Goblin Library - Chapter 136

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 136.

Oh Mi-hee spoke, recalling the tamago sushi she had eaten in Japan.
“Try making it the same way you would the egg for kimbap.”
At Oh Mi-hee’s suggestion, the Shop Owner cracked eggs into a bowl and whisked them.
Whisk, whisk, whisk!
As Oh Mi-hee watched the Shop Owner beat the eggs rapidly, she opened her insulated bag.
Then she began pulling out small containers of seasonings.
“What are all these?”
“Seasonings.”
Oh Mi-hee retrieved a small plastic capsule from the corner of her insulated bag and placed it beside the seasoning containers as she spoke.
“This is cream for coffee.”
Oh Mi-hee tore open the small capsule packet and poured the cream into the bowl of eggs.
Glug, glug!
“Cream goes in it?”
“When you add cream, it becomes silky. Ah, cream works well, but you can use milk too.”
“How much?”
“The amount is… roughly to taste?”
“That’s the hardest part.”
“I don’t know the exact recipe either. When I ate it in Japan, the Company President said I was cute and taught me how to make it at home. Originally, it should include bonito dashi and mirin, plus some minced shrimp… but since we don’t have those, just cream.”
Oh Mi-hee answered with a smile, watching the eggs and cream blend together, then spoke.
“You need to strain this egg mixture through a sieve. That’s how you get silky eggs.”
At Oh Mi-hee’s words, the Shop Owner brought over a sieve and poured the eggs through it.
Glug, glug!
As the eggs flowed through the sieve’s mesh, the Shop Owner gently shook it to help them flow through more smoothly.
“Just discard whatever remains in the sieve at the end.”
“Isn’t that wasteful?”
“That’s why we use a sieve—to filter out those bits. It makes the eggs silky.”
At Oh Mi-hee’s explanation, the Shop Owner nodded and set the sieve in the sink.
“What do we do now?”
“Make a thin egg crepe.”
“The same way as before?”
“Yes.”
At Oh Mi-hee’s words, the Shop Owner lightly oiled a frying pan and poured in the eggs.
Having made one thin egg crepe, the Shop Owner looked at Oh Mi-hee as if asking what to do next.
“Try cutting the egg.”
The Shop Owner cut the egg crepe into pieces, tasted one herself, and gave another to Oh Mi-hee.
Oh Mi-hee placed the egg in her mouth and chewed thoughtfully, her eyes narrowing slightly.
The eggs were overcooked.
While the cream gave it a soft texture, the mouthfeel was different from what I’d eaten in Japan.
It didn’t match the flavor combination I’d envisioned. It couldn’t have—the high heat had seared the pan, making the texture firm and unyielding.
As I examined the egg sheet, the Shop Owner smiled and spoke.
“The egg sheet is soft and delicious.”
“No, it’s not quite what I imagined…”
Oh Mi-hee shook her head slightly, studying the pan.
“How about this—try cooking it gently, just barely set, over low heat?”
“Barely set… understood.”
The Shop Owner turned the heat back on and poured the remaining egg mixture into the heated pan.
Ssshhh!
The egg mixture in the pan cooked quickly.
“That’s enough. Turn off the heat and transfer it to the cutting board.”
“But it’s not fully cooked yet?”
“Residual heat will finish it.”
At my words, the Shop Owner nodded and gently slid the egg sheet onto the cutting board.
As I waited for the residual heat to finish cooking the eggs, I spoke.
“Try cutting into it now.”
The Shop Owner cut into the slightly underdone egg sheet and held it out.
I tasted it and nodded.
It was certainly much better than before.
While this sheet wasn’t identical in texture to the Japanese-style egg roll I’d eaten previously, its thinness gave it an equally soft, delicate quality.
Seeing my approval, the Shop Owner cut a piece for herself and tasted it.
“Oh my, it really is soft.”
“Mom, me too.”
When the Shop Owner cut a piece for her pestering daughter, she ate it happily.
“Just a little cream changes the flavor so much.”
“And you strained it through a sieve.”
I looked at the sheet and continued.
“Now we need to think about the width of the egg sheet.”
“Width?”
“Whether to cut it wide or into thin strips. Let’s cook two sheets and try them differently in the kimbap. Cut one into wide pieces, and cut the other into thin julienne strips.”
At my suggestion, the Shop Owner cooked two more sheets using the same method.
She cut one sheet into pieces about the size for rolling kimbap.
The second sheet she rolled up and sliced into thin julienne strips.
With the eggs prepared two ways, the Shop Owner rolled the kimbap.
“You should use plenty of egg. Think of it as charging an extra 500 won and name it something like Egg Kimbap.”
The Shop Owner nodded and divided one softly cooked egg sheet in half, rolling two pieces of kimbap.
Since three eggs made two sheets, each kimbap roll contained one and a half eggs.
“Now let’s slice it and taste it.”
At Oh Mi-hee’s words, the Shop Owner sliced the kimbap. Upon seeing the cross-section of the egg, she smiled.
“It looks like a chrysanthemum flower has bloomed.”
The interior of the kimbap, made with finely julienned egg strips, was indeed as beautiful and vibrant as a yellow chrysanthemum in full bloom, just as she had said.
Oh Mi-hee looked at the Shop Owner.
“That’s true. But what really matters is the taste.”
Oh Mi-hee picked up a piece of kimbap and put it in her mouth. The Shop Owner also picked up a piece and tasted it.
Soon, a smile crossed the Shop Owner’s lips.
“It’s delicious.”
“Me too, Mother.”
At her daughter’s urging, the Shop Owner picked up a piece of kimbap and put it in her mouth.
“The egg tastes wonderful. It’s so soft.”
The two of them were busy marveling with satisfaction. Yet there was a subtle hint of dissatisfaction on Oh Mi-hee’s face as she ate the kimbap with them.
It was similar to what she had envisioned, but something was lacking.
“It tastes good, but… there’s something missing.”
“Isn’t this already quite delicious?”
The Shop Owner seemed pleased that a distinctive kimbap, something her shop had never offered before, had been created.
Oh Mi-hee pondered for a moment before speaking.
“I’ll come back tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Since we’ve decided to develop a menu, I’d like to perfect the kimbap to my satisfaction. Oh! Is that inconvenient for you?”
As Oh Mi-hee asked hurriedly, the Shop Owner spoke with an apologetic expression.
“I’m grateful. You’re spending your time to help me without me even providing you with meals.”
At the Shop Owner’s words, Oh Mi-hee nodded and replied.
“I enjoy eating delicious food. This seems like it will be fun.”
Oh Mi-hee suddenly looked outside the shop and asked.
“Have you ever been to Nakji Heaven over there?”
“Since it’s nearby, I’ve been there.”
“How’s the taste?”
“It’s delicious. Especially the octopus bibimbap tastes really good. It’s not just a little octopus—they put in a whole octopus per serving.”
“A whole octopus per serving?”
“It costs ten thousand won per serving. Still, it’s much better than paying five thousand won for something with just a few octopus legs.”
“I heard their hot pot is delicious, but it seems the bibimbap is the real specialty.”
“The hot pot is delicious too.”
At the Shop Owner’s words, Oh Mi-hee nodded and, looking at the egg, spoke.
“I’ll do more research before coming back tomorrow. You should experiment a bit too.”
“Experiment?”
“Since the egg strips are the key point, think about what you could add when making them to make them even softer. Or what else you could mix in to improve the flavor. Things like that.”
“Ah… but I feel so sorry.”
“No, I…”
Oh Mi-hee glanced at the young girl and gently stroked her head.
“It’s rewarding work, so I’ll come back tomorrow.”
The Shop Owner, who had been watching Oh Mi-hee bow her head as she carefully packed the seasonings back into the insulated bag, suddenly asked a question.
“But why do you carry things like that around with you?”
“I enjoy visiting restaurants with good food.”
“Good restaurants? If you go to a good restaurant, you can eat delicious food without bringing those things, can’t you?”
“I like to add my own seasonings or ingredients to the dishes that come out of good restaurants.”
Oh Mi-hee continued with a smile.
“I want to make delicious food even more delicious.”
Upon hearing her philosophy, the Shop Owner laughed.
“That’s enviable.”
“Then why don’t you try to make delicious food even more delicious yourself? Or try to make food taste even better?”
“That’s not easy.”
At the Shop Owner’s words, Oh Mi-hee gazed at her silently.
“Hmm…”
Oh Mi-hee, whose lips had been moving slightly, shook her head gently and spoke.
“I heard that phrase from you twice today—’that’s not easy.'”
“Did I?”
To the Shop Owner, who asked back with a puzzled expression, Oh Mi-hee spoke.
“I did sports when I was young.”
“Were you an athlete?”
Oh Mi-hee nodded and spoke.
“You’ve tried dieting, haven’t you?”
“I did when I was younger.”
“Then you must have managed your diet as well?”
“Yes.”
“Was that easy for you?”
“Oh, it was very difficult.”
At the Shop Owner’s words, Oh Mi-hee nodded.
“While I was doing sports, I managed my diet for 17 years—more strictly than someone just dieting.”
“That must have been hard. Even just a few days of that diet feels like torture.”
Having experienced it herself, she understood how difficult and unsatisfying a diet could be, even when you followed it.
“It wasn’t easy. But when you have to walk a difficult and hard path, you have no choice but to walk it. And though I’ve never given birth, I think raising children must be very difficult too.”
Oh Mi-hee smiled faintly and said nothing more. She wanted to say that you can’t accomplish anything if you only try to do easy things, but it was too difficult to say such words to someone older than her whom she was meeting for the first time today.
If she understood, that would be fortunate; if not… there was nothing to be done about it.
To leave now, Oh Mi-hee picked up the insulated bag and looked at the Shop Owner.
“I’m Oh Mi-hee.”
“Oh Mi-hee…”
The Shop Owner, who had been nodding, looked at her with surprised eyes.
“The gymnast Oh Mi-hee?”
Oh Mi-hee laughed and spoke.
“If I don’t wear makeup, people don’t recognize me.”
“Oh my! Oh my! You’re a true fan of mine.”
“Thank you so much.”
Oh Mi-hee opened the shop door and stepped outside as she spoke.
“I’ll come back tomorrow. And do try experimenting with it. It won’t be easy, but give it a shot.”
The Shop Owner, who had waved goodbye to Oh Mi-hee as she left, came back inside.
“Hye-eun, you know who Oh Mi-hee is, right?”
“Of course I do. I like her too.”
“Then why didn’t you let on that you recognized her?”
“She was a customer. I didn’t want to bother her.”
“Oh, my daughter! You’ve grown up so well!”
The young girl, smiling beneath her mother’s hand as it stroked her head, picked up a kimbap from the cutting board and took a bite.
“Does it taste good?”
“Yeah, it’s delicious. The egg omelet is completely different from anything I’ve eaten before. It doesn’t taste like kimbap—it tastes like a real dish.”
“A real dish?”
“Yeah!”
At her daughter’s words, the Shop Owner looked at the child, then tried another kimbap herself.
She nodded slowly.
The softness of the egg omelet was wonderful, and with the cream added, it even had a milky flavor to it.
As the Shop Owner pondered this, she looked at her daughter after a moment.
“Would you like it if Mother kept running the shop?”
“I just want Mother to be comfortable.”
At her daughter’s words, the Shop Owner looked at the child and smiled as she spoke.
“Don’t think about Mother—tell me what you really want. Even if it’s hard, Mother wants to give you what you desire.”
The daughter thought for a moment before speaking.
“I’d like it if the shop did well and you kept it going.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I want to be with you when you have time to rest. But if the shop doesn’t do well, I’ll be fine on my own too.”
Moved by her daughter’s thoughtful words, the Shop Owner stroked the child’s head and gazed at the kimbap.
She worried whether customers would like the egg kimbap.
But she quickly steadied her resolve. When she had tasted it earlier, it was unmistakably far more delicious than the kimbap she had been selling before.
The Shop Owner closed the shop door and hurried to the nearby Mart to buy ingredients for making the egg omelet.

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