Large-Scale Collaboration Proposal (1)
I rubbed my eyes and dragged a suitable table over to sit in front of it. There simply wasn’t enough space at home to put anything down. Just as I was feeling embarrassed about showing such a shabby sight, Mom smiled gently and brought over the gukbap.
“Eat up, my daughter.”
“Uh, yeah……”
White steam curled up from the bowl Mom had brought. Pork gukbap. I swallowed hard as I stared at the steaming soup. I couldn’t remember much, but I knew Mom’s cooking had always been delicious. I even remembered hearing her mutter once in a self-deprecating tone, “Maybe the only reason I’m still alive is because of my cooking skills……”
“…Looks good.”
“My cooking hasn’t gone completely downhill, so it should be fine. The owner brings in good ingredients.”
After finishing the setup in front of both of us, Mom smiled and lifted a spoonful of gukbap toward my mouth.
“…Um, I’m twenty-three now.”
Even if my body was young, this felt a little embarrassing, so I said it. No matter how much I liked Mom, this was still a bit much.
Mom looked slightly flustered and quickly withdrew the spoon. “S-sorry, I did it without thinking… Right, it’s too late for me to be doing this now.”
“……”
“…I’m sorry. I should have found you sooner.”
She gave me a bitter smile and gently stroked my hair. It had been so long since I’d felt this kind of warmth. My eyes stung with tears, so I grabbed Mom’s arm before she could pull away and guided the spoon to my own mouth.
“Nom…!”
The moment the gukbap touched my tongue, a rich, layered flavor spread through my mouth. Even though I hadn’t had a single drop of alcohol, it felt like my hangover had vanished. When I opened my eyes, Mom was staring at me in surprise. I smiled awkwardly.
“It’s… delicious. Thank you, Mom.”
“…!!”
Mom flinched, then broke into a bright, happy smile. Still smiling, I scooped up a spoonful myself and offered it to her. She accepted it without hesitation.
“Thank you, my daughter.”
“It’s nothing.”
The room felt warmer now. With the air conditioner humming, the two of us began eating together in earnest. We talked about everything—our health, what we would do from now on. The whole time, my eyes kept drifting to Mom’s belly.
“…Mom, is your stomach okay now?”
When she was pregnant with Jiwoo. Dad had beaten her so badly she vomited blood in the bathroom and collapsed. He hadn’t wanted to become a murderer, so he cursed the whole time while putting her in an ambulance. Unfortunately, no one reported it, so Dad was never caught. Mom returned home still carrying the aftereffects of the surgery.
“……”
Mom’s expression darkened for a moment before she smiled again.
“Yeah, it’s fine now. It was really bad… I almost lost our Jiwoo.”
She told us how much she loved us. With tears welling in my eyes, I shoved another spoonful of gukbap into my mouth and asked,
“…Mom, do you hate us…?”
“Huh? Why would I hate you?”
“…Because we were unwanted children.”
Unplanned. And worse, children of the man who had violently abused her. There was no way she could look at us kindly. But Mom only gave us a gentle, benevolent smile.
“…What sin could you possibly have that I would hate you for?”
“…!!”
“Being born isn’t a sin. If anything, the one who gave up after trying to take responsibility to the very end is the real sinner.”
After hearing her answer, I could only keep eating in silence for a long while.
‘Thank you… Thank you, Mom……’
It felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my heart. I ate with everything I had—though my small stomach meant I couldn’t finish it all.
“You don’t eat much, do you? Good thing I didn’t serve too much.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“What are you sorry for?”
Mom simply pulled me into a tight hug, as if I were the most precious thing in the world. I smiled and hugged her back just as tightly.
* * *
Kim Junsu, twenty-five years old. He was the owner of the gukbap restaurant where Sujin worked.
“Gay hyung! I subscribed, so it’s free, right?”
“Yes, please have a seat and wait. And it’s Kei.”
“Gay gay♡”
“…Please leave.”
He was a one-million-subscriber streamer running a free gukbap event for his viewers. He had been streaming games since his second year of middle school. When he entered high school, his parents told him to take over the family business instead of chasing an unstable career, which had really pissed him off. So he inherited the gukbap restaurant and started this event. His parents had been strongly against it at first, but customer numbers had dropped sharply once Junsu turned twenty-one, so they allowed it as a marketing strategy. That was why he had moved the shop to a department store with more foot traffic and was running it diligently.
“No customers today, hyung.”
“Yeah, I’m fine with that.”
“By the way, there are no pretty noonas here. Why are you the one working?”
After verifying his subscription, the viewer sat down to eat the free gukbap. Watching him, Junsu felt complicated.
‘Ever since word got around that the auntie is pretty, a lot more people have been coming just to see her.’
The real reason the gukbap tasted even better lately was Sujin’s insane cooking skills. But recently, it seemed like Sujin was starting to feel burdened by the attention. She was in her forties now, after all, and people kept giggling and calling her “pretty noona.” Given her past, the situation could even feel a little scary. Junsu sighed, rubbing his temples.
‘I should probably post a notice.’
While sitting and tapping on his phone, a message arrived from his manager, who handled all his schedules.
Still sighing at his endlessly annoying manager, Junsu stopped a subscriber who had finished eating and was about to pay.
“You don’t have to pay. You’re a subscriber.”
“No, I should. Please bring the noona.”
“…Was it because of me that you paid?”
“I see hyung all the time anyway.”
“…That’s too much.”
“Can I get an autograph?”
The fan giggled and held out a pen and paper as if to say “just sign already.” After signing, Junsu waved and saw the customer off. With no other customers around, it was something he could do.
“…Maybe I should just let the auntie run this place instead.”
Since he wasn’t really doing much anyway, Junsu muttered to himself and headed into the kitchen to tackle the pile of dishes.
* * *
[Title: Big Announcement Today]
Late in the evening, Junsu came home, washed up, and dried his golden hair while setting the stream title. He turned on the stream, brought the hair dryer over, and greeted his viewers.
“Hello.”
“Thumbs up. I’m verifying that I washed because people keep making a fuss about me not washing.”
Chuckling at the apologizing chat, Junsu shook out his half-dried hair and displayed a PPT on screen.
Big Announcement
Smiling, he checked the chat.
‘They’ll definitely be looking forward to it.’
Contrary to his expectations—
The viewers’ reactions were filled with the feeling that this was just another bluff. Of course, Junsu had nothing to say—he had pulled all kinds of aggro like this before.
‘…This is too much.’
Still, since it was a Minecraft server he had prepared with real ambition, Junsu felt extremely wronged.