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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Seojun's Special Recipe
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The sun was up. From early in the morning, the kitchen was bustling with noise.
"No, cook it a little longer!"
"Isn't that one too big?"
"Doctor, is it okay for Seojun to eat this?"
Seojun, who had been building blocks with Choi Siyoon, kept turning his head toward the kitchen.
Uncle Eunchan was near the sofa, while the other three members and Dr. Kim Hwaryeon were chattering away in the kitchen.
Seojun pouted. What are they doing without me? Something fun?
"Seojun! Look at this. It's so tall!"
Choi Siyoon did his best to redirect Seojun's attention. He had been tasked with looking after Seojun until everything was ready.
With his unique sense of balance, Choi Siyoon stacked the wooden blocks. Seojun's head turned toward the tower Siyoon had built.
"Ooh-heng!"
'It's so tall!'
A short distance away from Seojun, the wooden blocks stood like a tower.
As Seojun crawled over, Choi Siyoon quickly blocked his path.
He had stacked them carefully, one by one, but if they were to collapse and hit Seojun, it would be a disaster.
"S-Seojun. Let's look from here. But no touching!"
"Ooooh-woong!"
When Seojun moved left, Siyoon quickly shifted his body to the left. When Seojun moved right, he quickly moved to the right.
Huh? Are we playing? Is this peekaboo?
"Aaaang!"
'I accept your challenge!'
Seojun feinted left before crawling to the right. Caught by Seojun's fake-out, Siyoon was a beat too slow.
"Seojun?!"
Crawling hard to the right, Seojun stopped at Siyoon's cry.
He turned his head, gave Siyoon a bright smile, then grabbed a nearby drawer and pushed with both hands.
Putting strength into his bottom, legs, and feet, he pushed himself up! He stood up on his own.
"Woooah!"
The wooden block tower was taller than the standing Seojun. He had to lift his head to look at it.
Choi Siyoon, who had been at a loss, let out a sigh of relief and picked up the now-standing Seojun.
"You wanted to stand up?"
"Euh-eung!"
"You should have said so!"
Seojun turned his head and gave Siyoon a poignant look. Siyoon cleared his throat.
Oh, right. He can't even say 'Mama' or 'Dada' yet, can he?
"Alright, Seojun. Should we stack it a little higher?"
"Aaaah!"
Choi Siyoon first placed a block on top of the wooden tower. The block settled securely on the peak.
"Now it's Seojun's turn."
Choi Siyoon handed Seojun the smallest square block.
Seojun stared at the small block, then reached his hand toward the tower. Choi Siyoon, holding Seojun, slowly walked toward it.
"Euh-woo."
Seojun slowly extended his hand. He placed his tiny hand on top of the wooden block and slowly opened his fingers.
The wooden block tumbled from his palm. The impact caused the block tower to wobble precariously.
Seojun and Choi Siyoon held their breath, waiting for the block to stop moving.
"Wow! Seojun stacked the highest one!"
"Waaaah-ang!"
The block, which looked like it was about to fall, finally settled. It was sticking out halfway from the top of the tower that Choi Siyoon had so perfectly angled, so it didn't look great, but just getting it up there was an amazing feat.
"Seojun's a genius!"
"Ehehe-heng!"
Choi Siyoon playfully lifted Seojun up and down. As Seojun giggled, Hwang Yejun and Kevin came out of the kitchen.
Hwang Yejun was sweating slightly, and Kevin had a knife in one hand.
"Hyung! The knife! The knife!"
"Oh, sorry!"
As a horrified Choi Siyoon quickly turned Seojun's gaze away and shouted, Kevin hastily went back inside.
The sound of Park Seojin scolding Kevin could be heard, as if he had heard Siyoon's shout.
Hwang Yejun wiped the sweat from his face with a handkerchief. As he tried to approach, Choi Siyoon took a step back, still holding Seojun. Hwang Yejun's eyes widened.
"What? Why are you avoiding me?"
"Seojun. That hyung is dirty. Dirty."
"I wiped it all off. The handkerchief is clean too!"
"Eee! Ee-ing!"
"That's right. Dirty!"
Seojun burst into laughter at Hwang Yejun's desperate expression. This hyung was fun to tease.
"Hurry up and wash your face."
"Okay."
Hwang Yejun quickly went to the bathroom, washed his face, and came back out.
Kevin, looking pale, also came out to the living room, apparently having received a full lecture from Park Seojin about putting the knife away properly.
"So what was it? What were you laughing about, Seojun?"
"Oaang! Woong!"
Seojun pointed at the wooden block tower. The two men turned their heads toward it. Hwang Yejun spoke.
"Why is this one so crooked? Was it placed wrong?"
"You're right. It's just this one, isn't it?"
Hwang Yejun reached out his hand to straighten the one wooden block that was stacked crookedly and without style.
"Don't! Hyung!"
"Aaaah-ang!!"
Choi Siyoon and Seojun shouted. Their voices were louder than before, bringing Park Seojin and Kim Hwaryeon out of the kitchen. Seo Eunchan, who had been filming in the living room the whole time, was snickering.
Startled by the loud noise, Hwang Yejun froze his hand. It was just about to touch the topmost wooden block.
Hwang Yejun's eyes darted back and forth. Park Seojin and Kim Hwaryeon wondered what was going on. The quick-witted Kevin took a step back.
"What? Why? Did I do something wrong?"
"Seojun stacked that one! He worked so hard to put it up there!"
"Abooboo! Aboobooboob!"
Seojun became more vocal. His round eyes glared sharply at Hwang Yejun.
I stacked that! I stacked it perfectly!
At Choi Siyoon's words, Hwang Yejun flinched and hid his outstretched hand behind his back. Park Seojin and Kim Hwaryeon shot Hwang Yejun a 'how could you!' look.
"Oh my. Seojun, hyung didn't know. I'm sorry!"
"Abooboob! Aboobooboo!"
'I stood up like this, and I put it there with my hand like this!'
"You're right. Hyung was wrong!"
Faced with Seojun's most intense reaction yet, Hwang Yejun didn't know what to do. Kevin politely clasped his hands in front of him. He had narrowly avoided ending up in Hwang Yejun's shoes.
"Alright, Seojun. Yejun-hyung is sorry, so let's forgive him. Thankfully, he didn't touch the block, right?"
At Park Seojin's words, Seojun looked at Hwang Yejun, who was practically begging for forgiveness in front of him. Hwang Yejun rubbed his hands together so hard they must have been getting hot.
Well, what can you do! I'll let it slide!
"Woong!"
"Oh my. Thank you. Thank you so much!"
Seojun spread his arms wide. Hwang Yejun's face lit up as he lifted Seojun into his arms.
Holding Seojun, Hwang Yejun rocked him back and forth, laughing heartily. Seojun, nestled in Hwang Yejun's arms and enjoying the fun movement, giggled with delight.
"Alright, that's enough. Seojun might get motion sickness."
Seo Eunchan intervened. Hwang Yejun, who had been vigorously rocking Seojun, came to his senses and stopped. Seojun slapped Hwang Yejun's arm, asking for more.
"Seojun. Time to eat. Food."
At Park Seojin's words, Seojun's head whipped around. Oh, right, it was almost time to eat. He was starting to feel a little hungry.
"Woong!"
"We've prepared a special meal just for you, Seojun!"
Everyone headed to the kitchen.
On the table were bowls filled with finely chopped ingredients. They had added Dr. Kim Hwaryeon's suggestions to the ingredients Park Seojin had researched.
Beef broth, finely ground beef, spinach, green laver, enoki mushrooms, potatoes, egg yolk, mushrooms, sweet potato, pumpkin, and even dried pollock—all sorts of ingredients were finely chopped.
Hwang Yejun, after placing Seojun in his high chair, pretended to wipe away sweat.
"Making the beef broth was tough. We also had to boil the sweet potatoes and pumpkin and blanch the vegetables."
"The chopping was hard, too."
Kevin nodded at Park Seojin's words. Choi Siyoon, who hadn't known what was going on because he was playing with Seojun, was surprised to see the ingredients on the table.
"Are you going to use all of this? How many days' worth are you planning to make?"
"No. Seojun is going to pick what he wants to eat from here, and we'll make it. We need to decide quickly if we're going to make it into a porridge in the pot."
Brown Black's gazes turned to the clock. They all grew anxious as the time for his baby food approached.
Hwang Yejun looked at the camera Seo Eunchan was holding and spoke.
"Hello, viewers. We will now begin 'Making Baby Food with Jun!' Today's baby food will be made with the ingredients on this table. The method is… random!"
As Brown Black clapped, Seojun clapped along too.
"I can't wait to see what kind of delicious baby food will be created! For the record, we will taste it first, and if the doctor approves the combination of ingredients, we will feed it to Seojun. Seojun's palate is safe!"
"Let's hope it's a delicious baby food."
At Hwang Yejun's final words, Kevin prayed. Seojun's palate might be safe, but our mouths are in danger, right? Brown Black's eyes grew misty.
"Alright. Shall we begin now?"
Park Seojin carefully lifted Seojun from the high chair, held him in his arms, and made eye contact.
"Seojun."
"Eung?"
"Pick what looks tasty from here. Which one looks good?"
Seojun's gaze followed where Park Seojin was pointing. There were colorful things in the bowls.
"Eung?"
'Hmm, I wonder?'
What would be tasty? Seojun pondered. First, he chose an ingredient that was often in the baby food he usually ate. Seojun pointed to the ground beef.
"He's chosen beef for the first ingredient!"
"Meat is always delicious."
Huh? Choi Siyoon tilted his head. Hwang Yejun, who was doing a live commentary with Kevin, whispered. What's wrong?
'If this is the first one, how many is Seojun going to pick?'
'Uh… you're right.'
They hadn't decided on that.
Before Choi Siyoon and Hwang Yejun could panic, Seojun swiftly pointed his finger at the bowls.
This one's yellow, so it must be tasty. This one's green, so it probably tastes good! This one is white. It looks delicious! This one, this one, and this one!
The ingredients were chopped so finely that Seojun couldn't even tell what they were, so he chose the ones that looked tasty without a second thought.
"He chose egg yolk, and spinach, and mushrooms, no, wait, how many are you picking? Seojun!"
"Kyaaa-ang!"
'I've picked them all!'
Oh. A collective sigh escaped from the members of Brown Black. Seojun smiled triumphantly. I'm done picking!
"He really picked all of them…"
Brown Black was at a loss for words at Seojun's crime of selecting every single ingredient on the table.
"Eheng-heheng."
"Seojun, you. Be honest. You knew we were going to eat it, so you did this on purpose, right? You picked everything, didn't you?"
"There's no way this can be delicious, hyungs."
Hwang Yejun whined in front of Seojun, who was still in Park Seojin's arms.
Choi Siyoon, who was roughly checking the ingredients, put a hand to his forehead. Kim Hwaryeon, holding the camera from a distance, made an 'X' with her arms.
"Yes, that's right. Baby food even the doctor is against!"
"I guess we have to eat it?"
"Is this a penalty food?"
Though dejected, Brown Black placed Seojun back in his high chair and brought over a pot.
"We can use the leftovers for Seojun's baby food, so let's not put too much in."
"Yeah."
In dispirited voices, they each took a spoon and added a spoonful of each ingredient to the pot.
"Ugh. I hate mushrooms…"
"Good for you. A chance to fix your picky eating."
"Should we add this much broth?"
"Won't it be delicious if we just season it right?"
Hwang Yejun added a spoonful of mushrooms with a disgusted look on his face. And so, all the ingredients went into the pot.
"Alright. Now, we boil."
"Since we're the ones eating it, we can add salt…"
At Choi Siyoon's words, Seo Eunchan waved his arms. No way! It's supposed to be baby food!
"…I guess not?"
"Absolutely not…"
Hwang Yejun turned on the gas. Bubble, bubble. Meanwhile, Park Seojin heated up the baby food Seo Eunhye had prepared.
"Let's have Seojun eat his safe and delicious baby food."
"Euh-euh-eung?"
'Weren't we eating that? I picked it because it looked pretty. Am I not getting any?'
Ding-dong—the alarm rang as usual, and a spoonful of baby food entered Seojun's mouth.
Mmm! Delicious! While Seojun was happily eating his mom's homemade baby food, the switch on the stove was turned off. The Seojun Lee's Special Random Baby Food was complete.
"It's done."
"Is this the baby food Seojun picked?"
"Is there really a 'pick'? Everything went in."
"Oh. The colorful… colors are quite something…"
The complexions of the Brown Black members were poor as they peered into the pot.
Seo Eunchan pointed the camera into the pot. Hmm. I'll have to mosaic this later.
"What is this? Perfectly normal ingredients went in, so why is it this color?"
"It's because everything went in."
"Are we really eating this?"
"It'd be a waste not to."
The members of Brown Black all picked up their spoons. Hwang Yejun tried to take only a minuscule amount, but Park Seojin kindly scooped a heaping spoonful for him instead.
"We eat on the count of three, okay?"
"Yes."
"Alright."
Brown Black gulped. Seojun, who was still sucking on his baby spoon, watched his hyungs. What's that? That weird-colored stuff? Eating that would be dirty!
"One."
"Two."
"Three!"
The self-admittedly strange-colored Seojun Lee's Special Random Baby Food entered the mouths of Brown Black.
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