Looking Forward to It
"Your order's up! Extra-large here... and a regular."
"Oh, thank you! The extra-large is mine, though. Over here, please."
"Huh?"
The owner looked faintly startled that a girl as slim as me had ordered the extra-large jajangmyeon. Not that I was actually that slim — I had the biggest chest in the group. If that counted as a point of pride, then I was proud of it. Saying so in front of Yuwol or Jina would get me verbally destroyed... but they weren't here, so.
"The other dishes will take a little longer. Sorry for the wait."
"No problem~!"
Rim watched me beam down at the food like a kid on Christmas and pulled a sour face.
"That's the brightest look I've seen on you yet."
"Obviously~ Mealtime is my favorite time of day~ All right — thanks for the food!"
I tore open the disposable chopsticks and started mixing the jajangmyeon with gusto. One bite in, and I lost the ability to speak.
"What's wrong? Is it bad?"
I gave a tiny shake of my head. What was he talking about? This was genuinely the best jajangmyeon I had ever had. I had eaten countless bowls across two lifetimes... and this one blew them all away. I lifted the bowl and inhaled it in silence.
"You really put it away... All right, my turn."
Rim tore open his own chopsticks and took a bite. His eyes widened, just a little. See? Delicious, right? I found this place. Not like you, huh? I shot him a look that said all of that. Rim cleared his throat and gave a small thumbs-up. Even he had to admit it.
By the time I had cleaned my bowl, the rest of the order started arriving. Sweet-and-sour pork first, then ganpunggi, jjamppong, fried rice. Rim eyed the spread and casually reached his chopsticks toward my plates. I smacked them away. Excuse me? That's my food. You looking to die?
"Come on... there's a ton here. Let's share."
"Fifty-fifty?"
"...Do you have a conscience?"
"Nope. Conscience doesn't exist in front of food. Instead of thinking about it... aahm~!"
I popped a piece of already-sauced sweet-and-sour pork into my mouth.
"Mmm~ So good!"
Even with the sauce already on it, the outside was still crispy and the inside chewy. Still piping hot from the kitchen, too... heaven itself, basically.
"Haa... you won't tell me about the song... you won't share the food... you're going to get a stomachache like that."
"Don't worry. I've never had a stomachache in my life."
If I flipped through my memories, I hadn't been sick even once — not until I collapsed from overwork. That was probably why my parents had pushed even harder. I kept running fine no matter how hard they worked me. The truth was I had been rotting from the inside out... but everything was different now, so it didn't matter.
"You want the song info that badly?"
"Isn't that obvious? It's not exactly Korean... but it's not foreign either. It's blended fifty-fifty, perfectly. You can feel how much the person who wrote it likes you."
The way Rim said it — like a real professional — I stopped mid-chopstick. I knew he loved music, but I never expected him to pick up that much from just a few listens.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"No, I just... I didn't know you loved songs that much. Someone watching would think you were dating music."
"Dating, huh... well, that's not wrong. If I had to choose between getting married and a song, I'd marry the song."
The unexpected answer made me pause. He liked it this much... should I just close my eyes and tell him? Tsuki might be disappointed later. But she had already said she would keep writing songs for Kuro — and for me. Getting more guidance from a pro wouldn't be a bad thing.
"All right. I'll tell you."
"...For real?!"
"There's a condition, though."
"What is it? Just say it! Of course I'll do it!"
Rim leaned all the way in, ready to listen.
"Hmm... actually, never mind. I'm not telling."
"...What? What do you mean... are you messing with me right now?!"
"Heh... I said there was a condition. Think hard about what I actually want."
I couldn't just hand it over. I was going to mess with him a little more... no, as much as I possibly could, and then tell him.
"A condition... what? Money... you're already making plenty."
"Tons~ I'm already making a lot for my age~"
Of course, I still hadn't saved enough to make my dream happen... but if I worked hard for the next ten years, I would roughly hit the target.
"Then... should I get a gift for the composer?"
"Nope~ That's a condition for the composer, not for me. Match my condition~"
"Ah, come on... I really don't get it."
Rim scratched his head until his hair stood on end. Watching him, I wondered if I should throw him a hint.
"You're working on a solo track right now. Won't you need another song after that?"
"Huh? The composer's making the next solo? Wait — is the composer a singer?"
Why did he take a perfectly good turn and yank the wheel into a ditch?
"No...? Then... wait, is it you? Why? You're an actress."
"Can't an actress put out a song?"
"Well, it's not that you can't... yeah. That's possible. You're still young, Jiwoo."
Now that he had figured it out, would he say something that actually matched my condition?
"All right. If you need another solo, I'll write it. So..."
"Wrong!"
I threw up an X with both arms.
"Huh? That's not it? Then... wait, not a group song..."
"Bingo!" Haa~ How did it take you this long? Did you slack off in school or what?
Or he had just tunnel-visioned on music his whole life. Either way, that locked in our next group track with no issues.
"A year from now?"
"That's right. A year from now — six months at the absolute earliest."
"Why so late? I figured you'd do it in two or three months, tops."
"Well... that's just how it is. When the time comes, you'll know whether you want to or not."
The company would tell him the concept and who would be singing it. He would find out whether he liked it or not.
"R...ight? Fine. I'll look forward to it until then. Now tell me about the composer."
I picked up the phone I had left on the table and handed him Tsuki's number.
"She's really wary of people, so don't come at her out of nowhere. You've got to coax her like a kitten. Well... you're both kids, so you'll figure it out."
"Oh my god... I told you I'm not a kid..."
Rim ground his teeth and glared. Not scary in the slightest. If he wanted to hit me, he was welcome to try. I would have the cops on speed dial...
"Haa... whatever. If we're done eating, let's get going. If we sit out here talking about this too long, some weird tabloid story is going to start circulating."
"Huh? Already...? When did we finish?"
The plates on the table were so clean it looked like someone had already washed them. I hadn't even properly tasted it... this place was terrifying. Had they put something in the food? I had thought my hands had stopped. I had eaten everything without even noticing.
"Check, please!"
"Yes! Two jajangmyeon, one extra-large — eleven dollars. Large sweet-and-sour pork, twenty-two. Ganpunggi, twenty-four. Jjamppong, six. Fried rice, six. That's seventy dollars total."
Huh... that wasn't much?
"You ordered that much... of course the bill's high."
"Ehh? This is a lot? Our little guy... you haven't been eating proper meals, have you? This was just the opening act... Fine. Follow noona! Round two's on me — coffee!"
I shoved my card out, paid, and pushed Rim toward a café by the small of his back. At the café I dropped close to another seventy-five dollars teaching him what a real meal looked like. Halfway through, Rim called for surrender. All that fuss over four pastries. A man this frail wasn't going to survive a real career... I reluctantly gave up force-feeding him, and we left the café.
A week's worth of work was basically done, so there was no real need to go back to the studio. I wandered the neighborhood on a light stroll, and someone suddenly came to mind. Jina had mentioned her family home was around here, hadn't she?
Lately she had been living at the dorm almost full-time, but she was still a student, so she still dropped by the family house now and then to help with chores. And today happened to be one of those days. Why not drop in?
I had never been over to another member's house. Not once. I had only heard it was around here. I didn't even have the exact address. Might as well throw it out there. I pulled out my phone and sent Jina a text.
I knew she would be at the family house. For someone who looked that flashy, Jina really didn't like going out. She was pretty when she put in the effort — she just refused to. She always got up earlier than me, so I had never really seen it... Hair dumped like a mountain bandit's, clothes dragging on the floor. She looked every inch the shut-in NEET.
My phone buzzed. Jina had sent the exact address. I checked it and called her from right in front of the gate.
"Y-you're here already?!"
"Yeah, the studio's right around here, so it was quick."
"W-wait! I'll be right down!"
I had shown up less than ten minutes after she sent the address. I could hear her scrambling through the phone. If I were a guy, sure. But couldn't she just throw something on and come down?
Clank!
I looked up at the sound of a door opening above. Jina came flying down the stairs, looking thoroughly panicked.
"J-Jiwoo. What are you doing here?"
"No reason... I just wanted to see your face."
"You could've just seen me at the dorm. Come in already!"
"Yes! Excuse the intrusion~"
I stepped into Jina's house with a little flutter in my chest.
I'd... never been inside a girl's house before.
I wondered what it would look like... I couldn't wait.