There's No Bad Person Who Buys You a Meal (2)
I gazed for a moment at the perfectly picturesque scene. The red broth bubbled and sizzled inside the pot. The rice cakes and fish cakes sat beautifully within it, joined by the fried morsels and boiled eggs each of us had brought according to our tastes. But the most important part was that everything here was all-you-can-eat. Of course my stomach filled up quickly, so I couldn’t eat much… Still, there was something strangely moving about the very concept of infinite refills.
Once I confirmed the tteokbokki was ready, I ladled out two generous portions—one plate for my roommate, one for myself.
“Ahh.”
I took a huge bite.
So good…!
The bold, guilty pleasure that only comes from eating out flooded my mouth. As expected, a person needs tteokbokki at least once a month. In this harsh life, how could anyone survive without it…?
While waging my fierce battle against the tteokbokki, a sudden thought made me pause.
…Isn’t this a little too easy?
Just this morning I’d sulked because she wouldn’t greet me, calling her a business roommate and everything. Yet the moment she offered to buy me food, I happily tagged along like an eager puppy. Was it really okay to sit here and mooch off her like this?
Hmm.
I shook my head several times inside my mind, then firmly pushed down the rising wave of meta-awareness.
If someone buys you a meal, it means they want to show goodwill—whether they have an ulterior motive or it’s purely sincere. And this all-you-can-eat tteokbokki carried roughly eleven thousand won’s worth of that goodwill. Ignoring it would be inhuman. Therefore, accepting the meal was perfectly legitimate.
That settled it.
Still, I felt a little guilty for stubbornly calling her “roommate” this whole time just to keep my distance. I decided to update how I addressed her.
With that thought finished, I paused mid-bite and glanced at Jeong-ah across from me.
“…”
She had her elbows on the table, chin resting in her hands, watching me with a faint, knowing smile.
“…Um. Aren’t you going to eat?”
“Oh, right. I should.”
Only after I spoke did Jeong-ah finally pick up her chopsticks and start eating. It was nice of her to treat me, but the person buying the meal had to eat well so the person being treated could eat well too. So dig in. Really dig in.
After that, a happy stretch of mealtime followed.
“Ugh, I’m so full…”
I leaned back in my chair, patting my swollen belly. Jeong-ah, who had finished earlier and gone to get ice cream, sat down across from me.
“Thank you for the meal. Next time I’ll treat you.”
“Really?”
She gave a lazy smile and scooped a small spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. My eyes drifted to her brightly dyed, radiant blonde hair. The slight upward tilt of her eyes, the sharp eyeliner, the long, thick lashes. Combined with that faintly twisted smirk, she gave off an aura that wasn’t easy to approach. If we hadn’t been roommates, I probably wouldn’t have dared speak to her at all…?
Hmm… She really is pretty.
I’d been too nervous before to look at her properly, but now that I was really seeing her, she was undeniably beautiful. Maybe my assumption that she was a total delinquent had just been my own biased prejudice. Maybe she was simply a good student who liked shortening her skirt and going for flashy styling… Oh, right. She smokes… To think I almost let myself get swept away just because she bought me one meal… I really needed to stay alert.
“Do you like tteokbokki?”
Whether she knew what I was thinking or not, Jeong-ah, who had been half-heartedly eating her ice cream, suddenly asked.
“Ah, yes. I do. It’s delicious!”
“Really? I never understood why all the girls are so obsessed with tteokbokki. Is it actually that good?”
“…?”
Then why did you suggest we come eat it? And what was with that tone—like she belonged to some other dimension that wasn’t “girl”…?
“You’re more impressive than I thought, you know?”
“Huh?”
“Earlier. You got A-rank and placed third.”
Ah, so that’s what this was about. Even if she said that… I still had no idea why my rank had come out so high. It didn’t really make me happy.
“When did you awaken your ability?”
“…Not that long ago. About a year and a half?”
“Really? That’s pretty late. Isn’t that a rare case?”
Just like what Instructor Seo Eun-bi had said earlier, it seemed awakening your ability only a year before entering the academy wasn’t all that common. …Still, I didn’t really want to talk about this topic.
I tried to shift the conversation toward Jeong-ah.
“You looked really used to using your ability, Jeong-ah. Could you use it since you were little?”
“Hmm… Actually, I wasn’t that early either. I think I was ten… Things at home were a bit noisy back then…”
She frowned for a second, then waved her hand dismissively.
“Ah, never mind. It’s not an interesting story anyway. More importantly, did you enjoy the food?”
“…? Yes. I, I did?”
She crossed her arms where she sat and flashed me a wide grin.
“Then, as thanks for the meal, you can do me a little favor, right?”
“…!”
I stared at her, overcome with a sense of betrayal. Just as the saying went—there was no such thing as a free favor. This had been a trap to extract a bigger price…! I never should have let myself get lured in by the words “I’ll buy you food” and followed her so defenselessly… Just what was she going to make me do? Don’t tell me… that kind of thing…!
“…Hey. Snap out of it. I’m not going to eat you.”
“Hah! Ah, yes.”
I came back to my senses under her exasperated stare while my imagination had been running wild.
“It’s nothing big… I have a lot of things to do, so I won’t be at the dorm much.”
“…?”
“But when I do come back… If I’m in really bad shape…”
“Bad shape…?”
“Well… I might be bleeding. Or covered in injuries. You can trip while walking down the street, right?”
After spouting that nonsense, Jeong-ah suddenly leaned across the table and grabbed my hand.
“Anyway, if you see me like that… can you heal me with your ability?”
…Hmm. So that was it?
I looked at her with a slightly sour expression. Two questions immediately came to mind. What exactly was a student doing that kept her so busy she barely came back to the dorm? And what was she doing that left her in a condition that needed healing?
From my prejudice-stained perspective, the only images that came to mind were gang fights, gang fights, and… well, more gang fights. It looked like she wanted me to patch her up after getting into brawls outside so she wouldn’t get caught by the school…
Then the hand she was holding suddenly lifted and pressed against her own cheek.
“…!?”
“Seol-ah… You’re not going to eat a nice meal with me and then coldly refuse, are you…?”
“Ah, ugh.”
“We’re friends. You even put a heart next to my name. Right?”
Th-that was something you wrote! And wasn’t this skinship a bit excessive?
The warm temperature of her face transmitted through my palm was too much. In the end I carefully pulled my hand away and answered.
“O-okay. As long as you don’t come back too badly hurt…”
“Really? Thanks. You really are a good kid, huh?”
…That sounded familiar. It was the same thing she’d said when she asked me about the smoking spot last time. It felt like she only praised me when she wanted me to do something convenient for her. Or was I just imagining it…?
“Well. We’ve both finished eating. Shall we head out? I’ve got somewhere to be.”
“Ah, okay…”
Having heard my answer, she stood up as if her business was concluded. I remained seated for a moment, feeling a little disappointed inside. I’d thought we were here to build some roommate rapport over food, but it turned out she just had a favor to ask. I’d gotten my hopes up for nothing… Hmph. Fine. We really were just a business relationship after all.
I walked past her as she headed to the counter first and stepped outside. But my gloomy expression must have been obvious, because once she finished paying she suddenly linked her arm with mine and pressed close.
“Whoa!”
“Hmm. Your face looks pretty down.”
“Ah, n-no, what are you…”
“Aha, so this big sister didn’t play with you and you got sulky?”
Big sister? We’re the same age! Flustered by the soft sensation suddenly pressed against my arm, I tried to shake her off, twisting this way and that… but there was a clear difference in raw strength. She didn’t budge an inch.
“Sorry. We came all the way out to the city. It’d be a shame to just go straight back, right?”
“…That’s not what I was thinking, you know?”
“Next time let’s go to karaoke together. Of course, only if you keep doing my favors well? Now, forward march.”
Dragged along by her as she pulled me down the street however she pleased, I thought to myself.
…I guess it can’t be helped.
It seemed I was weak to people who acted friendly toward me… Well, she didn’t seem like a bad friend or anything… Even if she came back a little injured, healing her shouldn’t be a problem. Still, I told myself I needed to stay alert so I wouldn’t get dragged around too much, and walked beside Jeong-ah, matching her steps.
“Ah, wait.”
“?”
“I need a post-meal smoke…”
“….”