Tangsuyuk Man Goes Viral
As planned in advance, she lifted the prepared panel. Her smile was there, but her eyes trembled faintly, as if she still couldn't quite believe it was real.
"Wow, whoa~ S-slime sauce sweet and sour pork? I've never heard of a dish like this before? I-is this really edible?"
Lee Se-ri turned to me with desperate eyes.
"Of course! I guarantee it'll be delicious. Shall I introduce the ingredients first?"
"Y-yes! The ingredients are like this!"
Of course, we'd prepared the ingredients ahead of time.
"Slime bodily fluids and Kingdom Fire Ant acid. Aside from those, it's surprisingly ordinary! Oh, and we use store-bought sweet and sour pork!"
That's right. The key ingredients were only for the sauce. Regular sweet and sour pork from the store was perfectly fine.
"Do you know why we use store-bought for the pork, Club President Se-ri?"
"Ah, the reason is simple! It can't taste bad if it's made by PhD experts from top universities, right?"
Just as we'd scripted beforehand, Lee Se-ri delivered her line. As long as you cooked it right, it was guaranteed to taste at least average or better—which made store-bought pork the safest choice for a sauce-focused dish like this.
"Above all, the core of this dish is the sauce."
The name was Slime Sauce Sweet and Sour Pork from the start, so naturally, it was all about the sauce.
"Alright, let's make the sauce first. Pour the slime fluid into a glass bowl. We got this fresh from the Lancer Club just now, and I froze it right away yesterday, so it's in perfect condition!"
Slime fluid is judged by its transparency—the clearer, the fresher. But the fluid in this bowl was a vivid green. Top-quality stuff.
"But I've heard slime fluid is super alkaline, basically poison?"
At my question, she shook her head, forming an X with her arms.
Right—that exaggerated gesture was perfect for drawing viewers in.
"Exactly. Drink this straight, and you'd be rushed to the ER. A normal person might even die. But with this, it's a different story!"
She said it while swirling the yellow liquid in a beaker.
"Ah! The Kingdom Fire Ant acid you mentioned earlier?"
"Correct! Amazingly, mixing slime fluid with Kingdom Fire Ant acid perfectly neutralizes the pH and alkalinity. Did you know that?"
As she added the acid to the slime fluid, the green liquid gradually turned blue and thickened.
"And best of all, you get this viscous texture from the slime fluid. Now it's something you can actually eat."
"I had no idea. So you're making a dish by mixing poison with poison?"
"Spot on!"
She beamed at the fully thickened blue liquid.
"Now comes the important part. It's edible like this, but the taste is still iffy. That's where this comes in."
She poured in the pre-measured sugar, and I timed my startled reaction perfectly.
"Th-that much? Won't that be bad for you...?"
"Who eats sweet and sour pork thinking about health? Go eat a salad for that. This is purely for the taste—no worries!"
Exactly! Health nuts should stick to chicken breast. Duh.
"Plus, it's surprisingly good for you. Mixing the slime fluid and acid gives a minor stamina recovery effect."
Finally, Lee Se-ri wrinkled her nose at the completed sauce's appearance. She looked genuinely spooked by it.
"Anyway, the sauce is... done? Uh... We followed the recipe, but is this really okay?"
Hey, don't say that when you're the one teaching! But from a video standpoint, it was a great edit point. Hilarious, right? So I played along coolly.
"Of course. They say good-looking rice cakes taste good too, right? This shimmering color—doesn't it look delicious to anyone?"
"Uh... Actually, I know blue is supposed to suppress appetite—"
"—doesn't it look delicious?"
"Y-yes... It does look delicious! Haha!"
She finally nodded with a forced smile.
"Then we should try it. How to eat the sauce...?"
"Are you a pourer or a dipper, Club President Se-ri?"
"Huh? I'm definitely a dipper—"
I poured the sauce right over it.
"Hiiiiaaak?! What! What are you doing?!"
"One big advantage of this sauce—it doesn't soak into the pork, so it stays crispy forever. Even after an hour, it'll be crunchy. So don't worry and... ahh."
Splat—
I held a sauce-drenched piece of pork to her mouth.
Drops of blue sauce plopped onto the table.
"Ah... ahh?"
"Yeah. Figured you'd hesitate and not eat if I told you to. Now, ahh."
"Ah... Aah. Aaaaah!"
As she hesitantly opened her mouth, I channeled a subtle aura technique and shoved the pork in fast.
She squeezed her eyes shut and let out a weird noise.
"Can't... chew..."
"Chew! You have to chew to taste it!"
"Ugh... Ugh... Hm...?"
She slowly lifted her head and looked at me.
"It's... delicious?"
"Right?"
"Yes! It's tangy and sweet, but it goes down so smoothly... It's delicious!"
Emboldened by the first bite, she grabbed her chopsticks, picked up another piece, and popped it in.
"Mmm...! So good! Really, really good!"
Her terrified expression from moments ago was gone; now she was grinning ear to ear as she devoured it.
"Try some too, Vice President Eugene!"
"Nah, I'm good. Ate before coming."
...Truth is, I was still a bit scared to eat it.
I mean, this was just me recreating a recipe from the game by memory. I'd never actually tried it myself...
How does anyone eat something like this? Ugh. I preferred normal sweet and sour pork.
"And that's how we made 'Slime Fluid Sweet and Sour Pork' with Vice President Eugene today! I hope our subscribers and viewers give it a try at home! The ingredients are easy to get, and above all, it's insanely delicious!"
Thinking it was wrap-up time, she launched into her closing lines.
"Payment is likes, comments, and subs! Thanks for watching! This has been Lee Se-ri, president of the Seoul Hero Academy Recipe Development Club!"
"Han Eugene of Familia."
──Thank you!
* * *
"Junior! Huge hit! Massive hit!!"
I turned at the sound of someone slamming open the classroom door like they were gonna break it—panting hard. Lee Se-ri.
No idea if she was excited or just ran here.
"Ah, Senior. Video go up okay?"
I'd been swamped with work at home and hadn't checked, but yeah, it was about time.
"Look at this!"
She thrust her phone screen at me, gasping for breath.
...? That's the Recipe Development Club YouTube homepage from yesterday.
"150k?"
"150k!"
"How'd it gain 50k subs in a day?"
"Right?!"
That kind of thing only happens to influencers, no?
And it wasn't over. Tapping in, the sub count was still climbing like divine intervention.
I pulled out my own phone and checked the channel.
"...You haven't subbed yet?"
"..."
I quietly hit subscribe.
The thumbnail of me and Lee Se-ri was plastered at the top of [Popular Videos]. Double the views of anything else.
"Good thing. Looks like we broke that wall you mentioned."
"Yeah! People are even doing challenges now!"
"Challenges?"
Sure enough, related videos were full of "Slime Sweet and Sour Pork Challenges."
Was it that big a hit? To spark challenges? I never dreamed it'd blow up like this...
"And that's not all! You even got a nickname, Vice President!"
"...What's that?"
Making me nervous.
"Check the comments!"
...Tangsuyuk Man? What the hell?
"A nickname like that'll fade fast. No need to worry."
Lame nicknames like that never lasted—that was common sense.
"Hehe. You helped me out big time again, Vice President. Thank you so much—really."
Lee Se-ri bowed to me, and whispers erupted from the front seats.
'Isn't that a senior?'
'Why's she bowing to the vice prez?'
'Even so, to a senior...'
Guess the "bad boy" label on me was still going strong.
"Don't overdo it. People might think I'm weird."
"Ah! R-right? S-sorry! I'll head out then."
She jolted upright.
"Yeah. Call if anything comes up."
"Hehe. Sure! See you later!"
Lee Se-ri vanished again. I was about to slump over for a nap in the quiet when...
Drag—Bang!
"Hey~! Tangsuyuk Man! Giggle. Nah, Boss. How's your nickname Tangsuyuk Man?"
...This academy never lets me rest.
* * *
"...Today's villain lesson is on the demon contractor Kurus, a villain infamous worldwide in the past. Let's learn about him."
First period was Villain Studies, taught by Instructor Park Yunho.
"Before that... Jinwoo Bivalt. What's with your eye? Black and blue—did you go to the nurse?"
"Fell down the stairs. I'm fine."
"...Alright then."
Jinwoo, whose eye had swollen from a morning mishap, shot me a resentful glance...
"Honestly, Jinwoo deserved it."
"Agreed. I kept my mouth shut just watching the video."
But the two up front whispered extra burns at him.
"Hiiing..."
He couldn't even retort, probably knowing he had it coming.
"Alright, first, who knows about Kurus?"
Instructor Park Yunho scanned the room, but no hands went up.
Not much was publicly known about this villain.
"No one? Then—"
A hand rose from the front corner. Mari Nate, the puppet master.
"K-Kurus... made contracts with 33 demons, a demon contractor and villain... So he wielded 33 abilities. The power levels varied, but his skill in using them in diverse ways gave many heroes trouble."
Instructor Park Yunho nodded, lips curling up at her slow, deliberate explanation.
"Correct. You know your stuff, Mari Nate."
"Th-thank you."
"Now, how did Kurus move against heroes back then? And how did they counter? Let's watch."
He snapped his fingers from his pocket. Mana rippled out from him, instantly warping the classroom scenery.
"What you're about to see is the capture op in Beijing, China, 23 years ago. With a guy near S-rank, tons of heroes joined in."
The space around us was familiar—I'd seen and even visited it. The Forbidden City in Beijing. We stood right in the middle.
"Now, simple test: Perfectly explain how to spot and capture Lupus here, and I'll give store credit."
Clap!
A dizzying ping! hit us again.
Instructor Park Yunho had pulled us into the illusion, lifting spatial limits.
"30 minutes. Discuss, explore—whatever. Finish early, get free time early. Begin."