Soy Sauce Egg Rice I Made in My Studio on a Day Off
Soy Sauce Egg Rice I Made in My Studio on a Day Off
The current head of the Golden Wagon, Camilla Wagon, was someone who had known nothing but success from the moment she formally took over the merchant group until now.
At the mere age of fifteen, she was already considered to have surpassed her father—the man who had built the Golden Wagon's foundation.
She seized control of the Golden Wagon before she was even fully of age, headhunting exceptional talents like Kobi to climb to her current standing.
She'd only ever flourished. Failure simply didn't exist in her world.
Kobi, who had seen Camilla up close for years, understood her completely.
Naturally, she must have believed Lucas would accept her proposal.
And why wouldn't she? She was arguably the only person in the entire Empire who could offer more money than the Emperor himself.
But Kobi knew the truth.
Lucas was going to reject her offer.
After all, by leaving the Princess's Knight Order, Lucas had effectively refused a position within the Imperial Knight Order itself.
Kobi currently assessed that out of all the Imperial children, Princess Diana was the most likely candidate to succeed as the next Emperor.
And Lucas had walked away from Diana's own order?
That was no different from tossing aside a post in the greatest knight order that would someday protect the next ruler of the Empire.
Kobi concluded that money simply wasn't a tempting condition for a knight like Lucas.
Though Camilla clearly had a different read on the situation.
"What did the man say when he refused?"
"He said if you wanted to eat his cooking that badly, the Danju should come personally."
"He told me to come myself?"
"Yes."
"Hoh... is that so."
Kobi kept a straight face, but he caught the corners of Camilla's lips threatening to twitch upward.
"He can't be honest. So he wants to say it to my face in person? Fufufu."
Kobi briefly considered telling her the truth as he watched her struggle to suppress her laughter.
The truth that even if the Danju went in person, she would never succeed in hiring Lucas as her personal chef.
His resolve to open his own restaurant was just that unshakable.
But experiencing a setback was necessary for her, too.
'Failure makes a person tougher.'
And so, Kobi kept his mouth shut.
Even if she failed to scout Lucas, no great fortune would be lost over it.
"Kobi, you know what? Ever since I ate that man's cooking, every single dish in the capital has tasted like garbage."
"The same goes for me."
"Right. My life changed after eating that thing called Doenjang-jjigae."
Maybe just imagining it brought the flavor back to her mind.
Camilla licked her lips before continuing.
"Steak made by so-called first-class chefs now feels like chewing on a cardboard box, and dishes made with premium ingredients just taste like someone carelessly tossed together some magic reagents."
"......."
"It's been months since I've tasted that flavor. That man has to take responsibility for making me this way, don't you agree?"
Kobi couldn't bring himself to answer.
It felt like if he gave the wrong answer, the responsibility for the failure might just land squarely on his own shoulders.
As if she could read his mind, Camilla flashed a bright smile.
"I suppose I'll just have to go down there and persuade him personally. To become my private chef."
Finishing her sentence, Camilla hummed a little tune as she flicked her abacus beads.
"Hmm-hm-hm~."
Suddenly, her appetite roared to life.
She wanted to find him right away and eat the food he made with his own hands.
That bubbling Doenjang-jjigae with the premium Chadolbagi cooked inside.
***
Some days just hit you like that.
A day where you don't want to do anything.
Where you don't want to go to work, don't want to even roll out of bed.
The kind of day where you just want to melt into the floor, wrapped in a blanket, phone in hand, staring at a screen.
"Ah, I don't want to do anything."
Today was exactly one of those days.
"I don't even want to get up."
But there was no phone in my hand.
Ah, right. This isn't Korea.
Damn it.
I just wanted to hold a smartphone, mindlessly browse the web, and watch some videos.
Two weeks had flown by in a mad rush after the grand opening of the Knight Restaurant.
I'd been so busy I barely had time to breathe.
Way more customers showed up than I had anticipated.
Lunch, dinner—it didn't matter.
I can confidently say I didn't get a single moment's rest.
The Viscounty's Internal Affairs office, the knights, and even the regular soldiers all flocked in, packing the lunch hour.
I was pretty sure there were other cooks inside the castle, but these folks had absolutely no intention of eating whatever that guy was making.
And that wasn't even the half of it.
Starting last week, Michelle began showing up every other day before opening hours to order seafood.
How she even knew I'd been out fishing was beyond me—she appeared like clockwork on every single fishing day.
- Braised Mackerel... will I be able to taste it today?
- So this is Grilled Spanish Mackerel. The grain of the meat is similar to mackerel, but the flavor is subtly different.
- That fried thing you made last time... is that not possible?
And before I knew it, enduring those hectic evenings would lead straight into supply day.
- Isn't the order volume going up every day? At this rate, our Coco farms and meat ranches won't be able to keep up.
The ranch owners managing the Pog Ranch and the Coco chicken farm all said it with a laugh.
Of course, the farmers were the same.
- We're living the high life thanks to you, Sir Lucas. Haha! Thank you for buying at such a generous price.
Processing and trimming the ingredients I'd ordered would somehow carry me right into the dinner rush.
Then came the drinking crowd that showed up at night.
Once that day ended, another began. This stretch had been even busier than my days in the Knight Order.
"Today, I really don't want to do jack."
Lying flat on the floor, I stared at the ceiling and muttered to myself.
It was past 10 in the morning, but I still hadn't washed up, scratching at my rat's nest of bedhead.
How could I afford to be this leisurely, you ask?
Today was one of the two monthly days off.
Recharge for a day once every two weeks.
That was the promise I made to myself when I opened this place.
No matter how well the business did, I intended to keep this rule.
If you keep flooring it without brakes just because business is booming, you eventually crash.
Or you just break down somewhere.
So you've got to take proper breaks and refuel.
Like right now.
Lying starfished, staring at the ceiling, doing absolutely nothing.
Growwwl.
My stomach was raising hell, demanding to be fed.
"Ugh, but I still gotta eat. Yeah."
I know I have to eat, but...
"Why is everything so much effort."
Roll.
I tossed and turned before painfully dragging myself up.
"Urrrghk!"
My entire body let out a series of loud cracks.
I stretched as wide as my limbs would go, then staggered toward the kitchen.
My house was built separately from the restaurant, in a spot with a great view, not too far away. A safe place within the Viscounty where there was no risk of outside threats.
In Korean terms, I guess you'd call it a premium spot in the rural downtown?
I opened the Mana Refrigerator I'd installed at home.
Unlike the flashy, massive ones in the restaurant, this one was just slightly taller than me.
It was a given that the home fridge would be smaller than the industrial ones.
Even knowing that, I felt a tiny bit resentful every time I used it.
Like I should've just ordered a slightly bigger fridge.
I had all those expensive, deluxe fridges packed in the restaurant, yet my own house had just this single little one?
"This feels a bit unfair."
I grumbled as I opened the door.
"Huh?"
Unlike the restaurant's fridge, which was stuffed to the brim with ingredients, my home fridge was completely barren.
Just a few Coco eggs, a container of kimchi in a small side dish tub, and some sealed green onions left over from trimming at the restaurant.
It was as if the fridge was staging a protest, asking why I'd even considered buying a bigger one.
"Is this it?"
Seriously?
I'd been so busy I didn't have the time to take care of my own home.
I took most of my meals at the restaurant, cooking with the ingredients there.
So it only made sense that the house was empty.
"Though I'd really rather not go to the restaurant..."
Today, I didn't want to do anything but just crash at home.
"Fine. I'll cook with what I've got."
Lack of ingredients wasn't a good enough reason to head over there.
Today was my precious bi-weekly day off.
I washed the uncooked rice, got it in the pot, lit the fire, and sat there zoning out, waiting for it to finish.
While watching it cook, my mind drifted.
'Should I scramble the eggs into the rice and make Golden Fried Rice? Or just fry the eggs and mix them with rice and soy sauce for some Soy Sauce Egg Rice?'
Golden Fried Rice would definitely taste better, but I weighed that against the amount of dishwashing involved with frying versus not frying.
'Considering the size of the frying pan, the wok splatter, and rice pellets flying everywhere...'
Okay.
Decision made.
Today's breakfast menu.
'Soy Sauce Egg Rice it is.'
The loner's oldest and best friend: Soy Sauce Egg Rice.
A magical dish that's finished the moment you mix a sunny-side-up egg with soy sauce and sesame oil.
"Ah, my mouth's watering."
Just as the rice was nearly done, I placed a frying pan on the Flare Range.
Even with both the rice cooker and the pan on the burners, I still had two more ranges left.
'Is this really a place for just one person to live?'
I couldn't help it—the kitchen was the one part I obsessed over when designing this house.
A massive U-shaped layout with a sink, four Flare Ranges, an oven, and a separate island table so big that six people could sit and eat with room to spare.
I'd stuffed every drawer with all kinds of seasonings, too.
It was probably safe to say I'd packed most of the restaurant's inventory right here.
The kitchen was as big as the living room.
I was an idiot. Yes, I regret the hubris of my past self.
What good was a kitchen this massive?
I was too lazy to even use it.
This whole disaster came from a stupidly misguided vow to give 100% even when cooking at home.
"But I have it, so I might as well use it."
Still grumbling, I took out two Coco eggs and a green onion.
Before cracking the eggs, I took half the white part of the neatly prepped onion and sliced it thin.
Ch-ch-ch-chop!
I poured oil into the frying pan. The critical part was maintaining a 1:1 ratio of sesame oil to cooking oil.
Frying the egg with sesame oil deepens the nutty flavor way more than eating it raw.
Maybe because the oil gets cooked twice?
I poured a spoonful of each oil and heated it over low heat.
Into the warming pan went the thinly sliced green onion.
A sharp sizzle.
The key was letting the oil fully absorb that green onion fragrance.
It provides just the right amount of savory depth without needing any fancy seasonings.
Garlic would have added an even deeper flavor, but my fridge was currently devoid of it.
When the savory scent of onion started wafting up from the low-heat oil, I cracked two Coco eggs.
The eggs settled into place among the frying onion slices.
A steady crackle.
The clear whites turned opaque, bubbling in the grease as they cooked.
Pop! Pop! The oil splattered as the whites fried.
The core point here was the abundance of oil, letting them almost deep-fry. It brought out just a bit more savoriness than standard egg rice.
Even if just slightly, the texture changed.
I added soy sauce over the egg and onion frying in the oil.
Exactly two spoonfuls.
Just the right amount to season it properly.
You could stir the soy sauce, egg, and fried onion together slowly over low heat depending on your preference, but...
"Egg rice has to be sunny-side up. No exceptions."
The fresher the eggs, the more exquisite the runny yolk.
I loved it cooked just to the point where pressing down with a spoon would make the yolk burst and coat the rice grains.
If the eggs aren't fresh, it's better to cook them fully, but otherwise, runny was unbeatable.
A hiss of oil.
Once I confirmed the whites were fully cooked through from the heat, I turned off the range and opened the rice pot.
Hot steam billowed from the just-cooked fresh rice.
Feeling the intense heat, I scooped a generous portion into a bowl.
"Nice and sticky rice, perfect."
Not too mushy, not too dry—just right.
After dishing it out, I placed the finished soy-marinated fried egg on top.
"And the egg and soy sauce oil is nice."
The green onions, saturated with brown soy sauce and oil, along with the egg—whites firm, yolk perfectly runny—rested on top of the steaming white rice.
The reason I didn't just mix the soy sauce straight into the eggs was precisely because of these onions.
Soaked in oil and soy sauce, they had become a thick, savory, and deeply umami-packed marinade.
"This is going to be good."
When I'm lazy, it's gotta be Soy Sauce Egg Rice.
Simple, easy, and barely any dishes to wash.
If you only had cold rice instead of hot, just lightly stir-fry it together and you've still got a perfectly delicious meal.
I popped the runny yolk with my spoon.
The viscous yolk oozed out, swirling into the brown soy sauce and green onion oil.
The yolk and soy oil painted over the white rice in their respective shades, releasing a pleasant, mouthwatering aroma.
"Oh yeah~."
That's the scent.
This is the fragrance.
This is the reason I eat soy sauce egg rice.
"Kimchi, yes."
I grabbed the kimchi I'd set out earlier and placed it right on top of the mixed egg rice concoction.
A beautiful palette of colors. A harmony of bright red and light brown.
I scooped up the single biggest spoonful I could physically hold and took a bite.
"Mm."
Cheeks bulging full, I chewed.
The cool, crisp kimchi and the salty, nutty egg rice synced up perfectly.
A very thorough scoop with the spoon, then another bite.
Munch munch.
Then a bite of kimchi with my chopsticks.
Crunch!
This was heaven.
Isn't this the ultimate quick recipe for loners? Ready in five minutes if the rice is already made?
"Delicious."
It was tasty, even without any special ingredients.
I felt a deep satisfaction in having scarfed down a proper, easy meal.
The eating took less time than the cooking.
In under five minutes, the bowl of Soy Sauce Egg Rice was completely empty.
"A little small on the portion though..."
Should I make one more bowl? There were a few more eggs left.
It was just as I glanced at the frying pan.
"Boss! Booooss!!!"
I heard Liana's voice yelling from outside.
Why in the world was she at my house?
"I need your help, Boss!"
"It's my day off—what's the matter? We're not open today."
"It's not about the restaurant! They said a wild Tuu appeared on nearby Mount Conwell. Sir Heimer, the knight order, and the Young Lord have all taken the soldiers and headed to Mount Conwell!"
A wild Tuu?
There was only one creature called a Tuu.
A fierce feral bull.
A bull came here?
Purrrrrr.
A wild ingredient had appeared.