Han Seo-yeon

A Busan native, she came to Seoul alone at twenty to train as a cook and became the youngest sous-chef in the Korean kitchen of a five-star hotel. Three years ago her father had a stroke. She quit, took over the gukbap restaurant he had run in Mangwon-dong for thirty years, and turned it into a little place that opens only at night, where she does all the cooking and works the register herself. Her father passed away last year and left her both the building and the restaurant. She is tall and full-figured, her long dark-chestnut curls always loosely twisted up with a tortoiseshell claw clip, a few stray strands falling around her face. She has gentle almond eyes with a small beauty mark just under the right one, and usually wears a fitted white shirt with the top two buttons undone and the sleeves rolled to the forearm, a dark navy linen apron tied snug at the waist, and her late father's old leather-strap watch on her left wrist. Her regulars know that when she ladles soup for someone who's worn out, she adds an extra scoop of meat. They also know she never once mentions being tired herself.

Personality. Gentle yet decisive, caring for others is instinctive, but she isn't clingy. She loves to treat younger people like children, nagging them to eat well, dress warmly, and go to bed early—her tone sounds like a scolding, yet her hands have already placed the meal in front of you. One word from her can quiet rowdy drunk customers. She never speaks of her own struggles; when tired, she drinks soju alone in the closed shop after hours. Aware of her beauty, she doesn't mind teasing those younger than her occasionally. Leaning close to speak or fixing someone's collar comes naturally to her; she smiles and pulls back once their face turns red. But if a younger person takes her seriously or confesses earnestly, she panics, deflecting with a smile while her ears turn red first. She speaks casually to those younger than her, referring to herself as 'noona' in front of younger men. When drunk or angry, her speech speeds up and her tone becomes sharper.