Crispy Jeon, Made with Love
The batter was finished.
Though a fair portion of it had fused into one with Seia's hands and the whisk she had been gripping.
A few ice cubes had been added to the batter to make it extra crispy. They could be taken out in a moment.
"Looks like we'll have to make the jeon with Seia's hands, huh?"
"S-Seia will make it not tasty...!"
Seia let out a little squeak and yanked her hands behind her back.
"Then we'd better clean them up quick, right? Daddy will wash them for you. Batter doesn't come off easily, you know."
Jungwoo scrubbed Seia's hands until they squeaked, then turned his attention to the next steps.
While Seia had been pouring her entire soul into mixing the batter, Jungwoo had finished preparing all the other ingredients.
All that remained was to combine everything with the batter and fry it up.
Today's jeon lineup featured potato jeon, meat jeon, kimchi jeon, and seafood scallion jeon. Four varieties in total.
Using Seia's heartfelt batter as the base, he mixed kimchi into one batch and seafood with scallions into another.
The seafood scallion jeon didn't actually require that much batter. Just enough to lightly coat everything, as if asking, Is this really enough?
The seafood came from a frozen mixed pack, but that was perfectly fine.
Before all that, though, he grated the potatoes finely, placed them in a strainer, and squeezed out the water.
By the time the other jeon were ready, the potatoes would have drained completely.
The crucial part was not discarding that extracted liquid. Let it sit for a while, and the starch would settle at the bottom while clear water rose to the top. Pour off the water, then return the settled starch to the potatoes. Only then would the potato jeon turn out perfectly chewy and crispy.
Now all that was left was to heat the oiled pan.
Seia watched from the side with eyes that seemed to ask if there was nothing more for her to do, if there wasn't something else she could help with. Unfortunately, there was nothing left that he could safely let her handle.
Fire was involved, after all.
"There we go. Great job, sweetheart."
"Yeees~"
With that, Seia toddled back to the customers waiting for her.
Even though the three of them were already acquainted, they hadn't exchanged a single word while Seia was gone. To them, Seia was the essential element that kept any conversation alive.
In truth, it didn't matter if she was there or not. Without her, there was simply no reason to talk.
Unless it was absolutely necessary.
So naturally, all three of them sat in slightly awkward silence, their gazes drawn to the same place.
The kitchen interior.
The sight of Seia making the batter herself. The way she'd gotten it all over her hands, the flour dusting her forehead, the earnest way she'd stirred with the whisk and poured her own special touch into it. They'd seen every moment clearly.
"Seia's back?"
When Seong Ye-eun greeted her with a smile, Seia answered with her lips pushed out in a slight pout.
"Seia wanted to cook too, but Daddy said no."
"It's because it's still dangerous for you, Seia. We can't have you getting hurt."
"Isn't there anything Seia can do?"
Dishes Seia could make from start to finish. Was there really anything?
Considering the conditions, knives were out of the question. Open flame was also forbidden.
A microwave, then?
Or was there something else?
"Salad," Yuhyeon said, breaking his silence at last.
Salad. Jungwoo could handle the chopping, and Seia could make the dressing herself. That might work.
"Then Seia will make it for you later!"
Seia had eaten salad not long ago. It had been the price for enjoying that delicious chicken.
While Seia was making cooking promises that Jungwoo knew nothing about, he had nearly reached the final stage of preparation.
The jeon were sizzling to a beautiful golden brown.
There was one more trick here. Sprinkling a little extra batter around the edges as they cooked created an even crispier result.
The conditions for perfect crispiness had been more than satisfied: batter mixed with frying powder, extra batter applied to the edges, and the batch that had been chilled with ice.
The moment had arrived when the jeon would be so crispy they practically shattered.
The reddish kimchi jeon. The potato jeon with its clear golden hue. And finally, the meat jeon that provided the only protein on the menu.
The meat needed time to mature, but there hadn't been enough preparation time, so it had only marinated briefly. Still, after draining the blood and seasoning it, coating the pieces in frying powder followed by egg wash, then frying them until they just began to color before flipping produced wonderfully tender meat jeon.
Even without additional garnishes, the colors on the plate were beautifully varied.
Each type of jeon boasted its own distinct flavor.
And then there was the tteokbokki that had been simmering away in the corner all this time.
It was far too generous to call it a mere snack, yet a snack it was.
As Jungwoo prepared to serve everything to the table, the cheerful jingle of the door announced new arrivals.
"Ahem. What are you all up to in here?"
It was Park Geon-su.
"Little Grandpa!"
"Hehe, our little boss is as energetic as ever today."
"It's snack time right now!"
Her energy, it seemed, came from the promise of snacks.
Park Geon-su chuckled and made his way to the table where the other three were seated.
The customers kept coming. Choi Su-yeon and Lee Chae-yeon arrived right after school, along with several of their friends.
"Hello, boss! Hi, Seia!"
With the arrival of Choi Su-yeon and her friends, the atmosphere at Seona's Restaurant grew even brighter. It had already been bright, but the fresh vitality that students brought was something none of the adults at the table could match.
"Welcome to Seona's Restaurant!"
"Hi, Seia. You're as cute as ever..."
Lee Chae-yeon was once again completely enchanted by Seia's adorableness.
She hadn't been able to visit for several days because of exam preparations, and the Seia she saw now was even cuter than she remembered. Especially with that light dusting of white flour on her forehead.
"Wow, she's cute today too."
"Right? Good thing we came."
They were the same friends who had visited before. These girls had also promoted Seona's Restaurant to their own friends, but those friends had been busy with exams and couldn't come.
Still, there had been changes at school. Seia's fan club had officially been established.
It might sound like excessive fangirling, but to Lee Chae-yeon, Seia was practically a savior.
My subscriber count jumped by a thousand...!
Her modestly run YouTube channel had only had about 120 subscribers, numbers gained by personally approaching school friends and asking them to hit the button.
Yet uploading a single video featuring Seia had increased her subscribers by a thousand.
It wasn't as if the video had gone massively viral through the algorithm. When she checked, the mukbang video of Seia eating tteokbokki had 7,000 views. Respectable, but not algorithm-breaking numbers.
However, the like count was enormous, and the comments were almost entirely about Seia. There were a few mentions of the boss who appeared briefly, and occasionally comments about Choi Su-yeon and Lee Chae-yeon themselves.
Seven thousand views, but a thousand new subscribers. It was an absurd conversion rate.
She hadn't uploaded multiple videos of Seia. The little girl had only appeared once.
If the algorithm had truly kicked in, there would have been at least one more zero on those view counts.
If it ever does go viral, this could be huge.
One in seven viewers subscribing? It was an unimaginable ratio.
"Should I bring out more tteokbokki today?"
At Jungwoo's question, Choi Su-yeon answered for the group.
"Yes! Since we studied so hard for exams, please make it spicy."
"Oh, don't regret it later."
"We won't."
"Also, it's not a huge amount, but..."
The snacks he'd prepared for the three guests and Seia. With so many varieties, the portions had grown accordingly, and now more people had shown up to enjoy them.
"Just have a taste of these."
"Oh? Thank you! We'll enjoy them."
Jungwoo set out the different types of jeon, then returned to the kitchen.
It was the busiest Seona's Restaurant had been since opening. It was nothing grand, yet the feeling was deeply moving.
The tables were nearly full. They could probably only take one or two more groups.
After leaving Seia in the care of people he trusted, Jungwoo began cooking the newly ordered dishes.
"Oho, jeon is on the menu today."
Park Geon-su had first visited Seona's Restaurant when kimchi jeon was served. Back then, only kimchi and scallion jeon had been available, but today two more varieties had been added: beautifully golden potato jeon and meat jeon that looked tender at a glance. There was even scallion jeon loaded with seafood.
He wasn't particularly hungry after his recent meal at Provan Restaurant with Seong Ye-eun, but this kind of menu changed everything. The urge for makgeolli was intense, but with Seia present, Park Geon-su could only smack his lips in anticipation.
They started by sharing the kimchi jeon.
The true charm of jeon was cutting it into long strips with chopsticks and eating it that way.
"Here, try some."
"S-spicy...!"
She hadn't even taken a bite yet, but she was already calling it spicy. She couldn't forget the way the kimchi jeon had assaulted her tongue last time.
To Seia, who had come to understand that spiciness meant pain, eating kimchi jeon again was a new challenge.
But kimchi jeon wasn't just about heat. Before the crisp edges and spicy kick came the refreshing crunch of the kimchi itself. The textures were distinctly different, followed by the savory richness of the batter.
Of course, the thrilling spiciness kept tapping at her tongue until the end.
But it was delicious...
Had it really been that spicy? Thinking back, maybe it hadn't been so bad. And when she thought about the flavor, it really had been tasty.
Park Geon-su, who shared these memories with Seia, offered a benevolent smile. Then, reading the change in her expression, he immediately understood what she had resolved to do.
"You've made up your mind, have you? Here, this is the tasty part."
He carefully selected the crispy edge, dipped it lightly in soy sauce, and when the golden-brown batter turned slightly darker from the seasoning, he fed it to Seia, whose eyes sparkled with anticipation. She had already forgotten what spiciness felt like.
Each chew delivered a satisfying crunch that pleased both eyes and ears.
"How is it?"
"Wow! It's even more delicious than last time!"
"Oh? Then I suppose I should try it myself."
Was Seia's memory glorifying the past, or was this an objective judgment? Thinking it was probably the former, Park Geon-su took a bite of the kimchi jeon and couldn't help but be stunned.
This... is the real deal.
He remembered the taste from before perfectly. The current kimchi jeon far surpassed what he had eaten that day.
"How is it? You... I mean, sir, you usually love jeon, don't you?"
At Seong Ye-eun's question, Park Geon-su smiled and gave the most definitive answer possible.
"Try it for yourself."