A Blank Slate Regression for the Idol That Lost His Original Mindset - Chapter 67

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Regression Manual for an Idol Who Lost Their Original Intentions Chapter 67

I forgot Gyeon Hajun’s birthday? Not Seo Yehyeon’s or Kim Dobin’s, but Gyeon Hajun’s birthday, which I had consistently remembered even before my regression?

“Whoa, I thought Eden Hyung seemed that way, but he’s really a heartless person. How do you forget a friend’s birthday?”

I had nothing to say to Ryu Jaehee’s teasing, so I kept my mouth shut while Gyeon Hajun made excuses for me instead.

“It could happen. He’s been crazy busy lately.”

Jun, don’t do that… I just checked SNS and Jaehee posted a birthday congratulations message.

If you say that, I become trash who couldn’t even remember or care for a friend’s birthday because I was busy… even though I didn’t even have individual schedules.

It was fortunate that I had set up the concept of congratulating Seo Yehyeon last on his birthday.

From now on, I decided to push forward with posting congratulatory messages at 11:59 PM.

The problem is that I’ll have to stay awake until then for every member’s birthday.

At least it’s comforting that the current time is only 2 PM.

For the post, I just need to take a two-shot selca and upload it before midnight, but unlike other members, letting Gyeon Hajun’s birthday pass like this felt wrong.

It was too late to decide on and buy a decent and thoughtful birthday gift.

I thought I should ask Gyeon Hajun later what he needs, while thinking of what I could do now.

A way to celebrate his birthday by dragging in Kim Dobin and Seo Yehyeon, who like me, failed to prepare for Gyeon Hajun’s birthday.

The answer was an OA live broadcast.

I recalled one video that recorded quite high views from a pre-regression OA popular live broadcast that the system had forcibly given me with a random ticket, and entered search terms on the internet.

[How to make seaweed soup]

I captured the list of ingredients I needed to buy and scrolled down.

Soak, stir-fry, add water and boil – it looked quite simple.

I felt like even someone clueless about cooking like me could easily handle this much.

The sentence at the very bottom of the post, ‘Even beginners can succeed easily~,’ added to my conviction and confidence.

Since moving around all together would be troublesome, I took Ryu Jaehee, who was most convenient as a pack mule, and headed to the nearby mart.

“Hyung, can I buy snacks?”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

“If I buy snacks with chocolate, Yehyeon Hyung will say something, right?”

“Who cares what he says. Just buy what you want to eat.”

“I’ll only trust you, Hyung.”

Whatever Seo Yehyeon said to me, if he wanted to eat snacks, I just had to insist he was the youngest member and that would be that.

What he’d say didn’t feel particularly threatening either…

After roughly finishing the shopping and on the way back to the dormitory, I casually asked.

“But Jaehee, how do you manage to take care of all the members’ birthdays like that?”

“I saved them in my phone calendar. If you set alarms, notifications pop up too.”

Come to think of it, I newly realized that I had saved friends’ and junior trainees’ birthdays in my calendar but hadn’t saved the members’ birthdays.

I didn’t bother with Gyeon Hajun’s birthday because it was easy to remember, but seeing how I completely forgot about today, it seemed better to save it.

Facing once again that my past self truly viewed this group only as a stepping stone for growth didn’t feel particularly pleasant.

“When’s your birthday?”

“September 14th.”

“That’s far off. When’s Kim Dobin’s birthday?”

“May 26th.”

“When was Yehyeon Hyung’s birthday again? December…”

“The 17th.”

I entered all the members’ birthdays into the calendar app and returned to the dormitory, rolling up my sleeves.

“Doby! Come here and turn on the OA app live broadcast and film!”

“Doby is a free house-elf-“

“Hey you, I told you not to do that. Should I throw a sock at you?”

At my scolding, Kim Dobin, who had pursed his lips and stuck out his foot, walked over to the kitchen holding his cell phone.

“If Hyung didn’t call me Doby, I wouldn’t have to say this line.”

“Whatever, Doby.”

I told Seo Yehyeon, who was asking what he should do while peeking into the kitchen, to just sit still and receive the birthday feast together with Gyeon Hajun.

The kitchen was already narrow, and if Seo Yehyeon joined in, it would get even more crowded.

There was also the preemptive measure of keeping him away in case he’d nag about making all the dishes diet-friendly.

Could the beef brisket I went to the trouble of buying be replaced with chicken breast from the freezer because of that guy?

“Really, when did my birthday pass, and now you’re making a birthday feast?”

He said that, but his expression wasn’t bad. He must have been secretly disappointed about not receiving a birthday feast.

I thought I should at least prepare instant seaweed soup for his next birthday, and pushed Seo Yehyeon’s back to send him to the living room.

“I’ll start the live broadcast. Three, two, one.”

Kim Dobin announced while holding up his cell phone.

I waved at Kim Dobin’s phone in greeting, matching the countdown.

“Hello, Daydream.”

“Hi, it’s been a while, our Ilmong-ies!”

“Ah, wait. I haven’t turned it on yet. Oh, now it’s on.”

Since the camera was on, I couldn’t glare at Kim Dobin and had to greet again after the greeting I had already given.

“Today, in celebration of Hajun’s birthday, we’ll attempt to prepare a birthday feast. Cooking: Yoon Eden, Assistant: Ryu Jaehee, Filming: Kim Dobin.”

“They’re asking where Yehyeon Hyung went.”

When Kim Dobin read the chat, I replied while taking out a large bowl.

“He’s resting in the living room out of consideration for being the eldest. Since his birthday was recent, he’ll be receiving the birthday feast together with Hajun.”

I also took out a bowl for the beef and continued speaking while laying down kitchen towels.

“Today’s challenge menu is beef seaweed soup, rolled omelet, and stir-fried pork.”

“Isn’t that too modest?”

“What’s important is the sincerity.”

I replied while taking out a cutting board and placing six onions and garlic on it.

“First, soak dried seaweed in water. Hey, it says to soak for 10 to 15 minutes?”

“We can do other things first before that. Like the stir-fried pork.”

“Ah, right. I’ll mince the garlic, so you soak the dried seaweed, youngest.”

“Yes. This much should be enough for five people to eat, right?”

Ryu Jaehee, who had taken two handfuls of seaweed from the dried seaweed package, showed me the bowl and asked.

No matter how I looked at it, it seemed a bit little, so I tilted my head.

“Isn’t it a bit little?”

“Then this much more.”

Another handful of dried seaweed was added. Kim Dobin, who was reading the chat, relayed one message.

“Eden Hyung, Jaehee. Dried seaweed expands a lot when soaked in water.”

“We obviously know that too. Isn’t that common sense? Raisins also swell when put in water.”

“They’re asking if that amount is right.”

“Shouldn’t it be about right?”

We should do at least this much – if it’s less than this, who would it even serve?

I was diligently chopping like I was julienning garlic, but when the minced garlic looked different from what I had seen, I summoned Gyeon Hajun.

“Jun! Is this right for mincing garlic?”

Gyeon Hajun, who came over and looked at the state of the garlic over my shoulder, provided the answer.

“Crush it with the knife handle.”

Ah, I see. So it wasn’t about continuing to cut with the knife, but crushing with the end of the handle.

Gyeon Hajun returned to the living room, and I completed mincing the garlic and read the next recipe.

“Put brisket, minced garlic, and sesame oil in a pot and stir-fry. Let’s do the stir-fried pork first while the seaweed soaks.”

Since the seaweed wasn’t fully soaked yet, I put the seaweed soup on hold and moved on to stir-fried pork.

I should have soaked it beforehand before the broadcast, but it was my oversight not knowing it would take 10 minutes.

“Slice the onions… Do I stir-fry the pork and onions together?”

“Hajun Hyung! Do we stir-fry the onions and pork together?”

“No, stir-fry the pork first, and when the meat seems somewhat cooked, add the vegetables, then add the sauce and stir-fry.”

Gyeon Hajun arrived at the kitchen with quick steps, told us the right order, and went back again.

We predicted there was roughly a 90% chance of failure if we made the seasoning ourselves, so we just bought store-bought sauce from the mart.

Machine measurements would be more accurate than ours, wouldn’t they? The taste of hand-cooking should only come from people who cook well.

“Store-bought sauce is definitely the way to go when cooking. By the way, this isn’t PPL.”

I was covering the brand with my hand while pouring the sauce when Kim Dobin suddenly shouted urgently.

“Whoa, hyung! Eden Hyung! It’s overflowing! That’s overflowing!”

“What the hell is this!”

When I turned my head toward where Kim Dobin’s finger was pointing, I saw seaweed that had filled the bowl to overflowing and was spilling out.

I thought we had given birth to some kind of alien creature.

I stared in dismay at the seaweed escaping the bowl with the water and dripping onto the floor.

Was the problem that I had filled it with lots of water to make it expand quickly? Or was it because I added another handful?

Seaweed soup was high difficulty for someone who only knew how to make ramen and Tornado Omelette.

I was wrong to believe the saying that even beginners could do it easily. If I had known this would happen, I should have bought seaweed soup ramen and just boiled it without the noodles.

“That’s why I told you it expands a lot.”

“You didn’t say it would expand this much!”

Looking at the enormous amount that was clearly more than enough for 5 people, I couldn’t even think of how to touch or handle it, so I urgently looked for Gyeon Hajun.

“Jun! What do we do about this!”

Gyeon Hajun arrived immediately at my call and muttered weakly while looking at the bowl that had become a seaweed farm.

“It really expanded a lot… I should have poured just enough for this much to expand…”

Gyeon Hajun skillfully dumped all the water from the bowl, took out another dish, transferred an appropriate amount of seaweed, and handed it to me.

“Use just this much.”

“What about the rest? Throw it away?”

“Why throw it away when it’s precious? Put it in the refrigerator and make cucumber cold soup or seasoned seaweed in the near future.”

After Gyeon Hajun finished cleaning up perfectly and returned to the living room, we resumed cooking.

We hadn’t completed a single dish yet, but I already felt like I was going to die from exhaustion.

“Add the beef brisket and minced garlic and stir-fry with sesame oil. You said there’s sesame oil in the dormitory, right? Go get some sesame oil, youngest member.”

Ryu Jaehee, who had been rummaging through the shelf at my instruction, hesitated and then tried to smooth things over with an awkward laugh.

“Oh, right. Last time when Doby Hyung and I made soy sauce egg rice, we used it all up.”

“Then you should have said so at the mart. We would have bought a bottle.”

For such a young guy to already have such a faulty memory, tsk tsk. It was too late to go buy it now, so we had no choice but to cook with a substitute.

“Can we stir-fry with olive oil instead of sesame oil?”

“Isn’t that crazy?”

“It’s the same oil.”

“Hajun Hyung! Is it okay to put olive oil in seaweed soup?”

While Gyeon Hajun was coming, I picked up the cell phone I had placed nearby and tried to search.

“Hey, look. There are recipes that use olive oil too.”

When I confidently shoved the search results in front of Ryu Jaehee, Gyeon Hajun, who had arrived at some point, declared.

“You can stir-fry with it. It’ll just be less savory. By the way, Eden, the meat is burning. Use low heat, not high heat.”

I poured olive oil and diligently stir-fried the beef brisket and seaweed, then added water and looked for the next recipe.

“It says to add a spoonful of soy sauce? Soup soy sauce? Is it different from regular soy sauce?”

“It’s next to the dark soy sauce. Oh, that’s soup soy sauce.”

Now Gyeon Hajun didn’t return to the living room sofa and stayed in the kitchen.

“Hyung, please rest in the living room.”

“No, I think I’ll feel more at ease staying here.”

Gyeon Hajun shook his head with a very tired expression.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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