Mukbang and Cheese Tteokbokki
“You…”
Choi Su-yeon shot Seia a resentful look, having just lost her precious chance to place an order for her.
“Hmph. First come, first served.”
“Tch. There won’t be a next time. Anyway, aren’t you filming today?”
“Right now? Here?”
“Yeah.”
Lee Chae-yeon paused at the question, thinking it over. What they meant was filming a video.
There was only one reason Choi Su-yeon had brought Lee Chae-yeon to the restaurant. Lee Chae-yeon often recorded her school life and uploaded it to YouTube. She didn’t have many subscribers, but most of their classmates followed her channel. In other words, it was the perfect way to promote the restaurant to their school friends.
Of course, if Choi Su-yeon simply asked her family, Seona’s Restaurant could easily be featured in every major media outlet across the country. But that would never truly help the restaurant—not unless Jungwoo and Seia themselves wanted it.
“Hmm… Then wait here. I’ll go ask for permission.”
Lee Chae-yeon approached the counter and called out to Jungwoo carefully.
“Um, sir?”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“Would it be all right if I filmed a short video? Nothing special—just a mukbang.”
“Of course. Feel free. Just make sure other customers aren’t in the shot if they come in later.”
“Got it! Thank you!”
“Are you a YouTuber?”
“A really small one. Only my school friends subscribe, so right now I have…”
She pulled out her phone and checked the number.
“One hundred and twenty subscribers.”
“Oh, that’s quite a lot.”
“Hehe. I just wanted to keep a diary of my everyday life at this age.”
It was such a pure reason—recording a video diary.
“Oh, and… would it be okay if Seia appeared in it?”
“Seia?”
“Yes. It’s just… she’s so cute…”
The conversation near the counter was impossible for Seia to miss. The moment she heard her name paired with the word “cute,” she knelt on her chair and looked up at Lee Chae-yeon with bright eyes.
“Unni, unni.”
“H-huh?”
Seia’s sparkling gaze from below was downright lethal. It was the kind of look that made you feel you had to answer no matter what she asked.
“What’s a mukbang?”
“Ah, a mukbang is when you show other people you eating food.”
“Showing… people eating?”
Seia’s expression was full of confusion. She had watched plenty of customers eat while working at the restaurant with Jungwoo, and seeing food always made her want to eat it herself. So why would anyone want to show that to others?
“Yeah. It’s a kind of vicarious satisfaction. Watching someone eat something you can’t have.”
“Oh!”
Seia’s face lit up with sudden understanding. The feeling of wanting to eat was always the same, but that didn’t mean she disliked watching. If anything, it drew her attention even more.
Seia might not have realized it, but Jungwoo knew all too well. After all, Seia had once charmed customers into feeding her one bite at a time with that exact hungry-eyed look.
“Can Seia watch too?”
“Of course.”
“Thank youuu!”
Jungwoo watched her with a warm smile. The old Seia would never have spoken so brightly and easily to someone else first. There was a world of difference between waiting for others to approach and reaching out yourself.
‘If this mukbang is going to be a success…’
His resolve hardened even more than usual. The most important factor for a successful mukbang was delicious food. And the viewers were students—people who knew street food better than anyone.
“Hoo…”
Jungwoo took a deep breath and decided to prepare a little bribe to ensure the mukbang’s success. There were certain ingredients that tteokbokki simply couldn’t do without. It was a matter of personal taste, but in his experience, over ninety percent of people loved them: instant ramen noodles and cheese.
Those two additions never failed when paired with tteokbokki.
He took the ramen noodles from the drawer and the cheese from the fridge. Any cheese worked well with tteokbokki—mozzarella was excellent, and so was square cheddar. Which one should he use?
Asking the girls directly would work, but there was an even better way. Since they had ordered two portions, he could serve them separately—one with mozzarella, the other with cheddar.
‘Come to think of it, Seia hasn’t had much cheese… Actually, she’s never tried it at all.’
Most of the dishes Jungwoo made for Seia were Korean. Naturally, cheese rarely made an appearance. It wasn’t as if he could just melt cheese over grilled belt fish.
The tteokbokki was ready. There was always debate about whether tteokbokki should have broth or not, but Jungwoo wasn’t a fan of the soupy version. The name was tteokbokki, not tteokguk. Tteok that hadn’t fully absorbed the bright red sauce simply wasn’t tteokbokki in his book.
“That’s tteokguk.”
He had his principles when it came to this. Of course, he would change it if a customer asked.
The two bowls of tteokbokki, each reflecting his conviction, were plated and topped—one with mozzarella, the other with cheddar. The sweet-and-spicy aroma of the sauce was already mouthwatering. Once he melted the cheese with the torch, the cheese tteokbokki—or rather, cheese rabokki—would be complete.
“Hoo. This looks good.”
He was quite satisfied with the result. Carrying a plate in each hand, Jungwoo stepped out of the kitchen and saw the two girls chatting and giggling together. Strangely enough, both of their gazes were fixed not on each other, but on Seia.
“Here are your orders of tteokbokki.”
“Thank you—huh?”
“Ramen noodles and cheese too… Thank you!”
“It’s nothing. Just enjoy it.”
With the food served, Seia climbed down from her chair and toddled over. Standing on tiptoe, she peeked over the edge of the table, wrinkling her nose as she took in the rich scent of tteokbokki and melted cheese up close.
Now that the food was out, Jungwoo’s job as the restaurant owner was done. He returned to the kitchen to clean up, leaving the rest to the sounds of conversation and the expressions that would tell him everything about the taste.
“What’s that?”
Seia’s eyes, which had been glued to the tteokbokki, finally noticed the camera. She had assumed Lee Chae-yeon would just use her phone since she’d mentioned having few subscribers and filming something like a diary, but the camera looked surprisingly professional.
“This is a camera. I’m going to film the mukbang with it.”
The moment Lee Chae-yeon finished explaining, Choi Su-yeon stood up. She moved to the seat across from them, sliding deep into the booth to leave space, and said,
“We’ll watch the mukbang from over here. How about it?”
“…Sounds good!”
“Come on.”
Choi Su-yeon patted the chair lightly with her palm. Seia placed both hands on the seat and climbed up. Thanks to her quick movements, Choi Su-yeon managed to get Seia seated right beside her.
Seia’s feet didn’t reach the floor, so her legs swung back and forth, brimming with excitement.
‘She’s so cute…’
Everything about Seia was adorable, though Choi Su-yeon didn’t realize her own feet weren’t touching the floor either. She simply didn’t swing them like Seia did.
The moment the recording started, Lee Chae-yeon’s entire demeanor changed.
“Hello! Today I’m at Seona’s Restaurant, and it turns out today’s special is my soul food—tteokbokki! I couldn’t resist coming.”
Seia watched Lee Chae-yeon speaking to the camera with obvious fascination.
“Wow, it smells amazing.”
From here on, it was Lee Chae-yeon’s time to shine. Choi Su-yeon brought a finger to her lips, signaling for quiet, then whispered,
“Chae-yeon’s going to talk for a bit now.”
Seia nodded solemnly and mimicked the gesture, her expression as serious as a special agent on a secret mission. Choi Su-yeon couldn’t help but smile and reached out to pat Seia’s head.
Seia flinched, the solemn look in her eyes vanishing. Confusion? Embarrassment? An indescribable emotion flickered across her gaze, and the same emotion appeared in Choi Su-yeon’s eyes.
Her hand had moved on its own. She, who hated being touched by others so much.
“S-sorry, Seia.”
But Seia only looked back at her with an apologetic expression, as if she were the one who had done something wrong. It wasn’t that she disliked the touch—she had simply been startled by the sudden gesture. Then she brought her own finger to Choi Su-yeon’s lips, smiling to remind her they needed to stay quiet.
Meanwhile, Lee Chae-yeon had assembled the perfect bite on her chopsticks—the holy trinity of tteokbokki: sauce-soaked rice cake, fish cake, and, thanks to Jungwoo’s touch, melted cheese. Somehow, every ingredient on her chopsticks was easy to pick up. Though everything was the same bright red, she knew each piece would taste different, and the anticipation made her mouth water even more.
“Hoo…”
She blew gently on the steaming food to cool it, then twirled the stretching cheese around her chopsticks and popped the whole bite into her mouth in one go. That was important—everything had to go in at once.
The moment it entered her mouth, the sweet-and-spicy sauce coated her tongue. One chew brought the signature chewy texture of mozzarella, followed by the soft, fluffy fish cake hidden inside. Sauce trapped within the fish cake burst forth, and finally the perfectly chewy rice cake finished the bite.
The rice cake, just like the fish cake, was soaked in sauce, and the more she chewed, the stronger the flavor seemed to become. Cheese, fish cake, and rice cake—similar textures, yet each carried its own distinct taste. The rich, savory cheese. The unique seafood aroma of the fish cake. And the rice cake’s own gentle savoriness. None of them clashed with the sauce. Instead, the more she chewed, the more they melded together.
Just when she thought she had chewed it all down, an occasional strand of unmelted cheese made its presence known, filling her mouth with its rich flavor long after the sauce had faded.
“It’s delicious…”
What else could she possibly say?
It was the best tteokbokki she had eaten in recent memory—perhaps in her entire life.
“I-is it good…?”
Seia, who had been watching Lee Chae-yeon’s expression change from beginning to end, finally couldn’t hold back the question.
Lee Chae-yeon smiled and answered,
“Try it yourself!”