The Second Balance Game

"Haa..."

I'd been waiting for today like it was payday.

The Balance Game that had handed me a face of insane good looks and a billion won all at once.

The thought that I could do it again had carried me through every single day, wondering just what I might get this time.

And the options that arrived for me were:

Obviously it means I have to eat one of the two.

"Haa... fuck..."

For a moment I considered quitting, but that wasn't an option. It had clearly said there would be a reward beyond the result of the choice itself, and that I'd be able to keep participating going forward.

Pick either one and I'd receive some form of compensation — and get access to games with better options. So quitting was off the table almost immediately, and I was right back to having to choose between poop-flavored curry and curry-flavored poop.

After a long stretch of agonizing over it—

I squeezed my eyes shut and picked the poop-flavored curry.

I had my reasons for the decision. First, curry-flavored poop. The fact that it would be shaped like actual feces was already enough to make my stomach turn. Poop-flavored curry, on the other hand — well, at least it would exist in the form of curry, right?

Honestly, I'd never actually eaten poop before, and if I thought about it carefully, there was no real reason to hate poop-flavored curry before I'd even tried it.

Surprisingly, poop might taste good... nah, no way.

Of course I wasn't expecting a pleasant surprise, but maybe it wouldn't be as bad as I was imagining.

Decision made, I sent the KokoaTalk message with trembling hands. No reply this time either, but there was nothing more I could do, so I decided to head back to my seat.

Ah!

The moment I settled on that, Ajeong came to mind far too late. I'd been in the bathroom for twenty minutes already. Way more time had passed than I'd realized.

I scrambled out of the restroom and back into the restaurant.

Thank god...

Ajeong was still sitting at the table.

"What took you so long...? I'm not mad..."

"Ah, no, it's fine~ Just had something come up. Sorry."

"I'm just glad... Ah! You were taking forever, so I ordered for you!"

"Yeah? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠What'd you get?"

"Curry! You were staring at it the longest on the menu earlier! I figured you must like it... Hehe."

"Ah... yeah. Thanks.."

I had actually been deciding between the curry and the pork cutlet. But after the nightmare I'd just been through in the bathroom, curry was already on order. No matter how I looked at it, a special curry made just for me was definitely about to arrive.

I waited in a state of pure tension, and before long the food came out.

"Did the young man take a dump?! Your girlfriend was fretting something fierce. Hohoho."

"Ah.."

The ajumma who'd brought the food cracked a playful joke. My expression must have been more serious than expected, because she looked flustered and quickly made herself scarce.

"W-wow! Looks delicious~"

Ajeong offered her take on the curry, clearly trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah. But why'd you suddenly come here? Doesn't that kind of defeat the point of eating salad?"

"Hehe..."

With nothing to say, she just laughed it off and started cutting into her pork cutlet. She'd clearly been waiting for me — the cutlet was still fresh, just as it had come out of the kitchen.

"Thanks for the meal!"

"Thanks for the meal..."

I watched Ajeong spear a piece of cutlet with her fork, then scooped up a spoonful of curry myself.

Hmm...

Outwardly it was perfectly ordinary curry, and the smell was the same. Had the curry order just been a coincidence?

Slightly reassured, I put the spoonful in my mouth.

"Eup!"

"Wh-what's wrong?!"

I waved Ajeong down as she startled at my reaction, forced myself to swallow what was in my mouth, and tried to stay calm.

"Drink this!"

She handed me water at the perfect moment, and I took it and drank.

"Haa..."

"Heheh.. Was it that good? Eat slowly."

Ajeong seemed to think I'd choked because it tasted so amazing. Tragically, it was the complete opposite. First time experiencing it, but this was unmistakably poop-flavored curry.

"Can I try some too?"

Curious about the taste, she asked and started to reach for a spoon.

"Ah, no!"

"...Sorry."

"Ah, it's not that... It's just easier to track my calories if I eat exactly one serving... I'll take you somewhere even better next time."

I soothed the dejected Ajeong with a clumsy excuse after my blunt refusal.

"Hehe... It's fine, I've done the same thing plenty of times."

"Really?"

"Yeah! Come on, let's eat!"

Fortunately she seemed to understand my excuse to some degree — she was serious about fitness too. I'd dodged the crisis of Ajeong eating poop-flavored curry, but the real fundamental crisis was still sitting right in front of me. And now I had no choice but to finish the whole thing.

If I leave any, she'll definitely try it or think something's weird..

Resigned to eating it all, I decided to just pick up the pace and power through. Had prices gone up enough during my two years in the military that you could actually feel it? Thankfully, the portion wasn't that large.

"Is it really spicy...?"

Watching me take a bite, drink water, and repeat, Ajeong asked if it was too hot. Having her jump to that conclusion first was convenient for me.

"Hoo..."

In the end, a clean empty bowl. I couldn't quite bring myself to scrape up the leftover sauce, though.

Bzzzt—

My phone buzzed the moment I finished eating. Timing-wise it was definitely KokoaTalk, but I didn't have the energy to check right then. Because I'd sped through my meal, Ajeong was almost done too. She'd wanted to talk about soccer here and there, but when I couldn't give her proper answers, she focused on eating as well.

"Sorry. It was so good I just wolfed it down."

"It's fine! Let's finish up and talk at a cafe!"

"...Sorry, but my stomach's not feeling great. Let's meet again next time."

"Huh?"

Ajeong, who'd kept a bright expression the whole time, showed a flicker of disappointment. Completely natural reaction. I resolved then and there that on Sundays from now on, I would absolutely stay home.

The closer we got to the station where we'd met, the darker her expression became, but I genuinely couldn't hold on any longer.

"See you..."

"Yeah, I'll text you."

After saying goodbye, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠took off running for home as fast as I could. I wanted to get there and empty my stomach as soon as possible.

"Hup. Hup. Ha. Hup. Hup. Ha."

Running with the miracle breathing technique that had contributed massively to my Special Sprint achievement, I made it home in no time. But by the time I got inside and reached the toilet, I was already past the point of being able to throw anything up. Even the nausea and revulsion had vanished. I had fully completed the act of consumption.

By the time I'd brushed my teeth three times, my mouth felt completely clean again.

"Haa..."

Right. I ate curry.

Whatever it tasted like, I had eaten curry. The flavor was weird — that was all. It wasn't bad for me or anything like that. I'd already been freed from the suffering, so what remained was a healthy me who'd consumed the complete food that is curry, right?

Freed to some degree from the mental torment as well, important facts came back to me belatedly. Of course there was the KokoaTalk... but since I hadn't checked it right away, I decided to put it off a little longer.

Instead, my choice was—

"Hello??"

—to call Ajeong, who must have been flustered.

"Ajeong, did you get home okay?"

"Yeah, almost there. Are you alright?"

"Thanks to you. Sorry for ducking out so suddenly."

"Is that so?"

"Hm?"

"Heheh. You're sorry?"

Hearing the playful tone in her voice, I figured she wasn't actually angry. Thankfully.

"Yeah, I'm sorry."

"Then Woohyun's doing all the plate cleanup tomorrow, right?"

"Huh?"

"Ah, no. At least two days!"

"..."

"Hehe, just kidding — you left because you felt sick~"

I almost would have preferred her being mad.

"In exchange, grant me one favor. It's a really easy one!"

"Hmm, what is it?"

"I'll tell you when we meet tomorrow. Better if you hear it in person and decide."

She called it an easy favor, and it sounded like I could refuse, so it seemed fine.

"It wasn't that you didn't want to eat with me, right...?"

"I'm feeling extremely regretful right now."

"Ahahaha! Then should we meet ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠right now? I'm still outside!"

"What for?"

"Huh?!"

I didn't really have anything else to do anyway. I needed to check KokoaTalk, but verifying the benefits wouldn't take that long. She must have been joking, because my answer seemed to catch her off guard.

"Where should we meet?"

"Ah... y-you really were that regretful!"

"Yeah. So let's meet soon."

"...Okay."

"I'll send you the address — just come here."

"Y-you live alone?!"

I'd thought of a place and sent the address over KokoaTalk, only for Ajeong to hit me with a completely unexpected question.

"Yeah, I do. Why?"

"Um... okay."

Click—

The call cut off abruptly. She'd said she was coming, though, so it was probably fine.

After fretting over where to meet, the place that came to mind was Ice Bean, the cafe where I worked. The owner was incredibly easygoing and treated me kindly. Not that I was going because of the owner. The real reason I'd settled on this place was how ridiculously empty it was. Yesterday during my shift, a miracle had occurred — only a single customer the entire time.

In contrast, the interior looked extremely upscale, which had puzzled me, until I saw the owner's car yesterday and every question was answered. Clearly a rich owner's hobby project. The red sports car I hadn't gotten to ride thanks to a regrettable decision yesterday floated back into my mind.

"Ah!"

Come to think of it, I had a billion won now — couldn't I buy one myself? The money hadn't been in my account long, and I'd never properly spent any of it, so I'd completely forgotten.

Just in case, I looked up the owner's car.

Three hundred million. Starting price of three hundred million, minimum. Factor in options and maintenance costs on top of that, and the billion I currently had would vanish in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠an instant.

"Haha.."

In one minute flat, I'd recovered my humility.

Yeah, a billion is a little underwhelming after all...

And then, another minute later, greed kicked back in. Humility turned to greed, greed to regret, and that brought the KokoaTalk reward to mind. After the humiliation I'd just endured, surely they'd give me something decent.

...

"Ugh, I'm nervous."

It was obviously going to be something good, but I was tense for no reason, so I decided to finish getting ready to head out before checking. In reality there was nothing to prepare, so I opened KokoaTalk almost immediately.

A fairly short KokoaTalk message packed with a lot of information. But the information that actually mattered wasn't there.

No, what kind of stats and what kind of traits are we talking about here.

Stats, traits — words you'd only hear in a game. The fact that they could hand these out in real life was astonishing, but considering everything that had happened so far, it wasn't entirely absurd.

Bonus stats versus an unlocked trait. I wouldn't know exactly what I was getting until I picked one. But choosing between the two wasn't hard at all.

"SSS-rank trait, let's go!!!"