04.
04.
After work, Sihu headed straight down to the basement below the master bedroom the moment he returned home.
He wanted to see if there were crops besides potatoes and sweet potatoes.
Because if he was going to start selling weekend Korean food next weekend, he needed ingredients.
A vegetable patch in the basement.
The web novels he had read at Hayun’s recommendation after starting university.
In those novels, places different from reality were called “another world.”
Sihu found himself thinking that the basement under the master bedroom might be such “another world.”
Another world’s vegetable patch.
It seemed like an enchanting place where he could grow ingredients to make food.
Stepping into the vegetable patch under the master bedroom, Sihu slowly walked around, surveying what crops were growing.
‘Eggplants, too?’
The eggplants looked slightly different from ordinary ones.
They were shaped almost like water droplets.
‘What variety is this?’
Sihu cocked his head as he looked at the eggplants for a moment, then glanced around further.
‘Cucumbers, peppers, huh? Is that… beans?’
Sihu saw beans planted beside the crops in the patch.
There were various types of beans planted.
He tore open the bean pods one by one to check inside.
Green soybeans, peas, meju beans—the white beans called meju—and even black beans called seoritae.
‘Seeing such a variety of beans planted here…’
Sihu narrowed his eyes as he looked around.
‘It feels like someone cultivates this place? Huh? Aren’t those wild chives and shepherd’s purse?’
While examining the crops, he also discovered wild chives and shepherd’s purse growing there.
Continuing his inspection, Sihu saw cabbage, radish, carrots, and more.
‘At this rate, I should be able to get most Korean cooking ingredients right here.’
He moved here and there through the patch and made many discoveries.
‘Huh? A priming pump?’
As Sihu approached the pump, he saw a well behind it.
And even a bucket for drawing water.
‘No matter how I look around, it feels like someone lives here…’
He stepped forward, pressed the pump handle, heard a hiss of escaping air, and approached the well.
*Swoosh—splash—*
When the bucket was full, he pulled up the rope.
*Creak—squeak. Creak—squeak.*
He poured the drawn well water into the priming pump and started working the handle.
*Thump—thump—*
Clear water gushed out.
Sihu took a sip, and his eyes widened.
It was cool yet sweet.
“Whoa? This… the water tastes incredible?”
Thinking that he should try cooking with this water next time, he moved on.
Past the well, after looking around a little more, Sihu saw low trees planted in a row.
Fruit hung in heavy clusters from the branches.
They were fruits he had never seen in reality.
*Pop—*
Out of curiosity, he plucked one and tried it.
‘What is this?’
He plucked another one, bit into it, and looked at the cross-section.
If he had to compare the taste, it was a mix of the texture of premium grapes and apples.
There were no seeds either.
On top of that, it was crisp and sweet, with a faint sour note at the finish.
*Crunch—crunch—*
After tasting a few, Sihu liked them so much that he plucked an entire bunch.
Eating them one by one from his hand, he looked around.
He seemed to have come quite a distance from the master bedroom basement.
*Hmm—*
After surveying the crops and fruit trees, Sihu let out a light sigh.
‘The crops of this otherworldly vegetable patch… and the fruit trees.’
Thinking of Korean food menus in his head, Sihu headed back toward the master bedroom basement.
**
When the weekend came, Sihu was busy from early morning.
He was preparing to go to where his parents rested.
“I think this should be everything.”
He packed the savory pancakes and dishes his parents had loved when they were alive into containers and thermos jars.
“I put in the carbonated makgeolli Father liked, the jeon, and the things Mother liked too….”
Once he was sure he had packed everything, Sihu called a taxi using a mobile app.
*Vroom—*
*[Gyeonggi Sa 89** taxi will arrive in one minute. Please check the number before boarding.]*
He grabbed his bag and went out the front gate.
A taxi was stopped on the mountain road above Sihu’s house.
“Hello.”
The taxi driver looked at Sihu’s luggage and asked,
“Would you like to put your luggage in the trunk?”
“No, I’ll just carry it with me. It’s food.”
“I see. Then let’s be off.”
The driver smoothly started the car.
How long had they driven?
Sihu arrived at a memorial park in Gyeonggi-do.
*Click—*
After unloading all his luggage, Sihu bowed to the driver.
“Thank you. Drive safely~”
The driver wished him well and departed, leaving a trail of exhaust.
The area, now that the taxi had left, was quiet and secluded.
“Is it because it’s morning?”
He approached where his parents rested.
*[Forest of Starlight Memories.]*
Looking around, he saw trees had been planted.
Beneath the trees were small plaques marking where the deceased were buried.
*[Hwang Bitna, Gang Jeonghun]*
When he saw his parents’ names, Sihu’s throat tightened.
“I’m here, Mom. Dad.”
He took out the food he had brought and set up a simple memorial table.
“Father, please have a glass of the carbonated makgeolli you enjoyed.”
After the simple ancestral rite,
Sihu looked up at the sky and reported his recent news to his parents.
‘Mom, Dad. You know the chest of drawers in the master bedroom? Did you know there was a crack behind it?’
He spoke of how there had been a basement in the master bedroom, and how he had discovered a vegetable patch there.
‘Ah, I’ve decided to take over Ganghun-hyung’s shop. I’m still a bit short on money, but I talked with him and I’m going to raise the takeover funds by selling Korean food on weekends.’
He stroked the plaque engraved with his mother and father’s names as he continued.
‘I received your letter. I can’t tell you how much comfort I found in the kimchi stew you used to make me, Mom… I was hoping that the people who eat my food might also find comfort in their hearts?’
A faint smile crossed Sihu’s face as he clenched his fist.
‘I’m going to make Korean food using ingredients from the vegetable patch—food that brings comfort to the heart. Please watch over me.’
He poured makgeolli beneath the tree where his parents rested and sipped the remainder as he looked at the sky.
The sky was so blue it was almost painfully bright.
His eyes, reflecting the blue sky, stung.
Sihu closed his eyes tightly for a moment.
‘Next time, I’ll come back with stories from running my own shop.’
He cleared the simple memorial table and bowed twice more.
‘Mom, Dad. I’ll come again.’
Leaving his longing behind, Sihu exited the Forest of Starlight Memories.
***
A few days later.
A strange sound came from Sihu’s kitchen.
*Grind—grind—*
He had taken out a small millstone from storage and was turning it.
After washing the millstone and confirming it turned smoothly, Sihu dusted off his hands in satisfaction.
On SeeYou’s regular day off, Sihu went down to the vegetable patch, harvested beans and some vegetables, and brought them back.
What he had harvested the most was “beans.”
He had brought back white meju beans.
*Rustle—rustle—*
He shelled all the beans from the pods and placed them in a stainless-steel bowl.
*Rustle.*
*Rustle.*
*Tap—ting—*
Sihu’s hands were busy.
He spent quite a while selecting the round, prettily shaped beans.
He soaked the beans in water drawn from the vegetable patch’s priming pump.
He soaked the beans, ground them finely in the millstone, then boiled them in a pot.
When it bubbled up, he added brine, scooped up the curdling tofu first, and tasted it.
*Hah—*
‘Soft, savory, and clean-tasting… But the flavor is stronger than ordinary soft tofu? At this level…’
The corners of Sihu’s lips rose slightly.
When the weekend came and Sihu arrived for work, Ganghun raised the corners of his mouth.
“You’re starting the Korean menu today, right? You can work without getting in my way?”
“Yes.”
At Sihu’s immediate reply, Ganghun’s eyes shifted slightly.
“So? Did you think about the menu?”
“I’m going with a three-dish set: one grilled item, three or four side dishes, soup, and rice on a single tray.”
“Really? You know there might not be many orders on the first day, right? But is that stuff you brought?”
Ganghun’s eyes widened a bit as he looked at the ingredients Sihu had brought.
They were fresh vegetables, though he didn’t know where Sihu had gotten them.
Something caught at the end of Ganghun’s gaze.
“What’s this?”
What Ganghun had picked up was tofu.
“Ah! It’s tofu I made at home.”
“Tofu you made at home?”
When Sihu nodded, Ganghun, who seemed to think for a moment, snapped his fingers.
“Alright, let’s make something with that.”
Ganghun took a block of tofu and moved quickly.
Sihu watched Ganghun’s cooking path and adjusted mentally so they wouldn’t bump into each other.
*Sizzle—sizzle—*
What came out emitting a savory aroma was an iron plate tofu steak.
He placed the iron plate, decorated with grilled vegetables, onto the kitchen table.
Looking at the finished tofu steak, Ganghun offered a taste.
Sihu cut the tofu steak with cutlery.
It cut smoothly.
*Chew—*
A wave of flavor rushed in along with the heat in his mouth.
*Hah—*
As the heated piece of tofu entered his mouth, sweetness was the first thing he felt.
The clean savoriness and nuttiness that followed pleasantly stimulated his tongue.
‘It’s delicious.’
While Sihu closed his eyes and savored the taste, Ganghun asked,
“How is it?”
“It’s incredibly savory and clean, and on top of that, it’s like meat?”
At the words “like meat,” Ganghun laughed and said,
“It’s because you make good tofu. They say beans are the meat of the field, after all.”
At that, Sihu nodded as well.
“I think we could keep selling this?”
“I’ll teach you the recipe. You make it and try selling it.”
At Ganghun’s words, Sihu smiled brightly like an innocent child.
“Yes!”
That day, Sihu learned the iron plate tofu steak from Ganghun.
Learning something was always new to Sihu.
It came to him with the same thumping excitement as an explorer venturing into uncharted territory.
**
“Hoo—”
Yoon Songi let out a deep sigh.
Height 154 cm, weight 99 kg.
Shocked by her sudden weight gain, Songi was further stunned when she saw the hospital examination results.
After being diagnosed with a risk of vascular disease, a complication of metabolic syndrome, she had been combining exercise with dietary therapy.
‘There was no better combination than chicken and beer after work…’
She sighed as she looked at the lunch box on the break room table.
*Hoo—*
Kimchi, seaweed, a rolled omelet, and rice—barely four spoonfuls.
Songi had packed the lunch box knowing her coworkers, who always ate with her, were out on external schedules.
‘Should I buy a salad to eat after work?’
Yoon Songi chewed her lunch slowly and thoroughly as she pondered.
For lunch, she brought Korean-style meals or lunch boxes.
And for dinner, she tried to eat only light salads and bean-based dishes.
Cutting down on carbohydrates and sticking to a diet of vegetables and protein was agony.
Having lost about 4 kg in a month, Songi now hallucinated chicken and steak floating before her eyes.
“Thank you for your hard work. I’ll be heading out first.”
There was one thing Songi found most painful after work.
Every time she passed the always-crowded Western-style diner on her way home, annoyance surged up.
The expressions people made while eating annoyed her so much.
‘I want to eat too… Ugh!’
The emotion rising from envy was irritation.
Today too, she had to pass by that diner, and she felt her irritation rise bit by bit.
“Huh?”
Songi tilted her head slightly when she saw the new menu posted in front of the diner.
‘Iron plate tofu steak?’
Without realizing it, Songi pushed open the diner door.
*Jingle—*
“Welcome! Are you dining alone?”
Songi’s eyes widened at the staff member who spoke to her.
“Huh? Ah! Yes.”
Songi sat in the seat guided by the staff, took a sip of water, and placed her order.
“Um… I’ll have the iron plate tofu steak, please.”
“Yes. Please wait a moment.”
Shortly after.
What arrived before Songi was a tofu steak sizzling on an iron plate.
‘Wow—the smell…’
Already, the smell commanded Songi’s brain to raise the cutlery in both hands.
*Swish—*
She put the softly cut steak into her mouth.
*Chew—*
“?!”
Thank you for reading.
────────────────────────────────────
────────────────────────────────────