Evenly Cooked
"Ah... Ahhh!! Let me out!! Please let me out!!"
Jia screamed in agony, repeatedly banging her body against the oven walls.
The polarizing filter was turned off now, making the inside clearly visible from the outside, and vice versa.
"Well then, let us begin," Minji announced.
Ignoring the screams, she turned a large valve next to the oven.
The valve had been intentionally tightened to add a dramatic flair; it required a heavy wrench of her arm before it finally gave way with a loud, metallic clank.
Unlike a typical commercial oven, no dim yellow bulb flickered to life.
Instead, a brilliant, daylight-bright LED illuminated the chamber.
This was to ensure the guests could clearly witness every detail of the Yeochuk's final moments.
Realizing what the bright light meant, Jia—
"Ah... ahhh... ahhhhh?!?!?"
—screamed even harder.
Her left breast, completely drained of fat and milk until it looked like a hideously squeezed lemon, sagged and bounced in tandem with her frantic shrieks.
"Nooo! Don't turn it on! Don't turn it on! Pwease!!"
"It's already on," Minji replied smoothly.
"I am truly looking forward to this," one of the men remarked.
"It's a bit of a shame her breasts are ruined, though."
"Doesn't that make it even better?"
"My, what an exquisite taste you have."
Ignoring her entirely, the men continued to share their critiques.
"Hi... hieek... hieee..."
The slowly rising heat of the oven began to prickle against Jia's skin.
"Ah... ahhhhh! Ahhhhh! Nooo! Don't roast me! Pwease don't roast meeee!!!"
Sinking deeper into panic, Jia thrashed wildly, her body slamming against the metal walls with dull thuds.
She was struggling so violently that several of her fingers snapped, dangling uselessly without her even realizing it.
"Hic... ahhh... ahhhhh... ah... hic? It's hot... I don't wanna die... I don't wanna dieee..."
Jia frantically looked around, searching for any way to survive.
"Sis! Just give up!" Jihun's mock encouragement drifted in.
"It's much easier if you just give up!" Minji chimed in.
"Cheer up, you fucking Korean slut!"
"You must be a delicious roasted slut!!"
The foreigners' mock cheers followed.
"Ugh... what do I do... hic... what do I do... I don't wanna die... I don't wanna become meat..."
With no one offering a helping hand, Jia scrambled blindly inside the oven.
As the heat intensified, sweat began to bead on her skin, only to be instantly parched by the dry, baking air.
"What do I do... why does it itch... why does it itch... ahhh..."
As the sweat evaporated, the salty residue seeped into the deep scores carved into her flesh.
The salt mixed with the basting sauce, creating a bizarre, agonizing sensation that felt like a thousand tiny needles scratching at her skin.
"What's happening... what's happening... why does it itch so much... why does it itchhh..."
The "itch" was actually her nerves screaming in agony as her skin began to undergo rapid thermal necrosis, akin to severe frostbite.
But of course, no one in the room was kind enough to explain this to her. The men simply watched, amused, as Jia clawed at herself in a blind panic like a monkey picking at fleas.
"Hic... it's too itchy... it's so itchy..."
The itching was the least of her worries, but Jia had long since lost the cognitive capacity to realize that.
Sobbing and babbling like an infant, she dug her fingernails deep into her flesh, scratching maniacally.
With every scrape of her nails, her weakened skin peeled away like the rind of a ripe fruit.
"It's funny, but it's getting a bit boring, isn't it?"
"Hey, you fucking whore! Put on a show for us!"
One of the men hurled his whiskey glass. It struck the oven window with a sharp crack and shattered.
Startled by the sound of shattering glass, Jia—
"Hieek?!"
—flinched violently, curling herself into a tight ball.
Even then, she didn't stop scratching at her skin like a rabid animal.
"Hey, you fucking bitch! You think we paid all this money just to watch you scratch yourself?"
"Dance for us, you worthless cunt!"
"These fucking Hannyeo are always so goddamn toxic. No sense of service whatsoever!"
Like obnoxious visitors at a zoo, the men began throwing their glasses one after another, the heavy crystal thudding against the glass.
"Kyaaak!! Kieeeek!!?!?!"
Yet Jia could do nothing but shriek like a caged beast, cowering in terror.
Shards of glass and amber liquor rained down, washing over the viewing window.
After a moment,
"Well, well! If she keeps this up, maybe Minji should do something 'instead'!" one of the men joked suggestively.
"Ah... my apologies, valued guests. In that case..."
Minji pondered for a second.
"I would be deeply honored if this satisfies you."
With that, she casually stripped off her clothes.
"I will perform in her stead until the oven reaches the optimal temperature."
Now completely naked, Minji assumed a seductive expression and began performing the "Zero Two Dance" that had once gone viral on social media.
With every provocative sway of her hips, thick arousal dripped down her thighs, her heavy breasts bouncing rhythmically.
"Magnificent."
"I'd certainly love to taste her texture next time."
"Particularly her breasts. I bet they'd be incredibly tender."
"Thank you for the compliment," Minji replied with a demure smile.
"..."
Jihun was briefly taken aback, but quickly dismissed the thought.
Well, it is that kind of place, after all.
Meanwhile, the temperature inside the oven continued to climb.
"Ah... ah... hot... so hottt..."
Jia panted heavily. The sweat that had once evaporated instantly was now pouring down her body in thick, heavy streams.
"What do I do... I'm gonna die... I don't wanna die... don't wanna die... ah... ahhhhh..."
Jia struggled to her feet again, looking around wildly.
And then,
"Ah... ahhhhh!!!"
She spotted a small opening in the corner of the oven.
It was just large enough for a human head to fit through.
Jia shoved her head through the opening, her face bursting out into the room.
"Excuse me!! Stop the oven!! Please turn it off, pleaseeee!!!!"
"Ah, now the real show begins."
"This is going to be quite entertaining."
The men, who had been killing time watching Minji dance, turned their eyes toward Jia's protruding head with renewed interest.
"Let's raise the temperature a bit more," Minji said. Seeing the men's attention shift back to Jia, Minji stopped dancing and walked over to the control panel.
"Nooo... don't turn it... don't raise the heat..."
Vaguely understanding what Minji's actions meant, Jia shrieked in terror, but—
"Pull one out first," Minji instructed.
At her command, one of the staff members grabbed Jia's head, pinning it firmly.
"Kyaaaaaak!!!!!"
He shoved a pair of pliers into her mouth and ripped out a healthy tooth.
"Agh?!??!?! Kuaaaak!?!?!??!"
From the sheer agony, yellow bile mixed with dark blood spewed from her mouth.
"She looks like a lion statue on a fountain," one of the men chuckled.
Jia hurriedly tried to pull her head back inside, but—
"It's hot... sob... ugh... don't pull them... don't pull them... you can't pull my teeth out..."
—the scorching heat of the oven blasted her body, forcing her to thrust her head back out.
Like a grotesque game of Whac-A-Mole, her head would pop out, a tooth would be ripped out, she would retreat, and then pop out again. This was repeated three times.
"Ah... ahhh... ah... ugh... ughhh..."
After the last tooth was yanked, she couldn't even bring herself to pull her head back in.
The extraction was excruciating, but the heat inside the oven was far beyond what her body could endure.
"Hot... pwease... turn it off... I beg you... pwease... ugh... gasp..."
With her flushed, swollen face poking out, Jia panted like a dog, drooling bloody saliva.
"Hic... what do I do... I'm being boiled... I'm being boiled alive... what do I do now..."
"What do you mean, 'what do you do'? You become meat, you dumb bitch. And it's not boiled pork, it's oven-roasted," Jihun sneered.
By now, Jia's body had long passed its thermal limit, and her flesh was beginning to undergo a physical transformation.
"Ah... ah... ugh... ah..."
Her failing body could no longer hold anything in.
The fat beneath her skin began to melt, oozing out of the deep scores on her breasts and mixing with her leaking milk.
The mixture of fat and curdled milk slowly baked under the intense heat, turning a brownish hue like bloody pus. It released a bizarre, sickening odor—somewhere between rotting flesh and fermentation.
Blisters bubbled up rapidly along the edges of the cuts as her skin literally roasted.
"Ahhh... agh... it hurts... it's hot... pwease... pwease let me out... I'm sorry for being a Hannyeo... I'm sorry for being a girl... so pwease..."
With a wet pop, the blisters burst, sending streams of yellow fluid running down her charred body.
"Hot... hot... I'm burning to death..."
Inside her wide-open mouth, her tongue writhed grotesquely like a dancing cobra.
Her evenly roasting torso twitched and spasmed, glistening with its own rendered juices.
And then,
"Ah... ahhh... ah...?"
With a sudden clunk, the oven shut off.
"?"
The oven door swung open, and a rush of cool air flooded the chamber.
The staff of Hana Livestock grabbed Jia's roasted body and dragged her out.
As the men's hands made contact with her flesh, more blisters ruptured, her cooked skin peeling away in slick sheets while the basting sauce ran over the raw, exposed meat.
"Thank... thank you... ugh... for letting me out... for saving me... thank you... thank you... hic..."
Though her melted, fused nerves sent waves of unimaginable agony screaming through her body, Jia could only babble her gratitude.
"Thank you... thank you..."
She slurred the words repeatedly, shedding tears of pure, desperate joy.
But of course, they hadn't pulled her out to save her.
"The theme of today's banquet is to enjoy the evolving flavors of the ingredient step-by-step through the cooking process," Minji explained.
"Eh... eh...?"
Minji bowed politely—still completely naked—and addressed the guests.
"Therefore, we shall begin by tasting her in her 'rare' state."
In Minji's hand was a razor-sharp sashimi knife.