Ask the following questions to anyone familiar with Korean cuisine and culture. What would be the most iconic staple of Korean diet? What would be the must have item during every meal? What would the one thing that was perpetually found stocked up in the kitchen of every Korean household?

The answer would without a doubt be the beloved kimchi.

Kimchi, a core component of Korean customs and traditions and values, so much so that the annual kimchi-making process — known as gimjang — was strongly followed and celebrated even to this day. It served as an opportunities for families to gather together and bond while making their favourite and most versatile pogi kimchi that would be eaten all year-round.

To a certain family and group of friends residing in Jeju, a more specific answer would be the special kimchi made using Granny Im’s tried and tested recipe that had been passed down for generations. Currently, Chinsun was the only living human possessing the secrets to Granny Im’s recipe. It was not written down anywhere, but instead stored securely in Chinsun’s mind. Ever since taking over Naesae, Chinsun had made certain to keep traditions alive, and that included gimjang.

Thus, as the streets of Jeju quietened down following the festivities of the Mid-Autumn Festival and winter knocked shyly on the doors to announce its looming arrival, Chinsun set forth to produce plentiful of kimchi for her loved ones. This was one of the rare days where Naesae would remained closed voluntarily and not due to unforeseen circumstances or supernatural threats.

Although traditionally gimjang was a form of family bonding, in Chinsun’s case, she had been doing it mostly as a solo expedition with the occasional guidance of Granny Im — though even that had been decreasing over the years as the young girl had honed her skills and no longer needed supervision. The years in which Jongdae was in Seoul for university were the specially lonesome periods of gimjang. With Jongin going off on exorcism duties and leaving Mama Kim to take care of the funeral home, Chinsun did not really have any other option but to complete the task by herself. This year however it was different; this year the eldest child of the Kim family who did not have the basic skillsets for exorcism and who was yet to be fully trusted with the family business had been kicked out of his bed by his own mother to brave the cold winter the morning.

That was how a very disgruntled Jongdae found himself standing on the rooftop of the building where Chinsun lived. To his left were three distinct mountains of cabbage soaked in salted water and to his right was an array of red chilli powder, garlic, ginger, fermented shrimp paste, fish sauce and every other imaginable ingredient for the seasoning.

“Stop dawdling and help me wash the brined cabbage,” Chinsun exhaled, not even bothering to look at Jongdae. “Then we’ll set them out to dry and prepare the seasoning.”

With her hair tied up in a neat bun and hands protected by thick rubber gloves, Chinsun emitted the determination reminiscent of a warrior ready for battle. Sensing no movement coming from Jongdae though, Chinsun slowly turned her head around and narrowed her eyes at the male.

“At this rate you’ll give Jongin a run for his money for the title of Mr Grumpy.”

“Don’t compare my handsome face with his,” Jongdae scoffed in disapproval.

The cabbage Chinsun had just picked up slipped out of her hands, dropping back into the basin and splashing water everywhere. This caused a heavy frown to set on Jongdae’s face.

“What? You disagree?” Jongdae challenged, raising his chin. “I’ve got a jawline for days. Can’t you see?”

Letting out a soft sigh, Chinsun blinked languidly before shaking her head in amusement.

“All I see are a pair of idle hands that should be preoccupied with the cabbages,” Chinsun mused, refusing to give Jongdae the attention that he wanted.

Realising that he was fighting a losing battle, Jongdae dropped down next to a basin and robotically rinsed the cabbage before passing it over to Chinsun.

“This is so not fair,” Jongdae whined in his signature high-pitched voice. “You never asked Jongin to help you.”

“Jongin was always away on business,” Chinsun replied calmly. “If he was around he’d be helping too. After  all, having more helping hands makes the process faster.”

“Yeah, ‘business’.” Jongdae rolled his eyes while making air quotation marks. “He just had to conveniently stop by Seoul and delay his trip home. Not only is he not being used as free labour, but he also gets to visit Sehun’s fancy loft and hang out with my best friend.”

Chinsun in her cheeks in an attempt to hold back the giggle that threatened to erupt from . Despite being the oldest of them all, Jongdae would forever be the childish troll who brought out laughter out of anyone and everyone.

“A lazy troll,” Chinsun hummed.

Jongdae snapped his head towards her, raising an eyebrow and demanding her to repeat what she had just said. Chinsun batted her eyelashes innocently and shrugged her shoulders. Her lips curled in an innocuous smile, successfully blowing away Jongdae’s frustrations.

However Chinsun had rejoiced too early for they had just finished laying out the cabbage and were commencing on the seasoning when Jong