Episode 5
05.
Songi, utterly surprised, muttered as she looked at the steak.
“Huh? I ordered tofu steak… Is this meat?”
Gang Hun glanced at the customer eating the tofu steak, then nudged Sihu with his elbow.
“I think there’s a problem with the steak you made.”
“Huh?”
At Gang Hun’s words, Sihu looked at the customer for a moment.
‘What the? I made it according to the recipe.’
Sihu came out of the kitchen and approached the customer.
“Excuse me… Is there a problem?”
Sihu cautiously asked the customer.
“Uh… well.”
Was she flustered by the sudden situation? Her voice was barely audible.
The customer pointed at the tofu and asked.
“Is this… meat?”
“Excuse me? It’s not meat.”
Sihu added an explanation, saying it was tofu.
After hearing the explanation, the customer looked at Sihu with an expression of disbelief and asked again.
“Really, is this tofu?”
“Yes. It is tofu, but… does it not suit your taste?”
To Sihu’s cautious question, the customer shook her head as if to say no, her face flushed, speaking in a rapid tone.
“No. I thought it was meat at first. I was really surprised because when I took a bite, it felt like meat juices were spreading in my mouth. I’m on a diet…”
At the customer’s words, Sihu spoke with a smile.
“If it doesn’t suit your palate while you’re eating, please let me know.”
The customer nodded her head like a bobblehead doll placed on top of a car.
“Then please enjoy your meal.”
“Yes, yes.”
Yun Songi bowed her head deeply and looked down at the steak she had been eating.
‘This… is tofu?’
Yun Songi ate the tofu steak while stealing a glance toward the kitchen. When her eyes met the chef who had just come out and explained that it was tofu, not meat, she bowed her head deeply again.
‘D-delicious. It’s really delicious… I don’t think I’d get tired of it even if I ate it every day.’
Songi had tried tofu steak a few times at other places as well.
Compared to those places, it was incomparable.
Songi ate the tofu steak with a truly happy expression.
“Sihu.”
“Yes?”
“I don’t know what you did to that tofu, but I was really surprised too. Look at that customer’s expression.”
At Gang Hun’s words from the kitchen, Sihu looked briefly at the customer eating the tofu steak. She was making an extremely happy expression.
Seeing that expression, Sihu felt his fatigue and the effort of making the tofu fly away.
“She looks happy.”
**
The weekend was approaching.
After successfully selling Korean menu items the previous weekend, Sihu made and sold the tofu steak that Gang Hun had taught him on weekdays.
“Is it okay for me to sell it?”
Gang Hun smiled brightly at Sihu’s question.
“You brought the ingredients, so isn’t it right that you make and sell it?”
On the day Sihu first sold Korean food, Gang Hun had made and sold “Iron-Plate Tofu Steak” using tofu.
After that, he shared the recipe and considerately arranged things so Sihu could sell it on weekdays too.
After finishing the first Korean food sale, Sihu worried about a new menu.
The Korean table he had sold the previous weekend.
Besides grilled and braised dishes, several side dishes were served together, but he felt it was no different from an ordinary meal set.
Unexpectedly, the men who came on dates during the weekend ordered the Korean three-tray table a lot.
The male customers welcomed Korean food, but there was an opinion that they wished for something slightly different.
Normally, [SeeYou] was a sacred spot on women’s college students’ SNS.
Occasionally male students came too, but very rarely.
When a man and woman came together on a weekday evening, Sihu could see expressions on the male students’ faces that looked like, “I have to eat this greasy Western-style food again? Ugh. I’m going crazy.”
But when Sihu started selling the Korean menu, that situation changed noticeably.
Dating couples ordered Western-style dishes on one side and Korean dishes on the other.
Also, Hayun said that customers said while paying, “If only there was a menu with a spicy, tangy stew or a light, refreshing soup…”
Hearing those words, Sihu fell into thought.
“Hmm, spicy stew or light, refreshing soup? Do they want something for a hangover?”
His concern was about a soup menu.
When he entered the inner room, there was a warm heat.
It was warm enough that he didn’t need to turn on the boiler even in mid-winter, so Sihu went about with the inner room door left open.
He went down to the basement garden in the inner room.
He looked around the empty garden.
He felt sure that someone was tending the crops.
No matter how many beans he harvested, the next day they would be growing perfectly fine.
Sihu had been greatly surprised at first seeing them grow so fast.
‘Is there a secret helper?’
Sihu chuckled and pulled up a crop that looked similar to a radish.
Swoosh—
A vegetable that looked exactly like a radish.
Sihu came up to the kitchen to test-cook the food.
He peeled it with a peeler and cut the radish-like ingredient with the knife his parents had gifted him.
Thwack. Chop. Chop.
He popped one of the pieces cut into uniform squares into his mouth.
Sihu’s eyes widened as he looked down at the radish-like crop.
A refreshing, juicy sensation spread throughout his mouth, and he felt the natural sweetness of the vegetable.
“Every single one of the garden ingredients is extraordinary.”
As Sihu cut the radish-like crop, he thought of the customer who had been coming like clockwork for several days.
‘It was the woman who ordered the tofu steak.’
The customer’s expression was very bright as she talked with Gang Hun.
Holding the water cup given to her and taking a sip, she asked with a questioning expression.
“Boss, did you by any chance mix diet pills or something into the food?”
At the customer’s question, a look of puzzlement settled on Gang Hun’s face.
Seeing that expression, the customer told the truth.
“I exercised while eating the tofu steak here… and lost 5 kilograms in just 5 days.”
Gang Hun replied with a playful laugh at the customer’s words.
“If we put something like that in our food, we’d have to close down. There’s nothing like that. It’s because you worked hard.”
The customer shook her head and continued speaking with a smile.
“No. I went around eating tofu steak at other places too while exercising, but I didn’t lose weight. After eating yours, I can’t go to other places now. I lose weight. It tastes good too. In that sense! Boss! I’ll have the tofu steak again today.”
When Sihu recalled the conversation between Gang Hun and the customer, a smile naturally came to his face.
***
Yun Songi had been going to [See You] every day after work for several days.
Eating at [See You] was much better than eating anywhere else.
‘It’s near work. Tofu like meat! And the taste is something else. I even lose weight… The hall staff, the young-looking chef in the kitchen, and the boss too… I’m here for the taste. Kuh—’
Yun Songi drank the glass of water given by the staff and continued all sorts of thoughts in her mind.
Sizzle— Sizzle—
The hall staff placed the iron plate in front of Yun Songi.
“Here is your Iron-Plate Tofu Steak. It’s hot, so please be careful.”
Yun Songi looked at the small salad plate that came out with the grilled vegetables.
“Huh? What’s this?”
The hall staff answered with a bright smile.
“Our chef put this out as a service since you come often.”
Yun Songi looked at the small salad plate and smiled pleasantly.
‘Kuh—this is why I come here. This kind of small service. This won’t do. I have to spread the word about this place. Especially to fellow diet warriors.’
Yun Songi took out her phone, took pictures, and posted them on her Byeolgram.
[You’ll be surprised if you taste the ‘Iron-Plate Tofu Steak’ at the Western-style restaurant in front of Hanguk University!]
#HangukUniversityWesternRestaurant #HangukUniversityFoodSpot #RestaurantNearWork #DietFood #ItsTofuNotMeat
After posting on Byeolgram, she took a bite of the steak, then stabbed a salad vegetable with her fork.
Chomp—
‘Huh? What is this?’
Gang Hun, seeing Yun Songi’s pupils shaking violently, prodded Sihu with his elbow.
“Hyung—why?”
“Look over there. That’s the reaction to the new salad you introduced this time.”
Sihu smiled brightly at the customer who came every day.
Gang Hun looked at Sihu’s smile and asked.
“Just where are you getting these ingredients? I’m really curious.”
“…….”
Even if a knife were held to his neck, Sihu couldn’t say that the ingredients came from the “otherworld garden” in the basement of his inner room.
Sihu simply smiled and moved about busily.
“Oho? So you don’t want to tell me?”
At Gang Hun’s words, Sihu merely smiled and began tearing apart vegetables for the salad.
“Whoah—”
Gang Hun and Sihu turned their heads toward the sound coming from the hall.
It was the voice of a customer who had been eating the tofu steak.
“Excuse me, Boss!”
The customer called Gang Hun.
Wondering what the matter was, Gang Hun went out, and the customer, showing him her smartphone, opened her mouth.
“Boss. I told you before that I was losing weight after eating here.”
Gang Hun looked briefly at the phone the customer in front of him showed him.
Since that customer had told him such a story not long ago, he nodded.
“But it seems I’m not the only one—people who ate the tofu steak here are dropping weight rapidly too.”
Gang Hun shook his head at the customer’s words.
“Come on—you all exercise and diet, that’s why. It doesn’t make sense that you’d lose weight eating our tofu steak. Hahaha.”
In the kitchen, Sihu, who had been listening to the conversation between the customer and Gang Hun, tilted his head slightly.
‘It’s made with ingredients from the garden… Do they have some kind of effect? Beans are good for diet? Come on—no way.’
Then, the customer pointed at Gang Hun and said.
“Boss, do you know you’ve gotten slimmer too?”
Gang Hun tilted his head and touched his chin.
‘Now that I think about it…’
Until not long ago, he used to feel a double chin.
He would finish the evening by emptying a bottle of beer, eating the food Sihu made, and had never exercised.
Yun Songi read Gang Hun’s expression and opened her mouth.
“Boss. You move around a lot working here, but you eat quite a lot too, right?”
Gang Hun nodded.
Because that was actually true.
“But you eat this tofu steak every day? You too, Boss.”
“Uh… not exactly that, but I eat whatever that friend makes every day.”
Gang Hun said, pointing at Sihu.
Yun Songi looked at Sihu, whom Gang Hun pointed at, blushed, and turned her gaze away.
Sihu watched the conversation between Gang Hun and the customer from the kitchen.
The other customers were likewise listening with perked ears.
Then, one customer cautiously opened their mouth.
“Excuse me… I also lost 4 kilograms in 3 days eating that ‘tofu steak’ here.”
At the other customer’s words, Yun Songi snapped her fingers and looked at Gang Hun.
“See? I was right.”
Gang Hun saw the customers dining in the hall nodding their heads as if in agreement.
Gang Hun glanced at Sihu for a moment.
‘So that’s why sales suddenly shot up like that?’
Gang Hun’s gaze turned slightly serious as he opened his mouth.
“Thank you for speaking so highly of our food, but I think it’s because you all exercised diligently and after dieting, you happened to eat tofu—a diet food—which helped you lose even more weight.”
Yun Songi tilted her head slightly after hearing Gang Hun’s words.
‘Skipping breakfast, eating a little for lunch, and eating dinner here… But can you really lose that much in just a few days?’
Yun Songi was convinced that the “tofu steak” had helped with weight loss.
That evening.
Gang Hun finished up at [See You], and after having a glass of beer with Sihu and Hayun, returned home.
He recalled the customer’s story from early that evening.
“Losing weight eating food made by Sihu. Does that make sense?”
Gang Hun muttered and stepped onto the scale.
“Huh?!”
Thank you for reading.
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