Gyeongsaeng Guburi.
Real Name Yoo Ah-yeon.
She was currently watching Gye Se-hoon’s broadcast and giving him advice.
【Gyeongsaeng Guburi】─First, pour cooking oil into the pan.
【Gyeongsaeng Guburi】─Next, stir-fry the meat.
【Gyeongsaeng Guburi】─Now add the vegetables and stir-fry. Also, add a spoonful of minced garlic.
【Gyeongsaeng Guburi】─Don’t add the enoki mushrooms, you idiot!
【Gyeongsaeng Guburi】─Damn it! Just do as I say!
【Gyeongsaeng Guburi】─What the hell? Don’t suddenly pour in the salt, you moron!
[What? Guburi, you told me to take the salt from the shelf.]
【Gyeongsaeng Guburi】─No, I just told you to take it out. Who told you to dump it in? Gye Sekkihoon, do you just shove things in like that with women too? You wanna die?
[Alright, I’ll do as you say, so stop freaking out.]
【Gyeongsaeng Guburi】─If you had listened earlier, I wouldn’t have freaked out. Damn sex maniac. ㅡㅡ
A small smile hung on Yoo Ah-yeon’s lips as she typed out the recipe in the chat.
But then, suddenly.
A past she didn’t want to remember about cooking resurfaced, and the smile on her lips began to fade.
***
Yoo Ah-yeon had loved cooking since she was young.
She didn’t have many friends.
Her first hobby, something she could do alone, was cooking.
She followed recipes she found online and even developed her own menus, showing her genuine passion for cooking.
Naturally, her career path also leaned towards cooking, and after graduating high school, she immediately jumped into the workforce.
The place she got a job at was a famous chef’s restaurant.
She didn’t know the chef personally.
But they had shared recipes through blogs since her student days, building a rapport.
In other words, she got the job through connections.
Because of this, the other chefs didn’t look at her kindly.
She was subtly bullied.
She was often scolded for trivial things.
Naturally, she didn’t get along with her coworkers.
But it was fine.
She had always been alone, even in school.
Being talked about behind her back, ignored, and ostracized was familiar to her.
She struggled through her social life like this.
About a year after she started working at the restaurant.
Due to office politics.
Her relationship with the chef gradually soured, and Yoo Ah-yeon eventually quit the restaurant and decided to participate in a cooking competition hosted by a major broadcasting station.
<The Greatest Cooking Competition on Earth>
– Prize: 1 billion won.
It was a cooking competition of unprecedented scale.
If she won here, she could gain fame and use the prize money to open her own restaurant.
‘I can definitely win this…!’
With high hopes, Yoo Ah-yeon submitted her application to the broadcasting station.
***
On the first day of the cooking competition.
Yoo Ah-yeon was momentarily stunned when she saw one of the other participants.
It was a high school alumni.
A member of the group that had continuously bullied her.
‘I’m pretty sure… back in high school, they said something like, “I have nothing to do after graduation, maybe I’ll learn cooking.”’
Yoo Ah-yeon inwardly scoffed at her alumni.
It was ridiculous that someone who didn’t even know the basics of cooking would participate in such a large-scale competition.
‘They’ll probably get eliminated in the preliminaries anyway. I’m going to win.’
She thought so, but.
That confidence quickly crumbled after she advanced to the finals.
[It’s tasteless.]
[I expected more since you worked at Chef ○○○’s restaurant, but I’m disappointed.]
[Did you really serve this for people to eat?]
On the day of the finals.
One participant received harsh criticism from the judges.
That participant was none other than Yoo Ah-yeon.
[Huh? Uh, well…]
The atmosphere was completely different from the preliminaries, where the staff had praised her.
Flustered, Yoo Ah-yeon couldn’t even speak properly.
She was ridiculed by the judges and eliminated in vain.
On the other hand.
The dish made by the alumni she had scoffed at received unanimous praise.
Not only did they make it to the finals, but the judges were also pouring compliments on the alumni’s dish.
Seeing this, Yoo Ah-yeon’s mind went blank.
She felt a sense of despair.
It felt like her life, which she had devoted to cooking, was being denied.
In the end, overwhelmed by frustration, she fled and joined the military.
After serving as a cook and being discharged.
Yoo Ah-yeon, now 24, fell into severe lethargy and became a NEET, holed up at home watching internet broadcasts all day.
Occasionally, she thought she couldn’t live like this.
She tried her hand at cooking broadcasts or gaming broadcasts.
But due to her lack of eloquence, her viewership didn’t grow, and she quickly gave up. She decided to live a life of trolling male streamers and eventually die alone.
That was until she started watching Gye Se-hoon’s broadcast.
[Guburi, is there anything else to add?]
Gye Se-hoon’s question snapped Yoo Ah-yeon out of her reminiscence.
“…Damn sex bitch.”
Yoo Ah-yeon decided to quickly forget the past and hurriedly typed in the chat.
【Gyeongsaeng Guburi】─Add salt while tasting.
[How much salt should I add?]
【Gyeongsaeng Guburi】─That’s for you to figure out, you damn bastard!
And.
Realizing that if she continued like this, she wouldn’t be able to pay rent or her phone bill, she decided to get a job in the food industry again soon.
To earn money and watch Gye Se-hoon’s broadcasts for a long time.
“Without me, Gye Sekkihoon’s broadcast would fail.”
Yoo Ah-yeon.
No, Gyeongsaeng Guburi had found a new reason to live.
***
I slowly stirred the red broth in the large pot with a ladle.
‘The visual looks decent.’
The smell was also pretty good.
It was a stimulating, spicy aroma that whetted the appetite.
‘I think I’ve stirred enough…’
After turning off the induction stove.
I opened the rice cooker and scooped white rice onto a plate.
Half of the wide plate was filled with rice, and the other half was topped with jjamppong sauce.
A dish made with Guburi’s help.
Jjamppong rice was complete.
【Gyeongsaeng Guburi】─Gye Sekkihoon, why are you eating rice again? Are you a pig?
【Yoho】─Yeah, seriously. Did you not eat at the neighbor’s house?
“…Just think of it as a late-night snack. I got hungry walking home.”
【Gyeongsaeng Guburi】─I see.
【Handsome Licker】─Lol lick.
【Gyeongsaeng Guburi】─Handsome bastard, your chat got short again. Stop jerking off, damn it.
【Yoho】─Handsome, you’ll rot your bones like that.
【Handsome Licker】─Nah, I’m busy. Making exam questions. Lick.
【Gyeongsaeng Guburi】─Oh.
“Guys, I’m going to give the maid some food, so wait a bit.”
【Gyeongsaeng Guburi】─Does that bastard not have legs? Tell them to come down and get it themselves. Damn it.
【Yoho】─Right. They’ll get spoiled.
【Min Ji】─Why don’t we just have the maid appear on the show?
【Reverse Rape Mania】─Seriously, I’m curious what they look like.
【Big Girl】─I’m curious too.
“That’s not possible. The teddy bear… I mean, the maid has severe social anxiety.”
After making up a quick lie.
I took the bowl of jjamppong rice and went up to the 2nd floor.
Our teddy bear needs to eat dinner too.
***
The women who had finished showering entered the living room.
“Oh, what’s that? It smells delicious.”
Jujijoa, with a towel over her shoulder, sat on a dining chair and asked.
She alternated between looking at the camera and her phone.
“Where’s Se-hoon?”
【Gyeongsaeng Guburi】─Went to give Gye Sekkihoon’s maid some food.
“That bastard doesn’t have legs? They should come down and get it themselves.”
【Gyeongsaeng Guburi】─Exactly. Damn it. Lol.
【Qkrnfl892】─Why are all your clothes black?
【Se-hoon Defense Team】─Lol, is it a uniform?
【Reverse Rape Mania】─What’s with the black outfits? Lol.
“Oh, this? Se-hoon prepared clothes for us to change into in front of the bathhouse.”
【Yoho】─What? Are they the room master’s clothes?
【Handsome Licker】─Yeah, definitely Se-hoon’s clothes. Lick.
【Min Ji】─I want to wear them too…
【Semen Thief】─Me too…
【Big Girl】─You’re living the high life today. But where’s Balloon Gum?
“Balloon Gum?”
After reading Big Girl’s chat, Jujijoa looked back.
Only Maehwa and Cat-eared Woman were there.
“Maehwa, where’s Balloon Gum? Weren’t you walking together?”
“…Huh? What? She was definitely walking next to me… Where did she go?”
Jujijoa asked.
Maehwa answered as if she didn’t know.
“That monster kid? She sneaked away earlier and ran up the 2nd floor stairs.”
Cat-eared Woman casually revealed Balloon Gum’s whereabouts as she sat down.
Maehwa smacked the back of Cat-eared Woman’s head.
“You crazy bitch! If you saw her, you should’ve caught her!”
“Ouch! Why are you hitting me! She’s an adult, not a kid, she’ll come back on her own!”
“Sigh. I don’t know. If Se-hoon says anything, it’s your responsibility.”
“What responsibility… Well, should I go catch her now?”
“Just sit down. Se-hoon said not to go up to the nd floor.”
“Isn’t that because of the teddy bear yokai? It’s already common knowledge… Oof!”
Maehwa covered Cat-eared Woman’s mouth.
She spoke quietly, conscious of the camera.
“There are viewers who don’t know, so be mindful and shut up.”
Cat-eared Woman nodded silently.
They sat down and decided to wait until Gye Se-hoon returned.
***
I handed the jjamppong rice to the teddy bear.
The teddy bear immediately started devouring the rice.
It must have been really hungry.
[Yum! It’s delicious! But it’s spicy! I’ll drink cola too!]
“I’m glad it’s delicious. I’ll head back down now, but if you want more, let me know in the chat.”
As I turned to leave.
Thud!
The sound of the door being roughly opened.
“Bam! What kind of room is this?”
Balloon Gum’s playful voice followed.
“……”
“Oh? It’s Se-hoon!”
My eyes met Balloon Gum’s.
And the teddy bear, who was eating, also locked eyes with Balloon Gum.
[Wow…]
Balloon Gum stared at the teddy bear, tilting her head and asking in a low voice.
“…Maid?”