Chapter 132
I responded to the old man's barrage of questions as calmly as possible.
"They are both Estonian."
"Where is Estonia? "
"It's a country in Eastern Europe...."
"Oh, I went to Europe a lot when I was younger! Where did I go again? The first place I went was France."
As the old man tried to open his rich bundle of stories, Ji Yoon-chul's eyebrows twitched as he was grilling meat.
I also felt them turning their gaze towards me.
'It seems like customers are coming in a little more, but if he stays here for too long, there will be problems.'
But it was impossible to just cut off the old man's words.
When I'm quickly thinking about the best way to do it.
Yoo Min-ha, who was holding a pair of tongs intervened at a good time when I was trying to find a way out.
"France! I really like France! There's the Eiffel Tower in Paris, right? The Eiffel Tower! Father, there's some meat that just came out. Would you like to try it first? It's so tender and delicious! "
"Really? Give me some; I wonder what it tastes like."
"It's hot, so be careful when you eat it, Father! "
Thanks to Yoo Min-ha's great performance, we were able to avoid a crisis.
As Ji Yoon-chul and I nodded without saying anything, Yoo Minha wiped his nose and gave a thumbs up.
It's a reaction you'd expect to see in a typical comic book.
The elderly people who gathered in large groups tasted the meat grilled by Ji Yoon-chul one by one and gave it favorable reviews.
"The meat is really well cooked. Did you make this? "
"...Yes."
"The young man is really good at grilling meat. Honey, should we buy a pack too?"
"Thank you."
At first, Ji Yoon-chul couldn't even raise his head when they spoke to him, as if he were embarrassed by the one-sided praise he was receiving, but as time passed, his shoulders straightened.
Now, he had reached a point where he didn't have to say thank you first. He bows to them on his own.
"Wow, there are so many people here at once."
"That's right. I never imagined that everyone would come all at once like this."
"... My arms hurt because I cooked too much at once."
Only after the customers who had been crowding around the tasting corner had left did we finally take a breather.
Ji Yoon-chul, who had the hardest time, tried to relax his muscles by rolling his shoulders.
I checked my wristwatch.
An hour and a half had already passed in the blink of an eye.
'It's time to pass the baton now.'
It's time to give Ji Yoon-chul some rest after working hard grilling meat.
"Yoon-chul, it's time to switch with me."
"Switch?"
"I'll grill the meat for the next two hours, so Yoon-chul, take care of packing it up."
"Uh...."
Ji Yoon-chul looked slightly uneasy.
His hands instinctively grasped the tongs and scissors.
"It's much easier to grill it...."
"Still, your arms must have been strained from grilling for so long. As the teacher said, taking turns is effective for stamina management."
"... Okay, hyung."
Ji Yoon-chul would rather be quietly grilling meat than doing packaging work that requires constant interaction with people.
But that doesn't mean he's going to grill meat alone all day.
I took over Ji Yoon-chul's equipment and tapped him on the shoulder.
"The crowds that came in the morning seem to have mostly subsided now, so it should be relatively relaxed. So don't be too nervous."
"... What if it's just the beginning? "
And as if Ji Yoon-chul's words had become true, about 10 minutes later.
"Yoon-chul ah!"
"Min-ha! Look here!"
"Karis!"
"You're so handsome! "
"Oh my god...."
Guests of all ages flocked in droves, boasting huge numbers.
I hurriedly placed the meat on the grill while watching the young customers holding up their cell phones.
Yoo Minha and the staff worked tirelessly to maintain order as much as possible.
"Please stand in a line, one line! "
The fans, who knew very well that they should not cause a fuss in this situation, lined up in a single line as instructed.
Our tasting line grew so long that it filled half the food court area.
You could tell right away how many fans had come here by word of mouth.
"Hello. The meat will be ready soon, so please wait a moment."
"I can wait as long as you want! "
I first greeted the fans on behalf of Ji Yoon-chul.
After busily cooking the bulgogi with both hands, I quickly cut it into bite-sized pieces.
I could instinctively feel that the fans' eyes were fixed on me as I worked at a fast pace.
I felt a little embarrassed because I heard people exclaiming in admiration for every little thing I did, but I decided to enjoy this feeling instead.
"Hello! Oh, oh my.... You're really so handsome."
"Welcome."
My first customer was a young fan who looked like she was in middle school.
The girl, who was fiddling with her school uniform ribbon, hesitated for a moment before speaking to me.
"I didn't go to school today to see oppa!"
"Is it okay to do that?"
"I, I told them I'd be late because I went to the hospital! I really wanted to see you in person."
I was grateful that she took the time to skip school and come all the way here, but at the same time, I was worried.
"It's fortunate if it doesn't affect your attendance grades or anything, but you still shouldn't lie like that. Next time, make sure you go to school and come back, okay?"
"Yes! I will never be late again!"
"You made a promise to me."
I put the freshly grilled bulgogi into a cup and handed it to her.
The student, who had been breathing heavily and carefully tasting the meat, immediately covered her mouth and spoke in a voice filled with emotion.
"It's so delicious!"
"I'm glad you like it. There's a sale going on right now, so if you'd like to buy some-"
"I definitely want to buy it! Oppa grilled it for me, so of course I have to buy it!"
As I met the next guests, I realized that the percentage of fans who were late for school to come here was much higher than I thought.
And this didn't just apply to students.
The next woman to come to the tasting corner had her eyes fixed on Ji Yoon-chul from the beginning.
I noticed it right away and said it in a very natural tone.
"Yoon-chul, I need to drink some water, so can you grill some meat for me just this once?"
"Yes, I will do it."
"Thanks."
The female fan who received meat from Ji Yoon-chul revealed her pick and shyly told the story of how she ran away from the company.
"I really only picked Yoon-chul since
"Did you sneak out in the middle of work? "
"I said I was going to have lunch and came straight here! "
"But you came out saying the right thing! You can have some bulgogi here before you go!"
Next to me, Yoo Minha tapped the tongs and smiled brightly.
Perhaps because she revealed that she was a fan of his, Ji Yoon-chul became even more silent and focused all his energy on properly grilling the meat.
"... I'll give you some meat."
"Omg...!"
Ji Yoon-chul handed over not one, but two cups of bulgogi for tasting.
The moment he handed the cups to the fan, Ji Yoon-chul's fingertips lightly touched the fan's hand.
The female fan was at a loss and couldn't even make eye contact with Ji Yoon-chul.
"Tha, thank you! I'll buy a pack of meat too."
"Thank you!"
"Thank you!"
It seems that many of our working fans hurriedly left midway after hearing that we were filming our daily part-time job here.
'This is the moment when I realize with my whole body that there are so many people who show us love and interest.'
Since then, I've been grilling meat like crazy and having short conversations with fans.
Just as my fingers were starting to feel numb while cutting with scissors, a fan appeared with an unusual request.
"Oppa, I have a favor to ask! Please speak normally, normally!"
"This is my normal... speech?"
I was momentarily embarrassed.
If it's the everyday speech that fans want, it's definitely referring to the habitual prince-like tone that I use when talking to the members.
I was wondering what to do with this.
But I remembered the resolve I had made earlier.
'I decided to enjoy this moment when all the attention was focused on me even more.'
I nodded and asked the fan what her name was.
"What is your name? "
"Just friend!"
"Hmm, hmm."
Finally, I turned the meat over to check if it was fully cooked.
Then I cut the bulgogi neatly with scissors, put it in a cup, and handed it to a female fan.
I said this with a solemn tone.
"Now, friend. Listen. The meat can be very hot, so make sure it cools before eating."
"Tha, thank you!"
"If the roof of your mouth gets burned, it will break my heart, so be careful that that never happens. Got it?"
The fan who heard my last words screamed, and her face turned red like a tomato.
I clearly told her to eat slowly, but she was so excited that she swallowed the bulgogi in one bite and left, exclaiming, "It's really delicious and pretty!"
I looked at her back and muttered to myself.
"She shouldn't be so stubborn."
"... It seemed like she didn't even chew it."
"Really? Even from my perspective, it looked like she swallowed it right away."
Our bulgogi sale event drew endless crowds.
As the teacher said, I thought it would be a great success if we sold just 1/3 of the meat prepared today.
Thanks to the collaboration between ordinary citizens and fans who came to see us through word of mouth on SNS, more than half of the tickets were already sold out in less than 4 hours.
"The special sale for bulgogi is almost over! Now is your last chance! "
Of course, the credit for this was overwhelmingly given to Yoo Min-ha, who constantly solicited customers with his tireless energy.
Even though I was getting tired of watching it, Yoo Minha kept up the energetic energy and kept the beat with his tongs until the very end.
It seems like he's become quite attached to the tongs.
But the effect was so great that I couldn't even find fault with it.
"Min-ha, I'm a huge fan!"
"Really?"
"Yeah yeah! When I was watching the live broadcast, I was really anxious because I was worried that your name wouldn't be called at the end."
"Thank you so much! Thanks to your support and encouragement, I am here!"
"It's exactly the same as the actual broadcast... I came after seeing a post saying that you were singing while holding tongs."
The sight of Yoo Minha holding the tongs seemed to have had an impact beyond imagination.
One fan who sent affectionate words and glances to Yoo Min-ha even acted as a big shot.
"Bulgogi One Plus One is so cheap. I'll buy four packs!"
"Four packs?"
"So that's eight packs in total. Is that okay?"
"Of course! When will I ever get to eat Seleste's bulgogi again!"
She was a fan of Yoo Minha, who swept eight packs of beef bulgogi by herself.
Yoo Min-ha, who was extremely touched, asked the fan's name and even sang a trot song for her.
"I'm happy because I have you, Jeongmi nim~! I'm happy because I have you!"
There really wasn't any special fan service.
But since she bought eight packs by herself, I thought it was only natural that he should do this.
"She's the MVP today, Hyung-nim! "
"That's true. I didn't know she would buy that much on her own."
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