Chapter 43
Chapter 43
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: Foodie Question(1)
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It's a rare day off.
She comes every week, but lately, I haven't really spent my days off like proper days off.
I'd been out and about with Yoon-seul, and my body was tired.
Mentally, it was healing, and above all, playing with my little sister was fun in itself, so I enjoyed it.
"But sometimes, you need to rest."
Today, I decided to stay home.
To fully recharge.
Goro-long—golong—
Last night, I'd made a deal with Yoon-seul not to go anywhere today. Whether she remembered or not,
it was past 10 a.m., and my little sister was still wandering in dreamland.
"Ubub... promise... twinkle..."
As always, she was sleep-talking.
I gently patted her belly, and she mumbled with a smiling face.
She's so cute I want to pinch her cheeks, but if I did, she'd wake up for no reason, so I let her be.
To enjoy some alone time, I turned my gaze to my smartphone screen.
As the home screen opened, I habitually glanced at the app in the bottom right.
Onui Tycoon.
When I'm at the shop, it catches my attention, but at least when I'm home, I decide to use other apps.
I opened NerTube, and the top video popped up.
[Michelin 3-Star Chef's Pork Neck Turns Pitch Black]
The thumbnail showed the chef's face, looking flustered at the charred meat.
I wondered what the circumstances were.
"Curious."
A chef from a 3-star restaurant must be renowned, yet he burned the pork neck completely. As a cook, I couldn't help but wonder why.
The titles of these recent videos are certainly clickbait masters.
It's inevitable.
If the title isn't provocative, no one will watch.
"Ho-yeon Hyung's trigger food was salted pork neck, right?"
Speak of the devil with pork sellers.
Yesterday, when Hyung visited the shop, I got curious and checked the app.
I'd even talked to Moon Lord about it recently.
[Me: Change the interface so I can see trigger foods directly in the app.]
[Moon Lord: Great idea! We've been thinking about utilizing trigger foods more actively. It'd be more efficient than us showing them one by one.]
We were in agreement.
Kang-ssi ajusshi's satisfaction shooting straight to 100 was an event even the siblings hadn't predicted.
The reason was clear.
Store satisfaction gets harder to raise the higher it goes.
It's like how it's easier to boost a 0-score student's grade to 50 than a 50-score student's to 100.
Same principle.
"And yet, serving the trigger food bumped it to 100."
It filled the gap that couldn't be bridged just by food and service alone.
When Ho-yeon Hyung has time, I should invite him back to the shop and test it again. It's easier with him than with regular customers.
I swiped up with my finger to find videos.
Inevitably, my hand went to cooking-related ones.
"The trending stuff is all this kind anyway."
Occasionally some inexplicable algorithmic video pops up, but mostly cooking content.
I clicked on one that looked like an interview with a famous NerTuber and a chef, and an ad played.
I don't do premium. Better to endure ads. I'm too busy with business and childcare to watch often anyway.
But what kind of situation is this, where the ad is more interesting than the video?
[Choonie's Foodie Question]
"Choonie's Foodie Question?"
The ad featured famous Korean chef Kim Young-chun hosting an online quiz show about cooking knowledge.
Pass the prelims to advance to the finals, survive to the end, and win prizes.
Intrigued, I tapped the ad for details.
"What? Finals are today?"
It's online, so entry is pretty open. Pass all prelim questions before finals start, and they'll send the live stream link.
The prizes aren't bad.
"Shall I give it a shot?"
**
The world of dreams.
A familiar landscape.
Yoon-seul sat in a white expanse.
She glared at the two light sources floating in the sky.
"Moon Lord dummy... Sun Lord dummy..."
Upon waking from the dream, memories of the siblings fade. Only fragments of the impressive parts remain.
But coming here makes them vivid again.
She recalled the last encounter.
They'd acted all friendly like they'd play together, then grabbed the rope and went back up to the sky.
'Won't even be friends with Yunseul-i..!'
The firmly piqued 5-year-old.
Another rope descended from the sky.
The siblings climbed on.
They hooked the rope between crossed feet, adjusting speed with practiced skill.
""Hi, Yoon-seul!""
Landing stylishly on the ground, the siblings struck poses like amusement park staff to catch the kid's attention.
Arms raised high and spread wide in an exuberant greeting.
Hmph—
But all that came back was a snort.
That temperature wasn't enough to thaw the 5-year-old's frozen heart.
"Yoon-seul, what's wrong..."
"Hmm... You guys think about it."
Moon Lord tried initiating conversation first, but got a prickly response.
For a five-year-old, it was a high-level dialogue strategy.
- You guys think about it.
A tactic often used by speakers with pent-up anger, leaving the target
at least flustered,
at worst panicked.
But Moon Lord had maintained his ego for eons. He had his own tips for crises like this.
Stay calm and navigate wisely.
"Sun Lord, wanna think about it?"
Passing the buck to his sibling.
Avoidance, basically.
"Hmm... Yoon-seul's mad because last time we didn't let her finish talking?"
"Huh?"
"Before we left, didn't she have something to say?"
"Right..."
"But Ora-beo-ni and I went back up without listening, so she felt ignored?"
"Yeah! Right! How'd you know?!"
Even though she asked, he understood her feelings so well it surprised her. Just like 'Oppa'.
She thought Sun Lord was more reasonable than Moon Lord.
"Our Oppa says that too, listen till the end no matter who. So you two are bad..."
"You're right. Sorry."
Even if Yoon-seul was five, her point was valid. It had been mid-conversation. Strictly speaking, the siblings had said their piece and cut it off unilaterally.
"Thinking about it, yeah, you'd be mad too. But we had our reasons."
"Hmm... What?"
"We can't chat with you here too long. Time limit, gotta head back soon."
Gotta head back soon.
Hearing that, Jang Yoon-seul thought.
So, being friends with them was impossible from the start.
No one to blame.
"Oh, I see!"
She gave the siblings an awkward smile, mature beyond her years.
It was the smile Song Joo-hyun sometimes showed when declining or giving up on something.
The ever-watchful siblings knew it well.
But they hadn't entered her dream to disappoint her.
"Instead."
"Yeah?"
"Once a bit more time passes and the shop gets even better, we might really meet then."
"Even better?"
"Yeah. When Onui Restaurant gets more famous, then Joo-hyun Hyung, you, and us two—we might actually meet."
Moon Lord's words had solid basis.
Rising store fame meant growing sibling influence.
Enough to intervene in reality, via some medium.
"Ooh...!"
Yoon-seul suddenly perked up.
"Then Yunseul-i will help Oppa super hard! Super hard at business! Then we can meet later?"
"Yeah! We can meet. When that happens, let's ride Boong-boong along Seongbuk Stream together."
Sun Lord chimed in.
Only then did Yoon-seul reach out both hands, offering her pinky.
"Pinky promise. No breaking pinky promises. Got it?"
The three hooked fingers
and promised firmly.
Someday strolling Seongbuk Stream in front of the shop together.
With that promise, they grabbed the rope again—yo-heave-ho—they ascended to the sky.
Yoon-seul waved this time, watching them go.
Relieved to have conveyed what she couldn't last time.
Once away from Yoon-seul,
Moon Lord spoke.
"Sun Lord, got it?"
"Of course."
In Sun Lord's hand, climbing the rope diligently, dangled a long strand of hair.
Jang Yoon-seul's.
**
"Uuuung."
A low groan from beside me.
Yoon-seul was waking up.
She wriggled in place, stretched her limbs, and did a little stretch.
"Yoon-seul awake?"
"Yeah, Oppa!"
For just waking up, she sprang up energetically and toddled over, arms wide.
Pat-pat—
I hugged her.
"Feel good after waking up?"
"Yeah!"
Her energy was high today.
She needed this rest too, huh.
"Oppa, what's this?"
"Hm? Oh, this. Quiz solving."
"Quiz?"
"Quiz."
"Kwee-zee?"
The 'kwi' sound was turning French-like. But 'zee' seemed harder than 'kwi'—how'd she nail that?
Yoon-seul peered at my smartphone screen.
[Qualifying Round Questions]
Below that, cooking trivia lined up as questions.
O/X quizzes to multiple choice.
No short answers, probably expecting crowds, so prelims were objective.
Solve them all for finals qualification—but finals were in about '9 hours.'
Live online broadcast for finals. If delayed or advanced a day, no chance to join.
Online format minimizes time constraints, allowing prelims right up to finals—perfect for killing time.
"Oppa doing this?"
"Yeah, gonna try. Wanna do together, Yoon-seul?"
"Yeah!"
I adjusted from lying down, sat her on my lap.
Doing it with her didn't mean playing around.
Zzeak—
Zzeak—
The timer effect sound from the phone speaker.
Online prelims aren't easy. Solid difficulty, must solve within time for finals spot.
"Looks like the time limit's to prevent searching."
Even then, use two devices—one search, one solve. Sloppy deterrent.
Personally, the thrill made it better.
[14. MSG is the abbreviation for 'this.' Which is correct in Korean?]
1. Aspartame
2. Glutamic acid monosodium
3. Saccharin sodium
4. Erythritol
Down to the last two questions now.
Five minutes left—plenty of time.
"Ah... A-spa..."
Hmm—hmm—
"Next one... G... Glu... Glu?"
Hmm—hmm—
Yoon-seul straining her limited Hangul to read the options.
Even if read, she wouldn't grasp meaning. Food additive names dumped raw.
"Yoon-seul, tap 2 please."
"Number 2?"
She held up two fingers to confirm.
"Yeah, the longest name."
Pok.
[Correct!]
A small firework effect announced it. We high-fived.
Clap—
"Oppa and Yoon-seul got it together?"
"Yay!"