Lee Jong-Suk was looking for something in the sack.
“French, French, French,” he muttered continuously as he searched,
He finally found what he was looking for. The book he brought out had a hardcover with French words on it.
“Hamlet,” he read out loud.
Lee Jong-Suk smiled widely as he read the title. Just like he was able to read and write Chinese, he was also able to read French. It seemed like the writer who wrote the cooking experience was from France. Since he could read and write them, Lee Jong-Suk wondered if he would speak the languages.
Lee Jong-Suk, who wanted to speak a foreign language, looked at the Chinese and French books with a frown. None of it made any sense. If he tried to speak French or Chinese, there was a huge possibility of Korean coming out of his mouth. He wondered if there was anything that needed to be triggered first.
A few hours ago, he was sure he could neither read nor write Chinese, but here he was, having no problem doing either. But speaking the language was on a whole different level. If he tried to speak Chinese or French now, he didn’t know if he would be able to.
Still contemplating, Lee Jong-Suk went over to the shop owner, holding the book. The shop owner was watching the TV and laughing.
“I’ll buy this.”
The shop owner looked at the book he was holding and said,
“Jong-Suk, you can take it at a special price of one thousand won.”
Lee Jong-Suk laughed as he took out one thousand won from his pocket. He looked over at the other book.
“I want to buy the other book too. At first, I wanted to have it as a sort of souvenir. However, since I can read Chinese, I should be able to use it.”
He touched the book again. The texture was unusual and relaxing for some reason unknown to him.
The shop owner looked at the book”.
“Give me only a thousand won.”
“This looks like a book that can make good money.”
“This could get me a few thousand won, yes but since Jong-Suk came and did all the cleaning and arranging, I’d sell it to him for only a thousand won.”
“Thank you so much.”
Lee Jong-Suk paid for the books at the counter and put the Chinese and French books in his bag.
“I’m going to eat lunch. Will you also have lunch?” the shop owner asked.
“Yes, I will.”
“You will?”
Lee Jong-Suk laughed and said,
“Since you gave me the books at a cheap price, please, give me a tasty lunch too.”
“The rice is delicious, you can eat it with the side dishes too.”
Lee Jong-Suk went through the small door that was behind the counter. In the room, there was a fridge, a burner, and a small sink. Jong-Suk took out the kimchi from the fridge.
Entering the small door, there was a fridge, a small sink, and a burner was also there. Lee Jong-Suk took out the kimchi from the fridge. There was mostly soup in the container; it had only one piece of kimchi in it. Lee Jong-Suk looked inside the fridge to see what else was there and saw eggs.
“May I use the eggs?”
“You want to fry them?”
“Yes.”
“Sure, you can use them.”
Lee Jong-Suk took out three eggs, and he looked around for a frying pan. He saw one, put it on the burner, and put oil in it.
He muttered to himself, “Olive oil. Just like a western cook, if oil is needed then it has to be olive oil.”
When the oil was a little bit hot, he put in the rice. The whole room was filled with the sizzling sound. He spread out the rice in the pan and then flipped it. He then put the kimchi soup in the pan. It would have been nicer if there were more kimchi pieces in it, but most of it was liquid. There was nothing he could do about that.
The kimchi soup made the rice turn red, and Lee Jong-Suk quickly started to stir the food. After he did this for a little while, he pushed the rice to one side of the pan and put the kimchi piece on top of it. He broke open the three eggs into the pan and quickly whisked them. He then mixed the rice and the eggs.
When he was done, Lee Jong-Suk took a small bit from the food and tasted it.
“Tasty,” he murmured.
Lee Jong-Suk smiled as he put the food in a bowl, grabbed two spoons, and went out.
“Please, have the stir-fried rice.”
“The smell is awesome.”
“The taste is also good?”
“Where do I start?”
The shop owner was already drooling. He took a spoonful.
“Nice,” he said.
“Nice? Not delicious?”
“Um, don’t you think it’s lacking a little bit?”
Lee Jong-Suk tasted the food again and shook his head. Everything seemed alright.
“Something isn’t lacking.”
“Lately, there has been a lot of change in my taste buds,” the shop owner said.
Lee Jong-Suk went into the kitchen and made the soy sauce into crystals and came back.
“Eat this and see.”
“I could mix the soy sauce with the stir-fried rice.”
The shop owner put the soy sauce in the stir-fried rice and mixed. Lee Jong-Suk looked at him and shook his head.
“Taste it once. Only the soy sauce.”
The shop owner took a little soy sauce crystal and put it into his mouth.
“How is it?”
“The soy sauce is good”.
“How much should I add?”
“A little?”
Lee Jong-Suk also put a little soy sauce in his mouth, and his eyebrows wrinkled.
‘Only a little?’ Uncle, you should visit the hospital, please.”
“You think I’m sick?”
“If your taste buds change suddenly, it is an indication of being sick.”
“How do you know this stuff?”
“I read them in books.”
He couldn’t tell the shop owner that he knew about something like that because of the chef’s experience.
“So please, visit the hospital. At least once.”
“Ho! You are better than my wife. Thank you,” he said as he laughed while mixing in the soy sauce. “Just eat already.”
Lee Jong-Suk immediately started to eat the stir-fried rice.
***
After having lunch in Ghosopang, Lee Jong-Suk decided it was time he headed for home. When he got home, his mom was stirring the rice cakes in preparation for the spicy rice cakes.
“Dinner is ready. Go up and eat.”
“How long are you staying here?”
“I’ll stay here till I finish making and selling them.”
“You didn’t have many customers today?”
“Nope, since it’s the weekend. Now, go up.”
Lee Jong-Suk nodded and went up. During the weekend, they didn’t usually get half of the customers they got on weekdays. When he got to his room, he brought out the French and Chinese books and put them on his desk.
“The handwriting used is nice,” he said as he observed The Royal Family.
After staring intently at it for a while, he took out his phone and searched for The Royal Family on the internet. But he saw nothing about the book. He resumed looking at the book. The content of the book was good, and so was the writing. It looked like a book that would be famous but nothing about it came up in the search results.
He put The Royal Family and Hamlet on his bookshelf and took out the experience book. He wrote about his day in the Ghosopang, how he realized that he could read and write Chinese when he took up The Royal Family.
[Common experience has been written down. Received 25 points]
[Experience of finding the prestigious book called The Royal Family. Received 2500 points.]
Lee Jong-Suk was surprised. 2500 experience points? Wow. He couldn’t believe he got 2500 points for finding the book. He was still amazed as he took out the Chinese book and looked at it all over again. The prestigious book. He knew there was something special about it the moment he saw it. He must have been able to read and appreciate the book’s value because of the bachelor’s experience.
The bachelor that Lee Jong-suk saw in his dream was, no doubt, a great bachelor. The kind of bachelor who lectured dozens of bachelors. Getting experience from a bachelor like that was a great honor. He wondered if the book would be expensive. Like they showed on TV, writings from centuries ago usually had great monetary value.
“Looks like I found a great treasure.”