Cheat day

Success (7)

Since the end and beginning of the year were so busy and I spent last weekend resting, today was the first time I could visit Anyang and Donghae.

The mother I visited last year looked much healthier than before.

“Wow. This is so delicious. How did you resist, Eunji?”

“I know, right? No matter how much I begged her to eat, she refused, but now she listens to her husband.”

“Mom!”

When I come to Anyang, I see a different side of Eunji. Normally, she talks so rigidly that she almost seems like Siri or Bixby, but around her mother, she speaks in a more familiar way.

I feel happy imagining the day when she’ll talk to me like that too.

“Thank you for the meal.”

“Why aren’t you eating more?”

“I ate a lot already. My appetite has decreased recently.”

“A man should have some meat on his bones.”

“Right. Haha.”

“Why?”

“I’ve never heard that before. I used to look like this, Mom.”

I showed her an old YouTube video of myself, and she looked back and forth between me and the screen, chuckling, as if she couldn’t believe it.

“Oh, I’ll take care of the dishes, Mom. You should rest.”

“No, you both must be busy. Go pack your things and get going.”

“Huh?”

“Aren’t you going to Donghae?”

“Tomorrow, right?”

“Are you going to go back to Seoul and then come out again? Just go while you’re already here.”

Even if we left now, we’d be a bit late.

“We were planning to stay here overnight. I can sleep in the living room.”

“You said you were taking two days off, right? Go on to Donghae. You can come to Anyang whenever you want.”

“With the transportation these days, it’s easy to go to Donghae quickly too.”

“Don’t you think your mother would want to see her son? Right?”

With the mother and daughter in agreement, there’s no way I could win.

“Alright, then Eunji, you can rest for the day. I’ll stop by on the way back from Donghae.”

“No, thank you.”

With both mother and daughter in agreement, I had no choice. I couldn’t even help with the dishes, so I had a bit of a struggle just trying to give her the allowance I’d prepared, before finally heading out.

***

“It’s too much,” Eunji said as soon as we got in the car and started it up.

“I was hoping to score some points today, but I guess not.”

All my plans for a movie, a nice dinner, and lots of conversation were dashed.

“They already think highly of you.”

“Really?”

“When I started my job, she always told me to work hard because she was grateful to you.”

“That’s different. I’m not her daughter’s boss anymore; I’m her future son-in-law.”

“She says you’re a lifesaver, the one who brought her withered daughter back to life.”

I was so surprised by her blunt words that I couldn’t even respond as Eunji set the GPS.

“Donghae City.”

“Oh, wait a second. Let me make a quick call before we go.”

I called my mother.

“Son~”

“Hello, Mother.”

“Oh, and Eunji is there too? Did you both eat?”

“Yes, we ate a lot. Did you eat as well, Mother?”

“Of course. I’m eating well these days. Does Eunji like galbi?”

“Hold on. Hold on. Let’s chat later. We’re just about to leave, so it’ll take about three hours.”

“I thought you were planning to visit Anyang today.”

“We just finished visiting.”

“That’s not good. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Eunji, it’s been a few months since you came here, hasn’t it?”

“I’m okay.”

“It’s still not right. You should rest in Anyang, Eunji. Why go all the way and tire yourself?”

“How come other families ask to see their kids, but ours is always telling us not to come?”

“It’s not that I don’t want you here, but you’re busy, so you should rest.”

“Since I’ll be busy over the holidays, I wanted to greet you in advance. I can tell you’re already prepared if you’re talking about galbi.”

“Hehe. Just in case~”

Thinking about how she’d bought galbi on the off-chance we’d come over made me feel a little emotional.

“Anyway, we’re on our way now. You don’t need to rush to prepare food; we can just go out and eat.”

“Why eat out when we have homemade food?”

“Alright, I got it. See you later.”

“I’ll help when we get there,” Eunji said.

“Oh, no need for that.”

Eunji’s cooking skills wouldn’t really be of help. At the Anyang house, it was just me and her mother cooking while Eunji was busy getting scolded by her.

“That’s really not true.”

She glared at me when I made that comment.

“Okay, we’ll be there soon.”

“Okay~”

Eunji’s gaze lingered on me as I hung up.

***

Friday, January 19, 2024.

After the whirlwind of end-of-year and New Year’s events, it’s been a week since I returned to my regular routine.

Since the broadcast had mainly focused on content lately, I had a rare chance to chat with the viewers.

“So, you could say our waist fat is the result of evolution. Wasn’t the weather this year just insane? When it rains a lot, what happens? You can’t farm, right? So, in preparation for times like that, we’re meant to keep our waists plump. It’s true!”

└ Ah, now I understand why I’m chubby.

└ But seriously, it’s true, lol. We’ve evolved to survive better. Who knows, in a few millennia, only non-fat humans might survive.

└ Will humanity even be around in a few millennia?

└ For real, it looks like humanity’s heading for a total wipeout ending.

“And again, when you can’t farm, right, you’re left with floods everywhere. This tube around our waists is humanity’s way of surviving without drowning.”

└ Back in the day, you really had a visible tube of fat, but not anymore.

└ For real, if you were still grabbing your belly fat, it’d be hilarious.

└ You’ve lost your original charm.

└ Not funny.

└ I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel for laughs.

“People, not everything can be hilarious, you know? If it’s boring, mute me and close the window!”

└ Haha, not telling us to leave though.

└ Oh, because that’d drop the viewer count.

└ That’s a big mouth.

└ Every time you talk, it feels like I can smell bad breath. It’s off-putting.

└ Unsubscribe reason: bad breath.

“I actually brush my teeth really well! That way, I can fully enjoy the taste of my next meal. Ah, but what should I eat for dinner?”

Viewers suggested a range of foods, but nothing really appealed to me.

“I kind of feel like grilling some meat. Let’s decide on a pork cut for tonight.”

I opened up Paint and drew a pig.

└ Didn’t you say we were deciding on a pork cut?

└ Randomly?

└ Aw, it’s kinda cute.

“All right, cut 1 is pork neck.”

└ This guy is insane, haha.

└ Wondered what you were doing, and here you are drawing the cuts, lol.

└ Why make it cute? It just makes me feel guilty!

“Cut 2 is belly and tenderloin. Cut 3 is the shoulder. Cut 4 is the hind leg. Hmm. How should I represent the loin? Should I have drawn it from the side?”

Ignoring the viewers’ complaints, I pressed on.

“All right, please stay calm, everyone. It’s time to decide which pork cut we’ll eat tonight. Don’t worry about the picture and number—I’ll list the options by number.”

Candidate 1: Pork neck.

Candidate 2: Jowl.

Candidate 3: Front leg.

Candidate 4: Loin.

Candidate 5: Pork collar.

Candidate 6: Skirt meat.

Candidate 7: Tenderloin.

Candidate 8: Pork belly.

Candidate 9: Hind leg.

“Ah, shouldn’t have bothered with the drawing. Anyway, among these nine options, whichever wins the vote will be on the dinner table tonight.”

└ Why does this feel so cruel?

└ Don’t eat it.

└ Pigs supposedly don’t remember their pig life anyway.

└ If it’s chosen, it gets eaten, lol.

“First, number 1, pork neck. As the name suggests, it’s the meat from the neck. It was a lifesaver when I was dieting because it’s lean and has a strong pork flavor. The texture’s great, making it a strong candidate for tonight.”

Viewers quickly started singing praises for pork neck.

No matter how cute the pig might be, it’s still something we eat.

“Number 2 is jowl. This meat from the neck and shoulder area is high in fat and has a crunchy texture. Back in the day, it was often used in sweet and sour pork. Interestingly, it’s attached to both the neck and the front leg. Separating this part to eat is popular not just in Korea, but in Europe, the U.S., and China as well. That shows just how tasty it is. Another strong contender?”

└ Is there any part of you that doesn’t taste good?

└ Love jowl.

└ I hate that texture.

└ Isn’t it nice, though?

└ Feels like chewing on fat.

└ It’s high in fat, so that’s part of it, but people who love it are obsessed.

“Candidate 3: front leg. Shoulder meat is cheap. It’s super affordable and not bad taste-wise, so if you want to eat meat cheaply, it’s the first cut to consider. In fact, we probably eat this the most. It’s in everything—stir-fried pork, boiled pork, kimchi stew, pig trotters, you name it. But honestly, it’s a bit lacking on its own for grilling. It needs some seasoning to really shine.”

└Why do you even know all this?

└Well, it’s his own body.

└Haha, even with that good of a body, there are still people calling him a pig.

└The front leg is shoulder meat?

└Yep, same thing.

└Pig trotters are so good.

“Candidate 4: loin. Beef loin has tons of specific sub-cuts, but pork loin doesn’t have much fat at all. Yep, even on a pig. So it doesn’t have much flavor, but that’s where tonkatsu comes in—frying it adds flavor. It’s also popular in Chinese dishes that use a lot of oil, like sweet and sour pork or the pork in jjajangmyeon. But since we’re grilling today, loin isn’t great. No flavor. So let’s just rule this one out.”

Next up is pork collar.

Since it’s not a favorite and is pricey, I quickly moved on.

“Number 6: skirt meat. Delicious, right? Some people say it’s like beef, but I don’t really think so. It has a great fat-to-lean ratio. Don’t know skirt meat? It’s like the ‘outside skirt’ cut of beef. In pigs, it’s the meat between the intestines and the muscles. For me, it’s one of the top three pork cuts. Please vote, everyone.”

For some reason, I’m really craving skirt meat today.

So I quickly breezed through tenderloin, pork belly, and hind leg, then started the voting.

“Skirt meat. Skirt meat.”

└ Nope, not voting.

└ Who said you could have something delicious?

└ Haha, you’re actually making us vote, lol.

└ How many years have you been streaming?

└ Honestly, you’ve lost your touch lately.

The atmosphere is tense.

The cut with the most votes? Loin.

“Hold up. I told you loin isn’t good! Unless it’s in a tonkatsu or sweet-and-sour pork, there’s no point.”

└ Yep, go make it~

└ Tonight’s gonna be a cooking stream.

└ Haha, like we’d ever give you what you want.