Chapter 159
Chapter 159
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 159
Chapter Title: A New Car and an Old Tradition
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“Oppa. You can smile now. We wouldn’t be here without you, you know.”
At Ro-si’s words, the facial muscles I had been tensing to maintain my composure finally relaxed.
“Thank you. I mean it. I’ll continue to guide you all down a path of success without letting you down… I love you.”
“…”
A moment of silence fell. Did I go too far with the ‘I love you’?
“…Squee! He means it!”
The members of Answer burst out laughing, slapping the car and shaking the headrests of the seats.
My eyes met Ro-si’s as she pounded the window with her palm. She jumped in surprise, her face turning red.
*Knock, knock, knock.*
Isa-nim, who had been knocking from outside, opened the door.
“We’re still here, you know? PD Min-jun… were you crying?”
“Of course not.”
I carefully placed the ring in my pocket and stepped outside. The members of Answer were watching me with bright smiles.
“Now that the new car is here, we have to perform the ceremony. Min-jun, I went all the way to Gwangjang Market myself to prepare this ceremonial table. I picked out the pig with the best smile, the finest dried pollack, the most expensive silk thread…”
So it was President Park Jae-yong who had prepared the ceremonial table. I had been wondering whose idea it was to set up a car ceremony that looked like something out of an old TV show.
“And this isn't just any alcohol. This was handmade at my favorite brewery…”
I was in such a good mood that even President Park Jae-yong’s excessive chatter didn’t bother me at all.
…Or so I thought, but that didn’t last long. Everyone, myself included, was starting to get tired of his lecture on the ceremonial table.
“This kind of ceremony has disappeared over time. But in a way, isn’t this our own unique tradition? We welcome the new car with some pressed pork and a drink, and we put money in the pig’s mouth to help the owner with the expense…”
“Enough, enough. Ugh, honestly, Daepyo-nim, why do you keep talking until someone stops you! How can someone so smart be so clueless about these things!”
As always, it was Isa-nim who reined in President Park Jae-yong.
It wasn't that he was clueless, but rather that his desire to share his knowledge overwhelmed his social awareness.
“…You cut me off right when I was finishing. Now, the owner of the car should bow first.”
The thought of bowing to a ceremonial table felt ridiculous, but I couldn’t ignore his kind gesture.
I took a 50,000 won bill from my wallet, placed it in the pig’s mouth, and bowed.
Next, President Park Jae-yong rolled up two 50,000 won bills, stuck them in the pig’s nostrils, and bowed.
“Ugh… why the nostrils.”
Isa-nim shuddered and muttered. With a hesitant hand, she brought three 50,000 won bills toward the pig’s mouth, her face a mask of disgust.
“Whoa!”
President Park Jae-yong suddenly shoved her arm, and her hand went right into the pig’s mouth.
“Aack!”
Enraged, Isa-nim started hitting him.
*Smack! Smack!*
“Ow? Sun Isa-nim, ow! I’m the president!”
The president turned his back and fled. Barefoot, Isa-nim chased him for a few steps before, conscious of her surroundings, she reined in her anger.
“*Ssssp… Haaaah…*”
Everyone was bursting with laughter, but no one dared to laugh openly at the sight of Isa-nim’s terrifying face.
Just then, Choi Yoo-jun and Lee Yoo-ah arrived late. Yoo-ah and Team Leader Lee each placed 100,000 won in the pig's mouth and bowed. As for Choi Yoo-jun—
“Sorry I’m late, I had to get some cash.”
He stuck what looked like at least six 50,000 won bills into the pig’s mouth.
“Hey! Why is a road manager spending so much money?”
President Park Jae-yong commented on Choi Yoo-jun putting in 300,000 won. He must have felt his own 100,000 won was paltry in comparison. Still, he was the one who prepared the whole ceremony.
Everyone took turns bowing.
A brief silence followed.
“…What’s next… Right. You open the makgeolli and sprinkle it on each tire three times. Counter-clockwise.”
I sprinkled the makgeolli on the driver’s side tire three times and was about to move to the back tire.
“Wait. That’s not counter-clockwise, is it?”
“…It is if you’re looking from the front.”
“…Shouldn’t it be counter-clockwise from the back of the car?”
I wanted to get it over with quickly, but President Park Jae-yong even started searching it up on his phone.
“Turns out Min-jun’s way was right…”
“…”
Still… I was grateful that he was putting this much thought into it for me.
President Park Jae-yong tied the dried pollack, bound with silk thread, to the car’s trunk.
“Keep it on for at least three months.”
It’s probably going to stink… I’ll take it off after three days.
“…Now, let’s eat. Hey, do you have any idea how much trouble I went through to get this steamed rice cake? They said I had to order a day in advance so they could soak the rice. I had to beg them to rush it using rice someone else had already soaked…”
President Park Jae-yong’s chatter started up again. Steam was still rising from the rice cake, so it was clear he had gone to a lot of trouble.
The after-party was moved to the second-floor male practice room. Because of the small elevator, President Park Jae-yong, myself, Choi Yoo-jun, and Team Leader Lee had to carry the table on our heads up the stairs.
“I told them not to eat in here,”
Isa-nim whispered to me.
It was almost 9 PM, but a few trainees were still around. She must have been thinking about the time she scolded them for having a snack party.
“Hey everyone, come have some rice cake.”
“Whoa! A pig’s head!”
The male trainees stared at the pig’s head in fascination, looking at it from all angles. The three female trainees who were called over late also covered their mouths and noses but looked on with curiosity.
“Hey! Lee Hyun, don’t poke the food with your hands.”
The president scolded a male trainee who was pressing his finger into the pig’s eye socket.
“Gasp! You’re going to eat this?”
“You guys don’t eat pressed pork?”
Unable to watch any longer, Seul-bi chimed in, and a pleased expression spread across the president’s face.
“That’s pressed pork?”
“You debone the pig’s head and press it. That’s pressed pork.”
“Eww… I don’t think I’ll eat it anymore.”
Seul-bi let out a faint smile.
“But Daepyo-nim. It’s nice that we’re eating, but we can’t just eat it whole… I think I’ll just order some boiled pork. From somewhere fast.”
“What are you talking about, with all this here…”
the president said, pulling out a knife.
Who was going to butcher that head? Him?
“Team Leader Lee…”
“…Yes.”
The president called out to Team Leader Lee with a serious expression.
“You can’t do it?”
“Of course not!”
Team Leader Lee shouted, flustered.
Feeling the weight of the president’s gaze, Choi Yoo-jun had already turned his head away, and as for me—
“…I’ll just order the boiled pork.”
“Ah, forget it. Forget it! I’ll do it myself. It’s not that hard…”
“That’s right, Daepyo-nim! If we can’t eat it today, we can’t eat it. You can do it!”
The president nodded gravely at Seul-bi’s words, put on a pair of plastic gloves, and grabbed the knife. But his expression soon turned troubled. Just don’t do it. He’s grossed out by it too.
No one dared to touch the food first. They were probably all distracted by the pig’s head, which the president was holding gingerly with two fingers as if it were disgusting.
Even Choi Yoo-jun, who had just avoided the task of butchering the pig’s head, was now filming the president’s attempt with an amused look on his face.
Clenching his jaw, the president raised the knife as high as his head.
“…Ngh… Hyaaat!”
“Aack!”
*Thunk!*
What did the people who screamed along with the president expect? Did they think a kitchen knife could split a pig’s head in two?
The knife had clearly only cut through a few centimeters of scalp and a bit of muscle before getting stuck in the head.
“Ugh… the knife won’t go in.”
It’s not that the knife is dull, sir. The skull is hard.
“Hyaat!”
*Thunk!*
“Hut!”
*Thunk.*
“…Haaa.”
I didn’t know much about it either, but it was so frustrating that I almost wanted to step in myself.
“The bone is tough.”
“…You don’t say.”
Isa-nim, standing beside him, muttered in disbelief.
But after a few attempts, the president seemed to realize he needed to change his method. He cut off both of the pig’s ears and placed them on a plate.
“I have a good idea. Watch and learn.”
Stabbing the knife here and there to gauge the position of the bone, President Park Jae-yong began to slice at an angle.
When the knife hit bone, he angled it outward, and sizable chunks of head meat began to come off.
Professionally butchered head meat is usually clean, with the bone and meat neatly separated, so it isn’t grotesque. But the president was just hacking away at anything that looked like meat, leaving bits and pieces of flesh on the skull, creating a bizarre spectacle.
To exaggerate a little, it looked like a skull from a zombie movie with a few facial muscles still attached.
“Ewww. I’m not eating that.”
“Me neither.”
Yi-na and Ro-si covered their mouths but continued to watch the scene with rapt attention.
“That stuff is really delicious, but… I don’t really want to eat it now either.”
Even Seul-bi, who liked most foods, forced a smile as she watched the president sweating profusely.
Why does our president insist on doing things he’s not good at? Isn’t that kind of thing a cause for business failure?
It happened when the president was cutting the meat from the face.
*Slice. Plop.*
“Aargh!”
“Kyaa!”
The pig’s eyeball, which had fallen off along with the cheek skin, startled the president so much that he dropped the knife.
“Daepyo-nim! Please, just stop! You’re scaring all the kids!”
“…”
President Park Jae-yong hung his head low.
Just then.
“Spicy jokbal is here.”
A delivery driver came in, his hands full of packaged pig’s trotters. The tense time had passed by incredibly quickly.
The president looked at me, his eyes filled with a resentful gaze that seemed to say, ‘You didn’t trust me?’ I returned his look with one that said, ‘I told you not to do it.’
Now, the real party began.
“…Reporters, you can stop and come join us.”
“In that case, we’ll just sit down and conduct the interview for a bit.”
The two reporters happily picked up some jokbal and glasses of makgeolli.
The brewery-special makgeolli that the president had personally procured had an electrifying and savory taste that couldn’t be compared to pasteurized rice wine.
I looked at the jokbal, its glistening sinews spread throughout the muscle. The hair had been perfectly removed, and the well-boiled meat had been lightly smoked over a charcoal fire to remove any odor. It was a high-quality dish.
“Have a drink, Manager. Congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
I took a sip of alcohol and stuffed a thick slice of jokbal into my mouth.
The skin of the jokbal, gelatinized by the heat, was soft and chewy, while the meat was tender and springy, not tough at all. Paired with the spicy sauce, it was undoubtedly one of the best jokbal I’d ever had.
“Wow! I didn’t know jokbal could be this delicious.”
“It goes really well with this makgeolli.”
“Hahaha! Right? It was worth spending the extra money to get it, wasn’t it?”
“Ah… yes, yes.”
The president squeezed in between the reporters and sat down.
“Let me tell you why I specifically chose this brewery. You’ll enjoy it even more once you know.”
“…”
“There are two things that determine the taste of this makgeolli: one is the *nuruk*, the fermentation starter, and the other is the rice. And not just any rice, but how much the new-harvest rice is polished makes a world of difference in taste.”
“…I see.”
The reporters listened to the president’s explanation with strained smiles, while Isa-nim, a couple of seats away, shook her head.
“You know about Junmai and Junmai Daiginjo, right?”
“Of course. Anyone who’s been to an izakaya…”
“Well, the difference between Junmai and Junmai Daiginjo is the rice polishing ratio. This makgeolli also has a high polishing ratio, so the inner part of the rice…”
“Daepyo-nim.”
“Hm?”
Feeling sorry for the reporters, I cut the president off.
“Thank you for everything.”
The president’s playful expression instantly turned bittersweet and serious.
“…You punk… I’m sorry, for a lot of things. I’ll do better from now on.”
Seeing this sincere side of the president for the first time since I joined, I finally felt a sense of camaraderie with him.
President Park Jae-yong smacked his lips with a bitter taste and slowly turned his head.
“…Where was I? Ah! Makgeolli with a high polishing ratio has a deep, subtle umami flavor that you just can’t get from sugar or artificial sweeteners…”
“???”
What an incredible man… truly.