She put the boiling pot of doenjang soup on the table. She also put the tofu which was being braised in a gochujang-based sauce onto a plate. Rice made from soaked rice as well as hand-made food. Cooking had become a luxury that she could only do when she had the time. She took a photo of the well-made food on the table and sent it to her mother. She didn’t get a reply back as it seemed that her mother was still working.

She put on a youtube video on her laptop and picked up her spoon. The woman on the monitor was eating fried chicken with a happy face. Foods made by frying in oil started a process inside her head. She tasted them in her imagination before eating the rice and doenjang soup. The rice was half-cooked and the soup was bland. The price of challenging cooking when she was just a beginner was quite big. She had no choice but to put the rice in the microwave and cook a fried egg. She wanted to put some salt or soy sauce into the doenjang soup, but from her experience, adding something would always make the outcome worse. She had to prevent the catastrophe of the edible becoming inedible.

She put the fried egg on top of the rice that had become caked all over and put some sesame seeds and...