[You’re doing that?]
The moment Ha-je-ban realized I was going to audition for *The Killing Recipe*, he was deeply shocked.
[Aren’t you supposed to be filming a different drama? What was it again…]
[]
[Ah, right. That’s the one. I don’t know much about it because I died before it aired. Did that drama fail? Why are you doing another project instead of that one? Besides, why ?]
[Do you know this project?]
Ha-je-ban died when he was 22.
Since he died the same year *The Killing Recipe* and *A Happy World* were released to the world, there was no way he could know what happened to Jung Yoon-woo or the contents of this movie.
I realized once again that Ha-je-ban’s memories were of no help to me at all.
[I didn’t get to see the movie since I died before then. But I knew a staff member who said they were having a hard time with casting. Since the director and actors were all unknown, they said the distributor and investment weren’t coming through properly. Did you see it before you regressed, Brother?]
[Well…]
In truth, I hadn’t seen it before regressing.
Before choosing the script, I used the item [Scenario Trailer Screening Glasses] from the regressor-exclusive kit. As soon as I read the script, I was able to watch the movie *The Killing Recipe* as it had played out before my regression.
I also saw the reviews from audience members who praised it, saying they were glad they watched it.
[Brother?]
[I saw it. It was so good it made me annoyed.]
How little vision did I have back then that I didn’t even think to open this script once?
‘I wonder why I didn’t film this.’
***
“Hello, Director.”
“Our student Yeo-hoo! What brings you here? I never imagined a star would be born from our cooking academy.”
On a day when my schedule was empty, I visited the cooking academy for the first time in a long while. It was an academy I had attended consistently for three years after entering the Korea University of Arts.
As soon as the director found out I appeared in the TAM commercial, she contacted me separately to ask if she could hang a banner that said: [★Congratulations★ Academy Student Jeon ○-hoo Debuts as Commercial Model]. We were on fairly good terms.
“But aren’t you busy? I was surprised when you suddenly asked if there were any empty classes.”
“There’s a movie I’m auditioning for where I need to cook.”
I made a cutting motion in the air and laughed.
“I felt like cooking properly for the first time in a while.”
“Oh, really? That’s great. You’re a good cook. Yeo-hoo… if possible, could you take off your glasses during class?”
“Pardon?”
She pointed to the non-prescription horn-rimmed glasses I often wore whenever I came to the academy.
“Since you’re here, you should help promote our academy with your face.”
“Teacher…”
“It’s free! I’ll let you take the class for free!”
***
“Sigh.”
“It’s okay. I’m telling you, once we cast a good actor, investors will come pouring in.”
A man in a checkered shirt with a black backpack clenched his fists to comfort a woman who was letting out a deep sigh.
With a miserable expression, she sat near a fountain and muttered, “A good actor… all the good actors are refusing to appear in our movie.”
“T-that’s because everyone’s schedules are full! Let’s stay strong and look into other people.”
“Sigh. There aren’t any other alternatives left now.”
The saying that movie production starts with casting is truly not wrong.
“Should I just bury it?”
“What?! You can’t do that!”
The young man jumped up from his seat at her words.
“As someone who has read the whole thing, it’s nonsense to give up like this! Besides, I participated as an assistant writer. Burying it like this is really not right, Senior.”
“Still…”
“If nothing else works, we can just pick complete rookies. O-of course, investment or box office success might be difficult, but if you’ve drawn your sword, you have to at least cut something!! Then you’ll be able to make the next project you want!”
“That’s true, but…”
The woman lowered her head and pressed her temples.
So Si-in, the director of *The Killing Recipe*, was conflicted. Naturally, she also wanted to release this work to the world somehow.
At a time like this, couldn’t a pure and harmless angel who knows how to cook and act descend from the sky, smile, and say, “I came down from heaven to appear in your movie”?
‘What kind of ridiculous imagination is this?’
She stood up abruptly.
So Si-in had a determined look on her face.
“I can’t take this.”
“What? Why are you standing up all of a sudden? W-where are you going?”
“The academy.”
“Huh? The academy? The one you quit because you said you had to try cooking yourself to make a cooking movie? Why so suddenly?”
She said, “There’s one day left.”
“No, I know that. You registered with me. I’m asking why you’re going there now.”
So Si-in looked straight at the man, who had stood up with a bewildered face.
She buried her face in both hands and screamed.
“Because! Not! One! Thing! Is working out!!!!”
I’m screwed.
I touched a nerve.
“Aaargh!! Nothing is working! Fine! Leave me alone! I’m going to cook. You come too! You do it too! You have one day left as well!”
“Ah, I have no talent… I said I have no talent—!!!!”
When the two of them arrived at the cooking academy, it was 10 minutes before class. Normally, it would be a time when everyone except for a few students would be quietly staying in their spots.
However, the entire academy was noisy today.
Is there some kind of festival? Are they doing a food-sharing event?
People were crowded in the hallway to the point that they had to squeeze through them to get into class.
‘What on earth is going on?’
Usually, the “Korean Food Hobby Class” she took had about twenty students in total. It wasn’t enough people to fill the academy like this. Even if they had opened an audited class, it wasn’t a class that people would flock to on a weekday afternoon.
“What are they doing today?”
As soon as she entered the classroom and looked around, her eyes stopped at one spot.
“I used to attend this academy.”
“Of course I know. The director bragged about it so much.”
“Really? How? She didn’t badmouth me for being a poor student, did she?”
“Oh my, she could never badmouth such a handsome student. And she said you were the best at cooking too.”
“I wasn’t the best. I just had to cook often since I live alone.”
There was a man she had never seen before having a pleasant conversation with the other students.
No!
This wasn’t the first time!
“Hey.”
“Yes, Director.”
“I’m not seeing things, am I? That’s Jeon Yeo-hoo, right?”
“Yes, unless both my eyes and yours are failing at the same time, that is Actor Jeon Yeo-hoo.”
So Si-in already knew Jeon Yeo-hoo. She had watched the entire press conference for *The Prosecutor of Revenge* in real time.
The handsome rookie who cried back then had remained quite vividly in her memory, and now she was seeing him in person.
‘But… he’s really handsome.’
Usually, celebrities look better in person than on screen. It’s because the camera makes people look a bit thicker, and the three-dimensional depth of a human face cannot yet be perfectly captured on screen.
That was also the reason why they did camera tests during auditions. Rather than someone who looks better in person, it was better to choose the latter if their appearance on camera suited the project.
So Si-in closed one eye and tried to frame Jeon Yeo-hoo with her fingers.
She didn’t know exactly how he would look on camera.
‘I don’t know what to say because this is the first time I’ve seen someone this good-looking in person.’
She didn’t talk to Jeon Yeo-hoo, but as the distance closed, she was in a constant state of admiration.
His skin was like porcelain. Even when he laughed, no part of his face looked distorted. Yet it was natural. The bridge of his nose was a masterpiece. The line falling from his forehead was insane.
‘Is this a sign from above? Is he really an angel sent from heaven for me?’
“Let’s start the class—.”
With the class beginning at the sound of a clap, So Si-in also took her place.
‘She said he was a student.’
He probably wasn’t amazing at cooking, right? This was just a hobby class, after all.
‘What?’
Contrary to her forced low expectations, So Si-in couldn’t take her eyes off Jeon Yeo-hoo’s knife work. Even at a glance, he was good. Even from afar, it was Jeon Yeo-hoo who was leading the cooking at that table.
“Here’s the dark soy sauce.”
“Ma’am, I’ll do this part.”
“It’s okay. Be careful not to get hurt. It’ll hurt if it touches water.”
He didn’t forget to take care of those around him.
That kind appearance was the very image of Seon Je-min that she had imagined for *The Killing Recipe*.
The movie *The Killing Recipe* features Seon Je-min, who runs a neighborhood restaurant, and Lee Ju-hyeong, a famous chef who can no longer cook, as the two leads.
Lee Ju-hyeong used to work as the head chef of a five-star hotel. One morning, he realizes that his hands shake visibly every time he holds a knife. He thinks it will be resolved in a few days, but his condition worsens as time passes.
When it becomes difficult for him to even step into a kitchen and smell food, Lee Ju-hyeong voluntarily quits the hotel and wanders.
After drinking only water for a week, Lee Ju-hyeong clutches his starving stomach and arrives at the small neighborhood restaurant run by Seon Je-min.
It was a small restaurant that looked like it had failed a long time ago, still using an old sign that said “Town Supermarket,” and seemed like only neighborhood residents would visit.
As soon as Lee Ju-hyeong enters, a young man in his 20s greets him with a welcoming smile.
[Welcome!]
[Sir, you look very tired. I’ll get you some water first.]
[Ah. You forgot your wallet. It’s okay. People here forget sometimes too. Don’t worry about it. Since I’m the owner here, I’ll let it slide this once.]
Moved by Seon Je-min’s bright, kind smile and consideration, Lee Ju-hyeong asks, [Is it possible for me to work here?] The overall plot of *The Killing Recipe* followed the small incidents that occurred in the neighborhood as part-timer Lee Ju-hyeong and Seon Je-min ran the restaurant together, as well as the process of the two overcoming their traumas.
It wasn’t that there were no conflicts.
[Don’t you hate me? You’re supposed to hate me.]
[Yeah. Honestly, I’m angry. Just like those people!]
Confirming and resolving each other’s feelings through cooking during such conflicts was also an important scene in the movie.
While stand-ins could be used for the hands or the cooking process, So Si-in wanted the two leads to be able to cook to some extent. She wanted someone who knew how important a medium cooking was to perform the role.
Today’s class dishes were seaweed soup and Japchae. These dishes also appear in *The Killing Recipe* since they were Seon Je-min’s favorites.
Once the food was finished, it was time for each table to taste each other’s cooking.
The quality of all the teams was high, and the dishes from the team Jeon Yeo-hoo was on were top-notch as well.
“I didn’t do much.”
“This young man is good at cooking and so well-mannered. I’m dying to introduce him to my daughter.”
“Haha.”
“Oh my, what are you saying to a celebrity? He shouldn’t be dating; he’s in the middle of his career.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
The way he naturally talked with the other students was similar to Seon Je-min in the movie.
So Si-in secretly clasped her hands together. Jeon Yeo-hoo didn’t seem to notice the glances she was throwing his way.
‘God, please.’
While So Si-in was praying inwardly, Han-jae—the assistant writer and assistant director who came with her—tapped her on the arm.
“Senior, you’re going to talk to him afterward, right?”
“Of course. It’s a must.”
The class So Si-in and Han-jae participated in was the last class of the cooking academy.
As soon as class ended, the two of them rushed out to the lobby faster than the other students who were flowing out like the tide.
However, even though the two of them waited for a long time, there was no sign of Jeon Yeo-hoo.
“Senior…”
“S-surely he didn’t avoid us, right?”