The Moment I Realized I Was the One Being Teased
Han Jeong-seung-ah poked a hole in the center of the dumpling bag with her teeth, then took a small sip of tap water.
"If I don't do it like this, I'll get in trouble."
"How much trouble exactly?"
"You'll be tormented until you can't even sleep peacefully that night. And the next morning too."
"Wow... I should really memorize this."
"Then go ahead and try it. Here, take it."
After receiving the dumpling bag, I poked a hole in the center just as instructed. It tore open surprisingly well with my teeth.
"I'll fill the inside with water."
"What do you mean?"
"If I can't fill it properly, I'll get in serious trouble. It'll be worse than a two-day punishment, right?"
"Then shouldn't I be more careful? After all, everyone else looks like they're in a good mood today─"
"I'll do it."
"Hik... Understood."
I handed the bag over to Han Jeong-seung-ah, who had an overwhelming aura of authority.
"Harang is doing the others. Ah! Poking a hole in the center! You can't just tear it!"
"Understood."
To distribute the work efficiently, Han Jeong-seung-ah went to refill the dumpling bag with water on the other side, while I poked holes in the remaining ones.
There were two microwaves, so to speed things up I had to heat multiple bags at once. After cooking them a little longer than the stacked time suggested, I went over to check on Han Jeong-seung-ah's side.
"Filling the water really is tricky. It seems to take a bit longer than I thought─ Huh!"
Chuuu, chok.
The scene of someone putting their mouth to the bag's hole.
No matter how good a senior you were, no matter how gentle and kind you tried to act, this was weird.
Did she really mean to lick the part where I touched it?
There were no male soldiers here, but I felt a strange thought anyway, even though we were the same gender.
"Eh!? Harang!"
"Uh... Superhuman Seo Harang."
"This isn't... that. I mean, that... you know! Ah! That!"
"That... you mean?"
"Don't make that face... It's because I couldn't adjust the water properly..."
"Not adjusting the water? Then couldn't I just pour it out again..."
"I tried, but I couldn't get exactly the right amount!"
I looked into Han Jeong-seung-ah's eyes. There was a sparkling trust in her gaze as she added to her own words.
How could I call that a lie when she was standing there so confidently, like nothing was wrong at all!
Originally, I had given up on the idea that half the people in the world would suddenly like me just because I was cute. That was wrong. The core was what mattered.
Moreover, even if people liked me, the chance of them feeling that way toward another woman was close to zero. I needed to stop mistaking it for something real.
Conclusion! Han Jeong-seung-ah had not targeted the part of me where I touched my mouth! Not guilty!
In my mind I kept repeating "judge, judge" until the verdict was in. Upon closer reflection, it really seemed that way, so Han Jeong-seung-ah quickly nodded her head.
"That's right! Since we put the water in, let's heat them up?"
"Understood."
I lined up all the finished ones on the table one by one. I hadn't noticed when I was filling them, but now they looked like quite a lot.
"...Hero Han Jihye, didn't you use a little too much?"
"Yeah. I was worried there wouldn't be enough, so I overfilled it."
"We can always save the leftovers for later, or share with the others in the other quarters, right?"
Han Jihye, who had already conceded, and Yeon Byeori, who was suggesting the slim chances, spoke in turn.
But I couldn't deny the idea that there might be leftovers. It looked like a lot, but it wasn't enough to leave uneaten. The aromas alone would make people eager to finish everything without getting tired.
"Let's think about eating while it's hot? How long have we been waiting! Let's eat! Eat!"
I greeted her with "Please enjoy your meal." There was no paradox about the spoon being lifted before the senior, because it didn't feel like bragging to me either.
"We're really celebrating our youngest's full recovery!"
"Superhuman Seo Harang! Thank you!"
I ate the single piece of frozen chicken Han Jihye offered me.
Mmm─ the slightly off-flavor and aroma filled my mouth. It wasn't as good as brand-name chicken, but it was delicious in its own way. The dopamine hit was explosive.
"Try this too. It's tasty."
"Ah, thank you. Superhuman Yeon Byeori."
I ate the other chicken Yeon Byeori handed over.
It was delicious too. There must be a reason she recommends it, right? The saltiness and spiciness were particularly memorable compared to the one I ate earlier.
"Try this. It's what I recommend."
"Thank you. Superhuman Kim Heejin."
I ate what Kim Heejin gave me. It seemed like a soy-based sauce. It was delicious as well.
"Ah! Harang! I have something to recommend too! This one!"
"Thank you. I'll eat it with enjoyment."
"Try this too!"
"Ah, thank─"
"This is really tasty."
"Thank─"
"What is this?"
Han Jeong-seung-ah, Yeon Byeori, and Kim Heejin had taken turns feeding me one after another. It didn't feel like a dolphin performing tricks to catch food, but more like a foie gras production factory had come to me.
There was taste. But I was already full.
I didn't know why. Before I awakened, I had eaten enough to feel full, yet my stomach started to swell. Could excessive affection have slipped into my stomach like food?
That couldn't be it. Thinking about it, I hadn't eaten rice as much as before either. Just recently, when the duck bulgogi was laid out in the rice compartment, I had barely finished it.
"Ah, my stomach's starting to feel full."
"What should we do with the leftovers? Call the kids over?"
"Maybe."
"I'll go get them."
"Maybe? No, no. Let's call them later. After all, the money came from us, and there's still more than half left, right? We can make them eat and clean up."
Han Jihye, who had reached a conclusion, started pulling out items from the basket. It was the cheese cake she had been glowing-eyed about earlier.
My stomach seemed to twitch.
It had definitely been so full I couldn't fit any more, yet this forceful opening of space was happening. The analogy of pouring sand into a pebble-filled container and then water into the sand came to mind.
"What are you going to do, Harang? It's a recovery celebration, so you should at least eat a piece, right?"
"I'll eat it!"
"Your eyes are sparkling. Rice and dessert are different, you know."
I wanted to object to that being a funny remark, but I couldn't. It was happening in real time to me.
I took a bite of the cake I had received. A slight tang emerged as it melted, quickly covered by a soft sweetness.
Ah! My head was spinning!
"Look at your face. Do you like cheese cake?"
"Eating cake itself is such a rare treat that I'm even more moved."
"Rare treat? Don't you eat it for birthdays or your own birthday?"
"Harang's birthday is next month, so I haven't eaten any yet."
Han Jeong-seung-ah said that. She was right.
How did she know? Han Jihye, who actually told me her birthday, didn't know, yet an outsider knew better. I was grateful at least.
"Like for your sister's birthday."
"My sister's birthday is about a month apart from mine. And at our house, we rarely eat cake on birthdays."
"...Hmm."
"Anyway, it's really delicious. Cheese cake is new for me, but this one is good as is. This is it. When I was working over there, it was all men, so I never had a chance to eat cake. Even if I wanted something sweet, all I got was canned coffee from the convenience store or occasional lollipop sticks."
As my heart felt relieved, I started talking. Suddenly, another piece of cake appeared on the plate.
"Oh?"
"Eat mine too. I've eaten this kind of thing plenty of times."
It was Han Jeong-seung-ah.
Handing me her share out of kindness felt nice, but after eating half of it, I ended up with some on my plate. The space I had been forcing open seemed to fill back up...
Kim Heejin then slid her own piece over to me.
There were now three plates in front of me. My share still had half left, and more dessert was piling up.
The sweet, tangy flavor lingered.
Suddenly, Kim Heejin's story came to mind. She had once said she was forced to eat even when she didn't want to.
Didn't want to? How could anyone put on that much of a show?
That's what I thought at the time, but now that I was in that situation, I understood.
Of course, the seniors weren't forcing anyone, but if they had, it would have been enough to qualify as torture.
"If you're full, tell me. Don't eat too much and end up in pain later."
I decided to go along with Kim Heejin's kind-sounding words.
"I seem to have eaten too quickly. Honestly, there's no room left to eat..."
"Eh? Then are you leaving the half you already ate?"
At Han Jihye's casual question, I quickly shook my head. I couldn't just throw away the part where I had touched my mouth.
"If you can't eat it, tell me. Really."
Kim Heejin added another layer of kindness.
First impressions were the imprint of a person's image.
Even if I had stepped back, the stern senior Kim Heejin in my mind made that softness hit particularly hard.
"Yeah, if our Harang gets stomach issues, it's a big problem. If you can't eat, tell us."
Han Jihye chimed in.
First impressions determined a person's image. Han Jihye's kindness had passed through the brain filter.
'It's not like I'm saying I can't eat when I can, right? I'm not disappointing my sister, right? If I say I can't do it here, my Awakener life is over, right? I can eat it all. Right?'
...Somehow, it felt like that was the inner thought. It was probably also a stretch, but...
"Yeah, Harang. You don't have to eat everything. If it's hard, just stop. That's the correct way."
Yeon Byeori said while lightly resting her arm on my shoulder. Her gaze was on the cake, not me.
Actually, the other two were the same. Kim Heejin and Han Jeong-seung-ah both said it was fine and that it could be saved. Their gazes stayed fixed on the cake.
Did they think I didn't want to eat it out of awkwardness? I felt bad for giving it up.
"...Can I stop eating? I really want to eat, but I'm just too full..."
"That's right! Well said! It's better for all of us if you announce it instead of groaning alone. You know how Harang feels, right?"
Kim Heejin praised me for saying it and reached for a plate. It wasn't the one she had given me, but the one with the cake I was eating.
And then a hand overlapped on top. It was Yeon Byeori.
"What are you doing? Why are you touching the cake?"
"Ah, I like cake a lot, so I was thinking maybe I'd leave it for my cute junior."
"What cute junior? I like cake too."
"I... I like it too. Since Harang is my junior, I think it's right that I, the senior, handle it... Can I take it?"
It seemed everyone really had that much desire for the cake. If they had eaten it greedily without noticing, the mood would have been ruined.
My own sense of timing was quite sharp. I self-petted my head once while watching the half-cake grabbing war.
By the way, the winner was Han Jihye. I was chuckling at how she clung to that tiny piece of cake and just ate it all.