Lee Jong-Suk put the finely chopped radish into the pot quickly.
“What are you doing?” his mother asked. She went into the kitchen in a hurry to see what was happening and was surprised.
“I did a little something.”
“Jong-suk ah! I know you did something to the sauce! What did you do? Did you put something in there?”
“Yeah.”
“In what kind of spicy rice cakes sauce is radish added? This boy is going to make me throw the whole sauce out,” she mumbled.
“Not if it turns out good.”
His mom sighed and watched him as he stirred the sauce with a spoon.
“Then did you shred the radish?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Just a while back.”
“With what?”
“With a knife.”
“You shred the whole radish just now?”
“Yeah.”
Lee Jong-Suk continued stirring the sauce while answering his mom’s questions.
“Though the spicy taste is a little strong, if we add the rice cakes then it will probably neutralize the taste. This much can be possible.”
Lee Jong-Suk’s mom was looking at him while he was mumbling something to himself.
“It is not yet time to add anything else. Before adding the rice cakes this needs to be boiled for a while.”
His mom continued watching his theatrics. She went over and tasted the sauce with a finger. Her eyes widened in surprise, and she looked at Lee Jong-Suk.
“This is tasty.”
She took another taste and said,
“It is quite tasty but isn’t this a little spicy? Also, don’t you think the flavor is a bit too strong?”
She agreed it was tasty. It tasted delicious, and the taste was much better than what was made yesterday.
“It’s good for now. After a while, the spicy taste will reduce. Anyway, this needs to be allowed to boil for a while.”
“But where did you learn this stuff from?” his dad asked.
Lee Jong-Suk smiled and said,
“Yesterday, at the second-hand book store, I saw it in a secret book. The book was about spicy rice cakes.”
“Really? I guess you didn’t buy the book.”
“I memorized it completely. Okay, then. I need to go to school now.”
Lee Jong-Suk rushed into his room and wore his uniform. He hurriedly packed his school bag and left for school.
***
The business with high school students began in the morning. Students entered the school from 8 o’clock to 9 o’clock. During this time, almost half of what they brought to sell would have been sold. And so, the couple who hurriedly sent Lee Jong-Suk to school started to get ready for business.
Before adding the spicy rice cake, Lee Jong-Suk’s mom boiled the sauce for a while. After boiling the sauce for a while, she put some rice cakes and put some in the fish paste. When the spicy rice cake was done, students started entering the shop.
“The smell is awesome,” one said.
“Even though the taste isn’t that great, the smell is definitely nice,” another said.
Hearing the words of the students, Lee Jong-Suk’s mom’s face went stiff.
“I’m sorry that it doesn’t taste good.”
To keep the flavor vibrant, the rice cakes were turned again. Just then, another kid that was passing entered the shop, inhaling the flavor.
“Auntie, please give 500 Won’s worth.”
“Yes, just a moment, please.”
After serving the kid in a medium cup for 500 Won, Lee Jong-Suk’s mom looked at the kid as he was eating it.
“Is it tasty?” she asked.
“Yes! It is delicious.”
“Really?”
At the customer’s words, Jong-Suk’s mom took a toothpick and pricked one and ate it.
“Oh my! Honey! Honey, come and taste this!”
At the call of his wife, her husband, who was getting ready to make fried foods, entered the store.
“What?”
“Eat this and see.”
He took a bite of the spicy rice cake, and his eyes immediately widened.
“Delicious.”
“Isn’t it? Oh my! Why does it taste this good?”
The student also agreed with them and continued eating his spicy rice cake. The kids who were passing entered one after the other and bought some spicy rice cake.
****
After school, without going to the second-hand bookstore, Lee Jong-Suk directly went home. When he got home, he was surprised at what he saw.
Eungsong Eungsong!
Kids completely occupied the dining hall on the ground floor.
“Spicy rice cakes for one please.”
“Spicy rice cakes for two please.”
Kids were eating the spicy rice cakes one by one, and those kids who could not enter into the dining hall were sitting near a window by the counter and eating spicy rice cakes out of the 500 won cup.
“Waah! It’s really delicious.”
“Hmm… Very delicious.”
Lee Jong-Suk’s parents were entirely busy trying to meet up with the orders. Asides from the spicy rice cake, sundae, and fish cakes were also ordered. Eating the sundae and fish cakes by dipping them in the spicy rice cake sauce was very delicious.
At that moment, Lee Jong-suk’s mom looked up and saw him. She immediately called to him,
“You too, come inside and work for a while.”
“Me?”
Lee Jong-Suk was pleasantly surprised. The store was very busy, so he understood why his mom asked him to help them.
“Can’t you see that we are very busy?”
“I get it. I’ll change my clothes and come down.”
“Okay, but make sure you come quickly.”
Jong-Suk went up and changed his clothes. He was still puzzled with the turn of events as he took the used dishes into the kitchen.
“Aigoo, I’m losing my mind.”
Lee Jong-Suk looked at his father, who had a huge smile on his face that stretched from ear to ear.
“Did the business go well? Why were there so many students?”
“That was because of the spicy rice cakes.”
“Spicy rice cakes?”
“They were extremely delicious. See for yourself when you eat them.”
He nodded and went towards his mom. She was busy stirring the spicy rice cakes. Lee Jong-Suk nodded at his father’s words and went towards his mom, who was stirring the spicy rice cakes.
“Aaah!” Lee Jong-Suk opened his mouth and pointed to it. His mom put a piece in his mouth.
He chewed it with a strange expression. He took the dustbin below the sink and spat the rice cake in it.
“Why? Is it not good?”
Students were sitting in front of him, so Lee Jong-Suk whispered to his mother who was expectantly waiting for his answer.
“By any chance, did you put fish cake soup in this?”
“The sauce was drying up, why?”
“Don’t put it.”
“Why? Isn’t it good?”
Mom took one piece of the rice cake and put it in her mouth and shook her head in Lee Jong-Suk’s direction.
“The flavor of the sauce turned turbid and oily because of the fish cake soup added to it.”
“Then what are we supposed to do? If I continue boiling it, it will start drying, if I add more water it looks like it might get too liquidy.”
“Even then do not add the fish cake soup, please. Just add a little water in it and stir.”
“Okay, I get it. Aigoo! Our son has become a spicy rice cake chef.”
With a proud expression, his mom hurriedly started to place the spicy rice cakes inside paper cups. He couldn’t sell anything anymore, so Lee Jong-Suk left the shop and went upstairs.
“Aigoo! That was hard.”
While he was upstairs saying it was hard, his mom and dad were downstairs, with wide smiles on their faces, counting the money they had gotten.
“350,000 won!”
“Yes!!!”
Mom smiled brightly and started clapping her hands.
“If there were more ingredients then we could have made around 40 thousand.”
Smiling brightly, his dad called him over.
“Jong-suk ah!”
Lee Jong-Suk washed his hands and went over to where his dad was.
“What?”
“Here”
Lee Jong-suk’s father gave him one thousand won.
“Wow”
“Happy?”
His father couldn’t stop smiling. Then he added,
“Also go and buy that book.”
“What book?”
“The book that you said had the recipe of spicy rice cake.”
“Oh, that book is not for sale.”
“Really? Then how are we going to make the sauce from now on?”
“I’ll make it.”
“You?”
“Yes. I can think and make it.”
Later Lee Jong-Suk went into his room and brought out the olive oil. On his way home from school, Lee Jong-Suk had thought about it and bought it.
“What is that for?”
“If we add it, it might taste good.”
After speaking, Lee Jong-Suk took out the red pepper powder in front of his mom and dad and helped them in taking out the ingredients. He immediately started mixing the ingredients. While mixing in all the ingredients for the sauce, at the last instant, Lee Jong-Suk thought about adding the olive oil. He wondered if that was a good idea. It felt like there was a need for the olive oil to be added in the soup, but he hesitated. Why not add rice and cakes instead?
He put the rice cakes in the sauce and felt good about it. After hesitating for a bit more, he brought the olive oil and added a small quantity into it.
He was almost done with the rice cakes and looked over at the sauce.
“Seems to be good.
“Mom, come look at the spicy rice cake.”
“Coming.”
His mom came over and tasted the rice case.
“Delicious. Really delicious,” she said.
After tasting the spicy rice cakes, both parents showed admiration for their son but, he didn’t look satisfied. He looked like he was deep in thought.
“It seems a bit different. Is it because it hasn’t fermented yet?”
He inhaled the scent coming from the pot and nodded his head. It smelled very nice.
“Leave the seasoning for now. We will look into it again in the morning,” he said.
“Why? Isn’t it good the way it is?”
“The flavor will ferment and the taste might change. And from tomorrow, when making the rice cakes, add a little olive oil in it and stir for a while.”
“Alright, I understand.”
Lee Jong-Suk left his parents in the kitchen and went in for a shower.