was she so calm? I stared at her.

"Oh… why?"

"Aren't you nervous?"

"Hmm… not really?"

"Why? Why not?"

"It's just a stream. What's there to be nervous about?"

"VTubers aren't supposed to get their red pill exposed. That's what I was taught."

"Hah. Ah. Right, VTubers are like that."

Even with the mask on, I could tell from her voice she was smiling. Definitely.

"Right?"

"Right. But these days, if a VTuber is confident, they just go for it."

"Go for what?"

I didn't understand what she meant by "confident." I thought hard, but it still made no sense. Whatever Moddeok meant by "confidence," I couldn't figure it out no matter how much I tried.

"Hello everyone!! Can you see us?"

What? When did we start? What just happened?!

"Uh… huh?"

"Seon-a's right next to me. Can everyone see us? Is the feed clear? Ah, yes, it's just the two of us on screen. Everyone can see us fine, right?"

"Wh-what? When did you start it?"

"I said I was turning it on earlier."

"Ah!! Right. Hello everyone!!"

I bowed a full ninety degrees. Then I pulled out my phone.

"One second. Let me check the chat."

"No~ Seon-a, it's right in front of you."

"Where… wait, what?!"

I was genuinely shocked. Where had that tall vertical monitor come from? It definitely wasn't there yesterday. What the—?!

"You can see the chat now. When did you set that up?"

"It's been there since earlier. Just use that. The big screen's easier to read, right?"

"Yeah… it's super clear."

"Then let's use that to interact. Put the phone away."

"Got it!!"

I slipped my phone back into my pocket. The chat was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠huge and easy to read. If I focused, it was like having racehorse vision. She must've installed it while I wasn't looking. Good move.

I kept staring at the chat. Couldn't look away.

"Everyone, today we're doing the tteokguk-making content I mentioned before. Please understand that we're not great at cooking, and try not to get too invested. Ah, and we're not actually giving any away. Obviously we're not serving it. This isn't Pepero Day or anything. It's not like that."

I could hear Moddeok talking, but watching the chat… something felt off. What was this strange feeling nagging at the back of my mind?

"This isn't a studio, everyone. This is Seon-a's house. Yep. Not a studio. Pretty stylish though, right? Everyone shout~! Dae-Seon-a~ Hahaha."

What was it? I felt like I almost understood what Moddeok meant by "confidence," but it was just out of reach and it was driving me crazy. If I'd gotten even a tiny bit more of a hint, I would've figured it out. What was this feeling?

"Anyway, what we're doing is… we're going to make tteokguk now. Everything's already prepped. Yep. Seon-a and I will each make our own versions according to our tastes, and then we've got plenty of judges right here in front of us. They'll taste it and decide whose is better… you get the idea, right?"

What was it… this was so frustrating. I felt like if I just stretched a little farther, I'd reach the truth. But I couldn't quite get there.

"What is Seon-a doing, you ask? Ah, um… Seon-a? What are you doing?"

"Uh. Uh. Hello!!"

"You already greeted everyone earlier."

"Ah, I spaced out for a second. Actually, I wasn't spacing out—I was thinking."

"What were you thinking about?"

I glanced at Moddeok and the chat.

"Should I say it?"

"No. Let's not."

"Okay, I won't say anything."

I was the type who knew when to keep quiet. If she said not to say it, I wouldn't. I was pretty good at keeping secrets.

The chat was going wild with curiosity, but I had no choice. She told me not to tell!!

"Good job. Shall we start making the tteokguk then? Seon-a, what kind were you planning to make?"

"Me…? I prepared something."

Of course I'd prepared. I'd prepared a lot. I'd been working really hard on this since the Minecraft server days. I opened my phone and went to YouTube.

"I'm going to copy this."

I said it confidently, then immediately regretted it. Words mattered. I should've phrased it more elegantly.

"Cancel that. Let me rephrase. Not copy. Reference. I'm going to reference it a lot, not just straight-up copy."

"Pfft… what percentage are you referencing?"

"About 95%? If I'm lucky, maybe 90%?"

Five percent I could do with my own power. Maybe even push it to ten percent. But ten percent wasn't a guarantee. Variables always popped up during the process, so it was hard to lock in.

"That's… that's basically copying. Isn't that a bit cheap? You should make your own tteokguk."

"My own tteokguk… are you putting chocolate in yours? Or wasabi? Tteokguk is tteokguk… are you putting gold in it?"

I was genuinely curious. Tteokguk was tteokguk. No matter what you added, it all tasted the same in the end. I'd watched at least thirty tteokguk-making videos. They all just boiled water, added rice cakes, green onions, eggs, beef, salt… maybe grilled the onions for a fancy touch. They were all basically the same.

"No, but you're still using your own brain to make it. Wait, since when were you this competitive? Weren't we supposed to be doing this together in harmony? Is this turning into a real competition~?"

"Competition? No."

I was genuinely flustered. Why was this suddenly becoming a showdown? You shouldn't make bad food. Didn't she know that?

"We're cooking together."

"So you're preparing like this just to impress the judges?"

"No!! Making bad food sends you straight to hell. Didn't you know?"

"Whaaat~~~?!!"

"Making tasteless food is a sin. A sin. A sin. Want to know why? There's logic behind it. I'm not making this up."

I really did have logic.

"Wh-what logic? I'll hear you out. Go ahead."

"Think about it. Just think. If you leave food behind, you go to hell. So you have to eat everything. But what happens to the person who made the bad food? Approach the problem from there. Going to hell should be judged based on whether you got to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠eat delicious food, right? Do you follow?"

"Uh… uh. Keep going."

"So basically, if you leave behind food made by someone who cooks well, you go to hell. But if the food is bad, it's different!! The host who served the bad food is the problem. That host should go to hell."

"Uh… why would they go to hell?"

"Because they left the food behind!!"

She didn't get this simple logic? I was getting frustrated. Didn't everyone know that leaving food behind sends you to hell? It seemed so obvious that I thought everyone understood it… hmm.

"Uh… really? Ah, I got it!! I understand. Let's just proceed!!"

"Kya!!"

Thank goodness. Moddeok had good comprehension. She understood right away. Good, good.

"So trying not to make bad food means… I did ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the right thing!! I deserve praise!! You should copy too, Moddeok!!"

"I already prepared something."

"I see…"

A real chef's food would probably taste better, right? I'd had a slightly mean thought, but she'd handle it herself.

"Alright! Shall we get started?"

"Yep!! I'll just watch and follow along then."

"No, you can't just openly watch~ Reference it in moderation, okay~!"

Sudden aegyo? That caught me off guard. Surprised, I nodded without thinking.

"Ah, got it!! I'll reference it moderately."

"Good. I'll be watching."

"Uh… yep."

It was a thirty-minute video… so I'd skip the first half and only watch the last fifteen minutes. Ehehe.