Chapter 48

* * *

Ha Hyeonseo was a second year student at Seoul Gourmet University.

Her interest in cooking began because of a chef she saw on TV when she was young.

At first she had been drawn in by his handsome appearance.

But after watching various cooking programs, she gradually started dreaming of becoming a chef herself.

Because of that, her hobby was watching cooking streams and mukbang broadcasts.

A dull weekday evening.

As usual she opened her laptop and played a mukbang stream.

Recently her favorite broadcast was “Logic King Jo Miwon.”

“Didn’t he say there would be a guest today?”

In a world overflowing with hundreds of internet streams, provocative content was everywhere.

But Jo Miwon’s stream felt different.

Sometimes the chat could get a bit rough, but the streamer himself rarely used profanity.

Many broadcasts left her strangely tired after watching them.

But whenever she watched Jo Miwon’s stream, she felt oddly comfortable.

The casual and cheerful atmosphere, along with the random jokes that popped up out of nowhere, matched her taste perfectly.

So today again she turned on Jo Miwon’s broadcast and quietly started eating dinner.

“…Whoa.”

The moment she felt something was different today was when the guest’s face appeared.

[“Hello. I’m Miwon’s friend Kang Chan.”]

[HardworkingUncle: Is that face real?]

[ImFat: Wait is he even human like the host? Why is his face so small?]

[WarningIssued: Even his voice is handsome.]

[ScorchedRiceBread: That face is insane. Is he a celebrity?]

[GiveMeMyElephant: Holy crap isn’t he an idol trainee?]

Ha Hyeonseo stopped moving her spoon when she saw the unfamiliar man on the screen.

Jo Miwon’s friend he bragged about nonstop.

The moment she saw his face, an exclamation escaped her almost unconsciously.

He’s handsome!

No, insanely handsome!!

Whenever Jo Miwon bragged about him before, she had assumed it was exaggerated.

But seeing him in person was far beyond her expectations.

Tall height. Clear sharp features. A low gentle voice.

This was celebrity level appearance.

Normally donating was a luxury for Ha Hyeonseo.

Rent. Food. Tuition.

There were too many expenses.

So she had never once donated while watching Jo Miwon’s streams.

But then.

Click.

She ended up pressing the donation button.

‘What did I just do?’

Startled, she grabbed the mouse with trembling hands.

She had definitely been hypnotized by Kang Chan’s looks.

But that wasn’t the only surprising thing.

To be honest, Ha Hyeonseo hadn’t expected much from Kang Chan’s cooking.

He was handsome, but he didn’t exactly look like a great cook.

‘Besides, even if someone was good at cooking, no one could make anything with those ingredients.’

But as the cooking continued, she kept gasping in admiration.

Kang Chan used ridiculous methods to create stir fried anchovies and potato pancakes in an instant.

Then as the grand finale, he even made monkfish stew.

When the finished monkfish stew appeared on screen, Ha Hyeonseo could only stare at it in a daze.

Steam rising from the dish.

The glossy sauce coating the ingredients.

The neatly arranged stems of water parsley and green onion garnish.

It was an incredibly refined plate.

[I’llLiveNicelyNow: Wow that visual is insane]

[SweetDalgona: I don’t even like monkfish stew but I just ordered delivery]

[YokaiJokbal: That was really made on the spot?]

Ha Hyeonseo unconsciously swallowed.

‘This is definitely someone with solid fundamentals.’

She replayed Kang Chan’s movements in her head.

Handling monkfish wasn’t simple.

The fish was slippery, full of bones, and one mistake could leave a strong fishy smell.

But Kang Chan separated the bones smoothly and removed unnecessary tendons and organs.

Every time his knife touched the fish, it almost looked like the fish quietly obeyed his hands.

He seemed to toss ingredients in casually, yet when he added seasoning it was as precise as if measured with a scale.

Even his control of the heat was so careful and meticulous that it made the viewer hold their breath.

Ha Hyeonseo realized something immediately.

This wasn’t something you could imitate after a few practice attempts.

At that moment Jo Miwon shouted from the screen.

“Alright everyone! Final vote! Monkfish stew! Success or failure!”

[RoastedTangerine: Honestly how could anyone vote failure lol]

[GoejeongMinnow: It’s obviously a success. Just look at the visuals lol]

[TuruTuruPa: He actually looked like a real chef this time lol]

Ha Hyeonseo swallowed nervously and waited with the viewers.

Just before the vote closed, Jo Miwon deliberately dragged it out.

“So will this monkfish stew be a success or a failure…”

The countdown ended quickly.

Then cheers exploded from the screen.

“Wooooooow!!! It’s a success!!”

Success rate 95%.

An overwhelming result.

[UltraShoe: Today’s stream is legendary]

[BaconPancake: There’s no debate here lol]

[GrandmaHangoverSoup: What is Chan? Handsome and can cook lol]

With monkfish stew as the final dish, Kang Chan completed the impossible mission.

While he performed the challenge, the viewer count reached a record.

Ten thousand viewers.

Ha Hyeonseo stared at the screen speechless.

She had seen countless dishes and learned many techniques at school.

But in her opinion, Kang Chan’s level was not that of an amateur.

‘He’s handsome and cooks like that too. Isn’t that cheating?’

He instantly analyzed the core elements needed to recreate similar flavors and chose the most efficient method.

His way of balancing texture and flavor wasn’t even textbook.

Using the starch and moisture of noodles to create binding without flour.

Reproducing anchovy depth using ramen crispness and tuna oil.

Only someone who truly understood the logic of flavor could do that.

She suddenly wondered what other dishes he could make.

* * *

Ha Hyeonseo wasn’t the only one surprised by Jo Miwon’s stream.

Broadcast writer Yoon Jisoo was also watching.

Recently she had been monitoring popular streamers to recruit potential guests under the direction of Noh Seondo.

That’s how she discovered “Logic King Jo Miwon.”

She had watched Jo Miwon’s stream a few times before.

Fast pacing. Well timed reactions.

And his natural ability to play the “born streamer” character perfectly.

But today something felt different.

The thumbnail showed an unfamiliar man’s face.

A man wearing an apron and holding a frying pan while looking into the camera.

Sharp features that seemed to pierce through the screen.

A calm yet serious gaze.

It was only a single image, but it was powerful.

“…There’s no way I can not click that.”

She immediately opened Jo Miwon’s broadcast.

For the first few seconds she was mesmerized by the man’s face.

Kang Chan’s appearance was so perfect it was pleasing just to look at.

Her heart had already turned into a flower field.

At first it was just a light thought.

He was handsome, so maybe she should invite him once.

But as time passed and his cooking skills became clearer, Yoon Jisoo’s expression grew serious.

The way he held the knife. His control of the pan. Even the way he explained cooking.

He didn’t seem like a professional chef.

But he definitely wasn’t someone blindly copying techniques either.

Watching the broadcast, Yoon Jisoo unconsciously smiled.

‘It would be a waste to use him as just a one time visual gimmick.’

Looks, cooking skills, and broadcast presence.

He had all three.

Yoon Jisoo immediately picked up her phone and went to find Noh Seondo.

“PD, could you take a look at this for a moment? I found someone really good.”

Noh Seondo, who was in the meeting room, looked up with an indifferent expression.

“Who?”

“He seems like a normal guy. At first I was shocked by how handsome he was. Then I was shocked again by his skill. His movements aren’t ordinary. He’s the real deal.”

Yoon Jisoo handed over the phone, swallowing nervously.

Noh Seondo stared at the phone and zoomed in on the thumbnail.

A short silence passed.

Then he handed the phone back.

“Cast him.”

“What? But you haven’t even watched the video yet.”

“With a face like that, I don’t need to see the content. Proceed.”

Yoon Jisoo blinked in confusion at his decisiveness.

“…Yes. Understood.”

* * *

“Chan, seriously. Great job today.”

After ending the broadcast, Jo Miwon patted my shoulder.

I slumped in the chair, staring blankly into space.

It felt like my soul had left my body.

When I first heard the concept of the stream, I didn’t think much about it.

But when the roulette revealed the ingredient and menu combinations…

The despair at that moment was indescribable.

Still, I gave it my best.

Because it was a situation I had never experienced before, it was strangely exciting.

It looked reckless, but for some reason I didn’t want to give up.

I had cooked countless dishes in my life.

But this was the first time I had sweated this much while cooking.

‘They say ingredients are the gods of the kitchen. That must be true.’

Even so, the result exceeded expectations.

The broadcast revenue reached ten million won.

Viewers had kept donating because they were convinced the mission would fail.

Jo Miwon checked the earnings and said to me.

“Chan. Since it’s a big amount I’ll transfer it to your account. Give me your account number.”

“It’s fine. I had fun today and the amount is too big.”

“No way. It’s money earned thanks to you. I didn’t do anything today.”

When I refused because the amount was larger than expected, Jo Miwon insisted firmly.

Honestly I never planned to accept money.

I experienced something new and enjoyed remembering the old days with him.

But judging by his expression, he had no intention of letting it go.

“If you don’t take it, what does that make me? You took time out and appeared on the stream. At least take it for my sake.”

At this rate we would argue all day.

While thinking about it, I remembered a message from the chat earlier.

[People keep telling the host to spit it out if he doesn’t like it. But somewhere right now there are kids who can’t even eat a single ramen and are starving. People should know food is precious.]

Some viewers mocked the comment for being overly serious.

But I couldn’t ignore that one sentence.

In my previous life I worked in kitchens where the finest ingredients flowed endlessly.

Perfect stainless steel counters lined up neatly.

Plating that allowed zero mistakes.

The moment even the slightest flaw appeared, ingredients worth hundreds of dollars were thrown away without hesitation.

In that world perfection was value.

And value meant money.

But I knew that perfection wasn’t normal for everyone.

When I was young I had survived several days by reheating seaweed soup from the fridge.

That was when I realized something.

Food that one person calls cheap could be another person’s hope for getting through the day.

After thinking for a moment, an idea came to me.

“Then how about this. Give me the share you promised, and donate the rest somewhere meaningful.”