The VIP Room
In the VIP room of the branch.
A space that once seemed like it would never be stepped on in my lifetime. However, now it could be said that I was familiar with it, and entering and exiting this place had become routine.
On the large monitor, the PPT slides. Along with the Ciel Bank logo, the text floated.
- The bank that opens success.
- Invest in your success.
A slightly embarrassing sentence. It was the core copy of the ad I would shoot.
“Does this mean I have to say this line?”
Team Leader Jeong Soo-yeon nodded lightly with a smile.
“Yes. Don’t put too much pressure on it. That awkwardness might actually come across as sincerity. It’s about opening your heart to a speech without embellishment rather than something crafted.”
Click.
Pressing the remote, the slide changed.
An old Go board. An old baduk board. The figure of someone reviewing a game record alone, flipping through it.
The specific filming content, but to my eyes, it seemed too contrived and awkward.
“... It’s a bit too on-the-nose, isn’t it?”
The CF filming director chimed in with a laugh.
According to Team Leader Jeong’s words, the one who is recently well-regarded in the industry is...
“That’s the point. The genuine feeling that makes your hands and feet cramp up. An intuitive message that only your success can convey.”
“... Actually, I’ve been preparing since In-ha-ssi made it to the round of 16. The plan, concept, script, message—everything.”
At those words, I couldn’t help but let out a laugh.
“From the beginning...”
Team Leader Jeong had pushed the work with trust beyond the contract, and I had repaid that expectation with results. A win-win relationship where both parties trust each other. The words are easy, but a relationship that doesn’t hold without trust. On one hand, it was somewhat grateful, on the other, a strange feeling arose.
“Don’t worry about the filming either. The requirements are different, and most importantly, it can’t interfere with the game. Please continue to trust and follow as you’ve done until now.”
I nodded silently. The ad was not my domain. As Team Leader Jeong said, it was better to leave it to the experts. But the contract was different.
“Add 2,000 to the existing contract. And when reaching the finals, add 5,000 as an incentive and CF model fee. Is that correct?”
Looking calmly at the contract clauses, I asked, and Team Leader Jeong nodded.
“Yes. It’s an amount reflecting In-ha-ssi’s popularity and expansion potential. The CF filming schedule being brought forward is also for the same reason.”
In summary, it was like this. Originally, the contract was that filming would be conditioned on reaching the finals. But due to the popularity exploding faster and bigger than expected. Various community best posts. Sensational thumbnails and stitched videos from YouTube’s second ‘reprocessed channels’. With the seasoning of ‘national pride’ on top, it exploded through the algorithm.
“But I don’t feel it...”
No one recognized me while walking on the street or using public transportation. But after shooting the ad, becoming the bank promotion slogan, and money contracts coming in. It was an unbalanced reality.
“Should we proceed like this?”
I looked at the contract again, then raised my head.
“Let’s do this. I won’t receive the 2,000.”
“Eh?”
Team Leader Jeong’s eyebrows rose thinly.
“Remove the 5,000 CF model fee from the contract as well.”
“Kim In-ha, what are you saying right now...”
I continued quietly.
“In exchange, when winning the championship, add 1.5 billion as an incentive including the additional CF model fee. Let’s do that.”
After all, it was an unbalanced reality. At times like this, it didn’t seem bad to take on the risk. It was also a way to make money that wasn’t there. After all, my goal was to win the championship. This seemed like a more ‘me’ choice.
Team Leader Jeong couldn’t continue for a moment, then smiled. A smile with a somewhat different feeling from usual.
“Really, Kim In-ha-ssi is an unpredictable person.”
“So, is that bad?”
“No. I like it. It’s boring to see through someone’s heart.”
Her smile looking at me deepened. A crescent moon smile more curved than a new moon left a strange aftertaste.
“I’ll report it above. The approval... I’ll somehow get it.”
I smiled lightly and nodded in satisfaction. This was enough. A result where both parties were satisfied.
As the conversation was about to conclude with progress, Team Leader Jeong opened her mouth again.
“Ah, and one more thing.”
As if recalling something, she added.
“An entertainment appearance schedule has also been set.”
“Entertainment?”
“Do you know Who Today?”
I unconsciously raised my head.
“I know. No, it’s not an entertainment show I don’t know.”
Who Today. A talk show that handles the specialness of ordinary people rather than stars. A people-centered healing entertainment. Famous for high buzz of YouTube shorts or highlight videos compared to viewership. It even rose to real-time search with short clips.
“Kim In-ha-ssi will appear on Who Today. The schedule will be a solo episode, and...”
“...”
“Promotion and marketing will start today. Since it’s an entertainment that can become a topic just by appearing.”
I couldn’t say anything. My head was fine, but no thoughts came to mind. Everything felt like a lie.
“... Am I appearing on Who Today?”
An ordinary ordinary person. A bank security guard working at the branch even now... Appearing on a program watched by the entire nation, it still felt surreal. No longer just staying within the Go board. So, while feeling unrealistically, it felt real. My life was changing. That was starting to sink in slowly through my skin.
Looking at me like that, Team Leader Jeong said last.
“So, keep winning, In-ha-ssi. To the semifinals, and further to the finals. Just keep doing what you’ve been doing until now.”
“It’s a bit... burdensome, though?”
She chuckled.
“Are you laughing right now?”
I didn’t answer. No need to say it in words. Just. Smiled a bit more deeply. That was my answer.
* * *
After work. I briefly stopped by a mart and headed to my mother’s shop. Driving slowly along the road, I turned on the left turn signal to enter the alley. At that moment the ‘Tteokmidang’ signboard appeared beside the road. People lined up long. Full hall, takeout customers, staff calling out waiting numbers. Still open rush, customers didn’t stop. On the other hand, the alley I turned into with the steering wheel was quiet. Late night. Although the sun hadn’t set completely, Inha Bunsik was quiet. The lights were on, but no customers. The quiet shop seemed more desolate than outside.
“My heart isn’t good.”
It wasn’t because of money. Money, I would earn now. But Inha Bunsik was a space with a different meaning for my mother. It was part of life, pride in food, a trace of enduring the past.
“... It’s okay. We can save it.”
My resolve was firmer than ever. In three weeks, the tteokbokki festival. The fastest and most honest way I could do it. I parked in front of the shop.
“Mom, I’m home.”
“Are you?”
My mother, who had been chopping vegetables listlessly, looked up and smiled.
“I applied for the tteokbokki festival this morning. They said they’ll come to the business site around the day after tomorrow.”
“So soon?”
“The festival is in three weeks.”
My mother paused for a moment. Her eyes were shaking, her face somewhere unsure.
“But, In-ha... will it be okay? We only sold in the neighborhood, we’ve never been to such a place.”
“Trust me, Mom. Tteokbokki is delicious.”
“It is delicious, but... not a special taste...”
My mother trailed off quietly. I could guess the heart behind those words. Similar taste. Similar cooking process. Similar composition. Worried about losing competitiveness among countless tteokbokki and being buried.
“So, I’m going to develop this tteokbokki. As a signature menu unique to Inha Bunsik.”
“What?”
My mother looked at me with surprised eyes.
I smiled quietly and lifted the plastic bag in my hand. Inside were Prima, Together, Cream, Milk, Powdered Milk, Skim Milk Powder. My mother’s eyes widened.
“What is all this?”
“Do you remember? Tteokbokki I ate as dessert at the hotel. I thought I’d make it in our style, referencing that.”
I smiled and rolled up my sleeves, heading to the kitchen. Wearing the remaining apron, I said.
“I want to make tteokbokki that can be eaten at the festival, something a stranger would come to. In the style of Inha Bunsik.”
“You...”
My mother was silent for a moment. Her fingertips trembling thinly. Perhaps, at this age, the words to try something new were a bit scary and at the same time exciting. After hesitation, my mother cautiously spoke.
“Can you do it alone?”
I shook my head.
“We have to do it together. Cooking with my son isn’t a common opportunity, right?”
“True. Cooking with my son.”
My mother smiled brightly for once and turned on the kitchen light. I started moving according to the recipe in my head.
“Mom, chop a lot of garlic. Soak the rice cake too.”
Water, gochujang, chili powder, sugar. While maintaining the unique ingredients of tteokbokki, adding changes on top. First, Prima.
“Not great.”
Even one container made the taste bland. It subtly mismatched the taste I expected from the snack talent. This time, Together. Vanilla ice cream tteokbokki I saw on YouTube.
“This taste isn’t it.”
It melts too fast. And the disadvantage of having to reheat the cooled tteokbokki. Cream was too sweet. Milk messed up the overall taste. Powdered milk was savory and had the right direction, but too expensive. There wouldn’t be any left.
“... It’s not that all talents are predictable.”
The more I learned, the deeper cooking was. It might be the limit of B-rank Korean food talent, but there was a new fun in learning anew. Finally, skim milk powder. Ingredient used in sundae-gukbap or sulung-tang. I diluted it in water beforehand so it wouldn’t clump, then mixed it in the seasoning.
“Eh, eh?”
A feeling like fireworks exploding in my head. The first taste was intense, but a subtle ice cream aroma enveloped my mouth.
“Mom, add more garlic.”
I added tteok and odeng. When the sauce boiled, I added the diluted skim milk powder and adjusted the concentration. After the tteok absorbed enough seasoning, I picked up a piece and tasted it. Addictive cream taste. Chewy and glossy texture. Sweet and savory umami. Exactly the ice cream tteokbokki I wanted to realize.
“How is it?”
I fed my mother a piece of tteok with seasoning drenched on it. After a while, my mother made rabbit eyes and nodded cautiously.
“Oh my... why is this so delicious?”
“Does it seem okay?”
“Yeah. It has a bit of the taste of the tteokbokki I ate at the hotel... and it’s new. It’s greasy, but that pulls at the mouth.”
My mother scooped tteok and odeng on a plate and tasted it again.
“How can you make this taste? What is this tteokbokki?”
I smiled and answered.
“Inha Bunsik’s signature new menu. Ice Cream Tteokbokki.”
* * *
At that time. The ‘Tteokmidang’ signboard went out. The lights in the hall turned off, and the staff left in groups. Finally, after operating the security system, the woman in her late 30s, Lee Min-kyung, came out massaging her shoulders. Her face was full of fatigue.
“... Ha. Really, I’m going to die from hard work.”
It wasn’t a solitary muttering, but mixed with dissatisfaction. The arrow of that emotion was aimed at her mother-in-law and the building owner, Mrs. Hwang.
“Really, I hate it. Why do you keep making work? Why invest in such places, and I’m stuck because I can’t use my daughter-in-law. Ugh.”
Lee Min-kyung clicked her tongue lightly. She met a rich husband to live comfortably. She wanted to eat brunch in the morning and do pilates in the afternoon... but the mother-in-law kept ordering work.
“Annoying. Shaking and holding is really a pain. If you don’t do business, just give me salary like a mouse’s tail. I’m going to divorce for sure.”
Muttering while walking along the alley, her sight fell on a familiar shop. Inha Bunsik. Without knowing the subject, reopened, scratching her mother-in-law’s personality and making herself work until this time. Of course, the feelings wouldn’t be good. Under the shop lights. That Inha Bunsik auntie and son were earnestly making something. At first glance, it looked like tteokbokki... Powdered milk? Prima? The moment I saw them pouring it as is, my eyebrows furrowed.
“Are you sane? What are you doing to tteokbokki?”
Staring blankly for a long time, then twisting the corners of her mouth and laughing.
“Completely crazy.”
It seemed she had no basic cooking knowledge. She left a mocking solitary muttering and disappeared into the alley corner.
* * *
I was driving on the road to Incheon. Giseong Study Group. After commuting two hours one way and back by public transport, moving by car was too comfortable.
“... Wu Xiaoyu 9-dan.”
Even while driving, my mind was full of thoughts about the semifinal opponent. A type strong in complex battles. Style that induces shaking fights even if sacrificing some solidity. Concentration that turns even mistakes into pressure. The Go that is often called a flow state battle genius.
“It’s a dilemma. Whether to put a counter or choose a strategy to go to the game record and win for sure.”
In the middle of the dilemma, the traffic light turned red. I pressed the brake and waited quietly. At that time.
- Ding!
Text message notification. I checked my smartphone for a moment.
- The 11th Suyeon Cup Pair Go Championship. Player Kim In-ha’s participation has been canceled. Please contact the Korea Baduk Association for inquiries.
“... What?”
My eyes widened.