Today was finally the day Ara was shooting her commercial.
Time seemed to be flying by these days.
The location was the same as last time—Yeouido.
After a brief meeting, they were planning to move to a nearby studio.
“Vroom vroom!”
As soon as they parked, Ara jumped out with an excited look on her face.
Seeing Ara like this, Seon-ah smiled warmly.
“The concept for this commercial is a mukbang, right?”
“It’s what Ara does best.”
This commercial was for Iron Blood Food’s Seolleongtang meal kit.
The shoot was simple—just eating Seolleongtang with Seo Ye-eun.
‘Is this really okay?’
Honestly, I thought there would be some acting or action involved, but they just said to eat, and they would take care of the rest, which made me wonder.
They know what they’re doing, right?
They’re professionals, so my doubts wouldn’t change anything.
As we went up through the underground parking lot, we saw Seo Ye-eun’s manager waiting for us.
“Welcome. Please follow me.”
“Yes.”
As we followed, a small conference room came into view, where Seo Ye-eun was already there, eating something.
“Hello?”
“Oh, you’re here? Hi, Ara!”
Unlike when she greeted us, Seo Ye-eun directed a high-pitched dolphin-like squeal at Ara.
It seemed Seo Ye-eun had also become a fan of Ara.
“I’ve been enjoying your videos lately. I wish you would post more often.”
“Oh, I’ve been a bit busy lately, so the videos have been less frequent. I’m thinking of hiring an editor.”
Given that Seon-ah spends every day researching monsters in our dungeon, it made sense she had little time.
Still, she managed to edit videos on her laptop in her spare time—such a diligent Seon-ah.
“Right. You’re busy enough as it is, so hire an editor. You’ve got plenty of footage anyway, right?”
“What about the money?”
“Huh?”
“The money to hire an editor?”
“Why are you asking me? Don’t you earn money from YouTube?”
As the sibling argument threatened to start up again, Seo Ye-eun and her manager broke into a cold sweat.
“Ahem! Ahem! Everyone, focus. Today, I’m shooting a commercial.”
“Yes, yes, our Ara needs to shoot her commercial! Aww, so cute.”
Thankfully, Ara’s intervention brought about a temporary truce.
It was amusing to see Seon-ah’s face quickly soften.
“We’ll talk with the advertiser here for a bit, and then we’ll head to the studio. I think everything is set up, so we just need to go.”
No sooner had the manager finished speaking than someone opened the door and walked in.
The man, who appeared to be in his early forties, checked our faces before greeting us with a bright expression.
“Hello? I’m Kim Jung-hyun, Marketing Manager at Iron Blood Food.”
“Oh, nice to meet you. I’m Lee Kyu-seong, Ara’s guardian. This is my sister, Lee Seon-ah, who manages Ara’s YouTube channel.”
“Hello.”
He briefly greeted Seo Ye-eun and her manager, who seemed to already know him, and then took a seat.
“The commercial we’ll be filming today will be a 30-second clip of eating Seolleongtang. No acting, sound effects, or editing—just eating.”
“Is that really okay?”
“That’s the concept for this commercial. In fact, our internal planning team gave it a positive response. Let’s head to the studio and take a look.”
We got up immediately and headed to the studio.
The studio building wasn’t far away, and as the manager said, everything was already prepared.
“Each of you will shoot about one minute of eating separately, and then we’ll shoot another minute of you eating together.”
“That sounds simple.”
“Not really. Since there’s no acting involved, we might need to shoot more eating scenes. By the way, how much can Ara eat?”
Kim Jung-hyun glanced at Ara with slight concern. Seeing his worry, Seon-ah and I exchanged looks.
“Our Ara eats very well.”
“I eat a lot!”
“There’s no need to worry. She can easily eat the amount for almost ten adults… no, even thirty.”
“I can eat a lot!”
Hearing me and Ara, Kim Jung-hyun looked confused and then glanced at Seon-ah for confirmation. Seon-ah smiled and nodded.
“I’m not kidding; she really does eat well. Our Ara is a physical type, after all…”
“Ah! That’s right! Ara is a physical-type awakener.”
She was known to the public as a physical-type awakener. Of course, the guild and the Awakening Headquarters were aware that Ara was actually a somewhat unique slime and my familiar.
“Then there’s no need to worry!”
“Shouldn’t we be more concerned about Ms. Ye-eun?”
“Ms. Ye-eun will be fine, haha.”
At Kim Jung-hyun’s words, Seon-ah and I both looked over at Seo Ye-eun. She blushed and scratched her head with a shy smile.
“Well, I eat quite a bit too, hehe.”
“Is that so…”
She didn’t seem like it, but if Kim Jung-hyun wasn’t concerned, she must be quite the unexpected big eater.
At that moment, a savory and mild scent wafted through the air.
“Seolleongtang.”
“Ooooh! Delicious!”
Come to think of it, Ara had never tried seolleongtang before. She had tasted dishes like soybean paste soup and kimchi stew, thanks to Mom, but this was her first time with soup rice dishes.
“Ara, this is your first time having seolleongtang, right?”
“Yep!”
“Let’s make sure you try all the foods you haven’t eaten yet.”
Even though my cooking is delicious, I wanted her to experience a variety of foods.
Looking back, it didn’t make sense that I hadn’t introduced her to soup rice dishes like seolleongtang yet. I felt a bit guilty.
“Shall we head to the set? Let’s do a quick rehearsal.”
A table and chairs, stark against the red background symbolizing Iron Blood, were set up, with empty bowls placed on the table.
“You just need to sit here and eat deliciously.”
“Okay!”
Ara quickly sat down and nodded eagerly, picking up her spoon with eyes full of anticipation.
“When can I start eating?”
“Haha, you’re really enthusiastic! Should we start with Ara? Originally, we planned to have Ms. Ye-eun do a demonstration first, but what do you think?”
“We’re fine with that.”
We could wait and see how Seo Ye-eun did first, but I had faith in Ara. I believed that she could handle this mukbang with ease!
“Okay, let’s get the seolleongtang ready!”
People began moving busily, preparing for the shoot. The freshly heated seolleongtang was soon placed in front of Ara.
“Ooooh!!”
Seon-ah and I watched from a bit of a distance. I worried that Ara might get nervous, but it seemed like that concern was unnecessary. Ara’s eyes were glued to the seolleongtang, and she seemed focused solely on eating.
“Let’s start. Cameras rolling!”
As the filming began and the director gave the signal, Ara firmly gripped her spoon and started eating the seolleongtang.
With a deliberate yet efficient posture, she quickly finished off the bowl of seolleongtang.
“Cut! Cut! Hold on, you’re eating faster than I expected.”
“Please prepare more seolleongtang!”
It only took Ara about 10 seconds to finish the bowl, which was far too short for the minute-long scene.
“Ara, can you eat a bit slower?”
“Sure!”
“That’s our Ara. Go for it!”
I cheered her on with a small fist pump, and Ara responded enthusiastically with a cheer of her own.
The seolleongtang was quickly refilled, and the shoot resumed.
Slurp!
A sip of broth first.
Then, she scooped a large spoonful of rice and took a big bite.
Her firm, chewing mouth and plump cheeks.
Gulp.
Watching her swallow, it made everyone else’s mouth water.
Gulp.
Huh? That last sound wasn’t from Ara, though.
Looking around, I noticed that everyone had started licking their lips.
“The response is already great!”
And when I looked to the side, the next one up for filming, Seo Ye-eun, was staring blankly at Ara while repeatedly swallowing her saliva.
Scratch, scratch.
The sound of an empty bowl being scraped was heard.
Ara then showed her empty bowl and asked,
“Can I have another bowl?!”
“Cut! Cut! Oh, I was so engrossed in watching.”
The director finally shouted in a hurry.
Ara’s shoot was repeated once more, and then yet again.
“We’ll pick the best one out of these, and although they said there wouldn’t be much editing, they’ll likely do some cutting and piecing together.”
The manager explained next to us.
After about eight takes, it was Seo Ye-eun’s turn.
“That was delicious. I want to eat more.”
“There will be more chances to eat during the next shoot.”
“Okay!”
Eight bowls weren’t nearly enough to fill our Ara’s stomach. But since there was still a scene where they’d be eating together, she could fill up more.
“Oh, nice, very nice.”
Despite her appearance, Seo Ye-eun also ate with great relish.
And having just watched Ara’s shoot, she seemed even hungrier.
Thanks to this, the shoot moved smoothly to the next scene.
“Ms. Ye-eun only needed three takes. Professionals really are different.”
“Oh! It’s not that Ara needed many takes because she wasn’t doing well. It’s just that so many good scenes kept coming out that the director got greedy.”
“That’s a relief.”
The next scene had them sitting side by side, eating seolleongtang together. But still, no lines or acting—just eating.
Slurp!
Gulp, gulp.
Nom, nom.
Watching the two of them empty their bowls so deliciously made me hungry just by watching.
I mean, is it even possible for seolleongtang to look this delicious? It looked like it was an even tastier dish than the seolleongtang I knew.
After about four takes of them eating together, the shoot finally wrapped up.
“Not to downplay Ara, but Ms. Ye-eun also eats really well.”
“Thank you. Hehe.”
Honestly, I thought they would just pretend to eat or take breaks while eating.
But when I saw Seo Ye-eun emptying five or six bowls, I couldn’t help but be surprised.
“If it’s alright with you, how about we have a meal together sometime? I think Ara would really enjoy it.”
“Oh! Of course! I’m always available when I have free time.”
As we casually made plans and chatted, the filming crew called us over.
“It turned out really well. We captured a lot of great footage, even better than we originally planned.”
We reviewed the filmed footage.
Ara eating the seolleongtang deliciously, then Seo Ye-eun, and finally both of them together.
So, this will be on TV soon?
Honestly, it still didn’t feel real.
“In fact, this already meets the concept we had in mind, so there won’t be much editing.”
“Thank you for your hard work, Director.”
“No, no. I think we need to go get something to eat ourselves. Watching these two eat so deliciously made me hungry. Haha.”
After reviewing the footage, we returned to the small meeting room.
Kim Jung-hyun was in a great mood, clearly pleased with the results, even better than he had anticipated.
“Ara might get more food-related commercial offers in the future.”
“Thank you for thinking so highly of her.”
“I eat well! I’m ready whenever!”
It was a relief that everything went well.
At that moment, Seo Ye-eun suddenly brought up something unexpected.
“How about we actually shoot a mukbang? I think it would attract a lot of attention.”
“A mukbang?”
“Yes, we could do a live stream with me as a guest on Ara’s YouTube channel.”
“Really?! Ms. Ye-eun as a guest…!”
With Seon-ah’s surprised exclamation, I also became excited.
A live mukbang with Ara and Seo Ye-eun using my cooking…
That sounds like a great idea!
Cliche Novel 