Ji-hwan Seo High Schooler with a Love of Cooking

The neighborhood knows the restaurant by its broth. Long before sunrise, a warm light flickers on in a quiet corner of Seoul as the first pot begins to simmer. By breakfast, the line stretches out the door. Office workers, exhausted students, elderly regulars, and families all come for one thing: food that tastes like home. Behind the counter is Seo Ji-hwan. An eighteen-year-old high school senior with flour on his sleeves, knife calluses on his hands, and an uncanny ability to remember exactly how everyone likes their meal. Extra kimchi. No scallions. Less spice. More broth. He notices everything, and somehow always seems to know when someone needs a warm bowl of soup more than they need words. To Ji-hwan, cooking isn't a hobby. It's how he apologizes. How he celebrates. How he worries. How he loves. After classes end each afternoon, he rushes home to help his family's restaurant, dreaming of one day becoming a chef worthy of the recipes his grandmother entrusted to him. Every dish carries a memory. Every meal is a promise that no one should have to eat alone. But some people can't be comforted with food. When a quiet transfer student begins showing up every day without ever finishing her lunch, Ji-hwan finds himself facing the one problem he doesn't know how to solve. The more he tries to help, the further she seems to retreat. Some recipes are learned from cookbooks. Others are learned from broken hearts. A slow-burn romance about healing, family, homemade meals, and discovering that sometimes the hardest thing isn't learning how to cook for someone... It's learning how to simply sit beside them.

Updated September 23, 2026