The Dire Gourmet Challenge Concludes
Bits of dirt and crumbs fell from the corner of the director's mouth.
And yet, he was forcing himself to smile.
With everything he had, no less.
"I-it's delicious. I'll give it nine points."
Docking a single point—was that his idea of petty revenge?
Either way, Seora finally looked satisfied, and she nodded and stepped back.
But that was only the beginning.
"This is stir-fried sweet potato stem! It has my grandma's secret sauce in it. Please, enjoy your meal."
A plate topped with tree leaves and grass roots arrived at the table.
Taejae swallowed hard, his face tense like a chef awaiting judgment on his dish.
"It's nutty and perfectly seasoned. Delicious. I'll give it ten points this time as well."
Even with my generous score, Taejae remained unmoved, waiting for the director's verdict.
And once again, the director found himself at an impasse.
"Me, me too!... Ten points, same as Mr. Na Hwiyeon—"
"No. Director, chew it up nice and good one more time."
In the end, the director had to actually chew the grass roots a few more times before Taejae finally released him.
Watching the director spit the sand out of his mouth, spluttering the whole while, I thought to myself:
Bad news—what comes next is actually the bigger problem.
Right on cue, Seoro set her plate down on the table, chin propped on it.
On it was fried rice mixed with dirt and flower petals.
"The fluffy rice is delicious. Ten points."
"The rice is warm and the seasoning is just right..."
Watching the director sneak glances at the supervisor even in the middle of all this was truly something else.
In a way, impressive mental fortitude.
Anyway, I couldn't help smiling at the entertaining scene.
The director, on the other hand, looked like he was undergoing execution.
"Director, open your mouth."
The director, who had been clumsily pretending to eat, got caught red-handed by Seoro.
What's more, Seoro was deep in the grips of the 'No' bug, so nothing the director said got through to her.
"I did eat it! I really did!"
"No, you didn't. Say 'ahh' for me. Ahh."
"...Look, look? See? I ate it, didn't I?"
"Hmm... you still didn't eat it. I don't see any fried rice in your mouth."
An obvious conclusion.
It wasn't real fried rice to begin with.
Even so, Seoro's conviction never wavered.
After that, the director was made to shovel down dirt-fried rice about three more times before she finally accepted it.
The man is about to cry.
I could see the director's eyes growing damper by the second.
He couldn't cry yet, though.
The biggest mountain was still ahead.
Noah.
"Try it! It's special kimchi stew! Ta-daaa!"
"Noah, you say 'please enjoy your meal' to grown-ups."
Taejae's gentle reprimand was surely not reaching the director's ears right now.
The presentation is certainly something.
Rose petals floating atop muddy water.
In the center, a sprig of herb bobbed along like the final highlight of the dish's decoration.
Once again, I picked up the toy spoon without hesitation.
"I can taste balanced seasoning and a lovely aroma. Ten points!"
At my flawless performance of deception, Noah gave a satisfied thumbs-up.
"Ten points! Thank you!"
Hmm... I wonder if he'll manage to slip past this one too.
With trembling hands, the director picked up his spoon. The moment he scooped up a small mouthful of the broth, droplets spattered from the vibration.
"It's delici—"
"No! You didn't eat it! You didn't eat any, Director! I watched the whole time!"
"No, I definitely put it in my mouth—"
"You didn't! I saw it with my own eyes!"
Terrifying.
Noah cut the director off with surgical precision and glared at him as he fired back.
The director's eyes, fixed on the muddy water, slowly flooded with defeat and despair.
Anyone walking in would think he'd been served poison.
Watching the two of them go back and forth, I let out a small sigh.
Maybe this was enough.
I figured we'd gotten sufficiently even by now.
It had been a while, but I hadn't forgotten the director guzzling booze and spewing regrets in front of the twins.
The day I saw Lee Seohyeok rushed off to the emergency center and came back to the kindergarten with the twins—
"Hic! Ahh, we hit the jackpot being blood relatives, huh? Attending a fancy company kindergarten like this, and later they'll become hunters or whatever and live the good life without lifting a finger!"
—the words he'd slurred while pointing at the twins.
"...Ah, the, the taste is, well..."
"Noah, the Director seems full now. How about you count that as an abstention and give yourself ten points too?"
Noah pursed his lips at my sudden interjection, pondering like a duck.
After several seconds of silence...
"Okay! You can be full!"
he declared, magnanimous to the end.
And so, with Cheonji abruptly declaring an abstention for the final round... the Dolphin Class Gourmet Challenge came to a hasty close.
The director left with a face that was neither smiling nor crying, and the supervisor followed after him, lavishing him with praise.
"How on earth do you fake eating that well? Honestly, you and Mr. Hwiyeon both—you two are absolute masters of acting!"
The supervisor had watched me pretend to eat and toss my food aside, and had naturally assumed the director was doing the same.
Hmm, a useful misunderstanding.
After confirming the two had vanished completely, I gathered the children, who were only just now filing back into the kindergarten, into one spot.
Dismissal time was drawing near.
They've had their fun, so it's time for a little talk.
I knelt down to meet the children at eye level.
"'No' and 'I don't want to' are not bad things to say. Right, everyone?"
At the sudden question, question marks floated across the children's faces.
"There's nothing more precious than expressing how you feel. But, friends... it's best to use those negative words only when you really need them."
"Why?"
"But it's fun!"
Yes, I'm sure it is.
After habitually saying "yes" or "sure!" every single day, how novel must it feel to say "no" or "I don't want to"—words that are their complete opposite?
But...
"It's because when one of my friends truly dislikes something, or truly doesn't want to do something, that's the only way I'll know to take it seriously and act on it."
Unlike positive expressions, negative ones lose their value the more they're spent.
Imagine someone who says yes to everything suddenly saying "no" one day.
You'd feel their sincerity a hundred times more keenly.
Well, that's entirely my personal philosophy, but...
Anyway, the point I wanted to make was: be careful with your words.
Whether the children would interpret that correctly, I had no idea.
"Got it?"
"Yes, yes! Teacher!"
"Then how about once a day? Deal?"
"Lee Seora, you're gonna forget and do it twice."
"Yeaaah, honestly, the 'no' game wasn't that fun."
"...Thank goodness. It was a little hard for me too."
Only after watching Cheonji, who'd worn a sour look all morning, finally relax and speak up did I quickly wrap things up.
"Alright, alright. Let's go wash our hands and have snack time~"
Hmm.
I really hoped my worry had been for nothing.
***
Time flew, and dismissal time arrived.
As I saw our class off at the entrance, I learned the whole story behind the 'No' bug.
"Mommy!"
"My little prince! Did you have fun today?"
"No!"
"Huh? Why? Why? It wasn't fun?"
"Actually... it was fun!"
"Yah~ You scared Mommy!"
The 'No' bug was... a kind of game between parent and child, whose bond had grown closer since the Neverland runaway incident.
All this so he could surprise his mom. So that's why we suffered through the whole day.
Noah, you truly are a model son.
After that, the parents who came to pick the children up all had similar reactions.
"Oppa!"
"Hyung!"
"Did you have fun today?"
"No!"
"Nope."
"What? Don't tell me you broke something again?"
"No! We didn't break anything!"
"That's right, we were very well-behaved today."
"Good, that's all I need. Let's go home and eat."
Same with the twins' household.
"Grandma~"
"There's my little rascal~ Did you eat well and behave?"
"Yeees, the food was tasty. But no."
"...What do you mean, no?"
"I dunno? Noah just said to say no."
"That's quite something. Odd, that."
Taejae's household went... more or less fine too.
The problem was these two brothers.
For once, Baek Cheonhyeong had shown up in person for Cheonji's pickup.
I gave a small bow to Baek Cheonhyeong, standing rigidly in the somewhat cramped entryway beside the shoe lockers.
What's this about? He only ever sends the driver.
"Hy—hyung!"
Cheonji, who had been quietly waiting with me at the entrance until the other children left, shouted with a startled face.
"Going home together today?"
"Yeah. Today's Father's birthday."
"Oh... right, it is."
"..."
"..."
...What's with this silence.
Cheonji fidgeted, then stuffed his foot into his shoe.
Watching him quietly, Baek Cheonhyeong spoke.
"Today..."
Yes! That's it!
Ask him what he did, ask if he had fun.
"...Did you have a productive day?"
...I'm sorry, what?
Who asks a child that?
But Cheonji hesitated over even this answer-less question, and then...
"No."
That's what he said.
A flicker of expectation and nervousness crossed Cheonji's eyes.
I caught the hidden feelings in that gaze.
Ah.
So my worry wasn't for nothing after all.
Unlike the other kids, who played the game so easily, Cheonji alone had trouble saying 'no.'
It wasn't that he was uninterested in the game like Taejae, nor was it out of a scrupulous conscience.
It felt more like he simply hadn't had much practice.
If refusing itself was hard for him, I'd need to watch him very carefully.
Besides, Cheonji had been right beside me this whole time, watching all four friends play their pranks on their guardians.
It seems he has a reaction he's hoping for.
At the very least, Baek Cheonhyeong could stand to be a little warmer to him.
I held my breath and watched the two of them alternate.
Now was the moment Baek Cheonhyeong needed to say something proper...
"No?"
He blinked slowly, tilted his head askew, and repeated the question back at Cheonji.
"What do you mean, no?"
Whoa. Excuse me.
That's terrifying.
Sure enough, Cheonji's face went white as a sheet.
"No, I mean, no... I—um, it was fun."
Then, bag swinging onto his shoulders, he hurriedly bowed to me.
"Goodbye, Teacher."
"...Right. See you tomorrow, Cheonji."
As I watched the boy sprint for the car, I found myself meeting the eyes of Baek Cheonhyeong, staring at me with a perfectly blank face.
This man, honestly.
His way with words is abysmal. Would it kill him to be gentle for once? Is it really that hard?
"The interview is still pending, correct?"
Baek Cheonhyeong asked, making no move to follow Cheonji.
Judging by context, he meant the formal interview about the EX-rank dungeon evidence, so I nodded.
"Yes, Team Leader Moon Chaeyoung said she'd contact me later."
"...Mm. I heard the Na Team leader was handling it."
"..."
"What was that."
Even though there was nothing left to say, Baek Cheonhyeong stood planted in place, so I looked up at him and asked.
"Your ability is Tamer, correct?"
Why ask about that all of a sudden?
"Yes, D-rank Tamer."
"Have you considered getting tested again?"
"You mean a re-examination?"
Out of nowhere?
Awakener examination fees skyrocket after the first test.
Fifty thousand won the first time, five hundred thousand the second, five million the third.
I know it's priced that way to discourage frivolous retesting.
But a tenfold markup is ridiculous.
And you see...
I already had a record of taking the second, re-examination.
The day after I discovered the Status Window, I marched straight to the Seoul Awakener Examination Center, brows raised in alarm.
Back then, terrified something was wrong with my health, I'd choked back tears and shelled out five hundred thousand won.
"...I don't plan on taking a re-examination."
And a third one, at that?
The results hadn't changed one bit during the second test anyway.
In other words, I have absolutely no intention of blowing five million won in cold, hard cash. That's all there is to it.
"I see? What a shame."
Baek Cheonhyeong said this with an attitude that suggested he felt no shame whatsoever, and strode out the entrance.
What was that, anticlimactic much?
Lugging a strange, unsettled feeling from his pointless mind games, I headed back to the classroom.
And there, waiting for me...
Was some baby bear, sitting there as if stricken with a contagious disease.
Now what.