Cheat day

Be Happy (4)

“It’s absurd for a diabetic like us to even think about pouring sauce! Even without that sweet sauce, it’s more than enough to deal with! Are you out of your mind?”

Baek Woo-jin hit a sore spot.

“You have to think about your health! Don’t you understand how I feel?”

└Oh

└This is a bit touching

└Right, right. If you pour unhealthy sauce on it, you’ll end up eating more.

└Baek Woo-jin is worried, but Banchan-yong is ignorant and makes such comments?

└Banchan-yong is trash

He really was quite impressive.

You have to be cautious with sweet and sour pork, pork cutlets, fried chicken, and even salads.

Sauces invariably contain high amounts of sugar, making them dangerous for diabetics and detrimental to dieting.

Doctors even recommend that those diagnosed with diabetes avoid sauces or at least dip their food in them.

Creating an atmosphere of worry based on these facts left me with little room to escape.

An appeal to emotion based on facts.

The most fundamental principle of incitement and fabrication.

“Don’t you get it? What’s important here! You need to live to eat! What matters most!”

Baek Woo-jin landed a powerful punch, asserting his argument.

“Woo-jin.”

When the other person is excited, you shouldn’t retaliate.

Especially when facing someone with logical and emotional justifications, you risk losing everything.

I took a calmer tone.

“Hyung, it’s okay now. My blood sugar is stable, and eating sweet and sour pork occasionally isn’t dangerous anymore.”

I grabbed his hand.

“Thank you for worrying about me. And I’m sorry for not considering you.”

“What consideration?”

“Right. You’re still struggling to manage your blood sugar. Eating sweet and sour pork together might be burdensome for you. I didn’t think of your position.”

“Uh?”

└ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

└Suddenly it’s heartwarming

└Right, it’s only natural to consider someone who is sick

└Yeah, since we’re eating together, you shouldn’t pour it if there’s a diabetic.

“If I think of you, I can dip it. I really love sweet and sour pork, but I can gladly give it up for you. I’ll only pour it when I eat with Ji-seung hyung or Ji-chan hyung.”

“Why are you saying it like that? Dipping is better!”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll do that when I eat with you.”

“No! Why are you treating dipping as a special situation? Why do you make it sound like you’re being considerate?”

“Because you’re sick. Ah, does it hurt your pride? Feeling like you’re being considered? Got it. Then I won’t say such things.”

Reactions were starting to come in.

Baek Woo-jin raised his eyebrows and started to huff.

“Stop twisting your words! Eating less sugar is better! Isn’t that right?”

“Woo-jin, that’s not true. It’s written in the guidelines. Sweet and sour pork is meant to be poured!”

“Then think about your health!”

“Look, healthy people can enjoy the true taste of sweet and sour pork. Eating sweet and sour pork won’t cause a big problem. But if there’s someone like you with fluctuating blood sugar, you should be considerate. No, you have to be.”

“That’s not consideration; it’s good for you too!”

“Why isn’t it consideration? I just want to eat, but because of you, I say I’ll dip it.”

Baek Woo-jin immediately found himself at a loss for words.

It was an opening.

“If you can be considerate like that but don’t acknowledge it as such, and instead say it’s a given, conflict will arise.”

└It is consideration

└Dipping is originally meant to be poured, but if someone has health concerns, then you should dip. But if you take it for granted, it’s a problem.

└For real, pouring causes chaos

└I’d probably pour it all to make them mad, lol

└Today Banchan-yong is taking a logical approach while Baek Woo-jin is being emotional.

└True. Banchan-yong seems right. Sweet and sour pork is originally meant to be poured, but if someone has health concerns, you can dip. But those who dip often act like it’s a fundamental right.

└Lol, why does pouring seem like the default here?

“Okay. If you want to be considered, you have to acknowledge the other side first. If you want to dip for health reasons, you have to seek consent, right?”

“Those who pour should be the ones asking for consent! There are almost three times as many people who want to dip!”

“If you have to dip for health reasons, then I can be considerate, right? I can understand. But in our country, there are 6 million diabetics. The entire population is 50 million. If we think about health, the considerate side should be the 44 million, right?”

“No! Diabetics or not, 60% of the entire population prefers dipping!”

“Regardless of health?”

“Right!”

“Then why did you say you were worried about me?”

“Uh?”

“You lied that you were worried about my health to push your preference? To make me feel guilty?”

└Gasp

└Gaslighting, whoa

└Trying to impose his preferences while making the other person look bad

└Lol, it’s obvious that Banchan-yong is gaslighting right now.

└Oh! Just look at the flow of the conversation!

└Look at Baek Woo-jin, he’s malfunctioning, lol. His eyes are rolling around!

Baek Woo-jin recognizes that the situation is nonsensical but doesn’t know how to untangle it.

This kind of gaslighting makes it hard to find a clue even if you’re focused.

It complicates the situation and mixes words while posing extreme assumptions.

However, being a smart guy, if given enough time, he will uncover the contradictions in my logic, and by then, the situation will be irreparable.

Here, I need to take the initiative to resolve the situation.

Just as it is, all tangled up.

“Isn’t that right?”

I asked softly.

“Of course, it’s not!”

“Right. There’s no way it is. I think so too.”

“……”

He still harbors doubts and grievances. If given the time, he would jump right in.

“It’s just that the words got a bit tangled. You really cared about my health, right?”

It wasn’t tangled.

I twisted it.

But by saying this, the viewers can perceive that Baek Woo-jin made a mistake, and he will think I understood his true feelings.

“……Yeah.”

“Right! If you think about health, dipping is also okay. But isn’t there a more fundamental solution?”

“What do you want to say?”

“What if there’s zero sauce?”

“Huh?”

“A sauce made without starch or flour, created with sweeteners. What do you think? Would you still want to dip?”

“Of course! I don’t want it to get soggy!”

Got it.

The frame that eating too much sauce is unhealthy has been broken.

Now, the justification for attacking pouring sauce as being unhealthy in this discussion has disappeared.

└????

└The point suddenly shifted?

└Banchan-yong is clever, lol. Since they’re both diabetics, arguing about pouring sauce due to blood sugar issues has no resolution. Baek Woo-jin was aiming for that, but Banchan-yong turned the atmosphere around with gaslighting and brought up the nonexistent zero sauce, shifting the argument back to crispy vs. soggy.

└Lol, no way!

└He completely dodged the pressure.

└Lol, it’s so annoying when someone twists words like that!

└It’s like mirroring the gaslighting I experienced at my first job, lol.

└For real, it seems like he’s been through it himself, lol.

“Baek Woo-jin, the committee member.”

“What?”

“As I mentioned earlier, sweet and sour pork is a dish meant to be served with sauce from its origin. Let’s take a look at the reference material.”

I brought up the data for the viewers to see as well.

“What do you see in this picture?”

“It’s sweet and sour pork.”

“No, it’s not. There’s no sauce. This is a dish known as tempura or fried meat. You can find it in old Chinese restaurants. It boasts a soft yet crispy texture and tastes great even when dipped only in soy sauce.”

“I know that too. So there are people who want to eat just that without pouring sauce.”

“In that case, wouldn’t you just order the fried meat?”

“Uh?”

“I’m asking because I find it hard to understand why you’d order sweet and sour pork, which is meant to be served with sauce, and only eat the meat or just dip it in a tiny amount of sauce.”

I spoke to the camera.

“The sweet and sour pork sauces currently on the market contain various ingredients such as carrots, cucumbers, onions, and wood ear mushrooms. It would be such a waste to use it solely for dipping.”

I asked Baek Woo-jin again, “What do you do with the leftover sauce if you dip it?”

“……Throw it away.”

“Look at this! With how food prices have gone up, how can you make such an irresponsible statement!”

└Sudden acceleration, lol!

└Oh wow, that’s surprising, lol.

└Right? When you dip, you end up with a ton of leftover sauce. It’s a waste. If that’s the case, why not just order fried meat and dip it in soy sauce?

“Chinese restaurants that serve fried meat have a high level of perfection in the frying process, so whether you order sweet and sour pork or fried meat, they maintain a crispy texture. But are you really saying you’d order the more expensive sweet and sour pork only to throw away the sauce?”

“I want to eat the sauce too! And how do you know if it stays crispy even after being drenched in sauce?”

“I’ve said it continuously! The fried eel we had at the soba place was crispy even after being in the broth for over 20 minutes! Delivery fried chicken maintains its crispy texture even while on the way!”

It’s time to push forward.

“What Baek Woo-jin is arguing is no different than ordering cold noodles and scraping off the sauce to dip the noodles bit by bit!”

I raised my voice.

“What’s the difference from taking a hamburger apart and eating the bun separately from the patty and cheese? Do you eat bibimbap separately, without mixing it?”

“Why is that coming up here!”

“I have to say it! You mix the vegetables! You mix the rice! In a country of mixing, where we mix cheonggukjang, doenjang, and gochujang, what kind of absurdity is this! If you want to enjoy the flavor of fried food, order fried meat, not sweet and sour pork! Don’t eat sweet and sour pork, which is ordered by people who want to enjoy the sweet and sour sauce with fried meat, in an unreasonable way!”

“Stop making strange assumptions! It’s true that pouring sauce makes the fried food soggy!”

“Please wake up!”

I grabbed Baek Woo-jin’s arms and shook him.

“How did the fried eel at the soba place stay crispy even when in the broth? How does fried chicken stay crispy even during delivery? Do you really not know?”

“It’s because the methods of making them are different! The fact that sweet and sour pork gets soggy is a fact!”

“To be delicious!”

I shook him while crying out.

“It’s because they worked hard so that customers could have a better meal! Sweating over the fire every day! How much do you intend to belittle the chefs who have researched and researched to provide customers with a more satisfying meal! Look at their efforts and passion for giving us delicious food! Sweet and sour pork does not lose! It doesn’t lose to sauce!”

I slowly turned my head to face the camera, leaving Baek Woo-jin in a daze.

“When do you think sweet and sour pork will die?”

└What the heck, lol.

└One-piece, lol.

└When it’s forgotten in people’s memories?

└It won’t die, lol.

“When sweet and sour pork was in vogue? No!”

We’re almost there.

“When it’s placed in oil at 160 degrees? No!”

It would be perfect if a tear fell, but that didn’t happen.

“When it’s drenched in sauce? No!”

I paused for a moment to let it linger and then said with a quivering voice,

“When it’s dipped in sauce.”

I raised my voice again.

“The fried meat, which sacrificed itself to become crispy even in hot oil, without receiving any recognition and being doubted, when dipped in sauce! At this very moment, it will one day be believed! One day, it will definitely be poured over! That’s the kind of food it is! It’s with that mindset that it dives into boiling oil! Isn’t sweet and sour pork pitiful?”

└This is Baek Woo-jin’s fault.

└For real, sweet and sour pork must have tried hard to be crispy too, but should it be embarrassed just for being dipped?

└Ah, it’s kind of sad.

└I also worked hard. Why can’t they recognize that!

└I feel like I’m talking about myself, ㅠ.

└Sweet and sour pork really does try hard not to get soggy. That’s why it’s fried multiple times.

└But if you pour sauce over it, won’t it end up soggy anyway?

└Are you ignoring the effort of sweet and sour pork?

└It tried, okay! It might be lacking in some ways! Shouldn’t we support it even more for that?

“Sweet and sour pork tried to become crispy?”

“…….”

“What nonsense.”

Baek Woo-jin staggered.

Seeing him in such a fragile state, it seems today’s debate is over.