#48. The Duration of Affection (3)
After the tasting of the Knife team’s cooking ended, it was the Fork team’s turn.
Oh Jinseok looked at me and introduced his dish.
“The name of the dish is ‘A Plate of Vienna’.”
One of the hosts asked in a playful voice.
“There’s no Vienna sausage on the plate though?”
“Oh, come on. It’s not that kind of Vienna.”
The Vienna he meant was probably the literal meaning. Austria’s capital, Wien.
I hesitated for a moment holding the spoon. I felt like it was too precious to eat. There was chocolate syrup sprinkled over a dessert lightly covered with cream, and the shape happened to be that of a squirrel character wearing a beret. It was a mascot that often appeared in Oh Jinseok’s manga.
In the Austria chapter of <Bringing the World to the Dining Table>, Oh Jinseok said he tried Vienna coffee for the first time in his life. I recalled his expression that the meeting of cold cream and hot coffee was a very shocking and ecstatic experience.
It was a great shame to ruin the syrup drawing, but it was unavoidable for the tasting. Remembering the instruction to scoop it all at once and put it in my mouth, I took a spoonful of the dessert.
Soon I could understand why Oh Jinseok named it ‘A Plate of Vienna’.
“The first taste is… orange?”
Haesol asked, smacking his lips slightly.
“That’s right. I made orange zest from the peel and put it on top of the cream, and used the juice instead of syrup.”
“So that’s why the castella cake had an orange scent…”
“There’s a menu called Café Maria Theresia in Austria. It’s a coffee with a unique flavor made by mixing orange liqueur, and I got the idea from there.”
At first, the cold cream spread sweetness and freshness in my mouth, and then I could taste the warm, moist castella cake. It seemed to be soaked with richly brewed coffee and orange juice.
“It’s delicious.”
The taste of the dessert that melted away without anything to chew was so disappointing that I took another spoonful.
“It’s hard to describe, but it’s really delicious.”
When I enthusiastically finished eating the rest cleanly, Haesol looked surprised.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Seowoo eat dessert this enthusiastically. It’s rare for him to show curiosity about food in the first place.”
“Really? That’s an honor.”
After talking about food a bit more, it was time to choose.
Both dishes were delicious enough to be served anywhere, so having to choose just one felt a bit cruel…
“I’ll choose ‘A Plate of Vienna’.”
Unlike Haesol who chose the braised flounder, I chose the second menu.
“Even though it wasn’t a place I’d been to, I could feel memories and nostalgia. I thought it was an experience that money couldn’t buy, so I chose it.”
I hesitated for a moment before adding.
“Both were so delicious that it was really hard to choose. Especially the braised flounder, I think I’ll keep thinking about it. I want to gather with all the members and eat it together.”
Eventually the filming ended and it became time to wrap up. After pondering for a moment, I took my notebook and approached Oh Jinseok hesitantly.
“Um… Teacher.”
Oh Jinseok, who had been talking with the Knife team chefs, beamed.
“Oh, Seowoo-ssi. Good work today. Is there something you’re curious about?”
“Could you give me an autograph?”
At the shy question, Oh Jinseok burst into hearty laughter.
“Of course I should!”
I thought he would just sign it and return it, but unexpectedly, something was tucked between the pages of the notebook. It was a business card with gold lettering on black paper.
“I don’t know if you know, but I run a small restaurant in Itaewon. Since we met like this, it’s fate, so I thought I’d treat you to a meal later.”
“…I know.”
I said in a slightly dazed voice.
“I’m actually a regular viewer of ‘Please Take Care of My Dining Table’. I started watching because you were appearing on it. So I wanted to visit the restaurant too…”
Oh Jinseok’s restaurant was already operated by reservation only, and days when Oh Jinseok came out to cook personally were even harder to find. At most three or four times a month?
‘I’d long given up because making reservations was no easy task.’
A restaurant without a menu. It felt like a dream to have the chance to experience Oh Jinseok’s cooking philosophy of serving a meal that would become a memory through communication between customer and chef.
“Can I bring one companion?”
Then Oh Jinseok asked back with a voice full of laughter.
“You mean Na Jihan-ssi?”
“Uh, how did you know?”
“You said the ingredient prep was Na Jihan-ssi’s work. Both the fact that he did it hoping you’d eat a little more food, and the fact that you asked for the recipe as soon as you tasted something delicious.”
“…”
“You two are really special to each other. When you see something good, you think of each other first, and you always want to share happy moments together. That’s what I thought.”
It was too accurate to say anything. My face flushed red.
“Of course you can come together. I’m looking forward to seeing you two in person.”
I nodded vigorously and smiled back.
“Yes. We’ll definitely come, Teacher.”
* * *
About two weeks later, morning.
I woke up early in the morning and went downstairs with a very determined attitude.
The place I headed to stealthily like a thief cat was the kitchen. Worried about making loud noises and waking the light-sleeping members, I carefully opened the shelf and began taking out what I needed one by one.
Tablet, stand, wireless microphone, and even an apron.
I put what I had secretly placed there the night before on the table and quietly nodded.
‘I can do this.’
We finally finished activities related to the digital single. The preparation for the agency’s monthly evaluation was also perfectly completed yesterday.
Of course, since our first mini-album including this single song would come out in June, three months later, I couldn’t just slack off forever. Still, the members agreed to rest without any worries for this weekend, and we even went to sleep after turning off our alarms together last night.
Of course, I secretly turned mine back on for this morning.
‘…I prepared thoroughly, so it’s okay.’
I steeled my resolve, tied my apron properly, and turned on the tablet. I opened the program as Na Hyeonjun had taught me and waited for a small light to appear next to the camera.
Soon, with a twinkle, a small light appeared and chat messages began scrolling up beside the screen.
[Huh? You’re doing a live at this hour?]
[I thought it was a dream;]
[Hi Seowoo~ (｡･∀･)ﾉﾞ Good morning~]
[Is Seowoo doing a solo live today? I think this is the first time for a Seowoo main live]
[Wow, praise me for not sleeping until this hour]
Reading the messages popping up one by one, I smiled brightly and brought out the greeting I had prepared.
“Hello, Hope.”
Just yesterday, Arcus’s fandom name was decided.
‘Arcus’ means rainbow, and since rainbows symbolize hope, ‘Hope’ which was a candidate became the official name with overwhelming votes. It was a name that fit well with the members’ values that fans’ existence was like our symbol, so I personally liked it a lot.
Since the name was decided, I wanted to call them directly, so I had decided since yesterday that if I did a live today, I would definitely greet them like this.
“You don’t know how much I wanted to greet you like this. I’m happy that we finally have a way to address you all.”
[What isã… ã… ã… ã… ã… ã… ã… ã… ã… ]
[Becoming one Hope,,,]
[Mom, my bias is making me cry from the morning]
[Right!!! I watched ‘Please Take Care of My Dining Table’ well♡♡♡♡]
[But Seowoo, why did you wake up so early? You did sleep, right?ㅜㅜ]
[I guess the kids aren’t all awake yet? I can tell from how you’re speaking quietly]
At first I could barely read one or two messages, but after trying it a few times, I got used to it and it was quite readable.
Reading the fans’ messages, I nodded and explained.
“The members are still sleeping. I’m the only one who secretly woke up, so Hope needs to keep it secret from the members too.”
[Yes!! Of course, I’ll keep it secret ã…Žã…Ž <3<3]
[Of course we have to keep it secret,,, we don’t know the members’ contact info, Seowooã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹]
[So does anyone know why baby bunny woke up early? Don’t tell me you woke up early to see us?]
“The reason I secretly turned on a live by myself today is…”
I said seriously, pointing to my apron.
“To volunteer for breakfast duty.”
That was exactly right. I was going to make breakfast this morning.
“Some Hope already mentioned it. As you know, I appeared as a guest on ‘Please Take Care of My Dining Table’ a few days ago.”
[Right]
[That’s right, that’s right]
[The Vienna plate really looked delicious]
[The chemistry between Oh Jinseok and Seowoo was crazy… I didn’t know Seowoo was an Oh Jinseok fan]
[Ah, don’t tell me you’re going to make what you ate then for the members??????]
“That’s right.”
I nodded.
“Today, I’m going to make the two dishes that appeared there myself.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
