“…So anyway, I was thinking… maybe I could make a little pocket money with ChatGPT.”

I muttered to myself.

But I was being completely serious.

ChatGPT.

An AI from the future.

It could instantly write essays, recipes, and practically anything else.

It really was humanity’s ultimate tool.

If I weren’t a middle school student, I probably would’ve started a business with it right away.

But I was fourteen now.

Part-time jobs were prohibited, and I couldn’t even open a bank account under my own name.

“Hmm… well, maybe I can at least earn some spending money.”

I wasn’t planning anything outrageous.

I wasn’t trying to conquer the world or become a millionaire.

I just wanted a little extra cash.

Enough to spend a thousand yen at the arcade, grab a bottle of Fanta from the convenience store afterward, and maybe splurge on some fancy snacks.

For something that small, I figured I could quietly make it happen.

Not by cheating.

Just by being… a little smarter.

“That said… I don’t know the first thing about programming…”

That much was true.

I’d reached the age of thirty-four without ever touching programming.

When I heard the word “JavaScript,” all I thought was, ‘Oh yeah, that’s some useful computer thing, right?’

I barely knew the difference between HTML and CSS.

I’d messed around with WordPress once, but the only thing I accomplished was breaking the theme and panicking.

“But if I ask ChatGPT…

Maybe it’ll teach me.”

I decided to give it a try.

I want to make a simple website that even a middle school student can build.

Please teach me how to do it using HTML and CSS.

[ChatGPT]

[Below is the simplest HTML and CSS structure.

Paste it into a text editor such as Notepad, save it with the “.html” extension, then open it in your browser.

Next…]

“Whoa…

It actually answered.”

For some reason, I suddenly felt motivated to study.

Probably because I knew ChatGPT would explain everything instantly.

“But even if I make a website…

What would I even put on it?”

That was the real problem.

ChatGPT could generate endless content.

But what kind of content could actually become pocket money?

If I remembered correctly, information websites were pretty popular back then.

Recipes.

Book reports.

Trivia.

Ghost stories.

Horoscopes.

Free resources…

“…Wait.

What about a book report website?”

I said it on impulse.

But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.

Middle school and high school students always had to write book reports.

And every year, plenty of them would wait until the last minute before thinking, ‘Guess I’ll search the internet…’

What if there were a website packed with ChatGPT-generated sample book reports?

“No…

People would definitely use that.”

Honestly, I would’ve used it myself.

ChatGPT could generate endless variations.

“A 400-word report on Gon, the Little Fox.”

“A review of Run, Melos! written from the perspective of a middle school boy.”

The possibilities were limitless.

Please write a book report on Botchan.

Limit it to 500 words.

Write it in the style of a middle school boy.

[ChatGPT]

[I read the novel Botchan and really admired the protagonist’s strong sense of justice.

Especially…]

“There it is!

That’s perfect!”

I couldn’t stop grinning as I read it.

The writing sounded exactly like a middle school student.

The level of kanji.

The repeated “I thought…” endings.

Everything was perfectly balanced.

“If I made a hundred of these and uploaded them to a website…

That alone would have value.”

Depending on the traffic, I might even earn advertising revenue.

…Well, I could worry about that later.

A book report site wasn’t a bad idea.

But another thought suddenly occurred to me.

“…What about recipes?”

Earlier, I’d casually asked ChatGPT for a recipe using chicken breast and potatoes.

It had instantly produced a complete dish.

That got me thinking.

Maybe…

Recipes were even more practical than book reports.

People searched for them constantly.

And best of all…

Mothers would love them.

“There are tons of people struggling to decide what to cook every day…”

Even Mom used to mutter, “What should I make tonight?”

Besides, recipe websites were probably still pretty rare in this era.

Cookpad might already exist.

It had launched in 2004.

But it still wasn’t widely known.

There were no smartphones yet.

Only a limited number of people browsed recipes on their computers.

I tried searching for “chicken recipes.”

Typing “TORINIKU RESHIPI” in Internet Explorer somehow made the whole experience feel incredibly 2005.

I opened several results.

But…

“…Way too many ads.

The layouts are a mess.

And these explanations are way too long.”

At the top of one page was an unnecessarily long story about how the author discovered the recipe.

The ingredients and instructions were buried after endless scrolling.

Even the photos looked grainy.

“Yeah…

This is awful.”

Compared to that, ChatGPT’s recipes were refreshingly simple.

Ingredients.

Instructions.

Tips.

Everything was organized clearly.

Easy to read.

Easy to follow.

If I asked, it could even adapt recipes for allergies or children.

“…If I turned this into a website…

Wouldn’t it be incredibly useful?”

For example—

One recipe per page.

Only the ingredients and instructions.

A short cooking tip at the end.

A clean layout that’s easy to print.

Just that alone would make people want to use it.

“If I generated three recipes a day…

That’d be ninety recipes in a month…

That’s already a real website.”

Just imagining it made me grin.

The feeling of creating content that could keep generating value was completely new to me.

Still thinking about it, I headed downstairs and peeked into the kitchen.

Mom was standing in front of the refrigerator, trying to decide what to cook.

“Mom, what’s for dinner today?”

“Hmm…

I haven’t decided yet.

I was just about to see what we have in the fridge.”

“You’ve got chicken, right?”

“Yeah.

There are still some thighs left from yesterday’s supermarket sale.”

“Then…

How about I come up with a recipe?”

“…Huh?”

She gave me a suspicious look.

“What?

Did you get cooking homework or something?”

“No…

I’ve just gotten interested in this kind of thing lately.”

“Oh?

Then sure.

Give me something quick and easy.”

“Leave it to me.”

Grinning, I hurried back to my room.

Please suggest a quick and delicious dinner recipe using chicken thighs.

It’s for busy homemakers.

Keep it under 300 words and include only the ingredients and instructions.

[ChatGPT]

[Teriyaki Chicken

Ingredients: One chicken thigh, two tablespoons each of soy sauce, mirin, and cooking sake, one teaspoon of sugar.

Instructions: 1. Pierce the chicken with a fork and marinate it in the seasonings for five minutes.

2. Heat a frying pan…]

“Perfect.”

I immediately copied it onto a sheet of paper and returned to the kitchen.

“Here.

Teriyaki chicken.

It says it’s quick and easy.”

“Huh?

You came up with this?”

“…Well…

I looked it up online.”

Mom read through the recipe and nodded in approval.

“…It really does look simple.

Alright, let’s make this tonight.”

“Yes!”

It made me surprisingly happy.

My idea—

Well, technically the AI’s idea—

Had actually become tonight’s family dinner.

No…

It genuinely excited me.

If I kept this up, maybe one day it really could become a recipe website.

A simple, practical site designed specifically for homemakers.

And if people found out it was being run by a middle school student…

That might even become part of its appeal.

“Now…

What should I call it?

Maybe ‘Home Cooking Notes’…

Or ‘Five-Minute Meals’…”

As I let my imagination run wild, I entered another prompt into ChatGPT.

What side dish can I make with potatoes and canned tuna?

“Heh…

This is getting addictive…”

Before I realized it, something inside me had begun to change.

Now that I possessed ChatGPT—the ultimate secret weapon—

I wanted to build a genuinely useful website and quietly earn a little spending money without attracting anyone’s attention.

That simple idea marked the quiet beginning of my AI side-business life.