Chapter 113
Chapter 113
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 114
Chapter Title: New Year's Tteokguk
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“5!”
“4!”
“3!”
“2!”
“1!”
“Happy New Year!!”
The moment the New Year's bells rang out from the TV, Yeonwoo sprang to his feet and shouted.
Then he promptly fell asleep.
For Yeonwoo, who stuck strictly to a regular schedule, midnight was well into dreamland territory.
After exchanging New Year's greetings and promptly dozing off mid-conversation, he brushed his teeth and headed straight to bed. The adults shared a light drink among themselves before everyone turned in.
The next day, Yeonwoo opened his eyes at 9 a.m.—a bit later than usual.
It was his first wake-up of the New Year.
“Huh?”
Something felt off.
Dad wasn’t there beside him.
On days off, Dad usually slept like the dead even after Yeonwoo woke up.
Well, every now and then, right?
Thinking that, Yeonwoo tidied his appearance as always from his spot on the bed and stepped out of the room.
“……!”
The moment he exited, a delicious aroma hit him.
This smell was……
“Beef bone broth!”
In Yeonwoo’s mind, an image of milky-white broth simmered from bones instantly surfaced.
Yeonwoo loved gomtang too.
One might wonder if there was anything he didn’t like, but he’d once tried oxtail soup bubbling away in a pot on a cold winter day and declared it the ultimate broth dish.
But gomtang this early in the morning? No way.
Right—it was New Year’s.
“Tteokguk!”
The ritual to age one year older: tteokguk day.
Technically, it was supposed to be eaten on Lunar New Year’s, but in Yeonwoo’s house, they had it on both New Year’s Day and Seollal.
Suddenly, he recalled one of his few dark histories from last year—when he’d innocently asked if eating it twice meant he aged two years.
His aunt had teased him mercilessly about it; he still got mad thinking back.
Anyway, was this just plain tteokguk, or tteokmanduguk with dumplings?
Tteokmanduguk wasn’t bad, but Yeonwoo preferred dumplings separate and tteokguk pure if they were making it anyway.
The broth just ended up tasting like dumplings otherwise.
But who was making tteokguk this early?
Grandma usually handled breakfast. Heo Ok, who’d struggled with low blood pressure in the mornings, had been properly managing it with hospital visits at Yeonwoo’s insistence. She no longer dreaded mornings, and her routine had synced with his, so she was up early too.
But if it were Grandma, she’d have called out the second she heard him stir: “Yeonwoo, you up?”
No way it was Aunt.
Out of everyone Yeonwoo knew, she was the biggest slacker.
That left one person.
“Dad?”
“Yeah? Oh, you’re up, son?”
Spot on.
In the kitchen was Dad, Jihoon.
Dad was wearing vinyl gloves, bustling around rustling something. On closer look, he was crumbling seasoned seaweed flakes.
“Oh, this? I forgot to buy powdered seaweed. Figured we’d make do with this.”
“Dad made the tteokguk?”
“Yeah. Thought I’d show off my skills for once.”
“Dad’s good at cooking?”
Yeonwoo found the idea of a cooking dad a little unfamiliar.
At that, Jihoon chuckled and replied.
“Yeonwoo, every dad in the world has one or two killer dishes up his sleeve. Oh, tteokguk’s not mine, though—this is basic stuff.”
“Killer dish?!”
“Didn’t you try it before? Your dad’s the emperor of budae jjigae.”
“Really? That’s gotta be tasty!”
Jihoon’s eyes lit up at that.
“Right? How about budae jjigae for lunch or dinner today?”
“Sounds good!”
“Alright, oh, it’s done. Yeonwoo, can you wake Grandma and Aunt?”
“Sure!”
Yeonwoo dashed over and planted himself in front of the master bedroom. He knocked politely, listened for a moment, then opened the door.
“Grandma?”
“Hmm? Yeonwoo?”
“You up?”
At Yeonwoo’s question, Heo Ok sat up in bed.
“Yeah, been up a while now.”
“Dad made tteokguk! Come eat quick!”
“Jihoon did? Alright, be right out.”
After waking Grandma, Yeonwoo headed to Aunt’s room.
He knocked the same way, and hearing no stir, opened the door and went in.
“Whoa…….”
He couldn’t help but gasp in admiration.
Aunt wasn’t sleeping vertically straight on the bed—she was sprawled horizontally across it.
Her legs were dangling off the edge.
How does she even sleep like that?
Yeonwoo tilted his head but approached and tapped her legs.
“Aunt? Aunt, get up!”
“Mmmmmm…….”
Jiyeong just grumbled a bit, showing no signs of waking.
Yeonwoo tickled the soles of her feet lightly. She was super ticklish.
“Ow! Ack! What? Yeonwoo? Cut it out!!!”
“Get up—Dad made tteokguk!”
“Oppa did? Is it edible? Wait, that’s not the point—leave your aunt be in the morning.”
Yeonwoo climbed onto the bed and shook her vigorously.
“You still gotta eat! It’s New Year’s tteokguk! You gonna skip aging a year?”
Jiyeong flinched at that.
“Saying it like that just makes me want it less.”
Wasn’t it basically saying she was nearing forty? Thirty felt like yesterday, and now forty was right around the corner.
“Seriously, I won’t eat tteokguk and won’t age a year if I can help it. So leave your aunt alone.”
“No way!”
Yeonwoo shook her harder, then switched to tickling all over.
Jiyeong writhed like an earthworm sprinkled with salt but finally grabbed Yeonwoo and pulled him into a hug.
“Argh, fine—let’s sleep together like this, Yeonwoo!”
Even at eight, Yeonwoo was still warm and smelled nice.
It was so cozy, sleep started creeping back in.
“Aunt, you have to get up!!”
But Yeonwoo wouldn’t let her.
“Aaaah! Okay, okay, I surrender! I’m up, I’m up!!”
Relentlessly tickled, Jiyeong finally gave in and got out of bed.
Thus, the four of them grudgingly gathered at the table.
Before them sat steaming tteokguk, white steam rising from the bowl.
“What’s this—no egg shreds? I can’t eat tteokguk without ’em.”
“Oh, forgot about the egg shreds. Yeonwoo loves them too.”
“Not me—you mean for Yeonwoo.”
“Isn’t that obvious? It’d take too long now anyway—just eat. Mom, dig in.”
“Alright.”
As Heo Ok picked up her spoon, the family followed suit.
Pleased there were no dumplings in his tteokguk, Yeonwoo scooped up some broth a few times.
Only then did he sprinkle on the seaweed powder.
“No egg shreds, but you chopped the green onions nice.”
“Yeonwoo insists on green onions in bone broth.”
“It all leads back to Yeonwoo, huh?”
“Naturally.”
And so it did.
Yeonwoo added the chopped green onions with the seaweed powder, then dug into the tteokguk proper.
Dad’s tteokguk was the best.
After tteokguk, the family headed to the studio together to spend time as a group.
The house only had the dining table for everyone to gather around.
“Guess we should clear out the living room piano after all. No point trekking back and forth between home and studio.”
Holding Yeonwoo’s hand as they walked, Heo Ok felt the chill in the air and tucked in his clothes while speaking.
“That thing’s expensive, Mom. Hate to toss it.”
“Who said toss? I mean move the piano to the studio and put a sofa in the living room instead.”
“That could work.”
Jihoon said so, but his mind was elsewhere.
Originally, after putting out the immediate fires, he’d planned to move out as scheduled.
Find someone to help with the kid, gain some financial breathing room, and live just the two of them.
But somehow, it had turned out like this.
Now, he couldn’t even imagine separating Yeonwoo from Grandma.
No—Jihoon himself wouldn’t mind, but Yeonwoo would never allow it.
Still awkward around his mother, Jihoon knew it wasn’t his place to change things anymore.
Before he knew it, the four had arrived at the studio.
They opened the door and stepped in.
“Huh?”
“What’s this? Wakana?”
Wakana was in the studio.
“Wakana noona, it’s a day off—why’re you here?”
At that, Wakana replied with sad eyes.
“Head office assigned me work…….”
“What? They don’t take holidays? Black company?”
To Jiyeong’s words, Wakana looked at Yeonwoo and said.
“It’s because of President Kim Beomsin. His two songs hit No. 3 on Melboard back-to-back, so he’s got a ton of American attention.”
“So?”
“You guys haven’t checked our YouTube channel?”
They hadn’t bothered lately since no new videos went up this week.
“We’re over 8 million now…….”
“No way—that fast?”
Just a few weeks ago, it was 5 million.
The family was stunned that 3 million more subscribers had piled on in such a short time.
“Probably from him hitting another Edel Rich Show appearance after two straight hits. He mentioned Yeonwoo there.”
“And the ripple effect boosted our YouTube subs?”
“Exactly. So they rushed us to add English subs to every video on the channel…….”
Truth be told, Wakana wasn’t one to work holidays even if ordered. For her to give up her day off like this?
“Nanase made you, huh?”
“……Yeah, unnie.”
Nanase was unavoidable.
Wakana’s position was ambiguous between head office and SSHIN.
She had no choice but to heed the real power player, Nanase.
“But shouldn’t that get reported to me and Yeonwoo?”
“From the presidents’ perspective, it’s no big deal—if I handle it upfront, they figured Datemura exec would report later.”
“……Fair point.”
Meanwhile, having checked his sister and son’s YouTube channel, Jihoon gazed at Yeonwoo with a strange expression.
It was sinking in that his son was the composer who’d sent that Kim Beomsin guy to Melboard.
As a parent, it felt oddly surreal.
Me, parent to a kid the world’s watching.
“So, you done with work?”
“Yeah…… I busted my butt to finish today and rest, but ended up pulling an all-nighter till now.”
Seeing Wakana slumped over, Jiyeong tsked and said.
“I’ll talk to Nanase—take a week off. Visit your hometown if you want.”
Wakana’s sad face vanished as she flung herself down in a deep bow.
“Th-thank you, President! You’re the only one who looks out for me.”
With that, Wakana bolted without looking back.
Watching her go, Yeonwoo turned to Jiyeong.
“Aunt, you think Wakana noona’s heading home?”
“Nope.”
“Right? She’s been obsessed with that popup store thing lately. Probably off to that.”
A K-POP and Korean culture otaku, Wakana.
Loving it so much she worked right in the heart of K-POP—maybe she was a success story for a fan?
Though she didn’t exactly look thrilled……
“Yeonwoo, should we give Wakana…… a raise?”
“Would that mean more money for her?”
“Yep.”
“Then I’m all for it. Wakana noona can’t go anywhere else. She edits my YouTube videos so well too.”
And apparently, Yeonwoo saw Wakana as his personal YouTube editor shuttle.