***
"Huh? What is this? Look here. I didn't even touch the food that came out. But here..."
As he used his fork to slightly lift the coleslaw, three or four tiny grains of rice appeared.
"See that? It's grains of rice."
In fact, it was an unremarkable sight.
The composition of Sunflower's tonkatsu dish is tonkatsu, rice, and next to it, potatoes and coleslaw, cucumber, and carrots arranged in a fan shape, so it can easily get mixed during the plating process. However,
"If you look at my plate, there's no rice, right? I asked them to leave out the rice because I didn't feel like having it today."
Just as he said, there was no rice on his plate.
The Meokbo, who was double-checking, zoomed in on the grains of rice between the salad and soon pursed his lips and shook his head.
For a long time, the Meokbo, who had been disappointedly poking at the innocent tonkatsu with his fork, quietly continued speaking with a look of distaste.
"They say it's really delicious, but I don't know. It's just a regular-looking tonkatsu. Normally, I would have to taste it before saying anything, but food recycling? Ugh, I can't eat it because it upsets my stomach. I'm just not going to eat it."
He put down his fork and rinsed his mouth with water.
He took out a tissue, dabbed his mouth, and opened his mouth to the camera with sincere eyes.
"There might be some subscribers who suspect it's fake. It's definitely not fake. Something felt strange since last time. Actually, this is my second time here. The first time I came, I told them I was a YouTuber and I would only film myself eating in the corner, but they kicked me out while making a big fuss. I should have known then. I don't know how other YouTubers filmed. Hmm... It smells. Anyway, I'll end this video here."
-Oh! This is a restaurant I trusted and ate at. It was cheap for some reason.
-I thought the owner was nice because it was cheap and delicious, but it turned out to be complete garbage.
-The secret to the low price is food recycling. Wow~!
-Let's report it to the Food Scandal File. 'The Two Faces of a Famous Restaurant. Food Recycling.'
...
"Keuk. It's killing the buzz."
Hyun-soo, who was watching the monitor, smiled wickedly.
The number of views was several times higher than other videos, and there were many comments.
Things were going according to plan. The comment window was flooded with posts criticizing the owner of Sunflower, and there were even opinions that they should boycott the restaurant and report it to the Food and Drug Administration.
The mosaic was deliberately blurred so that anyone could recognize it as Sunflower.
There was no need for the netizen investigation squad to be dispatched. The restaurant's name was identified right away.
'The plan is going smoothly.'
He had thrown them a tempting bait, so as long as it wasn't caught as fake, the rest would be taken care of by the angry subscribers.
'There's no way I'll get caught.'
He had checked several times before filming.
There was not a single CCTV camera in Sunflower's hall or kitchen.
So there was no way the process of intentionally putting in the grains of rice would be filmed or anyone would find out. He had quickly put in the grains of rice so that no one would notice.
Furthermore, the video was more convincing because it used high-quality ingredients but sold them at a low price, which made it seem like they were recycling food.
Tring-
The owner of the pork cutlet shop who had requested the back advertisement called.
"Boss, is business going well?"
-Yes! We have more customers again.
"It'll stay that way for a while, so when business slows down, let me know and I'll advertise again. I'll really promote your store then."
-Haha. Thank you. But will there be any problems?
"If you just keep your mouth shut."
There was absolutely no way he would get caught, and even if he did, he could just deny it, saying he didn't know, or apologize with a video saying it was accidentally mixed in during filming and it wasn't intentional.
-Oh... Yes.
"Then I'll hang up. I have more to do."
After hanging up the phone, Hyun-soo turned on his computer's VPN and logged into another YouTube account that he had created in advance.
"Keukkeuk. Goodbye. You won't go far."
***
"But there are really no customers today."
"Right? There are days like this. Eating leisurely at Sunflower."
"I should write in my diary."
So-eun and Kim In-chul joked and leisurely cut their food.
Although no one was paying attention, it was an unspoken rule at Sunflower to eat quickly and leave because there were always customers waiting to come in.
"Is today a surprise holiday that we don't know about?"
"No. And they're closed on Sundays and holidays."
"Right. But why aren't there any customers?"
"I wonder. I'm curious too."
"Well, it's good for us because we can eat leisurely."
Clank-
At that moment, the door opened and two women who looked like office workers came in.
"I told you. There won't be anyone today."
"Really. How did you know?"
"Just now. The people passing by were gossiping?"
"What did they say?"
"That..."
The woman, who hesitated for a moment, whispered something to her colleague.
"What? Recycling? Really?"
"Shhh!"
"Then shouldn't we come in either?"
"Does the owner here look like he recycles food?"
"No."
"I think so too. And even if he did, would he recycle food after all this fuss? He'd be more careful about the food."
"Oh~ What's that?"
"What do you mean?"
Min-ju, who brought the menu and lemonade, was surprised by the strange conversation the customers were having.
.
.
.
I let them film in the corner, saying they would film politely, but they stabbed me in the back like this.
"It's my fault. I'm sorry."
Min-ju apologized to Hae-jun while checking the video, sobbing.
Hae-jun had gently refused the YouTubers, saying that they would disturb the customers' meals, but Min-ju had actively recommended them, saying that it would help with sales.
So she would feel even more responsible.
Knowing her feelings, Hae-jun tried to comfort Min-ju, pretending to be okay.
"It's okay. It wasn't intentional. Business was so good that I was tired, but it turned out well."
"But still..."
Anyway, the content of the video was ridiculous nonsense.
'Why would I do something like that?'
Hae-jun, who gets all his ingredients from the Dimensional Farm, has no reason to recycle ingredients.
Since he couldn't reveal that fact, he had to prove his innocence in another way.
"Boss, do you think I made a mistake?"
Dong-sik, who had been standing silently next to him, spoke heavily.
Knowing that Hae-jun managed the kitchen more cleanly than anyone else, he guessed that if there was a mistake, it was probably his own.
If he had accidentally put it in while plating the food, he should take responsibility for it.
"If it's my fault, I'll explain and quit..."
"Don't talk nonsense. Our kitchen can't run without you right now."
"B... Boss."
"How much help do you give us?"
Hae-jun's words deeply touched Dong-sik.
He was just a kitchen assistant who didn't even cook, but Hae-jun thought of him like this.
"Instead of arguing about who's right or wrong, what's important now is to find out how the grains of rice got in there."
"Right. How did it get in there?"
Min-ju pursed her lips and fell into thought.
Just like Hae-jun said, she wondered how the rice got mixed into the salad.
Food recycling was ridiculous, and the kitchen was managed very cleanly under Hae-jun's direction.
'But how?...'
Hae-jun thought carefully about the workflow in the kitchen.
When an order came in, Dong-sik would put the toppings other than the rice and tonkatsu on the plate in advance. When the tonkatsu was finished frying, Hae-jun would personally put the drained tonkatsu on the plate with the rice and add sauce before serving it to the customer.
It was impossible for grains of rice to get mixed into the coleslaw in the first place.
'Isn't there a good way to prove my innocence?'
***
Ho-cheol, who luckily had business to attend to nearby, hurriedly finished his work and stopped by Sunflower.
Crunch, crunch-
Yum, yum-
"Honey, is this place okay?"
"It's delicious. The atmosphere is nice too. It's just like our old dates in Namsan."
"Really? But don't you think the food here is better?"
"Yeah. It's so good. The batter is crispy, and the meat is juicy. Let's come here often."
"Of course. Just tell me whenever."
His wife smiled happily with crescent-shaped eyes.
He had made up for the points he had lost by drinking and playing with his friends.
Determined to score big, Ho-cheol cut the tonkatsu and put it in his wife's mouth. His wife shyly accepted it, saying, "Why are you doing that?" It seemed like she would even let him buy her the new 'PlayBox5' if the atmosphere was like this.
While keeping an eye out for when to bring it up, Ho-cheol continued eating when he overheard the restaurant staff talking.
"Food recycling? That's ridiculous. We have to clear our name somehow."
"I think so too. Boss, if you just let them slander you, we might keep losing customers."
"······."
'What are they talking about?'
Ho-cheol, who was known for being thick-skinned, became curious.
After listening to the whole story, it seemed like the owner of Sunflower was in a difficult situation.
"Honey, I'll be right back from the bathroom."
In the meantime, Ho-cheol's wife, who had finished eating, headed to the bathroom with her bag.
Seizing the opportunity, Ho-cheol approached the owner and spoke to him, despite being a little rude.
"Boss."
"Can I help you with something?"
"I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but it seems like you're in a difficult situation?"
"I'm sorry. You're eating, but we're talking too loudly."
"That's okay. I just wanted to see if I could help."
When he first came here on a friend's recommendation, he thought, 'Why did you bring me to this cheap Western restaurant?'
However, after tasting the food that was in a different dimension, Ho-cheol became a huge fan of Sunflower.
He would drive for more than 10 minutes during his short lunch break, when he barely had time to eat and rest, just to come to Sunflower.
Even today, he came here to cheer up his wife, who had been upset with him for neglecting her lately, and thanks to the tonkatsu, his wife's anger had subsided. Maybe he could even get a game console.
He couldn't just stand by and watch the owner, who he was so grateful to, suffer an injustice.
"Thank you for your concern."
After hearing the story, Ho-cheol thought about how he could prove Hae-jun's innocence.
Then suddenly.
"Ah!..."
"Why? Do you have a good idea?"
"How about posting on Jewel Dream?"
"Jewel Dream?"
Jewel Dream is just an ordinary used car community to people who don't know about it.
However, if you know the truth, it is a place where top experts in various fields in Korea reside.
There was a joke that if someone was wronged, it was faster to get help by posting on Jewel Dream than going to the police.
"Let's post it once. I know you're innocent. Maybe someone will help."
Ho-cheol opened his phone and posted Hae-jun's story on the bulletin board.
And the response came back faster than he thought.
-Hmm... What is it? What's the truth?
-Standby for now. I'll put the Pikachu car in neutral while touching its belly.
-But if what the owner says here is true, the Meokbo’s channel will be shut down.
-We need to verify the facts.
-I saw that video, and something was suspicious. t felt like a sniper video that was uploaded on purpose.
-Yeah, it doesn't make sense. I've never seen anyone leave food here.
-ㅋㅋㅋ I agree. My friend even licked his plate clean.
-Crazy. Why would you lick a plate?
After dozens of comments,
The capable people started to appear.
-This video is 100% fake. Look here. Here, when the cut goes over here, the arrangement of the cabbage is strangely messed up, right? This is clear evidence that they intentionally moved the cabbage and put in the grains of rice.
Someone found and posted a cleverly edited section of the video uploaded to YouTube by capturing and cutting each frame.
Indeed, as the owner of the comment said, the arrangement of the salad, which he said he hadn't touched, had changed subtly.
-Wasn't it just hidden? Or maybe he discovered it while rummaging through it.
-He said at the beginning of the video that he didn't touch it?
-Somehow. This is fake.
-It definitely looks like he put it in.
-I can't tell just by looking at this.
-If it's true... You won't go far. Quickly.
-This is getting exciting.
-Oh! Captain, joins the Sunflower’s food recycling controversy. Click on the link to go. I just saw a video.
Hae-jun, who had been reading the comments, followed the link.
***
"Huh? What is this? Look here. I didn't even touch the food that came out. But here..."
As he used his fork to slightly lift the coleslaw, three or four tiny grains of rice appeared.
"See that? It's grains of rice."
In fact, it was an unremarkable sight.
The composition of Sunflower's tonkatsu dish is tonkatsu, rice, and next to it, potatoes and coleslaw, cucumber, and carrots arranged in a fan shape, so it can easily get mixed during the plating process. However,
"If you look at my plate, there's no rice, right? I asked them to leave out the rice because I didn't feel like having it today."
Just as he said, there was no rice on his plate.
The Meokbo, who was double-checking, zoomed in on the grains of rice between the salad and soon pursed his lips and shook his head.
For a long time, the Meokbo, who had been disappointedly poking at the innocent tonkatsu with his fork, quietly continued speaking with a look of distaste.
"They say it's really delicious, but I don't know. It's just a regular-looking tonkatsu. Normally, I would have to taste it before saying anything, but food recycling? Ugh, I can't eat it because it upsets my stomach. I'm just not going to eat it."
He put down his fork and rinsed his mouth with water.
He took out a tissue, dabbed his mouth, and opened his mouth to the camera with sincere eyes.
"There might be some subscribers who suspect it's fake. It's definitely not fake. Something felt strange since last time. Actually, this is my second time here. The first time I came, I told them I was a YouTuber and I would only film myself eating in the corner, but they kicked me out while making a big fuss. I should have known then. I don't know how other YouTubers filmed. Hmm... It smells. Anyway, I'll end this video here."
-Oh! This is a restaurant I trusted and ate at. It was cheap for some reason.
-I thought the owner was nice because it was cheap and delicious, but it turned out to be complete garbage.
-The secret to the low price is food recycling. Wow~!
-Let's report it to the Food Scandal File. 'The Two Faces of a Famous Restaurant. Food Recycling.'
...
"Keuk. It's killing the buzz."
Hyun-soo, who was watching the monitor, smiled wickedly.
The number of views was several times higher than other videos, and there were many comments.
Things were going according to plan. The comment window was flooded with posts criticizing the owner of Sunflower, and there were even opinions that they should boycott the restaurant and report it to the Food and Drug Administration.
The mosaic was deliberately blurred so that anyone could recognize it as Sunflower.
There was no need for the netizen investigation squad to be dispatched. The restaurant's name was identified right away.
'The plan is going smoothly.'
He had thrown them a tempting bait, so as long as it wasn't caught as fake, the rest would be taken care of by the angry subscribers.
'There's no way I'll get caught.'
He had checked several times before filming.
There was not a single CCTV camera in Sunflower's hall or kitchen.
So there was no way the process of intentionally putting in the grains of rice would be filmed or anyone would find out. He had quickly put in the grains of rice so that no one would notice.
Furthermore, the video was more convincing because it used high-quality ingredients but sold them at a low price, which made it seem like they were recycling food.
Tring-
The owner of the pork cutlet shop who had requested the back advertisement called.
"Boss, is business going well?"
-Yes! We have more customers again.
"It'll stay that way for a while, so when business slows down, let me know and I'll advertise again. I'll really promote your store then."
-Haha. Thank you. But will there be any problems?
"If you just keep your mouth shut."
There was absolutely no way he would get caught, and even if he did, he could just deny it, saying he didn't know, or apologize with a video saying it was accidentally mixed in during filming and it wasn't intentional.
-Oh... Yes.
"Then I'll hang up. I have more to do."
After hanging up the phone, Hyun-soo turned on his computer's VPN and logged into another YouTube account that he had created in advance.
"Keukkeuk. Goodbye. You won't go far."
***
"But there are really no customers today."
"Right? There are days like this. Eating leisurely at Sunflower."
"I should write in my diary."
So-eun and Kim In-chul joked and leisurely cut their food.
Although no one was paying attention, it was an unspoken rule at Sunflower to eat quickly and leave because there were always customers waiting to come in.
"Is today a surprise holiday that we don't know about?"
"No. And they're closed on Sundays and holidays."
"Right. But why aren't there any customers?"
"I wonder. I'm curious too."
"Well, it's good for us because we can eat leisurely."
Clank-
At that moment, the door opened and two women who looked like office workers came in.
"I told you. There won't be anyone today."
"Really. How did you know?"
"Just now. The people passing by were gossiping?"
"What did they say?"
"That..."
The woman, who hesitated for a moment, whispered something to her colleague.
"What? Recycling? Really?"
"Shhh!"
"Then shouldn't we come in either?"
"Does the owner here look like he recycles food?"
"No."
"I think so too. And even if he did, would he recycle food after all this fuss? He'd be more careful about the food."
"Oh~ What's that?"
"What do you mean?"
Min-ju, who brought the menu and lemonade, was surprised by the strange conversation the customers were having.
.
.
.
I let them film in the corner, saying they would film politely, but they stabbed me in the back like this.
"It's my fault. I'm sorry."
Min-ju apologized to Hae-jun while checking the video, sobbing.
Hae-jun had gently refused the YouTubers, saying that they would disturb the customers' meals, but Min-ju had actively recommended them, saying that it would help with sales.
So she would feel even more responsible.
Knowing her feelings, Hae-jun tried to comfort Min-ju, pretending to be okay.
"It's okay. It wasn't intentional. Business was so good that I was tired, but it turned out well."
"But still..."
Anyway, the content of the video was ridiculous nonsense.
'Why would I do something like that?'
Hae-jun, who gets all his ingredients from the Dimensional Farm, has no reason to recycle ingredients.
Since he couldn't reveal that fact, he had to prove his innocence in another way.
"Boss, do you think I made a mistake?"
Dong-sik, who had been standing silently next to him, spoke heavily.
Knowing that Hae-jun managed the kitchen more cleanly than anyone else, he guessed that if there was a mistake, it was probably his own.
If he had accidentally put it in while plating the food, he should take responsibility for it.
"If it's my fault, I'll explain and quit..."
"Don't talk nonsense. Our kitchen can't run without you right now."
"B... Boss."
"How much help do you give us?"
Hae-jun's words deeply touched Dong-sik.
He was just a kitchen assistant who didn't even cook, but Hae-jun thought of him like this.
"Instead of arguing about who's right or wrong, what's important now is to find out how the grains of rice got in there."
"Right. How did it get in there?"
Min-ju pursed her lips and fell into thought.
Just like Hae-jun said, she wondered how the rice got mixed into the salad.
Food recycling was ridiculous, and the kitchen was managed very cleanly under Hae-jun's direction.
'But how?...'
Hae-jun thought carefully about the workflow in the kitchen.
When an order came in, Dong-sik would put the toppings other than the rice and tonkatsu on the plate in advance. When the tonkatsu was finished frying, Hae-jun would personally put the drained tonkatsu on the plate with the rice and add sauce before serving it to the customer.
It was impossible for grains of rice to get mixed into the coleslaw in the first place.
'Isn't there a good way to prove my innocence?'
***
Ho-cheol, who luckily had business to attend to nearby, hurriedly finished his work and stopped by Sunflower.
Crunch, crunch-
Yum, yum-
"Honey, is this place okay?"
"It's delicious. The atmosphere is nice too. It's just like our old dates in Namsan."
"Really? But don't you think the food here is better?"
"Yeah. It's so good. The batter is crispy, and the meat is juicy. Let's come here often."
"Of course. Just tell me whenever."
His wife smiled happily with crescent-shaped eyes.
He had made up for the points he had lost by drinking and playing with his friends.
Determined to score big, Ho-cheol cut the tonkatsu and put it in his wife's mouth. His wife shyly accepted it, saying, "Why are you doing that?" It seemed like she would even let him buy her the new 'PlayBox5' if the atmosphere was like this.
While keeping an eye out for when to bring it up, Ho-cheol continued eating when he overheard the restaurant staff talking.
"Food recycling? That's ridiculous. We have to clear our name somehow."
"I think so too. Boss, if you just let them slander you, we might keep losing customers."
"······."
'What are they talking about?'
Ho-cheol, who was known for being thick-skinned, became curious.
After listening to the whole story, it seemed like the owner of Sunflower was in a difficult situation.
"Honey, I'll be right back from the bathroom."
In the meantime, Ho-cheol's wife, who had finished eating, headed to the bathroom with her bag.
Seizing the opportunity, Ho-cheol approached the owner and spoke to him, despite being a little rude.
"Boss."
"Can I help you with something?"
"I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but it seems like you're in a difficult situation?"
"I'm sorry. You're eating, but we're talking too loudly."
"That's okay. I just wanted to see if I could help."
When he first came here on a friend's recommendation, he thought, 'Why did you bring me to this cheap Western restaurant?'
However, after tasting the food that was in a different dimension, Ho-cheol became a huge fan of Sunflower.
He would drive for more than 10 minutes during his short lunch break, when he barely had time to eat and rest, just to come to Sunflower.
Even today, he came here to cheer up his wife, who had been upset with him for neglecting her lately, and thanks to the tonkatsu, his wife's anger had subsided. Maybe he could even get a game console.
He couldn't just stand by and watch the owner, who he was so grateful to, suffer an injustice.
"Thank you for your concern."
After hearing the story, Ho-cheol thought about how he could prove Hae-jun's innocence.
Then suddenly.
"Ah!..."
"Why? Do you have a good idea?"
"How about posting on Jewel Dream?"
"Jewel Dream?"
Jewel Dream is just an ordinary used car community to people who don't know about it.
However, if you know the truth, it is a place where top experts in various fields in Korea reside.
There was a joke that if someone was wronged, it was faster to get help by posting on Jewel Dream than going to the police.
"Let's post it once. I know you're innocent. Maybe someone will help."
Ho-cheol opened his phone and posted Hae-jun's story on the bulletin board.
And the response came back faster than he thought.
-Hmm... What is it? What's the truth?
-Standby for now. I'll put the Pikachu car in neutral while touching its belly.
-But if what the owner says here is true, the Meokbo’s channel will be shut down.
-We need to verify the facts.
-I saw that video, and something was suspicious. t felt like a sniper video that was uploaded on purpose.
-Yeah, it doesn't make sense. I've never seen anyone leave food here.
-ㅋㅋㅋ I agree. My friend even licked his plate clean.
-Crazy. Why would you lick a plate?
After dozens of comments,
The capable people started to appear.
-This video is 100% fake. Look here. Here, when the cut goes over here, the arrangement of the cabbage is strangely messed up, right? This is clear evidence that they intentionally moved the cabbage and put in the grains of rice.
Someone found and posted a cleverly edited section of the video uploaded to YouTube by capturing and cutting each frame.
Indeed, as the owner of the comment said, the arrangement of the salad, which he said he hadn't touched, had changed subtly.
-Wasn't it just hidden? Or maybe he discovered it while rummaging through it.
-He said at the beginning of the video that he didn't touch it?
-Somehow. This is fake.
-It definitely looks like he put it in.
-I can't tell just by looking at this.
-If it's true... You won't go far. Quickly.
-This is getting exciting.
-Oh! Captain, joins the Sunflower’s food recycling controversy. Click on the link to go. I just saw a video.
Hae-jun, who had been reading the comments, followed the link.
