Chapter 6

Early in the morning, Kang Jin was sweeping the front of his store with a broom.

Swish! Swish!

The area outside his shop had become quite dirty due to flyers and drink bottles people carelessly discarded at night.

“It’s not a trash bin for others’ convenience…”

Kang Jin opened a half-empty bottle he found and poured out its contents before placing it in a bag along with other empty containers. After finishing cleaning, he watched pedestrians walking by. It wasn’t even seven o’clock in the morning, yet everyone seemed busy on their way somewhere.

Everyone’s living such hectic lives.

Kang Jin himself led a busy life as well. Since leaving daycare, there were times when he barely slept five hours a day just to make ends meet. Although scholarships covered his first-year tuition fees, he still needed to earn enough money for rent and living expenses after moving out.

During his first year of university…while his friends were drinking, partying, and dating women, Kang Jin worked part-time jobs after classes while studying. When it came to working hard, he was no less diligent than anyone else.

Kang Jin nodded as he observed people bustling along or eating sandwiches while listening to music on their commute.

“Everyone’s striving for something.”

Though their paths and directions varied, they all shared the same purpose at the end of their journey: survival… Each person had their own way of making ends meet, but ultimately, that was where their paths led.

After watching the crowd, Kang Jin entered his shop. The store interior was empty yet spotless. There wasn’t much reason for it to get dirty, considering yesterday’s total customer count consisted of just one woman followed by three more later in the day.

Yesterday’s customers consisted of one female customer first and then three more females as his second set of guests. That was it.

Kang Jin surveyed the store before heading to the kitchen with a cooking practice board.

“Since this is a food stall, let’s start practicing making dishes. And…let’s actually do business.”

He didn’t plan on limiting his operating hours from 11 PM to 1 AM only. With no concerns about rent or ingredient costs, there was no reason not to extend his business hours. Every dish sold would be pure profit for him.

However…

Even if I don’t charge money during evening hours, should I also give away free food in the morning?

As long as he followed the rules, other aspects didn’t matter. So extending his operating hours wasn’t an issue. The question remained whether he should accept payment outside those specific times.

He didn’t mind extending his operating hours, but he wondered if he should accept money for meals served outside of dinner time.

“Let’s ask Lawyer Shin about that… In the meantime, let’s practice cooking.”

Kang Jin opened up the recipe book. After scanning through it, he selected a few dishes.

Kimchi Stew

Kimchi Rice Bowl

Pork Cutlet Rice Bowl

These were the three dishes Kang Jin chose. He wasn’t delusional enough to think he was a culinary genius. Garlic fried rice and garlic pork stir-fry were exceptions due to their simplicity.

Moreover, since he planned to run the restaurant without hiring any employees, he would have to cook and serve everything himself.

He needed dishes he could whip up quickly and easily so that he could leave as soon as possible. Hence, these three were his choices.

Kimchi stew just had to boil once more before serving, and bibimbap simply required topping rice with ingredients. Of course, a proper restaurant would reheat or sauté each dish fresh upon ordering, but Kang Jin couldn’t afford such luxury.

Having finalized his menu, Kang Jin started reading the recipe for kimchi stew when the letters began scattering again.

Huh?

Yesterday, he’d attributed this phenomenon to nervousness and fatigue, but it was happening again. He rubbed his eyes hard, only to find the words even farther apart than before.

“What’s going on?” Kang Jin rubbed his eyes and looked at the recipe for Dweji-bulgogi bibimbap (pork bulgogi rice bowl). Then…

Fwiiish! Fwiiish!

The letters began scattering again. He strained his eyes to read them despite the disruption. Initially, he was bewildered; then, he thought it might be due to eye strain. Now, he wanted to confirm if there was indeed something wrong with him.

As the text scattered before his eyes, Kang Jin tried reading through it.

It doesn’t scatter until I look at it.

After he finished reading, the words disintegrated and disappeared. This meant that the text remained intact until viewed, only scattering once seen by Kang Jin.

Having completed the recipe for dweji-bulgogi bibimbap, all he saw were empty pages remaining in front of him.

When Kang Jin closed his eyes briefly and reopened them, the words reappeared on the blank paper.

“This is…strange.” With this thought, he scanned the area and picked up a package of instant noodles from a nearby shelf.

“Ohyang Ramen…

Kang Jin raised an eyebrow after reading its ingredient list and cooking instructions. Unlike before, the letters for ramen remained intact.

“It doesn’t do that?”

Curious, Kang Jin unfolded the practice room’s recipe sheet and read through it:

< Stir-Fried Eggplant, Choose eggplants with firm skin, moist stems, and sharp tips… >

Once again, the text scattered before his eyes.

What’s going on here?

Despite the peculiar phenomenon, Kang Jin continued reading. After finishing the stir-fried eggplant recipe, he glanced back at the practice room wall.

As if nothing had happened, the text reappeared on the practice screen. Kang Jin rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“Everything else seems fine… Why does this happen only when I look at the practice room?”

Kang Jin pondered it briefly before getting up from his seat. He needed to test out some dishes today since he planned to start selling lunch tomorrow.

He took kimchi and pork belly out of the refrigerator and began preparing them.

Chop-chop-chop! Chop-chop-chop!

The ingredients were neatly cut as the knife moved swiftly across the cutting board.

Clack!

Kang Jin paused momentarily, studying the prepared ingredients arranged on the board. There lay finely sliced onions, green onions, and garlic cloves.

“No matter how I think about it, something’s not right.”

Although he had lived alone for quite some time, Kang Jin lacked cooking experience due to living in a small boarding house with limited kitchen facilities. Yet his knife skills… He admired the neatly chopped ingredients before transferring them into a bowl.

Kang Jin then took out his phone and searched for a recipe on jeonbokkum, or stir-fried beef slices. He found one from Chef Sun, who was currently very popular, and started reading through it.

The recipe was simple: cook meat over high heat, season with salt and pepper, add gochujang (red chili paste) and sugar along with vegetables. Lastly, pour soy sauce onto an empty spot of the pan, let it slightly burn, mix everything together, and voila.

After reviewing the instructions, Kang Jin placed the vegetables back onto the cutting board and picked up the knife.

Clack! Clack! Clack!

His movements were slow and clumsy now.

“Huh?”

Just moments ago, he was effortlessly chopping with rhythmic precision, but now his knife felt clumsy and slow. It seemed like he was crushing rather than slicing the scallions… Or no… They were definitely crushed.

The current state of the scallions contrasted sharply with the neatly prepared ingredients set aside earlier. The shape and cuts were noticeably subpar.

Kang Jin put down the knife and examined the scallions on the cutting board. Same ingredient, same cutting board, same knife—the only difference was how he wielded it.

“But what changed…it’s…”

He glanced at the recipe practice sheet and his phone nearby.

“The recipe…” Kang Jin scratched his head while looking between them.

“Nah! Could it be…”

No matter how much he thought about it, it didn’t make sense.

“How can reading recipes suddenly make me a better cook?”

Despite his skepticism, Kang Jin opened the practice sheet and quickly scanned through it until one recipe caught his eye:

Royal Burdock Stir-fry

As soon as he saw the name, Kang Jin felt this was the dish for him. He had always enjoyed stir-fried dishes like japchae, which his mother used to prepare for special occasions like holidays or birthdays.

But this wasn’t just any ordinary stir-fry; it was Royal Burdock Stir-fry, something he’d never heard of before… The intriguing name alone convinced Kang Jin to give it a try.

He made his choice, determined to test whether this unbelievable phenomenon was real or not.

“If I can make this taste good… It’s just absurd.” Despite his disbelief, Kang Jin started reading the recipe for Royal Dandelion Salad written on the practice room wall.

Swish! Swish!

As he read, the letters scattered and disappeared from view. Unfazed, Kang Jin continued scanning the text. The recipe was quite long, perhaps due to the complexity of the dish.

After slowly finishing it, Kang Jin closed the practice room. Whether intentional or not, despite its length, the recipe remained vividly in his memory. He could transcribe it word-for-word without missing a single character.

“Whew! This is crazy, but…let’s give it a try.”

With that thought, Kang Jin started taking ingredients out of the refrigerator. Japchae requires multiple components, so he had to retrieve numerous items. However, his hands didn’t hesitate at all. As if knowing exactly where each ingredient was located, he swiftly retrieved them, washed them, and prepared everything efficiently.

“It’s definitely…strange.” Despite being well-organized for a restaurant fridge, finding and retrieving specific ingredients without any trouble was unusual.

“Seriously…it feels like I’m possessed by a ghost,” Kang Jin muttered quietly, shaking his head before starting to chop and trim the ingredients.

Chop-chop-chop! Chop-chop-chop!

He sliced carrots, onions, green onions, garlic, doraji… As Kang Jin cut various ingredients for the royal burdock stir-fry, he couldn’t help but exclaim:

“I’m going insane.”

Whether it was him or the practice room losing its mind…his knife rhythmically chopped vegetables as before. Strangely enough, he even neatly organized the prepared ingredients, almost as if someone else were borrowing his hands to cook instead of himself. Feeling possessed, Kang Jin continued making the stir-fry.