Chapter 9: The first content entry menu is, I decided on Bibimbap
A few days ago, when I was eating ramen at the PC bang,
I remember everyone around me staring.
I was too flustered to notice at the time, but thinking back, those countless gazes weren’t on my eyes.
They were fixed on the ramen bowl in front of me.
Eyes filled with longing.
Eyes brimming with appetite.
The meaning behind those stares was clear: “Just one bite.”
Yes, I’m sure of it.
I saw their Adam’s apples bobbing.
People looked at me in awe as I devoured two bowls of ramen and two bowls of rice in one go, as if possessed…
Maybe mukbang is what I’m best at?
I immediately opened YouTube and searched for mukbang videos.
[Purum] – Rosé Jjimdak Mukbang! (Now for dessert: ten macarons!) – Live
[Choi Solrin] – Devoted to Chicken. + Chicken Skin Pie ASMR
[Mangmo Tteok] – Yeopgi Tteokbokki Spiciest Level Mukbang ♥ With Bunmoja and Flat Noodles
All sorts of mukbangs dominated YouTube.
I started clicking through them one by one.
– Chomp chomp chomp…
– Slurp, slurp, chomp.
The women in the videos ate so deliciously that just watching made my mouth water.
Growl…
My stomach rumbled in agreement, albeit weakly.
– Slurp, slurp.
– Nom nom… chomp chomp.
Fighting growing hunger, I kept watching and noticed a pattern.
– “That’s all for today’s eating. See you, Rinba~”
– “Another delicious meal today!”
Whether a mukbanger with 10 million subscribers or one consistently hitting a million views, they just gave simple greetings and ate.
‘I could handle that level of interaction.’
Even someone like me, with regressed social skills, could succeed at mukbang if I can eat deliciously.
‘…’
But not right now.
Mukbang—short for “eating broadcast”—requires a computer.
To properly stream and record food’s colors and quality, a high-performance computer is ideal.
Plus, money to buy food freely and a high-quality camera for outdoor shoots would help.
As a dirt-poor nobody, I naturally don’t have any of these.
But what if this contest changes that?
[Creator App ‘TokTok!’ Launched]
[App Launch Contest]
[Prizes: 1st – 5M, 2nd – 2M, 3rd – 1M]
[Anyone with a 1-minute video can enter!]
‘The first prize is 5 million won?’
That’s enough to cover rent, food, textbooks, and more.
No need for shady jobs to solve everything.
‘I have to try.’
“Challenge accepted!”
My first mukbang goal was set without hesitation.
As soon as I got home, I charged my phone and installed the ‘TokTok’ app to check the contest details.
[‘TokTok’ – Contest Info]
A contest pop-up greeted me on the main screen, detailing the rules.
Theme: Free (1-minute video)
Videos must be checked as contest entries before uploading (multiple entries allowed).
– Excessively explicit content may be removed.
– Must be self-produced.
– Must not be posted elsewhere.
– Ensure videos do not exceed 1 minute.
Criteria: Originality, buzzworthiness, promotional value.
Prizes: Grand Prize 5M won / Excellence Prize 2M won / Special Prize 1M won
—
All I needed to know was that mukbang was allowed.
‘Now… let’s check out the competition.’
Know your enemy, know yourself, and you’ll win every battle.
I tapped the ‘Contest’ tab and searched for ‘mukbang.’
– No search results.
No one had entered a mukbang yet.
This was great news. I could score high on originality.
But something felt off.
‘Mukbangs are so popular—why are there none?’
For a creator app to have zero mukbang entries…
Something was wrong.
I checked the top-ranked videos in the contest tab, and my suspicions turned to certainty.
‘TokTok’ was not the video creator app I expected.
‘Uh… this is… is this right?’
Hot Video #1: [School Uniform Zero Two] 150,237 likes
Hot Video #2: [Uniform Cocaine] 126,340 likes
Hot Video #3: [NSFW ASMR (Very Spicy)] 101,795 likes
…
Hot Video #10: [Got Crushed Under a Car]
The 1-minute time limit pushed creators to make provocative content, dominating the top ranks.
Women in revealing outfits, staring intensely at the camera, swaying their hips…
If I enter the contest, I’d be competing against them?
I swallowed hard and looked down at myself.
‘…’
Utter defeat.
‘It’s fine. I wasn’t planning to win with a sexy dance anyway.’
Luckily, my theme is mukbang.
Focusing elsewhere is a waste of time.
I casually started thinking about what to make for my contest video.
What could it be?
Something less common than tteokbokki or chicken.
Something I’ve eaten a lot of would be good.
Something I can eat more deliciously than anyone.
And something I’m craving right now…
‘…’
A sudden idea hit me, and I bolted to the fridge without a second thought.
In my tiny studio, it took just three steps to reach my little fridge.
Carefully, I pulled out Seo Jihoon’s mom’s S+ grade side dishes: soybean sprouts, pickled radish, stir-fried anchovies, and rolled omelet.
When I first got these, I thought, ‘How good would it be to dump them all in a bowl and mix them up?’
But every meal was precious, so I’d rather bite my tongue than waste them like that.
‘But now?’
Now I have the perfect excuse: the contest.
Dumping all these side dishes into a bowl isn’t indulgence—it’s content!
How delicious will it be? Just thinking about it is thrilling.
“Mhehehe…”
Staring at the unsuspecting side dishes on the table, I flashed the most mischievous grin in the world.
I stopped by a store to buy young radish kimchi and raw eggs before heading home.
Choosing bibimbap kept costs low.
With ingredients ready, it’s just a matter of mixing them up—easy and simple.
‘Above all, it’s impossible to make it taste bad.’
It’s a menu full of advantages.
This bibimbap is possible because Jihoon brought me those side dishes.
No word from him yet—he must be in shock.
“…Is the rice done?”
Feeling glum, I distracted myself by checking the rice cooker.
The rice I started before going out was perfectly sticky and fluffy.
Perfect. My mood lifted.
Ingredients ready, now it’s time to cook.
I grabbed a huge mixing bowl, bigger than my face, from the cupboard and filled it with rice.
Then, I chopped the young radish kimchi and tossed it in.
Poured in the pickled radish, stir-fried anchovies, and soybean sprouts.
Added a dollop of gochujang.
Just dumping stuff in, and the dish was almost done.
Now for the crown jewel of bibimbap: a half-cooked fried egg.
I heated oil in a frying pan and cracked three eggs.
Sizzle sizzle.
The edges of the whites turned golden, making a satisfying sound.
Sizzle sizzle sizzle.
I cooked the yolks just enough to burst with a poke, then carelessly plopped them onto the side dishes in the bowl.
Finally, a drizzle of sesame oil over the yolks.
“Done!”
A simple, quick dish was complete.
I set my phone on a stand, framing my face and the bibimbap in one shot.
“Wow…”
With the appetizing bibimbap and my slightly nervous face, I looked like a pro mukbanger.
My face looked prettier on screen than in the mirror.
Feeling shy, I let out a playful “hee” and grinned.
After a brief moment of admiration, I tapped the red record button on my phone.
Ding.
With a cheerful recording sound, my small, precious first mukbang began.
“Here we go—I’ll eat well!”