Team Dinner

Today, for the first time in a while, I was out for something that wasn't work-related.

Minseo and I had promised over the phone a while back that we'd have a group dinner, remember?

Well, today was the day.

And that's how I ended up arriving at Minseo's house just now.

As for why it's her place instead of a restaurant — I'd suggested we skip the hassle of eating at someone's home and just eat out, but apparently that was a no-go, since having all six of us together supposedly posed a red medicine risk.

Honestly, I don't think we're at that level yet, but….

Still, democracy had spoken, so I'd obediently gone along with the majority.

Pushing the stray thoughts ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠aside, I pressed the doorbell in front of me.

Ding-dong!

After a brief wait following the chime, a screen lit up and Minseo's voice came through.

"Who is it?"

"It's me."

"Oh! Yeonwoo! I'll let you in!"

Before long the door swung open and Minseo appeared.

"Yeonwoo!"

Apparently thrilled to see me after so long, she came bounding toward me. I sidestepped the incoming tackle, slipped off my shoes at the entryway, and headed inside.

"So mean!"

Ignoring her as usual, I walked into the kitchen, where the others who'd arrived before me were already gathered.

"Huh, what's this. Everyone's already here?"

For some reason, today I was the last one. Normally I'd have expected just Yubin and Yuna here ahead of me, so this was a surprise….

"Our maknae's gotten too big for her boots! Showing up last — is that how it works now?!"

Apparently everyone realized how rare this was, because Sua launched into her rabble-rousing with a face full of mischief.

"That's right! So right!"

"The maknae must be disciplined! Disciplined!"

Hm. Still the same as ever, even after all this time apart.

"Doesn't the main character always show up last?"

Fine, then I'll keep up my usual act.

"Look at that silver tongue!"

"Coming from that face, we can't even argue back!"

I know.

That's exactly why I said it.

"You're all done with setup too?"

"Yeah. Just finished."

Hm… if the setup's already done, things feel a little awkward, don't they….

Oh.

"Well then. Shall we eat?"

Now that I thought about it, there wasn't really any need for me to feel guilty.

They came early and set everything up — that's something to be grateful for, not apologetic about, no?

Plus, I'd arrived ten minutes early, if anything.

Anyway.

"Why is there so much food?"

A rough count of the dishes visible on the table had to be at least in the double digits.

"Minseo unni put in some serious effort today, I think?"

"You made all this yourself again? You could've just ordered in."

"She said she wanted to feed you guys something she cooked herself."

Minseo was being weirdly considerate again.

She'd be crushed if we ate it and said it tasted bad.

Regardless, I exchanged hellos with the rest of the gang, and just like last time, we kicked off today's dinner with Minseo's toast.

"Alright! May our friendship last forever!"

…Noticing this since last time, but isn't that toast weirdly middle-aged-uncle flavored?

"Ahaha! Unni! You sound like a hiking-club ahjussi!"

Apparently Yubin got the same impression I did.

"But! I want to stay with you all forever, that's why!"

Wow… so people actually say that kind of thing out loud.

But does anyone genuinely get moved by such a cliché line?

Isn't that the exclusive domain of emotionally overwrought characters in anime?

"Unniii!"

"Wooju-nim…! I'm so touched…!"

…Turns out there are.

Seeking confirmation that my own withered emotions weren't the anomaly, I opened my mouth.

"Which part am I supposed to be moved by, exactly?"

"The 'forever' part, obviously? It's got a subtle flirting vibe to it."

"I think she just got caught up in the mood."

In order: me, Sua, then Yerin.

For the record, our group is split right down the middle on the MBTI spectrum — three F's and three T's.

But seriously, which part was moving?

"Okay! Then! Toast's done, so let's just eat!"

"Yay~!"

"Woo!"

Clink!

The glasses clinked together, the sound rippling through the room, and I raised mine to my lips and downed it in one go.

"Khh…."

"Augh…."

First time drinking in a while….

Since that time at Minseo's place, actually?

Before my regression, a drink after work had been the great pleasure of my life….

The days I used to nurse liquor with nothing but a bag of chips as a side dish suddenly felt a lifetime away.

Even though in reality it's been less than six months….

"Everyone! Try this!"

Minseo's shout yanked me out of the memory that had already been consigned to oblivion.

"I worked hard on this!"

"What is it?"

It was really red.

It smelled spicy, too.

Hm… what on earth is it?

"Tteokbokki!"

Tteokbokki? This is?

"Did you put Buldak sauce in it? Or capsaicin?"

"Huh? I didn't use either?"

…How does it come out this color without either?

I know tteokbokki is naturally a red dish, but this is extreme?

"Nobody touches that one. Got it?"

Having warned the other members, I turned back to Minseo.

"Yeonwoo! I worked so hard — at least take one bite!"

"No thanks."

Minseo's heartfelt effort wasn't worth more than my health, was it?

"Please…!"

Ignoring Minseo as she clasped her hands together and pleaded, I picked up a piece of the clearly delivery-ordered jokbal, dunked it in the shrimp sauce, and took a bite.

Mm. Jokbal really is the reliable one.

The dependable flavor made me nod without even realizing it.

"Unni! I'll eat it!"

Yubin, who'd been making an agonized face even back when I gave the warning, finally couldn't hold herself back and stepped up.

"I tried to stop her."

"Yubin unni, think it over again. Bleeding tomorrow?"

"It won't be that bad!"

Despite both my and Sua's protests, Yubin couldn't withstand the expectant gaze of Minseo staring up at her, and ultimately took a bite of the so-called tteokbokki.

"Mm?!"

Oh? It's actually not ba—

"BLEGH!"

Figures.

"Huh…?"

To get tteokbokki to that color, she must have dumped in an entire bottle of sauce.

Looking closer now, there were even scorched bits where it had burned while she was stirring.

"Throw it away."

"But… still…."

"Throw. It. Away."

"No! Yeonwoo—"

Minseo looked at me as if to argue, but one glimpse of my dead-serious expression and she sulked off, carrying the bowl to the sink.

…I said throw it away.

I'll take care of it myself later.

"What else did you make?"

"…This, and this."

I'm not touching those.

"And here I thought Minseo unni was a good cook. What a surprise, huh?"

"Right?! Gwahahaha! Spicy!"

"…I am good. This only happened because I made a big batch and misjudged the proportions…."

"The fish cake soup last time was good, though."

"If you can ruin a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠meal kit, you're basically an alchemist."

No human being should ever be able to ruin a meal kit.

Meal kits are edible if you just follow the instructions verbatim.

And this was the fish cake soup kit, no less?

That's instant-ramen-tier easy.

"It's not like that! I can cook to a reasonable degree, that's why it was good!"

Still in denial, Minseo was — so I decided to ask her a few pointed questions.

"How many years have ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you been living alone?"

"Huh? Um… three?"

"And how long have you actually been cooking yourself?"

"Uh… about a year?"

…Wait, really?

I'd assumed she couldn't cook because she had no experience — but she's done it for a whole year?

In that case…

"What heat level do you usually use when cooking?"

"High."

"Do you taste and check the seasoning midway through?"

"…Nope."

"If it's bland, do you add salt?"

"…If it's bland, that's good for the body, so I just eat it as is."

"The recipe calls for soup soy sauce — what do you use if you don't have any?"

"Uh… regular soy sauce?"

"Then, say you add the exact amount the recipe specifies, but it tastes too weak or too strong. Then what?"

"…Add more, or take some out?"

…At this point, wasn't the fact that her fish cake soup tasted good nothing short of a miracle?

"If you couldn't spot the problem in any of those answers, you should never cook again."

"…No argument here."

Good. At least she understood.

"Yeonwoo! You cook for us next time! You seem like you're actually good at it!"

"She's right! Your soybean sprout soup was delicious!"

"Sorry? That's something even this person can make, so it doesn't exactly prove anything, does it?"

I pointed at Minseo with my index finger.

"Exactly! Even I can make that level of thing taste genuinely good!"

And honestly, true.

Throw in some vegetables, adjust the seasoning with salt, soup soy sauce, and a pinch of MSG — that's the whole recipe.

Whether because the topic of cooking had hooked them or not, the members kept nattering on about it, so I tuned them out and helped myself to the side dishes.

"It'd be so fun to do a 'Yeonwoo's Cooking Class' stream sometime!"

…Excuse me?

How long was I not listening, and how did we get all the way over there?

Flustered by the sudden swerve in the conversation, I opened my mouth.

"…You mean a cam stream?"

"Well, as long as only your hands show, it should be fine, no?"

"Right! What's she got to worry about, with those pretty hands too?"

I mean… fair, technically….

But we're a virtual streamer group, though….

"First, submit a proposal and get approval before anything else."

Whatever. The manager will figure it out.

"I'm doing this the second I get home! Oh! Or should we all just do it together right now?!"

"That's a bit… you're proposing we do work at what's supposed to be a dinner party?"

At that, Sua and Yerin chimed in on my side.

"I'm with Yeonwoo. Today I want to play and feast with the members, not talk shop."

"You've got to nail down the details first — how many people in the collab, where it's happening, all that — before you make anything. It's too early."

"Boo… fiiiine…."

Thankfully, Yubin came around too.

But—

"Has anyone noticed one of us has been silent for a while?"

"Huh? Oh, right?! Yuna!"

Hearing me, Yubin roused Yuna, who'd been dozing off this whole time, with a tap on the shoulder.

"Wah! Yes! I wasn't sleeping!"

"…Nobody asked if you were sleeping."

"Ah…."

Embarrassed, Yuna scratched the back of her head, and I studied her face closely.

Hm… she does look pretty worn out?

Didn't she last longer when we drank before — she only started fading around the fourth or fifth shot?

"Did you stay up late last night?"

"I, um… played a game for too long and went to bed late…."

Thought so.

"Which game?"

"High-class Watch."

"Oh! That one! It's really popular lately, isn't it?"

"Right? Even my friends who never touch games are playing that one."

Well, it's at the peak of its popularity right now, so of course there'd be lots of female players.

For whatever reason, that game alone had an inexplicably huge following among women.

"It's so much fun! Let's all play together next time! It just so happens the team size is exactly six?!"

Ah, right, is it six these days?

It got changed to five later, so I'd forgotten.

"Then! We can do it as a collab!"

"No. We said we're done talking shop."

"But! It's been ages since I did a collab with you guys! And we've never done a gaming collab!"

It hasn't actually been that long since our last collab, so I'll let that first part slide…

but hmm, it's true we've never done a gaming collab, huh?

"Let's do something like a mafia game sometime, then."

"Oh! That's good too!"

The conversation ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠drifted from topic to topic after that, and the atmosphere slowly grew warmer and mellower.