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chapter 19
The Spreading Craze
“Hyung, did you get in touch with them?”
“Yeah. I just heard back. We got permission to film. We can go.”
“That’s good. Let’s stop by Uljin, eat, and then head straight up to Seoul. We won’t arrive too late, right?”
“If we hurry, we should get there before nine. It’ll take about two hours.”
“Then we’ll reach Seoul around dawn? Ah, I’m skipping meals on purpose so I can eat dinner late—please let it be good.”
“But how did you even find that restaurant?”
“You know my friend Jonghyun? He went to the East Coast to eat Yeongdeok snow crab, heard a rumor by chance, and checked the place out. He said it was insanely good and recommended it to me.”
“Oh, really? I searched it earlier and the reviews were kind of mixed.”
“Really? Jonghyun’s taste isn’t exactly average though…”
Kim Hajun, who debuted in the early 2000s as a ballad singer and is now also active as a mukbang YouTuber.
After singing at a small theater in Gangneung, he was thinking about where to film his side job for YouTube when he got a call from a friend.
Since he was already in Gangneung, his friend strongly urged him to visit a restaurant he recommended.
That place was Haengbok Restaurant in Uljin County.
Because his friend was extremely picky, he trusted the recommendation, but after hearing what his manager said, he started to worry a little.
He hurriedly searched on his phone.
“Hm.”
Leaning back in the soft seat, he frowned.
Just as the manager said, the reviews were inconsistent.
Reviews left by customers who visited a few months ago—last summer—were bland.
The food wasn’t bad, but not good enough to go out of your way for.
One particular review caught his eye.
“Twenty years ago, this place was famous. The grandmother’s cooking was incredible, but after she suddenly passed away, the taste went downhill. I still can’t forget the stir-fried pork I ate back then. Thinking about it makes me want it again—any good stir-fried pork places these days?”
Not just that reviewer—many seemed to be former regulars who missed the old taste.
‘Am I going there for no reason?’
If the food was bad, he could just eat quickly after filming and leave.
Of course, it wouldn’t be uploaded to YouTube.
He only uploaded places he personally verified.
That was a rule he had followed since starting YouTube.
Still, since he preferred eating good food whenever possible, the reviews were enough to worry him.
“Why? You think it’ll be bad?”
“I don’t know. Just based on the reviews, it feels like a place that used to be popular but is now just… average. But Jonghyun must have had a reason for recommending it, right?”
“Well, we’ll know once we eat.”
“Yeah. Hyung, I’ll take a short nap. Wake me when we arrive.”
Still, he was worried.
‘Please don’t be bad…’
Since they were going so far, he really hoped it would be good.
An hour later, a message came from Kim Hajun’s manager saying they’d arrive soon.
Late at night.
The restaurant was quiet and empty.
While fiddling with his phone, he spoke.
“Mom, can I ask you something?”
“What is it?”
“You said Grandma used to run this restaurant before you took over, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Was business good back then?”
“Of course. Don’t even ask. People came from Seoul, Busan, Jeolla—customers from all over the country. If it were now, SNS would be flooded with photos.”
“I was really young, so I barely remember.”
“That garden in the back? Grandma tended all of it herself. Running the restaurant and managing the garden too—she was like iron.”
“Didn’t she have a lot of staff?”
“Two in the hall, two in the kitchen. Four in total, I think.”
“Then wouldn’t the kitchen staff know her recipes?”
“You want me to go get those recipes?”
“That wouldn’t be bad.”
His mother smiled.
“The side dishes we make now? We still make them exactly the way the kitchen ladies taught us back then.”
“Huh? Didn’t Grandma pass away suddenly before she could pass down the recipes?”
That was how he remembered it.
Was he wrong?
“That’s true. She passed away while trying to teach me. But for most dishes, the kitchen staff taught me, so it shouldn’t be very different. Ah—except the taste is very different.”
“That’s strange. Same ingredients, same recipes, but different taste.”
A strange sense of déjà vu washed over him.
Same recipe, but different taste?
He’d experienced this before.
Right—when he washed rice and cooked it with spirit water.
Same process, but the rice tasted different.
Could it be?
No… right?
Startled, he hurriedly called out.
‘Hey, Hoya. Tell me the truth. Was Grandma a spirit master before me?’
Hoya had once told him spirit masters were chosen randomly.
But what if it wasn’t random?
As he wondered, Hoya appeared and answered.
[Yes. Your grandmother was the previous spirit master.]
‘What?! Why didn’t you tell me earlier?!’
[You didn’t ask.]
‘Back then, I definitely—’
When he showed curiosity, Hoya had said it didn’t matter.
That she would’ve passed away before he became a spirit master anyway.
So after Grandma passed, did the role transfer to him?
[I don’t know. I believed it was random. But if your theory is right, it might pass to the nearest qualified person after the previous spirit master dies.]
‘So that’s how it was?’
An unexpected truth.
He was shaken.
His grandmother had been a spirit master.
That explained why her food was famous nationwide.
Food made with the help of spirits.
It made sense.
“Son, what are you thinking so hard about?”
While he was talking to Hoya, his mother asked, puzzled.
To her, he must’ve looked like he was spacing out.
“Ah… I was thinking about Grandma.”
“What about her?”
“Did she ever use separate water for cooking?”
“…Huh? How do you know that?”
“Really?”
“Of course. She said it was the restaurant’s secret and told us never to tell anyone.”
She led him to the backyard.
Among several sheds, she stopped at the smallest one.
It was tightly locked.
After opening it, she showed him inside.
“Do you know what this is?”
Concrete walls, with a thick square manhole cover on top.
Only one thing came to mind.
“Is this… a well?”
“That’s right. Grandma always drew water from here before cooking. Even though tap water existed, she said food tasted better with this groundwater.”
“Then why was it closed?”
“After she passed away, the well dried up.”
I see.
Just like he pretended the spirit water came from a mountain spring, Grandma must have used spirit water discreetly too.
“That’s why I was shocked when you brought water from Bonghwa Mountain. It was similar to the water Grandma used.”
Well… yeah.
Both were spirit water, but he couldn’t exactly say that.
As he hesitated, a black van climbed the hill.
Anyone could tell—it was a celebrity vehicle.
Kim Hajun had arrived.
“Let’s go inside first. We’ll talk later.”
“Alright.”
The preparation to welcome guests was done.
Now, what kind of evaluation Kim Hajun would give—
They would find out soon.
“Clean air, you can see the East Sea—great view.”
“But it’s pretty remote. Hard to visit without a car.”
“Looks like they’re building something across the road. A hanok pension?”
“Why? Planning to visit later?”
“That wouldn’t be bad. Alright, I’ll turn the camera on.”
Kim Hajun turned on the camera and started filming.
“Hello everyone. I performed at a small theater in Gangneung, and while deciding where to eat dinner, I came all the way to Uljin. No small talk—I’m starving, so let’s go in.”
Inside the restaurant—
“Welcome.”
“Oh, hello. I’m Kim Hajun, the one who contacted you earlier. Nice to meet you.”
“Thank you for coming all this way. Please sit anywhere and order.”
“Thank you.”
He scanned the menu.
Lunch was a Korean buffet; dinner was rice and alcohol.
They originally only sold pork belly, kimchi stew, soybean paste stew, and ramen—but stir-fried pork had been newly added.
“How did you find this place?”
“A close friend of mine came here once. He said it was amazing and told me I wouldn’t regret it.”
“I see.”
“What do you recommend?”
“We usually sell pork belly, but we recently added stir-fried pork. I recommend the stir-fried pork.”
At the staff member’s suggestion, he ordered four servings of stir-fried pork, soju, beer, and rice.
“Please make it good.”
“Yes!”
Facing the camera again, he spoke.
“It took two hours to get here. And three more hours back to Seoul. Please be good. Please.”
The side dishes arrived.
Common vegetable side dishes.
He tasted them first.
“The side dishes aren’t bad. Not amazing, but decent.”
But high expectations bring bigger disappointment.
He fiddled with his chopsticks.
Then he remembered his friend’s words.
‘Pork belly is normal. But the soybean paste stew is insane. Eat that, then order ramen. Mix rice in, and that’s it.’
His friend hadn’t tried the stir-fried pork.
Probably a new menu.
If it was bad, he’d just order ramen.
“Could we get the rice first?”
“Yes.”
Rice was rice—nothing special, right?
Why did people praise it?
Soon, the rice arrived.
“Doesn’t look special. I’ll try it.”
He took a bite of plain rice.
“…?”
Why did it taste refreshing?
He was confused.
“Rice… this is ridiculously good. What is this?”
Then the soybean paste stew arrived.
One spoonful—
His eyes widened.
“Wow. This is insane. This one is legit.”
Even with minimal ingredients, the broth was full of umami.
He finished a whole bowl of rice just mixing it with stew.
Then came the stir-fried pork.
“I was a little disappointed with the side dishes, but these two are insane. Even specialty stew places can’t beat this. The rice is the best I’ve ever had. So I’m really excited for this.”
He picked up a piece of meat.
“….”
No reaction.
Was it a fail?
Then he took another bite.
Then he mixed the sauce with rice.
One big bite.
And then—
“This is crazy. Absolute alcohol thief. Hyung, stop filming and eat.”
The manager rushed to eat too.
Soft meat.
Deep umami.
Spicy enough to make you crave soju.
“Hyung. Should we upload this?”
“Of course. Is that even a question?”
“I’m just worried there’ll be too many people next time.”
Kim Hajun complained.
About two weeks later.
On Kim Hajun’s channel with over two million subscribers, Haengbok Restaurant was introduced under the title Uljin’s Best Restaurant.
The response?
So intense that people called it unprecedented.
Views in one day: 500,000.
And that wasn’t the end.
The craze that started online was rapidly spreading offline as well.
