Chapter 178: Country Diner (4)
Rumors that the servers and cooks were all handsome had also probably spread, apart from the ones that the food was good. Far more customers had visited the diner on their second day of service compared to the first, and the two drunkards from yesterday were among them.
Kang Ra-Eun smiled as soon as she saw them.
“You’re back!”
“We came to see you, young lady.”
The two men gave it to her straight without beating around the bush. They did not reek of alcohol, so they probably had not been drinking during the day unlike yesterday.
“There’s that too, but we felt sorry going on a temper tantrum here yesterday.”
“You came back because you were bothered by that?” Ra-Eun asked.
“Pretty much.”
They had been a nuisance, so they had come to at least help with the diner’s sales as a form of apology.
“The spicy fish stew we had yesterday was delicious. That wasn’t something on the menu, was it?”
Ra-Eun answered the man while showing him the menu, “Yes, as you can see.”
“Could we have that today as well?”
They had not been able to get yesterday’s spicy fish stew out of their heads and taste buds.
“Why not? We’ll offer it as a special service for our regulars,” Ra-Eun stated.
“We’re regulars when we’ve only come twice?”
“We’re only gonna be here for three days. Wouldn’t you say you’re regulars when you’ve come on the two days that we've been in service?”
The two men laughed. “I can’t argue with that!”
“You’re good with your words, young lady! Are you a show host or something?”
They still did not seem to know who Ra-Eun was. She answered them with a smile, “Yes, you could say that.”
There was a large difference between an actress and a show host, but they were both celebrities. She let it be since it was close enough.
***
Ra-Eun could feel that she was less nervous and fatigued after getting used to working at the diner. Managing a business usually led to extreme stress since it was difficult to deal with people. However, the Country Diner shoot had not been that difficult because there had not been a single customer that had directly caused any trouble.
‘The fact that we’ve only been in business for two days probably plays a part in that, but the cameras also help.’
No matter how thoughtless someone was, they wouldn’t make any trouble while being filmed unless they wanted the entire country to see their terrible nature. The greatest factor that allowed the cast to run this diner without getting stressed out was that this was a show. The village residents wouldn’t want their village’s image to be tarnished; rather, the cast members were given many gifts from the residents as thanks for opening such an amazing diner in their village.
“Where should we put this, Ra-Eun?” Je-Woon asked as he brought a large cardboard box.
It looked heavy from just a glance.
“What is it?” Ra-Eun asked in return.
“A granny who lives down the street brought us some sweet potatoes for us to have.”
“Oh, the one who recently got that perm? That’s a lot.”
“It sure is. What should we do with all this?”
They would be going back to Seoul after finishing their morning service tomorrow. The cast members pondered over what to do with this large box of sweet potatoes in less than 24 hours.
Han-Seok suggested, “Why don’t we make sweet potato fries and give them to the customers as a snack? If we don’t get through it all after that, then we can just eat the rest or share it with the staff members.”
“That’s a great idea,” Ra-Eun replied.
She liked Han-Seok’s idea very much. They still had time left on their break, so she and Han-Seok went back into the kitchen to prepare the sweet potatoes. Je-Woon and Tae-Chan also helped out. Although they were nowhere near as good of cooks as Ra-Eun and Han-Seok, they could at least prepare ingredients.
Kitchen tools needed to be just as big to cook a large amount of food.
“A frying pan is a bit too small, so let’s flip a cauldron lid upside down, pour some oil on it and fry the sweet potatoes there,” Ra-Eun suggested.
“What should we do for heat?”
“We can chop some firewood and make a fire.”
The time had come for the men to show off their strength. They walked out the door leading outside, not the kitchen door connected to the diner. They were now out back of the diner, where there were blocks of wood stacked in a corner.
“Hup!” Tae-Chan placed a block of wood on top of a tree stump and held up the ax. “I’ll go first.”
He raised the ax over his head, surprising Ra-Eun.
‘He looks pretty scrawny, but I guess he has some strength.’
It was obvious if one thought about it; a male idol needed a certain level of physical capacity to fiercely dance on stage without rest. However, that did not mean he would be good at splitting firewood. His ax landed next to the wood block.
Han-Seok and Je-Woon laughed.
“You’ve gotta aim properly, Tae-Chan.”
“You’ll chop the tree stump at that rate.”
Their teasing hurt his pride, driving him to try again.
“This time, for sure...!”
Unlike his first attempt, the edge of the ax landed straight in the middle of the wood block. However, it had only gotten stuck; the block was perfectly fine.
“This block is too hard,” he protested.
“Stop making excuses and step aside. I’ll split it for you,” Je-Woon remarked as he rolled up his T-shirt sleeves, making it sleeveless. The camera lens perfectly captured his arm muscles.
“Hup!”
Crack!
He split the wood block that had been stuck on the ax. The staff members that had been watching from the sidelines expressed their amazement at the perfectly split firewood. As expected of Je-Woon. However, Tae-Chan was full of complaints.
“You just finished off what I had mostly done, hyung.”
“Fine, man. I’ll split a brand new one.”
Je-Woon placed a brand new wood block on the tree stump and swung down the ax as hard as he could.
Thunk!
However, it only brushed past the corner of the block. He had done practically the same thing as Tae-Chan. As if he had been waiting for it, Tae-Chan teased him.
“See, hyung! You’re no different from me!”
“Th-That’s weird. There’s no way...”
He also tried again. He had gotten the hang of it and the ax landed straight in the middle of the block, but the same thing happened; the ax just got stuck on the block. Han-Seok, the last of the boys, also challenged it, but he did not seem to have as much of a knack for it as the other two. He continued to miss the wood block. If this had been baseball, he would have struck out in just three swings.
“I’ll give it a shot.”
Just then, Ra-Eun stepped up.
Je-Woon asked with his head tilted in confusion, “Are you sure? Just the ax itself is quite heavy.”
“I’ll try lifting it.”
Around the initial days of Ra-Eun’s change in gender, she had struggled to adapt to her massively reduced strength. A woman could not surpass a man in strength, just based on their body structure. No matter how hard Ra-Eun tried, she would eventually reach a wall that she could never overcome. However, she did not fuss over it. Even if she had become a woman, there were many different ways to stand out.
Like Je-Woon had mentioned, just the ax itself was extremely heavy for her.
‘There’s no need to raise it up high.’
Technique was far more important than strength. She placed the wood block on the tree stump and swung down the ax directly on the center of the block. It did not stop there.
Crack—!
One shot, one kill. Ra-Eun had pulled off what the three male cast members had not been able to do.
“H-How did you...”
They were too shocked to finish their sentences. They knew very well how much harder it was than it looked because they had tried it for themselves, which made her achievement even more shocking. Ra-Eun gave the members a few tips as if it had been nothing special.
“Wood is best cut along the grain. That’s why I placed the block so that the ax would land parallel to the lines on the block. If you do that, you can split it easily without using much strength.”
“Oh... Really?”
“Yes. And the angle and accuracy at which you lift and swing down the ax is important. Strength isn’t everything for splitting wood.”
Ra-Eun’s hard-hitting facts beat up the male cast members.
“I’ll just take care of splitting the firewood,” she stated.
Ra-Eun continued on the roll and split more firewood. The exclusive cameramen for the other members were filming Ra-Eun before they had realized it. Tae-Chan couldn’t help but be impressed as he stared at Ra-Eun.
“What can’t Ra-Eun do, exactly?”
“You’re telling me.”
They had a feeling that Ra-Eun could take care of everything even if they weren’t here.
***
This was the last night that they would spend in the small countryside village in Haenam. Ra-Eun and the other cast members headed back to the lodge after sending off the last customer.
Han-Seok laughed awkwardly as he dragged his exhausted body back to the lodge. “Thank God the lodge is close to the diner.”
The others agreed wholeheartedly. They were able to go to the lodge and rest as soon as they closed the diner thanks to the short distance. However, they weren’t able to go to bed right away since that wouldn’t make the program very interesting.
Je-Woon suggested they make a campfire.
“Ra-Eun splitted a ton of firewood for us, so let’s chat while sitting by the fire. How does that sound?”
“That’s not a bad idea.”
“Let’s do it.”
It would be too wasteful to spend the night in silence. They decided to meet back at the courtyard after changing into comfortable clothes. Han-Seok arrived first, and then Ra-Eun. She sat down while drying off her hair with a towel.
Han-Seok asked, “Did you take a shower?”
“Yes. I was feeling uncomfortable since I sweat a lot today, so I took a shower first.”
“Yeah, that sounds about right.”
Ra-Eun had done a lot today. She worked in the kitchen, split firewood, and had to come out to the floor despite not being a server because many customers had come to the diner to see her. Everyone liked her, whether they were men or women. As the most popular employee of the diner, she had been the busiest out of the four.
“I don’t think the three of us combined would have as much screen time as you, Ra-Eun,” Han-Seok remarked in envy and self-mockery.
Like he had mentioned, Ra-Eun had shone the brightest. However, Ra-Eun shook her head in disagreement.
“Didn’t you also do your best, sunbae? Don’t beat yourself up too much.”
Not only was she capable, she was also humble. Han-Seok had once again come to realize why she was so praised by the public.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel