"I'll Feed You Until You're Full." "...What?? ...With Porn?"
The next morning.
The instant I opened my eyes I habitually logged into the site. The moment I tapped the settlement tab, I had to rub my eyes to make sure I wasn’t seeing things.
“……Huh?”
The cumulative balance that had been hovering around 3.6 million won yesterday now showed an entirely different number in front of the decimal.
It turned out the overseas platform didn’t pay in cash but in its own cryptocurrency. Overnight, the coin’s value had shot through the roof like a rocket.
“Ooooh……”
Money multiplying while I did nothing but breathe. I stroked the screen with something close to reverence and finally stood up.
“Munch, munch……”
When I wandered into the living room, Seola was already awake, shoveling cereal at the table.
Her face was still puffed from sleep. I dropped into the chair across from her and casually opened with,
“Seola.”
“……?”
Cheeks bulging like a chipmunk, she tilted her head.
“Got any plans this weekend?”
“Gulp. Why?”
“I’m thinking of buying that camera we talked about. If you’re free, want to come along?”
I thought I’d sounded perfectly natural, but Seola set her spoon down with a clack and stared at me like I’d grown a second head.
“……‘If you’re free, want to come along’? What kind of lame phrasing is that? Why do you talk like such a coward?”
“Uh… yeah, now that you say it, it does sound pretty pathetic.”
If I wanted her to come, I should’ve just said so instead of the pathetic “if you happen to be free” line. Seola let out an exasperated sigh, then smirked and rested her chin on her hand.
“Hmm. Sure, let’s go together. Where are we even buying this camera? The department store?”
“Uh…… you don’t know?”
“……Huh?”
My proud display of ignorance made her frown so hard her brows nearly touched. I scrambled to explain.
“No! I’ve never bought professional gear before, so I really don’t know. Is the department store good? Or should we go to Yongsan or something?”
“……”
Seola gave me the look one gives a hopeless case, then sighed in defeat.
“……Sigh. Fine. Just tell me once you decide where we’re going.”
“Yeah, I’ll look it up.”
The mood had started to turn a little awkward when Seola slurped the last of her cereal milk, wiped her mouth, and abruptly changed the subject.
“Hey. Want to eat out tonight?”
“……?”
The unexpected suggestion from someone who usually survived on cafeteria food or convenience-store scraps made me blink.
But with the solid belief that our wallet situation was about to improve dramatically, I nodded without hesitation.
“Sure. Anything you’re craving? It’s been forever since we ate out.”
Her eyes sparkled like she’d won the lottery as she shouted the happiest word in existence.
“Let’s get mala hotpot!!”
So after all our lectures ended that late afternoon, we headed into the bustling city for our first proper two-person luxury meal in ages.
Come to think of it, it had been at least three months since we’d last paid real money for a meal outside.
The place we chose had a sign that screamed “continental grandeur” and was famous for its massive portions and excellent service—a huge mala hotpot chain.
“Um… honestly, I’ve never had mala hotpot before. I’ve only ever eaten bossam.”
Feeling slightly overwhelmed by the restaurant’s scale, I scratched my head and confessed. Seola chuckled as if she’d expected it.
“I know. That’s why I picked a beginner-friendly spot.”
“Oh……”
“They say even that legendary pro gamer from the famous AOS title comes here a lot. You watch his streams all the time, right?”
At the word “legendary,” a name flashed through my mind. My eyes flew wide open.
“Wait, for real?! The immortal demon king of mid lane?! Whoa, this is the place?!”
“Hey! Shush! Everyone’s staring!”
Seola slapped my back as I stood in the middle of the busy street with my hands clasped like a pilgrim who’d reached a holy site.
“Ugh, seriously…… Anyway, you like it, right? Hurry up and follow me. I’ll show you how to order and eat everything. Don’t act weird.”
“Let’s gooo!!”
Excited beyond measure at the thought of tasting the soul food supposedly loved by the world’s greatest mid laner, I trotted after Seola like an oversized dog wagging its tail and marched into the flashy restaurant.
The moment we stepped inside, overwhelmingly friendly staff greeted us and the distinctive aroma of hotpot spices hit like a wave.
I sat quietly beside Seola while she expertly tapped away at the table tablet, nodding at whatever she suggested.
“This one’s white broth, this one’s mala. We’ll do beef, add shrimp balls and wide noodles. Since it’s your first time with the spice, let’s keep the mala level at one, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say.”
After we ordered, Seola dragged me over to the sauce bar.
She mixed minced garlic, green onion, sesame oil, peanut sauce, and chili oil in her own golden ratio, whipping up an incredible special sauce and handing it to me.
Like a baby bird waiting for its mother to feed it, I obediently followed her instructions and sat back down.
A short while later, the enormous yin-yang pot in the center of the table began to boil furiously.
Bubble, bubble—gurgle, gurgle—!
The bright-red chili oil floating on the mala broth and the milky bone broth sent up thick, fragrant bubbles.
Around it were piled paper-thin slices of beef, bok choy, bean sprouts, and every kind of ingredient I’d never seen before.
Seola deftly used the tongs to drop meat and vegetables into the bubbling pot, then snapped her chopsticks apart and grinned at me.
“All set. Once the meat’s cooked, dip it in the sauce I made and try it.”
But I was way too hungry to wait even those few seconds.
I scooped up a big spoonful of the fiery red mala broth and slurped it down.
“Krrgh! It’s spicy!”
Seola watched me with slightly widened eyes, then burst out laughing.
“You know in China they don’t usually drink the mala broth, right?”
“……Huh? Cough!”
I froze mid-slurp, spoon hanging in the air.
“Why not…? It’s called ‘hotpot,’ isn’t it? Isn’t it a soup dish?”
When I stared at her in genuine confusion, Seola giggled like she was having the time of her life and continued.
“Originally, mala hotpot started with street vendors in old China who’d boil it by the river. The hygiene was terrible, so they reused the same oil over and over and dumped insane amounts of spices to cover the funky smell from the ingredients. That’s how mala was born.”
“……What? So the broth I just drank……”
I covered my mouth, turning pale. Seola waved her hands, laughing her head off.
“No, no, don’t freak out lol. That’s the ancient original story. This place uses a clean bone-broth base adjusted for Korean tastes, so it’s perfectly safe. I was just messing with you.”
“Haa…… You scared me half to death.”
I let out a sigh of relief and took another cautious slurp. It really was just spicy and delicious.
“Aha. Another piece of new knowledge acquired.”
Now that I could relax, I started properly fishing out meat and vegetables.
Watching me stuff my cheeks until they nearly burst, Seola quietly picked at some enoki mushrooms and spoke.
“Actually…… every time I came for mala hotpot I’d always stress out while picking ingredients. I’d worry that adding one more thing would go over budget. Even when I came with classmates I’d only add a tiny bit of wide noodles……”
“……”
“Munch, munch…… But this time money came in out of nowhere. So I can add as much meat as I want and eat until I’m completely full.”
At her calm confession, I stopped moving my chopsticks and just looked at her for a moment.
Thinking back on our tight reality—always scraping by on part-time jobs and flinching at every thousand or two thousand won—made the bridge of my nose sting strangely.
I thumped my chest and declared with determination,
“……Hey. Don’t worry. From now on I’ll feed you until you’re sick of it.”
At my touching line, Seola swallowed the meat she was chewing and stared at me. Then she leaned in close,
“……Well, the thought is sweet, but.”
She cupped her hand around my ear and whispered in the tiniest, lowest voice.
“(……With porn?)”
“……Hrgh! Cough, cough!”
The sudden factual strike made me choke and cough like crazy.
Right. The method I’d sworn to use to feed and support her had ultimately been…… that.
While I was hacking up tears and snot, Seola clicked her tongue softly with a little “Sigh……” and dropped a perfectly cooked shrimp ball onto my plate.
“Eat before it all overcooks, Your Porn Highness.”
“Hey, Porn Highness?! Cough……!”
At Seola’s mischievous joke we both stifled our laughter so the people around us wouldn’t hear, and the meal continued as cheerfully as the boiling pot was hot.
Even after we left the hotpot place our luxurious outing continued for a long time.
With full bellies, we headed straight to the nearby cinema to help digestion.
The timing was perfect for an animated movie based on a famous classic game about plumber brothers.
Normally we would’ve scraped together every possible carrier discount because the ticket price was over ten thousand won, but today we coolly paid full price for a large popcorn, nachos, and even a dried-squid combo.
The movie was far more fun than I’d expected.
“Pfft, look at them running around. Aww, they’re so cute.”
Seola completely forgot to chew her popcorn while watching the red-hatted plumber dashing ahead and the little mushrooms bouncing after him, giggling the whole time.
I casually glanced around the theater. Most of the audience were couples or families with kids.
‘……To be honest I don’t usually like these childish animations.’
But strangely, watching it beside a girl who kept bursting into laughter didn’t feel bad at all.
After the credits rolled we left the theater still laughing, and our outing continued.
We wandered the bustling streets arm-in-arm, buying every street snack we saw—tanghulu, ice cream, whatever—without hesitation, even though we normally would’ve walked right past to save money.
When we passed an arcade, we stopped to play the punch machine.
A couple was there; the guy was showing off, slamming the machine as hard as he could in front of his girlfriend. I couldn’t lose. I threw off my outer layer and stepped up.
“Watch this. Oppa’s gonna show you what a real punch looks like.”
I loosened up with a serious expression, took a deep breath, and swung with everything I had.
Whoosh—thud.
But I’d put too much power into it; my footwork got tangled and I barely grazed the punching bag.
The machine beeped while calculating the score, then displayed an unbelievable number on the screen.
“……Huh?”
“Waaaah~! New record!!!”
Seola, who had been watching, clutched her stomach and howled with laughter, clapping.
“Wait, what the hell?! No way, how did this happen?! Isn’t the machine broken?!”
While my face burned red and I protested the injustice, a group of high-schoolers waiting behind us saw my score and went “Pfft,” “Dude, he got one point lol,” snickering among themselves.
Embarrassment hit me like a tsunami. I frantically dug through my pockets and shouted,
“No, that was a slip! One more time!! Hey, give me a thousand won!!!”
“Stop it! It’s embarrassing, come on!”
Seola, laughing so hard she was tearing up, grabbed the back of my neck as I clung to the machine for another try and dragged me out of the arcade.
It really had been a long time since we’d had such an ordinary, fun, college-student—well, twenty-year-old freshman—style date(?).
On the way back to our place after all that excitement, the night air had grown quite chilly, but with Seola’s arm linked in mine and her head lightly resting on my shoulder, I didn’t feel cold at all.
As we walked quietly down a side street, Seola spoke in a low voice.
“Hey……”
“Yeah? What?”
“I like everything…… but I really hope our current daily life doesn’t get ruined.”
It wasn’t just that today had been fun.
There was anxiety mixed in—the fear that the dangerous, secret side job we’d stumbled into might shatter the ordinary life we were enjoying.
I matched her pace and quietly nodded.
“Yeah.”
My lukewarm answer must not have satisfied her. Seola lifted her head and poked my cheek repeatedly.
“Do you understand?”
“I’ll keep it in mind.”
Only then did she seem relieved. She rested her head on my shoulder again and smiled brightly.
The moment I saw her smile softly curving under the streetlight, something hot and nameless surged up from deep inside my chest.
I stopped walking abruptly.
“……I’ll keep it in mind!”
“Huh?”
I grabbed both of Seola’s hands that had been linked with my arm and stared straight into her eyes.
“No matter what happens to us from now on, I’ll protect your daily life so nothing ever touches it. Don’t worry.”
My sudden, serious, and intensely forceful action made Seola’s eyes widen like a startled rabbit.
“……!”
Her cheeks flushed tomato-red in an instant.
The moment our eyes met—hers trembling with panic—the bravado that had been boiling inside me vanished like a lie, replaced by pure awkwardness.
I quickly looked away and added clumsily,
“Uh…… well. When you started elementary school, your mom made me promise over and over to always take care of you, so……”
“……”
The romantic-movie atmosphere I’d almost created was doused with cold water by a story about a snot-nosed kid from twelve years ago and someone’s mom.
The redness vanished from Seola’s face. A moment later she let out a hollow laugh.
“Ha! Of course. Ugh, do whatever you want!”
She yanked her hand free, stomped off with loud footsteps, and left me behind.
“Hey, hey! Wait for me!”
I scratched the back of my head and hurried after her. Our long shadows stretched across the night sky as the usual bickering filled the alley once more.
