The Next Day

The next day.

"Who wants to go grocery shopping?"

"Me! Me!"

"Me too."

Hm, so that's Yubin and Yerin….

"We only need one, so first come, first served."

First come, first served is always the cleanest solution.

"…Aww."

"Yesss!"

While Yubin got ready to head out, I turned on my phone.

I really should check the community…. After all, I'd completely nuked yesterday's stream, so public sentiment was probably in shambles.

I braced myself for whatever reactions awaited and opened the very first post—

Yeah, let's not read that.

Sometimes not knowing is the better option, wouldn't you say?

Making a swift executive decision, I turned the screen off and slid the phone into my pocket.

Just in time, apparently—Yubin looked ready to go.

"Yeonwoo! Let's go!"

"Yes."

As I was putting on my shoes at the front door, Minseo apparently got curious about where we were headed.

"Oh? What's this? Where are you two going?"

"Yeonwoo and I are going on a date!"

A grocery run counts as a date now?

Truly, anything and everything is a date these days.

"Sweetheart! Let's shop!"

I peeled Yubin off of me as she clung on, doing aegyo.

"So cold!"

Ignoring her, I told Minseo where we were going.

"We're just going grocery shopping."

"Oh, that's what it was?"

"Yep. It'll take about an hour? Don't eat without us, please."

"Okay, have fun!"

Clack!

Out the door and on the way to the supermarket, Yubin apparently thought of something and opened her mouth.

"Wait, Yeonwoo—doesn't your makeup ever come off? You look exactly the same as yesterday."

"Sorry? I didn't put any on, so how would it come off?"

"What?!"

At my answer, Yubin stopped dead in her tracks and began studying my face with the intensity of a scientist examining a specimen.

"Your eyes—there's no makeup?"

"Nope."

"Lips?"

"No."

"Your skin, then…!"

"Sunscreen."

"Ha! Then what have I been suffering for…."

For Yubin, who regularly got massages and dermatology treatments and every manner of maintenance, I suppose this was quite the shock.

But she recovered quickly, and excitedly fired off another question.

"Then how do you take care of your skin on a daily basis?!"

Hm… I'm not sure I have anything to offer here?

"I wash my face morning and night, and wear sunscreen."

"…You don't do face masks?"

"Too uncomfortable."

Curiosity had gotten the better of me once, so I'd tried the ones we had at home.

But having something damp and cold clinging to your face the whole time was so suffocating I couldn't stand it. And even if I endured that, the heat of my face eventually warmed the thing up and made the whole experience feel gross.

"…So it really does come down to genetics."

…Wouldn't that be closer to TS calibration than genetics?

But there was no way I could say that out loud, so I answered with silence.

"The world is so unfair…."

…I feel oddly guilty now.

We kept chatting away, and before I knew it, we'd arrived at the supermarket.

"What are we here to buy?"

"Ingredients for soft tofu stew."

"Ooh?! Sundubu!"

"Any ingredients you'd like me to add?"

"Hmm… a ramen noodle pack?"

"No."

"Right? I figured as much. Just checking."

The starch from the noodles changes the flavor of the broth, so that's a hard no.

"Oh! I want perilla seed sundubu!"

"I'm sorry?"

Are you serious? That means boiling two separate pots.

"N-never mind! I'll just have the regular!"

Ah, I frowned again, didn't I?

Between this and earlier, no wonder she feels bad….

"As long as you don't leave any behind."

Sigh. Fine, I'll just make it for her.

Boiling two pots is a hassle, not a challenge.

"Eeee! Our maknae is the best!"

"I'm not doing the dishes, though."

"Of course! Unnie will scrub every pot squeaky clean! Squeaky shiny!"

Seeing her that happy put me in a good mood too.

On the way back from shopping, we decided to stop by a café and pick up coffee for the others.

"Iced Americanos for everyone back home should do it, right?"

"Deal! I'll take a vanilla latte!"

"Then I'll have an Ashatchu, please."

"Huh? What's that?"

"Sorry?"

Oh, right—Ashatchu isn't well known yet in this era.

"An iced tea with a shot of espresso added."

"…That actually tastes good?"

"Better than you'd think."

Every now and then, things that aren't famous yet slip out of my mouth on autopilot.

…Is this what you'd call a regressor's deliberation?

Anyway, we placed our order at the café and chatted while we waited.

"Hng… pretty soon we'll have to say goodbye, won't we…?"

"That's right? Back to work once we get home."

"I wish we could hang out a little longer…."

"We can just meet again next time. Feel free anytime."

"Really?! You'd actually come if I called?!"

"No, I mean you should come over. I'm not traveling anywhere."

Going out is a hassle. I hate it.

Yesterday, getting to Minseo's place had taken me so long purely because I was lazing around dreading the trip.

"I see… thanks…."

Ah, now that I think about it—wasn't that next week?

"There's a game I want to play. Want to do a multiplayer run of it next time?"

It was a game I'd played constantly before regressing, so I remembered its release date perfectly. I'd been meaning to recruit a party anyway. Perfect timing.

"Oh? What game?"

"Beast Hunter."

"…What kind of game is that?"

"Exactly what it sounds like. You hunt and kill giant beasts."

A simple game: you form parties of up to four, take down monsters the size of houses, craft stronger gear from the materials, and use it to hunt even stronger monsters.

"Isn't that a little… brutal? They're animals, and you're killing them…."

That's only because she hasn't seen what they look like.

"Beasts" in name only—they're straight-up monsters.

"Well, feel free to pass if it's not your thing."

It's not exactly a girls' genre, I'll admit.

"No… I'm not saying I don't want to…."

That's a yes, isn't it?

"Then since it's a four-player game, we just need two more people."

Hm… who should the other two be?

While I was mulling over party composition, Yubin spoke up.

"Yeonwoo, do you ever play cute, cozy games?"

"Cozy games? Sure, I play those."

I've never been picky about genre. Even ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the polarizing stuff—I just find it fun.

The only reason I'm not playing them now is that I've already played pretty much all of them.

"Like what?"

"Minecraft, Animal Crossing, Pokémon, that kind of thing?"

"…Then why would you want to play that game with us instead?"

"Because it's fun."

I genuinely just wanted to play it together because it's fun.

But thanks to the image I'd built up, she'd apparently misread it as me wanting an excuse to torment them.

"No, wait—"

The moment I tried to clear up the misunderstanding, the pickup buzzer rang.

What timing.

"Let's head out."

"Okay."

It stung a little, but it wasn't the kind of thing that warranted a whole explanation, so I let it go.

Once we left the café with our drinks, Yubin pulled out a straw and declared:

"Me! I want a sip of that!"

Ah, so she'd been curious about the Ashatchu ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ever since asking what it tasted like.

"Here you go."

"Ooh…! Why is this so good…?"

"I told you it was good."

"Wow… people who can cook really are built different, huh?"

"No? I keep telling you, I'm completely ordinary."

We were still trading idle banter when we arrived back at Minseo's place.

"We're back!"

"We're home!"

"Oh, you're back?"

After greeting everyone else, I headed into the kitchen and started unpacking the groceries.

"We're making two versions—perilla seed sundubu and the classic. Everyone tell me which one you want."

"Classic for me."

"I'll take… perilla!"

"Perilla? I've never had that. Is it good?"

"It's delicious."

"Ooh, then I'll try it."

Seriously, Sua—you're the one who said you wanted sundubu, and now you're switching to perilla? What am I supposed to do with that?

"I'll have the classic…."

"Like I said before—perilla for me!"

Hm, and I'm having the classic.

Three perilla, three classic, then?

A perfect fifty-fifty split. Easy to portion.

With the groceries put away, I got down to serious cooking.

First, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I pulled out two pots, poured in a suitable amount of water, and dropped an anchovy broth packet into each.

"Are you supposed to add that much seasoning? Isn't that bad for you?"

I shot a sideways glance at Sua, who was offering unsolicited instruction from beside me.

"Sorry… I'll keep my nose out of it."

Lately, my face has been getting a lot of use as a suppression tool.

But honestly, when you're blessed with the naturally-born aura of a great conqueror, wouldn't it be a waste not to use it? Sometimes you've just gotta deploy it. Mm-hm.

Anyway, with Sua's interference eliminated, I continued cooking.

I trimmed the Cheongyang peppers, onion, scallions, and the rest, and added them to the broth, roughly cubed the soft tofu, then made two bases—one seasoned with gochujang and chili flakes, and a perilla seed sauce using the powder we'd stashed at Minseo's place from before.

Then I added the tofu and seasoning to the vigorously boiling broth, stirred carefully with a spoon so as not to break up the tofu, turned down the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠heat, and covered the pots.

"You can turn these off in five minutes."

"Ooh…! It smells insane!"

"Ah, if anyone wants an egg in theirs, it needs to go in now, before the lid closes."

"Let's just eat! I'm starving!"

"Fine by me."

Egg or no egg, you'd be waiting the same five minutes either way—did it really matter? I let it slide.

Hunger is a serious matter, after all.

"Oh! Yeonwoo! That thing went up!"

"That thing? What thing?"

"The footage you shot with the Evermore leader!"

"Oh, that?"

It was about time for it to drop—so it came out today, huh?

"Yep! Let's watch it while we eat!"

"Sounds good."

Having completed my cooking duties, I waited comfortably at the table.

Not that I had a choice—even if I'd tried to carry things over, they'd have blocked me and forced me to wait anyway.

In any case, by the time I'd waited my turn, bowls were set in front of me and everyone had gathered at the table.

"Here you go, everyone!"

"Time to eat!"

"Wow!"

"You all told me to make it, so no complaining if it tastes bad."

There was no guarantee it would actually be good, so I laid down my insurance first.

"Heh heh heh…! If it's our Yeonwoo cooking it, I'd eat that tteokbokki from yesterday all over again!"

"It's not that good, so rest assured."

"Hey! That's too mean!"

True to form, I smacked Minseo's hand away, worked the remote, and pulled up YouTube on the living room TV.

"So how was the shoot?"

"It was fun, I guess."

"Really? I'd love to meet Yeseul sometime."

"Me too! I was a huge fan back in my trainee days!"

"If there's ever a chance, I'll set up a call for you."

"Gasp! Really?!"

"Yep. We got pretty close during the shoot, and we agreed to meet up again sometime."

"Ooooh!"

Leaving the chatter behind, I opened the official YouTube channel and hit play.

The moment the video started, a preview played, just like the interview behind-the-scenes clip from before.

"…You two actually got close, right?"

"Of course we did."

"…Right? You did get close."

"Yep."

Using banmal is the definition of getting close, after all.