Chapter 237: Stardustincafe (2)
Since the initial concept from the self-content team was a calm and healing format, we slotted in a cooking segment in the middle so that fans wouldn’t get too bored.
That’s how we suddenly ended up making tanghulu in a café.
Seo Haim said in an excited voice.
"This is really popular these days."
To be honest, I was from the dalgona generation, so I didn’t really know about that stuff.
Still, as a former café part-timer, it was a menu I hadn’t tried before, so I got curious.
"How do you make it?"
Kang Siwoo, who had already looked up how to make tanghulu in advance, smoothly began the briefing.
Last night, he had been watching tanghulu videos in the dorm.
"First, you wash the fruit thoroughly, dry off the water, and then skewer them."
"You just need to put one or two pieces on the skewer to make it easy to eat, right?"
"Hmm. Seems easy~."
Even the officially clumsy members of Stardust could handle this much.
I rinsed a few shiny Shine Muscats in water, then dried them with a clean cloth.
"Mm. Yummy."
Meanwhile, Seo Haim kept munching on the grapes Ha Junseo handed over as she skewered the fruit.
Jin Sehyun laughed dryly and gave a light scolding.
"Half of that’s going into your mouth."
"It’s just your imagination."
With seven people, we weren’t short on hands. I moved on to the next prep with Kang Siwoo.
Kang Siwoo continued explaining in a calm tone, like we were attending <Kang Siwoo’s Cooking Class>.
"Now, we’re going to boil sugar and water in a 2-to-1 ratio."
This was where things got real.
From what I heard, the concentration of the sugar syrup was the key, and how long you boiled it was critical.
Seo Ian asked while nibbling on a cherry tomato.
"Don’t you just boil it until it bubbles?"
"They say the color matters. It shows how much it’s cooked."
"……?"
The tanghulu was right in front of us, but somehow the conversation felt like we were at a samgyeopsal joint.
"Let’s just try it."
None of us had made this before, so we had no idea how long to boil it.
We figured we’d get a feel for it once we started.
Click.
I turned on the burner and placed the pot.
Just like Kang Siwoo said, I poured in sugar and water at the right ratio and started boiling it.
Bubble, bubble.
While the syrup boiled, Jin Sehyun smacked his lips in regret.
"This kind of thing would be more fun if we did a livestream."
"Guys, you’re café part-timers."
"Ah."
"You can’t just shoot some barista vlog video after watching one or two clips online."
"Ah, right…."
Today, Kang Siwoo was fully committed to the skit.
Although he seemed even more committed to the sugar concentration.
"I’ll trust Seohan’s judgment."
"Me?"
"Does it look done to you?"
"I think it needs to boil a bit longer."
"I saw it—it's gotta be thick and sticky!"
Honestly, up until then, the mood was still pretty peaceful.
"…How long are we supposed to boil this?"
Swish, swish.
We kept stirring aimlessly with the chopsticks, waiting and waiting, just before missing the right moment.
"Why is the sugar this color?"
"Huh?"
Whoooosh.
Not sure when it started, but it was boiling like molten lava!
"Hey, be careful. That’s seriously hot."
Naturally, boiled sugar surpasses 100 degrees Celsius. Cha Seongbin flinched and spoke.
"We might need to call in a tanghulu expert."
"Is this right?"
"No, it’s not!"
Thankfully, a tanghulu expert wasn’t far away.
The owner of the tanghulu shop, who had been on standby in case of accidents, blinked as he stepped in.
"How did the sugar turn this color…?"
He added that it was the first time seeing something like this in his entire year of selling tanghulu.
"……."
Sorry, but it was the first time I’d seen this color too.
Seo Haim muttered under her breath with a serious face.
"Tanghulu from hell…." "It’s already unhealthy to begin with, but that looks like it’ll kill you."
"That’s almost execution poison visual."
I can say with certainty that it was darker than Ha Junseo’s six-shot coffee.
No wonder the overly sweet, almost tooth-rotting smell had been poking at my nose for a while.
I didn’t think it would burn this fast.
"…Let’s throw it out."
And so, the tanghulu was discarded.
Fortunately, the tanghulu shop owner kindly offered to make proper tanghulu with the remaining sugar, and the rest of us focused on welcoming customers.
Clap-.
Kang Siwoo lightly clapped his hands and said his scripted line.
"Let’s go greet the guests."
"Okay-!"
Right at that moment,
"……?"
"Wait, they’re actually coming?"
"I didn’t know either?"
We heard murmurs coming from outside the set.
"Hey, there’s a line outside…."
Peek.
Cha Seongbin poked his head out the door and spoke with a shocked expression.
"Are they really coming?"
"Looks like it."
We hadn’t expected real customers to show up.
We thought we were just pretending and making a few coffees among ourselves—it never occurred to us they’d bring in outsiders.
They were probably staff from the self-content team or the external filming crew… but still, we couldn’t serve weird food.
Kang Siwoo spoke urgently.
"Coffee machine! Prep the coffee machine!"
"Haim, the menu board!"
The café instantly fell into a flurry of activity. The roles we had jokingly assigned earlier now proved useful.
Coffee master Ha Junseo went off to prepare Americano, and Seo Haim returned holding the menu board she’d pulled from the wall.
Meanwhile, the first customer appeared.
"Hello!"
It was Baek Hyerin, the youngest writer from the self-content team. When the familiar face came in, Seo Haim beamed.
"What would you like to order?"
"Uh… a peach smoothie, please."
"I’ll take care of it."
I was the fastest with my hands here.
I quickly washed my hands at the sink and rushed into the kitchen.
Compared to Americano, it took more time, but it wasn’t a hard drink to make.
Just follow the recipe. I blended the frozen mango with syrup, poured it into a prepared cup, and passed it to Haim.
"Whoa, why are you so good at this?"
Kang Siwoo patted my shoulder like he was proud of me.
Meanwhile, another order came in.
"I’d like an iced Americano, please."
"Me too!"
Our coffee master.
It was time for Ha Junseo to shine.
"That hyung is probably the one who’s made the most coffee out of all of us."
No.
Even beyond just our team, he was clearly in the top ranks nationally among people our age.
"Junseo-hyung’s insane…."
Ha Junseo whipped up iced Americanos at lightning speed.
It was the moment his skills—brewing multiple coffees at once during rushed mornings—truly shined.
"One café latte, please."
"Wow. A coffee made by Ha Junseo… I'm a fan!"
As people kept streaming in, I stood out in the hall until the next smoothie order came in.
"Hmm…."
Just then.
Cha Seongbin pushed my back with a grin.
"Our door guy~. What are you doing?"
No way.
"Oh, the door."
"Right. The café bell seems to be broken."
These people?
Sensing the opportunity, Jin Sehyun and Seo Ian jumped in. Cha Seongbin patted my back and smiled brightly.
"Make sure you jingle when the next customer comes in, don’t miss it."
"Are you serious?"
"We need something for the self-content short."
I’ve done a ton of voice impressions.
From cicadas to buntings, even chicks.
But…
I’d hardly ever done inanimate object impressions before.
"Oh, a customer just came in."
"Go on, do it."
What nice hyungs I had.
They kept pushing, so I shuffled over hesitantly and swallowed nervously.
And then.
"Jingle jingle~."
"……?"
The self-content staff looked at me weirdly.
I’m not that kind of person.
"Jingle jingle… lingle…"
"Ahahaha! Ahahaha!"
Seriously… I wanted to run away.
[Youngest Hamjji actually doing what the hyungs told him to]
He’s just a pure lil’ Hamjji LOL
They always say he’s the maknae-on-top because the hyungs fear him, but when it comes to this stuff, he gives in way too easily
– Harmless Hamjji in a nutshell
└ When he jingled, it was like he knocked on the door of my heart
└ He’s just… just… freaking cute
└ LOLLLLLLLLLLLLL
– They told him to be the café bell and he just nodded and did it
└ I bet you Do Seohan’s fuming right now
└ Junseo was busy, so he couldn’t say “take over the coffee machine,” and instead went and jabbed Haim in the side to tell her to do her job with the menu board
└ Ahhh LOLLLLLLLLLL
└ Oh my god so cute
└ That’s such a passive-aggressive revenge move LOL
└ I love Small Animalz lore so much it’s insane
[[ONAIR] What even is this Hellspawn Tanghulu]
(photo.jpg)
Even if heat control is hard… how do you mess up sugar this bad?
Looks like it’ll actively damage your health if you eat it
– Will it really stop at just “damaging”?
└ Insane LOLLLLLL
└ It legit looked like it would send you straight to the afterlife
└ Instant-pass to the underworld
└ You crazy LOL
└ I have no rebuttal to that
└ Don’t want your teeth to rot? I’ll just get rid of them for you (?)
└ Have you lost it for real LOLLLL
– Never let our kids cook again
└ But their coffee is great… and they make smoothies super well… what even are they???
└ 222222
└ No but I’ve said this before—Seohan and Junseo could be café part-timers right now, no training needed
└ Do Seohan being a former café part-timer is basically academic consensus at this point
.
.
.
Same time elsewhere.
[Notice: Doubles Entertainment Song Camp Participation]
Rattle.
In the quiet room, only the sound of a mouse scrolling echoed softly.
A man sat in front of the computer.
With a serious expression, he read through the official announcement of Doubles’ song camp.
Had it been almost a year?
There hadn’t been any news of a song camp for a while, but now a fairly large-scale one was being held over the course of a week.
A deep wrinkle formed between the man’s brows.
"…This is a chance."
At the very least, his composition style matched pretty well with Doubles’ artists.
He’d worked on title tracks for Tiple three or four times. Other well-known songs by senior artists had also been born from his hands.
Yes.
He, too, had once been a successful composer.
The problem was, art isn’t something that stays in peak form forever.
He was now a has-been composer.
Rumors that he’d lost his touch had spread all over the industry, and after a business failure, he was now struggling to even cover his living expenses.
He had to get a song accepted in this song camp.
No matter what trick he had to use.
His target was the title track for Stardust’s next album.
With a clenched fist, the man made a call somewhere.
"Hey, Hyukwon. I have a favor to ask—"
A youthful voice replied on the other end.
– Yes?
"Let’s meet up for a bit."
The man spoke with a fishy smile curling on his lips.