Mesugaki and Cooking

"So today, we're making dalgona candy."

I pulled out the gas burner from under the desk and showed it off nicely to the camera. Thank goodness I had this emergency gas burner and butane canister at home—it was a total lifesaver. Without it, today's content would've been fucked.

Though, I did vaguely remember why there was an emergency burner in the first place. Back in the day, this world's Jaejun had bought it just in case the gas got cut off. Real emergency shit.

"And here's the sugar, baking soda... wooden chopstick for stirring, and finally, the mold and tray for shaping it."

Something felt missing... I kept thinking I'd overlooked something crucial, and it was bugging me. What the hell was it?

'I forgot the fucking ladle...!'

Shit. No dalgona ladle—how the hell am I supposed to make it? Just grill it? I'd prepped everything else, but this dumbass forgot the most important tool for melting the sugar. Should've bought the set with the mold at the mart earlier...!

No use crying over spilled milk now. Had to push through this trial somehow.

Things were going tits up, so I scrambled to find ladle substitutes. Wait a sec. A dalgona ladle is still just a ladle, right? As long as it's not some plastic shit that melts over fire, anything should work, yeah?

It was a Nobel-worthy epiphany, the kind that'd win me the World Dalgona Prize if I wrote a paper on it.

"Haa, haa... Ladles are ladles, right? This one's fine over fire since it's metal, so we'll roll with the regular steel ladle."

"What? Steel ladle or dalgona ladle—same difference, ain't it?"

What's the big deal with using a steel ladle for dalgona? As long as it melts the sugar fine, who cares? Viewers are a mystery sometimes.

"Ahem! First, crank the gas burner to max flame."

I set the burner to high flame and lit it. Then dumped a decent amount of sugar into the ladle and held it over the fire.

"Ah, hot...! Nah, not hot... haha."

Unlike the standard dalgona ladle, this regular one gripped from the top, so the heat blasted straight up at my hand.

These assholes were roasting me over one little slip-up. Whatever—I'd make the most delicious-looking dalgona in the world. That was my life's mission right now.

I stuck the wooden chopstick into the sugar starting to melt bit by bit over the intense heat and stirred slowly.

"Hot... no, not hot. Not hot at all... not hot..."

"Call me cute and you're banned...!"

Gritting through the scorching heat, I stirred slowly as the white sugar gradually melted into brown. It burned, but I had to endure. Almost there, Jaejun—hang in just a bit longer...!

The white sugar fully liquefied under the burner's overwhelming power, turning a thick, sticky brown like corn syrup. Weird texture, but I just wanted to wrap this up quick.

"Now add the baking soda."

I stabbed the chopstick into the baking soda, coated it, and plunged it into the sugar. Instantly, the brown liquid foamed up to a yellowish tan.

Stir it quick, pour it out, press it down—done!

"Pour out the dalgona and... squish it down."

Perfect. Couldn't be more perfect. Now I just lift it up, and it's basically done!!!

...Huh? Something felt off as I lifted the tray I'd squished the dalgona onto. Wasn't this supposed to peel off easy? It lifted, but it was super sticky.

"What? What's the problem?"

Couldn't tell from above, so I was puzzled. But as I tried lowering the tray mid-air, I saw the issue.

Why'd the tray stay suspended when I let go? Sensing something wrong, I slowly looked down to check.

'Ah, fuck lol—it's ruined!'

It looked like if Disney's Elsa princess did arts and crafts with sugar instead of ice. A sugary harmony stretched from the floor where the dalgona stuck all the way to the pressing tray. I was losing my mind.

"Haha... ha... fuck."

Too long and stringy like a thread to call dalgona, too filthy-stuck to call beautiful. Anyone would say it failed.

Failed, but maybe still tasty? "Ta-da! Complete...?"

"It's edible, okay? If it's tasty, you all get banned~. Got it?"

Crunch! I chomped off a piece of the tray-stuck dalgona with my teeth and ate it. Hmm... kinda weird? Tastes like dalgona, but the gross look makes it taste off too. Trash it?

"Uw~ hmm... y-yeah, it's... tasty..."

Put it in my mouth, and "tasty" ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was debatable. Silver lining: it was kinda hard, so it had a nice chew.

Hmm... "Urk... bleeech..."

"What do you mean spit?! Wanna all die for real? Want a ban? Ahem... let's try again."

Was gonna rush through and munch some dried squid, but the first dalgona went sideways. Nothing ever went right.

I lifted the now-dirty ladle again, dumped in more sugar, cranked the burner back to high, and started melting. But something felt off little by little.

"What the—why's the chat speed suddenly insane?"

Chat velocity spiked like crazy, regen rate going nuts.

"Fire what... eh? Ehhh!?"

Following the "look down" chats, I glanced at the ladle. The sugar wasn't melting—it was on fire from the insane heat.

Chat wasn't fast; the burner was just OP as fuck.

"F-fuck, what do I do?!"

"Thanks for the 10,000 won donation!! Right... the fire!"

Scored a fat 10k, so thanks first. Hell yeah, 10k...! Following the dono's advice, I killed the burner flame and watched the ladle.

The flaming whatever—it looked like it flew out of some twisted hell—turned black, still burning.

"Hell's dalgona... complete?"

"Fuck you, you crossed the line."

Was gonna let it slide, but that nickname was pure troll cancer—banned.

The ladle still blazed, white sugar turning black until it stopped ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠burning. Now smoke rose from the charred mess.

"Cough... fucked..."

Fire happened but no injury—lucky. But bigger problem remained.

"Gotta toss this ladle?"

The charred sugar stuck like glue; even scrubbing wouldn't save it.

"Fuck... if I scrub hard, maybe I can salvage it?"

I sighed at the dark matter in the ladle.