God-Given Business Genius

-What’s this??

-It turned into charcoal

-kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

-Oh come on, it just turned completely black as soon as it went in

-Why is this happening???

-Oops

Confused chat messages scrolled by rapidly, and I felt cold sweat running down my back. I had a bad feeling about this outdoor broadcast from the start.

I hadn’t paid attention earlier, but now I noticed a pale smoke rising from the oil.

“Ah……. This is why it’s difficult to cook outdoors without proper heat control. The oil has burned.”

-Can oil even burn?

-It looks fine to me

-It’s not even bubbling, how is that burned?

“Most people at home won’t know this because oil rarely reaches burning temperatures in household cooking. But even this cooking oil can burn. It’s not like it can last forever, you know.”

-Wow, I didn’t know that;;

-So oil can burn too

-How can you tell?? It looks the same to me

“When you see smoke rising like this, you should consider it burned. It doesn’t leave black soot; instead, it turns into smoke and rises. The burning temperature varies slightly for different oils……. Oh my, what a mess this has become just trying to make some jeon.”

I glared at the camera resentfully. If only we had filmed in the studio, this wouldn’t have happened!

-So do we have to throw away all the oil and heat it up again?

-Looks like the broadcast will run over ㅠㅠ

-What a waste of oil

-Where are you supposed to dispose of that??

The chat window was filled with complaints.

‘If I throw away the oil and heat new oil, we’ll run out of time, but if I force it, everything will burn because the temperature is too high.’

It’s truly a dilemma.

“Phew.”

There’s no choice.

I let out a deep sigh before continuing.

“Everyone. In a normal household, you should just discard the oil and use fresh oil. Understand? Don’t try to copy what I’m about to do. I’m only doing this because we’re short on time, okay?”

After my earnest warning, the chat window started filling with “???” and “What are you going to do?” messages.

“I’m going to show you how to revive burned oil! This is a one-time demonstration. Watch carefully~?”

First, I took out the remaining batter chunks. I had planned to make sujebi with the leftovers, but that’s not going to work now.

“Now, break this batter into small pieces. The oil will splatter a lot, so you absolutely must not try this at home, okay?”

I gestured to the camera director filming nearby.

“Step back. You might get hurt.”

At my warning, the camera director hastily backed away. I put on rubber gloves to protect my arms, then stood in front of the oil that was still emitting acrid smoke.

Plop plop!

As I dropped the batter pieces in, a cloud of smoke began to rise.

“Cough! Ugh!”

I heard the camera director filming me cough violently.

“Move back further! Way over there!”

“Y-Yes, ma’am!”

At my shout, the camera director retreated even further. The oil made a fierce sound as it instantly burned the batter.

-????

-What on earth is she doing

-I can’t see anything because of the smoke

-What’s happening right now?

-Are you okay?? It looks like a fire ㅠ

“I’m lowering the oil temperature! Don’t worry~ Director, don’t come closer yet. I’m going to add more. This time, a big chunk!”

If I added finely chopped batter before, this time I threw in a large handful of batter in one go.

Splash!

The oil splatters everywhere. I quickly stepped back to barely avoid it. Whew.

As the smoke began to subside, I waved my hand to clear the air and approached. I used a skimmer to scoop out the blackened batter pieces.

The oil seems a bit more stable than before. But it’s still not at the right temperature for frying jeon.

“Lastly, I’m going to add water. This is really dangerous if done incorrectly. You absolutely must not try this!”

If you add the wrong thing to burning oil, flames could suddenly erupt. I’m only trying this because I have a lot of experience and know safe methods, plus we’re outdoors. If ordinary people tried this at home, they could easily get burned.

After repeatedly warning everyone, I opened the cap of the water bottle.

Splish!

-?!?!

-Pouring water into oil? kkk

-Whoa, is that allowed?

-※Do not attempt unless you’re a professional※

-Is this really saving the oil? Looks more like killing it;;

At first, the oil sputtered violently when I poured in the water, but after a while, it gradually began to calm down.

I stopped when the temperature seemed right and checked the condition of the oil.

Good. This should do it.

“Okay. It looks like our oil CPR was successful, so let’s try frying some of the jeon we prepared earlier.”

-Did it really work, teacher??

-I can’t tell the difference from before

-Never thought I’d see oil CPR in my life

-The pouring water into oil show kkkk

Sizzle!

When I dropped in the battered sweet potato and zucchini slices, they made a delicious frying sound in the oil.

When I scooped them out as they turned a beautiful golden color, they looked appetizing to anyone.

“Ta-da. Success, right?”

-It actually worked

-She actually saved it

-Wow

-How did she do that

-Amazing

Phew. That was a close call; I almost ruined the broadcast. It seems news of my oil stunt has spread to other broadcasts too, as the number of viewers has increased even more than before.

I smiled brightly and said,

“Well then, shall we continue with the rest?”

The path to victory was now smooth sailing.

⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱

Whoosh…….

Rain poured down in streams. The sound of rain hitting the window unconsciously drew my gaze to the windowsill.

“CEO.”

“Ah, Team Leader Jo.”

“What’s distracting you?”

“Ah……”

Embarrassed at having my thoughts exposed, I awkwardly scratched the back of my head.

“It’s raining heavily.”

“Well, it is the rainy season.”

“Well, I suppose that’s part of it.”

I looked at the rain with mixed feelings. This downpour was expected to continue non-stop for the next ten days.

As someone who knows the future, I couldn’t help but feel conflicted.

“Should I give you the report later? It was about the new employees who just joined.”

“Submit it in writing and I’ll review it. The new hires will mainly be trained by you anyway, Team Leader Jo. Once the employees become proficient, your workload should lighten too.”

“Yes. Thanks to that, I’m now experiencing what it’s like to leave work on time.”

“Hahaha….”

I felt a twinge of guilt, as if I’d become an exploitative employer. But I’m compensating for the hard work with incentives, so I hope for some understanding.

Jo I-ruk, who had pushed aside the report entirely, joked with a playful smile:

“When did you learn how to revive dead oil?”

“……You watch My Small Television too?”

“It was entertaining. The ratings are good too.”

Ugh. I didn’t expect Jo I-ruk to watch it too.

Even if it’s a broadcast featuring the CEO, how does he find time to watch it so diligently amidst his busy schedule?

Unlike other broadcast formats, it shows quite a raw side of me, which made me feel somewhat embarrassed.

He must have seen me arguing with viewers about the amount of sugar too, right?

I suddenly felt self-conscious. Covering my flushed face, I barely managed to answer.

“It’s something I know from experience, just experience.”

“CEO Song, it seems like your days are twice as long as others’. I can’t figure out where all these experiences come from.”

I can’t exactly answer that it comes from regression, can I?

Jo I-ruk naturally shifted his gaze outside. The rain showed no signs of stopping, pouring down relentlessly.

His gaze, as he looked at the rain, seemed somehow deeply contemplative.

Even though he must have felt me staring, Jo I-ruk continued to watch outside without saying anything. His profile revealed traces of deep contemplation, whether he realized it or not.

Is he troubled by something?

As I tilted my head in confusion, Jo I-ruk spoke first.

“I saw on the news that the monsoon front doesn’t seem likely to clear up soon. They say heavy rain will continue until next week, which means the crop damage will be severe.”

“…….”

“Worried about that, I urgently contacted Jihyang-eup, and heard quite an interesting story.”

“……What kind of story?”

Sensing something ominous in his tone, I scrutinized Jo I-ruk carefully.

“Apparently, Jihyang-eup alone will not be affected by this monsoon damage.”

“…….”

“What a remarkable coincidence.”

The emphasis he placed on the word ‘coincidence’ was probably not my imagination.

I chuckled and replied:

“Are you making a wordplay with my name? I didn’t expect you to have such a childish side, Team Leader Jo.”

“No, it’s the opposite.”

Jo I-ruk nullified my attempt to laugh it off. Then he turned to face me directly.

“I want to confirm that it’s not a coincidence.”

“…….”

“Song Woo-yeon doesn’t work by coincidence. Isn’t that right?”

Unable to decide how to respond, I kept my mouth shut. What exactly is his intention?

I was momentarily at a loss, unable to understand why Jo I-ruk was suddenly talking like this. I retraced our previous conversations, but couldn’t find anything particularly strange.

What could have made Jo I-ruk so urgent?

At least among the internal factors I knew of, there was no appropriate reason. Which means the cause must be external…….

Something occurred to me.

“You always seem to know something. It can’t be that you’ve really received divine revelations. The reason doesn’t matter anyway. The source of the information isn’t important.”

Jo I-ruk looked like someone with a burning thirst. As if he was desperate to confirm something.

“Team Leader Jo.”

I called out to him softly.

“Who contacted you?”

“…….”

“OJ? Ottogi? Or…… Hyeonmu?”

Jo I-ruk flinched when I mentioned ‘Hyeonmu’. As I thought.

“Headhunting isn’t taboo in the industry, and changing jobs is an individual’s freedom…. but poaching key talent like this isn’t ethical business practice. Hyeonmu is really pushing it, don’t you think?”

I smiled gently as I looked at Jo I-ruk. He seemed surprised that I had seen through this far.

“So. How did you answer?”

This was the most crucial part.

How Jo I-ruk had responded.

Whichever side it was, they must have promised better treatment, better conditions than here.

Was Jo I-ruk really loyal enough to reject such sweet talk and stay faithful to me?

“……I.”

Jo I-ruk slowly began to speak.