“Ah…”
The quiet exclamation escaped Lee Hera’s lips before she could catch herself, a faint blush dusting her cheeks.
“I’m sorry, it just looks so delicious that I couldn’t help it! I’ve never seen green onion kimchi with such a glossy sheen before…!”
Coated in a vibrant red marinade, the vivid green scallions practically glistened under the light.
“I added plum syrup to the marinade,” I explained warmly.
“Wow… just adding plum syrup makes it look like this…?”
“Of course~!”
Lee Hera swallowed hard once more before picking up a stalk with her chopsticks. To my anxious eyes, that simple motion seemed to unfold in slow motion.
It had been a full year since I last served my food to a customer.
…I hope it tastes good.
Right at that exact second—
Crunch—
A crisp, satisfying sound echoed through the quiet shop. The scallions were so fresh that they snapped in her mouth like a delicate, crunchy cracker.
Lee Hera’s eyes went wide.
“Mmm…! It’s… it’s so good?!”
Her voice, previously heavy with exhaustion, jumped an entire octave. The shadows on her face lifted in an instant, replaced by a radiant, glowing expression.
“Phew! Thank goodness! I was holding my breath worrying it wouldn’t suit your taste!”
Staring at the empty saucer, Lee Hera spoke in genuine awe.
“How… how could this not taste good? It’s even more… delicious than the food my mom makes…”
Could there ever be a higher compliment? Pure, unadulterated happiness radiated from her face.
Now’s the time.
I gripped the container of green onion kimchi tightly and leaned in.
“Would you like me to pack this kimchi in a container for you? It’s on the house!”
Lee Hera hesitated slightly.
“Um… w-weren’t you planning to sell this in the shop? You really don’t have to just give it to me…”
“Not at all! I was actually making this for myself anyway.”
Even so, she waved her hands in refusal. Sharing a small container of comforting food with someone who was thoroughly drained wasn’t a grand gesture by any means.
Without a second thought, I pulled out a small plastic container, carefully packed the green onion kimchi inside, and snapped the lid shut. Then, taking a marker, I wrote on top:
[Hyangsook’s Side Dish Shop]
Placing the container into a black plastic bag, I handed it over to her.
“Eating spicy food is great for blowing off stress. On your way home, grab a pack of black bean instant noodles from the convenience store and pair it with this—it’ll taste incredible.”
My own mouth is watering just thinking about it.
Lee Hera finally stopped declining and clutched the bag tightly in her hands.
“Thank you so much. Next time, I will definitely, definitely come back to buy side dishes…!”
I waved my hands cheerfully.
“You don’t need to come back just to buy things! Just enjoy the food, that’s more than enough.”
“Ah… oh. Well then, I wish you lots of sales, Boss!”
Boss?!
The unfamiliar yet deeply gratifying title brought an automatic smile to my face.
“Thank you for stopping by today! I hope you have a wonderful rest of your evening.”
Lee Hera’s eyes glistened with unshed tears.
“Goodbye, Boss…”
“Take care!”
With a polite bow, she quietly turned and stepped out of the shop.
She’s technically my very first customer!
A complete success!
“Hrrrr-nyaaaaang!”
Startled by the noise, I looked up. Haetae, having lost his patience, was watching me from the counter.
“What took you so long, nyan? I’m starving, nyan!”
“Ah! Sorry, sorry! I had a customer.”
Tapping his tail against the counter to display his annoyance, Haetae’s ears perked up at the word ‘customer.’
“Did you see anything over the customer, nyan?”
“Right! Something similar to the crop status windows popped up.”
Heading into the kitchen, I placed a green onion on the cutting board and explained what had happened.
“A ‘View More’ tag appeared above her head. I was going to ask you about it first, but I tried handling it on my own!”
“How did it go, nyan?”
“Well… she said it was delicious, so I guess I did well? Is this what Grandma meant by good deeds?”
“That’s right, nyan. And there’s proof, nyan.”
Haetae waddled over to a cardboard box tucked in the corner of the shop and began rummaging through it. Watching only his plump rear end sticking out, I nearly burst out laughing.
After a long moment of rustling, Haetae emerged covered in a light layer of dust, holding something in his mouth.
“Found it, nyan.”
“What’s this?”
“It’s a praise sticker board, nyan.”
The board featured a drawing of a side dish container. Though clearly an old illustration, the lines glowed with a vivid, unfading light.
“A praise sticker board?”
“When you perform a good deed, a notification window appears in front of your eyes, but a praise sticker also gets attached here, nyan.”
“Is that so?”
It was currently completely empty, but I somehow intuitively knew: this container drawing was going to be filled up with praise stickers piece by piece.
“Look at that later… hurry up and cook, nyan!”
I trimmed the green onion and tore open the instant black bean noodle package. At that, Haetae’s tail began wagging frantically back and forth.
Look at how eager he is. Laughing softly, I held a palm out in front of his face.
“Alright, Haetae. Wait.”
I drizzled olive oil into the wok and threw in the chopped green onions. With a satisfying sizzle, the fragrant aroma of scallion oil filled the kitchen.
Making instant black bean noodles taste like authentic restaurant jajangmyeon…!
It was the ultimate budget-friendly recipe.
“Nyaaaang!”
I had better speed things up, though—otherwise, I might catch another smack to the cheek from those squishy paw pads.
“Ugh, I’m so exhausted. What a rough day…”
Arriving home, Lee Hera tossed the black plastic bag straight into the fridge and collapsed onto her bed.
Having been chewed out by her department head again today, she was utterly drained. How long had she been resting?
Grumble—
Having spent the entire day treading on eggshells around her boss, she had barely eaten lunch, and now her stomach was violently protesting.
Glancing at the clock, it was already past 9 PM. She was far too exhausted to actually cook anything complex.
Maybe I’ll just make fried rice…
Then, the memory of the side dish shop owner came rushing back.
‘Eating spicy food is great for blowing off stress. On your way home, grab a pack of black bean instant noodles from the convenience store and pair it with this—it’ll taste incredible.’
Lee Hera pushed herself up, walked over to the dining table, and unbagged the container.
“Hyangsook’s… Side Dish Shop.”
The shop’s name was written on the plastic lid in neat, adorable handwriting.
“The owner has cute handwriting…”
Without hesitation, she popped the lid open. The sharp, spicy scent of the green onion kimchi hit her nose, instantly bringing back the taste from earlier and making her mouth water.
She set a pot of water on the gas stove. Waiting impatiently for the water to boil—
“Should I just eat one piece…?”
Before she could even finish the thought, her chopsticks were already moving.
Crunch.
As she chewed the green onion kimchi, the dull headache that had been nagging at her all day completely melted away. Even the lingering echoes of her boss’s verbal abuse and the bone-deep fatigue of overtime seemed to dissolve into nothingness.
What is this? It feels like my stress is just… vanishing…
Lee Hera looked down at the kimchi in surprise.
She assumed it was just as the owner said—the spicy food doing its trick.
“Ah, my nose is running.”
As the water reached a rolling boil, she quickly dropped the noodles in.
“Hurry, hurry.”
She was practically desperate to eat it with the kimchi.
When the liquid reduced down, she added the sauce packet and tossed the noodles rapidly over the flame. With a quick stir of her chopsticks, the rich black bean sauce thoroughly coated every single strand. Carrying the hot pot, she set it down on an old magazine spread across the table.
Over the steaming noodles, she draped a single long strand of green onion kimchi.
Glistening black bean noodles paired with bright, spicy kimchi.
There wasn’t even time to admire it.
She shoved a massive mouthful of noodles and kimchi into her mouth. She had only meant to satisfy her hunger, but the moment she chewed, an entirely new world exploded on her palate.
The rich, savory sweetness of the black bean sauce clashed and combined with the sharp, crisp, refreshing punch of the kimchi. The flawless harmony struck her tongue like a bolt of lightning.
It felt as if a vibrant splash of full-spectrum color had suddenly poured over a monochrome world.
“Ah…”
Only then did Lee Hera freeze mid-chew, quietly savoring the taste lingering in her mouth. But for some reason, like a dam suddenly bursting, tears began to spill uncontrollably from her eyes.
“Sob…”
The stress had been far heavier than she realized. To feel this deeply comforted by nothing more than instant noodles and green onion kimchi made her feel both pathetic and deeply sorrowful.
“I just… wanted to do well…”
Because it was her very first job, she had wanted to succeed more than anyone.
Yet reality had been brutally different from her expectations.
Day after day, her boss would sigh and lash out at her.
‘Hera-ssi, I really thought you were capable. You can’t even handle this? I guess we only hired you for your face. Tsk tsk…’
There was no support from her colleagues—nothing at all.
She couldn’t bring herself to confess her boss’s verbal abuse to her parents, either.
Her parents had always said:
‘Everyone’s been congratulating us on our daughter landing a job at such a great company. You have no idea how happy I am these days.’
‘It must be a great company with wonderful benefits. Our daughter’s face looks so bright nowadays!’
“How… how could I ever tell them I was struggling…”
The only thing offering her warmth right now was this green onion kimchi given to her by a total stranger at a side dish shop.
Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, she began eating again.
She had to eat. She had to eat and find the strength to keep going.
“Should I… quit?”
…She had already endured three and a half years. She had tried her absolute best. Now, she wanted to stop. And she still had a future ahead of her.
A future to move forward into.
A whirlwind week flew by in a blur. The mountain of paperwork required to open and run the shop felt like an alien language.
“What is with all these preparations for the preparations of the preparations…!”
The prep work was endless!
Dragging my exhausted body into a chair, I buried my face straight into the table.
“Tired already, nyan?”
I tilted my head slightly to look at Haetae.
“…When did you get here?”
“I was sitting on the stone statue, but I kept hearing your footsteps so I came down, nyan.”
Haetae pressed his front paw firmly against my cheek.
“Hey… you know, how did Grandma use to sell her side dishes?”
I wanted to sell side dishes the exact same way Grandma did. I had faint memories of it, but ten years had passed, making the details foggy.
“She just sold them, nyan.”
Just sold them…? Questioning his answer, I stared at Haetae.
“What do you mean ‘just’?”
“There was nothing complicated about it, nyan. She sold seasonal dishes when available, and if a regular customer asked for something specific, she’d cook it right on the spot, nyan.”
“That’s basically a restaurant!”
“Precisely, nyan.”
So… she made whatever the customer wanted every single time… Grandma really was incredible.
Seeing my reaction, Haetae curled one corner of his mouth into a sly smirk.
“What, you can’t do it, nyan?”
“…”
“You can’t, nyan?”
…Grandma did it, so why couldn’t I?
“Ha!”
“Nyan?”
“I can totally do it. Who says I can’t?”
Haetae lightly tapped my cheek with his paw.
“Doing good deeds always brings good fortune back to you, nyan.”
“Really?”
“Naturally! When you do something good, isn’t it only right that fortune returns to you, nyan?”
“In what way does fortune return?”
As if he had been waiting for that exact question, Haetae looked out past the shop window.
“Just wait and see, nyan.”
“Why? Is someone coming?”
Indeed, someone was peeking through the glass window outside.
I had put up a ‘Preparing to Open’ sign, so there shouldn’t have been any customers around yet. I bolted upright from my chair.
“Who is it…!”
Setting Haetae down on the floor, I opened the front door, my eyes widening in surprise the moment I stepped outside.
It was the very same customer who had visited a week ago as my first guest.
Since no good deed quest completion window had popped up over the past week, I had secretly worried that she hadn’t liked the green onion kimchi…
She actually came back!
“Um… Boss, is the side dish shop still not open yet?”
“We’re still preparing!”
“When will you… open?”
“In about three days!”
“…T-Then, please take this…”
With a trembling voice, Lee Hera held out a paper bag.
“What is this…?”
The moment I accepted the bag and peeked inside, I was struck speechless.
Inside were several brand-new aprons that could be used in the shop.
“Ah… you really didn’t have to give me this!”
Lee Hera flushed red and bowed her head deeply.
“I… um… I handed in my resignation… It’s all thanks to you, Boss.”
“Thanks to… me?”
“…It was my first job, so I lacked the courage. My parents were so happy thinking it was a great company, and my colleagues told me everyone lives like this and to just endure it… so I gritted my teeth and held on…”
“…”
“But I was growing more and more exhausted every single day. Then, when I ate the green onion kimchi you gave me, a strange surge of courage came over me. I realized… you only live once, so there’s no need to suffer through it, right? There has to be a better place out there for me. Thank you so much, Boss.”
Instead of answering with words, I reached out and took Lee Hera’s hands in a firm grip.
“I think that courage came entirely from within yourself. I just blew a little wind into your sails.”
Fighting back tears, Lee Hera managed a sweet, genuine smile.
“Still… thank you.”
“I am so, so happy to hear such good news! I don’t have much I can offer in return, but…”
I glanced around discreetly and leaned in to whisper.
“When you come back as a customer, I’ll always pack an extra side dish as a free service just for you. You can’t tell anyone else!”
Dabbing her eyes with the back of her hand, Lee Hera let out a bright, refreshing smile.
“Yes! I won’t tell a soul!”
I packed a portion of seasoned canola greens and green onion kimchi for her to take on her way back, seeing her off at the door.
“Get home safely!”
Watching the back of her retreating figure as she walked away smoothly, a warm swell of emotion filled my chest.
This is what living is all about.
Helping each other, comforting each other.
“Come over here, nyan.”
Haetae beckoned with his chubby paw from beneath the praise sticker board.
“Why?”
“Come look at the first moment of the praise sticker board, nyan!”
In that instant, the board emitted a soft, warm radiance as a gentle breeze blew through the room. Out of thin air, a semi-transparent, glowing hand materialized.
The translucent hand gently pressed a ‘praise sticker’ depicting a dish of green onion kimchi directly onto the board.
[Acquired Good Deed Points. Detailed shop statistics unlocked.]
“Unlocked?”
As if answering my question, a glittering interface expanded across my field of vision.
[Han Jigu]
Local Renown: 10 (Rumors are beginning to spread through the alleys.)
Divine Renown: 1 (Gods and ■■ have begun showing interest in the shop.)
Good Deed Points: 1 (Reward unlock conditions not met)
[Business Status] Today’s Customers: 1/10 Regulars: 1 person
I stared blankly at the information window, blinking once or twice.
“What on earth is this…”
Haetae bumped his paw against my calf as if offering congratulations.
“Congrats on your very first good deed, nyan.”
“Woah, woah! So it means the good deed was a success?!”
Overwhelmed with joy, I showered Haetae’s face in a barrage of frantic kisses.
“Nyan! Nyaaaaang! Get off me, nyan!”
“Hahaha!”
And that was my very first good deed.
