They Told Me to Build Good Karma by Selling Side Dishes - Chapter 75

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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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75. Them (3)

All eyes in the vicinity snapped toward me. Some stared openly, others more discreetly, yet their ears were unmistakably tuned in my direction.

‘…So I do pique their curiosity, it seems.’

Without a word, I slipped off my coat and handed it to a staff member. Faces I hadn’t seen in ages began approaching one by one to greet me.

“You actually came this year?”
“Someone threatened to kill me if I didn’t.”
“You didn’t show last year.”
“Wow, your face looks brighter?”

The familiar faces hurled their precious remarks at me one after another.

“Why shouldn’t I be at a place like this?”
“That’s not what I meant… You’re still the same? Your tone?”
“I should be. I’m human, after all. Right?”
“There.”
“Thanks.”

With that retort, they let it pass without further comment. I withdrew my gaze as though unbothered and moved toward one place—where I needed to be.

“Chef.”

It was Cha Beom-seok, the head chef of the Restaurant. With his neatly combed hair, his ever-present smile, and the sharp, angular impression of his features, he still commanded presence through sheer atmosphere alone.

“Who called me… Huh?”

In that instant, Cha Beom-seok’s eyes widened dramatically. Already large, they grew even larger.

“You really came? You actually came?”
“It’s been a while. Chef.”

The chef set down his glass with a sharp clink and strode toward me, then seized my shoulders firmly before I could escape. He locked me in a headlock without warning, and I let out a choking sound.

“Seriously, I thought I was going to die….”
“Yeah. You weren’t answering calls, so I really thought you were dead. I was about to start looking into burial plots for you.”
“…If I’d really died, I would’ve appeared in Chef’s dreams.”
“Well, your mouth’s still alive, at least.”

I lightly tapped Cha Beom-seok’s arm in a gesture of surrender.

“My mouth had to survive. That’s how I got out of here.”
“Tsk.”
“So how have you been, Chef?”

Cha Beom-seok rubbed the back of his neck and smiled.

“I’ve been fine. How else would I be?”
“That’s disappointing. I was hoping you’d struggle without me.”

Who would wish for the Restaurant to thrive after I left?

“So? How about you?”
“Me? I struggled.”
“You don’t look like someone who struggled.”
“That’s because you still don’t know me, Chef.”
“No.”

Cha Beom-seok shook his head.

“People who struggle can’t hold their shoulders up like that.”
“….”
“But you’re still standing.”

At Cha Beom-seok’s reasonable words, I let out a short laugh.

“Everyone’s been watching to see if you’d show up.”
“Really? I thought they just wanted to see my face.”

They all seemed eager to know what I’d been through.

“How have you been? What did you do after you sent Grandmother off? You weren’t just loafing around, were you? Ji-gu, your skills are too valuable to waste.”

I lifted the glass and took a sip. The burn of alcohol sliding down my throat wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

“I’m taking care of my grandmother and running the shop.”
“A shop? You!?”

Cha Beom-seok quickly covered his mouth with his right hand.

“A shop? What kind of shop? Fine dining? Korean cuisine? Japanese cuisine? If you trained under me….”
“It’s none of those.”
“Then what?”
“A Side Dish Shop.”

Cha Beom-seok’s eyes widened in an instant.

“A side… what?”

I emphasized the words as I spoke.

“A Side Dish Shop.”
“Why would you do that? With your skills.”

I tilted my head slightly to the side.

“I’m continuing my grandmother’s shop.”
“Right, that’s a fine shop, I know.”

…He meant that a Side Dish Shop didn’t suit my temperament. How predictable.

“I thought you weren’t going to cook again…. If I’d known, wouldn’t you come back under me?”
“I never said I wouldn’t. Chef.”
“You didn’t say it in words. But everyone at the restaurant thought so back then. Given your personality, I figured once you let something go, you’d never touch it again.”

Cha Beom-seok’s gaze lowered to my hands.

“…I see. There are marks I haven’t seen before.”
“You’re quite observant?”
“I take an interest in my disciples.”

Cha Beom-seok lifted his glass and swirled it through the air.

“So you failed to quit cooking?”
“Yes, I failed. Spectacularly, in fact.”
“Failure isn’t a bad thing.”
“Coming from a chef, that’s… hard to believe, honestly.”
“Believe it or not, it’s true. The ones who leave and come back are always the most dangerous.”
“I haven’t fully come back. I’m just making side dishes.”

Chef Cha Beom-seok smiled meaningfully.

“From the moment you walked through that door today, you were already halfway back, weren’t you?”

‘…Don’t say anything. Don’t.’

I swallowed my words and took a sip. Chef Cha Beom-seok spoke in a low voice.

“Then why did you come?”
“I don’t know. Are you asking even though you already know?”
“Your reputation? You didn’t come back to hear that filthy reputation again, did you? Not with your temperament—you won’t even step on something dirty.”
“You know me too well.”
“I raised you for years, kid.”

If Chef Cha Beom-seok hadn’t pulled me up from the depths back then, I might still be working like an emotionless machine in some nameless kitchen.

“I’m grateful for that.”
“And yet you ran away after two years? This is your territory. So now that I think about it, I’m annoyed.”
“Running away… yes, that’s fair. But I was cleaning up my surroundings.”
“That’s the same thing.”

I set my glass down on the table.

“I know you trust me now, Chef, but the situation was so twisted back then that I had no choice but to leave. At that time, I couldn’t even trust you.”
“You still talk well.”
“I learned from you, Chef.”
“I’ll give you that.”

Cha Beom-seok handed me a macaron.

“So you came to find out how they’re doing?”
“You’ve got a sharp eye.”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Don’t you know? Before facing an enemy, you always scout the surroundings.”

Cha Beom-seok’s gaze sharpened slightly.

“…I heard they’re making a lot of money on YouTube? And there’s talk they’re planning to appear on a cooking show this time too….”

Ugh. I genuinely irritated, furrowing my brow.

“Don’t you have any bad news? I’m annoyed hearing only good things.”
“The bad news is they throw their weight around a lot. Same as before, same as now.”
“Throwing their weight around? How pathetic.”
“Yeah, pathetic.”

This was absurd. I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall.

“They’re participating in our Local Spring Festival.”
“They are…?”
“Yes. And they’re hoping I’ll participate as well.”

Cha Beom-seok’s eyes widened, then he subtly rubbed his mouth with his hand. I caught a glimpse of his lips curving upward between his fingers.

‘…That man’s lost in an amusing thought.’

“That does sound entertaining.”
“Beom-seok!”
“No, I’m just saying—the situation itself sounds entertaining.”

I lifted my foot and kicked his instep.

“This could turn into a real showdown. Are there judges?”
“I think there are, more or less.”
“Who?”
“You know the Songi Side Dish Brand?”

Cha Beom-seok rubbed his chin and blinked.

“Oh, I know. That department store side dish brand. My mother used to buy from them all the time.”
“The brand representative is one of the judges.”
“The brand representative is a judge, huh…”

The words tumbled out of both my mouth and the chef’s almost simultaneously.

“Do you want to be a judge too?”
“Should I do it?”

Our eyes met in that instant. Ah. When moments like this happen, we understand each other perfectly.

“Give it a try.”
“But how would we do it?”
“I can contact someone I know and mention it. Though if the chef doesn’t want to, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

The chef’s eyebrows rose ever so slightly.

“You’ve got some ulterior motive, don’t you~?”
“An ulterior motive? Do I always need to have a reason to take action?”

I deliberately smiled with an innocent expression.

“You do.”

But naturally, the chef saw right through me.

“Just to promote the Side Dish Shop too, and various other things.”
“Multiple motives, multiple ones. You disappear for two years and then use your mentor like this?”
“No, please listen to what I’m saying all the way through.”

The chef perked up his ears and looked at me. His eyes were still full of suspicion.

“I want you to try my cooking again after all this time.”
“You, huh.”
“Yes? Why?”

Cha Beom-seok looked me up and down for a moment.

“You still have a gift for hitting people right where it hurts.”
“People don’t change easily.”
“No, they don’t.”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“Aren’t you afraid?”
“Of what?”
“Setting foot in this world again.”
“If I was afraid, I wouldn’t have come.”

Cha Beom-seok let out a short laugh.

“That’s so like you. So very like you.”

I wasn’t sure what it meant to be “like me,” but it had to be something good.

“Do I still have a name left in this world?”
“You do.”
“Which kind?”
“Not the good kind. Why are you asking?”

It was exactly what I’d expected to hear.

“That’s fine.”
“Fine? What do you mean fine, you fool.”
“Whether it’s curses or rumors, the fact that people are still talking about me is something good, isn’t it?”

Only then did Cha Beom-seok’s sharp eyes soften, and he burst into laughter.

“You’re absolutely insane, truly.”
“I’m a chef.”
“Right, right. That’s how a chef should be.”

Cha Beom-seok wiped away the tears streaming from his eyes as he laughed.

“The judges… let me think about it.”
“Really?”
“But there’s a condition.”
“A condition?”

Cha Beom-seok’s eyes gleamed sharply once more.

“Put out what you’ve made properly.”
“That’s the bare minimum.”
“Don’t even think about running away. You brat.”
“I’m not running this time.”

I had no intention of running. Even if I did, I couldn’t afford to.

“Then don’t run away right now either?”
“…?”

I was about to part my lips to ask what on earth he meant by that.

“Hey! Lim Yun-jeong and Seo Jin-hyeok are here.”

At those words, the atmosphere near the table shifted dramatically. The noise and bustle that had filled the space moments before drained away like a receding tide. Everyone’s gaze turned in the same direction.

Lim Yun-jeong was the first to enter the Restaurant. She wore a perfectly pressed shirt without a single wrinkle, a jacket draped over it.

“How has everyone been?”
“We’ve been fine.”

Seo Jin-hyeok followed her in. Though he appeared the complete opposite of Lim Yun-jeong, there was something subtly similar about them. His eyes swept rapidly across the surroundings, calculating the situation.

‘He’s already checking who’s here.’

I clicked my tongue inwardly and crossed my arms.

“Beom-seok…?”

I looked up at Chef Cha Beom-seok with a questioning gaze.

“Didn’t I invite them?”

His casual shrug only made him look more suspicious.

“Really?”
“Re-al-ly.”

I reached for the glass on the table and drained it in one gulp.

“Whoa, whoa. Don’t push yourself. I can’t be responsible for that.”
“I’ll go alone.”

The two of them removed their coats, handed them to a staff member, and got down to business.

“We’re getting married next year.”

‘Marriage already?’

They made quite the pair. Lim Yun-jeong smiled warmly and offered an invitation card, then glanced around the room.

“Where’s Chef Cha Beom-seok? He’s usually here, but I don’t see him.”

The familiar faces exchanged glances and nodded toward a direction.

“Over there.”

At those words, Lim Yun-jeong turned her head and spotted me.

“Oh my…”

In that brief moment, I could read the look in her eyes—’you came too.’ Seo Jin-hyeok was far more obvious about it. The corners of his eyes lifted slightly the moment he saw me.

“Hey. Ji-gu.”

He approached me without hesitation and greeted me.

“Still alive, I see?”
“If you were dead, I’d have come to get you.”
“That’s a sad thing to say.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you’re never disappointed.”

I laughed with a playful flourish. Seo Jin-hyeok’s lips trembled slightly as the medication began to take effect.

“You’ve lost some weight?”
“When you’re struggling, you lose a bit, you know?”
“Have you been struggling?”
“I wonder who’s responsible for that.”

Seo Jin-hyeok’s voice wavered subtly at the end of his words. Lim Yun-jeong set down her glass and crossed her arms. It looked like she was about to begin a proper interrogation.

‘Even turning the tables has its limits.’

“Ji-gu. So you’re leaving the Restaurant to run a Side Dish Shop, huh~?”

Her tone was already dripping with mockery.

“Yeah. News travels fast in this industry.”
“That’s just how this world works~Ji-gu.”

Seo Jin-hyeok interjected with a laugh.

“Still, it’s funny—someone like you who wielded a knife now holding a side dish container.”

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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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