They Told Me to Build Good Karma by Selling Side Dishes - Chapter 86

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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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86. Planning (3)

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“Achoo!”

I rubbed my nose and sniffled.

“Did you catch a cold?”
“Doesn’t seem like it.”

Someone was definitely cursing me. Hae-tae let out a scoff.

“Struck a nerve, didn’t I?”
“No, I didn’t.”

As we drew closer to home, I lifted my gaze to the night sky above. I smiled softly, watching the white breath escape my lips with each exhale.

“How does it feel being outside?”
“It’s fun…”

Hae-tae’s front paws, visible on his forehead, twitched lightly as he gazed at the night sky.

“Would you like to come out with me sometimes and look around?”
“Meow!”
“Wonderful!”

I walked through the alley toward the shop, laughing. Hae-tae laughed softly too.

“Every house has its lights on!”

Wherever Hae-tae’s paws pointed, windows glowed with warmth. Everyone seemed to have returned from their companies and were spending happy evenings with their families or alone. We walked slowly between those glowing lights.

“What will you do about the food?”
“…I’m thinking of using spring vegetables, just as Jung Song-i suggested.”

The Side Dish Shop’s greatest strength is its ‘seasonal vegetables.’

“You think we can win with that?”
“We’ll win.”

Since I was already participating, I might as well aim for victory.

“Are you going for sophisticated, high-dimensional flavors?”
“No.”

I had no intention of chasing the judges’ approval. That’s precisely why I brought Chef Cha Beom-seok along. The moment I made him my standard, I’d be courting disaster.

The more refined and complex the flavors became, the less people actually enjoyed them.

What was the Side Dish Shop’s real advantage?

“We need to go for popular, accessible flavors.”

But information…

“Then you wouldn’t need information, would you?”

Hae-tae spoke as if reading my thoughts.

“How did you know?”
“Hmph!”

As if to say he had no choice but to know, Hae-tae lightly tapped my forehead with his front paw.

Still, the information I could gather from a Side Dish Shop that had only been operating for half a year had its limits. I knew my regular customers’ preferences, but I lacked sufficient data to gauge the tastes of the crowds that would flood the festival.

“History always repeats itself, you know.”
“…?”

I blinked at Hae-tae’s sudden remark.

“What history?”
“Isn’t that so?”

His tone, as if offering a hint, sent thousands of question marks cascading through my mind.

“…What is it?”
“Should I tell you?”
“Um….”

I had no idea whatsoever. Hae-tae lowered his head, bringing his gaze level with mine.

“Why not check Grandmother Hyang-suk’s room?”
“Ah.”

Grandmother’s room—the one I’d visited once and never returned to since.

“She must have made many spring-related side dishes.”
“…That would make sense, wouldn’t it?”

Decades of accumulated culinary knowledge and seasonal records—which dishes she’d sold, which ones were most popular, all those traces waiting to be examined.

As Hae-tae and I continued our conversation, Hyang-suk’s Side Dish Shop came into view at the end of the alley. It was visible even in the darkness, like finding a four-leaf clover in a field of grass.

***

Climbing to the second floor and opening the door, I shuddered at the cold air that had accumulated inside. I reached toward the wall and pressed the boiler switch.

Only then did I remove my coat and grasp the handle to Grandmother’s room, pushing it wide open. The stale, musty smell that had once assaulted my nose was less pronounced now.

‘…Is this the second time?’

Last time, I’d only checked the notebook and hadn’t truly ventured inside. My heart hadn’t been ready to face Grandmother’s presence so directly.

‘Every time I come, I’m reminded how small Grandmother’s room is.’

I pulled the desk chair back and sat down. One by one, I retrieved the neatly arranged notebooks from the desk and examined them.

“Greens… greens….”

Just as Hae-tae had suggested, I selected only the entries marked with spring. Flour paste from cooking sessions was scattered throughout like breadcrumbs, clinging here and there.

And so.

‘I can’t read this….’

Still, I read through the visible text eagerly.

“Just reading the cooking process alone makes my mouth water?”

Especially in spring, the season called South Korea’s blessing, wild greens taste exquisite.

Spring greens that emerged from the winter soil brimming with nutrients taste delicious without any embellishment. They possessed their own natural flavor without needing to force MSG into them.

Ramps, bitter greens, shepherd’s purse, fatsia shoots, aralia shoots, mugwort, daylily buds, fatsia sprouts, stonecrop, amaranth greens, and more….

As I turned the pages of the notebook, the names flowed like the seasons themselves. Between the neat handwriting lay brief memos.

[February 1st. Spring greens didn’t sell as much today]
[February 4th. Ramp sauce sold exceptionally well.]
[February 7th. Many people looked for shepherd’s purse soup. Probably because it rained.]
[February 10th. Mugwort seasoned vegetables remained unsold—people said the flavor was too strong]
[February 11th. More people started asking for ramp sauce]
[February 12th. Should increase the quantity of fatsia sprouts—they’re in high demand, so I made dipping sauce with gochujang]
[February 15th. Lunar New Year approaches, many seeking pancakes]

“Hmm….”

I pressed my forehead as my mind spun rapidly. I couldn’t decide which spring green to use.

“Just use them all….”

Use them all?

“All… of them?”

Instead of choosing, I could simply add them all. My thoughts crystallized right there. I immediately closed the notebook. No more hesitation remained. I pushed back my chair and rose, leaving Grandmother’s Room.

‘Hae-tae! Hae-tae! Hae-tae!’

I simply had to tell Hae-tae about this realization.

My footsteps down the stairs naturally quickened. Though I wore nothing to shield against the cold, my mind spun so rapidly that I had no time to feel the chill.

‘Hurry, before the thought slips away!’

Hae-tae was no longer at the spot on the first-floor wall where I’d been watching the snow. Only a faint trace remained. So I changed direction and ran straight ahead.

‘Let’s go to the Dimensional Space!’

The sounds of reality cut off abruptly. The distant rumble of traffic vanished. Instead, the Dimensional Space came into sharp focus before my eyes.

“Hae-tae! Hae-tae!”

My voice echoed through the Dimensional Space.

“Hae-tae!”

I called out louder this time and moved forward, searching for him. Then, far off in the distance, Hae-tae—who had been playing and leaving footprints in the snow—looked up at me.

“What’s the matter?”
“Me!”

I caught my breath and pulled Hae-tae into my arms.

“Me!”
“…Let me go?!”
“No! Listen!”

I lifted Hae-tae higher from my embrace and continued.

“I—I figured it out.”

I swallowed my rushing breath.

“I remembered!”
“You remembered already?”
“Yes!”

Hae-tae’s eyes, which had drooped downward, lifted slightly.

“What do you mean?”
“I’m putting everything in!”
“…What are you saying?”
“I’m putting it all in. All the spring greens!”

Once I made a dish with all the spring greens in it, that would be enough.

“You can really put everything in?”
“That’s why I need to practice starting now.”
“That’s too greedy!”
“Yeah. An opportunity like this doesn’t come around often, so I want to be ambitious about it.”

Hae-tae let out a small sigh. Then he lifted his front paw and gently tapped my cheek.

“Still… if that’s what you want to do, I won’t stop you. I should be cheering you on, shouldn’t I?”

Of course Hae-tae would say that. I slowly curved my lips into a smile.

“I won’t just throw everything in.”
“What kind of dish are you thinking of making?”

When I said I’d put everything in, a dish came to mind.

“Skewers.”
“Sk-skewers?”
“Yeah. Those common skewers you eat? Like hot dogs and chicken skewers.”

Watching Hae-tae’s eyes widen, I continued.

“Skewers with only spring greens on them.”

It wasn’t grandiose. After all, I wasn’t entering a cooking competition—just a simple dish that could appeal to popular tastes.

It was a festival, and thinking of the customers walking around, food you could hold in your hand and eat one bite at a time had great merit. Plus, the turnover would be good. It’s easy to stop while passing by, look, and eat.

“A taste that captures the season of spring and is easily delicious. But one that lets you feel a deeper flavor too?”
“A deeper flavor?”
“A taste that makes you think, even if just for a moment.”

Hae-tae tilted his head.

“And there…”

I could already picture myself at the booth, selling skewers.

“I’ll serve the skewers and broth in cups so people can eat them together.”
“Isn’t that just the fish cake soup you see on street corners?”
“Exactly.”

I was benchmarking that concept. After all, it was a booth at a Regional Festival.

“The broth provides deep, complex flavor, the skewers let people enjoy the texture of spring vegetables, and the meat gives it substance.”
“….”
“What do you think?”

Hae-tae looked at me quietly.

“Now that you mention it, that sounds pretty good.”
“Right!”

I threw my arms around Hae-tae and hurled myself forward into the snow. It gave way beneath me, cradling my fall. Cold snow burrowed into my neck and up my sleeves. Soon my breath came out in white clouds.

“You’ll catch a cold doing that!”
“I don’t care.”

I laughed at Hae-tae’s concern.

“It feels like a blocked path just opened up.”

With each breath I drew, I felt the cold, yet strangely, something inside me was churning with excitement.

“What are you going to do now?”

Hae-tae brushed the snow from my face with his front paw.

“I need to make it.”
“Make it?”

I stroked Hae-tae’s warm head.

“First, let’s work on the skewer composition, and then we’ll create the broth base next.”

My hands were already moving in my mind. Selecting spring vegetables, threading them onto skewers….

“Do we start practicing tomorrow?”
“Yeah. Starting tomorrow.”

There’s plenty of time, but.

“I’ll need you to taste-test for me, okay?”

I asked while brushing away the snow clinging to Hae-tae’s whiskers.

“Meow?”
“Meow?”
“Of course, meow!”

Hae-tae’s eyes rose to precisely ten o’clock, as if it were obvious. From the start, there was only the resolve to never refuse.

“That’s reassuring.”

I laughed and sat up.

“Should we start picking the spring vegetables?”

***

“Achoo!”

I lifted my head while rubbing my itchy nose. I’d caught a cold after all. Hae-tae stared at me and clicked their tongue.

“Tsk tsk, meow. Why did you bury yourself in the snow, meow?”
“But I already went to the hospital this morning….”

As soon as I opened my eyes this morning, I delayed opening the shop and went to the hospital first. If I brushed off a cold carelessly, it could become serious. Beyond my own health, it would impact the shop.

“I know, meow.”

Hae-tae already knew, so I didn’t nag any further.

“…I was happy yesterday, after all.”

I should think of it as settling that debt. Probably.

I pulled my mask up and placed the spring greens I’d harvested yesterday onto the cutting board.

I’d already finished all the side dishes for the shop, and I was thrilled at the thought of making spring skewers for the Spring Festival. I was just about to put the spring greens into the sink when—

“Boss!”
“…Hello, boss.”

The Twins burst in. I looked up from the neatly arranged spring greens.

“What are you two doing here at this hour? Don’t tell me—”

The Twins shook their heads at my suspicion.

“School’s out!”
“Ah, I see.”

Already? Time really does fly.

I shook the water from my hands and approached the Twins. That’s when I noticed a shadow at the edge of my vision.

“Who’s that behind you?”

The Twins hadn’t come alone.

“Hello.”
“Hi there!”

I recognized Jung Cheon-ru—I’d seen him before. But the very small girl beside him was new to me.

“Who is this girl…?”

The child stepped forward honestly and opened her mouth with perfect posture.

“Hello! I’m Lim San-bi, a third-grader in Class 1 and a classmate of the Twins. It’s nice to meet you, owner of Hyang-suk’s Side Dish Shop.”

The child bowed with an upright posture, her movements honest and deliberate. Moved by such straightforward courtesy, I found myself bowing in return without thinking.

‘She’s certainly different.’

Perhaps influenced by her composure, I asked calmly.

“So what brings you here? Would you like me to prepare something to eat?”

Song Ae-rim, who had been sitting quietly, suddenly stepped forward and exclaimed.

“We came to make a business deal with you!”

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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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