Investment Trip

It was a domestic flight, so we arrived in the blink of an eye.

"Life's good."

"Though it cost money."

We arrived at the airport. Sora seemed left with a faintly regretful feeling.

"Thinking about the round trip, it'll probably run over a hundred thousand won..."

"Regretting it?"

"A little."

"That's why it's a flex."

If we'd booked ahead we could have saved money, and so on. Those kinds of worries weren't meant for the destination. I slipped on my sunglasses. Today—and if possible tomorrow too—we just needed to enjoy ourselves to the fullest.

Not having a suitcase is the one blemish, huh.

I hadn't brought one so as not to tip anyone off that this was an overnight trip. No chance to savor that rolling-clatter fun.

"The flight attendant noonas are pretty. Asiana has the best flight attendants."

"Aren't they the same age as you, Senior?"

"Shut up."

We could enjoy other fun instead. Leaving women out of a trip would be a waste. The flight attendants—and beyond them, I was already with a woman even more stunning, overflowing with sex appeal.

"If they're pretty, they're all noonas."

"Then am I a noona too?"

"Oh?"

She beamed with a smile that reached her eyes. Normally she was so cold and unsmiling that the sight felt all the more moving. Our hands found each other naturally. Anyone becomes more open when they travel.

"Let's take a taxi. Oppa will pay."

"Senior, aren't you overdoing it?"

"It's a flex."

"You must have made a lot."

"Once I clear the positions, a bit?"

There was the mood of it too. When you're losing, everything in the world looks negative; when you're winning, everything is beautiful.

Yeah, money's only good when you spend it.

Right after the regression, my bank account had nothing—daily living expenses were tight. I could finally say goodbye to that life.

"Senior, I'm hungry."

"Then we should go eat."

"Do you know any good restaurants?"

Good restaurants? What a pathetic thought.

"?"

Spending all day tapping a phone to hunt down cost-effective eateries. To skip that bothersome process—

Screech—!

Humanity spends money for a reason. We took a taxi and arrived. Gwangju's Sangmu District. In Seoul terms, it was like Gangnam. Plenty of high-end restaurants clustered in this bustling area.

"Just pick somewhere expensive."

"There are cheap places that taste good too..."

"Among cheap places, there are delicious ones. But expensive restaurants are always delicious."

It was the system of capitalist society. Who would pay that price? It saved the time of rich people who hated bothersome things. Those places were ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠usually near the center. Just go where it was busiest and most crowded.

We picked a suitable place and went in. Plenty of customers inside, and the table settings visible through the window looked abundant.

"What do you want to eat?"

"The lunch special should be fine, right? It looks cost-effective."

"You still haven't discarded your commoner's mindset."

She had no choice but to count carefully. After looking at the menu, Sora compromised with reality.

Her vessel needs to get bigger.

Luxury. I didn't particularly enjoy it either. After all, once you've tried everything, you become desireless instead. But when you have to, you have to. If you never experience luxury, you can't understand the hearts of those who indulge in it.

Consumer, that is. Or a sucker. Why pay such high prices for a meal?

"You'll understand once you order it."

"Will I?"

"Auntie, two servings of the sumptuous feast here."

"Wow..."

She was dazed. A hundred thousand won for one meal. I opened my wallet, contributing to the revitalization of the Korean economy while I was at it.

Rattle!

The side dishes came out as if they'd been waiting. True to the course name, bowls piled high enough to break the table legs.

This is the taste you come to Gwangju for.

Seoul was already fully commercialized, calculating costs down to the last won. Ten years ago it hadn't been like that. Hospitality. Even if it was a bother, they'd prepare this many side dishes. Places that still had that warmth were the local restaurants.

"Yukhoe comes as a regular side dish?"

"Mm."

"There's shrimp jang too! I love this."

"You're making a big fuss."

Just the side dishes were enough to fill you up. But I, human Lee Chanuk, was still hungry.

You don't order expensive meals like this to fill your stomach.

It was to fill the heart. A sight that made you feel abundant just by looking, warming you from the inside.

"Wow..."

"Let's eat."

"How do you eat this? It's alive!"

The main dishes came up one by one. First up was lobster. And it wasn't boiled until bright red. It was brown. Before cooking. No—a delicacy enjoyed raw.

The ones who eat well always fuss over living things.

Sora brought a piece of the springy lobster sashimi flesh to her mouth. Her eyes going round was worth watching.

"Senior, try this, try this!"

"I'm eating."

High-end food. Things you don't normally get to eat. While eating those burdensome dishes—

The side dishes are what you eat when catching your breath.

Familiar foods, that is. On a table set to break the legs, each item had its meaning.

Slurp!

Shrimp jang. Compared to the lobster, the flesh was soft. Being marinated in sauce played a part, but the sweetness was definitely less.

"It's true, huh?"

"After eating lobster, you can't eat shrimp jang, right?"

"Senior, that—that."

"Yeah, you eat it all."

She neatly finished off the last piece of lobster flesh. Right next up: a hefty barley gulbi and steaming white rice.

"Just pick off the flesh with chopsticks and chew it slowly."

"Yes!"

"Is it good?"

A reaction of genuine deliciousness. The aged yellow croaker exploded with umami just from mashing it in your mouth.

No comparison to the yukhoe that comes with it.

Comparing as you eat makes for a more enjoyable meal. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Such an expensive table setting stirs fantasies, the desire to consume. A good experience. It raises the threshold. That's why luxury and pleasure keep growing larger in human society.

For me, it was none of my concern either way. I ordered a bottle of chilled Chamisul and poured it into a glass.

"Want some?"

"No..."

"Did you say you can't drink?"

"It's not that I can't, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠soju doesn't taste good."

The restaurant's alcohol menu. There was no drink that suited her taste. In those cases, surprisingly, soju was the answer.

Soju is a tasteless drink, that's true.

Diluted soju couldn't be called a good liquor even as empty praise. You realize it after drinking various liquors. But that also lets you understand some things better. There's always a reason a liquor becomes famous in a region or country.

"That's because you don't know how to drink soju."

"Don't people just drink it to get drunk?"

"That's why they say learn drinking from adults."

Korean food is stimulating. And the umami is very strong.

Because aging and fermentation are almost a given.

Just looking at kimchi, it's a food that doesn't exist worldwide. There are cases of aging vegetables, but not adding animal ingredients to vegetables. Fermentation of plant-plus-animal ingredients. For a mere side dish, it has strong umami that can overwhelm the main dish.

"Your mouth is salty right now, right?"

"Because the gulbi is salty."

"That's when you rinse your mouth with soju."

The other foods were the same. Not just the commonly used soy sauce and doenjang—garlic, which is a spice in the West, is treated as an ordinary vegetable in Korea.

Because the food tastes are that strong.

Soju developed in the direction of pairing with such Korean food. The so-called clean taste! To not interfere with the food's flavor.

"Take it."

"Just one glass then."

"Ah, you're being so fucking expensive!"

"Fine. I'll just drink it."

As expected, you had to push to get her to listen. Sora took the glass reluctantly, squeezed her eyes shut, turned her head, and downed the soju glass.

The moderate alcohol content too.

Distilled spirits are usually over 40 degrees. Diluting soju to around 20 degrees was optimized for one-shots.

"Kheu~!"

"And then try the food again."

"Yes."

"The taste comes through clearly, right?"

The food residue coating the mouth was washed away. A slight bitterness and the sweetness of the sweetener. It reawakened the taste buds fatigued by strong, complex flavors.

And in that state, you eat strong-tasting food again.

Addictiveness. There's a reason adults empty several bottles of soju. With the perfect match to Korean food, if you just match the cycle, it keeps going down.

"One more glass!"

"Yeah, you're drinking well."

Praise makes even a monkey dance. In Korean society, being able to drink well is also seen as a skill.

Glug glug~

We split one bottle of soju half and half. For lunch, this level of tipsiness was just right.

Not even knowing if you're drunk or not.

Her body swayed when putting on shoes. When I held her waist, she smiled gratefully with a beam. We went out to the street like that. To passersby, we would look like a couple no matter who saw. A man's status rises according to the woman on his arm. Money, honor, and then women aren't attached for no reason.

Not an ounce of fat. That means it all went up top, right?

I walked around flaunting the fact that she was my woman. The waist I held tightly had such a good grip feel. I wanted to hug her once more. No—after that. Maybe it would be possible on today's trip.

"Driver, to a hotel—no, to that place with lots of mountains over there."

"There's nothing there at all?"

"Yes."

"Well, as long as I get paid, it's good~."

We boarded the back seat of the taxi. Sora, tipsy, was leaning her head toward me.

Really makes me want to wrap her up.

I lowered the hand around her waist a bit. Below the hard pelvic bone, the slope dropped sharply. A real body with no padding. I'd held many women, but this was the first time the touch alone gave a top-tier premonition.

No, maybe the second...

While enjoying, we arrived. As the driver said, it was deep in the mountains with nothing at all.

"Here... where is this?"

"A mountain."

"I can see that."

Sora got out of the taxi and looked around. Since it was a trip, we could have gone to a tourist spot, but—

It doesn't look like a great place for hiking.

An undeveloped area. Nor was it a mountain range where you felt grand nature. Unpopular with tourists.

"Do you remember what stock you made money with?"

"You just bet on it arbitrarily, Senior."

"Anyway."

"I know. Solar, right?"

The reason we came despite that was the investment trip. Just as with the airline, solar also had a physical reality. So plans were made, and astronomical money moved. Where that money was spent.

"What are all those?"

"Trees. It's a mountain."

"No... they're all dead."

Not withered—dead. A sight that could only be seen that way. It might be a bit of a shock to Sora. A mountain you could see anywhere in Korea. I hadn't specified the destination because it was similar wherever you went.

"Why did it become like this?"

"You don't know that?"

"Of course not. I came without hearing anything."

"You invested even without hearing."

"Huh?"

Sora kept her mouth shut and gazed at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the mountain. Not because the scenery was moving, or because she was drunk. Because it was absurd. The thick trees had been cut down and strewn about like trash.

A bare mountain, huh.

Where those trees had been. It had become a barren field filled with solar panels. It sobered her right up.