***
“It’s getting late. Everyone should go home now. Dong-sik, you must be tired, so you should go home too.”
“Yes, thank you for the meal.”
“Thanks to the boss, I ate well.”
“Can’t we stay and play a little longer? We have nothing to do at home anyway.”
Dong-sik and Eun-jeong got up from their seats, and Kang-hoon felt very sorry.
After his military discharge, Kang-hoon couldn’t sleep through the night, whether it was because his sleeping patterns had changed or because of a vague sense of anxiety about the future.
He would lie in bed and toss and turn, reading web novels or watching YouTube or playing games until it was past midnight, and then he would finally fall asleep with great difficulty.
He had to wake up at 5 AM to go to work at dawn, so he usually only got three or four hours of sleep.
“I can’t sleep at night, and I’m bored.”
“In-ma, the boss needs to rest too.” [T/N: 마 is short for 인마 (inma), which is a friendly or rude way to address someone. The meaning depends on the relationship. For example, you might call a close friend "pal" or "bro" as a sign of friendship.]
Dong-sik, the oldest of the group, scolded Kang-hoon.
On a day like today, he could have taken a break, but he had prepared the food for his employees and arranged the dinner party, so it was polite to leave now.
“Ugh… What a shame.”
“Let’s make a date to hang out again next time.”
“Okay. Next time, let’s go on a company retreat.”
“A company retreat?”
“This punk Kang-hoon. When would the boss have time for that? He’ll have to appear on TV soon.”
“That’s right. Appearing on TV. But won’t our boss become really famous and get a fan club once he’s on TV?”
“Well, with the boss’s looks and cooking skills, he’ll definitely become popular.”
Eun-jeong nodded in agreement.
No one noticed, but Min-ju’s face darkened slightly at the mention of a fan club.
“Well, our boss is a hundred times better than those chefs who appear on TV these days.”
“Stop talking nonsense and go. The subway will stop running soon. Take one of these with you.”
Hae-jun placed a shopping bag on the table.
It contained onion curry and pork cutlet.
“What’s this?”
“It’s onion curry and pork cutlet. Everyone except Min-ju lives alone. Don’t skip meals, and eat this.”
“Wow, this is so touching. You gave us a big dinner, and now you’re giving us this… I’ll eat it well.”
“I’ll eat it well too!”
“But the contents are a bit different.”
Kang-hoon said as he looked inside the shopping bag.
“You and Dong-sik got a lot of pork cutlet and curry. The girls each got a lemon tea.”
It's lemonade directly soaked in Grade B lemons that make your skin smooth and white.
After a few days of experimenting after hearing Min-ju's words, it was clear that Grade B lemons had the effect of eliminating skin troubles and making it smooth.
"It's good for your skin, so be sure to drink one glass a day."
"Thank you."
"I'll enjoy it."
"Come in. Brother, come in."
"Yes. Then I'll see you tomorrow."
"Have a good time, boss."
"Goodbye."
***
Min-ju, who returned home, took off her clothes and sat down, carefully lifting the lemonade as if it were a treasure.
Lemons beautifully contained in a transparent glass bottle.
It was too precious to eat.
"But I have to taste it, right? Oppa told me to drink one glass a day. Hehe."
She put a large spoonful of lemonade into the cold soda water and floated a slice of lemon.
"Wow~ It's cool."
It was more sour and refreshing than the lemonade that Min-ju, who was in charge of drinks at Sunflower, usually made.
The unique taste and aroma of lemon seemed to be stronger.
"Is this more delicious? Hmm, I have to recognize my brother's skill."
It was more delicious than the one she made as the person in charge of drinks.
The quality of the ingredients that Hae-jun brought was excellent, but his cooking skills were also excellent.
Not only his skills, but sometimes she wondered where he got such good ingredients.
He was handsome, kind, a good cook, and sexy...
"Ah... I miss him when I think about him."
She had just parted ways a little while ago, but she missed Hae-jun's face again.
Then she suddenly became embarrassed and buried her face in the blanket and rolled her feet.
Thinking of Cha Hae-jun, Min-ju tossed and turned all night and finally fell asleep just before dawn.
.
.
.
The next morning.
"Ugh, I'm tired. I couldn't sleep all night."
She finally fell asleep at the end of the night and woke up after only two or three hours.
Her skin must have become puffy.
"I have to meet my brother, but my skin... Huh? What the heck?"
Despite staying up all night, her skin was not puffy at all, but rather soft and smooth as if she had received a massage.
"Surprisingly, it's okay."
***
The night after the Sunflower dinner.
"Oh my, it smells like alcohol. Lee Kang-hoon! Did you drink?"
So-eun, who was sitting in the living room watching a public comedy show, said with a slight impression when her younger brother came in, reeking of alcohol.
“You drank? Our boss made something delicious for us.”
“Something delicious? What?”
“Pork belly, raw rockfish, soybean paste stew… What else did I eat? Anyway, I ate a ton. I feel like I’m going to burst. Ugh~!”
Kang-hoon stroked his belly that was sticking out like a tadpole and smiled with satisfaction.
So-eun was displeased with her brother. That’s because her dinner consisted of nothing more than ramen and a lump of cold rice.
“Brat, if you were going to do that, you should have brought some for your sister too! How can you come back and eat something delicious all by yourself when you’re living in your sister’s studio?!”
She headlocked her brother as punishment.
“Ack! Ow, ow. Stop it.”
“You bastard. Your only sister gave you a place to stay and even introduced you to a job, so you should have invited me to a nice meal like today’s.”
“It was a company dinner. Why would you come?”
“I’m a regular customer, so can’t I come sometimes?”
She prided herself on being Cha Hae-jun’s number one customer at Sunflower.
She was the first customer to buy his fat sandwich back when he was selling it at the subway station.
“Th, that’s enough.”
“No. You need to be punished a little more.”
“I’ll give you this, so please stop. I feel like I’m going to throw up.”
Kang-hoon raised the shopping bag over his head and surrendered.
Sniff sniff?-
So-eun’s arm loosened at the alluring smell of curry.
“What is this?”
“The boss gave it to me. He told me to eat it.”
“My dear brother. You should have told me sooner that you brought something like this~.”
It was perfect timing.
Late-night snacks are the worst enemy of morning puffiness, but if President Cha Hae-jun made it, that’s a different story.
It was delicious enough to make you forget about puffiness or weight gain.
“But what kind of curry looks like this? There are no potatoes or carrots.”
“It’s just onions boiled in water. But they said it’s really delicious?”
“Re~ally?”
She heated up a pork cutlet in the air fryer.
She poured the onion curry over it like sauce and cut it into pieces with a knife before putting it in her mouth.
“Eueugh~ Delicious.”
She let out a sigh of contentment.
It was delicious enough to make her face swell up like she had her wisdom teeth removed the next morning.
“I could sell this for money. Is it on the menu?”
“I don’t know. But sis, can I have a bite?”
“Hey, your body is vibrating with the smell of pork belly. What else did you eat?”
“The smell was so good. Give me some.”
“No.”
“That’s funny. The boss gave this to me.”
“If you’re drunk, go wash up and go to sleep!”
“Tch, I have insomnia, you know?”
“Then watch TV or something.”
“After I have a bite.”
“Ugh!”
After a struggle, Kang-hoon was barely able to snatch and eat two pieces of pork cutlet.
He wanted to eat more, but his sister So-eun’s fighting spirit in front of the pork cutlet with onion curry was too much for even a discharged sergeant to handle.
“Wow··· This is delicious.”
Kang-hoon lay down sideways and turned on YouTube to watch soccer.
There were only three videos uploaded today. He usually needed to watch at least seven to fall asleep, so he turned on the first video, thinking it was a shame there weren’t more.
And then.
.
.
.
“Huh?”
Kang-hoon opened his eyes the next morning.
“What the? It’s morning?”
“Lee Kang-hoon! Wake up. It’s morning. You need to go to work.”
He could hear his sister So-eun banging on the door and waking him up.
“You little rascal. You said you had insomnia, but you fell asleep in under five minutes as soon as you laid down? Hurry up and wash up. Wash up and make me a fat sandwich.”
“A fat sandwich? I don’t know how to make that.”
“You’re a former military cook who’s been working in the Sunflower kitchen for months, and you can’t make that?”
So-eun scratched Kang-hoon’s pride a little.
He had seen Hae-jun make it over his shoulder.
The process didn’t seem that difficult. Just boil an egg, mix in an appropriate amount of mayonnaise and sugar, and spread it generously between two slices of bread.
“Show me what you got?”
“Okay.”
A little while later.
Kang-hoon made a fairly decent fat sandwich and placed it on the table.
“Oh~ That looks good.”
“Right? It should be delicious. Try it.”
“Let’s see what the youngest in the Sunflower kitchen can do.”
She took a bite of the thick sandwich.
Kang-hoon waited nervously for his sister’s evaluation with a tense expression.
“How is it?”
“Ugh, it’s tasteless. It even smells bad.”
“I-It can’t be that bad.”
“No, it really is. It doesn’t taste like anything.”
Kang-hoon, who couldn’t believe it, snatched the fat sandwich from his sister and tasted it.
“It really is.”
Although he had only watched over his shoulder, the proportions couldn’t have been that different.
He could understand if the taste was a little off.
But this was···.
“It’s not just tasteless, it’s really tasteless.”
It was clear that there was some secret technique that he didn’t know about.
‘I’ll definitely ask him to teach me later.’
***
“It’s getting late. Everyone should go home now. Dong-sik, you must be tired, so you should go home too.”
“Yes, thank you for the meal.”
“Thanks to the boss, I ate well.”
“Can’t we stay and play a little longer? We have nothing to do at home anyway.”
Dong-sik and Eun-jeong got up from their seats, and Kang-hoon felt very sorry.
After his military discharge, Kang-hoon couldn’t sleep through the night, whether it was because his sleeping patterns had changed or because of a vague sense of anxiety about the future.
He would lie in bed and toss and turn, reading web novels or watching YouTube or playing games until it was past midnight, and then he would finally fall asleep with great difficulty.
He had to wake up at 5 AM to go to work at dawn, so he usually only got three or four hours of sleep.
“I can’t sleep at night, and I’m bored.”
“In-ma, the boss needs to rest too.” [T/N: 마 is short for 인마 (inma), which is a friendly or rude way to address someone. The meaning depends on the relationship. For example, you might call a close friend "pal" or "bro" as a sign of friendship.]
Dong-sik, the oldest of the group, scolded Kang-hoon.
On a day like today, he could have taken a break, but he had prepared the food for his employees and arranged the dinner party, so it was polite to leave now.
“Ugh… What a shame.”
“Let’s make a date to hang out again next time.”
“Okay. Next time, let’s go on a company retreat.”
“A company retreat?”
“This punk Kang-hoon. When would the boss have time for that? He’ll have to appear on TV soon.”
“That’s right. Appearing on TV. But won’t our boss become really famous and get a fan club once he’s on TV?”
“Well, with the boss’s looks and cooking skills, he’ll definitely become popular.”
Eun-jeong nodded in agreement.
No one noticed, but Min-ju’s face darkened slightly at the mention of a fan club.
“Well, our boss is a hundred times better than those chefs who appear on TV these days.”
“Stop talking nonsense and go. The subway will stop running soon. Take one of these with you.”
Hae-jun placed a shopping bag on the table.
It contained onion curry and pork cutlet.
“What’s this?”
“It’s onion curry and pork cutlet. Everyone except Min-ju lives alone. Don’t skip meals, and eat this.”
“Wow, this is so touching. You gave us a big dinner, and now you’re giving us this… I’ll eat it well.”
“I’ll eat it well too!”
“But the contents are a bit different.”
Kang-hoon said as he looked inside the shopping bag.
“You and Dong-sik got a lot of pork cutlet and curry. The girls each got a lemon tea.”
It's lemonade directly soaked in Grade B lemons that make your skin smooth and white.
After a few days of experimenting after hearing Min-ju's words, it was clear that Grade B lemons had the effect of eliminating skin troubles and making it smooth.
"It's good for your skin, so be sure to drink one glass a day."
"Thank you."
"I'll enjoy it."
"Come in. Brother, come in."
"Yes. Then I'll see you tomorrow."
"Have a good time, boss."
"Goodbye."
***
Min-ju, who returned home, took off her clothes and sat down, carefully lifting the lemonade as if it were a treasure.
Lemons beautifully contained in a transparent glass bottle.
It was too precious to eat.
"But I have to taste it, right? Oppa told me to drink one glass a day. Hehe."
She put a large spoonful of lemonade into the cold soda water and floated a slice of lemon.
"Wow~ It's cool."
It was more sour and refreshing than the lemonade that Min-ju, who was in charge of drinks at Sunflower, usually made.
The unique taste and aroma of lemon seemed to be stronger.
"Is this more delicious? Hmm, I have to recognize my brother's skill."
It was more delicious than the one she made as the person in charge of drinks.
The quality of the ingredients that Hae-jun brought was excellent, but his cooking skills were also excellent.
Not only his skills, but sometimes she wondered where he got such good ingredients.
He was handsome, kind, a good cook, and sexy...
"Ah... I miss him when I think about him."
She had just parted ways a little while ago, but she missed Hae-jun's face again.
Then she suddenly became embarrassed and buried her face in the blanket and rolled her feet.
Thinking of Cha Hae-jun, Min-ju tossed and turned all night and finally fell asleep just before dawn.
.
.
.
The next morning.
"Ugh, I'm tired. I couldn't sleep all night."
She finally fell asleep at the end of the night and woke up after only two or three hours.
Her skin must have become puffy.
"I have to meet my brother, but my skin... Huh? What the heck?"
Despite staying up all night, her skin was not puffy at all, but rather soft and smooth as if she had received a massage.
"Surprisingly, it's okay."
***
The night after the Sunflower dinner.
"Oh my, it smells like alcohol. Lee Kang-hoon! Did you drink?"
So-eun, who was sitting in the living room watching a public comedy show, said with a slight impression when her younger brother came in, reeking of alcohol.
“You drank? Our boss made something delicious for us.”
“Something delicious? What?”
“Pork belly, raw rockfish, soybean paste stew… What else did I eat? Anyway, I ate a ton. I feel like I’m going to burst. Ugh~!”
Kang-hoon stroked his belly that was sticking out like a tadpole and smiled with satisfaction.
So-eun was displeased with her brother. That’s because her dinner consisted of nothing more than ramen and a lump of cold rice.
“Brat, if you were going to do that, you should have brought some for your sister too! How can you come back and eat something delicious all by yourself when you’re living in your sister’s studio?!”
She headlocked her brother as punishment.
“Ack! Ow, ow. Stop it.”
“You bastard. Your only sister gave you a place to stay and even introduced you to a job, so you should have invited me to a nice meal like today’s.”
“It was a company dinner. Why would you come?”
“I’m a regular customer, so can’t I come sometimes?”
She prided herself on being Cha Hae-jun’s number one customer at Sunflower.
She was the first customer to buy his fat sandwich back when he was selling it at the subway station.
“Th, that’s enough.”
“No. You need to be punished a little more.”
“I’ll give you this, so please stop. I feel like I’m going to throw up.”
Kang-hoon raised the shopping bag over his head and surrendered.
Sniff sniff?-
So-eun’s arm loosened at the alluring smell of curry.
“What is this?”
“The boss gave it to me. He told me to eat it.”
“My dear brother. You should have told me sooner that you brought something like this~.”
It was perfect timing.
Late-night snacks are the worst enemy of morning puffiness, but if President Cha Hae-jun made it, that’s a different story.
It was delicious enough to make you forget about puffiness or weight gain.
“But what kind of curry looks like this? There are no potatoes or carrots.”
“It’s just onions boiled in water. But they said it’s really delicious?”
“Re~ally?”
She heated up a pork cutlet in the air fryer.
She poured the onion curry over it like sauce and cut it into pieces with a knife before putting it in her mouth.
“Eueugh~ Delicious.”
She let out a sigh of contentment.
It was delicious enough to make her face swell up like she had her wisdom teeth removed the next morning.
“I could sell this for money. Is it on the menu?”
“I don’t know. But sis, can I have a bite?”
“Hey, your body is vibrating with the smell of pork belly. What else did you eat?”
“The smell was so good. Give me some.”
“No.”
“That’s funny. The boss gave this to me.”
“If you’re drunk, go wash up and go to sleep!”
“Tch, I have insomnia, you know?”
“Then watch TV or something.”
“After I have a bite.”
“Ugh!”
After a struggle, Kang-hoon was barely able to snatch and eat two pieces of pork cutlet.
He wanted to eat more, but his sister So-eun’s fighting spirit in front of the pork cutlet with onion curry was too much for even a discharged sergeant to handle.
“Wow··· This is delicious.”
Kang-hoon lay down sideways and turned on YouTube to watch soccer.
There were only three videos uploaded today. He usually needed to watch at least seven to fall asleep, so he turned on the first video, thinking it was a shame there weren’t more.
And then.
.
.
.
“Huh?”
Kang-hoon opened his eyes the next morning.
“What the? It’s morning?”
“Lee Kang-hoon! Wake up. It’s morning. You need to go to work.”
He could hear his sister So-eun banging on the door and waking him up.
“You little rascal. You said you had insomnia, but you fell asleep in under five minutes as soon as you laid down? Hurry up and wash up. Wash up and make me a fat sandwich.”
“A fat sandwich? I don’t know how to make that.”
“You’re a former military cook who’s been working in the Sunflower kitchen for months, and you can’t make that?”
So-eun scratched Kang-hoon’s pride a little.
He had seen Hae-jun make it over his shoulder.
The process didn’t seem that difficult. Just boil an egg, mix in an appropriate amount of mayonnaise and sugar, and spread it generously between two slices of bread.
“Show me what you got?”
“Okay.”
A little while later.
Kang-hoon made a fairly decent fat sandwich and placed it on the table.
“Oh~ That looks good.”
“Right? It should be delicious. Try it.”
“Let’s see what the youngest in the Sunflower kitchen can do.”
She took a bite of the thick sandwich.
Kang-hoon waited nervously for his sister’s evaluation with a tense expression.
“How is it?”
“Ugh, it’s tasteless. It even smells bad.”
“I-It can’t be that bad.”
“No, it really is. It doesn’t taste like anything.”
Kang-hoon, who couldn’t believe it, snatched the fat sandwich from his sister and tasted it.
“It really is.”
Although he had only watched over his shoulder, the proportions couldn’t have been that different.
He could understand if the taste was a little off.
But this was···.
“It’s not just tasteless, it’s really tasteless.”
It was clear that there was some secret technique that he didn’t know about.
‘I’ll definitely ask him to teach me later.’
