060. Dinner Gathering (2)
060. Dinner Gathering (2)
"Yellow Dog... no, Jin Yu-ha."
"Hm?"
Kang Do-hee, who had been wearing a grave expression, called my name.
"How about ordering delivery? With five people eating together, we don't have enough ingredients, and it would take a long time."
"Ah, that's what you were worried about?"
"Yes."
"Don't worry. I'm a good cook. And I'm fast, too."
"......."
"Plus, these days you can get all the ingredients delivered from a 24-hour mart, so there's no need to go shopping yourself."
Kang Do-hee, who had been staring at me, nodded as if she found my reasoning sound.
'Back in the day, snapping at me was the default, but now that we've gotten a little closer, she's worrying about this and that. Nice.'
Feeding her Sol's Eye and Choco Digestive had definitely been the right call.
I'd have to buy her a whole box of each next time.
And so I led my party members toward the dormitory.
On the way, I opened the mart delivery app on my phone and browsed the list.
'Hmm, first I have to decide what to cook. I should put together something that feels like a home-cooked meal.'
In this gender-role-reversed world, where men doing the cooking was the norm, they'd probably only ever ordered delivery or eaten out.
The first dish that came to mind was something with broth. And when it comes to home cooking, the obvious must-have is a stew!
'Kimchi stew is a better call than soybean paste stew, right?'
What I usually make is soft-tofu kimchi stew—using soft tofu instead of regular tofu, making it easier to eat.
But the kimchi sold at marts lacks that sourness, so it's hard to get the same depth of flavor you'd get at home.
For kimchi that doesn't have enough sourness, you usually add a bit of vinegar—
but here, I had a recipe I'd personally discovered.
'I can't just invite them over and feed them ordinary kimchi stew.'
At the very least, I had to prepare a dish that felt a bit special, something that would stick in their memories.
Tap tap. Tap tap.
I worked my phone, adding the ingredients I had in mind to the cart.
'Hmm, and since there'll be leftover kimchi... ah, with the ingredients going into the kimchi stew, I'll do tofu-and-kimchi too.'
And along with instant rice, I bought several side dishes.
Lastly, some eggs.
"Alright. Done."
By the time I finished shopping, we had already arrived in front of my dorm.
"Welcome. This is my place."
I turned to my party members and said proudly.
*
'So this is Jin Yu-ha's room.'
Kang Do-hee couldn't help but be a little taken aback by how much barer the room was than she'd expected.
Of course, since it was provided by Velvet Academy, the room itself was clean and spacious.
But aside from one large moving box in the corner and a few shabby clothes hanging on the wall, there was nothing that could be called Jin Yu-ha's personal possession.
It simply didn't look like a man's room at all.
'...There's nothing here.'
Even she, who had no interest whatsoever in decorating, wasn't this bad.
'I see. Well, to build that level of skill in a man's body, he wouldn't have had time for grooming or hobbies.'
Kang Do-hee gazed quietly at Jin Yu-ha.
Come to think of it, Jin Yu-ha had never seemed to have any real hobbies, and he never seemed to invest anything in himself.
He was always trying to hand over even the things he could claim for himself to his party members.
Even with this Demonized Human subjugation, though he had prevented a massive disaster in advance,
he hadn't asked Chairwoman Rina for any financial support—only for help ensuring his party members' safety.
'Maybe that horrendous food preference of his is the result of not paying any attention to taste, just assuming he could meet his nutritional needs with whatever he put in his mouth.'
Even though Jin Yu-ha was a man, he had qualities worth learning from.
Whatever he ended up cooking this time, she could probably bear with it and eat it.
That was what Kang Do-hee was thinking as she turned to look at the others.
"W-Wow, the room is so big!"
Lee Yu-ri spoke with a slightly flustered face.
"...Yeah! I-It really is! Wow—I've never been inside a man's room before, but it's so clean! J-Just exactly! What a man's room should be! That's the feeling!"
Normally a master of the poker face, Shin Se-hee this time couldn't even think to hide her flustered expression as she stammered.
Fortunately, Jin Yu-ha didn't seem to have noticed their bewilderment.
He turned his head and said proudly.
"Right? Before I came here, I was living in a tiny one-room place that was maybe three pyeong. When I see a room this big, I really feel like I've made it."
Jin Yu-ha introduced his room with a truly satisfied look on his face.
The sight of that only made the atmosphere heavier.
"Hey, hey. Is everyone feeling awkward because it's your first time in a man's room? Don't worry about it. Just come on in!"
"...Pardon the intrusion."
"Yeah. Coming in, then?"
"P-Pardon the intrusion."
"A three-pyeong room...? Then why did hoobae give me Magic Stones...?"
And so, the group stepped into Jin Yu-ha's quarters.
There was nowhere to sit, so they simply had to settle down on the floor.
They waited for a moment.
A chime came from outside the door.
Ding-dong─♬
"Ah, the ingredients must be here."
Jin Yu-ha rose from his spot.
Lee Yu-ri started to stand up as well, but Jin Yu-ha pressed down on her shoulder and forced her back down.
"Ah, stay put. Guests are supposed to sit still."
Jin Yu-ha opened the door, went out, and came back carrying a box of ingredients.
"...Is there, maybe, anything I can help with?"
Lee Yu-ri looked at him and asked.
"Nope, nothing. Just wait a bit and I'll have the food out in no time. Some of you haven't even had a proper conversation with each other yet, right? You've only talked to Do-hee on the chat, haven't you? This is your first time meeting face-to-face, isn't it?"
"...Yeah, it is."
"So take this time to get to know each other a little."
And with that, Jin Yu-ha picked up the box and disappeared into the kitchen by himself.
* * *
A heavy silence settled among the women sitting in a circle in the living room.
'Where am I? Who am I...?'
Im Ga-eul was flustered.
She hadn't said a single word about becoming a party member yet,
but before she knew it, here she was: caught up in highest-grade Magic Stones, Demonized Human subjugations, a Subspace Tattoo, and now she was in Jin Yu-ha's room with the other juniors.
And all of it had happened in the space of a single morning!
At times like this, she resented her own nature, unable to refuse a request or offer made out of goodwill.
'But really, why did my hoobae give me Magic Stones...?'
Im Ga-eul's thoughts grew complicated.
Just from him mentioning before they came here that he used to live in a three-pyeong room, he clearly wasn't that well-off.
At the very least, the state of this room and the shabby clothes on the wall didn't look like the belongings of someone who lived hoarding Magic Stones.
'Ah, no, wait... more than that, why isn't anyone opening their mouth...?'
Looking around, Im Ga-eul's face stiffened.
Cheonhwa was biting her nails, lost deep in thought.
Fighting Dog was staring fixedly at Jin Yu-ha's back as he cooked.
For some reason, Lee Yu-ri was surveying the corners of the room with a choked-up expression.
"......."
"......."
"......."
To Im Ga-eul, the time that Jin Yu-ha was gone felt unbearably long.
She tried to wait it out by counting the patterns on the ceiling, but the ceiling was just white wallpaper.
Then, the moment came.
Jin Yu-ha returned, carrying a large pot.
"The food's ready! Hmm, no table, though. Nothing to be done. Lee Yu-ri, could you drag that moving box over here?"
"...A-A moving box?"
"Yeah, the contents are what's important. The box itself isn't that important. Let's just put this on top and eat."
"...N-No!"
Lee Yu-ri stood up and pulled a shield from the Subspace Tattoo on her wrist.
Then, she laid the shield flat on the floor.
Thud.
"P-Put it here!"
"...Huh? O-Okay, got it."
Lee Yu-ri spoke as if she wouldn't let him argue, and Jin Yu-ha, a bit nonplussed, set the pot down on the shield.
Then, before each person, a bowl of steaming white rice was placed.
'Oh? That actually looks better than I expected...?'
Im Ga-eul looked at the kimchi stew in the pot and thought.
After seeing Fighting Dog and Lee Yu-ri's stiff expressions, she hadn't expected much, but looking at it now, the kimchi stew seemed pretty decent.
Of course, the fact that the tofu was soft tofu was a little odd but within acceptable bounds.
'Huh? But what is that...?'
In an instant, Im Ga-eul's eyes narrowed.
"Hey."
Half-doubting whether what her eyes were seeing was real, she called out to Jin Yu-ha.
"Yes, sunbae?"
"What's this...?"
Jin Yu-ha answered as if she'd asked him something completely obvious.
"It's pineapple?"
"......?"
Im Ga-eul, Shin Se-hee, Kang Do-hee, Lee Yu-ri.
Their gazes all turned toward Jin Yu-ha.
"Ah, you're just not used to seeing this?"
Jin Yu-ha nodded and launched into an explanation.
"Usually, the kimchi you buy at a mart doesn't have enough sourness, so you add vinegar, right?"
"...A-And so?"
"And you know how commercial kimchi stew recipes use a ton of sugar, right?"
"......."
"But instead of that, if you add pineapple, you can get a natural sweet flavor along with the sourness. Kimchi stew is originally a tangy-sweet dish, so the flavor profile matches and it works really well together."
As everyone's gaze fell on him as if to say, Are you serious?
Jin Yu-ha spoke, feeling wronged.
"This is tastier than you think! If you look it up online, pineapple kimchi stew is an actual menu item with an official recipe!"
.......
When even pineapple on pizza was a polarizing subject.
Hawaiian kimchi stew...?
At this unheard-of menu item, everyone's faces went dark and ashen.
"Then what's this?"
Kang Do-hee pointed at the white substance mixed in with kimchi beside the pot.
"It's tofu-and-kimchi. I used soft tofu, so it goes down easy."
"......."
"Why are you all making those faces! This is a delicacy too! A delicacy!"
"...A delicacy, my ass... you crazy Yellow Dog bastard."
The words slipped out of Kang Do-hee's mouth in a fit of pique.
But no one could deny them.