Cheese Fountain Fiasco
Chapter 30. Anyway, I’d finished collecting the money I lent Hyunseo. In the end, my wallet still had some allowance left, but the money from the hospital had piled up quite nicely in my bank account.
“How much came in? In the account.”
As I kept glancing between my wallet and the bankbook, Hyunseo started showing interest.
“If I add it all up, a little over thirty million, I think.”
“Whoa, seriously jealous.”
When I gave a rough estimate, Hyunseo suddenly grumbled about how envious he was. It wasn’t a huge amount by adult standards, but for middle or high schoolers, it was pretty substantial. Naturally, the urge to spend it somewhere else crept in. Maybe because it felt like money I’d earned myself, it gave me a different feeling than leftover allowance. Like I’d gained a tiny bit of financial freedom?
‘Still, no way I’m spending it on in-game purchases.’
Even so, I drew a firm line on what was off-limits. My account was still indirectly under Mom’s supervision. If I linked it to a mobile or PC game and started pulling money out for microtransactions, Mom would definitely notice the withdrawals and grill me about them. Besides, I’d never had money troubles before. Suddenly claiming I needed cash from the account would look suspicious. In short, I had to spend within the bounds Mom could understand. So the option of blowing it on games vanished from my mind right away.
While I was still mulling over what to do with the money, footsteps echoed from the living room.
“Want to go out for a meal during the holiday?”
Dad tossed the suggestion out casually. It was a simple proposal to eat out during the break. The holiday ran from May 3rd to the 5th—Friday through Monday, with tomorrow being the last day before the red-letter days. If the rest of us agreed, it would be settled immediately.
Mom spoke up first, bypassing us.
“Where are we going?”
“Where else but a buffet?”
Dad answered like it was obvious. Unless there was some special occasion where cousins gathered, our family meals out almost always meant a buffet. Hyunseo and I preferred them too—plenty of variety, desserts included, and the price was reasonable. Considering how much Hyunseo ate, it might seem like a loss, but he made up for it by devouring plenty of snacks and cake. Even if you scolded him for eating only cake at a buffet, he’d insist it was more filling. Anyway, the destination was decided.
Mom turned to us.
“What do you two think?”
“I’m obviously going.”
My answer was a foregone conclusion. Mom’s gaze shifted straight to Hyunseo.
“Hyunseo, you?”
“I don’t have any plans either.”
Surprisingly, Hyunseo said he had no plans. Just like that, a family outing was set. Since it was during the holiday, the actual day would be at least two days from now. While waiting for that day, I headed to the kitchen. Buffet tomorrow, but today’s meal was every man for himself.
When I opened the kitchen cabinet for today’s lunch, a sharp, spicy scent hit my nose.
‘Grr…’
Without thinking, I pinched my nose and scrunched my face. The salty, pungent smell of pepper and MSG. Before the Beastman Disease, it never bothered me, but now just opening the cabinet made me feel like I was about to sneeze. I’d heard my sense of smell would get sharper, but it still caught me off guard in everyday moments like this.
Anyway, I grabbed a small can of tuna with my free hand. After closing the cabinet, I let go of my nose, gripped the can firmly, and pulled the tab. With a metallic pop, the contents were revealed. I took out a deep frying pan, set it on the gas stove, and dumped the tuna straight in without waiting for it to heat up. Then I grabbed two eggs from the fridge. No need for extra oil—the oil from the tuna can was plenty.
“What are you making?”
Dad, who’d just come back from the bathroom, wandered over because of the clattering sounds.
“Fried rice.”
I answered half-heartedly while stirring. A moment later, the sound of running water came from the sink as Hyunseo appeared with a pack of ramen.
“Ramen for your first meal?”
“Yeah.”
Hyunseo gave a nonchalant reply as he filled a pot with tap water. He set the pot on the other burner, turned on the heat, then trudged back to his room. Whatever. I kept flipping the tuna in the pan with a spatula, cracked in the eggs, and let everything cook together. Once the eggs and tuna were nicely mixed and cooked, I added the rice. Salt would’ve worked, but I preferred oyster sauce. I squeezed a big glob of the brown sauce straight into the pan and stirred vigorously. It was a foolproof recipe. I plated the finished fried rice in a deep bowl and carried it to my room, spoon in hand. No side dishes needed—rice was the side dish, and the side dish was rice. This single bowl was a complete meal.
It was Labor Day, a day off for workers, but nothing special happened. It was just a random holiday stuck in the middle of the week, no different from any other weekend.
“Oh, Hyunwoo. What did they say at the hospital?”
Mom suddenly asked me. She wanted to know what Dad and I had discussed with the doctor. We’d talked about a lot of things, mostly about my physical condition.
“Just this and that about my body. Like how some parts are more animal-like… and others are still human?”
It was stuff Mom had already heard plenty of times, so I kept it brief.
“Nothing unusual, right?”
Mom asked simply, as if she’d expected that answer, without pressing for more details. I nodded at the question about whether anything strange had come up. She was probably asking if the hospital had given any special warnings.
“Yeah. The professor even mentioned the time overseas and said there probably won’t be any more changes.”
“Really? That’s a relief.”
Mom accepted my answer, which included the professor’s explanation, and went back to what she was doing. She must’ve been more worried about sending Dad than she let on.
‘Ah.’
A short sigh escaped me internally. Come to think of it, we’d also talked about the heat cycle. That could wait until fall, right? It wasn’t a topic I could easily bring up. I scratched the back of my head, deciding not to call Mom over again. The word itself was embarrassing, and if Hyunseo heard it, he’d probably laugh even harder than he would about periods. Heat cycle? Heat cycle…? Was I on the same level as those stray female cats yowling in the streets at night? I refused to accept it until I experienced it myself. I could endure it. With strong willpower, it wouldn’t be impossible. I steeled my resolve with that thought. Besides, the red fox heat cycle was in winter, wasn’t it? Winter was still a long way off. No rush—I could mention it later. With that, I brushed it aside.
Time passed, and Thursday morning arrived. From first period, a sleepy atmosphere filled the classroom.
“That’s it for the test problem review. Open your textbooks so we can move on with the lesson.”
“Ehhh…”
When the science teacher told us to open our books after finishing the test review, the class let out a collective groan. It hadn’t been long since exams ended, yesterday was a day off, and if we just got through today, the holiday began. Of course everyone was dragging. Who would’ve thought we’d have actual class in this mood? The unspoken rule was that lessons right after exams were basically free periods.
“Instead, we’ll cover more material next class.”
“Yesss.”
The teacher gave in and closed the textbook. Cheers and applause erupted at his bold decision. After that, some students slumped over their desks, half-asleep, while others got up and moved to different seats.
“If you’re too noisy, we’ll continue with the lesson.”
“Okaay—”
Once the classroom grew rowdy, the teacher gave a warning and started fiddling with his phone at the podium. Another student pulled out their phone too. That student was me.
The moment I took out my phone, a friendly hyena pounced. It was my desk partner, starving for content.
“Hyunwoo, I saw a hilarious video yesterday.”
“What was it?”
“Gimme your phone, I’ll find it.”
Since he couldn’t use his own phone openly, Taehyun shamelessly took advantage of sitting next to me to satisfy his craving. At least he watched stuff that normal people would watch. Unlike the otaku trio, he was more into storytime streams or mukbangs than anime or game talk.
“Here, watch this.”
“What is this? A cheese fountain?”
“It’s just stupidly funny, you’ll see.”
I played the video Taehyun found. The guy in it had apparently bought a fondue machine like the ones at buffets and set it up on his desk with some chicken. But at the bottom of the machine, a lump of half-melted yellow cheese was writhing like clay. Huh, wasn’t that cheese still not melted? Was it even supposed to work like that? Despite my concerns, the machine started running. The cheese climbed up the column, and the moment it reached the top—
Vrrrrrrrt.
The completely unmelted cheese lump at the bottom began spinning like a whip. The column with the half-melted cheese shot upward, broke off, and… the remaining cheese at the base got flung everywhere like it was pumping groundwater. Cheese chunks sprayed in all directions. It was a masterpiece of a scene.
“Pfft—hahaha!”
I burst out laughing right then and there. The guy, horrified by the indescribable disaster, scrambled to clean it up and shut off the machine, bringing the chaos to an end. The fondue machine left with nothing but its bare frame, and the fact that not a single bit of cheese remained on the base was the killing blow.
“Khh—khkhkh…!”
“Dude, shit—khkh.”
Even though I tried to stay quiet, the video forced the laughter out. Watching it, I nearly sobbed from laughing so hard. Where on earth did he find this stuff to show me?