They Told Me to Build Good Karma by Selling Side Dishes - Chapter 48

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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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48. Seasoned Aralia Leaves (2)

Even just chewing the seasoned aralia leaves raw produced effects of this magnitude….

‘What if I season it using the TIP method?’

I couldn’t even imagine how much the efficacy would amplify.

“I can’t believe I’m making something like this as a side dish.”

My luck was truly extraordinary…?

The aralia leaf resting in my palm still glistened with delicate dew. It felt as though I held not merely a single strand of greens, but the very breath of morning moisture itself. Simply gazing upon it created the illusion that medicinal potency was seeping into my body.

“Season it quickly, meow.”
“Understood.”

I transferred the blanched aralia leaves into a large bowl.

“With soybean paste….”

I drizzled a spoonful of soybean paste, a small amount of red chili paste, and a few drops of sesame oil.

And then.

“Just a touch of perilla powder.”

White perilla powder scattered like snowflakes, settling gently upon the leaves. As I began mixing with both hands, the subtle moisture released from the greens mingled with the seasonings, producing a soft, gentle sound.

Swish, swish, swish, swish.

From the finished seasoned aralia leaves, a subtle astringent sweetness and the savory aroma of sesame oil enveloped my senses all at once.

“Sniff, sniff!”

Hae-tae stretched luxuriously before padding over to me.

“Did you finish making it?”
“It turned out amazingly, so here I am?”
“That’s me!”

I scooped the seasoned aralia shoots onto Hae-tae’s personal bowl and slid it forward.

“Try it. I didn’t really do much, though.”

The vegetables had done most of the work, if I’m being honest.

“I don’t think you did nothing.”

Hae-tae stretched his neck forward, his small nostrils flaring as he inhaled the aroma.

“Did you add perilla powder too?”
“Yeah. Perilla powder is the kick.”
“The kick?”
“You’ll understand what I mean once you taste it.”

Hae-tae extended his neck fully and took a bite of the aralia shoots. My heart raced as I watched his expression carefully.

“…!”

Hae-tae’s ears perked up sharply.

“Now I get it! The perilla powder adds such a rich depth of flavor to the aralia shoots!”
“See? A true foodie cat’s palate is absolutely flawless!”

He nodded seriously, a speck of perilla powder clinging to the corner of his mouth.

“Want me to make more?”
“Meowwwww!”

I smiled warmly and brushed the perilla powder from his fur.

“Would you like me to prepare it as a bento box instead?”
“A bento box?”
“I wanted to give it to you as a gesture of hospitality.”

The spicy braised pork bento box had meant that much to me.

“Ah!”

And then a brilliant idea struck me.

***

The next morning.

Summer’s sunlight had barely begun to stretch across the sky.

“The ingredients I need….”

My mind was bustling from the moment I woke. I needed canned tuna for today’s bento box. But did I really need to go to the neighborhood mart?

‘When else would I use this?’

I retrieved a notepad and wrote.

==========
Need canned tuna.
Urgently needed.
==========

I quietly slid the notepad beneath the Refrigerator.

Thud.

A dull sound rang out abruptly, and a hand shot out from the gap beneath the Refrigerator.

“Eek!”

I stumbled backward, squinting as I looked again. A hand resembling a human’s appeared. Yet it wasn’t quite perfect. Its form wavered uncertainly.

‘Why is it doing that?’

My trembling hands, slightly unnerved, checked the notepad.

===========
Give me some too lol
===========

“You want some?”

Food?

===========
Understood
Review coming soon
===========

The moment I placed the notepad in the Refrigerator, something rolled swiftly from inside it and tumbled onto the Kitchen floor with a clatter.

===========
Delivered.
===========

I picked up the tuna can and muttered to myself.

“What exactly is it….”

It doesn’t seem to be human, and it does seem to be a Divine Being. But is it really one-sided for a Divine Being to deliver tuna cans like this….

“Hmm?”

I leaned forward slightly with a suspicious expression and peered into the Refrigerator. But the hand had already vanished. Inside the Refrigerator, there were only ingredients.

“Well, never mind.”

I placed the tuna can on the sink and pulled out the fatsia basket.

“Time to make a wrap rice bento box.”

Tuna wrap rice in perilla leaves with fried tofu skin.

‘Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.’

As I unfolded the freshly washed perilla leaves, they still carried that just-picked freshness.

“Alright, let’s start with the seasoning.”

Simple enough. Finely minced onion, scallion, thinly sliced red chili pepper mixed with ssamjang and garlic, then I folded in the oil-drained tuna. A light drizzle of oligosaccharide and sesame seeds, and it was complete.

“Already smells delicious.”

Now I just need to wrap it in lettuce. I opened the rice cooker and warm steam rose up. I scooped up a generous portion of the warm, moist rice with a spatula and placed it on top of the tofu pouch.

“Roll it up.”

I wrapped the fried tofu skin on both sides with the perilla leaf. Topping the finished wrap with the prepared tuna seasoning—done!

‘Once the tofu skin’s juices seep through, the umami will be absolutely incredible.’

“But how many lunch boxes should I make?”

This was such a labor-intensive dish that I couldn’t just make them endlessly. I had a whole queue of other side dishes waiting to be prepared today.

“Well, one for Hae-tae and one for me….”

A mental image of the lunch boxes filled with perilla wrap rice flashed through my mind. I’d need to make at least thirty-three.

“And….”

I stood before the A4 paper—the one thing I felt least confident about.

———
☆Lunch boxes for sale today.☆
Perilla wrap rice lunch box
———-

“I did my best.”

Though the handwriting appeared hastily scrawled, once I actually wrote it out, it looked surprisingly charming and heartfelt. I taped the A4 paper to the glass window.

“How does it look? Almost perfect, don’t you think?”

I praised myself, savoring the moment of satisfaction.

“Good morning! Boss!”
“…Good morning to you.”

The Twins shuffled in with disheveled hair and half-closed eyes, dragging their school bags behind them. Their faces screamed they’d woken up exactly two minutes ago.

“Heading to School?”
“Yes! We’re going to School. But boss, what’s this?”

Song Ae-rim stared intently at the newly posted paper on the glass, her eyes blinking with the adorable confusion of someone still half-asleep. I introduced it with pride in my voice.

“I wrote it.”
“Huh?”

Song Ae-rim tilted her head quizzically.

“…You wrote this, boss?”

Song Ae-hyuk bent down and carefully examined the lettering.

“…Oh. Wow.”
“Wow, yeah! You wrote that really well.”

At their successive exclamations, I scratched my head bashfully.

“So, um… what exactly is aralia?”
“Aralia?”

I opened my mouth with a solemn expression.

“It’s just a vegetable.”
“Ah…! What?!”

Song Ae-rim let out a long, deflated groan of disappointment.

“Words can’t compare to taste. Want to try a bearwort lunch box?”

There’s no better way to understand something than to eat it yourself.

“Yes!”
“…Thank you for the offer.”

The Twins nodded in unison. Their responses, still heavy with sleep, were oddly endearing.

“I happen to have some leftover from packing lunch boxes. I’ll give you those.”

I had plenty of wrapped rice parcels that hadn’t made it into the fried tofu pockets, so it was perfect to send along.

I went inside the shop and handed them a lunch box container filled with bearwort wrapped rice.

“Eat one whenever you get hungry later.”

But my words fell on deaf ears. The moment Song Ae-rim opened the lid, her eyes went wide, and Song Ae-hyuk took one whiff before shoving it straight into his mouth.

“You two. What are you doing eating it now?”
“But you said to eat it when we’re hungry?”
“…This smells like something terrible will happen if we don’t eat it now. This is destiny.”
“Right. Exactly.”

They both spoke their ridiculous excuses with the most serious expressions imaginable.

“Fine, fine. Once you eat it, leave a review….”

I was about to ask them to leave feedback when Song Ae-rim, already stuffing her mouth with the wrapped rice, clenched her fist and shouted.

“We’ll give you a review after we eat it at school!”
“…Me too.”

The Twins were true to their nature—chewing enthusiastically, they dashed off toward the School in the distance.

“Those two.”

I let out a delighted laugh as I turned to head back into the shop.

“Oh… is the shop open?”
“Yes.”

It was Yun Ga-rin, the owner’s daughter from the Siblings’ Lunch Box Shop.

‘At this hour?’

I checked the time. It wasn’t opening time yet.

“Why did you come so early?”

Yun Ga-rin wore an awkward expression.

“My colleagues said that if I don’t buy lunch boxes from Hyang-suk’s Side Dish Shop now, I won’t be able to get any side dishes.”
“What?! There’s a rumor like that?”

When did our shop become such a popular restaurant with lines forming from dawn?

‘Well, I’m not complaining.’

I shouldn’t deny it too much.

“But you came to buy side dishes—are you also going to get a lunch box?”
“…Since I’m here anyway, it’s nice to buy the lunch box that everyone’s talking about!”

I nodded in agreement.

“Then please come inside.”
“Can I really go in…?”
“Of course, it would be rude to leave a customer outside.”

I opened the door wide and guided Yun Ga-rin inside.

“As you can see, the side dishes are displayed here. And today’s lunch boxes are right here.”
“What’s in today’s lunch box?”
“It’s a fatsia shoot wrap rice lunch box!”

Yun Ga-rin’s eyes widened slightly.

“Is this aralia shoot wrap rice the same aralia greens you mentioned yesterday?”
“Yes. I wrap it with the broad leaves, and there’s fried tofu inside, so the texture is wonderful. The flavor is excellent too.”

I opened the lunch box and showed her the contents. Aralia leaves were layered neatly, one upon another.

“Would you like to try a bite for yourself?”
“Is that alright?”
“You’re my first customer, after all.”

Yun Ga-rin accepted the aralia wrap I offered her.

“Take a big bite!”

She nodded and slowly bit down with a generous mouthful.

“…!”

Yun Ga-rin’s shoulders trembled ever so slightly. The soft aralia leaf melted between her teeth, and the sweet umami of the fried tofu, combined with the savory tuna sauce infused into the fluffy rice, must have enveloped her senses completely.

“How is it?”
“This….”

Yun Ga-rin’s voice wavered slightly.

“It’s so, so delicious!”
“The perilla powder and fried tofu are wonderful, aren’t they?”

Yun Ga-rin gazed down at the aralia wrap again in admiration.

“Yes… it’s simple, but truly delicious.”

That’s right. This aralia shoot wrap rice captures hearts through its simple, wholesome flavor.

“I originally planned to make only seasoned aralia greens, you know?”

Yun Ga-rin’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Really?”
“Yes. But after eating that stir-fried pork bento, I realized something. I had such a delicious bento, and I thought—I want to serve my customers properly made bentos too.”
“…You ate a bento that our father made?”

I nodded silently. Yun Ga-rin’s pupils trembled ever so slightly.

“Father would be happy to hear that….”

‘Hear that?’

I studied Yun Ga-rin’s expression carefully. There was joy there, but also hesitation. Something seemed to have happened between father and daughter.

“Now I understand why Hyang-suk’s Side Dish Shop bentos are so famous….”
“Thank you.”

The moment I received that gaze filled with recognition and conviction, I couldn’t hide the corners of my mouth lifting.

‘This feels rewarding.’

When you run a business and receive a look like that, it feels wonderful.

“What about the seasoned aralia shoots?”

I gestured with my hand, drawing a circle in the air as if sketching a bibimbap bowl.

“Later, if you make it into bibimbap, it’s wonderful. The aroma comes through, and the flavor is excellent.”
“Ah…, that’s true!”

Then Yun Ga-rin glanced around as if searching for something.

“What are you looking for?”
“Do you have a business card?”

A business card?

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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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