Putting Aside Nationalistic Bias, It’s Really Delicious

19 – Soy Sauce Rice Eaten in the Studio on a Day Off

Camilla Wagon, the current owner of Golden Wagon, has been a consistently successful person since she officially took charge.

At the young age of 15, she was evaluated to have more skill than her father, who laid the foundation for the current Golden Wagon.

She began running Golden Wagon in earnest before becoming an adult, recruiting talents like Kobi, and climbing to her current position.

She had always been successful, and failure was unheard of from her.

Kobi, who saw Camilla up close, understood her.

Naturally, he must have thought Lucas would accept her proposal.

Perhaps she was the one in this empire who could offer more money than the emperor himself.

But Kobi knew.

That Lucas would reject her proposal.

In leaving the Princess’s Knights, Lucas had practically refused a position in the Royal Knights.

At present, Koby believed that among the royal children, Princess Diana was the most likely candidate for the next emperor.

So, he left Diana’s knights?

That was as good as abandoning the position in the top knights who would escort the next emperor.

Koby thought that money was not a tempting condition for a knight like Lucas.

Camilla seemed to think differently, though.

“What did he say when he refused?”

“If you want to eat his cooking so badly, he said the winery owner should come to him directly.”

“He told me to come to him directly?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm~, I see.”

Koby pretended to be calm, but he saw the corners of Camilla’s mouth slowly rising.

“He can’t be honest. He wants to see my face and talk to me directly? Hahaha.”

Koby briefly considered telling Camilla the truth as she tried to suppress her laughter.

Even if the winery owner went personally, hiring Lucas as Camilla’s personal chef would be impossible.

His determination to open his own restaurant was that strong.

But she also needed to experience failure once.

‘Failure makes people stronger.’

So, Koby kept his mouth shut.

If they couldn’t scout Lucas, they wouldn’t lose too much money.

“Koby, do you know? After I tasted that man’s cooking, all the food in the capital lost its flavor.”

“I feel the same way.”

“That’s right. My life changed after eating something called doenjang-jjigae.”

Was it because the taste came to mind just by imagination?

Camilla recalled the taste as she spoke.

“The steak that was supposedly made by a top chef felt like chewing on a box made of paper, and the dishes that were allegedly made with high-quality ingredients tasted like they were hastily mixed together with magical ingredients.”

“……”

“It’s been several months since I’ve been able to taste that flavor, so that man should take responsibility for making me like this, shouldn’t he?”

Kobi couldn’t dare to respond.

He felt that if he answered incorrectly, the responsibility for failure would come back to him.

As if understanding his feelings, Camilla laughed coldly.

“I suppose I’ll have to go and persuade him myself. To become my exclusive chef.”

Camilla finished speaking and flicked the abacus, humming a tune.

“Heh heh~”

Suddenly, her appetite piqued.

She wanted to quickly find him and eat the food he prepared for her.

A doenjang stew, boiling and bubbling with meat called ‘chadolbagi’.

***

Sometimes there are those days.

Days when you don’t want to do anything.

Days when you don’t want to go to work, or get up from your seat.

Days when you just want to lie down on the floor, cover yourself with a blanket, and watch videos on your smartphone.

“Ah, I don’t want to work.”

Today is exactly one of those days.

“I don’t even want to get up.”

But there’s no smartphone in his hand.

Ah, right. This isn’t Korea.

Damn it.

He wants to mindlessly surf the web and watch videos with a smartphone in his hand.

It has been a hectic two weeks since the opening of the Knights’ restaurant.

It was incredibly busy, nonstop.

More people visited the store than I had anticipated.

There was no distinction between lunch and dinner.

I could confidently say that I didn’t have a moment to rest.

People from the local estate, including the knights and soldiers, filled up their lunchtime here.

I knew they had a chef within the castle, but these people chose not to eat the chef’s meals.

And that wasn’t all.

Since last week, Michelle, who had been visiting our store, came every other day before the opening hours to order fish dishes.

How she knew I caught fish that day, I couldn’t tell, but she showed up like a ghost on the days I caught fish.

-“Can I taste the mackerel braised again today?”

-“So this is grilled Spanish mackerel. The texture is similar to that of mackerel, but the taste is subtly different.”

-“Can I have the fried dish from last time as well……?”

As busy evenings passed, it was already time to source ingredients.

-“Isn’t the order amount increasing daily? At this rate, our chicken farm and the ranch will not be able to handle the supply.”

The local farmers, who run the POG ranch and the chicken farm, said with a smile.

Of course, the same went for other farmers.

-“We live a prosperous life thanks to Sir Lucas. Haha! Thank you for purchasing our products at a good price.”

Organizing and preparing the ingredients ordered, the night quickly approached.

And on top of that were the customers who came to drink at night.

Days continued like this, busier than when I was with the knights.

“Today, I really don’t want to do anything.”

I murmured, lying on the floor and staring at the ceiling.

It was past 10 a.m., but I hadn’t even washed myself, scratching my bed head.

Why could I be so carefree?

Today was one of the two days off I had each month.

Once every two weeks, I vowed to take a day for recharging.

It was a promise I made to myself when I opened my store.

No matter how well my business was doing, I intended to keep this promise.

Running without a break just because business is good can lead to accidents.

Or maybe I’d burn out somewhere.

So, it’s important to take a break and refuel, like I’m doing right now.

Not doing anything, just lying on my back and staring at the ceiling.

Gurgle!

My stomach cried out urgently, demanding food.

“I have to eat even if it’s troublesome. Yeah.”

I need to eat, but…

“Why is it so bothersome?”

I rolled over, struggling to get up.

“Argh!”

My whole body creaked noisily.

After stretching fully, I finally headed towards the kitchen.

My house was located not too far from the restaurant, in a place with a nice view.

It was in a safe area, within my domain, where there was no risk of being exposed to external enemies.

In Korean terms, would it be like a royal area in a rural town?

I opened the mana refrigerator I had set up in my house.

In contrast to the flashy and large one in the restaurant, this one was just slightly taller than me.

It was natural for the one at home to be smaller than the one used at the restaurant.

I knew that, but still.

Every time I used it, I felt a little aggrieved.

I should have ordered a slightly bigger refrigerator.

There were several expensive refrigerators in the restaurant, but only one in the house.

“It feels so unfair.”

I grumbled and opened the refrigerator.

“Huh?”

Unlike the restaurant’s refrigerator, which was full of various ingredients, the home refrigerator was completely empty.

All there was were a few cocoa beans, a small container of kimchi, and the leftover green onions that had been cut and sealed at the restaurant.

As if to say there was no reason to feel wronged even with a small refrigerator, it seemed like the refrigerator was protesting.

“Is this it?”

Really?

I had been too busy to take care of my own house.

Most of my meals were eaten at the store, using the ingredients I had there to cook for myself.

So it was natural that there were no ingredients at home.

“But I don’t want to go to the restaurant.”

Today, I just wanted to rest at home and do nothing.

“Alright. Let’s make something with what we have.”

I don’t want to go to the store just because there are no ingredients.

Today is my precious day off once every two weeks.

After washing the rice and putting it in the pot to cook, I sat blankly and waited until it was done.

As I watched the rice cook, I thought about my options.

‘Should I stir-fry the eggs and rice to make golden fried rice? Or should I just fry the eggs and mix them with rice and soy sauce to make soy sauce egg rice?’

The golden fried rice would probably taste better, but I thought about the amount of dishes I’d have to clean whether I stir-fried it or not.

‘When I think about the size of the frying pan and the rice grains popping while stir-frying…’

Okay.

I decided.

Today’s breakfast menu.

‘Let’s make soy sauce fried rice with egg.’

The oldest friend of a single-living person: soy sauce fried rice with egg.

A magical dish that’s complete just by mixing soft-boiled fried eggs with soy sauce and sesame oil.

“Ah, the rice is ready.”

When the rice was almost cooked, I put the frying pan on the flare range.

Even with the rice cooker and frying pan on the flare range, there are still two ranges left.

‘Is this really meant for one person?’

It couldn’t be helped, because when designing this house, the kitchen was the part that I put the most effort into.

The kitchen, in the shape of aㄷ, boasted a sink, four flare ranges, an oven, and an island dining table, making it spacious enough for six people to dine together with room to spare.

And in the drawers, I had stored all sorts of seasonings.

It is safe to say that most of what you would find in a restaurant was already here.

The kitchen was as big as the living room.

How foolish I was.

That’s right. I regret my past arrogance.

What’s the point of having such a big kitchen?

It’s too much of a hassle to use.

This disaster was brought on by my misguided determination to give my all when cooking at home.

“Well, since I have it, I might as well use it.”

I grumbled and took out two Coco-Island eggs and a green onion.

Before cracking the eggs, I took out half of the neatly trimmed white part of the green onion and chopped it thinly.

Sizzling!

I poured oil into the frying pan.

The key is to maintain a 1:1 ratio of sesame oil and cooking oil.

When you cook sesame oil with eggs, the savory taste is deeper than when you eat them plain.

Maybe it’s because the oil is cooked once more.

I poured a spoonful of each oil and heated it on low heat.

I put thinly sliced green onions on the frying pan as it began to heat.

Sizzling.

The key is to infuse the oil with enough green onion scent.

It will add a subtle umami flavor even without special seasoning.

Garlic would add a deeper flavor, but there was no garlic in the fridge at the moment.

When the green onion smell rose from the gently cooking oil, I cracked two eggs onto it.

The eggs nestled in between the cooking green onions.

Sizzling.

The transparent egg whites turned white as they cooked and bubbled in the oil.

The oil bubbles popped! Popped! AND fried the egg whites.

It’s important to cook them like frying because of the generous amount of oil.

This way, the umami flavor comes alive a little more than regular egg rice.

The texture changes ever so slightly.

I added soy sauce to the eggs and green onions cooking on the oil.

Just two spoons.

It was a suitable amount for seasoning.

Gently stirring the soy sauce, eggs, and cooked green onions on low heat would also be nice, according to your preference.

“Egg rice should always be soft-boiled.”

The fresher the egg, the more special this soft-boiled taste becomes.

I liked to cook them until the yolk flows out and coats the rice when pressed with a spoon.

If the eggs aren’t fresh, it’s better to eat them fully cooked, but otherwise, soft-boiled is the best.

Sizzling.

Having confirmed that the egg whites were all cooked by the heat of the frying pan, I turned off the heat and opened the rice cooker.

Steam rose from the freshly cooked rice.

Feeling the hot steam of the freshly cooked rice, I scooped a large serving of rice into a bowl.

“Perfect, sticky rice.”

The rice was just right – not too mushy nor too dry.

After scooping the rice into the bowl, I added the completed soy sauce fried egg.

“Nice, with the egg and soy sauce oil.”

The green onions, filled with the brown soy sauce and oil, and the perfectly-cooked egg whites, with the yolk still soft, were placed on top of the steaming rice.

The reason I didn’t mix the eggs with the soy sauce was thanks to these green onions.

The onions soaked up the oil and soy sauce, providing a rich, flavorful seasoning.

“This will be delicious.”

When I’m feeling lazy, it’s soy sauce and egg rice.

It’s simple, easy, and doesn’t require many dishes to wash.

If there’s no hot rice and only cold rice, a quick stir-fry will still make it a perfectly delicious dish.

I popped the soft yolk.

The thickly flowing yolk mixed with the brown soy sauce and green onion oil.

The yolk and soy sauce onion oil painted the white rice in their respective colors, giving off a pleasant aroma.

“Mmm~.”

It’s this smell.

This fragrance.

That’s why I eat soy sauce egg rice.

“I need some kimchi too.”

After mixing everything, I placed the previously prepared kimchi on top of the rice mixed with egg and soy sauce.

It’s a beautiful color.

A harmony of red and light brown.

Scoop up as much as possible with a spoon and take a bite.

“Mmm.”

She chewed while her cheeks bulged.

The cool kimchi and the salty, savory soy sauce egg rice created a great synergy.

She mixed it enough with a spoon and took another bite.

Chewing sound.

And then a bite of kimchi with chopsticks.

Crunch!

This must be heaven.

Isn’t this a super simple recipe for single dwellers that can be made in less than 5 minutes if the rice is prepared in advance?

“It’s delicious.”

It was tasty even without any special ingredients.

She felt satisfied with having an easy meal.

The time taken to eat was faster than the time spent on cooking.

In less than 5 minutes, she finished the soy sauce egg rice that filled the bowl.

“The portion is a bit small, though…”

Should she eat one more bowl? There were some eggs left.

She looked at the frying pan for a moment.

“Owner! Owwwwner!!!”

Riana’s voice was heard from outside.

Why did that girl come all the way to the house?

“We need your help, owner!”

“It’s my day off, what’s the matter? I’m not doing business today.”

“It’s not about the restaurant. They say a wild bull appeared on the nearby Conwell Mountain. Right now, Sir Haimer and the Knights with the soldiers are heading to Conwell Mountain with the young master!”

A wild bull?

There was only one creature called a Touro.

A wild bull.

The bull is coming?

Tturuuru.

Wild ingredients have appeared.