Burnt Cup Noodles Taste Disgusting
How many alarms had I let ring out?
I finally opened my eyes to the sound of my smartphone ringing frantically from the bedside table… and it was 8:10 a.m.
“…Ah… crap! I’m late…”
I kicked off the blanket and shot up.
I hadn’t been able to sleep until late last night, only managed to drift off at dawn, and this is what I get.
I roughly washed my face, tied my hair in a messy knot, and rushed out to the living room—only to find the house completely silent.
“…Oh, right.”
On the dining table lay a note from my mom and a card.
[Mom and Dad are in Busan this week. We’ll be home on the weekend. Eat well and keep up! I left the card so you can buy something delicious~ We love our daughter! Good luck this week too!]
…It’s just a day or two.
I opened the fridge—only a few side dishes and milk. Nothing else.
Ugh… no time and what am I supposed to eat.
I’ll just have cereal.
[I put milk in the cereal bowl, scooped out two spoonfuls… and just left it.]
Strange. My appetite was gone.
I ate breakfast like that and was trying to put on my shoes at the front door when my gaze suddenly drifted toward the intercom.
…Back then, this time of day, that would ring.
If I opened the door, there was Kang Suho with his world-weary expression, and sometimes he’d come with something in hand and use our kitchen like it was his own.
“Yo, you… again with the morning alarm? Sit down. Wait five minutes.”
That grumbling while he made toast and the half-asleep, delicious taste of it… why was it popping into my head right now?
---
Just barely avoided being late again today.
When I arrived at the classroom, Kang Suho was already sitting at his desk. …He probably no longer wants to come to school with me.
“…Ah, hello.”
“…Uh. …You’re here.”
That was it.
Back then, it would have started with “Uigoo… what is that hair of yours…” and kept going until the class bell. Now we barely manage ten words a day.
He said he wasn’t angry and told me not to worry.
…But why does this feel like this? …Am I the one who should apologize? Is he doing some kind of protest demanding I apologize?
I pulled out my textbook and searched through the desk drawer, and my hand touched something.
…Oh, that thing. It was supposed to be for Kim Minhyun.
Strange. Recently, whenever I think of him, it makes my heart race in a weird way…
A completely empty seat beside me. My mind keeps stumbling somewhere strange.
…What is this feeling?
---
Even at lunch, Kang Suho wasn’t there.
Exactly—right when the lunch bell rang, he vanished somewhere again.
…Yeah, he’s not listening to me at all.
“Hey, Sihyeon. Kang Suho’s at the school store again today?”
“…Yeah. He said he has something to do.”
I didn’t know if he really had something to do, but…
There must be a reason.
Eunha had seemed like she wanted to say something but stopped, and Arin was just staring at me silently. With that look that said she already knew everything.
Our three-person lunch was quiet.
Originally our seats were much… noisier than this.
I thought Kang Suho was quiet anyway, so his absence wouldn’t show much.
…But that wasn’t the case. The fact that he was gone made it even more noticeable.
The way I would talk and he’d smile back. The way he’d silently scoop out my complaining about the side dishes.
All those things.
…Well, what if he’s just sulking unnecessarily? Tough luck.
“…I’ll go first.”
“…Me too, me too!…”
Arin stood up first… and Eunha, who had been glancing around nervously, followed suit.
…Both of them had barely finished half their meals.
“…Me too.”
I just stood up with them and headed to throw away the food.
My stomach was empty, but strangely my appetite was gone.
---
After school.
The moment the final bell rang, I grabbed my bag out of habit.
“Hey… um, Kang Suho…”
“…Sorry, I’m busy. I’ll go ahead.”
Sihyeon seemed like she was about to say something, but I left the classroom without listening.
… Yeah, I’m running away. I know that. I do.
… But right now, this is the best I can do.
Until I can completely set aside my feelings for Sihyeon and just smile at her normally, I want to keep my distance.
But the problem started after I stepped out of the classroom.
What would I even do when I got home.
Up until now, after school, Sihyeon had always been there.
We’d walk home together, sometimes grab crepes, go to her house to do homework… and the day would end. Her house was perfect because her parents were often away for long periods.
Without her…
My day had almost nothing left.
I had nothing better to do, so I wandered around the school grounds.
I avoided the soccer field since it was in use… and just as I was walking the annex corridor thinking I should check the library, that’s when I smelled it.
…What kind of smell is this?
A charred smell wafted from somewhere.
…No way, did a fire break out at school?
I followed the smell— at the end of the hallway, faint smoke was leaking from the gap under the door of the cooking practice room.
This seems serious. Is there someone inside?
“Excuse me! Is anyone in there?!”
I flung open the door— and in the middle of the practice room, one girl was standing helplessly in front of a pot.
[I put milk in the cereal bowl, scooped out two spoonfuls… and just left it.]
“Eh eh?! What’s this?! It was fine just a little while ago?!”
Surrounded by a flustered, rambling girl, my body moved on reflex first. I turned off the stove, transferred the pot, and threw open the windows.
The bottom of the pot was charred black. …What on earth was she trying to make.
“Ah… ah… my curry…”
The girl stared at the pot in my hands with a look of complete despair.
…It’s not scary that she almost burned the entire classroom. Maybe she’s surprisingly tough.
She probably just left the stove on and went off to do something else.
“…Did you leave the stove on? It could have been a real disaster.”
The girl immediately protested.
“I didn’t leave it! I didn’t do anything else… I was watching the recipe the whole time… but when I came to my senses, it was like this…”
No… even though I was watching, it suddenly became this? That’s even scarier.
Looking at the pot, there was too little water, the flame was too high, and it looked like she’d dumped everything into the rice cooker from the start.
…There was no total disaster—there was only total disaster.
“Um… do you have a new pot and leftover ingredients?”
“Eh? That pot is here… and… potatoes, onions, a little meat…”
I rolled up my sleeves.
There was time to spare… and if I left it like this, this girl was going to burn another pot.
…Or maybe even the whole school.
I chopped the potatoes and onions, stir-fried the meat, adjusted the water, and stirred to prevent burning…
Finally, I mixed in the powder.
“There. Done. Go ahead and eat.”
The girl watched me silently, then as soon as she saw the finished curry, she picked up her spoon like she’d been hypnotized. The moment she took a bite—
“…!!!”
She made an expression full of emotion, and with the spoon still in her mouth, she turned to me.
“…What? What?! Why is this so delicious?!”
It sounded way too exaggerated.
“…It’s just a regular curry.”
The girl rushed up and shouted enthusiastically.
“What regular! It’s not regular! How did you cook the onions so perfectly?! The sweetness is completely different! The potatoes were cooked to perfection… yeah! You added pepper at the end, right?! The aroma is still there!”
…She guesses everything just by eating. Is she the same person who burned the pot?
That aside, her face is really close…
The girl sat down again and quickly finished the entire bowl of curry, then suddenly stood up and grabbed both my hands.
“You…! What’s your name?! What grade are you?!”
“…Kang Suho, second year. Class 2-4.”
The girl continued excitedly.
“Same grade! I’m Hong Jihye from class 1. …You should join our Cooking Research Club.”
“…Eh? Suddenly, what?…”
I made an expression that looked like I was about to refuse.
Hong Jihye’s face fell completely, and she clung desperately to my hands, pleading.
…There was sweat on my hands.
“Please… please… you have to join… if you don’t, our club will really disappear…”
“…Is it okay to decide club membership so unilaterally?”
Hong Jihye answered with a bright smile.
“Yeah! Of course… there’s only me left here. After the third-year seniors left… no one could recruit a new member…”
…It didn’t sound like something to be proud of.
“Sorry… I just happened to walk by… I don’t really have any plans to join a club…”
Hong Jihye kept talking as if I wasn’t even listening.
“What nonsense! Ruining this hand’s skill is a crime! A crime! If you don’t join, I’ll report you to the police.”
I let out a dry laugh.
“Eh? You laughed. Does that mean… you’re signing up for the club? Right? That’s what you mean?”
Hong Jihye showed no intention of backing down and kept firing off words like a machine gun.
“Three times a week! Just cook here after school and eat together! The ingredients will come from club funds! Although the advisor teacher is a bit scary… but she’s a good person! You know? Math teacher Park Seung-ah from class 1-2!”
…On earth, the ‘math’ teacher is the advisor for the Cooking Research Club? That’s a complete mismatch.
I was about to open my mouth to refuse… when the thought I had earlier about leaving the classroom came back.
‘What would I do when I get home.’
After school… I have a place to go. A day that can be filled with something other than Sihyeon.
…Maybe right now, that’s exactly what I need.
“…I’ll join. The Cooking Research Club.”
“Waaaaah! Club member! A new club member has been born!”
…Hong Jihye was so excited she was practically bouncing while clutching my hands.
This is enough to make someone think… that if you saw it, you’d think she won an Olympic gold.
…What kind of girl is this.
Hyper, noisy… but strangely, I didn’t dislike it at all.
So, while writing my name on the sudden club application form, I suddenly realized.
The time I hadn’t thought about Sihyeon… had been more than an hour for the first time today.
---
7 p.m.
The moment I opened the front door, the dark, quiet house welcomed me.
“…I’m home.”
I muttered the greeting out of habit even though no one would answer, and turned on the living room light.
Kang Suho had disappeared somewhere again today…
It made me inexplicably irritated. This… damn it… you’re the only one who has something to do? I have plenty to do too…
But then I thought about it again and realized I had nothing to do…
I went to coin karaoke by myself, sang a few songs, and came back. Eunha and Arin… they seem to be avoiding me lately.
…What did I do wrong to them.
My stomach was empty, but I didn’t know what to eat, so I scrolled through the delivery app for a long time.
For one person, the portions were huge and expensive, and the money felt wasteful… eventually I turned off the app and took a cup of cup ramen from the pantry.
While the water boiled, sitting alone at the empty dining table, the old memories kept coming back.
…Actually, it’s not even old anymore. It’s been normal until a few days ago.
The days when my parents were away in the countryside.
…When I asked, “What did you eat for dinner?” and answered “cup ramen,” Kang Suho would make a face like I was the most pathetic person in the world.
“…You’ll get in big trouble if you do that. Move aside.”
Then he’d use our kitchen like it was his own, making kimchi jjigae, rolled eggs, stir-fried pork belly… sometimes even a plain stir-fried rice.
Even though I’d complain, “It’s not delicious!” he’d always empty the bowl.
From behind while I was doing the dishes, he’d order, “Do this next,” “Do that next…”
I’d thought it was normal.
…That his being next to me, my complaining, the warm rice.
I poured water into the cup ramen and waited three minutes.
…That three minutes felt unusually long today.
While waiting, I kept thinking about Kang Suho.
I opened my smartphone and checked the chat again.
The last message was from that night—the one I sent.
Only the read receipt remained in the chat… no replies. …He was probably doing ik-ssip and Kang Suho really…
My fingers wandered aimlessly on the keyboard for a long time.
What should I say.
Come over and make dinner for me?
Because I rejected your confession… I’m sorry I couldn’t accept your heart?
…Honestly, I didn’t think he saw me that way.
But… my own heart wasn’t even sure, so I couldn’t accept it either.
…That was even more wrong.
But still… we were friends.
Friends should at least keep doing that, right.
…Was it because I liked him? Until now.
Ah… I don’t know.
When did the three minutes pass.
…The cup ramen was already fully swollen.
I scooped a few spoonfuls and just gave up, then put the spoon down— and threw the entire cup ramen away in the toilet.
And then I turned off the stove, lay on the bed, and went to sleep.
…Please let everything go back to normal tomorrow.
