Chapter 288 - [VALENTINE SPECIAL] Nystroms in Another World (1) (1/2)
”HEY, everyone,” Tilly greeted her viewers cheerfully. ”For our today's mukbang, we're going to try the famous seafood platter from DelicaSEAty. For the record, this isn't a sponsored ad. I just really want to try their seafood platter, especially their famous steamed Alaskan King Crab with honeyed bearnaise sauce.” She looked at the spread of seafood on her table and unconsciously licked her lips. ”Their creamy parmesan lobsters also look really good.”
Her seafood lover heart was so happy with her choice of dishes to eat for her live mukbang today. Aside from the two dishes that she already mentioned, she also ordered the following: cheesy baked oysters, squid calamari, butter garlic suahe, and creamy tiger prawns.
Yes, she could finish all of it on her own.
Her thoughts were only cut-off when she heard continuous ping coming from her mobile phone. When she checked the messages she received from her viewers, she laughed.
””Stop drooling, Tilly,”” she read the first message that she saw. Since it was a live broadcast, the messages continued pouring on the comment section that she couldn't finish another message. But upon scanning the messages, the grievances most of the viewers were the same. She couldn't stop laughing now. ”Fine, I will start eating now,” she said, then she rolled up her sleeves. ”Let me get my crab mallet first.”
She was a mukbanger and she had been doing this for only a year.
Her career as a mukbanger began when she left her work as a copy editor in a famous Advertising company. Well, fine. She got fired after she had a fight with Sir George– the Creative Director of their company and her boss.
I don't regret it though.
””Where are your ”little cinnamon rolls?”” she said, reading the question from a viewer while cracking the claw of the Alaskan King Crab. ”My babies aren't home. They're staying with my best friend right now. No, I won't show them to you.”
In the past, her babies accidentally had a cameo in her broadcast. Thankfully, their faces weren't clearly shown in the video. She never posted her children's photos in her social media accounts because for her, they were too young to be exposed in public.
Plus, I have another reason to protect their privacy.
And her children were her reason for living.
When she left her corporate job, she was worried about how to raise her two little cinnamon rolls as a single mother. That was when she ventured into becoming a Y*utuber. She had always been a foodie so she thought, why not do mukbangs? And her favorite food in the whole world was seafood.
Thankfully, she got lucky. Just six months since she started her channel, she already gained half a million viewers. And now, she could give a comfortable life to Julian and Winter– her twins.
Speaking of her babies, they were in the care of Isabelle– their nanny. She does her live broadcast in the dining hall of her apartment. To make sure that Julian and Winter wouldn't interrupt her broadcast, she asked Isabelle to bring her kids next door where her best friend lives. After her broadcast, she'd fetch her babies.
Anyway…
It had already been an hour since her live broadcast began when she felt stomach cramps. She tried to ignore the pain but it kept getting worse by the minute. Even her viewers noticed that she went pale.
Soon, the comment section was filled with concern from her viewers. Most of them were asking if she was fine.
There were also some viewers making fun of her and asking if she needed to poop.
”No, guys. I feel awful. My stomach suddenly hurts,” Tilly said while clutching her stomach really hard. ”I'm sorry but I need to end my broadcast here.”
***
”KIHO, wake up!”
Kiho groaned in complaint when he heard his younger brother's voice. ”Aku, go away,” he shooed him away. ”I just got home, okay?”
Well, he got home three hours ago.
But the point was he didn't have enough sleep yet. He woke up at dawn to fetch the imported fresh lobsters for his restaurant.
”Your restaurant is in trouble, Kiho Nystrom,” Aku said sternly. ”A famous mukbanger was reportedly food poisoned while eating your seafood platter live.”
Okay, that got his attention.
He immediately got up and turned to his brother with furrowed brows. ”What did you say?”
His younger brother crossed him arms over his chest. ”A famous female mukbanger was food poisoned,” he repeated. ”Your restaurant is trending online because her fans are bashing you. They're claiming that DelicaSEAty has poor food quality, thus the food poisoning incident.”
”The seafood that we serve is always fresh!”
”That's why I want you to go to that mukbanger and check if your food is really the cause of her food poisoning,” he said, then he paused. ”Kiho, if Dad finds out about this, he'll get mad at you again.”
”Your father is always mad at me anyway.”
Aku wasn't his biological brother because he was only adopted.
Their parents adopted him when their mother thought she was infertile. Two years after he was adopted, his mother miraculously got pregnant with Aku. And then, ever since his younger brother was born, his parents became distant to him.
”Kiho, don't say that,” his younger brother said. ”Mom and Dad care about you.”
He just rolled his eyes. To be honest, he already got over with their family drama. He was no longer the teenaged Kiho who craved for his parents love and attention. He was now a grown man who got his shit together.
Well, almost.
”What's the name of that mukbanger?” he said. As a restaurant owner, he was aware of the rise of the mukbangers in the food industry. He heard that those type of Y*utubers were good in advertising products. Even his colleagues were convincing him to hire a mukbanger to promote his chain of restaurants. ”I can't let her ruin my business.”
”Her channel is called 'Goddess of Crabs,'”Aku said, then he paused for a moment to check his phone. ”And her name is Tilly,” he said before he looked at him again. ”Tilly Prescott.”
His eyes widened in shock.
Hearing that familiar name made him remember his younger years. Of course, her name wasn't unique. But he had a feeling that the 'Tilly Prescott' that his brother mentioned was his Tilly. After all, when they were in high school, he once called her 'Goddess of Crabs.'
And it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that she was the one who inspired him to get into the food industry.
”Where is she, Aku?” Kiho asked seriously. ”I need to see her.”
***
”MOMMY, are you okay?”
”Does your stomach still hurt, Mom?”
Tilly smiled at Julian and Winter to assure her twins that she was alright. ”I'm fine, my precious cinnamon rolls,” she said. ”Thank you for worrying about me.”
Winter and Julian, each lying down on either side of her, hugged her tight.
She smiled and hugged them back.
Right now, she was confined in a private room in a private hospital where she was taken last night. It was confirmed that she had been food poisoned. But she was pretty sure that it wasn't because of the seafood that she ate during her live broadcast.
After all, she ate a sandwich that tasted strange during lunch yesterday.
I have to clear it to my viewers later.
She checked her phone a while ago and she found out that she was trending. DelicaSEAty was also trending because her followers were bashing the restaurant. She wanted to clear the misunderstanding but she fell asleep.
When she woke up, Winter and Julian were already beside her.
”Tilly, how are you feeling?”
She looked up to see Nia, her best friend, who just entered the room with plastic bags from her favorite fast food restaurant. Ah, it must be for the children. ”I'm feeling better now,” she said. ”Where's Isabelle?”
”I sent her home to make food for you. I know that you won't like the food here in the hospital,” Nia said, then she put the plastic bags on the table. Her private room had a mini lounge/dining area. ”Ah, I met someone outside. He said he's the owner of DelicaSEAty and he wants a word with you. Should I let him in?”
She already expected that visit because she received an email from the restaurant a while ago. Since she felt apologetic that DelicaSEAty was being bashed because of the misunderstanding that she created, she decided to cooperate with them to clear the issue.