The Bizarre Cooking Showdown (4)
All of us had gathered in one place. Naturally, the camera was pointed at the kitchen, and the screen showed only me and Moddeok.
“Everyone, don’t worry! It’s just me and Moddeok on screen right now.” I said it reassuringly. If I didn’t say that, how anxious would they all be? Who else is this considerate? I’ve really grown so much. Back in the day, I wouldn’t have even thought of showing this kind of care.
“Euhahaha! Everyone, don’t worry!!” Laughter burst out of me uncontrollably. After laughing for a while, I stepped away from the screen and sat down next to Maru. I should try some too. Maybe it was all the talking, but I was starving. Time for some tteokguk myself.
I was obviously biased. Instead of the tteokguk Moddeok made, I planned to devour the tteokguk I’d created by controlling Maem’s brainwaves with far more enthusiasm. “I’ll have some now. Everyone, eat up!!”
I stared blankly at Maru. Manners were truly important. After all, Korea was a Confucian country. No one was allowed to pick up their spoon before the elders did. That was basic etiquette. I kept my eyes fixed on Maru. Yeah. Until Maru started eating, no one else could touch their food.
“Ah, Raming!! Put that spoon down!!” I said in a panic. Raming flinched and quickly set it down.
“Huh? Why? Why?”
“The adults haven’t eaten yet!! You can’t pick up your spoon until the adults start eating!!” I looked back at Maru. Only after Maru ate could we juniors begin.
“Oh, I have to eat first? Ah, got it. I understand.” Once I saw Maru begin eating… I smashed the seaweed into my soup with gusto. Ah, Moddeok was still here too, but it should be fine. According to what I’d been taught, there was no problem. Why? As long as either Mom or Dad started eating, we could follow along. That’s how I’d learned it. Because… when Mom cooked, she’d just tell us to eat. When Dad was out, she’d say to go ahead and eat first.
“Smashing the seaweed in… euhahaha.”
“Oh. Seon-a? Did you really make this? It’s delicious.”
“Euhahahaha.” I’d just heard the most wonderful words. Technically I hadn’t made it myself—I’d only controlled the brainwaves—but I still felt proud. Ah…!! I did have a share in it. Now that I thought about it, I definitely contributed. What was the most important part of making ramen? Controlling the water. Too little and it’s too salty; too much and it’s bland. And that went for every kind of soup, not just ramen. Tteokguk was soup too. Thanks to my perfect water adjustment, it had succeeded. I sprinkled the crushed seaweed over the tteokguk and stirred it vigorously. It would’ve been perfect if we had mandu too. Aww… what a shame!!
Once we finished eating, my parents arrived. From the front door, I could hear their usual bickering.
“Hey, you old man. Why are you grumbling so much…” I immediately stood up and went to greet them. Hmm… there was nothing. That was a little disappointing, wasn’t it…? It was New Year’s, after all… No presents?
“Ahem… Welcome!!”
“Yeah. You all ate already?”
“Yes. We saved some for Mom and Dad too.”
“Did Seon-a make it?”
“I… boiled the water!!” Dad looked at me like he didn’t understand.
“You boiled the water?”
“Yes. I boiled it.”
“Good job.”
“Yes. I really did well. After eating the tteokguk, I aged up.”
“What am I supposed to do if I don’t want to get older?”
“Then…” It was the old story Dad had told us. I wasn’t sure if it was true, but it was accepted as fact in our household.
“Dad, the King of the Underworld will scold you!!”
“Aigoo. Scary. I guess I’d better eat then.”
“Exactly!! If you eat, you won’t get scolded.” It was another one of Dad’s old tales. So he still remembered… Yeah, the King of the Underworld was a terrifying god of hell. You had to listen very, very carefully. I led Dad into the kitchen. Everyone stood up at once to greet him. Such polite people. Mom always said that just greeting well got you halfway there. They’d already eaten half the food. Impressive!!
“Hello.”
“Hello, Father. Please have a seat here.”
“Oh, it’s fine~” Dad sat down. I looked at him.
“You have to finish all the tteokguk. And look at this. Say hello here!!”
“Ah… This is Seon-a’s dad from Yoo Seon-a TV.”
“Wh-who said Yoo Seon-a TV? We don’t use that cheap name. Call it something else!!”
“Yoo Seon-a Economic News TV. Yoo Seon-a Research Institute. Yoo Seon-a Temp Agency. Yoo Seon-a… National Pride TV.”
“No… Dad. Do you watch Tt News or Jaemini News?” His naming sense was way too much. Nobody named channels like that anymore!! These days you had to keep it clean, light, and simple.
“Yoo Seon-a… Yoo Seon-a Patriotic TV.”
“No, Dad!! Why—well, I am a patriot, but still!!”
“It’s called brainstorming. If you keep throwing ideas out, one of them’s bound to stick. Creative ideas often come from what looks like nonsense or rambling to other people.”
“Uh… Then we should drop the ‘TV’ part. Nobody uses that anymore.”
“Yoo Seon-a Tteokguk Research Director… Yoo Seon-a… Hold on.” Dad put on his glasses and narrowed his eyes. Then he held his phone farther away—the classic adult move when trying to read something. Dad was stubborn too. Mom said that as people got older, they only got more stubborn. But Dad had always been stubborn, so now he was ten times worse. Still, Mom was even more stubborn than that.
“What are you doing, Dad?”
“Ah. I got a call. Sorry.”
“Aha…!!”
“So what were we talking about?”
“Ah~ You kept saying Yoo Seon-a TV.”
“Did I? What’s the channel name again?” Dad asked as he put his phone away.
“I also have a Seon-a VOD channel. And an official Seon-a YouTube channel.”
“Doesn’t sound all that different from what I said. Is it the Official Seon-a Channel? I see a lot of those these days.”
“Uh… It’s the official Seon-a YouTube channel. Dad, don’t you watch my streams?”
“I don’t know much about streaming, but your grandfather used to scold me all the time for watching that idiot box. Even so, I’ve watched plenty of TV, so I know a thing or two. From what I can tell, Seon-a… you need to work harder. You’re still lacking a lot.”
“F-free advice is banned!! You’ll get banned!! Manager, ban him!! Bans are a really scary punishment.” I never expected him to drop free advice like that. I hadn’t seen that coming. If he were one of my stream viewers, he’d be banned instantly. That was a seriously harsh diss!!
“Aigoo, how scary. I guess I won’t be able to close the curtains tonight~ I’ll have to sleep while looking at the moon.”
“No… You were mocking me. You mocked me. You saw that, right? Everyone saw it, didn’t you? Stop just laughing. You all saw it.” Everyone just kept laughing. This wasn’t the time to laugh—they were supposed to take my side. I felt so betrayed!! Dad looked around and said,
“By the way, there’s something I’ve been curious about. Uh… Ver… what was it? Ver… mask?”
“It’s virtual, Dad!!”
“Ah, right. That thing… Why do you do it? You’re so pretty, so I just couldn’t understand it and was curious.”
“Huk. Dad, you just made a huge mistake. If you say something like that in a virtual room, you’ll get banned. Uh. Dad, you’re about to get banned and even cross-banned… You won’t be able to watch the stream anymore.” He’d casually said something that was completely taboo. This needed explaining. Since Dad didn’t know… I’d explain it for him. I knew everything there was to know, after all…!!
“Uh. The first reason for doing virtual… If you succeed, you make a ton of money.”
“Isn’t that true for any job? Even begging pays well if you’re in the top one percent.”
“No, you’re supposed to be on my side, Dad.”
“Ah…!!”
“Again. First, if you succeed, you make a ton of money. Second, you don’t have to wash your hair or face. You can skip washing up and no one will know.”
“Even if you’re lazy, you still have to stay clean. You’ll get sick otherwise. When you’re young you can get away with anything, but when you’re old you can’t.”
“No…!! Dad…!!” I was desperately trying to defend him, but if he kept responding like this, I was going to be in trouble. Seriously!!
“Next. Third, your personal information doesn’t get exposed.”
“Oh… That sounds nice. Like that celebrity who’s rich but not famous?”
“Exactly!! And there are lots of other advantages too. Probably.” Honestly, I didn’t know that well either. I started out with no cam. I never even considered turning it on. After getting some advice, I started putting up drawings. At first I used my own rough drawings, then spent some money on better ones, and eventually switched to virtual. There was never a single reason I had to go virtual. I just did it because everyone said it would lead to success.
“Then let me ask you one thing, daughter. Why do your viewers watch Seon-a?”
“Uh…” How would I know? I really didn’t. They just watched. It was an extremely awkward question.
“I couldn’t figure out why anyone would watch at all. Even as your dad, I can’t stand to watch. So how do the viewers manage it?”
“Ah, you mean the edited videos, not my actual live streams, right?”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“Where did you watch?”
“That ten-hour video?”
“The VOD… Yeah, that’s a live stream… Ah…” I had nothing to say. I didn’t know either. I kind of wanted to ask the same question myself.
“Why do they really watch?”
“That’s… exactly what I’m wondering.” I opened my phone and connected to the stream. I was curious too. I wanted them to tell me why they watched.
“I’ll find out!! Please keep eating!!” I stared hard at the chat. Dad said it was boring. No way.
“While Dad’s eating… I’ll look through the chat and find out!! I’ll figure out the good reasons!” I’d been focused on the chat for a while when Pyeongjipja quietly sat down beside me. Why did I suddenly feel a chill?
“Seon-a.”
“Yes?” I answered quietly since she’d spoken softly.
“Aren’t you going to continue the content? Moddeok looks like she’s struggling.”
“Huh…?!” I immediately looked at Moddeok. She… didn’t seem like it to me?
“Look. Doesn’t she look tired? Why don’t you go help her?” Honestly, I couldn’t tell.
“Where? She doesn’t look tired at all.”
“Please.”
“Uh…?! Yes. Okay.” Since Pyeongjipja asked, I had to do it. I put on the mask I’d taken off earlier because it was stuffy and walked over to Moddeok.
“I’m here. What should I do? Just leave it to me.”