Sebae (1)
I decided to help Moddeok. But I had no idea what kind of help she needed. First things first—check the chat.
Hmm… I still couldn’t tell what was going on just from the chat. Anyway, Pyeongjipja said she was struggling, so I came over. But I still had no clue what the actual problem was.
“How is it?”
“It’s really good.”
Dad slurped down the tteokguk as he answered. He was doing just fine without me. So why did he call me over? This was all Pyeongjipja’s fault. Still, blaming a subordinate wasn’t a good look. I was a generous, kind boss, after all.
“I’ll ask too!! Dad, which one tastes better? This one’s from Mo-nim, and this one’s from Tteok-nim.”
“Mo-nim? Tteok-nim? Who are they?”
“Uh… Mo-nim and Tteok-nim. Mo-nim is the Mo from Moddeok-nim, and Tteok-nim is the tteok from Moddeok-nim.”
“I see?”
I watched Dad closely. He ate the tteokguk I’d made by controlling his brainwaves with zero expression, then tried the one Moddeok made and tilted his head.
“Dad, what’s wrong?”
I didn’t miss that tiny reaction. Dad looked back and forth between me and Moddeok.
“Hmm, hmm. They’re different, right?”
“That’s disappointing!! So you’re not a true connoisseur, Dad. You’re right, though—people are the same!! I only controlled the brainwaves.”
“Brain… waves?”
“Yes. To a normal person they’d taste identical. If you were a true connoisseur you would’ve noticed the perfect boil of the broth, but you’re not quite at that level.”
Oh well. Not everyone had a chef’s palate. I almost felt a little hurt, but I didn’t. That was just the level of tongue he had. I would’ve noticed right away. It was simply a shame.
“I see… So what did you do, Seon-a?”
“No… Of course.”
I tried not to feel disappointed, but I really was. I had so much to say, yet I held it in. How could I disgrace my own father? I glanced at the chat.
Anyone saying anything bad was getting banned.
“No. Why… why do you like the chat so much? There’s no broth? What’s nonsense? What delusion?”
I was genuinely baffled. I thought my room was a broth-streaming channel, but apparently not? Why was no one on my side? Back in the day I would’ve felt hurt. Not anymore. I’d grown a lot. Bring it on. The more they doubted me, the stronger I became.
The stream ended. Dad only said both were delicious, and Mom praised us for making them well. Maru said it was tasty too. Raming and Pyeongjipja… they just parroted “delicious” like it was a formality. Late-blooming passion was scary…
I poured water into the pot. This time I was going to make tteokguk with my own hands, no brainwave control. It wasn’t because the chat was already asking “What did that person do?” or calling me a background character. I just wanted to prove I could do it myself.
“What are you doing?”
“I-I’m going to make it. I can do it too.”
“Aww… Seon-a. Good job.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“What are you making?”
“Tteokguk.”
“For who?”
“Someone will eat it.”
Mom suddenly turned off the gas. It was an action we hadn’t agreed on. I froze.
“W-why?”
“If no one’s going to eat it, don’t make it.”
“Uh… there is someone. Actually.”
“Who?”
“Me!”
“No.”
“Uh… Pyeongjipja said she’d eat it too.”
“Who’s Pyeongjipja?”
At Mom’s question I nodded vigorously.
“I’ll bring her over.”
“No. Don’t bring anyone. Just don’t make it.”
“No… I can do it.”
“No one’s eating it.”
“They will.”
“You already ate earlier.”
“No, no I didn’t.”
I’d seen it clearly. Pyeongjipja had only picked at it and left most of it. She had to be hungry. I was a good boss. I knew these things.
“Aren’t you going to do sebae? Don’t you want allowance?”
“Uh… I’ll do sebae first, then make it. Okay?”
I had to get the money. That was the whole reason I came home for the holidays…!!
“Oh, right. Mom, I was originally going to ask for less, but you need to give me a lot.”
“Why? Why? Did Mom promise something?”
“Yes.”
“What did you promise?”
“Ah~ You said you’d pay for everything instead of me, but then you charged it to my card behind my back. You have to give me all that money. I thought you were paying, so I was only going to take fifty thousand won after sebae, but you lied.”
The logic was so flawless that Mom was left speechless.
“I’m looking forward to that allowance!!”
Sebae came first. Cooking didn’t earn money. But doing sebae did. Seriously, every single day… I wanted to treat it like a daily quest…!!
I headed to the living room. Maru, Moddeok… and Dad were there. I walked over to Maru and spoke.
“Did you get the money?”
“What money?”
“You have to do sebae and get paid!!”
“Hahaha…”
Dad just let out an awkward laugh.
“Honestly, I’m disappointed. You came late, so I thought you’d bring tons of gifts, but you showed up empty-handed!! At least give me lots of sebae money!!”
“That’s right. Our daughter’s right.”
“Huh?”
Dad suddenly raised his voice, sounding wronged.
“No, I tried to buy gifts, but your mom kept saying we didn’t need any and told me no… She kept doing that. It would’ve been nice if there were gifts, right?”
“Exactly!! I was so disappointed when you came empty-handed!!”
“Right. Well said, my daughter. Dad was going to buy you a bag, but your mom said no, we didn’t need it, you wouldn’t use it even if we gave it to you. Even after I asked the staff for recommendations on what friends are using these days, she still refused. It was so frustrating.”
“That’s a shame…!! If you had, I could’ve bragged about it on stream…!!”
My mind started spinning. I could’ve shown it off on stream, then enjoyed the chat’s reactions… Aww!! Now I really wanted something. Could we still go buy one? If Dad and I went together, it wouldn’t cost me anything.
“Then Dad, should we go buy one?”
“Should we? My daughter. Want to go together?”
“Wow!! That sounds amazing!! I’ll buy Google Play cards while we’re there!!”
I had to get paid for my efforts. Nothing in this world was free. While Dad and I were talking, Maru cut in.
“Aww. No, you don’t have to go.”
“It’s fine, Maru. I’ll buy it. What should I get? Should we go to a department store…? Ah… Ah!! Dad, never mind.”
“W-what do you mean?”
“Maru already has plenty of bags. There’s no way our Maru doesn’t have bags, right? We should buy her a house instead.”
“Oh… That’s a bit much… C-can’t we just get a bag?”
“Me? Oh my. What exactly do you think I am? Huh? Huh?”
Maru was a huge corporation. Of course she had bags. She probably owned every luxury brand in the world. And she was being modest about it too. Honestly, there were so many things to learn from Maru that it was a problem. It made me sad that my brain couldn’t absorb all of them.
“Maru, if not a house then a car. But a car’s iffy too. You probably already have one.”
“I haven’t driven in about eight years… A house, then.”
“Then we have to buy you a house. Dad has money, right?”
“A house… just thinking about it makes me dizzy. Why?”
“Everyone here—Dad, you’re all big or mid-sized company people. You don’t realize how much money they make, do you? Huh? They earn at least ten, maybe a hundred times more than me. You think a bag is enough? It has to be a house. Dad, you’re at that level too, aren’t you?”
“Even the chairmen would hesitate at that level, wouldn’t they?”
“Hmm… But anything less and she won’t be satisfied.”
I was serious. Of course Maru and Moddeok were too classy to gossip behind anyone’s back. Still, there was a 0.0000001% chance. A bag? It could happen. It could become the textbook example of “bought a gift and got roasted for it.” As their daughter, I had a duty to protect my parents. Plus, I was the eldest. It was only natural that the eldest protected the parents.
“Wow… These people are really something…”
Dad sounded impressed. Of course he should be. He needed to understand how impressive big and mid-sized companies were… Good thing he was finally realizing it.
“No, no. It’s not like that. Really, it’s fine.”
“Jjang-nim. Seriously… what, what is this.”
Both of them were being modest again. Saying no like that was just trying to cover the sky with your palm. As if that would work.
“No, it’s true. Dad, our Maru and Moddeok… they have an enormous number of viewers. Dad, you’ve been to a baseball stadium, so you know.”
Dad was from Chungcheong Province, but he was a Tigers fan. The reason was simple—back in his day the Tigers were a powerhouse. When Dad first got into baseball, the Tigers were in their dynasty era. They won championships like it was nothing. That was why he liked the strong Tigers team. That was the real reason.
“You know how many people fit in Jamsil Stadium—twenty-five thousand. These two fill that up like it’s nothing. You’re smart, Dad, so you get it, right? They pack Jamsil completely. You know that. You’ve been to the stadium to eat and watch games. Dad, you’re a Tigers fan, but you actually like strong teams. You kept changing team colors. I still remember. During the Samsung era you’d take the train to their home stadium all the time. Don’t you remember? ‘From today it’s the Samsung dynasty. This is our team.’ That’s what you said. That’s why I cheered for Samsung so much when I was little, but then you suddenly switched to ‘The owner of Jamsil is Doosan. From today it’s the Bears’ era.’ Don’t you remember?”
“W-well. Sit down first. Want me to smack you on the head?”
Huh? When did I end up on the sofa? I’d been next to Maru just a second ago. Without realizing it, I’d gotten so worked up that I flustered Dad. I went back to Maru’s side and continued.
“Anyway, so you know. You know how many twenty-five thousand people is. So you understand how amazing these two are, right? That’s why a bag won’t do!!”
Today, once again, I had elevated Maru’s status. There really was no one but Seon-a, huh? Mwahahaha.