Moddeok and Tteok's Culinary Clash (Part 2)
Seon-a watched the video while brainstorming her tteokguk. What she had been doing until now was less cooking and more conceptualizing.
"Ah, right." Seon-a sat down mid-thought. She had to sit to watch YouTube—that was a rule she had set for herself.
The Seon-a who had vanished completely from the broadcast screen was secretly watching tteokguk cooking videos.
"Hmm… green onions would be good, right? Yeah."
Seon-a sprang to her feet. Smiling, she looked straight at the camera.
"I'm going to use my secret technique… the forbidden technique… slicing green onions!!"
It was a skill she had never attempted before. At home Mom always handled it, and outside she never bothered buying green onions. Meals were either ramen or delivery… She had tried a meal kit once, but even then she had never used a knife like a proper chef.
Because of that, Seon-a's heart was pounding wildly.
"Knife… knife…!!"
Seon-a carefully picked up the kitchen knife. She held it vertically and stared into the camera.
"I've got the knife now. I'll be careful from here on. Slicing… you do it on a cutting board, right? If you didn't know, now you do."
Her voice trembled, yet her body stayed calm. Her hands didn't shake as she gently set the knife back down.
"Knives are dangerous, everyone. Handle them carefully. Like you're handling a baby… super gently. They're really dangerous. Pro tip for you. Cutting board…!! Cutting board!!"
"What are you planning to do with the cutting board?"
"I'm going to slice the green onions on it. Shing-shing-shing. Sasa-sasa-sak."
"You're going to slice the cutting board too."
"Haha. Once you reach a certain level, anything's possible. I heard real swordsmen could slice through wood."
"That's an interesting piece of history."
"Yeah…!! So hand me some green onions. Let me slice them."
Seon-a spoke with confidence. In truth, she had no idea where the green onions even were. All she had done so far was boil water, steal the pretty tteok plate Moddeok had prepared, and pour the beaten eggs Moddeok had set aside for the soup into a pan without oil because she suddenly wanted rolled omelette. There were plenty of other things that would make Mom flip if she saw them, but so far everything was still fine. Mom would be back in ten minutes, but she wasn't back yet, right?
Seon-a could cook with full confidence.
"Green onions? The person who stole tteok, stole eggs, and even peeled and ate the seaweed is asking why I need to slice green onions? Here they are."
"Oh!! You're giving them to me?"
"I'll give them. You're just going to steal them anyway."
"Seon-a, I didn't steal them. I just used them because they were there."
"That's still stealing."
"Hmm… false accusation. Right now you're falsely accusing Tteok-nim."
They were truly innocent actions without any ill intent, yet suddenly being labeled a thief made her feel deeply wronged. She gathered every bit of knowledge she had and launched a counterattack. Moddeok, watching quietly, only wore a faint smile.
"If this goes to court, Seon-a will be the one arrested."
"Then… I'll work hard, earn money, and hire Kim & Jang… Then I'll win."
"Kim & Jang? Are you making kimchi? You're going to make kimchi?"
"No… There's a famous brand. The God of Court. Ah! Kim & Jang Law Firm. You'll get scolded?!"
"Oh. But does Kim & Jang even take cases like this? Isn't that a firm that only handles big stuff?"
"Don't they take any client?"
"Probably not. They don't do individual cases. If an individual wants them, it has to be someone really high-profile, right?"
"How do you know?"
Seon-a was startled by Moddeok's knowledge. Could it be? No way? Her heart pounded.
"How do I know? Just watch the news. More importantly, are you actually going to cook the tteokguk? The tteok is all puffed up. Aren't you going to adjust the heat?"
"Ah, I'm fine. There's only water in it anyway."
Moddeok had only been smiling at first, but when she glanced at Seon-a's pot she burst into laughter and clapped. Over twenty minutes had passed, yet the pot contained nothing but gently bubbling water. In order to create the perfect tteokguk, Seon-a had done nothing but think.
"Hah hah hah hah. No, hah hah hah. This is actually hilarious. Ah hah hah hah."
"Why… why?"
"No, why is there only water? What have you even been doing? Until now—ah hah hah hah hah. Seriously. Raming unnie…!! Pyeong-nim!!"
Moddeok even called out to the three people sitting on the sofa. The trio, who had been watching a drama, only tilted their heads back; none of them came over.
"No, look at Seon-a. What is this? Seon-a's going to be in trouble."
Only Phone-Pyeong approached.
"Why?"
"She's only been boiling water this whole time. Ah, what are we going to do? When is she going to finish it?"
"Tteokguk only takes ten minutes. You haven't watched the video?"
Seon-a spoke with complete confidence. Mom-style, Dad-style, Grandpa-style, Grandma-style, chef-style… She truly believed it could be finished in ten minutes.
"But why the water—ah, mine. Mine. Ah. Just do it for now."
"Yep…!!"
"Seon-a, are you really okay?"
"I've perfectly conceptualized everything. Once I prep the ingredients and chop chop chop, it'll be done right away. Don't worry. Go watch the drama."
"Uh… really?"
Phone-Pyeong felt a twinge of doubt because of Seon-a's confidence. The Seon-a she had seen so far tended to do strange things whenever she felt confident. On the other hand, she acted normally when she was anxious. When she seemed nervous, she made fewer mistakes and performed better.
"Really. If you eat it… you have to give me 120,000 won."
"Puh hah hah hah. What's 120,000 won? Seriously."
Moddeok burst out laughing again after hearing that. But Seon-a was dead serious.
"Omakase costs 120,000 won. That's cheap."
"Is this Seon-makase? Puh hah hah. Today is really something."
"I've completely removed any humor. Let's check the chat. Uh… am I funny? Chat… am I funny? Tell me. Am I funny? You say it's funny? Cook the tteok instead? When are you adding the tteok? Turn on the game? Touching Tteok-nim's chest is… sexual harassment."
"Why are you reading that!! Ignore those."
"Ah…!! Yes. Manager, please ban them. Whose ID is that? Whose is it? Ah, Tteok-nim's room managers, ban those kinds of comments right away. I need to see what the managers are doing."
"Puhup. Why are you looking at our managers? Just cook. Seon-a, the water is still boiling."
Seon-a slowly turned to look at Moddeok. Then she spoke seriously.
"Since I turned on the gas, the water will boil… it's common sense, Tteok-nim…"
"No, I mean just cook."
"Ah!! It's a metaphor. Please lower the conversation level to high-school graduate. That was college-graduate-level movement just now. Pyeong-nim didn't understand either, right?"
Phone-Pyeong reluctantly answered. Since Moddeok was far away and Seon-a was close, the person who needed to match was clear.
"Yes… I didn't understand either."
"There are probably many viewers who didn't understand. Don't be discouraged. Pyeong-nim…!! Right. Everyone… huh? Yes, I understood? Huh. Why? Uh… wait a second."
Seon-a opened her phone and searched for university enrollment rates.
"No, the university enrollment rate is really 70%… Then here… what!! 16,000 people… that's a lot… Wow. It's amazing. Why did you all come? Uh… out of curiosity. To see the virtual red pill. Aha. Hmm… Isn't the room owner sending subscription tickets… We have new viewers… Ah, I'll send them!! 100 tickets. I'll send 100 tickets!!"
Seon-a suddenly entered the broadcast site and randomly sent 100 subscription tickets worth 5,000 won each.
"Ah, wait a minute. 100 is too many. I'll change it to 10. My mind suddenly cleared up."
The large amount of 500,000 won suddenly brought her back to her senses. She canceled the payment and started again.
After the payment, she suddenly thought.
"I sent 10. Those who received them, please send 10 more. This is a letter from Seoul. Those who read it must send subscription tickets to ten people. You'll be happy if you send them. Please encourage everyone. In theory, if you all participate well, 6 billion people worldwide will have Seon-a's… ah, Tteok-nim's subscription tickets."
Seon-a read a subscription encouragement comment she had seen somewhere. It was a comment she had prepared very diligently, and of course 90% of it was thanks to the viewers.
"Thank you all."
"No, why are you thanking us after giving subscription tickets, Seon-a-nim? Really."
Moddeok asked while laughing.
"It was a thank you in hopes that the recipients would send more!! This is Tteok-nim's ID. Tteok-nim becomes rich, not me? That makes me sad!!"
"Ah, ah~ I was just asking~ Of course I'm grateful! Thank you~!"
"Right?"
"Yes~ Of course."
After that, Seon-a communicated with the chat for ten minutes.
"No, if you send to Turkey it's 500 won? What's that? Ah… the settlement isn't great when you receive either? Then please send to Korea. Thank you. Uh… Oh. There are a lot of sexual harassment comments about Tteok-nim… This room is completely free, I guess. Who is the manager… Ah, it's not like goro-shi or anything. I was just curious and asked. Everyone, no goro-shi. If you want to do it… go to Tteok-nim's cafe!! Don't do it here, go to Tteok-nim's cafe."
"Don't come to our cafe!."
"Aha. What are you doing? I'm making tteokguk? When am I making it? Ah!! Right. I forgot because I was chatting. It's annoying… Is no one going to make it for me? Chatting is more fun. The chat speed in our room is already fast, but it's even faster. It's really twice as fast so it's super fun. Ah. Annoying…. The words 'getting punished for putting off vacation homework' are too much. Kuk. I'm going to do vacation homework."
Seon-a turned her head sharply… and looked at the pot.
"Huh? What? Tteokguk is done?! Yes!! She did my vacation homework!!"
The frustrated Moddeok had finished making Seon-a's tteokguk. The lazy Seon-a was extremely happy.
"The tteokguk is complete!! Everyone… isn't this amazing? Huh? The snail bride. Hehe. The snail bride made it!! I like the snail bride. It was annoying but it worked out. I'll read the chat again."
The meaning of the content had disappeared, but it didn't matter.
"'The content is ruined'…!! Mo and Tteok's battle. Seon-a is now Moddeok-nim's proxy. Tteok-nim is Tteok-nim. A breathtaking showdown…!! Ah, but it was hard. I'm going to rest a bit."
Seon-a disappeared from the screen. She wanted to rest a little after talking so much. She hadn't gone anywhere, and simply lay spread out on the spot.