Cheat day

Takers, Matchers, Givers (3)

Lee Chan-seok slammed his fist down on the kitchen counter.

All his scheduled activities, including the morning cooking show, interviews, convenience store food advertisements featuring him, and live selling broadcasts, had been canceled.

There was nowhere for him to turn to be embraced during this nationwide criticism.

‘No. Because of you, others can’t operate their businesses. Stop talking and move out by next month.’

‘Where does that law exist? The contract is still in effect.’

‘Look, I’ll return your money, so just leave. The building is inaccessible because of the people coming here to insult you!’

‘The show is fabricated. Ban-chan-yong and the production team conspired against me.’

‘What do you mean fabricated? How many people are suffering because of you? You’re being selfish; this is no different from the show.’

The building where Lee Chan-seok’s restaurant was located was filled with people protesting.

Even other businesses in the same building were suffering losses due to the situation, and the landlord had no other options.

Otherwise, all the other tenants would have to leave.

Thus, he yelled at Chan-seok to move out while returning his security deposit.

Lee Chan-seok felt wronged, claiming he had to close his restaurant due to the landlord’s breach of contract, but the response he received was cold.

└Who would want to live like that?

└Lol, he was so thrilled when he was being a bully. Guess he never thought he’d be on the receiving end?

└What crime did others commit to suffer because of him? Just leave already.

└He’s being pathetic, lol.

The comments from people who usually wrote that they respected him were nowhere to be found, replaced by hundreds or thousands of insults.

Even the owners of neighboring stores were coming daily to protest, leaving him with no way to endure the situation.

Desperate to find a new location, every landlord who recognized Lee Chan-seok refused to lease to him.

The only support he could rely on was from Bae Seung-ho’s group.

Lee Chan-seok contacted former colleagues who had worked under Bae Seung-ho, hoping to secure even a small place.

‘Hyung, are you crazy?’

‘What?’

‘My restaurant’s rating is tanking because of you, and people are asking why you haven’t apologized on YouTube. Shouldn’t you apologize first? Why are you being so shameless?’

‘Gi-cheol, I’m having a tough time as it is.’

‘You’re making it harder for me! Why are you causing trouble you can’t handle and making me suffer? What did I do wrong?’

Even his mentor, Bae Seung-ho, drew a line, leaving Lee Chan-seok without any colleagues to help him.

All his former coworkers ignored Lee Chan-seok’s messages or responded apathetically, and some even hurled insults at him.

‘We’ll be resigning.’

‘Wait. I’m looking for a place.’

‘…….’

‘I know it’s unsettling. If you just hold on a little longer, it will pass, so don’t worry.’

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‘…….’

‘Do you mean it?’

‘Yes.’

‘If you all quit, then what will happen to the restaurant?’

‘We don’t have one anyway.’

‘What?’

‘We still have a lot we want to do. We want to build our careers.’

Working under a chef wouldn’t even make it onto our resumes.

The staff turned their backs on him.

Cooks tend to change jobs frequently.

After working for 1-2 years, they can learn most of the seasonal menus at a restaurant.

So, once they get accustomed to one place, it becomes customary to move to another through introductions from the head chef.

Gaining various experiences is essential to secure better contracts and ultimately envision a restaurant that suits their talents.

However, as Lee Chan-seok’s reputation worsened day by day, even the once-reliable Bae Seung-ho’s group turned their backs on him, leaving no reason for anyone to work with Chan-seok.

They could no longer find jobs at other renowned chefs’ restaurants through Lee Chan-seok, and just because they had worked with him, they risked penalties during the job transition.

In such circumstances, with protests coming in daily, both online and offline, and the survival of the restaurant hanging by a thread, the staff was united in their desire to leave as soon as possible.

As a result, all thirteen employees submitted their resignations on the same day.

“Haa.”

Lee Chan-seok could only sigh in the empty restaurant.

How much time had passed?

The unlit restaurant was filled with darkness.

He had no idea where to begin solving the problems, but he knew that everything started with Ban-chan-yong.

As he slammed his fist down on the counter again, his smartphone rang.

Lee Chan-seok hurriedly reached for the light that had entered the dark restaurant.

“Hyung.”

Did you tell people about me?

His cousin Lee Ho-young, who ran a gossip magazine, was extremely agitated.

“What now?”

The Daily News revealed that you and I are cousins. They’re saying I published a defamation article against Ban-chan-yong at your behest!

“…….”

Lee Chan-seok couldn’t say a word.

His mind felt paralyzed, as if he had been hit on the head.

What are you going to do? Because of you, the newspaper might shut down!

He could hear the ringing of the phone on the other end.

Other media outlets were calling the gossip magazine office to verify the facts.

I told you to be careful! If they find out that you and I are cousins, it’s going to be a big problem!

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Lee Chan-seok gritted his teeth.

“When you were collecting money, that was fine, but now it’s all my fault! You told me to trust you!”

What the hell have you done to be yelling at me! Where are you? Where the hell are you?!

Lee Chan-seok angrily hung up the call.

Checking the news articles, he found that indeed, the Daily News had recently posted an analysis of an article from the gossip magazine.

It confirmed the relationship between the gossip magazine’s owner Lee Ho-young, who had faced criticism for the unfounded fake news about Ban-chan-yong, and Lee Chan-seok, stating that they were cousins.

He couldn’t understand how they had discovered the family connection with Lee Ho-young.

The timing of the article’s release was also suspicious.

Lee Chan-seok clutched his hair in frustration.

His phone rang again.

He didn’t want to check, but it kept ringing insistently. When he looked at the caller ID, it was his younger brother.

He sighed and answered the phone.

“What?”

Are you out of your mind?

“What?”

Mom collapsed. Dad won’t even go outside because he’s embarrassed about the neighborhood.

“……Is it going to be resolved? Don’t annoy me and hang up.”

Annoyed? Resolved? What can you solve, brother? I’m being ignored at work just because I’m your sister. Why are you doing this to us?

Lee Chan-seok hung up the phone.

When things were good, even the family members who bragged about their son being on TV or that their brother was a famous chef began to resent him.

The stubbornness he had been trying to hold onto eventually crumbled.

***

Three days before the recording of the sixth round of “Korean Cuisine Celebration,” Yoo Hye-rin was invited to the studio.

They planned to invite one person who realistically had no chance of winning to promote their restaurant.

The day before, he visited Park Seong-chil’s restaurant to film a mukbang featuring the new menu item, soy sauce butter stir-fried octopus.

This was developed by Park Seong-chil for those who couldn’t handle spicy food and had been showcased in the fifth round, where the theme was sauces.

Following that, today they had invited Yoo Hye-rin, who had just started a cooking YouTube channel, to film.

As the first part of the broadcast was wrapping up, he started his closing remarks.

“Are you sure you’re not too busy coming here and not preparing well for the sixth round?”

“No, I really prepared hard. Thank you so much for today.”

Thanks to “Korean Cuisine Celebration,” even though she had only launched her YouTube channel two weeks ago, Yoo Hye-rin had already gained 20,000 subscribers.

When about 10,000 subscribers joined in real-time during today’s broadcast, she repeatedly bowed in gratitude as if she might get dizzy.

Seeing her so happy made him happy too.

“Not at all. I went to Park Seong-chil’s restaurant yesterday, and tomorrow I’ll be filming with Choi Eun-sam.”

“Oh, other people too.”

“Yes. Everyone is so talented that I wanted to taste their food again.”

“Really?”

“Really?”

“Oh. Yes.”

Yoo Hye-rin smiled awkwardly.

“Then I’ll wrap up the first part of the broadcast. Please say a few words before we finish.”

“Oh, thank you so much for treating me so well today. Ban Chan-yong, you’re really amazing. Please love the side dish store a lot. Thank you.”

“No, you should be promoting your own channel, not saying that.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“Seriously. Everyone, if you haven’t subscribed to Yoo Hye-rin’s channel yet, please do! She makes a lot of delicious food.”

“I will make a lot.”

He turned off the microphone and switched to the waiting screen.

“Thank you very much.”

As Yoo Hye-rin bowed once again, he also inclined his head in return.

“No problem. See you in the studio then.”

“Yes, really. Thank you so much.”

“Be careful on your way back.”

After seeing Yoo Hye-rin off, he took a sip of water and took a moment to breathe.

He had to start broadcasting again in five minutes, but if he had his old stamina, he wouldn’t have been able to manage it.

He gathered his thoughts and sat back in front of the camera.

“Ah, can you hear me?”

└Can hear you

└Here

└The arrival of Bit-chan-yong

“Ugh, what’s with Bit-chan-yong again?”

After some of the contestants’ stories were revealed, a few began to attach “bit” to his name as they started to help him.

“……Try to spam that chat.”

└For real, we shouldn’t praise him

└How can he even flaunt it like that?

└ㄹㅇ No one can’t wait to criticize others, but for him, he has to be a shining light

└But can we really invite participants without doing the sixth round?

“Ah, the production team and I discussed it. It’s a bit sad, but for those who have no chance of winning, we can invite them before the sixth round and broadcast it.”

└That’s realistic

└It’s cleaner that way. Otherwise, we could hear accusations of biased judging.

└ If they were worried about biased judging, they shouldn’t have had Ban Chan-yong as a judge in the first place, right? Joo Ji-seung is a participant too, lol.

└Oh?

└Cartel

└Don’t joke about that. Didn’t you read the newspaper? There was an article accusing Ban Chan-yong of biased judging.

└That article was written by Lee Chan-seok’s relative.

└Wow

└That’s seriously insane.

Mugunji asked a reporter he knew to find out why Jaegan Newspaper published such an article.

During that process, they discovered that Jaegan Newspaper’s president, Lee Ho-young, and Lee Chan-seok were cousins.

The reporter thought it was a great opportunity and published the article at a very good time, and now Jaegan Newspaper has closed its office and cannot be contacted.

It was ridiculous to think how much they hated him.

└That guy really needs to be punished.

└For real, people who bully others should all get what they deserve.

└Didn’t someone named Kim get caught doing something similar before?

└It seems that it has become too easy to manipulate public opinion with posts that go viral these days.

└ Who would fall for that?

└A lot of people would.

└Bae Seung-ho still hasn’t apologized. I need to go and leave another comment later.

“Don’t do that.”

I was already annoyed that there were insults and mockery appearing on the website and YouTube channel of the restaurant run by Bae Seung-ho.

“Honestly, what did Bae Seung-ho do wrong? Don’t do that. Really.”

└He’s your disciple.

└If he put his name on it and raised you, he should take responsibility.

└You’re being so annoying.

“Hey, honestly, I’m the victim here. I mean, it’s a bit of a relief to hear people say something about Lee Chan-seok, but ugh.”

└Yeah, that’s honest.

└ So he’s human after all, huh?

└Oh, so he’s just doing the dirty work for you, lol.

“Anyway, don’t do that to the people around you. What’s the difference from a guilt by association? Don’t go after Bae Seung-ho or others. That’s a crime too.”

└You’re right.

└Honestly, there are a lot of people who go too far.

└Unless he apologizes properly, it’s different. Even now he’s slandering you, and you want to do that?

***

“Seriously, just don’t harm innocent people. Since we’re on the topic, I just want to say that I really appreciate and am grateful for everyone backing me up and getting angry on my behalf, but I have no thoughts about it. Really. Yesterday, I talked with Seong-chil and today with Hye-rin, and that person isn’t around anymore. It’s already resolved. We really don’t care. All I’m thinking about is how to win the round in the sixth round. What should I eat for dinner tonight? That’s all I’m focused on. So please stop now. I mean, you all gathering to throw stones feels a bit hard to watch. It seems like you’re throwing stones at others too when there’s a pile.”

└Trying to act nice.

└Why is he so nice, for real?

└Are you a Buddha?

└It’s just that everyone has experienced bullying, so their empathy is exploding.

“Act nice? What are you talking about? I’m super nice. The Buddha is Ji-seung. Anyway, I’m just saying this because I can relate. I’m not saying any of you are wrong. No, it’s wrong to say something to people who are unrelated. I also don’t know what’s what, but anyway, the person involved is okay. Lee Chan-seok’s program got canceled. They say he can’t even run his restaurant due to lack of staff. As a fellow human, it’s just pitiful. So once you’ve done enough, let’s stop. Isn’t it a bit cruel to keep going?”

└Yeah, yeah.

└If the person involved says to stop, then we should stop.

└Oh dear, why do you live being bullied?

└In the meantime, he calls himself nice.

└Nice idiot.

└Diabetic idiot.

└130 million idiots.

└But I really like this guy.

└It’s not about being bullied; it’s about being generous. People with small minds don’t understand the minds of the big-hearted.

└I think it’s commendable. He used to have such low self-esteem, but now he seems to have truly grown up. From the lunch boxes to the national treasure journey to now.

└Yeah, you can see his self-esteem has risen.

“PD, please mute those who called me an idiot in the chat.”

As he threatened to implement a chat ban, the comments calling him an idiot disappeared in an instant.