- No way, seeing Nakseokgol Housewife 9th Dan here of all places.
└ To Cheonghyeon she’s basically Bible-level right now ㅠㅠㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ But honestly Nakjubu really is like a messiah to cooking-illiterates ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ People like us can’t even understand stuff like “one spoon for dad,” okay… Like is it a heaping spoonful, a level spoonful, a slightly less-than-level spoonful? We don’t know ㅠㅠ Nakjubu tells you every tiny detail like that…
└ I used Nakjubu’s post when I made miyeokguk for my mom’s birthday last time and she said it was insanely good. If you follow it properly it literally can’t taste bad.
- Potato: Save me…
└ Ahh… even knife work…
└ Nakjubu: Huh? You can’t even use a knife??
└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅅㅂㅠㅠ Cheonghyeon’s gonna cry, he’s gonna cry
└ You can peel potatoes with a peeler ㅠㅠㅠ He’s massacring that potato with a huge chef’s knife, I watched with my heart in my throat because I was scared he’d cut himself
└ Looks like Sikyung definitely has cooking fundamentals, when he heard it was going into braised ribs he rounds them so the ends don’t get mushy
- Waaah, baby ㅠㅠㅠㅠ Look at him boasting that he made braised ribs while shrugging his shoulders
└ Even the rice, he followed Nakjubu’s post well ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ That sheen is insane
└ He’s like the kid who got a perfect score on the CSAT just from the textbook… Is this really our Cheonghyeon who only ate plain rice
└ Seeing the kids eat so deliciously makes me proud too… ㅠㅠ
- Huh, it’s over already???
└ Are you kidding, give me back my hour and a half
└ Wait, you said it was 4 episodes… so one quarter is already over right now??
└ ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ I seriously can’t believe it. Are you messing with me? Give us more reality!
└ It passes in the blink of an eye ㅅㅂ From the preview it looks like next episode they’re writing a bucket list and doing something they want to do.
└ ㅠㅠㅠㅠ Even if they write stuff like that, they probably can’t do outside activities because people would crowd in… ㅠㅠ Oh no.
Around the time everyone was lamenting that the broadcast had ended, Cheonghyeon was searching for a nickname on the fan cafe.
‘Did Hyeonbaragi not watch the live broadcast today…?’
With Hyeonbaragi’s personality, it did not seem like they would be the type to chat it up with other fans while running the broadcast, but with it being so quiet, he still felt oddly hurt.
No matter how much he refreshed, it was only fans clamoring for more, and Hyeonbaragi’s new post did not go up and stayed silent.
A moment later, just as he was about to put his phone away, the post refresh suddenly sped up again.
What is it? Even the preview ended, is there more?
The members were just starting to get up too, but when Cheonghyeon suddenly filled the screen, they sat back down. Changsik looked bewildered as well.
“Changsik hyung, me too, phone…”
“Wow, do they still confiscate idols’ phones these days? Don’t they usually give it back when you get first place on a music show?”
The PD’s words appeared in small subtitles, along with Cheonghyeon’s earnest face.
And when the phone came out of the manager’s back pocket, his face staring fixedly at it was shown in a big close-up.
The fans were writing post after post saying they were going to faint because he was so cute, but Cheonghyeon, whose face was already bright red with embarrassment, no longer even cared about the phone.
“Hyuung! I look so stupid! Seriously, you should’ve just given it to me right away, damn it.”
Changsik looked thoroughly flustered too, like he had not known this would be in there. As Cheonghyeon’s pale white skin turned pink, Changsik hurriedly soothed him.
“Hey, I really didn’t know either. I swear.”
In the middle of that, the manager’s voice was playing on the TV.
“Oh come on, confiscation? Look at Yoonwoo over there carrying his around just fine. A few days ago, we lifted the restriction on fan cafe comments, and he stayed up all night leaving comments for fans. So we decided to confiscate Cheonghyeon’s phone for the time being.”
As Cheonghyeon trembled all over in humiliation, Changsik apologized profusely, and Yoonwoo and Sikyung flat-out turned around and laughed silently.
Hando kept his eyes closed, holding back laughter, like he thought if he turned around too he would be caught.
“I, I’m so… so… like an idiot, damn…”
Cheonghyeon was too embarrassed and angry to even connect his words properly.
Even though no one knew it, he was a prince from a great empire!
Seeing himself on the screen, desperate over a phone, looked so pathetic.
He remembered how on the first day he had left two comments in a row for Hyeonbaragi, and his face flushed hot again.
It felt like he had brought cookies to the person he had a crush on, saying he just happened to pick them up, but then it got exposed that he had actually suffered day and night making them and in front of the entire class, too!
He wanted to look busy and cool like Hyeonbaragi, too.
Please, let it be that Hyeonbaragi did not watch the broadcast today.
Just a moment ago, he had felt hurt, but now that feeling vanished without a trace, and Cheonghyeon prayed that Seoan had not watched the broadcast.
Did they say graduate students were modern-day slaves? Please be working in the lab until 10 p.m.!
Cheonghyeon fervently hoped that Seoan’s advisor, whose face and name he did not even know, would keep Seoan there late into the night.
After the uproar died down, Cheonghyeon went into his room to get ready for bed, then lay on the quiet bed and replayed the broadcast from earlier in his head.
Then that image of himself being desperate over the phone resurfaced, and his face reddened again.
That PD, he had been annoying since he messed around with people eating. The phone he had always treasured was now something he did not even want to look at.
He closed his eyes to sleep and counted sheep for a long while, but sleep would not come.
In the end, curiosity beat embarrassment.
Picking up the phone that kept catching his eye, Cheonghyeon went into the community.
It was because he was curious about fans’ reactions.
The real-time posts running along with the broadcast and the posts written after some time had passed were a little different.He had learned that during the previous show.
When fans ran the live broadcast, they only talked about how cute Cheonghyeon and Yeonhee were, but after the broadcast ended, late at night, they admitted they were relieved it did not look like there were romantic feelings. That was the fans’ honest reaction.
Likewise, now that the broadcast was over. Cheonghyeon was curious what parts fans were chewing over, what they liked, what they found lacking.
Unable to overcome his curiosity, Cheonghyeon entered the community and clicked the post with the most comments.
- Cheonghyeon, we’re really okay even if you don’t leave comments… ㅠㅠ
If the manager confiscated your phone, I feel like I can guess how serious it was? (ㅎㅎ) ㅠㅠㅋㅋㅋㅋ큐ㅠㅠㅠ If you search around, you probably ran into a lot of trolls too, not just fans like us, and I’m worried you might’ve gotten hurt by sharp words that pass by… If you happen to get your phone back from the manager again and, by sheer chance, see this post, I want to tell you that you don’t have to try hard to leave comments.
Of course it would be so nice if you leave comments!! But East’s fan cafe has over a million members, and realistically you can’t leave comments for all these people.
If goodwill keeps going, there will also be more people who mistake it for a right. It’s something you started because it was fun, but at some point it might start feeling like a burden too…
And if you reduce the comments, there might be people who point fingers and say you’ve become neglectful. Even if you’re still the same Gi Cheonghyeon and still love us the same.
Ah ㅠㅠ My message got too long, anyway… I wrote this because I hope you won’t feel burdened! I mean it. And Cheonghyeon, you were so cute and so good today ㅠㅠ The first reality was so gentle and warm, I loved it.
I hope today is a day where everyone is kind to you too.
I love you!!!
This post had been written only an hour ago, but it had the most comments. Most of the comments were things like, [Let’s boost this so Cheonghyeon can see it], [You = me… I hope Cheonghyeon doesn’t feel burdened ㅠㅠ].
His embarrassment faded for a moment, and seeing people saying the same things as Changsik made Cheonghyeon’s heart ache warmly.
In the end, both Changsik and the fans had spoken and acted for his sake.
Unlike East, the fans, seeing him just beginning to gain popularity and not knowing what to do, were throwing advice at him like they would to a rookie boy idol, and Changsik had even confiscated his phone out of worry for the Cheonghyeon who had lost all his memories.
Both of them were worried he would not adapt to this popularity that had flared up like a wildfire, or that he might get hurt by the sharp words of antis.
Cheonghyeon read a few more posts after that. They were all good things. Just as he was getting drowsy and sleep began to pour down over him, he saw a new post from a familiar nickname.
‘Hyeonbaragi?!’
Sleep fled in an instant, and Cheonghyeon clicked into the post with trembling hands.
to. Gi Cheonghyeon
Cheonghyeon, how was your day today?
I watched today’s broadcast. It was really enjoyable.
Since it’s past twelve, should I call it yesterday’s broadcast?
The braised ribs you made yourself, and the white rice, both looked so delicious.
I’m looking forward to the next broadcast too. I missed the live airing today, but next week I’ll definitely watch it live.
p.s. You not being able to take your eyes off the phone was so cute too. lol I replayed that part several times 🙂 You’re like a cat.
Cheonghyeon screamed inwardly as he read Seoan’s post script.
No matter if he did it out of worry, ah, seriously! Hyung, I’m not a kid!
Thinking about what the people who loved him had written, Cheonghyeon soon let the strength drain from his body and fell asleep deeply.
With his cheeks slightly flushed and the corners of his mouth subtly lifted, you could guess at Cheonghyeon’s happy feelings. It was a cozy night.
As Cheonghyeon sank into deep sleep, that familiar sensation he had felt before drifted over him again.
Air that pressed down on a person, this silence.
It was the imperial palace.
It felt as if he was in the imperial palace.
It was a place he had always thought was tiresome, but now that he had left, was he dreaming of it because he missed it?
That was the Ivory palace where he had lived.
Even though it was a dream, his consciousness gradually blurred
He wanted to see the Ivory palace more, but heavy eyelids got in the way.
Huh, someone is coming out of palace right now… who is it…?
In the end, without being able to see their face, Cheonghyeon closed his eyes, and as his consciousness sank, he let his body yield to sleep.
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