BBS (30)

Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost

 
⟨Chapter 30⟩
 

“On the countryside, in the past, people would make white rice[1] and put a bowl of it in a kitchen to appease hungry ghosts. It meant: as I treated You to precious food, eat it and leave. No matter how much a hungry ghost resists leaving, if they’re enticed by the world’s most delicious food and are fed until full, would they endure it without relieving their resentment?”

“So ‘force them to realize their desire’?”

Yu Dan thought deeply. The fox’s words were pretty reasonable.

“What is the most delicious food in the world?”

“That…”

Chaeu was about to reply, but Baek Ran cut him off.

“Wouldn’t it be buldojang?”

“What dojang? What kind of food is that?”

“Buldojang. In the time of Qing Dynasty, a certain scholar decided to make and eat the most delicious food in the world. He gathered all kinds of treasures of mountains and seas, put them into a pot and boiled them. A meditating monk in a nearby temple, smelled it and unable to endure at all, he jumped over a wall. He ate that matchless delicacy, but the tale goes that in the end he was chased away from the temple and became an apostate monk. Because of it, this dish is called ‘Buddha (Bul 佛) Jumps Over (Do 跳) a Wall (Jang 牆)’, ‘Buldojang’.”

“That sounds quite plausible? However, isn’t it a dish from legends?”

“No. There is a real recipe.”

Yu Dan looked at Heuk-yo.

“Can you make it?”

“I can make it with eyes closed. Shark fins, sea cucumber, stir-fried calms, chicken, duck, bamboo shoots, abalone… I have all ingredients.”

“Then please make it.”

“Why me? If you need buldojang, make it yourself.”

“Because I’ll almost certainly mess it up. You cook well, you know? You’re an expert.”

“That’s right, but…”

Heuk-yo unintentionally smirked, but hastily pressed down the corners of her lips.

“Even so, I can’t. I’m frustrated that on a leisure afternoon I was dragged out like this, so how can I make buldojang for you?”

“I’ll buy you a cake. The green tea cake, which you ate half of alone last time and the cake with chocolate and oranges, and…”

“Now that I think about it, you’re working so hard for your cousin nunim[2]’s friend, it’s a bit admirable.”

Heuk-yo changed her words straight away and headed to the kitchen.

The other yokai observed this scene with deep interest. Chaeu asked:

“Even if there is a dish, how will we feed it to the hungry ghosts?”

“Can we roughly throw it out?”

“Naturally we can’t. We have to invite them in.”

Baek Ran’s sleeve shook.

In the next instant, a weapon appeared in his hand. It was a golden spear with nine prongs. After he swung it, a bunch of yokai and demonic creatures serving this fox appeared. They were the so-called group of Road to Hell.

“I’ll offer some simple escort. However, please hurry. Because it’s a burden on this world.”

“Got it!”

The number of hungry ghosts increased even more than before. As he was about to shuffle his feet closer to them, he felt really uneasy. While thinking that he would make sure that Mia paid him for it, Yu Dan strengthened his heart and opened the door.

The hungry ghosts, who were peeking just outside, quickly rushed in. Like beasts, their eyes flashed and spread wide open as they pounced, but Baek Ran’s yokai subordinates beat them down straight away.

「Hungry. I want to eat. Hungry. I want to eat…」

At that moment, Heuk-yo entered holding a tray. Yu Dan was surprised.

“So quickly?”

“Isn’t it natural? A genius cook like myself knows very well how to use special fire.”

She proudly raised the bowl lid.

Was it really the most delicious dish in the world? It was unexpectedly ordinary. It just looked like a soup with several kinds of ingredients.

After Baek Ran motioned with his eyes, the yokai released the strength in their forelimbs. The hungry ghosts jumped in an instant and rushed to the buldojang.

「Food! Food!」

The food in the bowl disappeared in a blink of an eye.

Then, now was the time to ascend.

Yu Dan opened his eyes wide and stared at them.

But there was no change.

「Hungry. I want to eat. I want to eat…」

The hungry ghosts were dripping with saliva like before and running wild. They ran in this direction, because they were gathered together.

“Kyeek!”

Chaeseol screamed.

Before anything happened to anyone, Baek Ran flapped his sleeve with force. Powerful wind rose and everything rattled. The hungry ghosts flew like fallen leaves and disappeared in the glass window’s gap.

The curtains, which fluttered like crazy, slowly settled down.

“I have no idea. There were no problems with my buldojang.”

Heuk-yo spoke as she quickly licked her finger.

No matter what, it seemed that buldojang wasn’t an answer. His mind became complicated. Yu Dan looked at Baek Ran. The fox opened his mouth as if he was waiting.

“There is a so-called ‘Manchu–Han Imperial Feast[3]’, it gathers all kinds of the world’s precious dishes, to achieve the ultimate luxury…”

“No.”

It seemed to be a wrong approach.

He felt like he knew why it wasn’t effective. The buldojang, he saw just a moment ago, didn’t appeal to his appetite at all. But he didn’t know about Qing Dynasty’s period’s monk, or another Chinese, or Chinese cuisine lover.

“That’s it, huh? Because everyone’s taste is different, there can be no such thing like ‘the most delicious dish in a world’. The term itself is only a legend.”

At Yu Dan’s words, Baek Ran giggled.

“It took You such a long time to realize such a simple fact, eh?”

“Right. I realized it. There is no such thing, so we have to ask them directly one after one. Then we can make the most delicious dish.”

“How are You going to ask them? No way, You aren’t thinking about asking them to kindly respond to Your survey, right?”

Now that he heard that, he was right. With how much those hungry ghosts were struggling not to ascend, there was no way they would respond.

However, he had an idea.

When the female ghost he met in the park grabbed his hand, her memories flowed into him. This time he would be the one to try it first.

Yu Dan opened the door again. He grabbed the hungry ghost, which immediately lunged at him, and was about to grasp its hand, but Baek Ran blocked him.

“What are You trying to do? It’s dangerous to grab a ghost in such a manner.”

“But I want to read the ghost’s thoughts. What kind of food it wants to eat the most?…”

“If so, then it’s enough to just look into it. Because even without doing anything, it will only think about food. If You concentrate just a bit, it will flow into Your head.”

He focused his mind according to the fox yokai’s words.

Soon he was swept by the feeling of his insides twisting, and his legs gave out.

He was extremely hungry.

As his stomach turned up and down, even breathing was too much. His cracked throat felt as if it was burning. It was too wretched of a thing to dry-up and wither like this, because one was born with life. Rather, if his breath was quickly cut short…

Midst the muddling pain, a faint smell suddenly brushed past his nose.

Ah, this smell…

“Jajangmyeon[4].”

The hungry ghost, who was struggling in Yu Dan’s grasp, showed a reaction. From the wide splinted mouth, a voice was heard like an echo.

「Jajangmyeon?」

“Yeah! Don’t you want to eat jajangmyeon?”

「No! I can’t! If I eat that…」

When he grabbed the hungry ghosts, who tried to escape, even tighter, a bit clearer memories poured in with strong impressions.

“Not an ordinary jajangmyeon, but jajangmyeon from the Chinese restaurant on the crossroads? Jajangmyeon the whole family ate when the eldest son graduated. Jajangmyeon with heaps of fried onion, worthy two hundred won.”

「No!」

The hungry ghost’s body lost all strength. As if tension left its whole body as it drooled just from hearing the story, it was swiftly pulled and dragged inside.

The moment it crossed the threshold, the hungry ghost’s appearance changed.

An elder wearing an old jacket. White hair was disheveled, his eyes and cheeks were sunken, and he appeared like a skeleton with just skin pulled over.

Chaeseol, who watched with anticipation through her fingers, slowly let down her hands.

“Scary. I guess he was an elder living alone. Even a few days ago, police rescued a grandma, who was on the brink of starvation…”

At some point the girl started to look at the hungry ghost with eyes full of sympathy.

He recalled Eunbi’s words that they couldn’t chase them away, because everyone was pitiful. Was this what it meant?

“Elder-nim, do You want to eat jajangmyeon?”

Chaeu approached.

“Ara, I don’t know. Can I really eat it? If so, then whatever happens doesn’t matter. For the past few days I only thought about that jajangmyeon. If I could just eat it again, I would have no regrets. Even now, that white table cloth is vivid in my eyes. The children were holding their bowls and gulping it down, afraid someone would steal it, and my wife couldn’t watch it, so she gave them her entire portion. The two of us shared one bowl and ate it. What taste it was.”

The old man could no longer speak and just gulped.

“I understand. Wait just a moment, sir.”

Heuk-yo ran to the kitchen. Yu Dan hastily followed.

“Can you really make it exactly the same? The jajangmyeon from the Chinese restaurant on the crossroads?”

“Don’t underestimate sister.”

Do-ssi replied instead.

“Sister was cooking in this kitchen for hundred of years. Even though you saw ingredients for buldojang quickly come out a moment ago, you didn’t realize? That cupboard is like an entire fossil museum. Look at that. Black bean paste from seventies was found, huh? And the onion from seventies …”

“That stone is an onion?”

“Noisy!”

An onion flew out.

“That buldojang a moment ago was done for nothing, right? In the future, in exchange for each dish I make, you owe me a debt of gratitude. You know what that means, right?”

“That You will get diabetes.”

The fox smiled as he said a word.

As beggars can’t be choosers, Yu Dan nodded.

“If you just make it.”

Heuk-yo swiftly picked up a rather big Chinese wok. Then at some point chopped onion and pork spun in the air. He thought that she ran to the kitchen counter to mix something, but in the next second, she was kneading noodles. There was not even a lump of wheat flour visible in his eyes.

“Unnie is going crazy…”

Chaeseol couldn’t close her mouth.

In a handful of seconds, jajangmyeon was completed. The twins took it and quickly ran to put it in front of the hungry ghost.

“Jajangmyeon served.”

The old man hurriedly pounced on it.

The noodles, which didn’t exactly stick together, disappeared in lumps. The wrinkled face openly bloomed with each gulp of jajangmyeon. The two sunken cheeks gradually puffed up and rose.

“Yes, this taste! The taste of memories! This really is that taste, eh!”

The elder’s voice spread out wide and wide.

The hungry ghosts gathered. Even while they shrunk as if scared, they couldn’t take their sunken eyes off of the shining face of the old man, who ate jajangmyeon.

Soon, the last remaining piece of onion disappeared in the elder’s mouth.

“Good gracious, it was truly delicious!”

He shouted in satisfaction. The moment he put down his chopsticks, his form turned into a swarm of lights and disappeared.

“Good!”

Yu Dan suddenly stood up.

“That’s it! At last, we know the method! The most delicious food in the world is food of memories! Even the hungry ghosts who don’t want to leave won’t be able to refuse that!”

While shouting, he ran to the door.

The peeking in hungry ghosts stepped back. Yu Dan quickly looked into the darkness they excluded.

As he expected, this time he also felt hunger twisting intestines. However, as he prepared his mind, it wasn’t as difficult as it was the first time.

“This one… seolleongtang[5]! The first thing he bought the moment he came to Seoul, the seolleongtang sold for fifteen won in front of the station!”

「Seolleongtang… in front of the station… 」

Hearing Yu Dan’s words, the hungry ghost was dragged in as if possessed.

The moment it crossed the threshold, its appearance changed. It was a youth wearing an old suit and round classes.

“And this one… miyeokguk[6]! Miyeokguk cooked by her mother when she had a baby!”

「Mom’s… miyeokguk.」

That ghost also couldn’t resist and was dragged in. It changed into a woman in her fifties, with a limp leg and wearing hiking clothes. She took a seat. Two ghosts, each from a different era, entered together.

“Fifteen won seolleongtang in front of the station!”

“Mother’s miyeokguk!”

The twins shouted towards the kitchen. Heuk-yo held a pot and threw in a beef bone and beef.

“Can somone find wakame?”

“I’ll do it!”

Yu Dan searched through a cupboard and pulled out wakame. Baek Ran came over, snatched it and took out a different wakame.

“Why not this wakame?”

“Because that wakame is sweet kelp[7].”

At that sound, Heuk-yo was startled and turned around.

“Cheonho-nim, please just sit down!”

“No. Won’t it end a little bit faster if everyone helps?”

“Okay. Let’s use this body for a bit in a long time.”

Do-ssi came in holding a basket, and took out aprons, throwing them to each one. Yu Dan took it and wrapped it around his waist. Before he even tied all knots, orders came down.

“Take out a bit of soy sauce from jangdok[8]!”

“Got it!”

He held a gourd handed to him by the dokkaebi and ran to the jangdok.

In the space created by lattice windows, the pleasant smell of food spread out. The young man, who sat on the fabric sofa, swallowed.

“Yeah. This smell. They put noddles and sprinkled chopped green onion in a soup, which was murky because beef and bone was boiled for a long time, right? I couldn’t forget that taste, but because I couldn’t even pay for boarding, I couldn’t dare to buy it and only get a whiff of it while passing by a few times.”

The woman in the hiking clothes also sniffed.

“How… Isn’t that the smell of the soy sauce my mom personally made? How much I thought about this warm soup, while wandering deep in the mountains? I should have quietly slept in the shelter. But I went out to go sightseeing for no reason and lost my way. And my phone battery completely died. Sir, can I make a call a little later?”

“Ah, well, of course.”

Do-ssi put briquette into the heater, as he replied.

Soon after the twins came holding trays.

“Seolleongtang served!”

“And mother’s miyeokguk here!”

The two hungry ghosts quickly accepted bowls and took a sip.
 

*~*~*
 

[1] white rice — peeling and cleaning rice took a lot of time and work, so in the past white rice was treated as very precious and mainly only ate by nobles.

[2] nunim — an older way of saying ‘older sister’.

[3] Manchu–Han Imperial Feast — a grand feast of over 300 dishes.

[4] jajangmyeon — a variation of Zhajiangmian 炸醬麵, noodles with black bean pasta, pork and onion.

[5] seolleongtang — ox bone soup.

[6] miyeokguk — seaweed soup.

[7] wakame, sweet kelp — Wakame: Undaria pinnatifida, Sweet kelp: Saccharina japonica

[8] jangdok — a traditional fermentation pot.
 

Translator’s note:

Ridi’s top comment: Cheon-ho, the one who differentiates wakame from sweet kelp.
 

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