Episode 24
24.
Watching Hwijun, who had explained everything in a whisper.
“So, you said you were going to settle an old score, dragged him off, and beat him up good?”
“Yes, that’s what happened. So you can see this right here, can’t you?”
Hwijun showed Hayun his jaw.
It was still bruised an ugly blue.
Seeing Hayun and Hwijun whispering and chatting, Sihu took out a frying pan and tapped it.
Clang, clang—
“Hey! You two. Are your hands idle?”
At Sihu’s words, Hayun and Hwijun quickly finished cleaning the hall.
Before they knew it, it was already 08:00.
In front of the three, who had finished all their work in almost ninety minutes, a simple breakfast was laid out.
Seeing the meal on the table, Hwijun’s eyes widened.
“What is this?”
“This? A staff meal. We have to eat too if we’re going to work.”
On the table were seasoned eggplant, cabbage kimchi, rolled omelet, rice, and soup.
Seeing the steaming soup, Hwijun’s mouth watered.
“Let’s eat quickly.”
“But…”
Hwijun trailed off, glanced around the kitchen once, then looked at Sihu.
“Does it make sense to prepare all the ingredients and food in ninety minutes and even make a staff meal?”
As Hwijun shook his head, Sihu spoke.
“Hey, all the other chefs do it like that. You just haven’t seen it. I’m not even that fast.”
At those words, Hayun spoke, waving his spoon.
“Man, you’re incredibly fast. Even Ganghun-hyung couldn’t do that.”
Sihu spoke, thinking of Ganghun.
“Ganghun-hyung was fast too. He used to fly around the kitchen.”
At Sihu’s words, Hayun nodded roughly and said.
“Let’s eat. The YouTuber will be here soon.”
At Hayun’s words, Hwijun thought for a moment and asked.
“Hyungnim, but what if he doesn’t come by the appointment time?”
“What can we do if he doesn’t? He’ll have to wait in line and eat like everyone else.”
At Hayun’s words, Hwijun recalled something unsettling he had heard.
When he had gotten beaten up by Sihu and was streaming from home, one viewer had spoken very ill of Ttakttaguri.
Hwijun looked at Sihu, who was eating side dishes, and asked.
“What if… that YouTuber eats the food and leaves without paying? What are you going to do?”
Sihu put down his chopsticks, looked at Hwijun, and said.
“Look at the shop ceiling.”
Hwijun looked at the CCTV camera mounted in the corner of the ceiling.
“CCTV? What’s that for?”
“The previous owner, Ganghun-hyung, installed it. The audio and video quality are top-notch. Think they’d run?”
Sihu took a spoonful of the soup he had boiled.
And then he opened his mouth.
“Then I’ll give you that CCTV file, and you can stream it, can’t you?”
Hearing Sihu’s words, Hayun and Hwijun began to cough, choking on their food.
*Cough*— *cough*—
“So if Ttakttaguri makes a mess, you’re going to make him pay for it?”
At Hayun’s words, Sihu spoke as if it were only natural.
“Of course. Am I supposed to let someone trash the store that Ganghun-hyung built and I inherited?”
At Sihu’s resolute words and gaze, a faint smile crossed Hayun’s lips.
**
The [SeeYou] shop opened at 10:00.
The time he had asked YouTuber Ttakttaguri to visit
was “around 09:30,” he had heard from Hayun.
Watching the shop clock, the YouTuber Ttakttaguri still had not appeared even as the time drew near.
To prepare for greeting guests, Sihu began checking various ingredients and prepping anything that needed to be done in advance.
‘The shrimp stock looked really good. Should I try making some shrimp soup?’
What Sihu was trying to make was a refreshing and spicy shrimp stew—soup.
Shrimp have warm properties, and their taste tends toward sweet and salty.
Thus, in the Bencao Gangmu, shrimp are called a food that protects the kidneys and boosts yang energy.
Furthermore, shrimp protect kidney function and replenish yang energy.
‘Especially since shrimp are also a food that raises yang energy, it will suit him well. He must be under a lot of stress from streaming.’
While preparing the ingredients and boiling the shrimp soup, Sihu could see Hayun and Hwijun chatting about this and that in the hall.
‘Well, once the shop opens, we’ll be busy nonstop. Resting is part of the job too.’
It was while he was removing the shrimp guts and preparing to boil the stew.
“What— Please get in line.”
“So what if he’s a YouTuber!”
“Where do you think you’re going? Don’t YouTubers know the basics of standing in line?”
Sihu heard the commotion from outside the shop and checked the clock.
One minute before opening.
Hwijun smirked as if he had known Ttakttaguri would be late, and looked at Sihu.
Seeing Hwijun’s smile, Sihu shrugged and spoke to Hayun.
“Hyung! Please greet the customers in order of arrival.”
“Yeah, okay.”
At Hayun’s answer, Sihu thought to himself.
‘That’s why you should have kept your appointment.’
Jingle—
The door to the [SeeYou] shop opened, and two female students entered.
Regulars of [SeeYou].
They were Wi Juha and Yu Saessak.
They looked outside the shop door and fumed.
“So what if he’s a YouTuber? Why is he so arrogant?”
“People like that always put on airs when they think they’re hot stuff, I swear.”
Someone approached the two grumbling students and held out menus.
Wi Juha, receiving the menu, brightened upon seeing Hwijun and said.
“Oh? It’s an oppa we haven’t seen before.”
“Yes. I started working today. Please call me when you’ve decided on your order.”
Wijuha stared intently at Hwijun.
Feeling her gaze, Hwijun asked in puzzlement.
“…? Why do you keep staring?”
“Hey—. Oppa, are you by any chance that streamer, Jjukkumi?”
—Thump.
Hwijun was inwardly startled.
He had never thought he would meet someone who recognized him.
He answered calmly.
“Huh? Jjukkumi is a sea creature. Do I look like a webfoot octopus?”
Wijuha waved her hands in confusion at Hwijun’s words.
“Huh? No. Not that Jjukkumi.”
Hwijun forcibly calmed his pounding heart.
“Haha—. Please call me when you’ve decided.”
Even when Hwijun went to bring water and menus to other customers, Wijuha kept staring at him.
“Aren’t you going to choose?”
At Yu Saessak’s words, Wijuha, who had been staring at Hwijun, came to her senses.
“Huh? Oh.”
The two female students looked at the menus, curious about today’s menu.
However, they already had an idea of what to order: the Spicy Shrimp Pasta, heat level 4.
“Sigh—. I’m craving something spicy today.”
“Huh? You too? I’m also craving something spicy.”
Yu Saessak and Wi Juha raised their hands and called for Hwijun.
“Excuse me—”
At that moment, Hayun, who was dealing with Ttakttaguri Kim Cheolsu outside, was in a difficult spot.
The line of customers was growing longer, and the YouTuber standing in front of him was fuming while streaming.
“I was just a little late, and you’re not letting me in. Where does this even happen?”
Hayun checked his watch and spoke calmly.
“We’ve been here since dawn today waiting for you. But if you blow up at us for not letting you in after arriving late, what does that make the customers standing in line here?”
At Hayun’s question, Ttakttaguri Kim Cheolsu looked at the waiting line with fierce eyes and said.
“I’m a YouTuber streamer. I told you I had a reservation.”
“Then you should have kept your appointment time.”
At Hayun’s words, the customers’ gazes turned toward the YouTuber.
They were anything but kind looks.
Ttakttaguri was bewildered, bordering on feeling wronged.
Wherever he went, restaurants welcomed him with open arms.
They would even prepare seats that didn’t exist.
But this place?
That? There was none of that.
Ttakttaguri Kim Cheolsu glanced at his channel’s chat window.
‘Damn it, even the chat isn’t on my side.’
Ttakttaguri took a quick look at the streaming chat.
It was filled with mockery and criticism.
└Guri, it’s your fault.
└Did they say at that shop that if you’re even a minute late and don’t line up, you can’t eat? Did they or didn’t they? It’s your fault for not listening, Guri.
└Guri, are you an idiot? Then you’re hopeless. Pathetic Guri.
└Wait and go in, punk. Stop bothering the shop.
└What shop doesn’t let you in for being a little late? That’s too much. Our poor Guri, what do we do…
└He’d raise hell if he were late, but now he’s pulling the ‘what do we do’ act?
└Well, people can be late sometimes in life.
The chat began fighting amongst itself.
Seeing that, Ttakttaguri tried to calm his viewers for now.
“Oh, my Guris, please don’t fight amongst yourselves.”
At Ttakttaguri’s words, the chat atmosphere seemed to ease somewhat.
Somewhat relieved, Ttakttaguri Kim Cheolsu spoke to Hayun in a snide tone.
“I was a little late, but other restaurants usually cut me some slack? But here…”
Ttakttaguri Kim Cheolsu couldn’t finish his next sentence.
Complaints erupted from the waiting customers.
“Just get in line. You talk too much for someone who came late.”
“Young man, how can you have so little sense? Appointments exist to be kept. Didn’t you learn that other people’s time is just as precious as your own?”
“That’s right. That’s right. Staff, please put him behind me in line.”
Kim Cheolsu’s eyes rolled toward Hayun.
‘Are you really going to do this?’
Reading the look in Kim Cheolsu’s eyes, Hayun smiled brightly.
He pointed to the end of the line with his hand.
“No, I’m the YouTuber from [FactCheck]. I made a reservation today.”
“Didn’t we offer you some courtesy precisely because of that?”
Hayun spoke in a loud voice, as if for all the people on Ttakttaguri’s channel to hear.
“Since the waiting line is this long, we told you that if you came a little early, we’d serve you first. But you’re the one who didn’t keep the appointment time, aren’t you?”
Hayun looked at Kim Cheolsu with a *what are you going to do about it?* expression.
Kim Cheolsu cursed inwardly and clenched his fist.
‘So this is how they treat me? Just you wait. I’ll say it tastes bad even if it’s delicious. I have over a million subscribers, you know.’
Kim Cheolsu moved, having no other choice.
He forced a smile, apologized to the waiting customers, and headed toward the end of the line.
“You’ll have to wait about an hour. If you leave the waiting line, you’ll have to go back to the end, so please don’t leave the line.”
After warning Ttakttaguri Kim Cheolsu, Hayun went back inside the shop.
He did so while receiving encouragement from the customers in line.
‘What the heck, the customers of this shop are…’
Ttakttaguri Kim Cheolsu was dumbfounded by the sight.
He had never once been to a famous restaurant where the customers defended the shop.
***
Having waited and waited, Kim Cheolsu, who had finally entered the shop, swept the interior with his camera.
At that, one of the customers sensitive about their portrait rights protested to Hayun.
Hayun bowed at the waist and apologized repeatedly.
Hayun went into the kitchen, explained the situation, then came out carrying a tray.
On the tray was a dessert prepared by Sihu.
The customer had calmed down a little thanks to the dessert.
Thud, thud—
Standing before Ttakttaguri Kim Cheolsu, Hayun looked at him with a sharp gaze and spoke.
“Didn’t we agree you wouldn’t film the inside of the shop? I told you the customers might be uncomfortable, and didn’t you say you’d quietly film only the food?”
Having heard the protest, Ttakttaguri Kim Cheolsu dimmed his stream for a moment and even muted the audio.
└Huh? Is it a broadcast accident, Guri?
└Broadcast accident? Is it a broadcast accident? Why did our Ttakttaguri mute the audio?
His channel’s chat filled with messages all at once, curious about the reason for the mute.
Reading the messages, Ttakttaguri Kim Cheolsu swept his hair back and spoke quietly.
“I said I wouldn’t show the customers’ faces, so why are you picking a fight over every little thing? I’m a customer here too.”
Ttakttaguri Kim Cheolsu continued in a low voice, looking extremely annoyed.
“If I upload a video with captions saying the service here is a mess, do you think you’ll stay in business?”
“……”
After seeing what was happening in the hall.
Sihu came out carrying a tray with food on it.
He set the food down on the table where Kim Cheolsu was sitting and spoke.
“It’s white porridge. Your stomach is empty, so you seem to be taking even minor matters quite sensitively.”
Thank you for reading.
────────────────────────────────────
────────────────────────────────────