Chapter 196

Chapter 196

It was our first day selling hotteok in San Diego. We hadn’t even opened up shop yet, and the director was grinning as he briefed us.

“Don’t forget, guys! You have to go have some fun tomorrow!”

We still owed a thousand dollars. We’d finished off the last season in debt, having failed in even our frantic last-ditch attempt at holding a raffle to rescue ourselves. This meant that unless we made about 1,500 dollars today, we were sure to be even further in debt the moment we did anything entertaining the next day.

Paying off everything all over again now would make for good TV. Sinking further into debt would make the show less interesting, and being in debt wasn’t fun. It was better if there were ups and downs. The director seemed too immersed in his mission, however, and refused to give us an opening.

“We should show them we Koreans are generous. No doubling the price just because you added some dalgona on top, you understand?”

“Tsk!”

“Huh? What? Who tutted just now?”

We have no choice. The only things we could rely on at the moment were our marketing abilities and... Cha Eugene’s friends.

Eugene raised his arms in the air and, in English, shouted, “All my high school friends are coming! We’ll make them order three dishes each!”

“That won’t be necessary.”

Doing so would be forcing them to buy food. It would be better for us to focus on marketing on the street rather than giving someone online room to make a controversial post about us. It was about time we switched up the job roles to keep things interesting, but we delayed doing so after some discussion. We needed skill today.

As such, today’s lineup was similar to last time’s. Eugene and Ahyeon, with their excellent English, would take orders. Chungwoo and Big Sejin would do the plating and serving. There was one change, though.

“I’ll do my best.”

Bae Sejin had been moved to the kitchen. The official reason was that there was more work back there because of the dalgona… but there was a more important reason. Bae Sejin had been so visibly flustered after making a single mistake, that I’d given him a position for handling a bunch of different, sundry tasks. The reaction to him online hadn’t been bad.

Everyone found it cute. The production team had emphasized how hard he was working with their editing, making him the guy who did more than anybody else without people noticing. And based on this new reputation, we were giving him a promotion of sorts this time.

It’d be more fun if he encountered foreigners more often. But I’d given up on that idea, since Bae Sejin would probably have a meltdown from the stress.

“I’ll do my best, too! Let’s sell the perfect hotteok today!”

“Sounds great!”

“Yeah. Why don’t we do a chant before we get started?”

“Sounds good!”

I had a feeling the subtitles would say something like “They’re eager, unaware of what’s coming” but I went along with it to keep up the mood. The next thing we had to do was prepare the toppings before we opened up shop.

“Moondae, whatcha doing?” Big Sejin asked.

“We’re making the dalgona ahead of time.”

Big Sejin held a camcorder up to the frying pan. The footage would probably be used for a separate cooking video, though there was nothing to it that would warrant the term “recipe” at all.

“I’m letting the sugar dissolve fully first before adding baking soda, which makes air bubbles.”

“Wow! What does that accomplish?”

“It makes the texture much smoother,” I said. I produced supersized sheets of dalgona using three large frying pans. Then I handed each one to Bae Sejin, who was standing by.

“Me! I’d like a piece!”

“Here…” Bae Sejin, who’d been breaking up the toffee diligently, awkwardly handed Eugene a piece. He looked like he was feeding a dangerous animal, but in the show, it would probably be portrayed as a heart-warming scene.

That was when Raebin, who’d been dividing up the broken pieces carefully, suddenly gave a shout.

“Whoa! No way!”

“What is it?”

“A-are you hurt?” Even Ahyeon, who’d been cleaning the tables outside, ran back into the kitchen.

“No! Please take a look at this!” Raebin excitedly began weighing each of the little containers of dalgona. They were all exactly thirty grams. Don’t tell me this is what he was making such a big fuss about?

“Looks like you got the weight right.”

“And these, too!” Raebin placed more containers on the scale. Once again, they were thirty grams. “Whoa.”

“And these, too!”

He continued stacking little containers on the scale.

Thirty, thirty, thirty, thirty-one, thirty...

“…?”

“No way.”

Even the production team were murmuring in surprise. The director asked quickly, “Raebin, did you not measure these beforehand?”

Raebin balled his fists and said, “No!”

Wow.

“That’s amazing!”

“Kim Raebin, how’d you do that?”

The members surrounded him and began to exclaim excitedly. It seems Raebin would have made a great lab slave— I mean, a graduate student.

“Wow! That’s so amazing!”

The staff joined in shouting his praise, making it seem as though our country’s soccer team had just won the World Cup or something.

[The broken hotteok machine]

[Suddenly began operating normally again]

I expected captions of this sort to appear over this footage. The real problem was whether this discovery would turn out to be foreshadowing misfortune, or a successful day.

I guess the sales will decide that I changed into a different apron at the request of the art direction team. It was about time for us to open shop.

***

It was a sunny day near the beaches of La Jolla. A woman who’d just bought some comic books at a store nearby was on her way back home when she suddenly smelt something delicious in the air.

Cinnamon? She looked around upon smelling the sweet fragrance and saw a small shop around the corner.

That used to be a taco place. She couldn’t be sure if the food was as good as it smelled, but her feet led her to the source regardless. The bells over the door chimed as she went inside.

[“Welcome!”]

[“Uh, hi.”]

The shop was quite full, even though it wasn’t the usual time people searched out food. There were young men who appeared to be employees making their way quickly between the tables, serving food, before greeting her.

One of them came over.

[“Would you like to try one?”]

[“Oh, uh, sure.”]

A tall man with a cheerful voice held out a tray of samples to her. He wore a jolly, pleasant smile on his face. She was reaching for a piece on the plate before she even realized what she was doing.

[“It’s a sweet snack with a bit of cinnamon inside. The texture is very nice. The ice cream and—”]

[“Two dalgona at table three!”]

[“Got it! Uh, if you’ll excuse me. I’ll be around if you like it and want to order some!”]

The man smiled at her and ran off, his description of the dish cut short. The person who’d called out to him was also a handsome man about the same age with clear skin.

They’re all so handsome... There was a vibe about them that was obvious regardless of race. She stood blankly near the entrance, putting the piece of pancake-like treat into her mouth. Hot, sweet cinnamon syrup burst from within the crispy outer layer.

This is good! She’d been lured in by the smell, and now she was confident.

This is today’s snack. She immediately headed to the counter, where there was a menu. The guy who’d been leaning against it immediately stood up straight upon noticing her.

[“Would you like to order?”]

Huh? She recognized the face under the unfamiliar dye job, and her mouth fell open.

[“Whoa! You’re Eugene!”]

[“Huh?”] The guy looked surprised. He looked up, revealing more of his handsome face and canines. She was right. She knew him. This guy was Eugene!

[“Uh, have we met? In middle school? Elementary school?”]

She should have expected this reaction, of course. He’d been such a popular guy, and the only connection they’d had was as a studious student showing her homework to him and receiving snacks in return.

[“Oh… I’m Hannah Hamilton. We used to be in the same class in middle school.”]

“Oh, Hannah! Nice to see you. How have you been?”]

Isn’t this nice? At least he’s being friendly! She laughed.

[“Couldn’t be better. You?”]

[“I’m doing great. Would you like to order, by the way?”]

[“Huh? Oh, um…”] As she hesitated, more people came into the shop.

[“Son of a gun. We didn’t know you were back in San Diego!”]

[“Hey there! Good to see you again!”]

Ugh! His friends from middle school had arrived, all people she didn’t know. She backed away, feeling uncomfortable, but promptly collided with someone behind her.

[“Oh, I’m sorry!”]

[“It’s all right.”]

She had bumped into another employee, this one with a French accent. And surprisingly, he was also very good-looking.

What in the world? What was happening in this tiny shop? The graceful-looking employee smiled at her when she made eye contact and asked,

[“Would you… like to order something?”]

[“Yes! Do you have any vegetarian items on the menu?”]

[“Of course. We… have vegetarian menu items. Take a look here.”]

The kindly and sophisticated employee recommended a vegetarian honey pancake called hotteok served with cashew vanilla ice cream on top. By the time her food was nearly done, Eugene returned.

[“Hannah! Huh? You already ordered!”]

They had a short conversation as she ate, and she was shocked to learn where he’d ended up.

[“Y-you’re a K-pop singer?”]

[“Yeah!”]

It was unbelievable. It felt strange to hear a popular boy who’d played football at school talking about K-pop! While there were a few well-known K-pop artists, the genre wasn’t all that mainstream. Eugene seemed very tranquil about it, however.

[“You didn’t know? We’re filming for a show right now! These guys are members of my group.”]

[“…!”]

She looked around and realized that there were cameras everywhere, as well as notices on the walls.

“A Korean broadcast station is currently filming in this shop. Thank you for your understanding.”

She’d been so busy staring at the food and the employees that she hadn’t noticed.

I ran into a quarterback from middle school who’s become a K-pop star and is selling snacks... She quietly munched on her food, feeling like the situation was surreal. The hotteok she’d ordered was delicious, too.

They could just keep running this shop, and they’d sell great. She was even offered a drink when she was almost done eating.

[“It’s a dalgona soy latte. That guy over there says it’s a free drink on us since you’re my friend.”]

[“That guy?”]

She turned around to look where Eugene was pointing. It was the nonchalant-looking guy she’d seen earlier in the kitchen, who nodded at her and smiled briefly.

He’s cute! She nearly grinned and nodded back, but caught herself at the last moment.

[“Really? Thank you. He’s very kind.”]

[“Yeah! He’s a great guy!”]

Hannah sipped the drink as she chatted with Eugene. The drink was quite good as well. She glanced automatically toward the kitchen and saw that the guy who’d given her the drink was directing everything going on in there.

He’s a singer, but he can run a kitchen so professionally? Maybe being a chef was his main job, and K-pop was just a side gig.

Should I ask him for his number? No. There was no way he would give her his number. Thinking better of it, she picked up her phone, snapping a picture of the menu, uploading it to her comics enthusiast social media account.

[Found this shop by the way. It’s operated by a K-pop boy band, but this tastes like professional baking (thinking face emoji)]

She didn’t mean much by it. It was just meant to be a record of her visit.

The food is good, though. That’s undeniable. And… the employees are cute. She bought three sets of hotteok to-go, in the end. The guy in the kitchen watched the entire process with satisfaction.

Good. Looks like we’re selling pretty well. Park Moondae was quite happy since they’d set a new record for daily sales at this rate.

That night, Hannah found out that her social media post had attracted a huge reaction. TeSTAR fans had flocked to it to beg for the location of the shop.

- Please, please tell me where it is

- My god, I was at La Jolla Beach yesterday ;(

- You lucky girl (GIF of Cha Eugene looking at Park Moondae’s hotteok)

Goodness. After watching a few TeSTAR music videos and the American talk show, she realized that her middle school friend had succeeded beyond anything she could imagine. After a few days of wading through WeTube videos, she began wishing she could turn back time so she could get his autograph.

***

“Phew.”

I sat on the bed I’d been assigned. Our first day of operations had ended successfully.

“Today’s sales came to… 1,627 dollars!”

“Yeaaah!”

They’d offered drinks that didn’t cost a lot to make to customers who were Eugene’s friends, and that had worked better than expected. Eugene’s friends had been very generous.

We ran out of ingredients. Only after a noisy dinner with Eugene’s family did we get to take a break. I was stuck in the same room as Eugene again, though. Sh*t.

No peace and quiet for me today, either. Even now, he was chattering away.

“Moondae! Let’s think of a great sub-unit performance!”

At least he hadn’t brought it up for a while, ever since it had been decided subunit performances would only be included in the encore concert. I suppose it’s time we started discussing it.

“What’s your idea?”

Eugene thumped both hands down on my bed.

[“I’ve given it a lot of thought, and a circus theme seems to be the best choice!”]

Yeah? I stared at my phone and said, “Sure.”

“Oh?”

“Let’s do it, then.”

“Whoa!”

Eugene threw both hands in the air with excitement.

Moments later, he said, [“But maybe diving will be more shocking.”]

I knew you’d say that. I’ll need to make the proper preparations. I could say one thing for certain—doing a subunit performance with Eugene would either be big, or a complete flop.