My Regular Spot
"...Let's hurry up and buy the coat, then go."
"Ah! Right! Mine! I totally forgot while picking out your clothes!"
Seriously... how do you forget the entire reason we came to the department store?
"Just grab whatever and let's go."
"Hmm... Oh! Should we get matching couple coats with our maknae?!"
"Do whatever you want. Just hurry up."
"Aw, come on... you're having a rough time, huh...?"
"...Then hurry up."
We went back into the shop we'd just come out of, and she bought the exact same coat in brown.
"Hehe~"
...I guess someone's in a good mood.
"What do you want for lunch? It's about that time."
"Hmm! Whatever you want to eat, Yeonwoo!"
"Oh, then... remember the jjajangmyeon we had at my place a while back?"
"Huh? Oh! That was so good!"
"Let's go there."
"Eh? You mean the Chinese place?"
"Yes."
Ever since we ordered delivery that one time, I'd been craving jjajangmyeon and jjambbong on the regular, and every single order had been delicious. Even the fried rice I occasionally tacked on was great, so I'd concluded this was the real deal. I'd been meaning to visit the restaurant itself, but laziness kept getting in the way—so with us already out today, why not.
"Yes! That place was delicious!"
"Shall we head out right now, then?"
"Ah! Hold on! I wanna do one more thing—"
Considering how much I'd indulged her so far, I decided to resort to force.
"We're leaving NOW! I'm hungry! Let's go!"
Should've done that from the start.
Nothing gets through to her until she's had a good scare, does it?
"...Yeonwoo. What am I going to do with you?"
"What's the matter?"
"It's just... when you got all dressed up earlier keeps flashing back, and it makes you even scarier now..."
"Oh..."
Didn't know that.
Must have been one of those bonus effects attached to the premium paid skin, apparently.
"But honestly, you looked SO pretty earlier—I still remember it... and you were so thick— I should shut up... shouldn't I...?"
And so we left the department store.
"Could I get a few shopping bags?"
"Ah! You're helping me?! Aigoo~! Our maknae is just too sweet~!"
"...Hand them over, or I'm throwing all of it away."
"...Sorry. I won't. There's a lot of expensive stuff in here."
I took a few bags off Yubin's hands, who was drowning under an armful of them.
"Seriously... you spent way longer in the cosmetics section, so how do you have more clothes than anything else...?"
"Hehe! I just kept finding pretty things...!"
Wait.
...Isn't this the exact same shirt and jeans I was wearing earlier?
"Why did you buy the same things I was wearing?"
"Huh? They're not the same—those are the ones YOU were wearing."
"...And that's why you bought them?"
Also, when did she even buy them?
When I went to the bathroom earlier, maybe?
"Fufu! I'll wear them on stream later and Yeonwoo's fans will lose their—yes... okay... I won't say it..."
"...Is that seriously why you bought them?"
"No! It's just, seeing them on you was so pretty I got totally seduced into buying them! And if I'm buying them anyway, I figured I might as well get the ones with Yeonwoo's aura lingering on them!"
...The shirt's not stretched out or anything?
Well, if it was fine, no harm in buying it, I suppose.
From this point on, clothes-related matters were no longer my problem to worry about, so I filed it away and lost interest.
"Let's grab a taxi."
"Yeah! Good call!"
"Also, wouldn't it be better to drop the bags off at my place first, then go eat?"
"Ah! Yes! That's smarter!"
We flagged down a taxi waiting nearby and headed for my apartment. Before long we arrived, and I paid the fare.
"Ah, this kind of thing should really be on me..."
"The coat you bought me costs at least ten times more than this. It's fine."
"...That's true, huh."
"Plus, I have plenty of money."
"Huh? YouTube pays that well? Don't live streams barely get any donations?"
"Well... there's that... and I've made some money on stocks too..."
"Whoa! You do stocks?! I tried and it was way too hard for me..."
"At least buy shares of your own company steadily. Opening an account really isn't that hard, you know? If you're ever curious about anything, just ask me. I'll teach you."
Since our company's stock was the blue-chip kind that never goes down, I recommended it.
"Ooh...! Got it! Thanks!"
...Not gonna happen.
One look at her told me she'd forget all about it right after lunch.
Anyway, we dropped the bags at my place and headed to the Chinese restaurant.
"Let's see... 'Jeokunjeong'..."
I'd never actually been there, so I opened my map app and searched for the name.
Oh, found it.
Ten minutes on foot?
...It was right around the corner this whole time?
If I'd known it was this close, I would've stopped by at least once on my convenience store runs...
Well, better late than never.
"It's a ten-minute walk. Let's go."
"Yeah!"
We walked over, arrived at the restaurant, went inside, and sat down.
"Mmph..."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing..."
Why does this feel familiar?
When I first saw the restaurant's name, I had this odd sense of déjà vu, and even the interior gave me that same strange feeling of familiarity.
Except I was certain I'd never been here...
Whatever.
A place this good must have shown up in some promo post or video I'd seen somewhere.
What good would figuring it out do me anyway?
All that mattered was that the food was good.
"What can I get for you?"
"I'll have... the jjambbong!"
"Order here, please!"
"Coming~"
When I called the owner over to place our order, a kindly-faced grandmother came out.
"One ganjjajang, large, and one jjambbong, please."
"Coming~ Oh, we've got one order of fried dumplings left over—want me to throw that in?"
"Oh, if you're offering, we'd be grateful."
"I don't normally do this, but you girls are just too pretty to say no to~"
"Ahaha..."
"Thank you!"
...That particular warmth only the elderly possess—truly a difficult force to reckon with.
Anyway, we ordered, waited, and the food came out.
"Here you go~ Enjoy~"
"Thank you."
...They gave us quite a lot of extra service, didn't they?
And weren't those dumplings supposedly leftovers? They look fresh out of the fryer.
Mm! I'm settling in here for good!
It's a little awkward that she chats so much, but if I come alone she probably won't bother me, right?
"Wow...! Their jjambbong is amazing too!"
"Told you, right?"
"The dumplings are even better!"
"They are, aren't they."
We finished our meal, paid, and headed out.
"Shall we call it a day and part ways?"
"What?! Already?! I still have SO much I want to do!"
"...And what exactly would that be."
"Admire our Yeonwoo after she's all—sorry..."
"Go home and admire the shopping bags you already have."
"Aww..."
"And stop acting cute. It's gross."
"You're so mean!"
After that, we stopped by my place so she could drop off the bags, and we said our goodbyes.
A few days later.
Mm... craving jjajangmyeon...
Should I go get some?
I'd been lying in bed watching YouTube when a jjajangmyeon video came up, and the glossy, glistening noodles looked so damn appetizing that now I wanted some too.
"Ugh, fine!"
I got up from bed, stretched, and changed clothes.
Hmm... should I wear that coat Yubin bought me?
I threw on whatever random clothes I could find, pulled on my track pants and the coat, jammed a cap on my head, and headed outside.
"Perfect temperature today..."
The breeze was cool and crisp while the sunshine poured down warm, and it started lulling me toward sleep.
...Maybe I should take the day off from streaming?
As the drowsiness set in, the urge to skip today's broadcast grew stronger.
Tsk... no, I have to resist.
Things were bound to get busy soon, so the more streams I banked now while things were quiet, the less painful later would be.
I strolled along leisurely until I reached the Chinese restaurant...
...What on earth?
The place was crawling with people. Confused, I looked around and spotted cameras and staff among the crowd.
Are they filming some variety show?
Well, great. Waste of a trip.
I was turning back home, thinking I'd come out for nothing, when I heard someone calling my name.
"Y-Yeonwoo?!"
"...Seyeon?"
Why is Seyeon of all people here...?
Normally I'd just blow right past her and—...actually, I could just blow right past her, couldn't I?
Pretending not to hear, I picked my steps back up.
"W-wait a second! You can't just walk by!"
...Should I run?
Yeah, let's run.
I could see people's attention gradually turning toward me, so I picked up the pace.
Just as I started jogging, a gust of wind came barreling down from the direction I was running toward.
"Oh, for god's sake."
...I knew that cap was a bad idea.
The cap lost its fight against the fierce wind and went flying.
...I should've adjusted the fit. It's been sitting loose on me because it's the wrong size.
I regretted putting off the one chore I'd been too lazy to deal with for weeks.
"Sigh..."
I trudged over to where the cap had landed, picked it up, and dusted it off.
"Tsk."
Escape was officially off the table.
"Huff...! Y-Yeonwoo...! It really was you!"
"Seyeon? Been a while?"
"I love it when you pretend not to know me, Yeonwoo...!"
...Seyeon's tastes appear to have gotten dangerous while I wasn't looking.
"But what brings you here? That's my regular spot over there."
"Oh! Really?! We're here filming a variety show!"
...So it really WAS a variety shoot.
Then that would explain why the place felt familiar—I must have seen it on TV.
"Which show?"
"Restaurant Expedition!"
Restaurant Expedition?
That was just a low-key comfort show where they hunted down hidden food gems, introduced them, and invited guests on to chitchat—
Oh. Now I remembered.
Why a Chinese restaurant from a show I barely even watched had felt so familiar to me.
"Oh, that one? But why are you here? Are you a guest?"
I shelved the memory for later and just asked her directly.
"Hehe! I got booked as a series regular! And it's all thanks to you, Yeonwoo!"
"Oh, congrats. You made it big."
"Thanks! But... wait, if you're here to eat! Come join—"
"Well then, I'll be going. Good luck with the shoot."
"Ah! Aren't you here to eat?! At least eat before you go! I won't let them bother you! They just won't film your table!"
"Hmm... who's the guest?"
"You probably won't know him, but there's a male idol here! Oh! Let me show you a picture! You might recognize him, actually!"
The moment I looked at the photo Seyeon held out, the thought I'd cut off earlier came rushing back.
...So it really was going to happen.
Since Seyeon—who shouldn't have existed here—appeared, I'd assumed the incident had been erased. Apparently it was still scheduled.
Not that it was a big deal... wait, no, it kind of was...
It was literally a scene straight out of a drama, so yeah, I suppose it counted.
To put it simply:
It was a love-triage brawl.
The girlfriend of a male idol who lived around here stormed onto the set mid-filming and unleashed the classic "Oppa! Is there some other woman besides me?!"
The incident never made it to broadcast, but word spread online, and then someone who'd read about it actually came to the restaurant, declared it insanely delicious, and the whole scandal quietly buried itself while the place blew up by word of mouth. A thoroughly absurd chain of events.
For a while afterward, the internet was flooded with certification posts from people visiting the restaurant.
Which meant I'd been exposed to it plenty, and naturally the place had etched itself into my memory.
I'd wanted to visit someday, but I'd completely forgotten about it—and who would've thought that after regressing, I'd end up here by sheer coincidence...
"Sigh..."
The moment this place gets famous, I lose my one regular spot...
Chinese food this good, with service this generous, is hard to come by...
It's a shame, but nothing to be done about it.
Not like I could stop it... actually, I could, couldn't I...
I could just wait out front, subdue the girlfriend when she showed up, and send her home...
But I'd have no justification for any of that, would I.
Plus it'd be a hassle.
And if I stuck my nose in for nothing and some eyewitness account surfaced, that would be a problem.
Better to lose a regular spot than deal with all that.
"I'll just head out. I'd feel bad interrupting the shoot."
"Ah! You really wouldn't be interrupting..."
Just as Seyeon finally accepted my resolve and gave up, and I was about to head home, the grandmother owner came out of the restaurant.
"Miss~ I saw you coming, so I made you a ganjjajang. You're not gonna eat it~?"
...Life really does never go the way you plan.