Bamboo Forest Manager

59 – Festival

“Three orders of pork and two orders of tuna rice balls!”

Choi Iseo placed the order towards the kitchen. Upon hearing her words, I immediately took out the marinated meat and poured it into the frying pan.

The already well-seasoned frying pan quickly started cooking the meat, and the female student assisting me beside me began diligently slicing the tofu.

Our bar had gained a reputation as a popular pork stir-fry restaurant, and the pork stir-fry was selling like hotcakes.

That’s why Sunbae Juhi was assigned as my assistant. Originally, she was in charge of making tuna rice balls, but she said there didn’t seem to be a need for many there, so she was pulled over to this side.

At first, she pursed her lips and didn’t want to mix with me or talk.

But as I calmly gave her instructions while working busily, her discomfort towards me seemed to ease a bit.

“Now you do well.”

“Really?”

At first, she couldn’t evenly slice the tofu, so I showed her some tips, and now she’s doing it well.

When I praised her, the girl chuckled and confidently placed the tofu next to the pork.

Three plates were quickly prepared.

I handed them over to the servers who came to pick up the food.

One for Seo Yerin.

One for Han Kang.

One for Choi Iseo.

After quickly finishing, I stretched and sneaked a glance at the time. It was already 7 p.m.

I heard that the invited singer’s performance would start at 8 p.m. and go on until 11 p.m.

“Do you know who the invited singer was today?”

As the girl prepared the marinade for the next dish, she effortlessly answered the question.

“It was Hi today.”

Hi?

I frowned, wondering what kind of name that was, but she asked with surprised eyes.

“You don’t know Hi? They’re a famous rapper.”

“Hi is the rapper’s name? Then what about Bye?”

“No fun.”

“Ahem, get the tofu ready.”

Feeling perplexed, I spoke and the girl found it amusing as she let out a light laugh and immediately began tearing apart a large block of tofu.

At that moment.

“Hyuna! Where did you put the can opener earlier?”

One of the girls who had been diligently making tuna rice balls approached us.

By the way, the girl next to her was named Hyuna.

Until just now, I had felt sorry for Hyuna as she had been rejected by the tuna rice ball team, but now she seemed to have been accepted again and cheerfully informed us.

“Oh? We borrowed that from a different department, so we took it over there.”

“W-what?! I-I need that to open the cans!”

“Weren’t you the one who opened them all earlier?!”

The girls were at a loss, holding a 1.8kg can of tuna. Unlike the cans sold in stores, the cans used in businesses didn’t have openers attached, resulting in this disaster.

Although there were indentations and holes poked with chopsticks or knives, they couldn’t completely open it.

“Bring it here.”

Since there were no orders for the pork yet, I immediately reached out my hand, and the girls reluctantly handed me the can of tuna with subtle expressions.

“Give me a knife.”

I received the knife I was using to slice the tofu and pressed the tip against the edge of the can, then struck it with the palm of my hand.

Cook!

The knife pierced and entered the can lid.

Reminiscent of a hammer hitting a nail.

I pulled out the knife and repeated the process on the side next to it.

When it was about halfway open, I effortlessly lifted the lid with the knife.

“There you go. You, clean the knife.”

They handed each other the tuna can and the knife, and everyone took them hesitantly without saying thank you.

It seemed like there was something to say…

“I have an order! What are you doing with the tuna kimbap? It’s delayed!”

The person holding the tuna can was taken aback by Joohee’s sharp remark, who was in charge of the scrambled eggs.

“Where did you learn that?”

From Noble mtl dot com

“Hey, put the knife down and talk!”

“Oh… sorry.”

Hyuna approached quietly.

She told him to put down the knife with a gesture and answered.

“When I first started living alone, I thought it would be nice to have a lot of spam and tuna cans, so I bought a few of those.”

“…Did you eat it by yourself?”

“With my girlfriend.”

“Oh.”

Hyuna’s expression trembled slightly as if she knew Oh Yoonji, who was in the same major and took a leave of absence.

It seemed like she had touched a sensitive topic.

“Well, anyway, at that time, I didn’t have a can opener, so I looked it up on YouTube and learned.”

“I see.”

Hyuna nodded as if she understood. Without realizing it, my body swayed backward due to the weight I felt behind my knee.

“Oops!”

I quickly corrected my posture and turned around, and suddenly Seoyerin, who had come closer, smiled as usual and said,

“Two servings of pork.”

“What were you just doing?”

“Huh? What?”

Pretending not to know?

I made an exasperated expression, but Seoyerin just walked away, and I sighed and took out the prepared meat.

The people in the kitchen’s gaze was focused on me. It must be because of the scream I let out earlier.

“Oh, Miss Seoyerin.”

I started stir-frying the pork while trying to hide my slightly flushed face from embarrassment and the heat of the frying pan.

Then, Hyuna, who was standing next to me, looked at me with a playful expression and asked.

“What was that just now? Yerin was cracking up.”

“Are you kidding? I’m a sidekick.”

“So you were close with Yerin. I heard all sorts of rumors spreading, and I thought you two were on bad terms.”

“Well, rumors are just rumors.”

I had been surrounded by various rumors along with Seo Yerin. Eventually, it was revealed that all of them were false.

“Cut the tofu. Serve it right away.”

Hyuna cuts the tofu and places it on the next plate. I put the sliced pork on the table next to her.

If I leave it like this, she’ll take it by herself.

I thought it might be another short break time, but then I heard singing from the outdoor stage.

I heard that there were students participating in singing among the students. It’s probably that.

They also said that some people were going out for promoting their department or club booths.

“We have someone going out too.”

Hyuna whispers a word, realizing that I’m focused on the flowing music.

“Huh? Really? Who?”

“Yeo Seo, Yerin, and Hyunho senior from Han River.”

“…What kind of combination is that?”

The four of them going on stage?

“Originally, only Hyunho and Han River senior applied to go out, but they decided to go out together to promote the bar.”

“Are those kids good at singing?”

“Yeo Seo is pretty good. Well, it’s not really important since they’re not going out because of their singing skills, but just for promotional purposes. And, also…”

Swiftly.

I smirk, waving my hand in front of my face.

“All four of them have good looks.”

“Well, that’s true.”

Thanks to Seo Yerin and Han River senior going out for promotion earlier, that’s why there are so many people here now.

And also, Choi Iseo wrote on a disposable plate in front of the booth that you shouldn’t ask for her number since the hunting was so intense.

“Um, excuse me.”

At that moment, someone from the tuna rice ball team came to me with a tuna rice ball on a disposable plate.

“Oh, thanks for earlier.”

“Enjoy this while you’re at it.”

Can I just eat this without any problem?

I quickly glanced at Senior Juhee, but she just smiled and pretended not to see me.

“As expected, Ju Jaejang.”

She’s so adaptable. If that person were a man, I would have asked them to join the military together.

“Should I try?”

I’ll probably get slapped if I do.

“The place is full right now, so there’s nothing to order except for drinks. Let’s eat quickly.”

The guys kept babbling about eating tuna kimbap while being hypocritical. I watched them for a while and started frying pork.

“Let’s eat it together.”

In the end, it was completed – pork and tuna kimbap.

Seeing everyone gathering in the kitchen to eat, I stepped outside the tent.

I could see a stage in the distance with a cold breeze. It was annoying, but it wasn’t bad to watch.

For some reason, naturally, people gathered around me and started using chopsticks as I held up the dish.

Looking back at the reactions when I first started working at the bar, it seems that the evaluation of me has changed a bit.

Because it’s a bit more relaxed inside, other people also came out and gathered around me.

“I made this. It melts in your mouth, right?”

“Ew?! It tastes burnt, doesn’t it?”

“Can we eat this together like this?”

“Well, why not? We came here to work. We came here to enjoy the festival.”

They gathered one by one and talked, and in between them, I was there.

Although I’m not having a separate conversation with anyone, just watching men and women laughing and chatting nearby surprisingly didn’t make me feel bad.

Night of the festival.

It could be considered a special time for the kitchen members of the bar.

“Try this.”

At that moment, Senior Juhee came to my side. There was a cheese and egg omelette on the plate, and it seemed like she made it herself.

“Mmm! The cheese and egg come together…!”

“Stop with the unnecessary words and just eat.”

Senior Juhee blocked me from speaking in a hypocritical manner. But seeing her smile while talking, it didn’t make me feel bad.

Just then, the four people in charge of the face of our bar hurriedly went towards the stage.

It was Seoyerin and Choi Iseo, who were going to sing the song that Hyuna told us about, and An Hyunho and Hangan senior.

“Oh, they’re going!”

“Fighting!”

“English majors, come back after conquering the English language!”

“Learning, learning! Absolutely beautiful and cool!”

The four of them leave, waving their hands, fueled by the cheers of the English major students.

Definitely.

They felt a sense of belonging that they had never felt before.

In a strange way, their emotions were heightened, as if they were together.

But they knew that once the festival was over, they would return to their original state.

Because of that.

“It’s a festival.”

They could only enjoy this time that was not too bad and would never come again.