Three Meals a Day
"Hic... hic..."
Tears spilled from my eyes and pattered onto the floor.
"You're crying? This is when you cry?! Stop it this instant!"
"Khhnk!"
I sucked in a snotty breath and forced the tears shut.
I had come straight back from Japan and gone to the company without even stopping by the dorm. There was a Burger Wang commercial starting at three in the afternoon, so we had to move fast.
"U-unnie. I was wrong. I won't do it again, I swear. Please... just not that..."
"No. I'm not letting you off."
"Sniff..."
Ah... the tears were welling up again. How... how could anyone say something that cruel. A human being should never, ever do that.
I shot a slightly venomous look at Kang Hoyeon behind the wheel.
"Tsk! Fix that look! Who's the one who messed up here?! That's it. Starting today, Jiwoo, you eat exactly three meals."
"N-no..."
For a normal person, being told to eat three meals would never count as a punishment. My appetite, however, ran dozens of times hotter than a regular human's. Being restricted to a mere three meals a day was... basically being told to starve to death.
"Th-then just... give me death..."
"Absolutely not. Do you have any idea how many schedules you've got piled up? You can't die here. Brace yourself. I'll be watching you every second."
Kang Hoyeon had sealed off every last hideout so I couldn't even dream of sneaking food. Still... she wouldn't go so far as to invade the bathroom or my personal space, right?
With that casual thought, I turned my mind to the commercial we'd be shooting today. I already knew the whole concept. I become the Burger Queen, defeat the Cheese Tyrant, and fold everything into a single nation.
The first time I heard the scenario, I thought it was so childish a kindergartener could have written it. But no. Even in my previous life, Burger Wang commercials had been praised as era-defining — they were that entertaining. Thanks to that, they lodged in people's heads for years, and even as a new menu item the thing sold so furiously it became a pillar of Burger Wang's revenue, selling out every single time.
Who shot that commercial back then? I think it was an actress that time too.
I couldn't quite remember. It had never been about who starred in it. The ad itself was what made it popular.
"What are you thinking about? Don't tell me... you're thinking about food again?! Absolutely not! You hear me? This is a punishment!"
"No..."
It's not like I think about food all the time... do I? Then again, if you subtracted sleeping and working from the twenty-four hours in a day, the rest of my thoughts were pretty much just what am I eating today?
Still, I had to lie through my teeth here. Look at that venomous glare. One wrong word and I might end up living like those other idols on a diet — surviving on half a sweet potato and one boiled egg a day.
"O-of course not. I was just thinking about how to shoot the commercial."
"Really?"
"Of course! Just look at these sparkling, completely honest, innocent eyes!"
I blinked at her with the most guileless look I could muster. Kang Hoyeon wore a dubious expression for a moment, but then the red light we'd been waiting at flipped green.
"Unnie, we should go. The cars behind us are going to honk."
"Fine... whatever."
Kang Hoyeon reluctantly stepped on the gas.
And so we arrived at Burger King Korea HQ.
"Hello. I'm Team Leader Lee Jiyeon, in charge of marketing for this campaign."
I took the marketing team leader's outstretched hand.
"Hello. I'm actress Lee Jiwoo. Thank you for having me today."
"No, we should be the ones thanking you. A lot of people said this concept was too childish, and every other actress turned us down for fear it'd hurt their image... Actress Lee Jiwoo was the only one who took our hand."
The marketing team leader even bowed her head as she thanked me.
"Then let's get right to shooting. We've already built the entire set. Actress Lee Jiwoo, you just need to go there and film."
Easy. The meetings were already done, they said I just had to shoot, and they'd even tailored the entire schedule around me. Was it okay for a job to be this easy? If anything, things going this smoothly only made anxiety well up. The easier the work, the bigger the suffering waiting later, right?
"Um... could I just run to the restroom first? I should wash my hands."
"Of course. We'll get the cameras set up, so please take your time."
I slipped out quickly and headed into the restroom at the end of the hall. The set was right next to the conference room, and the staff offices were upstairs, so everything could be handled inside headquarters without going outside. Then again, for Burger Wang, hamburger sales probably mattered more than running a fancy office. They'd put more thought into that side of things.
Click.
Once inside the restroom, I pulled the secretly stashed snacks from my pocket — the ones Tsuki had pressed into my hands right before we left Japan.
Rustle.
I tore the bag open as quietly as I could and lifted a piece toward my mouth. Well then, don't mind if I do~
Knock knock.
"Jiwoo? I just heard a weird rustling. You're not eating snacks in there, are you?"
"...?!"
How did she follow me all the way here?! I clearly said I was going to the bathroom... had she read my mind? I yanked the snack back from my lips and scrambled for an excuse.
"No! I'm pushing really hard right now! Nngh!! So, uh, I need to concentrate."
"Alright. Take your time."
Kang Hoyeon's footsteps receded. I let out a sigh of relief and opened my mouth to try again.
"I knew it."
"...Huh?"
The voice had come from above. I slowly lifted my gaze. Kang Hoyeon was peeking over the stall wall.
"Why... why are you up there... no, how—"
"What do you mean, how? You think you're the first idol I've caught sneaking snacks? Every single one of these tricks — all of them — your senior idols already pulled."
And she'd caught every last one of them, too.
"That's impossible..."
Hearing Kang Hoyeon's words, I stood there in shock as the snacks were snatched from my hand.
"Um...? Actress Lee Jiwoo? You look pale... you didn't manage to, ah, go properly?"
The marketing team leader looked at my ashen face, wondering if someone so young could already have constipation, and sent me a look full of concern. Honestly, constipation might have been better. At least that would mean the food I'd eaten was still inside me. Unfortunately, my intestines were extremely active.
"That's not it... let's just start shooting."
"Before that, let's just do a quick makeup touch-up. Your face is so pretty there's barely anything to fix, but... shall we?"
"Haa... I've never had an actress where I genuinely couldn't find a single thing to touch up. Even popular idols aren't at this level."
I'd been in a foul mood until just now. My one and only hobby — snacks — had been confiscated. Still, compliments delivered right to my face felt pretty good. My expression brightened a notch as I sat through a light makeup session and headed into the commercial shoot.
That's right. I was going to eat a mountain of hamburgers here. So many I wouldn't even remember what hunger felt like!
"Alright~ Rolling!"
At the camera director's cue, I demolished the commercial as if every burger were my last.
Nom~!
Mmm!!
So good!!!
Lee Yuwol had been staring at her phone in her room for a while when she heard the front door open and checked the time. 9:30 p.m. She'd figured they should be getting back around now, but they were later than expected.
She was the one who'd gone to pick up Kang Hoyeon after Hoyeon had taken a dawn flight to Japan to drag Jiwoo back. When they'd said they'd wrap the schedule the moment they got back to Korea and come straight to the dorm, Yuwol had been pondering what kind of punishment to dole out.
"Are you kidding me right now?!"
Sh-she jumped. For a second, at a bellow from Kang Hoyeon she'd never heard before—
Ah...
"Eek!"
She dropped her phone and it smacked her right in the face.
"Unnie..."
Jina, passing by beside her, spoke up with a slightly uneasy look. Same thought, apparently.
"Let's just stay quiet for now."
"Okay..."
She couldn't figure out why Kang Hoyeon was that angry. Tsk... this wasn't the kind of rage you'd get just from sneaking off to Japan without a word. Did she cause some kind of incident during today's schedule?
Ah... Jiwoo. Why would you do that.
Listening quietly, it was clearly Jiwoo's fault. Still, the ad company wouldn't have minded, so they would've just kept going. Looks like she's using this as a chance to break Jiwoo of the habit.
Lee Yuwol had spent her trainee years watching a lot of senior idols. She understood, naturally, why Kang Hoyeon was this angry. And Jina was the same.
"Jiwoo... why would you do that. You know how scary Hoyeon-unnie is when she's mad. Unnie, is she going to be okay? At this rate..."
Yeah, at this rate there wouldn't even be a turn left for them to step in.
"Hoyeon-unnie must have her own plan. I already talked to her about it."
"Alright. For now... let's wait a little longer."
Lee Yuwol nodded. She simply didn't have the courage to walk out into that bloodbath.
"Haa... Jiwoo. Don't cry like that..."
"I-I'm sorry... but... a three-meals-a-day punishment is... it's too... I'm so hungry..."
No way. That was the punishment she gave Jiwoo?!
"I'm shocked. How could anyone take food away from Jiwoo?"
"Honestly... isn't Hoyeon-unnie a demon? To a girl who values eating more than her own life..."
Agreed. Even if they were going to punish her, Yuwol had figured they'd settle for making her stand with her arms up, or maybe a no-going-out ban.
"Should we even add more punishment on top of that?"
"Tsk... still, we should each say something. This time she crossed a line."
"Yeah... sigh. Why would she do that."
"Jiwoo must have had her reasons. She's a smart kid."
"That's true. She even scored over ninety on almost everything on the last exam..."
The more Jina talked, the more a shadow fell over her face.
"And how did you do, Jina?"
"I-I... well..."
Jina's eyes darted away. She was definitely hiding something... Over there?
Lee Yuwol got up from the bed and checked the spot Jina's gaze had been drifting toward for a while now.
"U-unnie! Wait!"
"Wow..."
Where her eyes had landed sat Jina's report card.
"What beautiful scores."
"That's... I didn't have enough time to study..."
A student. And a high school senior, no less, with scores like these...
"You're studying with Jiwoo too."
"Aaaagh... nooo..."