Weekend (5)

"Pork belly's a dollar seventy a hundred grams, shoulder's a dollar sixty... shoulder's a little cheaper. I really want the pork belly, though... nngh."

After going to see her little sister yesterday and burning through what she had on transit, Nam Da-eun had exactly three dollars left to her name.

The Academy ran a free student ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠cafeteria, but it only operated on weekdays. Weekends meant the dorm cafeteria, and the dorm cafeteria charged money.

Nam Da-eun usually scraped by portioning leftover cafeteria rice into a water bottle and stashing it in the freezer. Every now and then, though, there were days she just wanted to splurge.

"What do I do... if I eat this, I really won't have anything left next month."

She still owed Lee Ho-yeon about eight dollars. Her monthly allowance ran somewhere around forty.

They'd stripped her of every last bit of her living expenses on the grounds that it was going toward her sister's hospital bills. When they'd told her the Academy already fed her, so what did she need money for, Nam Da-eun had given up arguing. Arguing wouldn't have gotten her another cent anyway.

"Haaah... Fine. I'll just mix rice with water today."

There was a water cooler in the dorm hallway. Leftover frozen rice mashed up with water was edible enough. Sprinkle on a little of the salt she'd quietly lifted from the cafeteria, and it was practically a delicacy.

"Hss."

Nam Da-eun set the meat back down and turned around.

"Hey."

Standing right behind her was Lee Ho-yeon.

"Hey."

"...Ah!"

Nam Da-eun's eyes went wide and her mouth snapped shut. She looked like she'd jumped out of her own skin.

"Ah... sorry. I was just trying to say hi."

"...It's fine."

She pressed a hand to her chest and drew a slow breath.

She's gotten a lot more expressive, hasn't she.

She still ran cold with everyone else. In front of me, though, she seemed to let her guard down a little.

Yielding first place to her had paid off. Her affection had climbed quite a bit. A net gain, as far as I was concerned.

Once the Survival Exam wrapped, they'd announce grades at the same time as the festival. Would her affection climb even higher then?

For now, staying on comfortable friendly terms with Nam Da-eun was enough. Winning her over was going to take time either way.

"You here to buy meat?"

"I was just looking."

"Ah. Got it."

I left her standing there and went to look at the meat myself. It wasn't exactly a great setup for actual cooking, so I went with smoked cuts and ready-to-eat stuff. Stashing it in my spatial storage wouldn't keep it perfectly, but it would stretch the shelf life.

A week... so I should grab about forty pounds?

I wasn't the only one who'd be eating. Buying extra wouldn't hurt.

I loaded the cart with just about every kind of ready-to-eat meat they had. There was a lot of smoked duck and smoked pork belly, so I grabbed all of it.

"Huh...?"

Nam Da-eun's startled voice came from behind me. Fair enough. Anyone would stare at a cart packed like this.

I couldn't exactly tell her the Survival Exam started tomorrow, so I decided to own it.

"I've got a pretty big appetite."

Now that it was all in the cart, the amount did look like a lot — but too much beat too little.

I swung by the next aisle and grabbed some instant rice while I was at it. A Korean runs on rice, after all.

"...I see."

Was she actually buying that excuse even after seeing the camping gear? Or was she just letting it go because I said so?

Just letting it go, then. Appreciate it.

Now that I was looking, her appetite was sitting at eighty-five. If I thought about what the heroines were like when their libido hit eighty-five, I couldn't even imagine how hungry an eighty-five ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in appetite actually was.

Had she not eaten all day?

"You had lunch? Want to grab something at the food court? My treat."

The image of her standing at the butcher counter, agonizing over a two-dollar cut of meat, made it hard to just walk away. Buying her a meal wouldn't get me any closer to winning her over. I could still buy her a meal.

"I'm fine."

"Friends can grab a bite together, can't they?"

"...Can they?"

She looked like the offer was weighing on her, so I leaned on the word friends to take some of the pressure off. Pride never did stand a chance against an empty stomach.

"Yeah. Besides, there's something I've been wanting to ask you."

Nam Da-eun gave me a puzzled look and fell in behind me.

The camping gear and food rang up at over seven hundred dollars. I had no idea a tent could cost that much — maybe that was the one-touch pop-up tax. I'd also grabbed a pile of useless junk like gas masks, so the total had ballooned past what I'd expected, but it wasn't an amount that actually hurt.

Nam Da-eun stood behind me in silence and watched me pay.

"I said I'm fine..."

"I'm the one who's hungry. Let's eat a lot."

I ordered everything — pizza, fried chicken, and every variety of baked bun stuffed with meat. Nam Da-eun could say she was fine all she wanted. The status window's appetite stat didn't lie. I just went ahead and ordered a mountain of food.

"Thank you..."

The food came out fast. We sat down and started eating.

I'd meant to talk while we ate, but Nam Da-eun was attacking her plate with such focus that I couldn't get a word in.

Nom. Nom. Nom. Nom.

Whatever she'd said about being fine went straight out the window the second the food hit the table. Her hands didn't stop.

I'll just wait until she's done.

I wasn't about to lose, so I grabbed a slice of pizza myself.

"Thanks for the meal."

"Don't mention it. It was nothing."

Between the two of us, we'd cleaned up two whole pizzas and two baked buns. The pizzas had been ridiculously huge — I could barely move by the time we finished. Nam Da-eun looked perfectly fine.

"So, you got to see your little sister okay?"

I was pretty sure she'd said she was going to visit her. I hoped it had gone well. The last thing I needed was something happening on that front.

"I saw her yesterday. You said you had something you wanted to ask, didn't you?"

Buying her a meal had made her a lot more cooperative. She still seemed reluctant to talk about her sister, though. Had showing me that phone call last time just been a whim?

Maybe next time I'd take her to that Korean place I'd gone to with Mun Su-rin. That would probably work wonders.

"Yeah. I do."

I'd turned it over in my head more than once. Nam Da-eun hiding her strength was one thing — but she was already using skills she shouldn't have until a year from now. That didn't add up.

If she'd been holding back that much power, there was no way she would have lost to the protagonist in the original. I was already as strong as the original protagonist had been. A Nam Da-eun with a full extra year of growth losing to him made no sense.

And yet she really had been hiding her strength.

Which left only one conclusion.

The Nam Da-eun of the original second year and the Nam Da-eun sitting in front of me were the same level.

That was the conclusion I'd reached.

She'd been born with an absurd talent and climbed to a high level at a young age — and then she'd realized that getting stronger wouldn't change a thing. She was destined to become a tool for the guild either way. So she'd decided there was no point in getting stronger.

She'd stopped training altogether. That was why she lost to the protagonist in the second year.

"...What are you talking about?"

Nam Da-eun looked thrown by the sudden question.

"I don't know what your situation is. But train hard. I'll be even stronger by the next exam, and I won't go easy on you next time."

In the original, Nam Da-eun stopped training from the moment she lost to the protagonist until the moment she was fully saved. If a Nam Da-eun who was already that strong started getting stronger now, I couldn't even imagine what that would look like.

This one year mattered that much.

"...Okay. Next time I'll fight you fair and square, and I'll win. And I'll pay you back for last time. I promise."

Thankfully, she took it well. I'd been half-worried she'd snap at me about what I thought I knew and storm off. Buying her lunch seemed to have done more heavy lifting than I'd expected.

Instead of her usual blank expression, there was a faint smile on her face.

"Don't worry about it. We're friends. I should get going. See you around."

"See you."

We cleared the table and headed out. Watching her walk away, she looked a little stronger than she had when we'd started.

Back at the dorm, I went through everything I'd bought one more time.

"Why'd you get so much? You planning to eat all this yourself?"

"If there's leftovers, I'll just share them."

Liliana had come over the second she spotted the meat, eyes wide.

"That pork belly looks so good. Can I have a little?"

"...Sure. Let's put the rest in the fridge."

If Liliana wanted some, I could spare one pack. We usually just ordered delivery, so the fridge was almost empty anyway.

Wait. I was going to be gone from the dorm for a week. If delivery showed up at my door while I was out, that would look weird. The entire first-year dorm would be a ghost town. An order landing on my room and nobody else's would raise questions no matter what.

"Liliana. Look at this and order ahead."

"...? What is it?"

"Instant meals. If you order now, they'll be here by tomorrow morning. You can't have delivery coming to this room while I'm gone. Live on these for the week."

"...... I knew it — take me with you!"

Liliana's face went stiff for a second. Then she bellowed it at the top of her lungs.

"I already told you no."

"What do you even do for this family?! You asshole!"

"Why is 'family' coming into this?! I told you not to use that word!"

Hearing that kind of thing made me feel like some deadbeat who couldn't provide. It put me in a foul mood.

"Anyway. When I get back, I'll play with you every day. Just wait for me."

"Really? Then I wanna go play outside."

"...Fine."

"Yahoo! Yes!"

Watching her throw both arms in the air, I figured I really needed to find a place off campus soon. Luckily, during festival season she could wander around outside without much trouble. There would be so many people that a mask would be enough to keep anyone from recognizing her. Sunglasses would work too.

And if I wrapped her in a Rune Barrier, I wouldn't have to worry about anyone picking up on that distinctive mana unique to Hell.

"Hold down the fort. Got it?"

"Got it."

I ruffled Liliana's hair.

"But in exchange..."

"Hm?"

"Tonight... a week's worth..."

Liliana's face went scarlet as she clung to me.

"..."

I checked my watch. I still had about three hours until my appointment with Su-rin noona.

"Liliana. Let's settle two days' worth first."

"Nn? Mmph..."

Guess I should wrap ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠up dinner as fast as I could.

"I'll be back soon. Wait for me."

"Y-yes... Master..."

I laid the panting Liliana down on the bed and headed for my meeting with Mun Su-rin. I'd been here once before, so I didn't freeze up this time.

"I'm with Mun Su-rin's party."

"Ah, Mr. Lee Ho-yeon. Right this way."

I stepped into the private room. Mun Su-rin was already seated, and she smiled as she greeted me.

"Hello, Su-rin noona."

I sat down in a good mood, still riding the memory of how well I'd eaten here last time.

"You made it. I watched the one-on-one. Shame how it ended."

Mun Su-rin welcomed me with a smile of her own.

"Ah, second place isn't so bad."

"Heh. Fair enough. The food should be out soon. Before we eat, let me show you the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng."

She lifted a box from beside her and set it on the table.

"Go on. Open it."

I opened the box with my heart pounding.

"Whoa..."

Inside, a snow ginseng sat nestled in the lining, radiating a soft blue mana.

"Thank you, Su-rin noona. I'll put it to good use. I mean it."

"Don't mention it. You made my job a lot easier. I'll pay this debt back. I swear."

"...?"

What did I even do?