Making Pepero

Cooking.

Although perceptions have changed a bit these days, “cooking” is usually treated as a female domain in traditional gender roles.

Additionally, women who are good at cooking are said to have high “femininity”.

In that sense, being good at cooking was a great charm point.

Didn’t every man imagine it?

Waking up in the morning to bubbling soybean paste soup, warm white rice, and neatly arranged side dishes.

And the sight of a wife coming to wake me up wearing an apron.

Of course, reality would be chaotic… Anyway, viewers’ expectations for today’s broadcast were sky-high.

[Cooking this time too? What on earth can’t Hani do? (+772)]

[Eating Hani’s handmade Pepero vs. Dining at a high-end restaurant (+761)]

[How to be selected among 50 people for Hani’s Pepero event? (+746)]

[Hani’s Pepero vs Hyena’s Pepero (+722)]

The gallery’s reaction is also considerable.

Expectations for my first cooking broadcast.

This was soon proven by the number of viewers when the live broadcast started at 3 PM.

-Host, open the door quickly!

-Noona, please Pepero! If I don’t win Pepero today, I’m going straight to check the Han River water temperature!

-If Hani is good at cooking too, I think I can fully ‘acknowledge’ her as my bride candidate. I’ll check thoroughly today.

-Please write your delusions in your diary, Mr. Room-corner Unemployed.

-Wow, it’s crowded with people today. If 50 people are chosen, what’s the competition ratio?

The viewer count has exceeded 2,000 even before turning on the screen.

The continuously increasing viewer count feels ominous.

“Phew…”

I took a light deep breath before turning on the broadcast screen.

Despite working so hard recently, I was feeling a bit depressed because the response on YouTube wasn’t as good as I thought.

The K-pop cover videos Yoonjae suggested were doing the basics, but they weren’t showing the explosive power of Rolling.

‘Is luck really only once? Right, don’t obsess over luck gained by chance, compete with effort. You can do it.’

I raise my tension once again while steeling my resolve.

It’s broadcast time now.

I have no intention of showing a deflated appearance to viewers.

“Alright everyone, nice to meet you. After finishing arduous training for 3 years on Jirisan, 3 years on Gyeryongsan, and 4 years on Geumgangsan… A woman more sincere about Pepero than anyone! Hello, I’m BJ Hani.”

-What kind of concept is this?

-It’s dizzying from the start ㅋ

-You think you can satisfy my taste with just 10 years of training?

-Why so grandiose over Pepero ㅋ Someone might think you’re preparing a 12-course royal meal.

-Just type ㄹㅇ.

“Hey, is that what you say to me who’s specially making 50 servings for you conscienceless viewers? Should I make just 10 servings!?”

-We were wrong. Bowing deeply.

-Your Majesty! We will deal with the treacherous officials, so please stop your wrath.

-Recruiting party members to crack malicious ones’ heads (1 / 4).

The change in attitude is quite artistic.

I adjust the screen and take a small step back to show my full body shot and the prepared table behind.

-ㅓㅜㅑ! What’s with the chef outfit. Totally hits my taste ㄷㄷ;;

-Cute. But where’s the hat? Isn’t the tall bread-like hat part of the set?

-Hey, do you think this is a chef cosplay broadcast ㅋ This much preparation is enough.

-But the ingredients aren’t very visible.

“Alright, I’ll zoom in to show you.”

I move the camera to show the table top.

I prepared 21cm stick biscuits and various types of chocolate chips as ingredients.

-But why is there a thermometer on the side? Is this science class?

-Don’t you know cooking is science too?

-Science is Yaseon but;;

-Kick out the legendary league addict!

“Stop fighting and listen to the explanation from now on.”

I fixed the camera on a pre-installed stand to show the table top and my hands.

I’m a bit nervous.

To be honest, I’m terrible at cooking.

All I can do is boil ramen?

And even with ramen, I sometimes make mistakes with the water amount, creating a very bland or overly reduced final product.

So I prepared hard for three days in advance.

I diligently learned how to make handmade Pepero by searching YouTube, and yesterday I even practiced secretly without turning on the broadcast.

A somewhat successful final product… Thanks to that, I could start making Pepero today with some confidence.

“First, prepare hot water. I preheated this in the kitchen. Pour that water into a large bowl and place another bowl on top. The bowl I’m talking about here isn’t the kind of ball used for sports, but the type of container used for cooking.”

-Hey, do you take us for fools? ㅋ

-I’ve lived all this time, and I’m seeing it with my own eyes now, but you’re treating us like we can’t even distinguish that.

-What’s next?

“Then the bottom of the bowl will heat up because of the hot water in the lower bowl, right? Now I’ll put the ingredients in the bowl. I prepared three types of chocolate chips today, I’ll add them in a 3:3:3 ratio and lastly add butter as 1.”

-Weren’t you going to make everything from the stick biscuits to the chocolate? Are you just combining store-bought ingredients?

-I thought Hani would harvest cocoa beans herself to make it, I’m a bit disappointed.

-The malicious ones are really crazy ㅋ

I stir the melting chocolate chips with a spoon to make them into a sticky liquid state.

Then I bring the thermometer to the bottom of the bowl to check the current state.

“From now on, I’ll do tempering.”

-What’s that?

-Isn’t it a sports term? I saw it used in sports articles like some player and some team committed tempering.

-Oh! I think I saw that too. Isn’t it about illegal pre-contact when it’s not contract season?

-Then does this mean Hani is transferring to TwitTV?

“No, stop the strange nonsense. Tempering is called optimal temperature treatment, you need to go through this process when making chocolate to make the shape look good and preserve it longer.”

-Wow… Host looks unfamiliar today.

-Intellectual atmosphere Hani;; I like it even more.

I finish the tempering process while adjusting the temperature in several stages.

Viewers were disappointed by the process that was less than expected compared to the grand explanation, but soon they start going crazy again seeing me coat the stick biscuits with liquid chocolate.

-The sight of smoothly coating that long, hard stick is ㅓㅜㅑ!

-Teacher, are you able to live a normal life?

-But honestly, seeing those pure white, delicate hands fiddling with a long stick makes my heart flutter.

-Fiddling with a long stick? ㅓㅜㅑ!

“I’m kicking out people who keep talking nonsense from now on. Stop the weird comments.”

After carefully coating the stick biscuits with liquid chocolate up to 80%, I insert them into the pre-prepared stand/drying rack to dry well.

About 10 minutes should be enough to dry properly.

I start coating the remaining stick biscuits with liquid chocolate.

“Today I’ll make 10 servings for demonstration. I’ll make the remaining 40 servings tomorrow or the day after when I’m not broadcasting and send them by courier, so keep that in mind.”

-Indeed, it would take too long to make all 50 servings on broadcast. We need to do the winner selection later too.

-Please let me be chosen! Please…

-Is it possible to make one more set for me if I donate 300,000 won?

“Not possible.”

While engaging with the chat appropriately, I coated about 10 stick biscuits with chocolate.

About 10 minutes have passed.

It’s about time for the chocolate on the first completed stick biscuit to be slightly dry.

I take it out of the drying rack and bring it to the white cloth I laid out in advance, then sprinkle chocolate cookie crunch on it.

“I’ll coat it generously with lots of love especially for you.”

-Is there only chocolate cookie? No other types?

-Oh, there are several. Do mine with milk please.

“Don’t worry, I prepared various types thinking of your preferences. I’ll make diverse kinds.”

Cookie crumbs, sliced almonds, white chocolate pen, crushed nuts, etc. I plan to make one set with 7 types.

-This is more normal than expected?

-Right. I thought there would be a chaotic kitchen or food beyond imagination.

“How could you say that about me…”

Actually, I have zero cooking skills, but I express unwarranted confidence out of a desire not to lose.

A little later, after the chocolate completely hardened, I entered the final step of packaging.

I carefully wrapped the finished products with packaging paper I bought in advance from Daiso.

“There, the first work is complete! You all see my skills, right?”

I naturally become proud of the better result than when I practiced yesterday.

-ㅋ Looking at that expression, it’s annoying.

-Honestly, I wanted to see her looking embarrassed after failing.

-There’s still a twist, right? It only looks fine, but you’ll vomit blood when you eat it or something.

-The one above has read too many comics ㅋ

After completing all the packaging, the time was approaching 5 PM.

It was worth turning on the broadcast about 2 hours earlier than usual.

At this rate, it seemed I could end the broadcast at a similar time as usual even after finishing the selection of 50 winners.

“Alright, I’ll clean up a bit. Wash my hands… then we’ll select the lucky 50 people.”

-Please, please, please!

-God, I’ll turn over a new leaf and live kindly from today. Please let me be selected.

-But how will the selection be done? Keep spinning a roulette?

-Check the broadcast station notice ㅋ It’s been up for a week, your information is slow.

I washed up lightly and cleaned the table.

I put the camera back in its original position and sat in front of the desk, seeing the viewer count slightly exceeding 2,700.

It increased quite a bit in the meantime.

Or maybe people flocked in as it’s about time for the selection, I’m not sure.

“Alright, now I’ll select the lucky 50 people. Everyone focus please!”

-Pleeeeeease!

-I’m scared. We’ll all die at this rate! Please give us Pepero!

-I’ll confess honestly. 25 years of single life. So far, the only Pepero I’ve received was from my mother. Please give me a chance!

-Just 25 years? Rookie, train more. 27 years single here. Please choose me!

“……”

An unexpectedly sad broadcast was taking place.